Pictures From Jan-Jul 2023 - It's All About Having Fun!!

Monday, February 9, 2026

Sunday 2-8-26 Olympics, New Pinball Challenge & More

 

Olympics

 

We had a super day. The weather was partly cloudy all day. The morning temperature was 48 degrees and the high was 80 degrees. 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street of 30 games. It took me 1 hour, 6 minutes and 29 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.   

We spent the afternoon and evening watching the Olympics. We watched Curling (U.S.A. vs Sweden), Big Air Snowboard Finals, Women's Downhill and four team events of figure skating. The figure skating events were Men's Short Program, Pairs Free Skate, Women's Free Skate and Men's Free Skate. It was a very good day of watching the Olympics. The USA did well, they won gold in Women's Downhill and in Team Skate.

Larry continued working on the new program he installed on the old cell phone.

Today was the beginning of the week so I got a new weekly challenge of pinball. This weeks challenge is The Game Show. We didn't have this game so Larry had to download and install it on the big cabinet. He installed it in both 2D and VR. We probably won't keep this game after the challenge because it's an old game. After installing the game Larry played it to make sure it played correctly.

I played four games of pinball on the mini cabinet, which were Batman Forever, Dark Chaos, Scared Stiff and Transformers. While playing Transformers I became high score #3. 

 

Batman Forever

 

Dark Chaos

 

Elvira Scared Stiff

 

Transformers


I played four games of pinball on the big cabinet, which were Blizzard of Ozz, Dracula, No Fear and The Game Show. I played last week's challenge of No Fear before the challenge was over at 1:00. I didn't get a new high score but I had fun trying to. I ended up with the high score of 703,890,060, which put me in 112th place out of 131 participants. Then I played the new challenge of The Game Show. My first high score was 4,983,470, which put me in 15th place out of 23 participants. I didn't get on the board while playing Blizzard of Ozz and Dracula but had fun.

 

No Fear (high score)

 

The Game Show high score

 

Blizzard of Ozz

 

Dracula

 

I worked on assembling my jigsaw puzzle. 

After Larry went to bed I watched the next super hero movie, which was Thor: Ragnarok out of the super hero movies collection. Then I watched Twister from our movies collection. I ended up doing 5,000 steps. 


     

Sunday, February 8, 2026

Saturday 2-7-26 Olympics, Puzzle & Games

 

It's a beautiful day

 

We had a beautiful day with sunshine. The morning temperature was 42 degrees and the high was 80 degrees.

Larry continued working with the cell phone. He is very excited because he got the new operating system loaded on the phone and got it working very well. He's learning more about the system and how it works. He's having a great time.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Medium Mayhem Mini of 5 games. It took me 17 minutes, which put me in 14th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I spent most of the day working on my jigsaw puzzle. It's going to take some time to get started because the puzzle pieces have bright colors and they are close to the some color. I'm not complaining because I'm have fun sorting the pieces out.

We spent the afternoon into the evening watching the Olympics. It's nice to have the events recorded, that way you can choose what you want to watch. We watched Men's Downhill, Women's 10km-10km Skiathon, Men's Free-Ski Slopestyle: Qualification, Speed Skating Women's 3000m, Women's Normal Hill and Men's Single Luge (two rounds). The Women's 10km-10km Skiathon has two different tracks, they have to do three laps on each track. They start on one track and do three laps. Then they change out their skis and poles and finish the race on the second track with the three laps. The tracks aren't flat, the skiers have to go up and down hills. 10km is 6.2 miles so in this event the women had to go about 12.5 miles. We don't know much about some of the events but we had fun learning more about them.

I played five games of pinball on the mini cabinet, which were Ace of Speed, Cirqus Voltaire, Monster Bash, Tales of the Arabian Nights and The Big LeBowski. While playing pinball on the mini I came high score #1 on The Big LeBowski, Grand Champion on Monster Bash and high score #2 on Tales of the Arabian Nights. 

 

Ace of Speed

 

Cirqus Voltaire

 

Monster Bash

 

Tales of the Arabian Nights

 

The Big LeBowski

 

I played five games of pinball on the big cabinet, which were Big Buck Hunter Pro, Godzilla, JP Viper Night Driver, No Fear and Superman and the Justice League. While playing pinball on the big cabinet I became high score #4 on Big Buck Hunter Pro and high score #8 on Godzilla.

 

Big Buck Hunter Pro

 

Godzilla

 

JP Viper Night Driving

 

No Fear

 

Superman and the Justice League


After Larry went to bed I watched the next super hero movie out of our super hero movies collection, which was Doctor Strange. Then I watched Ooops! Noah Is Gone from our movies collection. I ended up doing 3,000 steps.

 

         

Saturday, February 7, 2026

Friday 2-6-26 Olympics, Dancing with Karin and Greg & Puzzle

 

Beautiful Day

 

We had a beautiful day with sunshine. It's February and we had a high temperature of 83 degrees. It still wintertime and we're having spring temperatures. The morning temperature was 48 degrees. 

We should be camping because the weather was perfect. We can't go camping because we committed to being at our Tuesday C1/A2 dance in Liberty Hill. A lot of the dancers were going on a square dancing cruise and John thought maybe he wouldn't have enough for a square. He asked who was going and found out he may have one square.

 

 


 

Laid back day

  

The Olympics were starting this week so a few days ago Larry looked at the schedule and where they would be showing. The last Olympics were streamed on Peacock and so we signed up for a month of service, after the Olympics we cancelled the service. This year they are again on Peacock. 

