Saturday 3-30 Super Day of Dancing

Hold on tight

It was cold and windy all day, we were glad we brought a jacket. It didn't get out of the low 50's.Suppose to be even colder tomorrow morning.

We had three sessions of dancing. The first one was an A2 workshop at 9:30 to 11:30 and two C1 star tips. We had five squares and an extra couple for the workshop. We had three squares and an extra couple for the star tips. Darryl made it very challenging. The next session was another A2 workshop at 2:00 to 4:00. The third session was an A2 dance with a C1 star tip. The dance was called a 1/2 hour early. Darryl had not felt well all day and he sounded poorly. There were two callers dancing (Randy and Les Hughes) and they each called a tip to help out. They both did an amazing job. Dan and Nancy from Sun City showed up in the afternoon to dance. We had a super day of dancing with friends. There is a two hour C1 dance scheduled for tomorrow, hopefully Darryl feels better.

 

Friday 3/29/19 Weekend Get Away

We started the day out by getting ready for our weekend get away in Abilene, Texas. 

For the last fifteen years Darryl Lipscomb had been putting on a weekend of A2 and C1 dancing at the Wagon Wheel in Tye. Abilene is about 191 miles from the house and we didn't have to be there until 7:30 in the evening. The way we drive it takes us about four hours, we take the two lane highways. The drive was very peaceful and I dozed off a few time. 

We arrived about 3:30. It gave us a chance to relax until the dance. For dinner we went to Denny's. Larry had pancakes, I had the French toast and we shared an order of sausage links. The service was fast and the food was delicious.

We went back to our room for about an hour. 

We had five squares of dancers for the A2 dance. Everyone had to dance. This year there were some new people but some of our friends from Marble Falls and Austin weren't there and the folks from Lubbock are also missing. But it was only a square less than last year. We danced and visited with friends from home and from lots of other areas, some we hadn't seem in quite some time. After the A 2 dance Darryl called two C1 Star-tips. We had three squares of C1 dancers. We a great night of dancing with friends.    

 

Thursday 3-28 Dancing with the Sundancers

Hold on tight

We had a windy day. The temperatures were in the mid 70's.

I woke up to a beeping sound, I thought it was from the house they are building behind us because the last couple of days they have been moving dirt and boulders around. It wasn't them it was a two man crew with a bobcat on the empty lots south of our house. They were clearing off the big growth. The same person owns the lots on both side of us. He clears his lots once in awhile.

After I had breakfast I went outside and checked the planting soil in the planter, it was still very wet. I didn't plant my flowers. I did my weekly vacuuming instead.

Vacuuming the house

Larry spent a few hours working on our mini router for our computers. Our Google device couldn't stay connected to the internet. 

Our A2 tape group coordinators, Nancy and Dan arranged to have have an hour of C1 dancing before the A2 session. We had five couples for the C1 session and had a great time. The A2 dance session had three squares and an extra person. When the A2 dance was over we danced another half hour of C1. We had a super night of dancing with friends.

When we got home I finished watching The Brokenwood Mysteries. There were five seasons and the series was very good. Now I need to find something out to watch on Acorn. I also watched House. 

Wednesday 3-27 Doing This and That

Smile and be happy

What a wonderful day!!!

Over the last two years the insurance for both the cars and house have gone up a lot  so this morning Larry put all of the information together and sent it via email to a local insurance agency for a quote. Years ago Larry would get prices from different major insurance companies every few years and if there was a significant difference we would switch. Over the past 40 years we have switched back and forth from Farmers or Liberty Mutual for the house and cars. The RV and motorcycle have been with Progressive and the boat with a company that only does boats.

We went to Aldi's this morning, they had pork ribs advertised on sale but they were out, we did pick up a couple of other items. They have remodeled inside and changed up many of the items they stock. They did a great job.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I was going to plant flowers and wanted to get fencing to go around the planter to keep the deer out. Larry found that Tractor Supply and The Home Depot had fencing panels that would work. I don't need it right now but we did swing by The Home Depot and look at what they had. We also looked at mulch but it was cheaper at Walmart.

I tried on the shorts we bought the other day and didn't like how one pair fit so we swung by Walmart to return them. While we were there we went to the garden area and picked up a couple of bags of mulch and a small hand rake.

When we got home we put the mulch down. We didn't have enough to go under both trees so we'll have to go back to Walmart for a couple more. After spreading the mulch we put a couple of bags of potting soil in the planter. The soil was a little wet so I want to wait a bit before planting the flowers.

