Tuesday 5-30 Saying Good-bye

Sad Day

For the last couple of years Flo has been slowing down caused by age. She has gotten weaker and weaker. She has trouble getting off the floor so we have been having to help her. She has been on pain pills for quite some time and lately they have been wearing off quickly. She loves to swim but we can no longer take her because she couldn't walk back to the car.. When she goes out to take care of business she is worn out by the time she gets back into house. A week ago Larry made an appointment to see her vet but they couldn't get her in until today, actually they could have gotten her in sooner but our favorite vet only works on Tuesday. Larry and I talked about when should we let her go. We didn't want to put her down too soon or too late, it is a hard decision to make. Today we took her for her appointment. Her vet said she could give her another type of pill but it wouldn't correct the weakness it would just prolong her life a little longer. We decided it would be best to let her go. It was the hardest decision we ever made but it was time. We stayed with her to the very end, she died very peacefully. We said our good-byes to her. She will be missed very much.

Flo lived for almost fourteen super years and she gave us a lot of love and affection even at the end. She camped in every one of the lower 48 states, and two Canadian provinces, visited many National Parks, hiked a lot of magnificent trails, swam in many beautiful lakes, streams and rivers, even swam in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and she spent a lot of days sunning, she loved the sun. I miss her considering I talk to her all the time. She kept me company when I barbecued. She was more than a dog to me, she was my child. I will always love her but it was time to let her go.

Swimming in Nolan Creek

Walking on the boat dock at Roger Park

Swimming at Temple Lake Park

Sunning in the yard

Camping with the Minnie

      

Monday 5-29 Memorial Day

We spent the whole day relaxing around the house. It was too muggy to go to the lake. We didn't have anything on our agenda. Larry started a book and finished it. I worked on my puzzle and played Solitaire on the computer. For lunch I barbecued Larry a hamburger and barbecued a salmon burger for me. We also had Au Gratin potatoes. After lunch I worked out on my Wii Fit for a half hour and then took a nap. I made sandwiches and heated up the leftover potatoes for dinner.

In the evening Larry and I went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers. The Grand March was dedicated to all the Armed Forces who dedicate their lives to serve our great country. There were nine squares of dancers which was great considering it was Memorial Day. The first tip of the dance was different than usual. Brad called progressive squares, he called calls that made people move from square to square. He did a very good job. We had another super night of dancing with the Sundancers and to Brad. We had a very good day.

Our friends having fun dancing to Brad

Me and our friend Steve

Larry having a great time dancing with friends

  

Sunday 5-28 Just Having Fun

Be happy and have fun

For the last two days we haven't done too much but we had fun.

Yesterday we hung around the house all day. Larry read and played with the Echo Dot. I worked on my puzzle. The only time we went outside was to take Flo out. It was too windy to go to the lake.

In the evening we watched our YouTube videos and the first Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl. Then I watched Midsomer Murders on KLRU. I did my daily challenges.

Today was very nice. In the morning we watched our weekly GizWiz and YouTube videos. During the afternoon Larry and I went to Allemande Hall to dance with friends. Last week the TIPS Club resumed A dancing on Sunday afternoons from 3:00 to 5:00. Today we had five couples Dale Smith did the calling. I baked a Betty Crocker Heath Bar dessert to take with us. We had a fun time dancing with friends. 

When we got home Flo was waiting for us at the door of the garage. I baked a frozen pizza in the oven using my cast iron pizza pan and it came out great. After dinner we watched the second Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. Then I worked on my puzzle and did the daily challenges. We had two fun days. 

Friday 5-26 Taking Care of Yards

A laid back day

We woke up to overcast skies and wind. We didn't have anything on our agenda so we hung around the house the whole day.

Larry has been working hard to keep the front yard under control, he is doing a great job but we haven't taken care of the back yard as well. So this morning he decided to fertilize the back yard. Before spreading weed and feed he asked Alexa to turn on the irrigation system for the zones and amount of time he wanted to water, Alexa is so cool. After spreading the weed and feed he sprayed the little bit of weeds that we have in the front yard with Weed B-Gone. 

