8-30 A Wonderful Day

What a wonderful day

We started the day out by taking Flo to Rogers Park for a morning swim. It's Tuesday so there were only a few vehicles in the parking lot so no fighting for a parking spot, we were there for a half hour. Flo swam, explored and met a guy that was taking his kayak out of the lake, we have talked to him before but he always takes time to say hi to Flo. After she swam we were headed back toward the car when she saw a couple of guys fishing on the dock and she had to go say hi to them. I really didn't want to take her to the dock considering there are a few steps and she had trouble getting up and down them the last time. But I'm a softy so we went to the dock. As we were walking down to the dock another guy parked his truck and started talking to us. When we finally got to the dock to say hi. The fishermen became her favorite friends considering they had hot dogs for their bait. There was a piece laying on the dock that she promptly ate, I apologized to them but they said it was ok. Then she decided that she wanted to stay with the fishermen. Larry was watching us and finally came to the dock and took the leash, he had no problem, Flo started to walk back to the car but I had to help her up each step. Once we got back to the car I dried her off and Larry put her in the car.

We don't drive our truck very often, we use it to pull the boat to the lake or if we are picking up something large from the Home Depot, other than that we have to remember to take it for a drive every once in awhile otherwise the battery goes dead. Larry mentioned that the air conditioner didn't seem to be getting as cold as it should be, using a thermometer he found that the air coming out of the vents ranged between 50 and 60 degrees, 50 when you were driving and 60 if you were idling at a stop light. He figured it was low on refrigerant so he bought a kit from Walmart to recharge it. It didn't take him very long, I was getting a cake ready to put in the oven and by the time I came out to take a picture he was already done. The A/C now blows very cold while driving and while sitting at a light. The truck is 12 years old and has 130,000 miles on it. This is the first repair we have had to do on it in years so we certainly are not complaining.

Reusable Refrigerant Kit

Larry working on the truck's air conditioner

The temperature after the project was done

The German Chocolate cake I baked

My Mixer

After lunch I took a nap, when I woke up I vacuumed and mopped the floors. Flo was trying to recuperate from her swim this morning. In the evening we watched YouTube videos and a documentary on Amazon called The Lost World of Mr. Hardy. This was a great documentary about the Hardy Brothers family fishing tackle business in the UK. It talked about the Hardy brothers, the history of the company, workmanship of the products, the loyalty of the employees and the changing of the times. After the documentary I worked on my puzzle and played my daily challenges of the Microsoft Solitary games. We had a wonderful day.             

 

8-29 Playing in the Dirt

Irrigation System Project finished

We woke up to a little wind and some gusting winds so we decided not to go to the lake, instead we worked on the irrigation system project. The temperature was 74 degrees, which was great for the project. Today Flo and I just sat and watched Larry work, there really wasn't anything I could do to help. Larry first of all dug out the sod and dirt to expose the sprinkler. Then he removed the old sprinkler. He didn't have to relocate the sprinkler considering it was lined up with the others. He tried replacing the 4" pop up sprinkler with the 6" pop up but the 6" was a little too high, you would think the 6 inch pop up assembly would simply be 2 inches taller than the 4 inch, nope, it is almost 4 inches taller. He debated should he dig a trench so he could use the 6" pop up, he decided he would use an extension that he had to raise the current 4 inch sprinkler up. He cut the extension to the height he thought he needed and installed the sprinkler but it was a little too tall, he cut a little more and tried it again, it was perfect. Once this was done he put the dirt and sod back in the hole. Afterwards he tested the system out and adjusted the head he extended. While looking at the irrigation system running we saw another head that needed to be extended so Larry extended it the same way he did the other one. Now the sprinklers on this section of the front yard are working great. The sprinklers pop up high enough that they clear the grass and sprays more evenly. It's great to have a handy man around the house.

Sprinkler that Larry extended

The extension before it was cut to size

The extension cut to size

The spray clearing the grass

Square Dancing Workshop

We hung around the house all afternoon. I did laundry, worked on my puzzle and took a nap. Larry wrote a review for the Home Depot Seeds program and Flo slept. In the evening we met up with Louis and went to our A1 workshop at Allemande Hall. We had two squares for the workshop. We did a lot better this week considering we didn't have a week off. Dale Smith did the workshop and he did a super job, he called all of the A1 moves. When we arrived home Flo must of heard us because she barked as soon as we got out of the car. Some days she hears more than others and she's not sure what it is so she barks. Today was a good day for her even in getting up off the floor. We had a very nice day.         

