9-29 Air Spring Installation Completed

Morning Temperatures are in the 60s

This morning Larry finished up with the air spring installation on the Minnie. He installed the gauges and checked for leaks. The connections at the air spring were leaking so he had to work with them a bit and now there are no leaks. When he finished we needed to take the Minnie for a spin to see how it handles and since the Minnie also needed propane we figured going to get propane would make a good test drive. Larry loaded Flo into the Minnie and off to Lucky's RV Park we went. We have been there before so we knew the way, well, we used to know the way. They have been working on I35 and in doing so they removed the left turn onto the road that we use to get to the RV park. Took us three tries to figure out the new route, we took the loop and Larry could see the road we needed to be on but the exit was no longer there. We made a u-turn on the loop and took the first exit past where the original exit used to be, this lead us to a dead end road. Next we went down the frontage road on the other side of the loop and this simply looped us back to the loop. Back up on the loop we went and Larry saw a new access road on both sides of the loop, he had to exit to the right at a truck stop, turn right on a new access road, follow it back the way we came for about half a mile and then it went under the loop and headed back along the other side of the loop finally connecting with the road we needed. There were no signs anywhere explaining anything. The old road was a little rough but we got there. Larry helped Flo out of the Minnie so the gentleman could fill the propane tank. She and I walked around while the tank was being filled. After the Minnie had propane we went back to the house. Larry said the Minnie handles very well, we will have to wait and see how it handles while towing the car. Larry added some water to the holding tanks and backed the Minnie beside the house to dump the tanks. Now the Minnie can start the next adventure with empty tanks. While he was emptying the tanks I barbecued a couple Italian sausage patties for lunch.

Drilling holes to install the bracket

Screwing the plate on the Minnie

Finished project

Larry connecting the air hose to the gauges

After lunch I vacuumed the house and then laid down for an hour. I decided not to go to the gym since we were going dancing tonight. Larry read the paper, studied Taminations to prepare for our lessons today and played with the Ezviz camera a bit. When I woke up I studied Taminations. We left the house about 3:45, as we were leaving I fed Flo her dinner. Today she started on the supplements the vet recommended, they are Cosequin DS and Welactin 3, along with these she take Vetprofen which is a generic of Rimadyl. This morning she ate one of the Welactin and left the other one so when I got up I broke open the other gel tablet and squirted it on some more food. When I fed her this afternoon I broke open both gel tablets and put it on her food. She ate all her pills this time.

We got to our lessons early and the room was being used so we waited in the lobby. While we were waiting a friend (Jeannie) of ours that we have not seen in a while came out of the room. We called out to her and she was so excited to see us. We visited with her for a little while, she told us that James and her really miss dancing with us on Mondays. We told her we miss dancing with them. When it was time for class we went into the room and setup some chairs. We learned another seven moves. We stayed around after the lessons so we could get some practice. danced one tip during the A dance time. Larry and I stayed the whole time and the A dancers were very grateful, they dance to calls from the computer and Larry ran the computer, he was able to stop the calls when they needed to walk through some moves they were having problems with. Also they could have two squares dancing the whole time. After their session was over three couples stayed around and we had a chance to dance another A tip with the moves we learned tonight.

When we got back from dancing in Tool last weekend Larry had e-mailed Marty, the gentleman that's teaching us and told him how well we did and that the dancers really wanted us to go to Paris Texas in October to dance the A and C weekend. Marty replied to the e-mail and said he didn't have anything going on this weekend and asked if we would like to meet on Saturday or Sunday for 2 two hour sessions with an hour break to go over some more A2 moves. Larry wrote him and said either day would be great. When we got to class Belinda and Dorothy agreed on Sunday. Marty said he would try to get a room for Sunday along with a couple of angel couples. Larry and I are very excited about this. We had a super day.        

