Thursday 6-29 Running Errands

Smile and be happy

We decided to run a few errands today.

We had taken the Minnie's couch seat to Troutts Upholstery last week to get it recovered. Our appointment wasn't until yesterday but we didn't want to forget about dropping it off. We got a call early yesterday saying that it was done and ready to be picked up. We picked it up this morning, Earl and his worker did an excellent job. There is a stripe in the material and they experimented with running the stripe up and down or running it across the cushions, they decided on across, excellent choice. There was a lot of material left over so if we want to cover the back we could use it and we may only have to buy a little more. The service was outstanding, it wasn't suppose to be done until 3:30 in the afternoon and it was finished at 9:30 in morning. When Larry and Earl were carrying the seat to the truck they had to be careful considering there were sharp edge on the pins that held the cover on the seat. Later on in the afternoon Larry used his Dremel tool and ground the sharp ends off.

One of the cushions recovered

The finished seat

Larry working on removing the sharp edges

The next stop was Harbor Freight Tools to get the boat jack, we were in luck, it had come in yesterday. When we got home Larry looked at what he had to do to modify it so it would work with our trailer. He decided the only way to make it work was to make an adapter plate out of thick steel, he would have to locate some steel and then there would be a lot of work involved. He looked at the worn out gears and thought maybe he could just order the gears and replace them. He went on the internet and found a place that had gears that looked like the ones on our jack. He measured the size of the gears and they were the exact size of the ones he found so he ordered the gears. We were notified through e-mail that they were shipped. They will be here through priority mail via the post office. When they arrive he will make sure they work and if they do we will return the jack we bought.

Larry read the newspaper ads yesterday and found that Aldi had baby back ribs on sale so we stopped by Aldi while we were in town. They were out of them but they should have some tomorrow. We didn't leave empty handed we bought a few other items.

Before going home we stopped at Walmart and filled up the truck with gas. Afterwards we stopped by Little Bohemian Bakery for a cinnamon roll. Larry ended up buying a couple of them considering they had some two days old rolls for a dollar a piece. They tasted great.

One of the rolls from Little Bohemian Bakery

While Larry was working on the Minnie's seat cover I finished assembling Evening Surprise, amazingly it only took five days to complete with help from Larry. When I first looked at this I thought it was going to be really difficult, guess not. Really pretty puzzle, there is a combine harvesting corn at sunset with pheasants flying off. Click on the picture to see a larger picture.  

Evening Surprise finished puzzle

When we were in Aldi's this morning we picked up some tortilla chips, I used them to make nachos for dinner. On top of the chips I put refried beans, pepperoni slices and shredded cheddar cheese. I made the nachos on a pizza pan and then I put the pan on the cast iron pizza pan to bake in the oven. I removed the nachos using my pizza peel. 

Pepperoni Nachos

Larry and Patricia met up with us and we all went to Sun City for A dancing. We had exactly enough people for two squares so Dan had to run the computer while he danced, made it a bit more challenging. We all had a great time. 

Wednesday 6-28 A Wonderful Day

It was overcast most of the day and high humidity but it still got to the low 90's. We had a wonderful day.

The wind was blowing a little but it didn't stop us from going to the lake. We were a little sore from the water sports we did yesterday. We got to the lake at about 9:30 and the water wasn't glassy like yesterday. I picked Larry up on the dock and slowly went across the lake. The first thing we did was water ski and then we put in the surf board. After surfing we floated a little in the lake. Once again there wasn't a lot of people on the lake. As we were finishing up our wake surfing we saw three kayaks going down the lake. We had another super day at the lake.

When we got home we had lunch and then Larry went out in the garage to look at the boat's trailer jack. Earlier he thought he might be able to fix it but when he took the gear box apart he found out that the gears were shot. He was hoping to fix it so we wouldn't have to buy and modify a new jack but no such luck. 

Last week Larry had ordered four switches that work with the Alexa to turn on and off lights and ceiling fans. He received them a couple days ago so after working on the jack he decided to install the switches. He installed a couple of them in his workroom which is our third bedroom. Now his workroom can be controlled by the Alexa. He programmed Alexa to turn on and off all the lights in his workroom and to turn on and off the ceiling fan. After he finished his workroom he moved on to the dining room where he also installed two switches. He programmed Alexa to turn on and off the dining room light and ceiling fan. He also programmed Alexa to turn on and off all lights and ceiling fans in the kitchen, living room, dining room and workroom at the same time or individually. He thinks that he is finished installing switches in the house.

