Tuesday 7-30 New Bed

We're excited

For the last couple of years Larry has been having some problems with a hip and a shoulder. Last year he started doing some morning stretches and while this helped his hip the shoulder stretches actually seemed to make things worse. We have also talked about replacing our waterbed, it is more than thirty years old but we really like it. Last fall we looked at it seriously, whenever we would stay at a hotel that had a bed Larry liked he would look for the label to see what the mattress was. We also stayed overnight with some friends who had a sleep number bed in their guest room that we really liked. Larry even called one of the manufactures of a Sleep Number type of bed to discuss options. The gentleman asked what we have been sleeping on, Larry told him it was a water bed. He didn't think a Sleep Number bed would really help nor did he think we would like one all that much after using a waterbed, he suggested doing stretches (Larry was already doing this) and adding more water to the water bed to get more support. This actually helped his hip but at times it still bothers him, however it has not helped his shoulder. 

After sleeping on a different mattress this weekend and really liking it Larry started researching beds again. Beds can be expensive, he really wanted to give a Sleep Number Bed a try but didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on something that we may not like. On Craigslist he actually found a used king size for sale in Kempner. He e-mailed the lady and made an appointment at 1:00. We drove there to check it out. It was in great condition so we bought it. It came in a lot of pieces. We barely fit all the pieces in the truck. Sleep number wants $4000 for this model without the base, we bought this one for $300 with the base. Now while I realize some folks will spend $4000 or even more for a bed this would be crazy expensive for us and since you can purchase all of the bed pieces separately if something goes wrong or wears out we can simply purchase the piece we need. We were thrilled to find one so inexpensive and close to home.

When we got home we assembled the bed in the second bedroom. We put all the pieces on the floor. You assemble the base first, then put down an enclosure cover, foam side supports, a foam pad, air mattresses, air compressor, a zip on cover, a foam topper and finally a padded zip on cover. The last step was to air both sides up to 100 and then take the air down to 50 and back up to 100 a couple of times. We'll sleep on it a couple of nights in the second bedroom to see how we like it and to decide how to set it up in the master bedroom.

   

Half of the base

Both of the bases

Before adding air mattress

Aired up

Testing the bed out

Larry received an e-mail from PBS saying that the new season of Grantchester was now available to stream. This evening we watched the first two episodes. Then we started a new series on Amazon called Good Karma Hospital. It's a good series about a young lady doctor that goes to India to find herself. I finished watching Murdock Mysteries last night. The eighth season of Suits is now available on Amazon so I started watching it. We had a great day.

Monday 7-29 New Battery

Our Equinox

Yesterday, I mentioned that Larry had to jump start the car using a small jump pack. It's amazing how well it works. He has used it to start the motorcycle and now the car, worked great on both. It has so much power for being so little. It comes in a good looking case with everything you need to jump start a vehicle. It is easy to store and use. The actual jump pack fits in your hand.

The jump pack in its case

The pieces that are used

Look how small it is

When we got home Larry let the car sit for a few hours and then checked the voltage on the battery, it was very low so he knew he needed to replace it. He removed the battery, it's was a little complicated because it's under some electronic parts. The battery was six years old, that's pretty good for a battery that is used every day. He shopped around online and found Walmart had the best price. This morning off to Walmart we went. We had no problem finding the battery. We had the old battery so we weren't charged for the core. The new battery has a five year warranty so we stapled the receipt to a piece of paper and put it in the glove box for safe keeping. Larry put the new battery in the car and I helped when needed. The car started right up. Now we're back in business. LIFE IS GOOD!!!

Larry bolting the bracket over the battery

The bracket reinstalled over the battery

The electronic box put back in its proper place

  

In the afternoon we read a bit. I also worked on my annual book and watered my flowers. While I was walking down the steps I noticed a big bug on one of the post covers. I don't remember seeing this type of bug before. I went and took a picture of it and realized it was missing a wing, I don't know if it will be alright or not. We have been watching the hummingbird feeder and we have had a couple of hummingbirds coming to get a drink. They are smaller than the first hummingbird. I'm so exacted that the feeder is being used.

What type of bug am I?

After dinner we went to Sun City for the Sundancers Monday dance. This week started their new schedule. The dancing starts at 6:00 for the class to review moves, at 7:00 to 9:00 the dance level will rotate back and forth from mainstream to plus at class level as long as the class members are there. From 9:00 on it will be either advanced or challenging plus, it depends on the dancers. For the class review we had four squares. The dance started out with five squares. We had enough people and an extra person for an A tip. Brad did an excellent job of calling. Everyone had a super time dancing.