9-28 Continuing to Work on the Minnie

Brackets for the Minnie Air Springs

We woke up to 66 degrees and it feels great to be below the mid 80s. Yesterday Larry started working on installing air springs on the front of the Minnie. This morning he finished stringing the air hoses for the air springs. Once this was finished he began building a bracket for the inflation valves and gauges. When he installed the back air springs he built a bracket so he decided to make one identical for the front air springs. He enjoys working with his hands and figuring things out, at the same time it gives him an excuse to play with his Enco Milling & Drilling Machine. First he cut a piece of aluminum plate to the size he needed. Then he put the new plate next to the old plate and determined where he needed to drill holes. Next he drilled holes in the plate for mounting it to the Minnie and others to attach the gauges and then he bent the plate using his vise, hands, vise grip pliers and a sledge hammer.  After all this he installed the gauges to the plate. Tomorrow he will install the gauges on the Minnie.

Flo keeping dad company while he's playing under the Minnie

Finishing up stringing the air hose

Larry put on the clip now all the wheels are secured

Bending the plate

Drilling holes in the plate

After lunch Larry took me to the gym. We were at the gym for an hour and a half. I workout on the treadmill for thirty-five minutes, thirty minutes on the weight machines and did some stretching. On the way home we stopped by The UPS Store and picked up our package from yesterday.

In the evening we watched YouTube videos and the rest of the third season of Transparent. After watching television I worked on my annual book and played computer games until it was time to go to bed. We had a great day.      

9-27 More Upgrades for the Minnie

Installing Front Air Springs

It was a beautiful cool cloudy morning, a perfect day for Larry to begin installing the front air springs on the Minnie. Last May Larry installed rear air springs and the Minnie handles much better, probably the best it ever has, however, when we tow the car it is still really difficult to drive and he is hoping front air springs might help. When he installed the rears he installed separate air gauges for each air spring which allows him to adjust each one independently, he's going to do the same on the front air springs. The front air springs are a lot different then the back. 

Rear Air Springs

Front Air Springs

The first step was to crawl under the Minnie and unbolt the bottom of the shock absorber, then Larry had to release the coil spring. The front air springs have to be installed inside the coil springs. Before Larry could put the air spring in he had to force all of the air out of them. The air bag is plastic and it was hard to squeeze the air out, I helped Larry with this. As he squeezed the air bag I put Velcro straps around it, the object was to force the air spring into the shape of a hot dog bun. Once this was done Larry fed the air bag into the coil spring. Next he put the cap on the top and put the spring back in its place. The next step was stringing the air hose tubing, because he wants to mount the gauges a long ways away the kit only had enough tubing for one side so he only did the passenger side. When he finished doing this it was time to have lunch. 

One of  the springs the air bag had to go into

Larry squeezing the air out

Air spring inside the coil spring

The finished air spring with the cap on it

Larry putting the shock back in place

After lunch Larry pestered me about going to the gym, I gave in and said I would go, he also needed to go to The Home Depot for some more tubing for the other air spring. We had just left the house when he realized he might already have some tubing so we turned around. It only took a couple of minutes and he found some tubing that would work. We still went to town so I could workout. When he was installing the air springs he had to jack the Minnie up and a wheel feel off the jack, a clip that holds the wheel on had apparently broken, he didn't have any extra clips hanging around so he wanted to pickup a few more. We were at the gym for an hour and a half, it was tough after five days off but it was good. After my workout we walked next door to Ace Hardware and picked up the clips Larry needed. Our next stop was the UPS Store to pick up our mail, we had received an e-mail that a package was delivered this morning but the UPS Store said they didn't have a package for us. When we got home Larry called UPS and they said that the package was delivered to The UPS Store, he called them and Molly said they had a new driver that delivered their packages today and she would go to the other businesses in the strip center to see if the package might have gotten delivered to them. She called us back five minutes later and said she found it next door. 

The clips for the jack

Flo enjoying the cool weather

Before we went to town Larry put the eZVIZ camera he was playing with yesterday in the hallway. While we were at the gym whenever Flo got up and moved we would get a message and we could view the video of her moving around, this worked really well and he will be able to use the information when he writes the review on it.

In the evening we watched YouTube videos. We started to watch the third season of Transparent. There are ten episodes in the season and we watched five of them tonight. We had a very good day.    

9-26 I Had a Lazy Day

I had a lazy day

When I got up this morning Larry asked if I wanted to go to the gym, I told him that I was going to pass until tomorrow.

