10-30 It's raining, It's pouring

Rainy Day

It rained all day and at times it poured. It rained so hard that the dry wash on the back of our property was flowing and you could hear the roar from the waterfall as it pored over the ledge heading to the lake. I tried to walk out and get a picture but it was too muddy. We watched the rain for awhile and Larry used an umbrella to walk around the house and see how our drainage was working, it works as designed, the water flows to each side of our lot and then flows towards the lake. We have a big back porch and two thirds of it is covered, it rained so hard that the whole porch was wet. During the rain we were glad we didn't have to drive in it. During the day I finished a novel by Scott Turow called Limitations. It was about how the court system works on appeals and the statue of limitations. It was very interesting and easy to read. Larry worked on rebuilding Louise's computer. Flo slept.

Rain falling in our backyard

Rain draining off the driveway

Rain draining between two of our neighbors homes

In the evening we streamed a HBO movie called The Gathering Storm, it is about Winston S. Churchill in the years leading up to World War II. It was a true movie and very good. Afterwards we streamed a short cartoon called Grufflo. It was about a make believe creature, it was very cute and was definitely made for young children. We had a very relaxing day.

10-29 What should I do next?

I'm bored!!!!

We're caught up on home projects and we're not square dancing for a couple of days so what should I do? Oh, I know!!! Why don't I bake a loaf of bread. The other day while grocery shopping we picked up a bag of Rhodes White Bread. I've been meaning to bake a loaf but the dough is frozen and it takes 2-7 hours the thaw out. By the time I thought about baking a loaf it was too late in the day but today it was early enough so I put a loaf in the bread pan to start the thawing process.

Our lamp shades are over 25 years old and in bad shape, we have been thinking about getting new ones for a while. While the bread was thawing we went to Walmart to look at lamp shades and we were in luck, we found some. We still need one for our floor lamp, we got the floor lamp from Larry's mother and it is about 40 years old, amazing that the shade is the original, it is a large shade and finding a new one will not be easy. Larry did find a couple on the web that would work but they were in the $100 range which is more than we want to pay. Next stop was to get a flu shot for Larry. We had to wait over an hour to get one at his doctor's office. I have a doctors appointment next month and I plan to get my flu shot then. The last stop was Lowe's, we are getting low on double AA batteries and there was an advertisement if you bought some Energize batteries you would get a $10 gift card. We checked out the advertisement and decided to pass and wait for Black Friday sales. When we got home it was time for lunch.

Old shade on the left and new shade on the right

Freshly baked bread

After I sliced the loaf

My bread knife

King's Daughters Clinic

In the afternoon I read a little and then I worked out for a half hour on my Wii Fit and a half hour with Just Dance. After I worked out we loaded Flo back into the car and went to Round Rock to see Louise and Autumn. Louise's computer has been slowing down and Larry has been wanting to work on it. We aren't going to square dance for a couple of days and he doesn't have anything on his to do list so he decided to go pick up the computer. Louise worked last night so we couldn't go over too early. When we got to Round Rock it was dinnertime so we stopped by Taco Bell and picked up dinner. Larry didn't call Louise to tell her we were coming so she was surprised to see us. Autumn was very happy to see Flo and us. After dinner Larry setup his computer for Louise to use while he works on hers. We had a very nice visit with Louise and Autumn.

    

10-28 Shirts 'n' Skirts Halloween Dance

Don Ringler Chevrolet

It's time for the Equinox to get an oil change. Larry usually changes the oil in our vehicles but the Equinox is still under the warranty so we take it to Don Ringler Chevrolet, that way if anything happens to it Chevrolet will have the records to prove we have been getting it serviced. When we were in Austin if you needed an oil change at the dealer you just took it in and they put it through the Express Service but here in the Belton/Temple area there is only one Chevrolet dealer and they don't have an Express Service lane so you have to call and make an appointment. Larry did this Monday and our appointment was this morning. As we were leaving I gave Flo a little treat and told her she couldn't go with us, she was disappointment and barked as we closed the door. After the oil change was completed we stopped by the UPS Store to get our mail and Walmart to pick up a couple for things then we went to lunch at Taco Bell. By the time we got home Flo had forgiven us for leaving her. When she saw us she was excited.

The Wii keeps track on how long it's been since you used it

the Wii balance board

The options you have on the Wii and it keeps tract on time and calories you burn

The workout program I did using Gold Gym and my trainer

Just Dance program

I've been saying since we got back from our trip that I needed to get back to working out on the Wii so I actually did this afternoon. I worked out for an hour. I did 30 minutes of Gold Gym and 30 minutes of Just Dance. When you use Gold Gym you can choose what program you want (prepared or a la cart) and how long you want to workout. On the Just Dance program you can decide what songs you want to dance to and what program you want. The program keeps track of the time so you can decide when to stop. If you go to the song list you can create a list of their songs for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 40 minutes or shuffle where the program shows how long each song is and you decide when to stop. You can click on a button and the program will keep track of the calories you burn. I was going to do a little more of the Wii Fit but I got tired. Instead I worked on our book until dinnertime.