New Switches

Old Switches

While Larry was installing the switches I took a nap and worked on my puzzle. 

In the evening we went to Allemande Hall to dance A with the TIPS Club using tapes. We had enough people for a square and a couple of extra men. While we were dancing one of the club callers came by to see how the tape dances were run. We had a fun night dancing with our friends.          

Tuesday 6-27 Guess what we did today?

What did we do today?

We woke up to partly blue skies and no rain or wind. We hadn't been to the lake since Louise came out last month so we decided to go. When we arrived at the lake at 9:00 the water was like glass. We launched the boat and Larry parked the truck and trailer. There were only two other trailers in the parking lot. I picked Larry up at the dock and slowly went to the other side of the lake. Larry thought about water skiing but decided to begin by wake surfing, next up was the wake board and finally we did a bit of flying on the Air Chair. After all that we relaxed by floating in the lake and then we headed back to the ramp and put the boat on the trailer. Once Larry pulled the boat up the ramp we wiped it down. We wipe it down every time we use it. We had a very peaceful day at Belton Lake.

Boating on Belton Lake

While I was cranking the boat trailer jack up it was stiff and Larry said jokingly "Are you wimping?" I laughed and said no the jack was tightening up. We got the jack high enough to get it off the hatch on the truck. Larry put the truck in the garage and then took off the cover of the gear box of the jack. He lubed it up and played with it. He discovered that the gears were worn out but we can still use the jack. We went inside and Larry did some research on the jack considering it was specially made for our boat trailer. He found they don't make it any more but he found a couple jacks that should work with a bit of modification. One was at Harbor Freight Tools and the other one was at Tractor Supply.

Yesterday, when I was getting ready to barbecue I opened a drawer where I have the barbecue utensils and found ants, I took everything out of the drawer and Larry treated the cabinet and I treated the drawer. We thought we got rid of them but we didn't. I opened the drawer today to get something and the ants were back so Larry treated the drawer once again. Then he went outside and sprayed around the whole house for ants and other bugs. 

Treating the side of the house for bugs

Treating the garage doors for bugs

Treating the gravel for bugs

When he finished he got ready to go to town. While he was getting ready I put a cooler together. We went to Harbor Freight Tools to get the jack but we were out of luck they didn't have any in stock. The guy who was helping us told us that they had a truck coming in tomorrow and they had seven of the jacks on order. The truck would be there at noon and everything would be counted and stocked by 5:00. Larry asked him to check inventory at the Harbor Freight Tools in Killeen. He found that they had seven at the store. Larry wanted to make sure he could get one just in case they weren't on the truck tomorrow. We thanked the guy and left. We thought about going to Killeen but it was 50 miles round trip so we headed back to the house. Before going home we stopped at Walmart and filled up the car with gas.

Earlier in the day the mailman had delivered a package containing a small amplifier Larry had ordered, he hopes to use it at Allemande Hall so people can hear the tapes better when we dance to them. When we got back home Larry played with his new toy, it works great. While he was playing I worked on my puzzle.

The puzzle after Larry and I worked on it all day yesterday

The puzzle after today

For dinner I made corn on the cob and Cowboy Burgers. After dinner we watched YouTube videos and last week's episode of The Tunnel. Then we watched an episode of POV called Dayla's Other Country. It was about a young girl from Syria and how she adjusts to life in the United States after her parents separate. It was very good. We had an awesome day.

    

       

Monday 6-26 Spectacular Day

Spectacular Day

It sprinkled on and off all day and the humidity was high which kept the temperatures in the 80's. We spent the whole day working on my puzzle. I was surprised that Larry helped assembled the puzzle all day. We got over half of it done. 

Last Thursday our friends Larry and Patricia bought us some more fresh green beans from their garden so this afternoon I cooked them up for a quick snack. When it was time for dinner I barbecued a couple of Cowboy burgers from HEB. 