Treating for weeds

The weeds Larry was treating for

We spent the rest of the day relaxing. Larry read and I worked on my puzzle. I worked out using the Wii Fit for a half hour and Gold's Gym for a half hour. 

In the evening we watched our YouTube videos and a couple of movies off Amazon. The first movie was Echo Lake starring Sam Zvibleman about a thirty year old guy whose losing control of his life. It was a comedy but we didn't like it. It was slow and the language was bad. The second movie was A Hologram For The King starring Tom Hanks, it was about a failed American sales rep travels to Saudi Arabia to sell his company's product to a wealthy monarch. It was a comedy and I liked it. During the movies I baked some snicker doodle cookies using the pizza pan. They came out perfect. After the movie I worked on my puzzle and did my daily challenges.  

Our dessert

  

Thursday 5-25 Weekly Shopping and Dancing

Gorgeous Day 

The day started out a little cool and in the afternoon the wind came up. It got up into the low 90's.

We started the day out by loading Flo into the car and taking her for a ride. We needed to go grocery shopping either today or tomorrow, we decided to go today. It was cool so we didn't worry about Flo getting hot while we shopped. After doing the grocery shopping we went across the street to Walmart and picked up a weed and feed for the yard. Larry had fertilized the front yard a week or so back and wanted to do the back yard but he ran out of the fertilizer. The other day we installed a planter from the Seeds Program and we want to put flowers in it so while we were in the garden area we looked at the flowers. It's the end of the season and they didn't look too good so we picked up a couple packs of flower seeds to plant instead. One pack is annual seeds (Zinnia) and the other one is perennial (Lupine). It will be fun to see if any of them will grow. I'm excited about trying them out.

Grocery Shopping

The flower seed we're going to try out

While I put the groceries away Larry vacuumed out the car. After lunch I vacuumed the house and did a couple of loads of laundry. Then I worked on my puzzle and did a 45 minutes workout with my Just Dance program. It was such a gorgeous day Flo did some sunning.

Working Out

In the evening Patrica and Larry came to the house so they could ride with us to Sun City for the weekly Thursday A dancing. We had enough people for two squares and an extra couple. It was very challenging but we had a super time.    

Wednesday 5-24 Wonderful Wednesday

We had a wonderful day of doing this and that.

The first thing we did was go to town for Larry's dentist appointment. Awhile back the dentist filled a couple of teeth at the gum line, every since Larry has been having trouble eating on that side. He wanted to find out what the problem was. He called the dentist office while we were on our trip and made an appointment and this morning was the day. We arrived early and they took him right in. The dentist told him that he needed a root canal on the tooth that was giving him the problem, they made him an appointment to see an Endodontist next week.

Going to the dentist

Our boat has a beautiful custom cover that we use during the off seasons. It's so heavy that we don't use it during the summer. We keep the boat in the garage so the boat is out of the weather but when he blows out the garage Flo's fur and dust will blow into the boat. He decided we should get a universal lightweight cover to solve the problem. On the way home from the dentist we stopped by Walmart and Academy to see what they had to offer. We checked the covers out and decided to wait considering we really didn't want to spend as much as they wanted for the cover. When we got back home Larry did some research on covers. He found an inexpensive one on Ebay that he ordered.

We have a lawn crew come out every other Thursday to mow our yard, trim around the edges and blow things off. This week is their off week so I decided to mow the front yard. We had rain in the last week and the grass was getting high and I didn't want the yard to get out of control. While mowing I found a few fire ant hills so when I finished mowing I treated the hills. Larry blew out the garage, porch and the driveway. He also treated for weeds. Flo laid outside to keep us company.

Mowing the yard

In the afternoon I took an hour nap and Larry did a little reading. When I woke up I worked out on my Wii Fit for a half hour.