Sunday 7-28 We're Home

There was a C1 dance this morning but we decided to pass on it and head home. When we went to leave the hotel the car would not start, the battery was dead. Larry has one of those really small jump packs that he moves back and forth from one vehicle to another, we had never used it to jump start a car, he hooked it up and the car started right up. Great device.

We had an outstanding weekend in Abilene dancing with friends and a great caller, Bill Haynes. The drive home was a peaceful on mainly two lane highway. It's Sunday so the traffic was really light. It's always great to get away but it's good to get back home.

When we got home I unpacked and did laundry. Larry removed the battery from the car and worked on a computer project. We were tried after dancing four two and a half hours sessions. 

A weekend of square dancing with friends

The other day when we went to the Goodwill Store we bought a couple of dvds. This evening we watched Rango. Rango is a cute animation movie starring Johnny Depp as Rango. Afterwards I watched a few episodes of Murdock Mysteries. 

Relaxing in front of the television

Saturday 7-27 Day of Dancing

Fun day with friends

We spent the day dancing with friends and Bill Haynes. Today's schedule for dancing was 9:30 to 11:30 A2 Workshop, 11:30 to 12:00 C1 Star-tips, 2:00 to 4:00 A2 Workshop and 7:30 to 9:30 A2 dance 9:30 to 10:00 C1 Star-tips. Bill made the workshops very challenging and fun. We had four squares of dancers in both workshops. In the afternoon Dan and Nancy from Sun City showed up. The club had donuts for the morning workshop and a lot of snacks for the afternoon and evening. They also served ice cream in the evening. For the night dance we were shy one person to make five squares. This was great because it gave people a chance to rest. Everyone had a ball laughing and dancing. By the end of the night everyone was exhausted. It was a lot of fun dancing with our A friends.

Bill Haynes having fun calling the dance

Matthew trying to figure out where to go next

Friends waiting for the next call

Friends enjoying the dance

Friends having fun dancing to Bill

Friday 7-26 Weekend Get Away

Weekend Get Away

Every year Bill Haynes is invited to come to Abilene for a weekend of A2 and C1 dancing. The event is called Big Country Summer Fest and is held at the Wagon Wheel Square Dancing Hall in Tye (Abilene) Texas, it is about 190 miles from the house and the way Larry drives it takes about three and a half hours to get there. We left the house about noon to give us plenty of time. The drive was very nice on two lane highways. 

Today's schedule was an evening dance at 7:30 to 9:30 and a C1 Star-tips at 9:30 to 10:00. We had four and a half squares for the A2 dance and three squares for C1 Star-tips. The dance was a lot of fun. Dancers came from all over Texas and a couple from Kansas. The club served a lot of delicious snacks, especially the peanut butter balls. Bill Haynes did an excellent job of calling. The C1 Star-tips were a little shaky. We had a super evening of dancing with friends and Bill.

Bill Haynes

Our friends Beverly, Renee, John and Robert

Friends, Mathew, Renee, Robert and Wacky having fun dancing to Bill

More friends enjoying the dance

Cindy and Robert having a great time with friends

  

Thursday 7-25 Dancing with Jim Haynes

Having fun with friends

This morning we headed to town. First we stopped at the Little Bohemian Bakery and bought a cinnamon roll to share. We only bought one because it was huge. Then we stopped at HEB for a couple of things, next we went to the UPS Store to drop off a package. We had bought a video converter from Amazon and it didn't work so we decided to return it. The last time we sent something back to Amazon we packaged it up, printed out the return label, taped it to the box and dropped it off at the UPS store. They have now changed their return process. Now when you follow the return process it tells you to take the item to either the UPS Store or Kohls, have them scan a code that is emailed to you. They then package it up for you and ship it out. Very easy.
 
Yesterday, Larry ordered some contractor trash bags from Walmart online. He received an e-mail telling him to pick them up from the Belton Walmart online order station, this is a big tower at the front of the store. You walk up to the machine and scan the bar code from the email and the machine delivers your order to you via the window of the station. It was so easy and very cool. No more having to wait for someone to help you.

Walmart pick up station

In the afternoon we we did some reading and studied our C1 moves.