8-28 Back on the Lake

Going to the lake

What a beautiful day we had! Larry looked at the weather and decided today would be a good day to go to the lake. We haven't been boating in over two weeks. The weather simply would not cooperate, it either had wind, rain or both, we were so ready to go. After getting the boat ready I gave Flo a snack and said good-bye. When we got to Rogers Park the parking lot was almost full but it didn't stop us from launching the boat. There was a breeze out of the east so when I picked up Larry at the dock I had to go to the left. When he was on board he told me there was only one more parking space left for boats. With the breeze the lake wasn't ideal for water skiing but it was ok for boating around and floating. When we did decide to get into the lake we discovered the cooler weather and rain had dropped the water temperature a bit so when we first got in the water it was a little cool. We were on the lake for an hour. After backing the boat in the garage and putting our life vests out to dry we went inside and changed clothes. The other day when I mowed I only did half of the front yard so I finished it up. While I mowed Larry weedeated and blew out the garage, driveway and the lawn mower when I finished. I didn't realize Larry had weedeated so I got the weedeater out and redid his work. He looked at me and said you didn't like my work. I looked at him like he had two heads. Then he told me that he had already weedeated. After we finished up outside we went inside and had lunch.

We hung around the house the rest of the day. I worked on my puzzle and vacuumed the house. Larry read and Flo slept. We watched the GizWiz weekly show and YouTube videos. In the evening we watched Mission Impossible- Rogue Nation, it was a good action movie. I also slow cooked some more pulled pork in root beer and liquid smoke. This time I used the whole bottle of liquid smoke and you can really taste the smoke, I think it is better. Tomorrow we'll have the pulled pork for lunch or dinner. We had a very grand day.  

8-27-16 Almost Finished

Trying out Luigi's Italian Restaurant

Wow, Larry is almost done with moving and converting the sprinkler heads on one side of the front yard. This morning Larry decided to go out and finish up the sprinkler head that is next to the huge rock, he gave up digging out the rock, the more he dug the further it went, he ended up moving the head to the left of the rock and then I helped him cover up the hole. Before putting the dirt back into the hole Larry surrounded the piping with sand, then we put in dirt and finally the sod that he had removed. We then spread some of the new dirt on top to fill everything in, the new dirt was very wet, but we spread it the best we could. We'll wait until it dries and then we'll rake it some more. We don't want the dirt to kill the grass. There is one more sprinkler left in this part of the yard that he wants to do. Larry thinks it will be easier.

Plumbed around the giant rock

Putting the sod back in place

Smoothing out the dirt

The first annual Temple Transcontinental Art Fair is going on this weekend. After Larry cooled off we headed for town. The event took place at the Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum. Most of the artists had their booths inside the museum building. The artists displayed their paintings and theirs wares. One booth had some wooden trains, planes, dinosaurs, tanks, navy airplane carriers and many more items. The artist was selling them in kits that came with the assembly parts and glue, they were very cool. There was another booth that had a couple of lights on display. The lights came on when you moved a lever counter clockwise, Larry tried one and it worked super. We walked around and looked at all the art, a couple of booths were outside. While we were there The Amtrak train was in the depot picking up passengers and I was able to take a few pictures of it. It was starting to pull away when a passenger came running to catch the train. They radioed the engineer and he stopped the train. They had to unlock the gate and put a step out so the passenger could board, this was neat to watch. As we were walking around we stopped and listened to The Schade Tree Band. They sang folk songs and were very good. We were getting hungry and there were food trucks there but we decided it was too hot to eat outside. There was suppose to be an antique car show but the cars didn't show up. This was disappointing but we saw a lot of nice art and I got a free recycle bag at a booth. 

The back end of the train

The front end of the train

One of the passenger cars

The Schade Tree Band

On the way home we swung by The Home Depot to pick up a few items we need for the next sprinkler head. While we were walking back to the car both Larry and I were getting hungry. We have been meaning to try out a few restaurants in Belton but never seem to get around to it. We knew there was an Italian restaurant across the street from the high school so that's where we stopped for lunch. The restaurant was called Luigi's Italian Restaurant. We had the sampler, it came with lasagna, manicotti, ziti, tortellini and beef ravioli. We shared the dish and we liked it except for the lasagna, it was a little mushy but their rolls were delicious. When we got home Flo was waiting in the hall for us. She was one happy dog.

Guardians of the Galaxy DVD

Ultimate Plush Pippin-Deep Dish Apple Pie

The rest of the day we hung around the house. I worked on my puzzle and Larry read. Yesterday was Larry's birthday so I baked an apple pie but we didn't eat it until today for our dessert. In the evening we watched YouTube videos and our dvd Guardians of the Galaxy. It was an action movie made by Marvel. We have watched it before but we still enjoyed watching it again. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!   

