Wednesday 8-4 Boating, Dancing, Mowing & More

 

Busy Day

We had an awesome day of doing this and that.

We woke up to blue skies and no wind so we decided to go to the lake. We loaded the boat up, connected it to the truck and off to the lake we went. There were a few vehicles in the parking lot, people were fishing on the banks and dock, a couple of people were kayaking, there was a family tubing, some fishermen and other people just boating around the lake. By the time the boat was launched and I picked Larry up a lite breeze came up. We hadn't used the wake board this year so out came the board. Larry did an excellent set of boarding. When my turn came it took me a few times to get up, this seems to happen to me the first time every year, once I was on the board I did a good set of boarding. During our set we had some boat wakes but overall the water wasn't bad. We floated a little while and then put the air chair together. While Larry was chairing the lake was getting flatter and flatter. When Larry got down the lake was flat enough to ski but I decided to fly the chair. I signaled for Larry to let me down because I thought it was raining, I was mistaken it was just water coming off the rope. After taking the chair apart and putting it away we went back to the ramp. There were two gentleman loading a pontoon boat and the gentleman putting the boat on said this was the first time he put a boat on a trailer, he did a super job, he got it on the trailer the first try. We were right next to them on the ramp and I put our boat on the trailer, the smoothest this year. Once out of the water we wiped down the boat and went home. Larry took a couple of pictures using the cell phone and they came out great. We had a super morning on the Lake Belton.

Living on Lake Belton

Getting ready to go wake boarding

 

Getting the rope ready

We usually dance A2 with Dayle Hodge on Wednesday but we didn't get back from the lake in time. We did make it to Don Moger's C1 workshop at 12:00. He had 25 participants. He worked on whatever C1 moves the dancers requested or had problems with. He called for an hour and a half and we had a great time.

 

 After the dance I mowed the front and back yards. Larry weedeated, blew off the drive and porch and treated for weeds. While I was mowing I treated a few fire ant hills.

 

Hold on tight

After resting and cooling off I did some housework. I cleaned the bathrooms, dusted and vacuumed the house.

Vacuuming the house with my new vacuum

I did my Solitaire Daily Challenges and Event: Hard Road Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 45 minutes and 47 seconds, which put me in 8th place in my group.

In the evening we watched the Olympics. When Larry went to bed I finished the sixth season and started the seventh season of Silent Witness. I ended up doing 29,000 steps, which put me in 8th place in my with 75,500 steps

 

 

 

Tuesday 8-3 Dental / Dancing and Having Fun

 

Smile and have fun

We had a wonderful day of dancing and having fun. 

We started the day out by going to our oral surgeon so Larry could have his implant checked out. He was given the ok to get a crown put on it. The oral surgeon asked if Larry wanted him to set up an appointment. Larry told him we would be leaving on our fall trip in a few weeks so there is not enough time to get an appointment and get the crown made, we will have to wait until we get back.

On the way home we stopped by Walmart and filled the car up with gas.

We attended two virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Plus at 11:00. Dayle called 4 tips of two couples with 16 participants and one tip of four couples with 10. We had a great morning of dancing to Dayle and virtual friends.

Second was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A1/A2 at 2:00. Last week Di did a survey for each session to see if the dancers wanted to have a four couples tip for A1 and more four couples moves in the tips during the hour. A majority of the dancers wanted more four couples moves during the hour but they didn't want a four couples tip. During the A1 session Di and Terry called five tips and Di put some four couples moves in the ones she called. We had 19 participants during this session. During the A2 session DI and Terry called five two couples tips with four couple moves in them with 24 participants. Di called a four couples tip with 22 participants. I danced both sessions by myself and had an awesome time dancing to Di and Terry and dancers.

 

In the evening we went to Georgetown to dance with the Diamond Masters Club at 7:00. We had two squares and an extra dancer. Brad did an excellent job of calling. We had a super evening of dancing to Brad and with friends.

In between the dances I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Medium Mayhem Mini of 5 games. It took me 21 minutes and 22 seconds, which put me in 40th place in my group. I also did the Mahjong Daily Challenges. 

While I danced Larry finished another book on his Kindle.

When shopping at Walmart we picked up some cinnamon French toast sticks because they looked good. For dinner I cooked a few in the oven. This was the first time we had them and they tasted delicious. 

We got back from dancing about 10:00. Larry checked his e-mail and then went to bed. I continued watching the sixth season of Silent Witness. I ended up doing 20,500 steps, which put me in 10th place in my group. I missed my daily challenge by 5,000 steps.   

