4-29 Killeen Kickers Graduation Dance

Killeen Kickers Graduation Dance

It was a very muggy day. Larry got up in the morning and checked out the damage the hail did to the car last night. He found lots of very small dents, most of them are on the top of the car but a few are on the hood, our car is white so they are hard to see. He's not sure if he wants to get them fixed or just leave them alone. When I got up we had breakfast and then we went to town. Today was the last day to see the art exhibit at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Next week they were going to have a different art exhibit put on by the students. Before going to the art event we stopped by the UPS Store to pick up a package that was there. The package was the master cylinder for the boat trailer. The art exhibits were in the Baugh Center for the Visual Arts, it is a very nice building. The exhibits were displayed in the gallery and on the walls in the hall. It didn't take long for us to walk through the gallery. The last stop was HEB to pick up a couple of things. Then we went home. 

Baugh Center for the Visual Arts building

Clothing designed by students

One of the exhibits, where there's a photo and words are blended into it

 We spent the afternoon at home. Larry wrote a couple of reviews for the Home Depot Seeds program and both of us read for a bit while Flo slept. In the evening we went to The Lions Club Park Senior Center to help the Killeen Kickers celebrate their 2016 Square Dancing Class graduation. There were 10 squares and a lot of food. Betsy was the MC and Brad Caldwell was the special caller for the occasion. Their new caller Dan Clairmont called with Brad a couple of tips. Betsy also teamed up with Brad. All three of them called together the last tip. We had a fabulous time. 

Betsy's dangles

The outfits we wore to the dance

4-28 Having Fun

We started the day out with morning clouds but by 9:00 am the clouds were gone and the sun came out. The rain is coming back and suppose to hang around for a few days so Larry thought maybe Flo would like to go swimming. We loaded her into the car and headed to town. Larry decided to take us to Nolan Creek again. This time we parked in the Gin Restaurant parking lot. Larry read the paper while Flo and I walked around the park area. During our walk Flo went swimming in the creek and did some exploring. We were there about a half hour. By the time we got back to the car Flo was exhausted. I had to help her in the car. After leaving Nolan Creek we headed to our next adventure. Larry had clipped out an ad about a couple of art exhibits going on at Temple College and The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Both exhibits were done by students at each school. This was the first time we had visited Temple College so we were not sure where to go. We asked a couple of girls where the art center was, they told us where the Performance Arts building was but we didn't think that was the correct building. We went into the main administration building and asked, the gentlemen there told us we wanted the Visual Arts building and gave us directions. Once we found the correct building we were helped by young lady who let us into the art gallery. It was a small gallery but the art that was on display was very nice. Our final stop was the Temple Library. We finished watching the dvds we checked out so we wanted to return them. After returning the dvds we walked through the library and found the next two books of the Cork O"Connor series we are reading, they are written by William Kent Krueger. We also checked out he first season of Mad Men on DVD. We had a wonderful morning.

One of the exhibits at the Art Exhibit at Temple College

David a first year art student

Dog Park exhibit made of ceramic

After lunch Larry and I did some yardwork. I mowed while Larry weedeated. It took us about an hour. Flo did a lot of sunning while we did the yardwork. When we finished Larry dug out an old hand held television we use to keep in the Minnie. It is larger than the monitor that came with the backup camera for the truck and he thought it might work better. He played with it and it worked perfect. While he was playing with the camera I read.

New Belly Dancing Belts

DeAnn and Dalbert dancing to Wendell calling

Jan and Ken enjoying themselves with Skip and Judy

Dalbert promenading Doris home

Wendell Moore calling the dance

Betsy and Greg enjoying the dance

The outfits we wore to the dance

In the evening we drove to Gatesville to dance with the Coryell County Squares Club. The club's caller Ed Larder was sick so he asked Wendell Moore to fill in for him. There were two squares and a few more people. The club had a lot of delicious food. A few weeks ago Larry ordered me three new belly dance belts (rose, purple and blue) and tonight I decided to wear the rose one. It matched the skirt I wore perfect. We had a fun time at the dance.

As we were leaving, Wanda, the club's president, told everyone to be careful on the way home, there were storms coming in. Larry didn't worry considering he had driven in rain many times and he never drives fast. As we were driving home the rain came down hard. Then the hail started, it got so bad Larry found a driveway to park in to wait the hail out. While waiting the hail came down even harder. We heard it beating on the top of the car. When the hail stopped we got back on the road and headed home, it was still raining quite hard but we took our time. When we were in the Belton Temple area it didn't look like they had gotten any hail. Once Larry parked the car in the garage he found hail damage on the hood and on top of the car. He'll check it out closer in the morning when there is daylight.     