We're having a fun time with our Amazon Dot. We programmed it to turn on and off the lamp with a programmable plug module and really love it so Larry ordered a couple more modules. This afternoon they came in and Larry programmed one to turn on and off the fan in the hall. Now we need to decide what to use the other one on. The Alexa is great.

I'm loving using my new cast iron pizza pan. Everytime I cook something in the oven I use it considering it bakes so much more consistent. I use it in the morning when I bake biscuits and the evening when I bake cookies. I almost forgot I use Alexa as a timer for the baking. It works excellent.

In the evening we watched YouTube videos and a movie on Amazon. The movie we watched was On Any Sunday, which was about motorcycle racing. It was a 1971 documentary starring Steve McQueen. It was a good movie. After the movie I worked on my puzzle and did my daily challenges. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!  

   

Tuesday 5-23 Playing with new Sound Bar

Happy Day

It was overcast once again and we had some rain. We spent most of the day around the house.

Yesterday on the way to Sun City we stopped by the UPS Store and picked up another package from the Seeds Program, This morning Larry experimented with the Husky ratcheting straps and wrote a review. The straps are very well built but the directions on how to use them were not that clear. It took Larry a while to figure out how to loosen the straps once their tightened and the directions were of little help. He already has a really old pair of straps that he used when he hauled his motorcycle around in a truck but they are not ratcheting. He had fun playing with the straps.

The Husky Straps

  

Every since we bought our new TV last fall Larry has been looking at sound bars, our television actually sounds pretty good with the built in speakers so he has been on the fence. He was exploring them again yesterday and found a really good price on Best Buy's website for one that had been returned, about 30% less than Amazon. During the process of ordering the website said it would take a week or so for them to arrive, not a problem since we weren't in a hurry. He placed the order yesterday and they arrived today. Larry removed everything from the box and discovered the instructions and a cable was missing. He found the instructions online and he had a spare cable in his box of cables so we were good to go. He had no problems installing the sound bar, it actually sounds much better than the TV speakers and the cool thing about this sound bar is it works with the Alexa Dot. I can now simply say "Alexa, play Pandora" then "Alexa, connect" and the Dot will start playing whatever I was last listening to via the sound bar. I think the Alexa Dot thing was the real motivation for going ahead and buying this. The sound bar works great and using it via the Dot is really cool.

Sound Bar Box

   

While Larry played with the sound bar and the Husky Straps I vacuumed the house and did dishes. I also worked on my puzzle.

Doing Housework

Last March we got a new washer and dryer from the Home Depot Seeds Program, they are made by Samsung and I love them. Samsung had a recall on the washer, there were reports of it coming apart when it was on high spin with a heavy load. There were no reports of anyone getting hurt but it caused damage to walls and scared people. A representative had left us a phone message last fall saying that they were going to replace our washer with a new one, he never called back. Over the weekend Larry got on the Samsung website and filled out the recall form. The form gave us two options, we could get $838 dollars to buy a new Samsung washer or if we bought another brand they would give us $600 dollars, the second option was to have a technician fix the old one so it wouldn't blow up and they would add a year to our warranty. Did I mention I love this washer, simple decision, fix it. The technician showed up today at 1:30. He installed a bracket on both sides of the top of lid and the problem was solved. He was only here about a half hour.

For dessert I baked peanut butter cookies on the cast iron pizza pan in the oven. This time I put the pizza pan in the oven to preheat and baked them at 375 instead of 350. They came out perfect. I have been really impressed with this pan, everything I have baked on it has come out so evenly done. I can't believe how well it works for biscuits. During the evening we watched YouTube videos and Call the Mid Wife. Then watched a movie called Florence Foster Jenkins on Amazon. It starred Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. It was a comedy, drama, biography about a New Yorker heiress's dream of becoming an opera singer. It was a good movie. We had a fun day.

Peanut butter cookies on the pizza pan

   

Monday 5-22 Day of Overcast Skies

We woke up to drizzle and it stayed overcast all day which kept the temperature in the mid 70's.

