6-29 Just Another Summer Day

Another Hot Summer Day

This morning Flo pestered us about going somewhere so we decided to take her swimming at Nolan Creek. When we got to the creek I got out of the car and was going to let Flo out but when Larry noticed the creek was up and running fast, he also saw that it looked nasty and there was a lot of stuff floating down stream. Yesterday Central Texas had rain showers, west of us they received a couple of inches but at our house we only had a few sprinkles. That's why Nolan Creek was up so Flo was disappointed. On the way home we detoured by the storage center so Larry could take a couple of measurements on the Minnie. He has been thinking about the air springs he installed and wants to make it easier to monitor the air pressure. He had an idea and wanted to make sure it would work. I got out and opened the door of the unit for him, once he started to take measurements I went back to the car to wait. I stayed up too late last night and I was tired. It didn't take him long. When he got back into the car he ribbed me about leaving him. He usually bounces his ideas off of me but today I left him alone. When we left the storage center we didn't head directly home, we went by a Lake Belton boat ramp to see if possibly Flo could go swimming but it was locked and the water was almost to the highway so we left and went home.

Working Out to Wii Sports

After lunch I took a two hour nap. While I was napping Larry read and Flo went outside to do a little sunning. When I woke up I worked out using Wii Sports for 45 minutes. In the evening we went to Georgetown to dance with the Shirts 'n' Skirts club. Tonight Dan Clairmont did the calling. There were seven squares. Dan called seven tips and in between each tip he played one song. Dan did do one line dance between the fourth tip. I did the line dance with a few other ladies but by the time it ended I was the only one dancing. We had a fun time dancing and visiting with friends.

Terry and Lynn waiting for the next call

Ruth Ann and Terry squared up and ready to go

Terry Promenading home

Friends having fun square dancing to Dan

6-28 Mowing, Housework and Relaxation

We didn't have anything on our schedule to do. I crawled out of bed and made breakfast for Larry and me. Larry had already been up for about an hour. Larry said that the weather forecast indicated we were going to get rain in the afternoon. It wasn't hot yet so we decided to mow the yards. I was only going to mow the front yard considering the backyard sprinklers had ran this morning but I was already sweating so I decided to mow both yards. Last week we mowed one half of the backyard one day and the other half a couple days later, today I wasn't too hot so I did the whole backyard. While I was mowing Larry weedeated, blew off the driveway, the porches and garage. Then he put his tools away from our sprinkler project. While we were working in the yard Flo hung out in the garage. When we finished doing our yard stuff we relaxed and had lunch. After lunch I took a nap.

Mowing the yards

While I was napping it started to thunder and it sprinkled a little so I decided to get up. After getting up I did some housework. I vacuumed and washed the floors and Larry read. When I finished the housework Flo decided she wanted to go outside to sun. It was overcast so she didn't have sun but she had a great time just laying outside.

Cleaning the house

In the evening we relaxed and watched television. We watched YouTube videos about RV living and Why I Stopped, which were why people stopped doing things. Then we watched a short movie called Hank and Asha, this was a love story that accures through videos between two people from different countries and cultures. Hank was an American and Asha was from India. We watched a documentary called The Birth of The Tramp, which was about Charlie Chaplin. Afterwards we watched some old music videos on YouTube.

Relaxing

 

6-27 Swimming, Dancing and Jigsaw Puzzle

Dog Park puzzle finished

This morning we loaded Flo into the car and headed to town. It's been hot and humid so we decided to take Flo for a swim at Nolan Creek. We were there early to beat the heat and only saw a couple of guys swimming in the creek. Flo had a great day of exploring and swimming. By the time we headed back to the car she was exhausted so it took us longer than normal to get back. When Flo gets tried she simply tunes me out and doesn't do what I want her to do so she and I had a couple of fights on which way we're going. Before getting to the car Flo saw a couple of ducks, she attempted chasing them which got her to move a little faster. Larry had finished reading the newspaper and was reading a magazine when we got back. On the way back to the house we stopped by Walmart to pick up a few things. We like the Van-O Lunch Vanilla Creme Cookies made by Lance, you get eight packs of cookies with six cookies in each pack. Larry and I can split a pack whenever we like, this keeps us from opening a box of cookies and eating way too many. Not the most economical way to consume cookies but it does control the portion size. The only place we can get them is Walmart but today we were disappointed, not only did they not have them but it looked like the had discontinued handling any Lance brand of crackers and cookies. I hope we can find them somewhere else. Even though we couldn't buy our cookies we didn't leave empty handed, bought some printer paper.