8-26 Another Year Older

Happy Birthday Honey

Today is my husband Larry's Birthday. It rained last night and it was muddy outside so we didn't work on the irrigation system. When I got up this morning I took a loaf of bread out of the freezer so it could thaw and rise before being baked. We haven't been on the lake for two weeks due to the rain and wind. Larry wanted to go to celebrate his birthday but Flo pestered him about going for a swim, she hasn't been for awhile. Larry gave into her so we loaded her into the car and took her to Roger's Park. We were there for about a half hour. While I walked Flo around she explored and swam, Larry read the paper. Larry and I were surprised to see 10 vehicles in the parking lot but then we realized it was Friday, on Fridays there are always more people on the lake. We have been following a few peoples YouTube channels on RV Living and the other day one of them showed where they made Pulled Pork in a crock pot using root beer and liquid smoke. When we went shopping we picked up a pork roast but forgot to get some root beer so on the way home from the lake we stopped by Walmart. When we got back to the house I put the pork roast in the crock pot with a can of root beer and liquid smoke to start the cooking process. 

Lake Belton is over the road to the kayak launch area

Flo enjoying her swim

A view of the Lake Belton from Roger's Park dock

Fresh baked bread

The pork roast slow cooking in root beer

The barbeque sauce we used

Ready to be eaten

About 1:30 I put the bread in the oven for 25 minutes, when it was done I sliced it and we had fresh baked bread to snack on. I worked out for a half hour with Gold's Gym and a half hour with Just Dance. The pork roast was done cooking in about 6 hours. It pulled apart very easily and I added HEB Memphis Barbeque Sauce. We had a pulled pork sandwiches for Larry's birthday dinner. 

In the evening we watched YouTube videos on RV Living and music videos, we also rented the The Angry Birds Movie, I wasn't that impressed with it, maybe kids would like it but I am not sure about that since I normally like kids movies. I worked on my puzzle until it was time to go to bed. We had a great day.   

8-25 More Irrigation and Other Stuff

Different Chores

Today was the third day of working on the irrigation system. Larry went outside early to try and remove the hugh rock from yesterday, the more he worked to remove the rock the bigger it became. He decided to stop and work on the next sprinkler he wanted to move. He was able to dig the hole to allow it to be moved inward and shifted to the left about a foot, this will relocate it where it should be and he believes he can now shift the one by the rock left a foot and get past the rock. While Larry worked on the sprinklers I mowed the backyard and half of the frontyard. It took me an hour and a half. When I finished mowing I was going to do a little edging but Larry decided to do it instead. Then we loaded Flo into the car and off to The Home Depot we went for a few more plastic pipe connectors. When we got home it was getting hot but there was shade where he had dug the new hole so he decided to finish up relocating that sprinkler. When he finished the assembly I helped him cover up the plumbing. Tomorrow we will work on trying to relocate the sprinkler next to the huge rock. 

The rock is growing

Larry assembling the plumbing on the sprinkler

The finished piping and sprinkler

The finished product

Grocery Shopping

I wanted to go grocery shopping today but Larry really didn't want to, he is a bit sore and tired from doing all the digging and hammering out rocks. I told him he could stay home and I would go by myself. He said I would get lost (I actually know the way), later in the afternoon he changed clothes and we went to HEB to do our weekly shopping. After going shopping we swung by The UPS Store to get our mail. Once I put the groceries away I worked on my puzzle and Larry did some reading. While shopping we picked up something different to try for dinner called Hatch Chili Chicken Empanadas. They sounded better than they were. HEB Creamy Creations Ice Cream was on sale so we picked up a couple half gallons (Buttered Pecan and Birthday Cake).

Watching television

In the evening we watched YouTube videos and a couple of shows on Amazon. The first show was a movie called Bicycle, it was about the history of the bicycle and why people ride bicycles in Great Britain. It was a good flick and well done. The second show was a documentary called Tomorrow Comes, it was also a documentary, it was about five brothers that return to Mexico fifty years after their missionary parents had died there in a plane crash. The brothers reflected on the memories of their parents.
  

8-24 Time for a New Puzzle

Good-bye Neuschwanstein Castle

What puzzle should I do next?