After dinner we went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers. There were seven squares. Georgetown is having an event on Saturday and the Sundancers volunteered to be part of the entertainment, by doing this they hope to expose more people to square dancing and possibly attract a few of them into their next class. They wanted to practice and to see the set up of the two squares of volunteers on the stage. When we did the Grand March at the beginning of the dance we had the first eight couples that were going to do the dancing on Saturday start the march that way they could easily practice together on the stage. Brad made it a very fun tip and it worked out really well for the dancers on the stage. We had seven couples for an Advanced tip at the end of the dance. We had a super time dancing.

We had a spectacular day!!!   

Sunday 6-25 Just Another Sunday

What a super day!!!

We had a super day. This morning I worked on catching up on my Challenge computer games while Larry finished writing his review on the Geeni Bulb and doing a bit of computer work for our "A" dance tape session. After lunch we worked on my puzzle, we finished the frame and started to separate the pieces according to color. Then we got ready to go to Allemande Hall to do some Advanced dancing. 

Last Sunday we danced Advanced using tapes and had a great time so the TIPS Club decided they would like to continue using the tapes. The club's normal callers were not thrilled about this decision so today during the dance we discussed alternatives, we decided to meet Wednesday nights and dance to tapes and have the callers call on Sunday afternoons. Today we had seven couples dancing to tape and we had a great time.

On the way home from Allemande Hall we stopped by Taco Bell and had dinner. During the evening we watched our shows on KLRU. We watched My Mother and Other Strangers and Grantchester. Then we watched a new detective series on Masterpiece, Prime Suspect: Tennison. Then I watched Father Brown. We had a fun day.  

Saturday 6-24 Starting Evening Surprise

Rainy Day

We woke up to a rain shower. It sprinkled on and off a good part of the day which kept the temperature in the low 80's but the humidity was high so it felt hotter. What should we do today? 

I decided to start another jig saw puzzle but which one should I do, I have six new puzzles to choose from. Larry suggested why not Terry Redlin's Evening Surprise. While we were on our Spring Trip we stopped by the Terry Redlin Art Center in Watertown, South Dakota. As we were walking through the center looking at his work we walked through the gift shops and found jig saw puzzles made from his work. We decided to purchase on Evening Surprise because of the wheat fields and the pheasants. I've been putting together 2,000 pieces puzzles and this one has 1,000 pieces so it shouldn't take quite as long to do. The pieces are larger than a normal puzzle so that will help the assembling to go faster. The puzzle came with a stand to put the box cover on so you can see what the puzzle looks like as you assemble it. I'm excited about doing this puzzle. 

The puzzle box on the stand

The piece on the left is from Evening Surprise and the other one is from Country Music

Before starting on the puzzle we watched a couple episodes of GizWiz. While watching the GizWiz I did daily challenges of Solitaire on the computer. Last night when I was doing the challenges I think I clicked something wrong and the challenges would no longer work. To fix the problem Larry had to setup the challenges on a different browser, now to earn all the badges I need to start the month all over again, not a problem since I love doing them. 

After watching the GizWiz Larry received an e-mail from The UPS Store saying we had a package waiting for us so we went to town to pick it up. The package was the last Seeds Program item for this month which was a Geeni Bulb.

When we got home Larry played with the Geeni Bulb. What so special about this bulb is that it works with Alexa. Alexa can change the color of the bulb and how bright you want the bulb. It is a cool bulb and works great. Larry played with changing the color to blue, red, green, purple and white. He also had Alexa have the brightness dim to 50% and 25%. He had a great time playing with it. Then he wrote a review on the bulb. 

Comparing the difference in size of the Geeni bulb and another light bulb

Changing the bulb to green

Changing the bulb to blue

Changing the bulb to red

When he finished doing this we watched our YouTube videos until it was time for dinner. After dinner we watched the rest of Fortitude. We weren't impressed by the series so we're not going to watch the second season. The acting was good but there was no ending and it had a lot of holes in the script. After finishing up Fortitude I started assembling Evening Surprise puzzle. We had a very nice day.  

Friday 6-23 Homemade Pizza

A hot day in Belton

Today it officially hit 100 degrees, at our house it got to 102 degrees but we kept cool by staying in under the air conditioner most of the day.

In the morning we went to town to do our weekly grocery shopping. While doing this Larry received an e-mail saying a package was delivered at The UPS Store. After we finished our shopping we swung by to pickup our mail and package. Larry was pleasantly surprised, there were three packages waiting for us, all from The Home Depot Seeds Program. We have received four products from the program this month and we have one more coming.