On Friday before going on our trip we had swung by and picked up our mail, there were four packages waiting for us, three of them were from the Home Depot Seeds Program. When I decided not to go to the gym Larry decided to start playing with a couple of the Home Depot items. The first one was a Husky Air Hose Reel. Usually people install the reel on their ceiling or a wall in their garage but Larry decided to install it on the shelving unit that his air compressor sits under. The location was perfect, it is very near the compressor and it will not hit anything when being used. The nice thing about this reel is it's has a built in hinge that allows you to swing it out of the way. The reel comes with a 50 foot long hose. After he installed the reel he played with it a little. At the beginning the hose guide was getting hung up on the housing, Larry found that it had apparently gotten a bit of damage in shipping but he was able to fix the case so that it works perfectly. The second item he received was a eZVIZ Mini O security camera (you might have heard them called nanny cams). It's a small camera that connects to your wireless network and allows you to watch a baby, dog or anything you want remotely. It streams live video all the time and you can configure it to send your smart phone or tablet a notification and a video clip anytime the camera senses motion. We played with it a little and it works good. He already wrote one of the reviews but hasn't submitted it. I guess the weekend wore me down, while Larry was doing this I kept dozing off so after lunch I gave up and took a nap for a couple of hours.

Husky Air Hose Reel

The eZVIZ Security Camera

In the evening we went up to Allemande Hall for our A lessons with the TIPS Club. Louis had to do a project tomorrow with his brother so we drove up by ourselves. We had two squares and they used the computer to tell you which square to dance in. We were in the second square through out the night except for the last tip. We had fun learning four new moves. We had a very nice day.
  

9-25 It's my Birthday

It's my birthday

I celebrated my 60th birthday by going to Tool, TX for the weekend. We had a fabulous weekend dancing to Darryl Lipscomb and Elmer Sheffield Jr. and friends. We finished the weekend up this morning with a breakfast served by the Log Cabin Swingers Club. They served pancakes and sausage patties. While we ate breakfast we visited with our friends. After breakfast we danced for a couple of hours. The first hour and a half plus dancing and a half hour of A dancing. A couple of couples had to leave so Darryl called a six couple A tip, this was a lot of fun. Yesterday Darryl and Elmer recorded a song while we were dancing. While we were resting between the dance and A tips they played the recording back, it sounded great. Darryl and Elmer played around with calling to another song and this morning they decided to record it. In between one of the tips Larry and a few guys talked to Darryl and Elmer about recording and about how far the recording industry has come for the better. They tried recording the song a few times while we danced to it but they kept making little mistakes so after the A tips they were going to try again. We don't know how the recording came out because after the dance we were leaving.

Our friends dancing

Larry enjoying watching the dance

Having fun dancing

Elmer calling the closing dance

The dance was over at noon so before leaving Tool we had a sandwich for lunch. We arrived back at the house at 4:15. We unloaded the Minnie and then I put a pizza in the oven for dinner. In the evening we caught up with our YouTube videos. We watched a couple of documentaries. The 9/11: The Curse of Compensation was about how the compensation ruined some of the people's lives. Andrew Carnegie was about the richest man in the world live. Andrew Carnegie was a very interesting person. We enjoyed both documentaries. I had a super birthday.

9-24 Saturday Dancing

Having fun with new and old friends

Saturday 9/24/2016

Wow, what a fabulous day. We danced eight and a half hours and we still have another two hours in the morning, we're exhausted but we had fun. By the time the day was over we were introduced to a few more moves we didn't know but we had great A dancers to help us through them. We must be doing all right since everyone insisted we get up and dance with them. Some of the dancers had danced with us at the DBD dance in Smithville so they knew how we danced. Before the A dance in the morning Darryl used a square of dancers as Guinea pigs to test a new song that Elmer and he are going to records, Larry danced to it once. When it was time for the A dance I danced one tip with Jan, his wife Yasuko wasn't feeling well. I had a great time. We had an hour and half session this afternoon that was called intro to A, Darryl and Elmer walked everyone through some "A" moves. Darryl and Elmer are great callers and teachers.

