11-29 Busy Day

Busy Day

We had a busy day getting ready for a special visitor tomorrow. Larry's mom Shirley is going to visit for a week. We started out by going to Planet Fitness so I could work out. I was tired so I only did the treadmill for 35 minutes but I did end up burning 248 calories. When I finished we went next door to Ace Hardware to look at the hinges. Larry is thinking about building a ramp for Flo. He didn't find what he he wanted so we left empty handed. Next stop was HEB to do our weekly grocery shopping. We bought more groceries than usual considering Shirley and Louise will be eating with us. After doing our shopping we swung by The UPS Store to pickup our mail and a package of Christmas gifts that Shirley had sent us. She always gets a head start on Christmas shopping.

A filthy pillar on the railing

Now it's cleaned

Cleaning the railing

Once I put the groceries away I made lunch. Our back porch railing is really dirty and I have been talking about cleaning it so after lunch I got out the bucket, brushes, and garden hose to clean the railing. It took me two hours but it was well worth it. While I was doing this Larry blew off the front porch, the garage and driveway. He was going to do the back porch but the porch was wet from me cleaning the railing. While we were outside the mail came. Larry was excited, earlier he was notified that the GPS he had ordered was out for delivery. He wasn't expecting it until tomorrow. He spent part of the afternoon playing with the GPS. Once he got the GPS setup he started playing with the idea of building a dog ramp. He told me that he can build one but if he can't do it inexpensively then he might as well buy one. 

After I finished cleaning the railing I went back to working on my puzzle. This is the puzzle that I had put together before but later I dropped the bag of puzzle pieces all over the floor so I had to put it together again to make sure all of the pieces were there, it is a good thing I did because I discovered about four pieces were missing, we found them under the refrigerator. We will be needing to use the dining room table on Thursday so I finished it just in time to take it apart again.

The Neuschwanstein Castle reassembled

In the evening we watched YouTube videos and the third Harry Potter movie called Prisoner of Azkaban. While watching television I did some laundry. I also boiled potatoes for potato salad and eggs for deviled eggs. We had a busy day.            

11-28 Super Day

Super Day

We woke up to sunshine with a bit of wind, as the day went on the wind picked up until it was blowing really hard. Larry had been working on cleaning the carpet in the boat for the last few days and while he is finished with the cleaning there is a piece of carpet under the dash that has come loose and is hanging down. He had some DAP contact cement from another project but he didn't think he had enough so we loaded Flo into the car and off to town we went. Before picking up the contact cement Larry took me to the gym. I worked out in the circuit area with the weight machines for 45 minutes before moving to the treadmill for 20 minutes. Then we swung by Walmart to pickup the contract cement. When we got home I made lunch. 

The contact cement Larry used for the carpet

After lunch Larry was going to work on the carpet and noticed that the contact cement bottle wasn't full. He thought that was weird and when he tried to open the lid he discovered that it wouldn't come off. Apparently someone had used part of the bottle and then it got put back on the shelve so we loaded Flo back into the car and went back to Walmart to exchange the bottle for another one. This time we looked at the bottle more closely. After doing the exchange we went back to the house.

It was such a gorgeous day that I decided to mow the lawn while Larry worked on the boat's carpet. The last time I mowed I did the front yard and half of the back yard. Today I decided to mow the front yard and the whole back yard. It took me two and a half hours. As I was mowing we treated for fire ants. Everytime it rains a lot we end up with a few fire ant hills, needless to say we had a few. By the time I was finished mowing I was tired.

The apples we got from Tennessee

We love square dancing

In the evening Larry and I went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers. They started out with seven squares for mainstream and had six squares for plus. By the end of the dance there was only one square. We had another great night dancing with our friends to Brad's calling.          

11-27 A Normal Sunday

Having Fun Square Dancing

Larry started his day finishing up the boat carpeting cleaning. I worked on my puzzle and Flo laid outside enjoying the cool weather. While Larry was waiting for the boat carpet to dry he read the newspaper and did more research on dog ramps. After lunch we did a small home project which was adding more fill to the couch cushions. The other day Larry noticed that the cushions on the couch were not as plump as they once were so we bought some fiberfill to see if we could plump them back up. This afternoon we didn't have anything on our agenda so we worked on the cushions, they came out great.