When we got home I put the groceries away and made lunch. After lunch I laid down for a couple of hours. Larry worked on playing and writing reviews on the products we received. Two of the products were security cameras. They were easy to review considering he has previously reviewed security cameras and these two cameras are the same except one is black and the other one white. The third product was a pizza spatula that we tested at dinnertime.

The white Geeni Security Camera

The black Geeni Security Camera

After my nap I worked out for an hour with my Wii Fit, half of the time was on Just Dance. By the time I finished it was time for dinner.

Workout on the Wii Fit

I've been meaning to make a homemade pizza for a while. I had all the ingredients but I never made time to do so. Well, today was the day considering we received the pizza spatula. First I started the gas grill up, while it was getting to temperature I made the crust using a package of Betty Crocker pizza crust. I pressed the pizza dough on a cast iron pizza pan, next I spread pizza sauce on it, covered it with mozzarella cheese and then pepperoni. While I was doing this Larry took care of the grill to make sure it got to temperature. Once I was finished Larry put the pizza on the grill and I set a timer for 12 minutes using Alexa, I use Alexa all the time when I cook. While the pizza was cooking Larry kept the temperature where it should be. When the pizza was done we removed it from the pizza pan by using the pizza spatula and a smaller spatula. The pizza came out good.

The pizza before it was cooked

The pizza spatula to reveiw 

Removing the pizza from pan using the spatula

The finished pizza

In the evening I baked chocolate chip cookies on the pizza pan. Once again I used Alexa for the cookie timer. We watched our YouTube videos and three episodes of Fortitude. We had a very good day.  

Thursday 6-22 Busy, Busy Day

We had a busy day

First thing this morning Larry asked if I wanted to go to the lake considering it wasn't windy. I told him no considering I didn't feel like it, maybe tomorrow.

The first thing we did was yard stuff. Every other Thursday we mow the front yard if it needs it. This week was the week to mow. It was early so it wasn't too hot. While I mowed Larry blew out the garage, the front porch and down the driveway then he sprayed weeds and treated a few ant hills. When I finished mowing I blew off the lawn mower and Larry blew off the driveway again.

Mowing the yard

Last month I wrote that we wanted to get the couch for the Minnie recovered and we have an appointment for next Wednesday, after doing the yard work we took the couch seat into the upholstery company. When we got there he was busy and he was afraid that we were on his schedule for the day. We told him we were scheduled for next Wednesday and that we just wanted to drop it off ahead of time. While there Larry reminded him to order the foam for the cushions. Earl was happy Larry did considering he had forgotten. He had it written down but hadn't called yet. It should be done at the end of the day on Wednesday.

The next project was cleaning the house and doing dishes. After lunch I cleaned the bathrooms, dusted the furniture, vacuumed the house and did the dishes. I have a dishwasher but I prefer to do the dishes myself considering it's just the two of us.

House cleaning

I'm so excited I finished assembling my 2,000 piece jig saw puzzle Country Music by Buffalo. I started it March 14th and finally finished it today June 22nd. It was harder than I thought. I started out by doing the frame and then I separated the colors. I kept the green color for last considering it had the most pieces. I did take a couple of months off when we went on our Spring Trip up the Mississippi River. I had about ten pieces left to put in the puzzle and I had trouble finding where to put them. Larry helped me out and looked around the assembled part of the puzzle and found where I had put a piece in the wrong spot. I Found a couple other places I had put the pieces in the wrong spot. When I had finished assembling the puzzle it was missing a piece so I pushed out the couch and looked under it, no puzzle piece. Oh, where can the piece be, then I remembered while I was assembling the puzzle I found one under the refrigerator so I checked the refrigerator, guess what? There it was. The mystery of the missing piece was solved.

Kim Norlien Country Music puzzle by Buffalo 

In the evening Larry and Patricia came to the house to go to Sun City for our Thursday A dancing with the Sundancers. This evening we were shy one person to make two squares so we rotated people in and out of the square. When the person that didn't have a partner was going to dance he had to get one of the ladies that was sitting out up to dance with him. We had a lot of fun.

When we got home we watched two episodes of Midsomer Murders on KLRU. Then I did my daily challenges. We had a very busy day but we had fun.  

Wednesday 6-21 First Day of Summer

Summer is officially here 

We spent our first day of summer doing brother do's for Larry's sister. Once in awhile Louise needs a little help on some house maintenance or computer issue, when this happens Larry and I try to go to Round Rock to help her out. This morning we went down to her house for some brother do's.

