12-31 Another Great Year of Blogging

Writing my blog

Today completes my tenth year of blogging and my first year of blogging via Blogger. Back in the beginning I had no idea what  a blog was but Larry was following a couple of blogs and thought I might enjoy writing one. Actually it didn't start out as my blog, it was Flo's. The blog was written from Flo's view of our activities but since she could not type with those paws I had to do it for her. Back then I did not try to blog every day I simply blogged when Flo wanted to write about something we had done. You can still find the old blog via the link on the right side or you can click on www.flostravels.com .

I thought a blog would provide a nice history of our activities and that maybe some of our friends and family might want to follow along. I was correct about providing a history but not as correct in thinking many friends and family would follow along. Over time I discovered that they seldom remembered to go to the blog page. Even though my readership has not been large I enjoy blogging and I keep writing.

I want to thank all of you that do follow along and those of you that leave comments. Did you know I now have a international following, Tony Marchei all the way from Perth Australia made a comment on my blog a few weeks ago, he is a square dancer and angel for his club. I have no idea how he found my little ole blog but I am glad he did. So if you read something you like or simply want to say hi please leave a comment.

12-30 What should we do?

Pepper Creek Trail

Today the temperature got out of 40's and to the low 50's. In the morning we hung around the house, I worked on my puzzle and read a little while Larry boxed up some of the items he has listed on Ebay and surfed the internet. Larry and I had a spiral ham for our Christmas dinner so we had a ham bone to use for something. A few days ago I made ham hock and beans. Flo loves it when I do this then she gets the bone. I don't give her the whole bone at one time, I saw it in half so she had a bone for two days. Larry and I have been having the ham and beans for lunch for the last couple of days. After lunch we loaded Flo into the car and went to the Pepper Creek hiking trail which is only a few miles from our house. The trail is about 1.40 miles long but since Flo was along we only hiked 1/4 mile or so before we turned around. It was a beautiful hike down a concrete trail. Pepper Creek runs along the trail and at places you walk over the creek via bridges. Today while we were walking the trail Pepper Creek was flowing so we saw water falls. By the time we got back to the car Flo was exhausted. We had a very nice walk.

One of the bridges that went over Pepper Creek

The waterfall we saw during our walk

A statue that honors Guy and Cindy Fowler children Jason and Brook

In the evening we streamed a movie called Against the Sun, which was based on a true story of a WWII pilot, bombardier and radioman that were adrift on a lifeboat without food or water after they had to ditch their plane during a scouting mission. It was a little slow but OK. Then we streamed a documentary called American Addict, which was about the politics, big business and the medical industry that made America the most prescription addicted society in the world. It was well done and gave you a lot of information about prescription drugs and big business. We had another relaxing day.  

12-29 Another Brisk Day

Another Brisk Day

We had another brisk day. The temperature didn't get out of the 40's. At least the wind wasn't blowing and the sun did come out for a short time. When the sun was out it felt really nice outside. Larry told me that it was gorgeous so I got my chair and went outside to read a little. Oh, I almost forgot Flo joined me. Most of the day I worked on my puzzle and did a little laundry. Larry did a couple of reviews for The Home Depot Seed Program. We didn't have any errands to do in town so we stayed inside the house and kept warm.

Goofy enjoying watching the television

In the evening we stayed home and watched the one eyed monster (the television). We streamed a movie called Mary and Martha, it was about two women that lost their sons to malaria. It was an OK movie. We watched a documentary called Legally High which was about the synthetic drugs that can be used legally in Great Britain and how they are consistently changing them to keep them legal. It was very informative. We had another slow day.  

12-28 Baby It's Cold Outside

We woke up to a cold wind coming out of the west. The temperature didn't get out of the low forties. I know that's not quite freezing but here in Central Texas it sure feels like it, especially with the wind blowing. Larry decided that Christmas was over so it was time to get a hair cut. We loaded Flo into the car and off to town we went. When we got to Super Cuts in Belton there was only one customer in front of Larry so we were in and out fast. Afterwards we walked next door to HEB and did a little shopping. I was freezing, I thought I didn't need a jacket considering I was wearing a sweater, boy was I wrong. The next stop was the UPS Store I stayed in the car with the heater going while he picked up our mail, the heater felt so good. When we got home I put the items we picked up at HEB away and then made lunch. Larry had a bowl of soup and I had a left over piece of pizza. After everyone was fed Larry read his book on the Kindle and I worked on my puzzle. Flo was having a good day so she pestered me about going for a walk. I really didn't want to so I tried to ignore her. She went outside and did her thing and Larry kept an eye on her, she started to go down the street so Larry brought her back into the yard. I felt bad that she really wanted to go for a walk and I hadn't taken her on one for a while. I stopped doing my puzzle and put a sweat shirt jacket on and took her for a walk. We walked for a half hour around the neighborhood. We didn't see any of her friends during the walk. I told her the reason why was their parents were smarter than me and stayed inside. We had a good walk and now Flo is tired.