Cushion on the right was before and the one on the left is after the project

At 4:00 we went to Allemande Hall for our A lessons with the TIPS Club. We had enough people for one square and a couple of couples sitting out. Wendell Moore decided just to review today considering there were a few people who could not attend. Larry and I didn't care because this gave us more floor time and we have fun dancing with friends. One gentlemen had just returned from Thanksgiving in Tennessee and he brought a huge box of Tennessee apples to give to anyone who wanted some, he also provided bags. I think everyone left with some apples and he still had a bunch left. It was so nice of him to do this.

Larry dancing with friends

Waiting for the next call

We didn't get home until about 8:00 so for a easy quick dinner I used some left over chicken to make wraps. We then watched some YouTube videos while I worked on my puzzle and later I played computer games until it was time to go to bed.

11-26 Another Damp Day

Dreary Day

We woke to overcast skies and it rained a little in the afternoon. The sun did try to come out a few times. We started the day out by Larry working on the boat carpet and I worked on my puzzle.

I have written previously about our dog Flo being thirteen and having trouble with her back legs. We have been thinking about getting a dog ramp to make it easier on her getting in and out of the Minnie. Over the last few weeks Larry has been researching different ramps. He has found one that appears we might be happy with but he has not ordered it, he did find out that Pets Mart carries it so we went to see if the local store stocked the ramp. We found out it is the only one they stock but they did not have one on display, only had one in the box. We would really like to find a ramp that has the capacity to hold our weight so that we don't have to keep taking it down everytime we want to get in the Minnie. We discussed that if we bought a ramp we would have to modify it to work the way we wanted. After walking around Pets Mart we decided to walk over to The Home Depot to look at material to possibly build a ramp. We left The Home Depot empty handed, we are still trying to decide what to do.

In the evening we watched YouTube videos and Harry Potter The Chamber of Secrets. Then I went back to working on my puzzle and played computer games. We had a relaxing day. Life is good!!!  

11-25 A Damp Cool Day

Damp Cool Day

We woke up to rain that wasn't in the forecast but that was ok. We hung around the house all morning. I worked on my puzzle while Larry read the newspaper and played with the apps on the TV. After lunch Larry went in the garage to clean the carpeting in the boat. He ran out of carpet cleaner so we loaded Flo into the car and head to town. We went to HEB to pickup a few things, we looked at the carpet cleaners but Larry wasn't sure which one to pick, Walmart is just across the street from HEB so we went there. We ended up getting a carpet cleaner and picked up a couple more things. When we finished our shopping we went to the UPS Store for our mail.

When we returned home Larry was going to work on the carpet in the boat again but it was still wet from earlier so he put a fan on to dry it. He said he'll wait until tomorrow to finish the carpet. After putting the things away I did laundry and some housework. I cleaned the second bedroom and now it's ready for Shirley's visit, then I went back to my puzzle. The laundry and housework took me the rest of the afternoon. I baked a frozen pizza for dinner. After dinner I wiped down the inside of my kitchen cabinets which I haven't done in a very long time. When I finished we watched our YouTube RV videos and a Harry Potter DVD, The Sorcerer's Stone. Then I continued working on my puzzle and I played computer games. We had a very good day. 

11-24 Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Larry's mom is coming to town next week so we have decided to celebrate Thanksgiving when she is here. Today we had a simple Thanksgiving lunch. I put a small relish tray together with sweet pickles, cheddar cheese, ham and olives. I baked scallop potatoes and barbecued  pork ribs. 

Our Thanksgiving Lunch

Our relish tray

 After lunch we detailed cleaned the vinyl interior of the boat. We hadn't done this in a long time so it took us awhile. We scrubbed all the vinyl down with Dawn and water. Then Larry went around using brushes and more scrubbing on what had not come clean. The motor cover was one of the problem areas, when we aren't using the Bimini we lay it on the cover. By the end of the season there is a dark line across the cover where the Bimini lays. After he finished cleaning the interior I went around and wiped down all the vinyl with protectant. It took us three hours and we still need to clean the carpet.  While I was putting on the protectant Larry treated for weeds.