Fresh Mulch and Painted Flowers

In the evening we watched the new Laura Croft Tomb Raider. It was completely rewritten. It was a good movie but I like the older movie better. We had a very good day.

   

Tuesday 3-26 Mowing the Yard

Beautiful sunny day

What a gorgeous day!!! It got to 75 degrees. The sun was shining, no clouds in the sky. What should we do?

The first thing we did was go to Sunbelt RV, a small plastic clip that holds the power converter door closed in the Minnie had broken and Larry was unable to find one anywhere on the web, he didn't have much hope of finding one at Sunbelt RV but he thought it was worth stopping by, by golly they did have them. Next we stopped by the Bell County Tax Assessors office to get this years tags for the motorcycle. No wait, walked right up to the counter and got taken care of by a friendly employee. From there it was on to HEB for groceries and then across the street to the UPS Store where a package from the Seeds Program was waiting for us.

While we were shopping at HEB they had a coupon if you bought two Campbell's soups you get a free Campbell's special soup. For lunch we had the free soup, Campbell's Slow Kettle Style Santa Fe Chicken Enchilada. I didn't like it as well as their regular soup.

The package the soup came in

 

Our yards are getting out of control. We haven't mowed them this year. So out came the lawn mower. It hasn't been started for a long time, probably last August. Larry checked the level of the oil and added a bit of gas, it took a few pulls but it started up and ran fine. I weedeated around the mailbox and the trees. When I finished the mower was warmed up and I was in business. It took an hour and a half to mow both yards. While I was mowing Larry did some edging on the frontyard. He blew out the garage and the driveway. Our oak trees aren't finished losing their leaves.

Look at all that dust!!!!

Mowing the yards for the first time this year

After the mowing was done we worked on removing weeds, grass and old mulch around a couple of trees. We also cleaned the grass and weeds from the planter in the backyard. I'm going to plant flowers again this year. Last year my flowers did quite nicely until the deer ate them, maybe a fence around the planter would be a good idea.

A couple of years ago I put some silk flowers around an oak tree in the frontyard. After a couple of years in the sun the colors faded. I told Larry I was going to throw them away and buy new ones, he said lets try painting them. He already had a can of orange spray paint so yesterday we bought yellow and today Larry painted the flowers. They came out looking great.

The flowers in our frontyard

After we got finished doing our yardwork Larry asked if I wanted to go for a motorcycle ride.  We drove down to Belton Lake at Rogers Park in Morgan Point. Then we drove around Morgan Point. It was a very pleasant ride. 

Ready to go for a ride

In the evening we rented the second Laura Croft movie called The Cradle of Life starring Angelina Jolene. I don't remember if we every watched it before. It was good. We had a busy day but good.     

Monday 3-25 Dancing with the Sundancers

We had a beautiful Monday. We had a lot of sunshine with a wind out of the north, which kept it cool. It got to 78 degrees at our house at 5:00 pm.

Larry started his day out by polishing the back of the Minnie. He had to do a lot of it by hand because of the ladder and spare tire. He did an outstanding job.

Spraying the wax on the Minnie

Buffing the wax on the Minnie

Wiping off the extra wax

 While Larry finished up the Minnie I bagged the blankets, sheets and towels that go in the Minnie. We're not going to use the Minnie for a bit and I wanted to protect some of the stuff from dust.

After finishing up the Minnie we took it to storage. On the way back we stopped by Walmart and did a little shopping. I bought a couple pairs of shorts. Then we filled the car up with gas.

In the evening we went to Sun City to attend the Sundancers Monday dance. We had five squares of dancers. We had a fantastic night of dancing with friends and Brad. We even had enough people of an A2 tip.

Having fun dancing with friends

Friends Dancing

More Friends Dancing

 

Sunday 3-24 Cleaning the Minnie

Washing the Minnie

It was mostly cloudy today. Occasionally the sun did come out. The temperature was in the high 70's. A perfect day to clean the Minnie.

We started out by cleaning the interior of the Minnie. Larry unloaded his cubby hole where he stores things like: hoses, gloves, rags, grill regulator and leveling blocks. We vacuumed and wiped it down and put the parts back. Larry vacuumed under the couch and around the water tank. It was amazing how much dog hair we found, Flo has been gone for almost two years and we still find hair. We wiped down and vacuumed out everything including the cab area.

