Friday 9-18 Back to Cabinet Project

 

We had a beautiful day with a lot of sunshine. The high at the house was 85 degrees with a wind out of the west. Perfect day to continue working on building our new cabinet.

After taking a day off from building the cabinet we were back working on it. The first step was adding wheels. The wheels makes the cabinet easy to move around. Next we built three more shelves for storage boxes and a drawer. This was the first time Larry had built a drawer and it came out excellent. We spent the day working on the cabinet and we still have more to do.

 

Wheels installed

The cabinet with the three new shelves

After calling it a day we watched some YouTube videos. I played my Solitaire games. I did my Daily Challenges and the Event: Klondike Mini of five games. It took me 10 minutes and 33 seconds to complete, which put me in 29th place in my group.

In the evening we watched a couple of episodes of The Yorkshire Vet on Acorn. Then I finished watching the second season of Hanna on Amazon. Then I did an episode of Columbo on Peacock. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in second place in my group. I ended up doing 133,045 so far this week. 

 

Thursday 9-17 Busy Day of Dancing

Busy day

 

We had another busy Thursday of virtual square dancing. 

In the afternoon the clouds moved in with a breeze. About 3:30 a weather front came in. It brought thunder and almost an inch of driving rain. Before the front it got up to 88 degrees. When the front came in the temperature dropped to 80 degrees.

This morning Larry went to an appointment with his oral surgeon. It was a follow-up on his implant. Everything looked great and they made him an appointment with his dentist to have an impression made to put a crown on it.

Going to the dentist

 While Larry was gone I decided to mow. I mowed both the front and back yards. Today I actually mowed the back of backyard because the grass was starting to get tall. We don't mow the back section of the backyard too often because we don't water it. The only time it gets water is when the septic runs or it rains. It took me two hours to mow. After I finished mowing I blew out the garage and off the driveway. This week I didn't weedeat or edge the frontyard because it didn't need done. 

We attended four virtual square dances. One of the joys of doing virtual square dancing is you don't have to drive anywhere. The first two dances were with Dayle Hodge. The first dance was his weekly C1 dance at 11:00 for an hour. We had 37 participants. Most of the dancers had been attending his weekly dance for awhile so he has been calling more challenging tips, which is fantastic. He calls four tips and the third tip is a workshop tip where he goes over moves the dancers have problems with. He cues when it is necessary and tells the dancers where they should be and what formation you should be in. We had a super time.

The second dance was Dayle's weekly DBD/A1 dance at 1:00 for an hour and a half. The first half hour was Plus DBD, we had 29 participants. It had been awhile since we had danced DBD so we broke down now and then. We had fun. The last hour was A1, which we had 29 participants. Dayle continued doing DBD with the A1 moves and made the dance challenging. We had another outstanding time dancing Plus DBD and A1.

The third dance was Jeremy Butler's weekly A2/C1 dance at 6:00 for an hour. Jeremy invited Bill Harrison to join him in calling the dance. Jeremy and Bill both called two A2 tips, we 33 participants. Jeremy did the final tip, which was a C1 tip with 22 participants. During the A2 tips we did some four couples moves where we were cued through the moves. We had a great time. The C1 tip was challenging and fun.

The fourth dance was Michael Levy's weekly A2 dance at 7:30 for an hour. We had 18 participants. Michael did a very well and we had fun.

In between the dances I played Microsoft Solitaire games. I started out with the Daily Challenges of five games. Then I moved onto the Event: Pyramid Mini of ten games. It took me 1 hour, 2 minutes and 47 seconds to complete, which put me in 22nd place in my group. I also did ten games of Pyramid in the Star Club Challenge. Today for every Pyramid I completed my points were doubled, the points help only for your statistics.

Larry installed the Brilliant Smart Home Control, which was one of the items that Larry received from The Home Depot Seeds Program. He installed it for our kitchen light and bar light. It works with our Amazon Alexa devices. 
 

Brilliant Home Control device

After the last dance we watched an episode of The Yorkshire Vet on Acorn. Then I continued watching Hanna on Amazon. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in third place in my group with 106,000 steps.   

     

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 9-16 Early Birthday Gift

We had another wonderful day with cloud cover. It was a little warmer today with very little breeze. It got to 91 degrees at the house.

We continued working on building the cabinet for our Cameo. Today we made a shelf with sliding rails that will allow the Cameo to slide in and out of the cabinet. Larry installed the railing under the shelf and it works great. He also installed another shelf above the sliding shelf. He used his pocket hole tool on the shelves and the top. We also made eight shelves out of some 1/4 inch plywood we had laying about, these will hold vinyl, paper products and other supplies. The shelves slide into the grooves Larry made yesterday. Larry had another long day of building the cabinet, I helped when needed. The cabinet is looking outstanding.