No more line on the motor cover

Scrubbing the front seat with a brush

More scrubbing with another brush

Larry treating for weeds

In the evening we watched YouTube videos on RV Living and a movie on DVD, Van Helsing. We have watched this movie many times and we never get tired of it. For the rest of the evening I worked on my puzzle and played computer games.

 

11-23 Grab Bar and Manifold Gaskets

Having Fun

At 2:00 in the morning we had a rain storm coming through with thunder and lighting and a down pour of rain but it quickly moved on. When we got up it was nice and cool. After breakfast we loaded Flo into the car and Larry took me to the gym. I was a little sore from the workout yesterday so I only did the treadmill for thirty-five minutes. Afterwards we walked next door to Ace Hardware to get a few bolts and screws for a couple of projects Larry's working on. Once we got the bolts we headed home. Larry thought about going to HEB to pickup a few things but the parking lot was almost full. Instead we filled the car up with gas and then went home.

Larry's mom (Shirley) is coming to visit us for a week. The last time she was here she said she had a hard time getting in and out of the tub in the second bath. Larry spent quite a bit of time researching grab bars, he even had me climb into the tub to trying to figure out which bar would would work best. He wanted to know if we should mount the bar going up and down, on an angle or across. We decided to get a long bar and then we could decide how to mount it. Once we made a decision on what bar to get Larry ordered a Moen Pull Bar via Amazon, he actually tried to find one locally but nobody stocked the bar he wanted. Yesterday we received the grab bar and after lunch today we installed the bar. Before starting the installation we decided it would work best to install it on an angle, it doesn't look quite as nice but it will be more functional. First he had to find a couple of studs. This was a little difficult to do considering we have culture marble for the tub and walls surrounding the tub. He found the studs and taped off where he wanted to put the screws for the bar. The next step was drill the holes for the screws. As he was screwing the screws in he stopped and put some sealant around the screws to make sure that once the bar was installed there won't be any leaks. Hopefully the bar works well for Larry's mother, if not we will remount it or try something else.

Drilling holes for grab bar

The finished holes

The grab bar once it was installed

The next project Larry worked on was replacing the boat's manifolds leaky gaskets. He worked on one yesterday and could not finish it because he wanted to replace the bolts. The first step was to take the manifold apart. Where the bolts were located he had a hard time getting a couple of them out. But he did get all four of them out. He then had to clean what was left of the old gasket by scrapping it off and then using an air powered wire brush to finish cleaning and removing some paint left on by the factory. He wanted to make sure there would be no leaks when he finished the project. Once the manifold was cleaned up he put the new gasket on it. Before putting the manifold together again he put sealant on the gasket. The last step was bolting the manifold back together.

One of the boat's manifolds

The gasket before it was replaced

Scrapping of the old gasket

The new gasket installed on the manifold

The new gasket before it was installed

The wire brush used to remove the paint

While Larry was doing these two projects Flo and I kept him company. In the evening we watched YouTube videos and a couple of documentaries. The first one was Wild Giants of Denali, which was about the wildlife that live in the six million acres of wilderness in Denali National Park in Alaska. The second one was The Genius of George Boole, it was about the huge impact George Boole's work has on technology. Both were very good. Then we started to watch the first season of Star Trek The Next Generation. We had a very nice day.    

11-22 Back to the Gym

Working out at Planet Fitness

Today was overcast with a little on and off rain. For a few weeks after my surgery I was not able to go to the gym but my incision is now healed so today I decided it was time to go. About a week ago we received notice that the tags on the truck were due so on the way to the gym we stopped at Valvoline Oil Change and got it inspected. We arrived at the gym around 9:30 and there weren't many cars in the parking lot, a bit of a surprise considering it was Tuesday. Thanksgiving is this week so the kids are out of school, I guess that's why there were so few cars. The first thing I did was sign in at the desk. Then I went to the circuit area where I worked out on weight machines and steps for a half hour. The last thing was the treadmill for thirty-five minutes. While I was working out Larry read the paper.

At 3:00 I worked out on my Wii Fit for a half hour and Just Dance for forty-five minutes. Larry worked on a couple of little projects. When I finished my workout I made dinner. In the evening we watched the fifth episode of The Durrells in Corfu and a movie on Amazon called Room. The Room started out being pretty depressing but ended up being an ok movie. Then I worked on my puzzle and played computer games. We had another relaxing day.    