In the morning Flo has a developed a routine of going in and out the front door. We got tried of opening and closing the door so we keep the door open that way she can come in and out. We keep an eye on her via security cameras. If we close the door we put her on a chain. I no longer take her for a walks considering she can't walk too far. Well, after lunch she decided to take herself for a walk. One of the neighbor ladies came to our door and told us she was down the street. She had tried to get Flo in her car but Flo can't jump in the car anymore. She gave Larry a lift to go get Flo. By the time they were back Flo was in a lot of pain. She got as far as the garage doors when she couldn't go any further. We put her on the chain and let her recuperate from her walk. When she was ready to come in she barked and I let her in. It's amazing, no matter how much pain Flo is in she still wants to go for a walk. 

We stayed around the house all day. Larry worked on writing reviews for The Seeds Program, he reviewed the Outdoor Essentials 4x4 Vinyl Raised Garden Bed Kit, Lodge Cast Iron Pizza Pan and Merkury Innovations Smart Plug. I worked on my puzzle.

In the evening Larry and I went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers. There were seven squares. We had a super evening dancing to Brad Caldwell and with friends. After the dance Larry and I hung around and talked to Brad. He's a super guy.    

Sunday 5-21 Dancing With the TIPS Club

Friendship and Fun

Do you remember when I planted some wildflower seeds back in May before we went on our trip? I only had time to water them a couple of times before leaving and I was hoping it would rain while we were gone, well we got very little rain but some of the wildflowers had grown and are still standing. I think they were the ones that were the annual flowers. They are still standing.

The seeds I planted in May

The wildflower still standing 

  

In the morning we hung around the house and watched our YouTube videos and one episode of GizWiz. I worked on my puzzle and took a nap. 

Larry and I went to Allemande Hall to square dance A with the TIPS Club this afternoon. We had enough people for a square plus three extra people. We had a good time. In the evening we finished watching the third season of Bosch and I watched the ending of Father Brown and Doctor Blake Mysteries. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!! 

Square dancing with friends

Watching television

Saturday 5-20 Ruthie Foster Concert

Be Happy!!!!

It rained during the night, at times it was very heavy but by morning the rain was gone.

It was overcast all day which kept the temperature down. Larry and I decided to play with the garden planter considering the temperature was comfortable. The first thing we did was decide where to put the planter. We thought about putting it around the septic tank area but the kit was too small and we really didn't want to buy another one. Instead we decided to put it around one of the oak trees in the back. We had thought about cutting down the post to six inches instead of a foot but after playing around with the height we decided on keeping it at the height it was. Larry assembled three sides of the kit and then put the planter around the tree. Once around the tree he assembled the fourth side. Our lot isn't flat so Larry leveled the planter by digging around the tree. After leveling the planter he put the dirt back around the planter. We had a couple bags of dirt laying around that we put inside the planter. Now we need to get some more dirt and decide what flowers we're going to plant. I almost forgot we also have to buy some potting soil for the flowers. 

The Garden Planter Kit

Larry assembling the planter kit

The planter after it's been assembled

The planter waiting for flowers and soil

Lots of stuff was going on in our area today, the Harley Davidson dealership was having a event involving live music and motorcycle racing and there were two concerts, ZZ Top was at the Expo Center and Ruthie Foster at the Culture Activities Center. A few months ago Willie Nelson had a concert at the Expo center and people that went said it was a mess to get in and out of the parking lot because of traffic. We really would like to go see ZZ Top considering we have never attended one of their concerts. Larry and I went to town to check out the Harley Davidson Dealer event and the Expo Center parking condition. We drove to the Expo Center and found out that there wasn't that much parking and part of the parking lot was taped off for a Harley Davidson event. We decided we would not be going to the ZZ Top Concert. Then we drove by the Harley Davidson Dealer and kept on going considering cars were parked everywhere including the ditches along the highway. We did swing by Harbor Freight, we hadn't been there in a long time and Larry wanted to pick up a couple of things.