Nolan Creek

We had a relaxing afternoon. I worked on the Dog Park puzzle and worked out with Just Dance for 45 minutes. Larry read and listened to a few videos, Flo slept. Larry suggested that I work out considering I have not worked out on the Wii Fit for a long time. I really didn't want to but I gave in. I really don't mind working out but when I don't do it for awhile it's hard getting back into it.

My favorite song to dance to What Does a Fox Say

In the evening we met up with Louis, Belinda and her niece Rachel to go to A lessons. We learned three new moves, which was great, only about 10 more moves to finish up A1. Once these are done we still need to learn all the A2 moves, which are another 36 moves. We had a square plus another three dancers. When we got home Flo was waiting for us on the floor by the door. After saying hi to her I worked on the Dog Park puzzle and finished before I went to bed. Kind of funny, the last puzzle was 2000 pieces and very hard, it took almost 6 months to complete, this puzzle was much easier and only 600 pieces, took me about 3 days. I hope not to do anymore that take months to complete.

Square Dancing Lessons

    

6-26 More Yard Projects

Doing more yardwork

This morning we installed the black landscape edging around an oak tree in the backyard, took us about an hour and a half. We started out by measuring how far out from the tree we wanted to go and then we dug a small trench around the tree. Larry started digging the trench, a couple of times he hit large rocks that he had to dig out, when he got tried I took over and I was lucky, I didn't hit any rocks. Next Larry put the edging in the trench, we slide the 4 pieces of edging together instead of holding the pieces while hammering the spikes in the ground. Once the edging was in the trench Larry hammered the 12 spikes in the ground and then we put the dirt around the edging. When this was finished we put the mulch around the tree. While we were installing the edging Flo stayed inside to keep cool. 

The black landscape edging we installed

Digging the trench

Digging out the loose dirt

Putting the edging in the trench

Sliding the edging pieces together

The landscaping edging in the trench

The finished project

The next project Larry wanted to work on was changing out the sprinkler heads on the side of the house to rotating heads. Weeks ago he changed all the heads in the front to rotators but since the side yard is on the same zone as one of the fronts yards the side yard has been getting too much water, by using the same style of head it should correct this. The heads on the side were lower than he liked so before he replaced the heads he wanted to raise the sprinkler. He dug around the sprinkler down to the pipe then he removed the dirt so it wouldn't get in the exposed water pipe. The next step was to remove the sprinkler and put an extension on it, before doing this he had to cut the extension down to size. Once the extension was on the sprinkler he replaced the head with a rotating head. Then he put the sprinkler back on the pipe. The last step was to cover up the pipe and sprinkler. He only had one extension so we had to go to The Home Depot to get a few more. We left Flo at home considering it was way too hot for her in the car. We ended up buying ten extensions because Larry will probably put extension on some other sprinklers. After lunch we went back to work, we got all five heads to a height we were happy with. I shouldn't say we considering Larry did all the work but I did hold an umbrella over him to give him shade, I also helped with tools and such. Flo stayed inside the whole time we were outside. After finishing this project Larry adjusted the heads and they worked perfect. Once this was done we went inside and cooled down.

The sprinkler without a head on it

Digging the sprinkler out of the ground

Removed the sprinkler from the pipe

The sprinkler with the new head on it

The rest of the day we relaxed. I worked on the Dog Park puzzle and did a little laundry. Larry read and Flo kept cool. In the evening we watched our weekly shows Endeavor and Tunnel. We also watched a new series on PBS called Dancing on the Edge. We had another busy day of yardwork. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!    