 

 

The sliding rails for the Cameo shelf

The sliding shelf

The cabinet waiting for the next step
 

After calling it a day we watched YouTube videos and I played my Solitaire games. I did my Daily Challenges and the Event. Today the Event: World Tour mini of seven games, it took me 10 minutes and 52 seconds. When I finished I was in second place but when everyone in my group finished I ended up in third place. I very rarely get in the top five in my group. This was very exciting.

 

 

While we were working on the cabinet the mailman came by and delivered a package. Larry told me it was my birthday present from Louise, she had given me a gift card for Amazon. I opened it up and it was a Locomotive puzzle made by ROKR. About four months ago I assembled a Air Vehicle ROKR puzzle (with a bit of help from Larry) and had a great time doing it. This one is a train and has more pieces. I think I will have just as much fun assembling it.

 

 

New puzzle

 

At 5:30 we Zoomed into a dance with Ken Burke, there were only about six of us on the call, one of the participants discovered the dance had been cancelled. 

 

At 6:30 we Zoomed into Doren McBroom's weekly C1 dance. We only had fourteen participants, this dance had originally been canceled and then a couple of days ago Doren decided to go ahead with it. Quite probably a lot of people didn't know it was back on. Doren called four tips and everyone had a great time.

After the dance we watched a documentary on Amazon called Idaho The Movie. It was about Idaho and things to see and do in Idaho. Afterwards we watched two episodes of The Yorkshire Vet. When Larry went to bed I started to watch the second season of Hanna. Then I watched an episode of Columbo. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in fourth place in my group. For the week I have done 79,000 steps. 

Tuesday 9-15 The Project Continues

 

We had another mild day. There was a breeze and cloud covering. The temperature got in the high 80's. 

We took the morning and afternoon off from dancing to continue working on building the cabinet. We finished cutting the slots in a few boards using the circular saw. Larry got the chance to use a new tool, a straight edge that clamps to the board to keep your saw going straight. He used it to finish cutting the grooves in the two boards from yesterday and then he cut all the grooves in a back board. Before cutting the grooves he put tape on the board to help prevent chipping. Next up we began assembling the cabinet using another new tool, a pocket hole kit. Before drilling the pocket holes we clamped the boards together and marked the spots for the holes. The tool worked excellent and the holes were drilled correctly each time. We are still a long way from being done but we are making good progress.

 

Grooves made with the table saw

New straight edge tool

Cutting grooves using the circular saw

Grooves cut

Drilling pocket holes

 

Pocket hole

What the cabinet looks like after two days

 

I played my Daily Challenges and the Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 10 games. It took me 34 minutes and 1 second, which put me in 18th place in my group.

In the evening we attended Don Moger's weekly A2 dance at 6:00 for an hour and a half. Don had 70 participants. He called six tips. We had a great time.

After the dance we started watching a new detective series on PBS. It has three episodes and we watched the first one. It was a good series and takes place in Amsterdam. Afterwards we watched an episode of The Yorkshire Vet. After Larry went to bed I finished watching the first season of Hanna. Then I watched the first episode of the second season of Columbo. I ended up doing 26,000 steps, which put me in third place in my group with 52,000 steps.  

 

Monday 9-14 Cabinet Project Begins

Smile and have fun

I woke up to an empty house, Larry was gone. Where did he go? Well, yesterday when we did our weekly grocery shopping we forgot to order a few items. Before I woke up he we went to Walmart. While in the store he bought a Cinnabon cinnamon marble cake. We had it for breakfast and snacked on it the rest of the day. The pieces were loaded with a lot of cinnamon, it was delicious.

It was suppose to be windy all day so it was a perfect day to start working on our cabinet project. First we setup our workstation, our 4' long plastic table. We put the miter saw on it  and cut the plywood into the lengths Larry wanted.  Once the pieces were cut we had to cut the pieces to the right width. The miter saw was taken off the table and out came the table saw. Then we were now ready to cut slots for shelves. Before Larry could cut the slots he had to double up the blades so the slots would be wide enough. Our table saw was able to cut six slots in the boards but it was not big enough to do the middle two slots. Larry got out the circular saw to do the middle two slots but he didn't have two saw blades the same size.