11-21 Allergies

Allergies

This morning I woke up not feeling well due to allergies. I had a head ache and my stomach didn't feel the greatest and that was my excuse for not going to the gym. This morning we had a really short power glitch and it took out the internet. Larry went and checked out the router. It wasn't working so he unplugged everything, it took him a little bit but he got everything working. We have two emergency power devices that should prevent things like this from happening but both of them are very old and the batteries are bad. After our last power glitch Larry ordered a battery for one of them but he had not gotten around to replacing it so as soon as everything was running he dug out the device, installed a battery and plugged our cable modem and router into it, hopefully this will not happen again. After he finished this I decided to go back to bed for a couple of hours. Larry read the paper and. Flo went outside a few times to enjoy the cool weather.

After lunch we loaded Flo into the car and headed to town to do a couple of errands. The first stop was Target, Larry wanted to get Command Velcro strips for one of the internet boxes in the closet, while we were there we also picked up the clothes hangers we had looked at the other day and looked at power strips. We didn't buy a power strip but we did get a chance to use our e-gift card. The next stop was Walmart to look for a power strip and pick up a few things. Like always we ended up buying more than we intended to. We found a really short power strip for a dollar that would work perfectly. When we got home Larry installed his power strip and the Command Velcro strips and I worked on my puzzle.

Brad and Betty round dancing in between square dancing tips

Steve and Elyen round dancing

Round dancing to Lucy Pate's recording

In the evening we went to Sun City to dance with The Sundancers. We hadn't danced with them on Monday nights since February when we started A lessons with the TIPS club. We really missed dancing to Brad Caldwell and the dancers. The club had started a new format so we weren't sure how it was going to be. The first hour was mainstream tips and the second hour was alternating mainstream and plus tips. Everyone was happy to see us. Brad is such a great caller that he can make mainstream moves very challenging and fun. We had a super time dancing to Brad and with our friends. We were glad we attended the dance.       

11-20 First Frost of the Year

First Frost of the Year

Larry woke up to a light frost, by the time I got out of bed the frost was gone. The temperature got down to the high 30's last night. During the day today it stayed in the low 60's. It was still another gorgeous day with sunshine. Flo and I even sat outside for a little while. We stayed around the house again relaxing. I continued working on my puzzle, Larry read the paper and worked on a review for the LG Puricare air purifier from the Seeds Program. While doing the review he tested out one of the features, he put the filter on automatic and got out a couple of the spices I cook with, he put the spices in front of the sensor on the filter to see what happens. When the sensor picked up on the odor from the spices the number on the digital indicator started to increase and pretty soon the indicator light turned from green to yellow and the speed of the filter increased. Over time the digital indicator number continued to increase and the light turned to orange and finally to red, when the light was red the filter speed increased to its maximum. Once Larry removed the spices it continued running at the higher speed until the air was clean and then the light gradually returned to green and the filter slowed down to its normal speed. It worked exactly the way it was designed to, pretty cool.

LG Puricare Air Purifier

Yesterday I wrote about the digital badge Larry got for me, currently it is programmed to scroll my name and Temple, Tx across the screen, it can be reprogrammed to scroll anything you like. Here are a couple of pictures while it is scrolling.

About 4:00 Larry and I went to Allemande Hall for A lessons. We were introduced to two new moves and we had fun with our friends. When we got home we watched last weeks episode of The Durrells in Corfu and then YouTube videos. Later on I watched Doctor Blake Mysteries. We had a relaxing evening.   

11-19 Cold Morning - Beautiful Day

Beautiful Day

Today started out in the low 40's and it warmed into the 50's with beautiful blue skies and sun. We didn't have anything on our agenda. Larry had ordered me a programmable digital badge and it arrived the other day so he spent a good part of the morning figuring out how to program it, now that he has everything installed and has figured it out it is actually easy to do. He currently has it scrolling my name and Temple, Tx across the screen, the words are bright blue and it looks really cool, this should get a lot of attention on the dance floor. While he was doing this I worked on my puzzle, I'm trying to get it done before Shirley comes to town.