Jerry Pate round dancing to Lucy cuing

round dancing to Monster Mash

promenading home with Willie

dancing the plus tip with Jim

In the evening we met up with Jan and Skip and went to Georgetown to attend the Skirts 'n' Skirts Halloween Dance. Al Frazier called for Jim Hayes and Lucy and Jerry Pate cued. We had five mainstream squares and three plus squares. There were a lot of round dancers. I danced a mainstream tip with Willie and Larry danced the same tip with Sandy. I danced the plus tip with Jim and Larry sat it out. We a fun time dancing with the Shirts 'n' Skirts Club.  

10-27 Who Needs Cable or Satellite TV?

Deer in our backyard

We did away with our cable years ago and don't miss it either. We get the local channels by using an antenna and when we're not using the antenna we use our ROKU. What got me thinking about cable was this morning when we watched six deer (two does, two bucks and two fawns) running, eating and walking through our backyard. I thought who needs Animal Planet or Nature we have it living in our backyard.

Winterizing the boat

Flo's new friend

Larry removing the hoses to drain the water out

After watching the deer Larry decided to winterize the boat. Every year when the boating season is over and it starts to get cold Larry will winterize the boat. When Larry winterizes the boat he drains the water out of engine area and the manifolds. Then he oils the areas he needed to. I helped Larry by chasing down the tools he needed. While working on the boat Flo was outside with us. A young cat decided to come to see us but Flo barked at it. She probably wouldn't hurt the cat once she checked it out. The cat didn't know this so it stayed on the lot next to us. Larry went over to the lot and petted it. It was very friendly and would talk to us but everytime Flo would bark it would hesitate. After we finished working on the boat I put Flo inside and the cat came closer to us. During the day I read, Larry surfed the internet and Flo pestered the cat and sunned.

new boat shoes for me

new walking shoes for Larry

 In the evening Larry and I went to our club's square dancing lessons. When we showed up the club had enough angels so they didn't need us so we said our good-byes and left. My boat shoes are worn out and Larry has been needing to buy bigger shoes. So off to Academy we went to look for shoes. Larry really wanted to get a pair of white shoes like he already has except in a larger size. But they didn't have the New Balance shoe he liked in his size in white but they had it in black. He hesitated a  bit because New Balance had changed the shoe but at the end we bought the black pair. While there we found a pair of white boat shoes for me. We got home earlier than Flo expected so she was sound asleep on her bed. When she realized we were home she was excited to see us. We had a nice day.

10-26 What A Gorgeous Day!!!!!

What a gorgeous day!!!!

We woke up to a gorgeous day, the sun was shining and there was a cool breeze. Flo needed some more food so we loaded her into the car and went to town. While we were in town we did a little grocery shopping and stopped by Scott & White Hospice Thrift Store. Larry has been looking for shirts to replace some of his old ones. We found a few at the thrift store and we also found me Thanksgiving skirt and a blouse. In the afternoon I read and worked on our book. Larry ordered a timer the other day for the exhaust fan he had installed in the attic and he received it so he spent a little while programming it and now he's testing it out on the living room lamp to make sure that it works correctly.

Dan Nordbye and Brad Caldwell

round dancing to Lucy Pate's calling

Barbara dressed as Lady Godiva and Joe Bob as a clown

Jerry Pate cuing the round dancers

the outfits we wore to the Halloween Dance

Today was the Sundancers Halloween Dance in Sun City so we met up with Jan, Skip and Belinda to car pool with them there. They invited Dan Nordbye to help Brad Caldwell call the dance. Lucy and Jerry Pate cued the round dancing. The club members brought refreshments. There were 12 mainstream squares and 10 plus squares and a lot of round dancers. A lot of the dancers were dressed up for Halloween. We had a pleasant surprise when a couple of our friends from the Coryell County Squares, Barbara and Joe Bob showed up. We didn't recognized them until Jim from Killeen Kickers told us they were here. We had a fabulous time dancing to Dan and Brad and watching the round dancers dance to Jerry and Lucy Pate.   

10-25 Cookie Dance

Square Dancing

The rain went away for a little while. The TIPS Club in Waco was having plus lessons and a dance afterwards so we decided to go to Waco. The dance was called Cookie Dance and the club provided cookies for refreshments. The cookies they had were homemade pumpkin spice, sugar wafer, sugar with chocolate drop in the middle, homemade sugar with vanilla creme and I brought fig bars. During the lessons there were three squares and the dance started out with three squares but most of the tips had two squares. We hadn't seen these folks for about two month, they were happy that we were back. We had a fun time dancing to Wendell Moore and Dale Smith calling.