In the evening we went to Sun City to attend their Thursday dance. This week the dance was special because Jim Haynes was invited to call. We had three squares plus two extra couples. I brought chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies and the group provied chocolate candy. Jim did an excellent job of calling and made it a lot of fun. The dance was for two hours instead of an hour and a half. After the dance Bill called a C1 tip, which we had one square and five extra people tapping in. Everyone had an outstanding night of dancing to Jim.

Larry visiting with Colleen and Peter

Jim Haynes

Friends laughing and having fun

Waiting for the next move

Friends having a great time

When we got home I watched a few episodes of Murdock Mysteries.

Wednesday 7-24 Boat Day

Morning on Lake Belton

While we were eating breakfast four deer walked through our backyard, I think they were part of the six from yesterday except a doe and the fawn wasn't there.

After breakfast we saw that the wind was down so we decided to go to the lake. The lake was not as smooth as we hoped, we didn't do any water sports but we did swim. The air was cool but the water was perfect. What a great way of spending a Wednesday morning. We were home by lunchtime.

Larry in front of the waterfall on Lake Belton

Relaxing on the lake

Lake Belton

Lake Belton waterfall

After lunch we went outside and mowed the yards. It took us an hour and a half. I mowed the front and part of the back, which took me about an hour. Larry filled the mower with gas and then finished up the mowing. While I was mowing Larry weedeated and blew out the garage, the front porch and the driveway. I treated a couple of fire ant hills. 

Larry mowing the backyard

A few days ago Larry bought the movie Lincoln on dvd, he converted it for streaming so tonight we watched it. This Lincoln was made in 2012 starring Sally Field as Mary Lincoln and Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln. It was very good. Afterwards I watched a few episodes of Murdock Mysteries.

Tuesday 7-23 Watching Wildlife

Back to the dentist

We started the day by going to the dentist. It was a quick appointment because Larry just needed to get an impression for the crown of his implant. They didn't have to numb him. What a relief. 

Larry successfully converted almost all of our dvds to files that can be streamed to our TV but there were a few that wouldn't work. He found a Video Cable that might help, it was delivered yesterday and he played with it all afternoon. It captured the video but not the audio. We swung by Walmart to look for a cable so he could try something else. More experimenting.

Video Cable

We use coozies for our water bottles and sodas. All of ours are really old, our favorites ones are from the 1993 Aqua Festival, we throw them in the washer but they simply won't come clean. Most of the ones you find are made from foam and don't work as well. Larry found neoprene ones on Amazon and ordered six, 2 red, 2 blue and 2 green. The new coozies are made different, the bottoms are sewn together. While relaxing we watched a hummingbird drink out of the feeder.

New coozies

What the bottom of the coozies look like

 In the evening we watched an episode of Poirot. The neighbor's lab saw a few deer and started barking. The deer ran across our backyard and they stopped because they were curious of the dog. The deer stayed around for awhile, they ran to the lots next to us and ran back. There were seven of them and one of them was a fawn. It was fun watching them. Then I watched a few episodes of Murdock Mysteries. I finished up the eleventh season and started the twelfth season which is the last season.

   

Monday 7-22 Hummingbirds

Laugh and have fun

Yesterday, when we went to the lake the fuel gauge on the boat stopped working again. The last time it quit Larry cleaned the connector going to the fuel sending unit and it started working. Apparently that is not the real fix. He did some research and watched a few videos on testing the sending unit and fuel gauge. This morning he troubled shooted the problem and determined the gauge is ok, he thinks the sending unit is going bad but during his trouble shooting it went back to working. He will play with it a bit more and will probably have to order a new sending unit. Our boat is almost 20 years old and the part is no longer available via Mastercraft so finding one might be interesting.

While we were reading we saw a humming bird come to the feeder. We watched it for a bit and captured it on the camera. This was so exciting to watch.

The hummingbird approaching the feeder

Drinking from the flower on the feeder

The hummingbird standing and taking a drink

In the evening we went to Sun City to attend the Sundancers weekly dance. We arrived at 5:00 for the class. We have completed the lessons but Brad reviewed all the moves so the students could get floor time. We had three squares for the class. For the dance we had four squares. Brad noticed that everyone that was at the dance were all Plus dancers and the new Plus dancers so he called Plus all night. He called at class level until the students left. By 8:15 the dance was down to five couples and all but one of the dancers were A dancers. Brad wanted to include everyone in the tip so a couple tapped in. When the dancer that didn't know A was dancing Brad called Plus moves. When the dancer was out Brad called A1 moves. The last tip of the night was A1 because one of the couples were still learning A. We had a super night of dancing with Brad and our friends.