Christmas came around and the clubs in the area have not been dancing for the past eight days. This evening the Sundancers in Sun City Georgetown had a dance and we went. There were seven mainstream squares and five plus squares and a few round dancers. That's outstanding considering the dance was right after Christmas. The club had desserts to celebrate the New Years. Before Brad called the last tip instead of a round dance he sang a medley of different singers to I Did It My Way. The singers were Frank Sinatra, Willie Nelson, Kermit the frog, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles and himself Brad Caldwell, he is so talented and we are so lucky to be able to dance to him. We had a super time.

The outfits Larry and I wore to the dance

Steve and Sheri round dancing

Brad Caldwell calling a mainstream tip

Our friends having fun square dancing

Visiting during the dance

Sheryl, Martha and Tony from Shirts 'n' Skirts enjoying the dance

Larry sitting a tip out

Our friends waiting for the next call

Adam and Ruth Ann getting ready to round dance

12-27 Another Rainy Day

It's raining

We woke up this morning to wind and rain and it rained on and off all day. It worked on my puzzle and did a little housework. Larry started reading a book on the Kindle and posted his stuff on Ebay. After lunch I decided to take a nap so off to the bedroom I went. I slept for about an hour, Larry came in and told me he would be back after he tracked down my dog. Flo hasn't left the yard since Larry lightly thumped her on the head the last time she left. He didn't have to go too far, he drove to the boat ramp. There she was walking down the walkway to the dock. The walkway is underwater but she hadn't gone swimming yet. When she saw Larry she was so excited that she started to run to him. She was glad that he came for her and now she doesn't have to walk back to the house. We were surprised she had left considering it was raining and she doesn't really like the rain. When they got back home I got out of bed and she was sleeping on the floor. I looked out the back window and saw three beautiful deer, a buck with a doe and fawn. I told Larry about them and he came to the window and watched them for a little while. We see deer all the time and we never get bored watching them. 

Streaming shows

In the evening we watched a documentary The Extraordinary Story of William Buckley, which was about a convict who escaped the first encampment at Port Phillips in 1803. He lived among the local Wathaurong tribe for many years. It was OK. Then we watched a movie called Canvas starring Griffin Miner, Marcia Gay Harden, Devon Gearhart and Joe Pantoliano. It was a movie about a couple and their son dealing with mental illness. We had another slow day. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!    

12-26 Slow Day

Overcast Day

This morning we woke up to an overcast day. In the afternoon the wind came up and then the rain came. I finished reading Greg Iles, The Quiet Game. I enjoyed the novel, it was about the main character Penn Cage going back to his childhood home in Natchez Mississippi. He is a Houston prosecutor who turned into a novelist. Greg Iles keeps your interest by putting different twists and turns in the story.  After finishing reading the novel I decided to do another jig saw puzzle called The World Of Dogs by Eurographics. It has a lot of different dogs so I thinks it's going to be challenging.

Larry has some electronic/computer gadgets he doesn't use any more so he decided to get them ready to go on Ebay. Sometimes it is not really worth the effort, it takes a lot of time to take and upload pictures of the items and then you have to write a description of each one. Once you list an item if it sells you have to package and mail it. A couple of the items might not sell or only sell for ten bucks. According to Ebay Larry has been a member since 1997 and sold a total of 70 items since 2002 for about $3000, some years he sells nothing. However, it is great to get things out of the house and it is sure better than throwing it away. Actually we donate lots of stuff like this to Goodwill.

Larry received an email from Google Play that said he could rent a movie from them at 75% off the rental price. So this evening we watched Mr. Holmes, it was a good movie but a little slow moving. It was about Sherlock Holmes in his very late years. Then we streamed a short movie off Amazon called Wednesday Morning Club, it was about a young waitress who serves three elderly gentlemen at a small cafe, wasn't very good but it was free.       