6-25 Doing Yard Work

Larry and I are not really the type of people who do much yard work, we do mow and keep things looking nice but we don't normally get into things like landscaping. I have talked before about Larry being part of The Home Depot Seeds Program, this month one of the offerings was Easy Flex Aluminum Landscape Edging. It came in three different colors silver, black and bronze. He selected the black and bronze to review. It arrived the other day and we didn't have anything on today's agenda so we decided to install the bronze edging around the front oak tree. We started early this morning before it got too hot. First we  measured out how far around the tree we wanted it. We had 24' feet to work with. Once this was done we dig a trench to put the edging in. We used a pick to dig with and then used a small garden spade to dig the dirt out of it. When the trench was finished Larry put the edging in. The edging came in (4) 6' pieces so Larry had to bend each piece to fit it in the trench. After the edging was in the trench Larry hammered in the (12) 10" spikes that were included. Then we put dirt around the edging. It took us an hour and a half. Next Larry filled in a hole in a oak tree in the backyard with foam to help prevent it from rotting. After resting a little we decided to go to Walmart for some mulch to go in the edging. We picked up 5 bags of black mulch and 10 bags of dirt. We knew we didn't need 5 bags of mulch but we wanted to get enough for the black edging we're planning to work on tomorrow. We needed dirt to go around the edging and we have been meaning to get some more dirt for the side of the house. When we returned to the house we spread the mulch around the tree and the dirt on the side of the house. While we were working outside Flo hung out in Larry's workroom where it was cooler. Afterwards we went inside and cooled off and had lunch.

Digging the trench around the tree

Bending the landscape edging

Putting the edging in the trench

Hammering in the spikes

Putting the mulch around the tree

The finished product

Spreading dirt on the side of the house

The hole in the oak tree

Stuffing paper in the tree before the foam

Filling the hole with foam

The hole is full of foam

In the afternoon we relaxed. I worked on The Dog Park puzzle and Larry read. After dinner we watched a documentary called Women on Death Row, it was about four women on death row in prison. It was a good documentary. Then we watched a movie called Butter. It starred Jennifer Garner, Yara Shahidi, Ty Burrell and Olivia Wilde. It was a comedy about doing carvings out of butter. It wasn't that good but it was entertaining. We had a relaxing evening.   

6-24 Finished my Jigsaw Puzzle

The finished product of The World of Dogs

It has been a long journey doing The World of Dogs jigsaw puzzle but I finally finished it. This was a huge puzzle, 2000 pieces that I started on December 26, 2015, so I have been working on it for about six months, that's a long time. I didn't work on it every day, in fact I didn't work on it for days at a time but I'm excited, I finished it this morning at 2:00. When I finished there were six pieces missing, I looked for them before going to bed, I looked between the refrigerator and the wall no puzzle pieces, I looked under the table I was working on, no pieces, I even looked in the bedroom where I stored it a few times when people came to visit, still no puzzle pieces. After breakfast Larry and I looked around again. I looked under the couch and I found one of them. Then Larry suggested I get a flashlight and look again. I found four more pieces. When I couldn't find the last one Larry got the flashlight and looked under the couch, no luck. Afterwards I asked Larry to help me move the couch. It needed to be vacuumed under it anyways. Once we had the couch out there it was, I was one happy person. Now The World of Dogs jigsaw puzzle is completed. I think I'll keep it together for awhile considering it took me six months to complete it. A couple of weeks ago when Louise came to visit she brought a puzzle from Bits and Pieces called Dog Park, it has 600 pieces. She said I was more than happy to assemble it. She's curious about how long it well take me considering it's in a shape of a dog. This afternoon I got the puzzle out and started to assemble it.

Resting after swimming in Nolan Creek

This morning after I found the missing pieces of puzzle we took Flo swimming at Nolan Creek. We were there about an hour. Flo and I walked around Flo did a lot of sniffing and swimming and Larry read a book. While there a couple of gentlemen mowed the area we were walking. When they were mowing I think they stirred up more dust than they cut grass. But when I was walking Flo back to the car they stopped mowing and turned off their machines until we walked by them so that we wouldn't have to walk through all the dust, very nice of them. One of the workers said he wished he could get his dog to swim but it is scared of the water. We had a wonderful time at Nolan Creek. On the way home we stopped by The UPS Store to get our mail. When we got back to the house it was time for lunch.

Dog Park jigsaw puzzle

After lunch I started to assemble the Dog Park puzzle but I only worked on it about a half hour before I stopped to take a nap. When I finished my nap I went back to working on the puzzle. In the evening we watched television. Last Sunday we watched the first episode of Endeavor's third season but we had forgotten how it ended last season so we were a little lost. Tonight we watched the last episode of the second season. Then we watched an hour show called High Sierra; Journey on the John Muir Trail. This was a documentary about a group of high school students and friends who got together to hike John Muir's 220 mile hiking trail. It talks about their journey on the trail. It was a great documentary. Afterwards I went back to working on the Dog Park puzzle and Larry went back to reading a book he started reading. We had a very nice day.     