Larry Promenading home

Dancing with Jan

Friends having fun dancing to Darryl and Elmer

Having a great time dancing

Tonight we had a Plus dance and after the dance they had a half hour of A dancing. We had a ball all day and are definitely glad we came. Now it's time to get a good night sleep to dance the morning dance.

The outfits we wore to the dance

Darryl and Elmer calling the dance together

Our friends Grace and Dan having fun dancing

Jan and Yasuko dancing with friends

9-23 Weekend of Plus and Advance Dancing

Ready to go

Friday 9/23/2016

This morning I finished loading the Minnie for the weekend and did a little housework. About 10:00 we began our square dancing adventure to Tool Texas, took about three hours to get there. While we were driving the vet called and gave Larry the results of the blood test, everything was perfect, she recommended a few supplements to help Flo and she extended the use of the pain pills. She told Larry to keep Flo active. Larry was talking to her while going down the road and the connection got lost, the vet called back as Larry was pulling off in a picnic area. While we were parked we decided to have lunch, simply had a sandwich and got back on the road. We arrived at Promenade Hall around 1:30 and setup the Minnie for the weekend. There were only two other RVs in the camping area. We were a surprised considering the Log Cabin Swingers had invited Darryl Lipscomb and Elmer Sheffield to do the calling. Darryl is from Mission Texas and Elmer is from Tallahassee Florida. We had danced to Darryl in Smithville a couple of weeks ago but this was our first time dancing to Elmer, they are both excellent callers. The first dance was an Advanced Dance from 3:00 to 5:00. Larry and I have not completed learning all the "A" moves yet but the caller and dancers wanted us to join in. They use a computer to tell the dancers which square they are in, they added us into the computer and we got to dance every "A" tip, really nice of them. Darryl and Elmer called a few calls we didn't know but the other dancers helped us through them. Larry and I did pretty well. We had a great time.

Darryl Lipscomb

Elmer Sheffield Jr.

Friends dancing to Elmer calling

Having fun square dancing

Larry and Dan enjoying watching the dancers

 In the evening there was a Plus Dance, we sat out a couple of tips which gave me a chance to take a few pictures. The plus dance was 7:30 to 9:30 and at 9:30 to 10:00 was advanced. Larry and I got another chance to practice. When we got back to Flo she was happy to see us. After saying hi to her and changing clothes I took her for a walk. Then we called it a night.        

9-22 To the Vet we go

Going to the vet

Flo turned 13 a little over a week ago and her back legs are very weak, she can only stand for a short time and she can't walk too far without them giving out. Sometimes she has problems getting off the floor and we have to help her up, she also limps off and on. We have been giving her pain pills daily to relieve the pain. Last week Larry called her vet's office and made an appointment to see if there is something more we can do for her, this morning was the day to see the vet. She told us that we might have to take her off the pain pills because she has been on them a long time and they can cause liver damage. She took some blood from Flo to send to the lab to see if there was any damage, we should have the results tomorrow. She gave us enough pills for the next five days. Larry explained to her that we know her days are numbered and we want to keep her as comfortable as she can be. She agreed with him and she just wants to make sure that Flo is healthy. The vet did a full exam and said that Flo's heart sounds great and that she would give us a call tomorrow with the results of the lab tests.

After seeing the vet we went to town to do a little grocery shopping. I'm making another batch of the Chicken and Black Bean Bake so before going to the vet I timed our oven to bake the chicken while we were at the vet, when we got home it was almost done. While I was putting the groceries away Larry moved the Minnie in front of the garage and plugged it into power. We are going for a weekend square dancing trip to Tool Texas. When he got into the Minnie he found out that the rearview mirror had fallen off. He had read that when this happens people either glue it back on or use an industrial strength double stick tape to attach it. He had some of the tape so he decided to use that, as  he was pressing and holding the piece in place the windshield cracked, guess he must have been pressing a bit too hard. He went to YouTube to see if there were any videos on fixing the crack and sure enough there were a few. He watched a few of them but he will have to wait until we got back from our trip to work on it. 