4-27 What an Awesome Day!!!

Sun Shiny Day

I went to bed at 12:30 am and I heard the rain storm come in, by the time we got up you couldn't tell it had rained. The sun came out and it turned into an awesome day. In the morning Larry installed the new back up camera in the truck. Before installing the camera Larry watched a YouTube video on it. He had ordered a camera and a cable to string from the license plate to the dash. He started out by installing the camera on the license plate, which was the easy part, then he had to crawl under the truck and wire the camera into the backup lights and after that install the cable. He threaded the cable underneath the truck and put cable ties to keep it in place. When he got to the driver seat he had to do the most difficult part, he had to feed the cable through a grommet that holds the emergency brake cable in place. The grommet was very tight, he had to pull it back in order to feed the cable up from the bottom of the truck through the hole. I helped him a little at this point. Once we got this done he had to feed it up to the dash. The way the camera sits on the dash he had to build a little bracket to lean it forward a little. He had plenty of cable so he can experiment on where on the dash he wants it. He tested the camera out a few times during the installation just to make sure it works before completing the project. After it was installed he played with it by backing up to the boat trailer. The screen is small so it is difficult to see the hitch ball and trailer lining up. He's thinking that he may have to build a little guide to help him. He worked on this all morning and part of the afternoon, it took him over four hours. While Larry was doing this project Flo and I kept him company and helped when he needed it. The weather was super so we didn't mind keeping him company. The birds were singing, the neighbor kids were playing and we even saw a fox run across the street.

Camera installed on license plate

Combining the cable to the camera cable

How the camera worked after being installed

The camera monitor out of the box

After the project was finished Larry and I read a little, I also did some housework and worked out for 15 minutes on my Wii Fit. In the evening we watched the last movie we checked out of the library. The Imitation Game starred Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. It was a biography thriller drama about a mathematician and war hero Alan Turing. It was a good movie.     

4-26 Just Another Day

Grocery Shopping

This morning we loaded Flo into the car and went to town to do our weekly grocery shopping. While in town Larry decided he needed a haircut. It so happens that Supercuts is in the same shopping center as HEB. There were two hairstylists working and they both had a customer. Larry was the next person on the list. Both customers were men and they just needed a trim so it didn't take long. The hairstylists were very friendly. After the haircut we walked next door to HEB to do our shopping.

Getting a haircut

Grocery shopping at HEB

On the way home from town we swung by the boat ramp to check out the lake. It was very rough.    When we got home I put the groceries away and then we had lunch. After lunch Flo started to pester me about going somewhere but I knew she was still tired from yesterday's swim. I think she wanted to go for a swim but the lake was too rough and high. The Corps of Engineers opened up the gate on Belton Lake yesterday to release some water. The lake is 9 feet over full so it's going to take awhile to get it down. I worked on my puzzle, started reading another book and sat outside with Flo to calm her down. 

We have a backup camera in our car and have found it to be helpful in backing into and out of parking spots. Larry wanted to get one for the truck to help him back the truck up to the boat trailer. The other day he went on the internet and found one that was a good price. We received it in the mail today along with a couple of air filters for the car. Larry opened up the camera to check it out. He didn't install it yet. Last week when we got the oil changed in the car they told us on the next visit we would need to change the air filters. We received them today so Larry replaced them. They were filthy. 

    

In the evening we watched an hour long show on our local PBS station called National Parks Of Texas: In Contact With Beauty. It was very informative about the parks that are in the National Park System. Afterwards we watched another movie that we had checked out at the library called Hugo. It starred Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Lee and Ben Kingsley. Asa was Hugo, he played an orphan that lived in the wall of train station. It was a good movie. We had a very nice day.  

4-25 Swimming, Yardwork and Dancing

Busy Day

Flo has been pestering us about going swimming for the last few days. We have been ignoring her but today we decided to take her for swim. Belton Lake is 9 feet over full so Temple Lake Park is closed due to being underwater. We were going to take her to Stillhouse Hollow Lake, which is about 15 miles from the house. We were driving through Belton when Larry said why don't we just take her to Nolan Creek. I said that's a great idea. We parked by the City Hall and walked down to the creek. She did a little exploring and eating some grass before getting wet. She swam for a little bit and tried to get out of the water but had a little trouble so Larry helped her. It didn't take her long to go back into the water. This time she swam down where she could just walk out. We were there about a half hour and Flo had a great time swimming. She really didn't want to get out of the water but we knew she was tired so we started to walk back to the car. She followed us. By the time she got to the car she was exhausted. Larry had to help her more than usual to get in. Before returning to the house we stopped by Home Depot and Walmart.