After lunch we went outside and washed the Minnie from top to bottom. After sitting under a huge oak tree in The Valley for three months it was filthy. Larry washed and scrubbed the roof, it took longer than usual because of all the stuff that fell from the tree. The back of the Minnie was streaked with black lines. We had to use a strong soap to remove the streaks, the soap also removed the wax so tomorrow we'll wax the back of the Minnie. Larry washed most of the Minnie. When he got tried I took over. While Larry was washing the Minnie I came behind and dried it off. It took us all afternoon.

Scrubbing the top of the Minnie

Spraying off the extra soap

Washing around the door to the living area

Washing down the Minnie

Spraying the extra soap off the Minnie

For the last few evenings we have streamed movies off of Amazon. The first one was a 2017 movie called Lady Bird. It was a cute movie about a seventeen years old girl finding herself and her relationship with her mother. The second one was a 2016 movie called The Lost World of Z. I liked the movie but it was slow moving. It was a true drama about British explorer Col. Percival Fawcett, who searched for a mysterious city in the Amazon in the 1920's. The last one was Laura Croft Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolene. It was an adventure movie. In was done in 2001 and redone in 2018. I enjoyed the movie.

Relaxing in front of the television

       

Saturday 3-23 Brother Do's

Brother Do's

Now and then we drive to Round Rock to visit with Louise. Sometimes Larry ends up doing projects for her. The other day when Larry was talking to her on the phone she mentioned she might get an electric blower to help with her yard work. We have an electric blower and the only hassle with it was dealing with the extension cord. Years ago Larry bought a Wonder Winder Extension Cord Winder and it has really helped. It's a basket that hangs on the wall, you turn a crank and it winds your extension cords into it, it can store 100 feet of cord. Larry ordered her one so this morning we went to Round Rock to install it. While we were there he did a few more little projects.

First up was to install the Wonder Winder cord winder. He decided to install it by the garage door where there was a light switch. He needed to convert the light switch to a switch and a plug so he had somewhere to plug an extension cord in. He didn't have the switch so we needed to go to Lowe's to buy one. He installed the extension cord winder.

Installing the Wonder Extension Cord Winder

The finished project

New shower head

Louise's shower head had started leaking and was spraying water onto her wall. He found a seal had gone bad and she needed a new shower head.

She also said that her bathroom sink and the tub was taking a long time to drain. He tore both of them apart and found they were plugged up with soap and hair. He cleaned them out and reassembled them.

We then went to Lowe's where Louise bought an aerator and a plug for her sink, a shower head, ant killer and a switch/plug.

Before going back to Louise's house we went to Wendy's for lunch. Thank you, Louise for lunch.

When we got back to the house Larry replaced the shower head, installed the aerator and plug in the sink and then he converted the switch from a light switch to a switch for both a light and a plug in.

Something had gone wrong with the Alexa switch for her garage light so he reprogrammed it and it was back to working.

The last project was to transfer her pictures from her camera to her computer.

While Larry was doing his projects I played with Alice and assembled part of her jig saw puzzle.

When all the projects were finished we visited with her a bit. 

  

Friday 3-22 Another Beautiful Day

What a beautiful day

We had another beautiful day with sunshine and temperature in the high 70's.

We have a couple of projects to work on but they will take a few days. It supposed to rain tomorrow so we didn't want to start on them. If you remember the other day I mentioned we're looking for a desk chair. Larry had done some research on desk chairs. The ones we liked at Office Max had great reviews. We decided to buy the Work Pro 9000 Series Quantum Mid-Back Chair. So off to Killeen we went.

Before leaving the house we got an e-mail from the UPS Store that said we had a package. We stopped there first. It was one of the Home Depot Seeds Program products. We also picked up the rest of our mail. Next stop was to pay for the tags on the motorcycle. When we got there it was busy so we left. It was busy because it was during the lunch hour. Afterwards we headed to Office Max. All of the workers were busy but we found the chair we wanted in a very large box, then we looked around the store until we found a hand truck. We loaded up the chair and hauled it up front and waited a bit to check out. Not a problem, we were not in a hurry.

Once at home Larry assembled the chair. The instructions were easy to follow. It didn't take long. We are excited that we now have a comfortable chair to sit on while using the computer. The new chair is taller and fits our bodies better. You can adjust the height, the back and arms. I didn't realize how uncomfortable our old chair was until I tried the new one out. So far so good.

Taking the chair pieces out of the box

Assembling the new chair

Adjusting the chair to where it fits

The new chair

In the evening we relaxed watching television.We streamed a British detective show on Amazon Prime called Manhunt. It was good.

