6-29 Sundancers Red, White and Blue Dance

Sundancers Red, White and Blue Dance

This morning we dropped the Minnie at off at Ponder Automotive to have the rear breaks and the front end checked. Larry rebuilt the front breaks a couple of years ago but nothing has ever been done to the rears, we were not having any problems but the Minnie has about 95,000 miles and Larry wants them checked. When we go slow and encounter small chuck holes or rough roads there has at times been a noise in coming from the front end and it is getting worse so it is also time to try and find out what it is. During the day I read and vacuumed the house. At 5:30 we met Jan, Skip and Dee in the Best Buy parking lot to car pool to Sun City to square dance. The theme today was red, white and blue, Larry wore red pants, white shirt, patriotic tie and red, white and blue suspenders and I wore my red, white and blue dress. We both wore our Uncle Sam hats. We were surprised that more people weren't dressed up and there wasn't a lot of red, white and blue. There were enough people for eight squares.

Square Dancing to Brad's calling

Brad Caldwell the Sundancers caller

A couple of our friends Becky and Hanna (wearing my hat)

Larry dancing with friends

  

6-28 Install Front Shocks in the Minnie

Install Front Shocks

Larry was busy this morning. He started the day by replacing the front shocks on the Minnie. When he needed my help I helped him. He put the Minnie on jack stands, removed the old shocks, decompressed the new shocks in order to install them, tightened down the nuts and bolts and once the shocks were installed he lowered the Minnie. It was very humid so when he finished he was exhausted and his shirt was soaked with sweat.

decompressing a shock

installing a shock

putting the Minnie on jack stands

the old shocks

The next project was working on a leak on the roof of the Minnie. During our vacation it rained really hard a few times and we didn't have any leaks so Larry thought he had finally fixed the leak but while the Minnie was sitting at the house it rained and the roof leaked again. After installing the front shocks Larry climbed up on the roof to work on the leak. He figures that it is most likely leaking where the antenna wire goes in through the roof, to test this theory he made a patch out of a compacter bag and taped it down with Gorilla tape. If this stops the leak he will then do a more permanent repair. I have confidence that it will work.

resealing leak on the roof

It has been very humid and Flo has been pestering me about taking her to the lake so I gave into her after lunch. The flood gate has been opened all week and the lake is slowly going down but the parking lot of the boat ramp is still under water and the ramps on the lake are still closed. Flo and I walked around the gate and went to the water. When she gets near the lake she gets very excited and picks up her pace. She swam a lot and met a few people. We were gone for an hour and had a fun time.

Flo wading in Belton Lake

bushes by the parking lot under water

6-27 Red White and Blue Dance

Red White and Blue Dance Outfits

When we woke up this morning it was raining. We had planned to go to Louise's and work on her back door but the rain kept us from doing that. After I finished the color pencils puzzle I started reading Presumed Innocent, a novel written by Scott Turow and I finished it today, it was very well written.

In the evening Larry and I went square dancing in Eddy with the Denim and Lace Club for their Red, White and Blue Dance in celebration of the Fourth of July. There were enough people for two squares and they had hot dogs and the fixings, chips, peanuts, potato salad, watermelon, cookies and pecan pie. Denise Kamp did the calling and Dorothy Coleman did the cuing.

Bob and Micky taking pictures

Dancing with my friends

Line Dancing to Dorothy cuing

Square Dancing to Denise calling

  

6-26 Relaxing Day

LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!!

When we woke up this morning and the wind was blowing so we decided not to go to the lake. We didn't have anything pressing on our agenda. Flo was pestering us to go some place so we loaded her up into the car and off we went to town. Larry has been wanting a couple of plumbing parts for the Minnie, he had used his backup parts when he fixed the toilet and he wanted to replace them just in case he needed them when we were on the road but he hasn't been in a hurry to get them. We stopped at Sunbelt RV and picked up the parts, while we were there Larry asked them if they could recommend any place that works on front ends of Class C RVs. They called a place and asked if they did alignments on RVs and they were told they didn't have the equipment. After they got off the phone they suggested a place in Troy. Larry thought that Ponder Automotive in Temple works on big trucks and maybe they could work on our Minnie. When we got home Larry called them and they said it depends on how heavy it was. Larry decided when we were ready to have the Minnie worked on we'll probably take it by Ponder and see if they can do the work.