In the evening Larry and I went to Ruthie Foster's Concert in Temple at the Cultural Activities Center. Ruthie Foster is an American songwriter and singer. She sings blues, folk and gospel folk. We have seen Ruthie in concert before and we always enjoy her. She is very energetic and relates to the audience very well. Tonight she performed with Samantha Banks on the drums and Larry Fulcher on the base. It was an excellent concert. We had a super day.

Ruthie Foster Concert

Samantha Banks having fun on the drums

Ruthie Foster and Larry Fultcher

        

Friday 5-19 Playing With New Stuff

Never too old to play

We woke up this morning with nothing on our agenda so we decided to go to town and do our weekly grocery shopping. While we were shopping we picked up a couple of rolls in the bakery and a pound of salsa turkey, I used this along with some provolone cheese to make submarine sandwiches for lunch. After lunch I did three loads of clothes and housework (vacuumed the house and mopped the floors).

Chores

I've talked about Larry being in The Home Depot Seeds Program many times. He didn't participate in the program while we were on vacation so when we got back he was excited about returning to the program. He was notified to select his products a week or so ago and a couple days ago the UPS Store notified us that we had packages waiting.  The packages were from the Seeds Program and we knew one of them was going to be pretty big so we took the truck to pick them up. We received a 4'x4'x1' garden planter, programmable plug and a cast iron pizza pan. 

When we got home Larry checked out the garden planter. He found that one of the caps was broken. The kit comes with eight, four foot boards, four posts that hold the boards and caps for the posts. He laid out four of the boards by the oak tree in the front yard. We decided that maybe having the planter a foot high would be too tall. Larry said he could modify the post so it will only be six inches high. It was too humid outside so we put the planter away for another day. I will need to decided where I want the planter to go and how tall I want it.

Planter Kit

A couple days ago Larry ordered an Echo Dot from Amazon and he received it this afternoon. The Echo Dot is a hands-free, voice-control device that uses Alexa to play music, control smart devices, receive messages and it will answers all kinds of questions. It is so cool. Want to know the time, how to spell a word, who is singing a song, the weather forecast, set a timer, simply ask Alexa.

Amazon Echo Dot

We currently have a programmable plug in module that we received a long time ago from the Seeds program, I use it to control turning on and off the lamp where I work on my puzzle but the timer part of it has never worked correctly. This month Larry selected a different brand of programmable plug from the Seeds program and this one even works with Alexa. Larry setup the new plug and I now turn my lamp on by simply saying: "Alexa, turn on the lamp". It works excellent and I think it is so cool.

Control Module for dining room lamp

While deciding what products to choose on the Seeds Program Larry came across a cast iron pizza pan that was designed to cook pizza on your grill. I like pizza and we always have some in the freezer. At dinner time Larry setup the thermometer he uses for smoking meats so I could monitor the temperature of our grill. The pizza pan didn't come with directions on how to cook the pizza on the grill so I followed the direction on the pizza box. I preheated the grill to 400 degrees and cooked it for 27 minutes. The box said between 21 to 27 minutes. I checked the pizza out at 21 minutes and decided to let it cook longer. When it was 27 minutes I slid the pizza off the cast iron pan and onto a regular pizza pan, the cast iron pizza pan is very heavy and was hot so I left it sitting on the grill to cool off. I over cooked it a just a bit but the pizza tasted really good, different than using the oven. It was even more consistent in how it cooked. Later on I tried cooking cookies using the cast iron pizza pan in the oven. This time I under cooked the cookies so next time I will cook them longer. The directions said cook them between 8 to 10 minutes and I only cooked them 8 minutes at 350 degrees. I had fun trying out the new cast iron pizza pan and so far I really like it.

Lodge Cast Iron Pizza Pan

Our pizza cooking on the grill

What the pizza looked like when it was done

What our peanut butter cookies looked liked when they were done

In the evening we watched YouTube videos and three episodes of Bosch. We had a fun play day. You're not too old to have a play day.