Thursday 3-21 Dancing with the Sundancers

Having fun with friends

What should I do today? I started the day out by doing some housework. It's amazing how many cobwebs and how much dust can accrue in three months. Well, it's time to get rid of the cobwebs.  First I walked around the house and dusted. Then I got rid of the cobwebs. Next I cleaned the bathrooms. Finally, I vacuumed the house. It's nice to have a small house it only took about 45 minutes.

Doing housework

While I was doing this Larry worked on cleaning up an old computer, we can either recycle it or sale it on Ebay. Then he got the motorcycle running. Yesterday he charged the battery so today it started right up. The license plates are due this month so he drove it to the Valvoline Oil Change Store for its yearly state inspection. Now we can get the new tag for it.

During our entire stay in the Valley the Equinox was parked outdoors and exposed to the weather. To top that off the main highway we used was under construction so it got a lot of tar on it. Today was gorgeous so we decided to clean it up. We removed the tar and Larry waxed the car. Then we put a protection on the interior and the black trim. 

Larry and Patrica met up with us around 5:00 and we went to Sun City to dance A2. We had two squares to dance to the tapes. After the dance Dan played a two couple tape for C1. We had three couples. It went pretty good. We had a great time dancing with our friends.    

Wednesday 3-20 Just Another Day

Smile Be Happy

Today we had lunch at What A Burger and then we drove to Killeen to look at office chairs at Office Max. We found a couple chairs we liked but didn't buy one. Larry wants to do some research.

In the afternoon I worked out using Just Dance for a half hour.

In the evening we finished watching Poirot 7th season. Then I watched an episode of House and finished up the third season of The Brokenwood Mystery.

Relaxing in front of the television

Tuesday 3-19 Wii Fit Work Out

Let's go!!!

We had another gorgeous day with the temperatures in the 70's.

We have been gone for three months and the weeds are out of control. Larry checked our supply of weed treatments and found we were low. 

We started the day out by going to the Home Depot to get weed treatment. We purchase a granular weed and feed and a liquid concentrated weed and grass killer. Last year Home Depot had their own band that worked well but not this year. We ended up buying Spectracide Concentrated Weed & Grass Killer. 

Treatment for the yards

Next we walked over to the Overstock Furniture Store. Larry wants to replace our office chair we use at the desk. The store only had living room chairs, couches, end tables and dining room chairs.

Then we walked over to Best Buy to recycle a couple of old computers. After handing them in we walked through the store.

The last stop was Staples. We walked through Staples and looked at their office chairs. They have a great selection. We found a couple we liked but not exactly what we wanted. We're going continue looking.

After lunch Larry went outside and treated the yards for weeds. Then he sprayed the weeds in the gravel with the Spectracide Concentrated Weed & Grass Killer. Then he blew some leaves off the driveway.

While Larry was finishing up our neighbor (Thomas) from across the street stopped by. He is the neighbor who got our internet back working while we were in The Valley so that we could see our security cameras. It is great having terrific neighbors.

While Larry was doing yard work I worked out with my Wii Fit. It had been 91 days since I used it. That sounds about right considering we were in the Valley for three months and we didn't take the Wii Fit with us. I ended out working out for 45 minutes.

In the evening we watched the first episode of the seventh season of Poirot called The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Afterwards we streamed an episode of GizWiz. When Larry went to bed I watched an episode of House and The Brokenwood Mysteries.

Monday 3-18 Beautiful Sunny Day

Beautiful Sunny Day

We had a beautiful sunny day. It started out a little cool but by the afternoon it was 70 degrees. We had blue skies and no wind.

I didn't get out of bed until 8:30. I made breakfast and read a bit. When I got tried of reading I went outside and blew the leaves off the front and back porches. I think our oak trees are finished loosing their leaves. 

Larry put together a list of square dancing events that offer C1 dancing. There is not much C1 locally so we will have to travel a bit to build our skills and to keep from losing them.

He spent the majority of the day doing last years taxes. He used FreeTaxUSA and then he did them again using TurboTax. Both services came out with the same results. He submitted them via FreeTaxUSA since it was free.

In the afternoon I finished the book I started in the Valley. The book was a historical fiction book titled Hour Glass by Michelle Rene. It was a good book about Calamity Jane and her relationship with a twelve year old Jimmy Glass and his sister Hour Glass.  