A couple of weeks ago she mentioned that the faucet in her bathroom tub was dripping. The first project was to work on the plumbing issue. Larry was going to replace the valve piece in the shower so he turned off the water to the house and removed the cover to determine how he was going to fix it. He discovered it was an old Moen fixture and you need a special tool to remove the valve so off to Lowe's we went to see if they had the tool. Larry talked to an employee that worked in the plumbing department, the employee really wasn't sure but he did show Larry a tool that he thought might work. Larry decided to pass on the tool considering he wanted to make sure that he got the right tool. Before leaving Larry asked the guy if there were any plumbing supplies companies in Round Rock. He looked on the computer and found a few so Larry took a picture of the companies address and phone number. The first one we stopped at was Morrison Supply Company. They had the tool that Larry needed and they also had the valve so Louise bought them both. When we got back to the house Larry worked on trying to remove the valve but it would not come out and he was afraid of damaging the entire fixture so finally he told Louise she needed to call a plumber. He put the faucet back together and turned the water back on to the house.

Larry working on the faucet valve

The special tool Larry needed to remove the valve

The next project was working on her back door. Down near the bottom of the door there was very little gap in between the door and the jamb and the paint kept pealing off, we needed to do something to increase the gap and then sand and paint. Monday he made a jig for her door so he could use a router to take a small amount of material off of the door. After looking at the door he came up with another idea so he didn't use the jig, instead he decided to shim the hinges. First thing we did was remove the door then Larry scraped off the old paint from the frame and door where he was going to paint. The frame area was damp so he decided to dry it with a hair dryer, he dried it for awhile and then asked me to take over so he could work on sanding, priming and painting the door where the paint had come off. Once he put a coat of primer on the door he dried it with the hair dryer then he put a couple of coats of paint and in between each coat he dried it with the hair dryer. While he was priming and painting the door area I dried the frame area with the hair dryer. It took me awhile to get the frame area dry, then Larry primed the frame and put a couple of coats of paint on it. He dried the frame with the hair dryer in between each coat of primer and paint. By using the hair dryer it made the process go a lot faster.

Making shims for the door hinges

Sanding down the door

Painting the door frame

While waiting for the paint to set up before putting the door back on Larry worked on Louise's computer. She had told him that a few programs weren't working on her computer. He got the programs to work properly and she is back in business. Then Larry and I put the door back on.

Louise's computer

The last time we were at Louise's house her dog Alice was scared of us and today she was still scared of us. We were at Louise's from 8:00 to about 3:00 so Alice was starting to warm up to me a little more. In fact she became my buddy when we had lunch considering I'm a softy and gave her a little bit of my lunch.

Louise 

Alice is worn out after being awake most of the time we were there

Larry had a busy day at Louise's house but he had fun. He really enjoys doing house maintenance.

In the evening we watched our YouTube videos and three episodes of Fortitude. I'm still not sure if I like Fortitude or not. Then I worked on my puzzle. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!    

Tuesday 6-20 Movie Time

What a great day!!!

This morning I was sitting at the dining room table working on my puzzle when Larry decided to take me to a movie. He didn't say which movie he was taking me to I assumed it was the new Pirates of the Caribbean but I was wrong. When we got to the theater he told me the movie was Wonder Woman. He told me that it had better reviews than the Pirates of the Caribbean, it was a good movie starring Gal Gabot and Chris Pine. It was an action movie based on the superhero DC Comic.

Going to the movies

Superwoman Movie

After going to the movies we swung by The UPS Store to pickup our mail and a package. It was lunchtime and we thought about going out but decided to go home.

In the afternoon I worked out with my Wii Fit for a half hour and Just Dance for another half hour. Larry read a book. After my workout I worked on my puzzle until it was time for dinner.

Working Out

After dinner we watched our YouTube videos and a movie off of Amazon. The movie was Tracker, it was about an Afrikaner veteran who immigrates to New Zealand and is hired to track down a man that was accused of murdering a soldier. It was a slow moving movie but I liked it. Then we started watching a series on Amazon called Fortitude which is about a small town in Iceland. We only watched one episode and I'm not sure if I like it or not. Then I worked on my puzzle and did my daily challenges.