Monday 8-2 HEB and Dancing with the Sundancers

 

Overcast Day

We woke up to an overcast day. Parts of our area had rain. We were going to go to the lake but the weather forecast showed that we may get rained on. Instead we decided to go to town to do a little grocery shopping. 

Due to the rising numbers of Covid and only 32% of the folks in our county being vaccinated we decided to go back to wearing masks while we shop.

Before going grocery shopping we stopped by Dollar Tree to pick up rice rolls and the cookies we like. While there we picked up a loaf a bread. At our Dollar Tree all items are a $1.00 and some are less. Louise said her Dollar Tree has changed and now says a Dollar or More.

Next we went to HEB. Before Covid we did all of our grocery shopping at HEB, when Covid came around we started using curbside delivery and while Walmart did this for free HEB added a charge to each product you purchased and on top of that they added a $5 fee. We also had problems getting a time for delivery at HEB whereas at Walmart we were able to more easily get an appointment. We actually like many of HEB branded products and their in store coupons but we have gotten used to shopping at Walmart and we still occasionally use their home delivery. Today we noticed HEB was busier than Walmart and many of their prices have certainly increased. They have also decreased the amount of stock on some items like soups while adding more prepared foods. For those that prefer a cashier over self checkout they would certainly like HEB, they had lots of cashiers while Walmart always has very few.

Grocery Shopping

When I got home I put the groceries away. Then I attended DI Green's Weekly Plus. She had 24 participants. Terry McCann and Di switched calling the five tips. They cued through out the dance and walked us through problem calls. I had a super time.

While I danced Larry worked on a paper project.

After the dance I did my Daily Challenges in Solitaire and Mahjong. Then I did the Event: Easy Street of 30 games. It took me 1 hour and 28 minutes to finish, which put me in 23st place in my group. I read a chapter of Hannah.

In the evening we went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers and to Brad Caldwell. The format for the evening was workshop for an hour and a half and then dance. During the dance we had four squares of dancers during the mainstream session, which was an hour. During the plus session we had three squares for a half hour. We had a square for an A2 tip. Brad did an excellent job of calling. We had an outstanding evening of dancing with friends.

When we got home Larry checked his e-mail and went to bed. I finished my 26,000 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group. While doing my steps I watched the last episode of the 3rd season of Jack Irish. Then I started the sixth season of Silent Witness.   

 

 

Sunday 8-1 Laid Back Day

 

Summertime

It's August and summer is almost over. The kids will be back in school in a few weeks. Some of the local kids are going back to school August 11th. This seems early to me but one of the workers next door said that the kids will have longer breaks during the year.

We had a very relaxing day and just hung around the house.

 

Relaxing under the air conditioner

Being the first day of the month Larry filled the septic chlorinater with bleach and he backed our computer up to our backup computer along with a second hard drive. He also sprayed bug killer around the exterior of the house.

I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Spider Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 15 minutes and 30 seconds, which put me in 18th place in my group. I played a few games on Microsoft Jewel and the Mahjong Daily Challenges. I did a couple of Sudoku games.

Larry started his next paper project. 

After I played my games I started reading Hannah.

In the evening we watched the Olympics. Then I finished watching the fifth season of Silent Witness. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 7th place in my group. I ended up doing 183,100 steps for the week.  

Saturday 7-31 Last Day of July

 

It's summertime

So far we have had a mild summer. In the month of July we didn't officially hit 100, which is very rare. Today it was 98 degrees.

I started the day out by doing the Solitaire Daily Challenges and Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 10 minutes and 38 seconds, which put me in 20th place in my group. I also did the Mahjong Daily Challenges. I played a few games of Microsoft Jewel. I did a very games of Sudoku. It has been a long time since I have done Sudoku and I had fun doing them.

Larry has been seeing a wasp flying around the back porch so after lunch he decided to spray it. After spraying he started cleaning the ledge where the wasp was flying. Then he saw a few wasp nests around the window so he removed them and cleaned the area. I decided to join him and clean the back windows. Larry ended up cleaning the entire back patio roof and ledge. I cleaned the windows. Larry also cleaned the charcoal grill and sprayed down the patio chairs. It took us about an hour to clean the back porch and windows.  

While I was playing games Larry finished ready another book and worked on organizing our photos. We watched some YouTube videos.