After lunch Flo was pestering us to go some place so we loaded her in the car to go for a ride. Before leaving the house Larry printed out our Target e-gift card for $70.00. Our first stop was at the UPS Store, we had purchased an item from Amazon that we decided was not going to work the way we had hoped so we needed to return it. Amazon makes this really easy, you simply go to your orders, select the order and indicate why you want to return the item, if it was defective you can return it for free but if you decided you simply don't want the item then you have to pay for the shipping. A label is generated, print it out, stick it on the box and drop the box off at a UPS store. Shortly after the UPS store scans in the shipping label Amazon refunds your money. Some clothing items have free returns for any reason but you have to be careful because some don't. After dropping off our package we went to Target, we didn't find anything we had to have but I told Larry we might want to pick up some hangers. We looked at them and found some we liked but decided to pass on them. We have been buying our wooden hangers at The Home Depot and we wanted the hangers to match. The Home Depot is in the same parking lot as Target so Larry and I walked over to The Home Depot. We found some hangers but they weren't the right color so we left empty handed. After The Home Depot we went home. When we got home Larry went to The Home Depot site and found that they didn't carry the hangers we have any more. We probably will buy the hangers at Target the next time we are there.

The rest of the day we relaxed and watched YouTube videos and the GizWiz show. In the evening we watched the Da Vinci Code. It's still a great movie after all these years. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

11-18 Cold Front

Today is the first day it hasn't been 20 degrees higher than normal for this time of year, it was at the normal temperature, in fact it didn't get out of the 60's today. We hung around the house all day. Years ago Larry built a shelf that mounted on the back of the old television for my Wii and its program CD's to sit on, this morning he decided to build a shelf for the new television. Since the new TV is larger than the old one he built a larger shelf. He built it out of stuff we had around the house so it didn't cost anything and believe it or not we didn't have to go to the The Home Depot. After building the shelf he mounted a power strip on it. Now the wires from the television are neatly stored away.

Using the mill to drill holes for screws

Assembling the frame to the shelf for my Wii

Building a new shelf for my Wii

We didn't too much the rest of the day. I cleaned my pantry and the refrigerator. Then I worked on my puzzle and worked out for a half hour with a Just Dance Program. Larry cleaned his workroom and did a little reading. Flo spent most of the day outside enjoying the cool weather. In the evening we watched YouTube videos and a couple of movies off Amazon. The first movie we watched was Man On Wire, it was a 2008 British biography documentary of Philippe Petit. In 1974 he high-wire walked between the Twin Towers in New York, it was very interesting. The second movie was Sky High, which was a documentary about a young sky diver (Jarret Martin) and his accomplishments after an accident, it was also good and very well done. Afterwards I worked on my puzzle and played computer games until it was time for bed.    

11-17 A Windy Day

A windy day

We woke up to a very nice day but the wind was up. We needed to do our weekly grocery shopping so we loaded Flo into the car and headed to town. HEB was busy but it didn't take us long to check out. Once we put the grocery in the car we drove across the street to the UPS Store to pickup our mail and a package from The Seeds Program. While I was putting the groceries away Larry unpacked the LG Puricare Air Purifier and plugged it in. He read the instruction manual and played with the different speeds of the air filter. When it's on medium it's very quiet but doesn't pull in all that much air but but when it runs on high more air it pulled through it. So far it's works great. 

Grocery Shopping

The LG PuriCare Air Filter

After lunch Larry decided to change out the stand of the television from the one it that came with to the new one. It didn't take too long considering he had the new stand already assembled. When we got the television on the new stand it was too low so we had to take the television off it. Larry moved the bracket up on the stand. We put the television on the stand once again. The television looks great on the stand. We have an universal controller for our old television and stereo system so the next step is to program the new television on the controller. While he was doing this I went and took a nap.

The new television stand

Larry removing the stand that came with the television

The stand that came with the television

In the evening Larry and I went to Sun City to dance A with the Sundancers. This week we started a half hour later so before going to the dance we had dinner. What we like about dancing with the Sundancers on Thursdays is that they're finished by 8:00 so we're back at the house by 9:00. We had a super time at the dance. Today when we got back from the dance we watched our YouTube videos. Afterwards I worked on my puzzle and played computer games until it was time to go to bed.