Flo swimming in Nolan Creek

Ducks floating down the creek

Nolan Creek

I'm so tired after my swim

Our house is surrounded by vacant lots and when we mow the edge of the yard sometimes it is very difficult and the mower gets stuck. Larry thought it would be a good idea to put some dirt down and grass seed to make it easier. He also wanted to fertilize the backyard where he had thrown grass seed the other day. We bought fertilizer at Home Depot and then we picked up five 40lbs bags of dirt from Walmart. When we got home Larry spread the dirt on the side of the house. After lunch he fertilized the backyard. I helped him with the dirt by carrying them to him. When he fertilized the yard I sat on the porch and watched.

Larry putting the Earthgro dirt down

Larry spreading the dirt with a rake

Larry fertilizing the new grass seed

Need more fertilizer

 In the evening we went to Sun City and danced with the Sundancers. It was the fourth Monday so they had a plus workshop a half hour before the dance. The move that Brad worked on was Linear Cycle from different positions. There were seven squares during the dance. This week Brad did a Hot Hash Plus tip at the end of the dance. After the Hot Hash tip Brad did an Advance tip with one square and an extra couple. We had another fantastic time dancing to Brad's calling.

Ruth Ann round dancing with Adam

Jody and Steve finishing up a round dance

Our friends dancing to Brad's calling during the Advance tip

Dancing the Advance tip

Brad calling the dance

Steve and Sherri getting ready to round dance

   

4-24 Advance Lessons Continue

You might recall that a couple of weeks ago we obtained a library card from our local library. The primary reason for this was to be able to check out e-books. On Friday Larry was able to check out his first e-book. There are around 6400 books to choose from and the selection is not bad but no where near what is available at the actual library. We have been reading a series and while the library has the series it is not available via their e-book selection. There were other authors that Larry looked up that also were not available. We will be able to find books to read but they might not be the authors we prefer, now if you are into romance novels they seemed to have loads of them. There are also about 750 audio books and a few magazines.

To test the process Larry selected the first book he found that he thought he would like, it was a John Grisham book. This is where things got a bit confusing, once you find a book you then select the format (Epub, Overdrive or Kindle), since we have a Kindle and we can read Kindle books on our tablet Larry chose Kindle, he was then automatically forwarded to Amazon, it looked like he was purchasing the book but in actuality it downloaded without costing anything. He then had two weeks to read the book, after that the book automatically gets returned. After reading about 50 pages on the Kindle he opened the book via the tablet and it opened to where he had left off on the Kindle, very cool. He finished the book today and wanted to "return" it so it would be available for someone else. The return had to be done from Amazon, not from the website he checked it out from. Learning something new is always fun. Since some books we want are not available and since we just bought tons of books from the Library sale and it might be some time before we start using e-books but it certainly offers us a nice alternative. Larry likes reading via the Kindle, you can set the text size, even in bright sunlight it is perfectly clear and it keeps track of where you are. Ours does not have a back light so no reading in the dark.

Today it was overcast but we had no rain. We didn't have any errands to do in the morning so we hung around the house. We streamed a couple of GizWiz shows. Larry finished his e-book from the library and I worked on my puzzle. About two Larry and I headed to Speegleville for our Advance lessons with the TIPS club. Our lessons were a half hour later than normal and we had two squares. We didn't learn any new moves, the two hours were review of the 17 moves we have been introduced to. We had a fun afternoon reviewing. In the evening we watched our weekly shows on PBS, Call the Mid-Wife and Grantchester. We also watched Dr. Blake's Mysteries which is a detective serious. We had a very nice day.

 

4-23 More Sunshine and Yardwork

Restaurant next to Nolan Creek

Getting ready to dive into Nolan Creek

Bridge by Yettie Polk Park

We had another gorgeous day. The sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky. As we were driving around the other day we saw on an electronic billboard that West Temple Park was having a car show today so we decided we would go. Before leaving the house we loaded the truck with our aluminum cans for recycling and a couple of empty propane tanks. Flo has trouble climbing into the truck so she stayed at home. On the way to the recycling place in Temple we swung by West Temple Park to see what was going on. There were only a few cars at the show so we left. The next stop was Walmart to exchange the propane tanks. After getting the refills we went to the City of Temple Recycling Center. We were surprised there were workers to help with recycling your items. The Temple Animal Shelter is just across the street from the recycling center so we decided we would stop by but they were not open yet. Larry was reading the newspaper the other day and in the section about what's happening in Temple and Belton he saw a listing for Paws For Love Fest. He thought this might be fun. The festival was at Yettie Polk Park, it is one of the parks in Belton that run along Nolen Creek. There is a walkway along the creek so after we parked the truck we walked to the event. We were disappointed, there was suppose to be booths, games and food. We only saw a couple of dogs and we didn't see any booths or games. There were some people hanging around. We didn't see any reason to stop so we just continued walking the walkway next to the creek. We stopped at one point to watch the water flow down the creek. There was a gentleman wading in the creek. Then at one point he went underwater and let the current carry him a little ways. He was in no danger. On the way back he dove into the water and swam back across the creek. When he walked by us Larry asked him if the water was cold. He said it wasn't bad. On the way home we stopped by Ace Hardware to return some items we didn't need for the dryer project. Then we stopped at The UPS Store to get our mail. After getting the mail we headed home, once again we swung by West Temple Park and saw that the car show hadn't grown so we didn't stop. The last stop was at 7-11 to get gas for the lawn mower. When we got home Flo was waiting at the door for us. After saying hi we had lunch.