On our way home from our Spring Trip a front shock absorber on the Minnie broke. We were in the middle of nowhere and hit a bump and all of a sudden something started making a bunch of noise. We pulled into a truck stop and after crawling around under the motor home Larry finally discovered the broken shock, he decided to remove it and fix it when we got home. When he went to order new front shocks he discovered they were on back order, he tried all kinds of places and everyone had them on back order. He went ahead and ordered from the same company we had gotten them from a few years ago, the company said they would ship June 20th, a few days ago he wrote them an email asking about a status and they replied they would not be available until August. The next day he had decided to order other shocks when he was notified that the shocks had shipped. So today we received an e-mail that said we had a package at the UPS Store he knew it was the shocks so back to town we went. Now Larry has a new Minnie Project to do.

6-25 Dinner with Jan and Skip

Dinner with Jan and Skip

This morning when Larry woke up the wind was down but when I got up it had come up a little, it didn't look too bad so we decided to go to Stillhouse Hollow Lake to do some boating. By the time we got there the wind had picked up and the lake was rough. We had come all this way so we launched the boat and drove to the other side of the lake to see if we could find smoother water. But we struck out, it was even too rough to Air Chair, instead we floated for a little while. While we were wiping down the boat we saw a sailboat on the lake, it was a perfect day for sailing.

Sailing on Stillhouse Hollow Lake

Larry floating in the lake

Due to the National Square Dancing Convention our local clubs are dark for Thursday and Friday so we invited Jan and Skip out for dinner. While we were getting ready for their arrival Larry called me to look at this beautiful roadrunner on our back porch. He had jumped up on our porch railing and stood there for the longest time, didn't seem to have a care in the world, he was just looking around and checking things out. Dinner was a chicken black bean bake, pasta salad and relish tray, for dessert a Jello No Bake Cherry Cheese Cake. We had a super time visiting with Jan and Skip.

The relish tray we had for dinner

A Roadrunner on our back porch

   

6-24 Boating on Stillhouse Hollow Lake

Boating on Stillhouse Hollow Lake

The clouds are gone, there's no wind, and the sun is shining, lets go to lake. This morning Larry and I went to Stillhouse Hollow Lake for the second time this year. While at the lake we water skied, surfed and floated. When Larry was getting ready to wake surf a siren went off and scared me. It was a warning that they were opening the gate to let water out of the lake. The lake was excellent and we had a great time. We were careful not to over do it with skiing because we didn't want to be in pain. When we got home Flo was very excited to see us.

Stillhouse Hollow Lake

Water Skiing

Larry getting ready to surf

Surfing

Larry wiping down the boat

In the evening we met up with Jan and Skip and went square dancing in Georgetown with Shirts 'n' Skirts. Louis, Belinda and Dorothy also wanted to go but since all of us could not fit in one vehicle they drove separately. Their caller Jim Hayes was at the National Square Dance Convention so they had Wayne Weston from San Antonio. Lucy and Jerry Pate cued the round dances. There were enough people there for six squares and everyone appeared to have a great time. Wayne is an excellent caller and keeps people moving.

Jerry and Lucy round dancing to Lucy cuing on recording

6-23 June Seeds Program Items

Reviewing Products from The Home Depot

This month Larry ordered five more items on The Home Depot Seeds Program to review, they were GE LED bright Stik, Philips Silicone Covered Twister, 2' X 4' 1/2 inch Poplar Plywood, Tool Holder and Ecosmart LED Soft White. He received the tool holder last last night and installed it today. While he was waiting for the holder he did a little research on it and found out some people were unhappy with it, seems the attachment that holds the tools will eventually break if you put a big handle tool on it. After installing it, which didn't take too long he put some of our small handle tools on it. By hanging the tool holder it made the area a little neater. A little later this afternoon he received his last item, the Ecosmart LED Soft White 3 way LED Bulb, now he just needs to write up the reviews on the items. Good luck.

GE Led Bright Stik bulbs

Philips Silicone Covered Twister

Poplar Plywood

Tool Holder

Ecosmart LED Soft White

In the evening we watched our new dvd, Kingsman The Secret Service starring Colin Firth, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Cane. We weren't too impressed, not sure we will ever watch it again.