In the evening we went to Sun City and danced with the Sundancers. The dance started out with five squares but by the end of the dance there were three squares. We had five and a half couples for an A2 tip. The dancers were happy to see us considering we hadn't been there in three months. Brad Caldwell did an excellent job of calling the dance. We had a fun evening of dancing.

Sunday 3-17 Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day. We had a wonderful day. It got up the high 60's and sunshine.

In The Valley we parked the car under a beautiful oak tree, the last couple of weeks it has been losing its leaves and pollen has been dropping from it so the car was filthy. This morning we went to Mister Car Wash and gave it a bath, after that we went to HEB to shop for groceries. It is so nice to be able to park the car inside our garage, it stays so much cleaner and is protected from the weather.

In the afternoon we went to Sun City for a special plus dance with Brad Caldwell and our friends. The Sundancers have had four special Sunday dances, this was the last one scheduled. We had four squares and an extra lady. When we showed up everyone was excited to see us considering it's been over three months since we danced with them. Brad called to different Irish songs and he did an excellent job. We had an outstanding afternoon. As we were leaving the round dancers were coming in so we said hello to them.

Brad having fun calling during the plus dance

Our friends enjoying dancing to Brad

Having fun dancing to Brad

In the evening I finished doing laundry, We finished watching the first season of Agatha Christie's ABC Murders and then we watched an episode of Miss Marvel. Then I watched House and The Brokenwood Mysteries.

Fri. & Sat. Homeward Bound

Good-bye

Friday 3-15 Farewell to the Valley

We started the day off by finishing getting the Minnie ready for the journey home. While I was putting things down and away Larry dumped the tanks, disconnected us from the main water and unplugged us. Then he walked over to the office and paid for the electricity we used this month. After I finished putting things away I got rid of our garbage and recycled our cans. On the way back I stopped in the office and said good-bye to Donna. Then I went to the recreation hall and said good-bye to the ladies there. While saying bye to Mary I thanked her for all the hard work she and Fiona do all season to entertain the residents.

Then we went to our last dance in the Valley. It was a C1 Dance with Bronc. We had five squares and an extra couple. Bronc called tips that included: Triple boxes, Relay the Shadow and a few more calls. We were glad because we needed the practice. Then we said good-bye the to people we got to know this year who dance C1. Some of them are still going to be here after the dancing stops because it's still cold where they live. We said good-bye to Bronc and Fia Wise and thanked them for a great three months of dancing.

On the way home we stopped at Subway for lunch. When we got home we moved the Minnie out, hooked up the dolly and loaded the Equinox on. We were on the road by 1:00. 

We stopped for the night in Buda, which is about 81 miles from home. We drove highway 281 to Three Rivers, which was a four lane highway. Then we got on highway 72, which was both two and four lanes. As we drove we saw a lot of wildflowers. It looks like Spring has arrived in south Texas. Larry had to fight a strong wind all day. I dozed off once in awhile.

Saturday 3-16 We're Home 

Home Sweet Home

  

We continued our journey home at 7:30 this morning. We stopped at HEB and bought a couple of donuts for breakfast. The traffic wasn't bad getting through Austin so we were home by 9:30. On the way home we stopped by the post office and picked up our mail and started it up. Then we drove to the UPS Store and picked up the rest of our mail. Afterwards we went home.

When we got home we tried to open the garage door with the opener and it wouldn't open. I tried to open the door by punching in the code on the pad, it didn't open. So we figured that the power was out. We manually opened the door. Then we unloaded the Minnie. Larry unloaded the Equinox. It took us about an hour. We put everything away. The power tried to come on a couple of times. When it was time for lunch I was going to make soup but all of our appliances are electric. So we decided to take the car dolly back to storage. 

On the way home we stopped at Hat Creek Burger Company for lunch. This was the first time we had been there. We shared the Sombrero sandwich, which was a double meat with pepper jack cheese, jalapenos and grilled onions and an order of tater tots. The food was very good.  

I spent the rest of the day doing laundry. Larry called Louise to let her know we were home.

All the time we were in The Valley we never turned on the TV. When I went to play bingo Larry did watch some of the YouTube folks we follow on the computer. We did however do a lot of reading. Larry read 34 book and I read 25.

Back to the TV, this evening we watched a documentary on PBS about Holly Near, she is a folk singer from the 70's that we like. Next we started watching the first season of Agatha Christie's ABC Murders via Amazon. Then I watched an episode of House and an episode of  The Brokenwood Mysteries.

Relaxing in front of the television