12-25 Merry Christmas

Larry, my favorite Santa

Merry Christmas and Season Greetings. I hope everyone had a great holiday. Yesterday we did our weekly grocery shopping, first we went to HEB and did the majority of our shopping then we went across the street to Walmart where we picked up a spiral ham. This morning I put a relish tray together with cheddar cheese, sweet pickles, ham, salami and dill pickles slices and I put Ritz crackers on a plate. For our Christmas dinner we had ham, mashed potatoes and gravy and corn. Today I read and worked out while Larry played with his electronic gadgets. Flo was having a great day and she wanted to go for a walk but I didn't feel like it. Instead of going for a walk I took her outside and picked up her droppings and she kept me company.   

Relish tray

Christmas Dinner

We live near Fort Hood which is the largest Army base in the world. Every year the Fort Hood Family Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) group whose mission statement is: "To provide "First Choice" programs and services that contribute to the well-being and quality of life of our Soldiers, Families, retirees, SOS Families, and DoD civilians", puts on a drive through holiday light display called Nature in Lights at the Belton Lake Outdoors Recreation Area (BLORA) (the Army loves acronyms). We waited for it to get dark then we loaded Flo into the car and went to see the lights. This year we had so much rain that Belton Lake is over full so a section of the lights had to be closed, still saw a lot of lights. Some of the displays are the same year after year but some are new and we always enjoy driving through. Feels more like Christmas with all the lights. We had a great Christmas.

Trimming the Christmas tree

Christmas candles and a wreath

Santa shooting pool with one of his elves

Beautiful Display

12-24 Christmas Eve

My Santa and me

Did you know NORAD ( North American Aerospace Defense Command) tracks Santa Claus as he flies around the world? Well they started tracking Santa Claus 60 years ago when a Sears store in Colorado Springs ran a dial Santa add and the number was misprinted. Instead of going to a Sears Santa hotline it went to the NORAD Command center. Colonel Harry Shoup started getting calls from kids wanting to talk to Santa Claus. He didn't want to tell them they had the wrong number instead he told them that he would track where Santa Claus was. He and His team tracked Santa Claus all night long. Today I started to track Santa via NORAD (www.noradsanta.org) , very cool and fun website, it shows you Santa flying over a world map and tells you what city he will be in next and how long until he gets there, it also shows how many presents he delivered (by the end it was over 7 billion). I spent way too much time on this website today.

NORAD tracking Santa Claus

Santa traveling over the Golf of Mexico

Santa flying over the Caribbean Ocean

Santa flying over Central America

In the evening we watched our traditional Christmas movie, The Polar Express. We never get tired of watching the movie. I live with my own Santa Claus so I still believe in Santa Claus. I hope you have your own Santa Claus. After the movie we called Larry's mom, Shirley to wish her a Merry Christmas. We had a great day.

The Polar Express DVD

Calling Shirley to wish her a Merry Christmas 

 

12-23 Christmas with Louise and Autumn

Celebrating Christmas with Louise

Louise has to work on Christmas and Christmas Eve so we went over to her house to celebrate Christmas today. About 2:30 we loaded Flo into the car and some Christmas presents and off to Round Rock we went. Louise cooked dinner, she prepared barbecued chicken wings, potato salad, baked beans and dinner rolls. While the dinner was cooking we snacked on a relish tray that had cheese, pepperoni, olives and sweet pickles and goodies such as fudge, peanut brittle, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, peanut clusters and Christmas chocolates. After dinner we opened our gifts, we got a lot of wonderful gifts and it took us a couple of hours. After cleaning up all the wrapping paper we had dessert. For dessert Louise had baked an apple pie and had ice cream to go with it. Then we said our good-byes. We had a super time celebrating Christmas with Autumn and Louise.