6-22 Jig Saw Puzzles

Doing Jig Saw Puzzles

Today I finished my sixth jig saw puzzle, it is titled color pencils. It wasn't as challenging as the other five and it only took a few days to complete. The puzzles were made by three different companies Buffalo, Mega and Ceaco and while I had fun doing all of them I decided that I preferred the Buffalo Puzzles. The Buffalo brand pieces fit together better, they come with a poster that helps you with the assembly of the puzzle. I complained to Larry that the Buffalo puzzles boxes sides were glued to the bottom so when you opened the box you had to cut around the edges and it left pieces of the box still on the glue. The Mega puzzles and Ceaco puzzles boxes were sealed so when you cut around the edge you had to be careful that you didn't cut all the way through the sides of the bottom and this made the boxes very flimsy. One thing I did like about the package of the Mega puzzles and the Ceaco puzzles were that the pieces were in a sealed bag. All the puzzles I did were challenging and had great color to them. The Buffalo puzzles do cost a bit more than the Mega and Ceaco puzzles. 

Color Pencils Puzzle

Both the Cactus and Color Pencils puzzles when they were done

In the evening Larry and I went to Sun City with Jan and Skip to square dance with the Sundancers. Our friends LuAnn, Dalbert, Harold and Connie from the TIPS Club were also at the dance. This was their first time at Sun City and I believe they had a great time. There were enough people for eight squares for mainstream and five for plus. Brad Caldwell had computer problems so the last tips he had to sing and call without music. He did a super job.

Square Dancing with the Sundancers

6-21 Father's Day Dance

Happy Father's Day!!!! Just another normal day for us. Started off with me working on my puzzle while Larry puttered around the house, he did a little weed whacking, blew out the garage (somehow the garage becomes covered in Flo's hair, Larry normally has to use the blower on it about once a week), and since we were taking Belinda with us today for a dance he vacuumed the dog hair from the car.

Last week we picked up some jalapeno burgers from HEB so for lunch today I barbequed a couple of them up on the gas grill, they were terrific. After lunch I worked on my puzzle a bit more while Larry started reading a new book.

In the afternoon we met up with Belinda and went to Waco to square dance with the TIPS Club for their Father's Day Dance. TIPS dance's every first and third Sunday of the month at 2:30 to 5:00 but today was Father's Day and they decided to dance from 3:30 to 5:30. There were barely enough people to have two squares, Wendell Moore was the caller.

TIPS Father's Day Dance

When we got home we had dinner and then we watched the last two episodes of The Escape Artist, really good show, as we watched it I remembered small bits and pieces so I know we have seen it before but I certainly didn't remember enough to know what was going to happen. Must be getting old. I guess the good news is everything will seem new again.

6-20 Installing Water Heater Pump

Water Heater Pump

We didn't have anything really to do today so we loaded Flo into the car and headed to downtown Belton. Every third Saturday on the month Belton has Markets Days, the city closes a couple of streets around the court house and vendors put up booths to sell their wares. Every Saturday from mid May to September 30 they also have a Farmers Market where local farmers sell their fruit and vegetables to the public. Larry and I walked around downtown Belton and looked at the stuff that was being sold. We did buy three raffle tickets for $5 to help raise money for a group of local boys to go to a bass tournament. Larry had read that there was a car show at Lowe's so we drove by to see what was happening but there were only a couple cars, later is the day Larry saw the hours of the show in the paper and discovered we had been there too early but by then it was too late to go back. In the afternoon USPS delivered our new water heater pump so Larry installed it. The easy part was installing the pump on the water heater but connecting the valve under the kitchen sink took some time. Once he got the valve and pump installed he set the timer on the pump so it won't run all the time to help keep the electric bill down. Now we have hot warm instantly instead of waiting for about a minute. Thank you honey.

Installing the valve under the sink in the kitchen

The valve Larry installed

The finished product

In the evening we streamed a few shows. We watched Limited Partnership on Independence Lens, this was about a guy couple, Richard and Toni and the struggle they went through the forty years they were together. The next show was Crafted, which was about five artists, 2 knife makers, 2 chiefs and 1 pottery maker and their craft. We enjoyed both of these shows. The last one was an episode of The Escape Artist, which is about a defense lawyer.

6-19 Gospel Dance in Killeen

Cactus Puzzle Finished

I finished the 1000 pieces cactus jig saw puzzle this afternoon and then I started the 1000 pieces color pencil. It took me a little over a week to assemble the puzzle, it was challenging, the colors intertwine with each other through-out the puzzle. I had a lot of fun doing my fifth jig saw puzzle and now I'm excited to assemble my sixth puzzle.

One down One to go

In the evening Larry and I went to Killeen for the Kickers' Gospel Dance. There were enough people to have four squares for mainstream and three squares for plus, in between each square dancing tip there was either line dancing or round dancing. I participated in the line dancing. We had a super time dancing with our friends.

Line Dancing with Christina cuing

Round Dancing

Larry square dancing

Forming lines facing out (Carole, Louis, Jan and Skip)