The other day we bought a pork loin, I was either going to grill it or smoke it on the grill. Larry decided to smoke it. It took about three hours. Larry monitored the temperature and flipped it every 30 minutes. While it was cooking Larry continued organizing our photos. The pork came out delicious.

 

Smoking pork on the grill with pellets

Finished

The pork after it had been cut

In the evening we watched the Olympics. Then I finished the fourth season of Silent Witness and started the fifth season. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 7th place in my group with 156,000 steps.

 

 

Relaxing in front of the television

 

     

Friday 7-30 Just Another Friday

 

It's summertime

We have been virtually square dancing through Zoom for fourteen months and love it. We have met a lot of wonderful callers and dancers from all over the world. It has kept our skills up and personally I think it has made me a better dancer. The dancing is mainly two couples, where we dance with a phantom couple. A lot of dancers dance by themselves so they have three phantoms to watch. Sometimes I dance by myself. At the beginning the dancing was very hard but now we can dance full squares with six phantoms. Zoom allows you to select and make one couple full screen, this can really help if you get lost. We dance to Di Green and Terry McCann from England and Joachim Ruehenbeck and his partner Mariyam from Germany, both couples dance with their backs to us and become a mirror image, this helps a lot because we know exactly where to be. We dance almost everyday one to three times a day. Last year we danced 349 virtual dances and so far this year we have danced 301 dances.

As to live local dancing:

Brad Caldwell has a A2 club called Diamond Masters, he started it back up awhile back in a new location. It use to be at held at Zilker Park in Austin and we never went because it's so difficult to get there, but now Brad has moved it to Georgetown which is more convenient for us. We started dancing there the last Tuesday of June. 

The Sundancers Thursday A2/C1 tape group started dancing again. We started going the last week in June.

The Sundancers Monday dances started up three weeks ago. These dances are Mainstream/Plus and if there are enough folks Brad will call a A2 tip. It's been about 18 months since most of the dancers danced so Brad has called slower and walked through the calls the dancers were having problem with. 

Virtual square dancing is great and has helped our dancing but it's great to get back to dancing in person because of the atmosphere of people visiting, hugging and having fun. I'm not saying we don't have fun virtually but it's different in person. Even though we're dancing in person we still dance virtually. 

 

Get a partner and dance

We had a relaxing Friday. I hope you have a great weekend.

 

 

I started the day out doing the Daily Challenges and Event: Free Cell Mini of 5 games. It took me 17 minutes and 28 seconds, which put me in 32nd place in my group. I also did the Mahjong Daily Challenges.

While I played my games Larry finished a book and started another one on his Kindle.

We attended two virtual dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Four Couples A1/A2 at 11:00. Dayle called two tips of each. During the A1 session we had 21 participants and the A2 session had 19. Dayle was having problems with his external microphone so he had to use the built in one on his computer. He sounded like he had a cold but the dancers could still understand the calls. We had a fun time.

Second was Di Green's Weekly C1 Workshop at 2:00. I attended this dance by myself and Di had 35 participants. I had fun.

While I danced Larry continued reading his book. After Di's dance we watched an episode of the GizWiz.

In the evening we watched the Olympics. When Larry went to bed I started to watch the fourth season of Silent Witness. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group.  

    

Thursday 7-29 Dancing with the Sundancers Tape Group

 

Get a partner and dance

We started the day out going to the storage center. Every month we take the Minnie for a spin, so that's exactly what we did. We drove it about 15 miles and then we put it back in storage. While driving we ran the generator to make sure that it stays running correctly.

On the way home we stopped by Walmart to do a little grocery shopping.

 

Grocery Shopping

We attended Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1 dance at 11:00. Dayle called four two couples tips and a four couples tip. We attended the four two couples tips, which had 17 participants. We had a great time.

In the evening we went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers Weekly Tape Group at 5:15. We danced an hour and a half of C1. We had six couples so we rotated in and out each tip. Afterwards we danced A2 for an hour and half. We had two squares plus and extra couple. This session was run by computer so we had an opportunity to dance with everyone. We had a super evening of dancing with friends.

In the afternoon I took a nap and Larry started reading a book on his Kindle. I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Klondike Mini of 10 games. It took me 41 minutes and 13 seconds, which put me in 23rd place in my group.

We got home from dancing around 9:00. We watched the Olympics. While doing this Larry continued working on organizing our photos. When Larry went to bed I finished watching the third season of Silent Witness. I ended up doing 29,000 steps, which put me in 7th place in my group with 102,000 steps. I'm all caught up in my weekly steps.