We went to Harbor Freight and bought the blades. While we were in town we swung by The UPS Store to pick up our mail. We had a couple of packages from The Home Depot Seeds Program waiting for us. When we got home in was 3:30. Now we're ready to continue the project in the morning.

Due to working on the cabinet we took the day off from virtual square dancing. After calling it a day we watched YouTube videos. 

I worked on my Solitaire games. I started out by doing the Daily Challenges of five different Solitaire games. Then I moved on to the Event: Easy Street Mini of five games. It took me 11 minutes and 40 seconds to complete, which put me in 26th place in my group. 

 

Playing Solitaire games       

 

In the evening we watched an Amazon documentary called Six Million Steps: A Journey Inward. It was about hikers walking the Pacific Crest Trail, it is stretches 2,650 miles, the length of the U.S. Pacific Coast from Canada to Mexico. It goes through three states, seven national parks and twenty-five national forests. The hikers vary in different ways of life and employment. They all had the same dream to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. In was very interesting. Then we watched an episode of The Yorkshire Vet. I continued watching Hanna. I ended up doing 26,000 steps, which put me in fourth place in my group.

 

Relaxing in front of the television

   

 

 

 

Sunday 9-13 Just Another Sunday

Laugh and have fun

 

We had a wonderful day. It got up to 91 degrees and we had a little breeze.

Larry has been working on designing a cabinet to hold the Cameo cutter and its supplies. He finished the design and now needs to build the cabinet. The first item he needed was a sheet of plywood so off to The Home Depot we went. Today was the first time we have been inside The Home Depot together in over six months. It was early on a Sunday and there were very few people in the store, everyone was wearing a mask. The reason I went inside was so I could help him lift the board. Larry decided on which board he wanted, we loaded it on a cart and took it to their saw, then Larry found a employee to cut the board in three pieces.  

In between our square dances we setup Larry's table saw and went to Harbor Freight to pickup a new saw blade.

We attended three virtual square dances. The first was Don Moger's weekly C1 dance at 11:00. It was for an hour and a half. Don had 54 participants. We had a wonderful time dancing to Don and other dancers around the world.

The second dance was Ett McAtee's weekly C series at 1:00 for an hour and a half. This week the series was three C1 tips and two C2 tips. We danced the three C1 tips. Ett had 79 participants. She called the first two tips and her partner Linda called the last tip. They both did a good job and we had fun.

The third dance was Loren Smith's weekly A2/C1 dance at 7:30. This week he invited Steve Edlund to attend the dance and help him call. Loren called the first A2 tip and Steve called the other two A2 tips. We had 39 participants. This was the first time that Steve called a virtual square dance and he did a good job. The third tip was an all four couple square and I danced it by myself. It was hard because Steve didn't cue. Loren called two C1 tips, which we had 35 participants. We had great evening dancing to Loren and Steve.

 

 

In between the dances I did my daily challenges and the Event: Two Game Tango of 10 Klondike games and 10 Tri Peaks games. It took me 2 hours, 21 minutes and 37 seconds to finish and it put me in 10th place in my group.

After the last dance we watched a couple episodes of The Yorkshire Vet. Then I finished the first season of Columbo. I started to watch an Amazon series called Hanna. It's based on a 2011 movie Hanna. It's about a girl, who was raised in the forest by her dad. It's a good series. I ended up doing 23,000 steps, I ended up in third place in my group for the week with 182,415 steps.         

 

Saturday 9-12 A Day of Leisure

Day of leisure

 

 

We had another mild day with the high at 91 degrees. 

The wildlife is enjoying the cool weather. The birds kept busy flying in and out of the feeder. We did have to chase a squirrel out of the feeder. Once I filled bowls with food the squirrels had a great time eating the food.

Most Saturdays we don't have any virtual square dancing, this is ok because we need a day off, the rest of the week we dance two to four dances a day. 

I did my daily Solitaire games, Daily Challenges and the Event: Medium Mayhem Mini of 5 games. It took me 13 minutes and 35 seconds to complete, which put me in 16th place in my group. I also did a couple of Tri Peaks hard level in the Star Club.

I also did some housework and laundry.

 

Doing chores

I asked Larry to choose a book for me to read on my Kindle. He chose The Siege of Winter, I already read this book but I decided to read it again. Larry finished reading a book on his Kindle. After reading we watched some YouTube videos. 

In the evening we watched The Matrix Revolutions, it is the third and final episode of the series. Afterwards we watched an episode of The Yorkshire Vet. Then I watched two episodes of Columbo. I ended up doing 28,000 steps, which kept me in third place in my group.