Berries growing by our property line

Larry spreading the grass seed in the yard

Larry mowing the yard

After lunch Larry decided he would mow the back section of the yard and distribute the grass seed we bought the other day. While Larry mowed I vacuumed the house and weedeated. After we were finished with the yard work I took a nap. We had a very nice day.

Gravity

In the evening we watched one of the dvds we checked out at the Temple Library. It was Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. It was a slow moving movie. I wasn't that impressed. After the movie Larry read while I worked on my puzzle.   

4-22 Under Water Again

Temple Lake Park Underwater

What a glorious day we had. The rain was gone, the sun was shining and there is no rain in the forecast for the next few days. A week ago we got a library card and we had to wait a week to check out any videos or e-books. This morning we loaded Flo into the car and away we went to town. The rain fell on and off for the last week and there is rain in the forecast again next week. Our car was filthy so on the way to the library we stopped at The Car Wash Barn to give it a bath. When you get there before 10 you save $2 dollars, love saving money. We weren't the only ones that wanted their cars washed. There was a long line to get in and most of the vacuums were full, however, it didn't take long to go through the wash and we found a spot at the vacuums. We didn't need to vacuum the car because we had just vacuumed it on Monday but we like to wipe the car down to prevent it from getting water spots. After wiping down the car we continued our adventure towards the library. Our yard is full of weeds, Larry had treated for weeds earlier this year but it didn't seem to work so before getting to the library we stopped at The Home Depot to pick up a different weed killer. While there we also picked up a bag of grass seed. Larry wanted to spread more grass seed on the back of our lot where we had not put any sod. Last year he put grass seed out and it did very well but he would like it to fill in a bit more. 

The Home Depot

Next stop, the Temple Library. We could have called and got our card activated for videos and e-books but we wanted to check out what they had. We ended up finding three dvds and a paperback book. When we were checking out the dvds we told the librarian that we had gotten our card a week ago. She updated the system and checked us out. One of the dvds had a dot on it and she said we had to check it out ourselves to get the disc for the movie. We hadn't realized that the dvd wasn't in the box. She got someone to replace her at the desk so she could show us how to do check out the disc. It was very easy and cool how the disc slid out of the machine. This is the way to go. Maybe they will do this for all of them. The dvds are due back in two weeks. The paperback book we picked up was on a rack and didn't have a barcode to check it out. The librarian told us that we could keep it as long as we wanted. We had a super time at the Temple Library.

Swimming in Belton Lake

The last stop was at Temple Lake Park so Flo could go swimming. As we were driving to the park we saw that most of the park was underwater. We were surprised, just a few days ago the lake had come down to the full level and they had closed the release gate. With all the rain the last few days Belton Lake is again six feet over full. We found a place to park, then I took Flo for a swim and Larry read the paper. I took her down to a boat ramp and she went swimming. When she had finished swimming she decided to climb out on some rocks. I tried to get her to turn around and come back to the ramp but she didn't understand. She continued climbing up the rocks. She had troubles climbing out, her back legs slipped between the rocks and she didn't have the strength to pull them out. So I went back to car and got a towel to help her get a grip on the rocks. I got behind her and lifted her back legs up on the towel. By the time she got to the road she was tired but she wanted to swim a little longer. We walked to an area where she had no rocks. After her swim we went to the house.

The outfits we wore to the Double C's 45th Anniversary Dance

Dorothy cuing the round dancing and line dancing

Doris and Doc round dancing

Sherri and Brad round dancing

Line dancing with Dorothy

Passing Thru during a square dancing tip

Friends enjoying the dance

Having fun while dancing to Brad calling

In the evening we went to Copperas Cove to help celebrate the Double C's 45th Anniversary. We had a super time at the dance. There were four squares and in between the square dancing tips Dorothy cued rounds and lines. Brad did a fantastic job of calling. We saw people we haven't seen in a long time. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!