Christmas dinner at Louise's

Look at all the Christmas gifts

Sitting on a chair with Autumn

Opening one of my gifts

Larry covering his face with a gift card he got for Christmas

Louise opening a gift

A cool stocking Shirley made for Autumn

Flo and Autumn watching Louise getting dinner ready

Louise reading about the coffee she received

12-22 Another Surprise

This morning we were just hanging around the house, I was playing computer games and Larry was reading the paper. After Larry finished the paper he got up and got dressed. I again asked him if we were going somewhere, he didn't answer so I got up and got dressed. Larry and I got in the car and went to town, while driving to town I peeked at a piece of paper Larry had printed out and found out where were going. He was taking me to see the new Star Wars movie The Force Awakes. We have all the Star Wars DVDs so I was excited about going to the final episode of Star Wars. The movie was OK, but to be honest I was a bit disappointed. We don't normally go to movies, the last movie we saw in the theater was Pirates of the Caribbean in 2003. After that we started waiting for the DVD and would purchase what we wanted. We have quite a few DVDs. Today we don't buy many DVDs, I would guess we bought 2 or 3 this year. Now we normally stream our entertainment via Amazon. Normally we can find something we want to watch via Amazon Prime but at times we also pay to rent a movie from Amazon. In today's times I think it makes sense to rent. On the way home we stopped at Subway for lunch. When we got home Flo was excited to see us. After saying hi to her I worked out for about an hour.


In the evening we streamed a movie via Amazon called Ex Machina. It is a British science fiction movie about a young programmer that was invited by his employer to do a Turing test to an android with artificial intelligence. We liked the movie. After watching the movie we watched Frontline. We had a very nice day.

12-21 Another Relaxing Day

I'm so tired

We didn't have any errands to do today so we hung around the house. I read a novel by Greg Iles called Third Degree. I started it a couple of days ago and I finished before I went to bed. Larry found a new password tracking program so he started to transfer our passwords over to it. He started it but has a lot more to do. Our old password program was written back in the 90's and has not been updated in many years, it has always worked well but with all the passwords we have today and with wanting them to be more secure it is time to change. Unfortunately the old program offers no way to export the data so Larry has to manually input all of it. There were around 250 passwords in the old program, some are no longer needed, we simply kept adding more and never removed any. It will take him many days to complete this. After lunch Flo started to pester me about going for a walk. I really didn't want to considering she was limping yesterday but I finally gave in. Instead of taking her on a walk I loaded her into the car and went to the boat ramp so she could go swimming. At first she thought I was tricking her and was just going to take her for a ride. Once we were at the ramp and I let her out of the car she knew it wasn't a trick. She walked around and did a lot of sniffing. Then she went swimming which surprised me, the last couple of times she didn't go swimming. A gentleman showed up with five boys to go fishing. He asked if I would take a picture of them, I told sure thing. He told me that he had to get the kids out of house and away from the video games. They all said hi to Flo. After I took the picture I loaded Flo back into the car and went home. We were at the lake for a half hour. Flo had a great time and now she is tired.

This week there is no square dancing because of Christmas. So in the evening we streamed a couple of episodes of The Man in the High Castle. Then I finished reading Third Degree. This was the first book of Greg Iles I have read and I thought it was very well written and I liked it. We had a very relaxing day. LIFE IS GOOD!!!   

12-20 TIPS Christmas Dance

Wendell Moore, Dale Smith and David Cox

 Wow, can you believe it!!! Christmas is only a few days away. Have you done your Christmas shopping, yet? Larry and I finished, yesterday and I even wrapped them all. The only one I didn't wrap was me. I almost forgot he is my Christmas present. This afternoon we went to our last Christmas dance of the year, the TIPS Christmas Dance in the Waco area. We showed up early to dance with the class. They didn't have any students so it really was an hour workshop and two hour dance. There were two squares for the workshop and three for the dance. TIPS stands for Texas Independent Plus Squares so we danced to plus moves. Dale Smith and Wendell Moore are the club callers. They took turns calling. We had a special treat, David Cox and his wife Donna from North Carolina. David called a tip and joined Dale and Wendell in calling the last tip of the dance. While David called Donna danced in a square. When he wasn't calling he danced with Donna. He was a good caller. We had a great time.

Kathy Potter enjoying herself during a tip

Larry courtesy turning Suzanne

Allemande left with my corner Larry

Our friends doing the allemande thar

Dale Smith calling a tip during the dance

Larry and Belinda enjoying the dance

Wendell and Pat Moore enjoying the dance

Greg and Betsy Fanning enjoying themselves during the dance

Dale and his granddaughter Phoenix

In the evening we watched Robby Hecht on Concert Window. Robby Hecht is a folk singer/songwriter. He gave a good concert, sang a Townes Van Zandt song called If I Needed You.  After the concert Larry went to YouTube and we listened to Townes sing it. It is a beautiful song. We watched a few square dancing videos. Had a super day.