6-23 Just Another Wonderful Day

What a wonderful day!!!

We had a very relaxing day. We started the day by loading Flo into the car and  going to do our weekly grocery shopping at HEB. When we got home I put the groceries away and a bit later we had lunch. After lunch I worked on my puzzle until I couldn't keep my eyes open so I took a nap. While I was napping Larry started reading a book. When I woke up I vacuumed the house and then I worked on my puzzle. It got into the high 90s today, too hot to do anything outside.

Weekly Shopping at HEB

In the evening we watched television. We streamed a movie and a documentary on Amazon. The movie was Trumbo, which was about Dalton Trumbo. He was a top screenwriter in Hollywood in 1947 until he was blacklisted due to his political beliefs. It was a good movie. The documentary was called Be Fruitful & Multiply, it was about four ultra-Orthodox women and their beliefs on children. It was very interesting and informative. After watching television I worked on my puzzle until it was time for bed.

Watching Television.

6-22 Brother Do's and Contra Dancing

We had a great Wednesday. We started the day off by finishing up projects. Larry first of all jacked the car up and put a jack stand under it. Then he crawled under it and installed the new clips we bought a couple of weeks ago in the cover under the hood, now it doesn't flop around. The next project was for me to finish mowing the backyard. While I was doing this Larry was trimming trees. Flo stayed outside with us. After we finished we decided to take Flo swimming. We loaded her into the car and off to Nolan Creek we went. Larry parked the car in the shade and read the paper while Flo and I walked, Flo did a lot of exploring and swimming. At one point when she tried to get out of the creek she got stuck in the mud, she tried to pull herself onto the bank but couldn't so I rolled up my pants legs and got into the water and lifted her back end. Once she was on the grass she was so tired she just laid down but she was too close to the creek and she slid back in. I climbed back into the water and helped her out again. This time I made sure she was further away from the water. She was too tired to move so I walked to where Larry was parked and asked him to move the car closer because Flo wasn't going to make it back where he was. After Flo rested she got up and we walked towards the car. Before getting to the car she went for another swim. We weren't the only ones at Nolan Creek. There were a couple of families cooling off in the creek. We had a great morning.

Nolan Creek

Swimming in Nolan Creek

Mowing the backyard

When we got home I made tostadas for lunch and afterwords we hung around the house. I worked on my puzzle, Larry read and Flo slept.

Louise's new dash mat installed

Louise watching Larry work on her gate

Cargo cover reinstalled

A couple of weeks ago Louise came out so Larry could install her backup camera, Larry had taken off a the cargo cover that goes behind her second seat and forgot to put it back on. The dash cover Larry had ordered for her came in so yesterday Larry called her and told her we would be over today around 5:00 to put the dash cover and cargo cover on. About 4:00 I fed Flo and told her we would see her later then Larry and I headed to Round Rock. On the way to Louise's we stopped by Little Caesar's and picked up a pizza. When we got to her house Autumn and Louise were waiting for us. After saying our hellos we sat down and ate pizza. After dinner Larry put the dash cover on and then he put her cargo cover back on. The interesting thing about the cargo cover was that Louise didn't know it was missing for about a week. After putting the covers on Larry worked on her backyard gate. Awhile back Louise had told Larry that her dog was getting out of the yard. So Larry had given her a board and straps to hold a board in place next to the gate. He explained to her how to strap the board next to the gate. She installed the board along with another board and walkway blocks, she did a great job and Autumn has not escaped since. Today Larry fixed it where she only needed the one board and straps. After Larry finished his brother do's it was time for us to leave to go square dancing. Before leaving Larry changed shirts.

Having fun contra dancing

The live band and one of the callers we danced to

Ruth Ann contra dancing

One of our friends from the Sundancers Club having a great time

Another friend from the Sundancers having fun

Before leaving our house a friend of ours, Ruth Ann had posted on Facebook that she and some friends was going contra dancing tonight in Austin, now I had a choose should we go square dancing with the Shirts 'n' Skirts Club or go contra dancing. We had only gone contra dancing once last year so we decided we would go contra dancing. We met and danced with new people and people we had met and danced with the last time. Contra dancing has a lot of turning and moves fast down the line. We had a super time. No experience is necessary to dance contra, they teach you the few moves you will need before each dance.