In the afternoon I loaded up the Minnie with clothes and some of the food we're taking on our trip. Tomorrow I'll finish loading the Minnie. I also completed the Chicken and Black Bean Bake. Today is Thursday so we had to be at Sun City for our A2 lessons with the Sundancers at 5:00. Larry had a few packages waiting for him at The UPS Store so we left  the house at 3:40. As we were leaving I fed Flo her dinner considering we weren't going to be home until after 9:00. We learned another four moves, we have now been introduced to 12 moves. A2 lessons are for an hour and then the Sundancers continue dancing for another hour and half. They asked Larry, Belinda, Dorothy and me to stay so they could have two squares for their A dancing. They were shy one person so they had one of us dance with them a tip and helped us through the moves we didn't know. We had a great time. On the way home we stopped at Denny's for dinner. This week we shared the Zesty Nachos. It was so big that we couldn't finish it. It was a good nacho. When we got home Flo was laying by the door to say hi. After saying hi I gave her a little snack. After relaxing for awhile I worked on my book and played computer games.

9-21 Birthday Celebration

Birthday Celebration

This morning Louise and Autumn came to visit. Technically my birthday isn't until Sunday but we're going to be out of town so we invited Louise out to celebrate today. This was the first time she has been on the lake this year. She usually comes out a few times each year to play on the lake but this year things didn't cooperate. The boat ramps were closed until the middle of July and the wind has been blowing. The jack on the boat trailer has been stiff and making noise so before going to the lake Larry took it apart and lubed it, now it works smooth. While Larry was doing this Louise and Autumn arrived and Larry set up Flo's kennel for Autumn to stay in while we went to the lake. As we were leaving I gave Flo and Autumn a little snack.

Louise water skiing

Me skiing

Larry wake boarding

Me wake boarding

Louise wake boarding

Louise and Larry floating in Lake Belton

Louise and Larry getting ready for lunch

Who gave me what gift. They all look a like.

Autumn and Flo hanging out with us

Opening my gifts

Last night Larry and I were talking about what we were going to have for lunch today. I told him we were going to have Texas Gumbo, it's a frozen prepared dish and needs to be baked for 55 minutes. I needed to check and see if my oven could be programmed to cook the dish while we were at the lake. Larry got the manual out and we found out the oven can be programmed for this, since we had never used this feature I tested it out, it worked perfectly.

Texas Gumbo for lunch

We were at the lake an hour and a half. All three of us water skied and waked boarded and then we floated in the lake. It was gorgeous on the lake, no wind and the lake was flat. You could do what ever water sport you wanted anywhere you wanted to. We had a super time on the lake. When we got back to the house I put the vests, towels and gloves out to dry. Louise went inside and let Autumn out of the kennel, then Flo, Autumn and Louise came out to say hi. While we were getting changed lunch finished cooking. This was great, no waiting for the food to cook. I have made gumbo many times but this was the first time we had purchased it as a frozen, prepared dish. This Texas Gumbo was delicious, it had chicken, sausage, beans, shrimp, rice and spices. After lunch I opened my presents. I received a lot of great gifts. For dessert we had Breyer's Waffle Cone ice cream. I had a wonderful birthday celebration. Thank you, Louise and Autumn.

As Louise was leaving she remembered the bumper cover on her car was loose and sticking out, she asked Larry to look at it. He believes someone might have backed into it or possibly it got caught in a car wash brush. He was able to repair it, he drilled a hole through the lip of the bumper cover and the wheel inner-liner and then used a body clip to screw the two together. Worked perfectly and you can't tell it was ever damaged.

After Louise and Autumn left I laid down and took a nap for a couple of hours. Larry read and took care of Flo while I was napping. By the time I woke up it was time for dinner. I asked Larry what he wanted and he replied salad, so that's what we had for dinner. In the evening we watched YouTube videos and a movie called The Words. It was a 2012 mystery romantic drama starring Dennis Quaid, Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana, it was a good flick. Afterwards we watched a few episodes of TED TV. Last night we watched a series called Mr. Robot and this morning in the local Temple paper there was an article praising the series for being realistic. Weird, we just watched it and the very next morning the paper had an article on it. Before going to bed I worked on my book and played computer games. What a wonderful day it was.