We are members of Walmart+, one of their included benefits is you can get a subscription to Peacock or Paramount+ for free. Using this we have been subscribed to Paramount+ but we seldom watch it. The other day Larry switched us to Peacock and so today we watched lots of Olympic stuff (skiing, snow boarding, skating and curling). We also watched the opening ceremony. Italy is 7 hours ahead of us so most of the events are actually done in the very early morning (2am - 6am) but the replays are available to stream. The opening ceremony was done live in the afternoon.

Olympics in Italy


 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong before going to bed last night. The event was Event: Free Cell Adventure of 20 games. It took me 2 hours, 53 minutes and 53 seconds, which put me in 14th place in my group. I got stuck on three games. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

Larry started experimenting with my my old cell phone. He is loading it up with a new operating system. Lots to learn.

I worked on my jigsaw puzzle of the flowers.

I played four pinball games, which were two on the mini cabinet and two on the big cabinet. The two games on the mini cabinet were Ace of Speed and The Goonies. While playing Ace of Speed I was put on the board as high score # 4. The two on the big cabinet were JP Viper Night Driving and No Fear. While playing No Fear I got a new high score for the weekly challenge of 703,890,060. This score moved me into 78th place out of 97 participants.

 

Ace of Speed (mini)

 

The Goonies (mini)

 

JP Viper Night Driving (big)

 

No Fear (big)

 

In the evening I attended Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 dance at 6:30 for an hour. This week Karin Rabe and Greg Moore called the dance for Ett. They called four tips to eight participants. It was a small group but it was a lot of fun dancing with friends.

 

I love square dancing with friends


After the dance we watched the Olympics. The event we watched was Curling Mixed Doubles Round Robin the United States verses Canada. While we didn't fully understand the scoring we learned as it went. It was an exciting and close match between the two teams. The US won on the very last frame. 

When Larry went to bed I watched the next super hero movie out of our super hero movies collection, which was Black Panther. Afterwards I watched R.I.P.D. from our movies collection. I ended up doing 2,000 steps.

 


   

Friday, February 6, 2026

Thursday 2-5-26 Two New Pinball Games, Workout & More

 

Gorgeous Day

 

We had a gorgeous day with a lot of sunshine. The day started out with a chilly morning of 31 degrees. In the afternoon it warmed up to 70 degrees as the high for the day. 

We kept busy doing this and that in the house.

Larry installed two new pinball games. The first game on the mini cabinet, which was Ace of Speed. It is an old game but a lot of fun. The VR room is marvelous below are pictures of the room. There was a call out we didn't like because of the language so Larry changed the call out to another one from another games we have. The playfield is in a car, which is so cool. The second game he installed on the big cabinet, it is JP's Viper Night Driving. The game wasn't really made for VR so Larry had to convert it to VR. It doesn't have a VR room. The game is very hard but fun. We have other games, that JP has worked on and they are a lot of fun. After installing the games he played them to ensure they work correctly. He loves to find new games to install and for me to play. He plays pinball now and then but I play pinball everyday when possible for about an hour or two.

 

Backglass of Ace of Speed in VR room

 

 

A couple of cars in the VR room

 

Another car with a poster girl on it in the VR room

 

Gas pump in the back of the truck in VR room

 

Playfield inside the hood 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong before going to bed last night. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 4 minutes and 56 seconds, which put me in 31st place. I didn't do too well. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I started a new jigsaw puzzle. which was Flowers by Nancy Wernersbach from MB Puzzles. The puzzle doesn't have a name so I named it Flowers. It is a 2,000 pieces puzzle and the frame is 24 in X 32 in. It's going to take a bit because of the colors. That's ok because I like a challenge.

 

 

Jigsaw puzzle

 

Easel to hold box cover


I worked out with the Synth Riders for 40 minutes with four songs twice. They were Galaxy Joyride, Satanic Panic, Star Fighter and Vanpirevania. While working out with Galaxy Joyride I earned one new high score. While working out with Satanic Panic I had two outstanding score and one new high score. While working out with Star Fighter I earned one new high score. I had a good workout.

 

Galaxy Joyride

 

Satanic Panic

 

Star Fighter

 

Vampirevania


I played one game of Pirate's Plunder on Bounce Arcade. While playing the game I earned a silver trophy. I earned an extra ball. I fought my enemies once and won. I did the Cutlass Clash and Skeleton Swarp. I raised the flag on the ship twice and hit the flag enough times to earned the Jolliest Roger twice. I had a good game considering I started out very poor.

 

Pirate's Plunder


I played nine games of pinball. I played four games on the mini cabinet including the new game. The games were Ace of Speed (new), Pirates of the Caribbean, Pirate's Life and The Goonies. While playing Ace of Speed I became high score #1 and The Goonies I became high score #4. I played five games on the big cabinet including the new game. The games were Blizzard of Ozz, JP Space Cadet, JP Viper Night Driving (new), No Fear and The Big LeBowski. While playing JP Viper Night Driving I became high score #1. I played pinball very well.

 

Mini Cabinet 

 

Ace of Speed

 

Pirate's Life

 

Pirates of the Caribbean

 

The Goonies

 

Big Cabinet

 

Blizzard of Ozz

 

JP Space Cadet

 

JP Viper Night Driving

 

No Fear

 

The Big LeBowski


In the evening we relaxed in front of the television. We watched The Talented Mr. Ripley on Kanopy starring Matt Damon as Mr. Ripley. The movie was a psychological thriller about a con-artist. It started out as a good movie but as the movie went on it got weird. We didn't like it. Then we watched the Olympics snow board big air qualification on Peacock. When Larry went to bed I watched Spider-Man: Homecoming from our super hero movies collection. I ended up doing 2,000 steps.