Hello Tropical Paradise

I finished reading Remember Ben Clayton yesterday. I enjoyed reading the novel but I'm going to take a breather from reading. A week ago I finished the last jig saw puzzle we had at the house so when we were at Walmart we looked at the puzzles. While looking at them we came across a couple of 2000 piece new Buffalo puzzles (Tropical Paradise and Kim Norlien Country Music). I didn't want to make a decision so we bought them both. Today when I decided to start a puzzle I had to make a decision. If you know me you know I don't like to make decisions. So I asked Larry which one should I do, he said Tropical Paradise. So this afternoon I started the puzzle. I'm so excited.

A hugh rock

How am I going to remove the rock?

Here I go

We woke up to a beautiful day. After breakfast Larry decided to work on another sprinkler head, he needs to move this one back on our side of the property line. He started digging the trench to relocate it. It was going pretty well until he hit a rock. He had wondered why the irrigation company that installed the system had put the head where they did, it was because of the rock. Instead of digging the rock out they ran the pipe over the rock and put the head on the empty lot next door. He needed to dig deep enough for a 6" sprinkler. He worked for hours trying to get the rock out, finally he was so exhausted he decided to call it a day, it was also getting hot. While he was working on removing the rock I put the dirt we bought around the side sprinklers and in the ditch. I used six bags of dirt. We worked outside all morning.

The rest of the day we hung around the house. Larry read and I started a puzzle. In the evening we watched YouTube videos on RV Living and a documentary on Amazon called 20,000 Miles on a Horse. The documentary was about two guys that did a five and a half year journey from the southern tip of Argentina to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. It was a good documentary. We had a great day.     

8-23 Converting Sprinkler Heads

Converting sprinkler heads from 4" to 6"

The rain has gone away for a few days. There was a breeze and it was overcast so Larry decided to work on the irrigation system. Larry has been working on and off on the irrigation system for most of the summer. He's pretty happy with the amount of water the sprinkler heads are releasing and the spray is good. A few weeks ago he extended the sprinklers on the side of the house up a couple of inches, now he wants to raise a few in the front yard, at times the grass is high enough that it interferes with the sprinklers. He had bought a few parts to do this project a couple of weeks ago but it has been 100 plus degrees and way too hot to work outside. For the past week we have been having rain and the temperature has been in the mid 80's to low 90's so he decided it would be a good time to start this project. Flo and I went outside to keep him company and help him if he needed us. His plan is to replace some of the 4" popup sprinklers with 6" popups and to move some of the sprinklers so the are better aligned along our property line. Using a shovel and garden tool he dug the first one out, he then discovered he didn't have a part he needed so we loaded Flo into the car and off to The Home Depot we went. When we were looking at the connectors one of the employees came by and helped find the piece we needed. After lengthening the pipe for the irrigation system he installed one of the new 6" rise sprinkler. Then he covered up the piping. The last step was to adjust the spray. The sprinkler now pops up far above the grass and works great. After lunch Larry was going to work on another one but the sun came out and it was getting hot so he decided against it. Instead we decided to take a bunch of aluminum cans to the City of Temple recycling center. After dropping off the cans we went to Lowe's and picked up 10 bags of dirt and 1 bag of sand. The last time we were at Louise's she had bought some dirt from Lowe's and it didn't have any sticks in it. We have bought bags of dirt from both The Home Depot and Walmart and they contained a huge amount of of sticks. On the way back to the house we stopped by Walmart to pick up a few things.

Digging up a sprinkler

Gluing the pipes and joints together

Covering the piping up

Checking out the finished project

For the rest of the day we hung around the house. I finished reading Remember Ben Clayton by Stephen Harrigan. Stephen Harrigan is a good writer and keeps your interest through out the book. We watched YouTube videos and our Sunday shows through the ROKU. The Tunnel had it's final episode of the season. After eight season of Inspector Lewis Sunday was it's final episode. We had a very nice day.     

8-22 Back in a Square

This is sounding like a broken record, it was cloudy all day and we had rain so we stayed around the house, the good news is square dancing is back. Our day consisted of reading and I worked out with the Gold's Gym program for a half hour. Once in awhile Flo went outside but most of the time she slept. In the evening we met up with Belinda and Louis to go to Allemande Hall to practice A1 moves with Wendell Moore. We hadn't been square dancing in two weeks, it is a rare event for us to go two weeks without dancing. We had enough people for a square and a couple of people sat out. Some of our friends had just gotten back from Maggie Valley where they had danced to Tony Oxendine and Jerry Story for the week, they had a super time. It seemed that everyone was having a little trouble tonight, I guess since we are all new A1 dancers not dancing for two weeks made us rusty. Hopefully next week we will do better. Even though it was a little rough we still had fun.