Our friends square dancing to Wendell

Waiting for Wendell to call the next move

Wendell Moore calling

Flo was very excited to see us when we got back. I baked Mama Cozzis Italian Style Meatball Marinara pizza for our dinner. In the evening we watched this weeks episode of Home Fires. We really didn't care for Indian Summers so we didn't watch it. Indian Summers was hard to follow because it had too many characters and too much going on. After Home Fires we streamed a documentary on the ROKU called Stories We Tell, it was about a young lady trying to find out who her biological father was. We enjoyed it very much. We had a fun day.     

10-24 Another Rainy Day

Rainy Day

It has been a wet day. It rained on and off all day. At times it poured down rain. We stayed in the house all day. I worked on our book and read. Flo slept and went outside now and than. Larry streamed this weeks Before You Buy through the ROKU. He streamed through the computer on the television some square dancing videos, song videos from Kasey Chambers and other videos off of YouTube. In the evening I made sugar cookies and we watched Avatar on DVD. We had a very relaxing day.

10-23 The Rain Is Here

It's Raining

We're very happy about the rain. It hasn't rained here in over 30 days and we really need the rain. Even though it's raining I still dragged Larry and Flo out of the house to go to the store. It never fails everytime I go grocery shopping I always forget something. So off to Walmart we went to pickup a couple of items. While we were on our trip it got cold in the morning a few times and I didn't have any gloves so my hands got cold. When we were shopping on the trip we looked for gloves but it was too early for them to be sold in Walmart. But when we were there this morning we found a pair of gloves, which was perfect for the Minnie. The next time we get the Minnie I have to remember to put the gloves in it. The other day Aldi had an add for soup bowls and I have been wanting to get a couple more to put in the Minnie. So while we were in town we stopped by Aldi. As we were walking around we came across the fresh made Mama Cozzis pizzas. We couldn't resist so we picked up an Ultimate Meat Pizza. A little while later we saw the same brand of pizzas frozen so we picked up an Italian Style Meatball Marinara pizza. When we got home we had the Ultimate Meat pizza for lunch and it was delicious. I can hardly wait to try the Meatball Marinara pizza. We spent the rest of the day indoors. I worked on our yearly book, Larry played with the ROKU and Flo slept.

Shopping at Aldi

Mama Cozzis Ultimate Meat Pizza

New Gloves for Camping

New Soup Bowls

We usually go square dancing on Friday night but the dance with Double C's was cancelled, the library was having problems with their alarm system. We had a free night to watch some YouTube videos, one we really enjoyed watching was a 1976 Steve Goodman Concert. Then we streamed the new PBS series from Sunday night, Indian Summers and Home Fires. Afterwards we listened to Pandora until it was time to go to bed. We had a very relaxing day.     

10-22 Installing a New Duct in the Attic

Home Projects

Today we woke up to overcast skies and a little rain so we stayed around the house. Larry has been working on trying to get the fumes out of the garage. He put in a new vent awhile back, this along with leaving a window cracked got almost all of the fumes out. He has been meaning to install a fan and duct in the attic then the air flow would be even better and hopefully he could keep the window closed. The other day we picked up the items he needed to do this project. Larry did all the work and I helped him by retrieving the tools he needed. The first step he did was install an electrical box in the attic to get power where the fan was going to be. Once he installed the electrical box and outlet he moved on to the hardest part putting in the duct and fan. Before doing the duct work he hung the fan to a rafter with a couple of metal straps. Then he connected the duct to the vent with nylon tie-wraps. Next step was to connect the duct to the fan but before he could do this he had to cut the duct to size. Then he connected used nylon tie-wraps to hold the duct to the fan. Once this was done he tied the duct up to the rafters with a netting. The last step was to make sure that everything works. It worked perfect, which I knew it would. When Larry does home projects they're done excellent. I'm very lucky to have a husband that can do home improvement projects.

Installing the electrical box and outlet

Larry checking out the flexible duct before installing

Strapping up the duct after it was installed

What the duct system looked like when Larry was finished

The exhaust fan

 After lunch I did laundry and baked a butter pecan cake to take with us to the Coryell County Squares Halloween Dance tonight. The dance started out with a half hour plus workshop with two squares. The first tip of the dance was a mainstream and it had three squares but the other mainstream tips had one square. The two plus tips had two squares. Only a couple of us dressed up for Halloween, which was a little disappointing. We had a good time dancing and visiting with our friends. The club members were happy we were back in town.

The outfits we wore to The Coryell County Squares Halloween Dance

The butter pecan cake I took to the dance

dancing with friends

Ed Larder getting ready to call

Our friends weaving the ring