Wednesday 12-30 Cold Wet Day

 Rainy Day

 

It rained steady all day, but not hard. It started out in the 60's and the temperatures slowly fell into the 40's. Along with the colder temperatures we had a strong wind out of the north. 

The weather didn't keep the squirrels or the birds away. The birdfeeder was busy and the bowls on the porch were also busy. At one point there were four squirrels on the porch. Today we saw two squirrels eating at the same time but not out of the same bowl. Larry had to chase a squirrel out of the feeder a couple of times. Its fun watching the wildlife in the backyard.

We attended Dayle Hodge's Weekly A2 dance at 11:00 for an hour. Today he invited Di Green to come and help call the dance. We had 48 participants. Dayle called the first tip, Di called the second and third and they both called the fourth tip. Dayle and Di did an outstanding job of calling and we had a super time.

I did my Daily Challenges and the Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Klondike and 5 Pyramid). It took me 31 minutes and 47 seconds, which put me in 25th place in my group. I also played Mahjong games.

Larry has been making some fabulous cards of ladies on the Cameo. Three different ladies; Sunny, Juliet and Rosie. They came out gorgeous. He even had to make a flower for a couple of them. Larry has an excellent eye for color.

Juliet, Sunny and Rosie

Sunny

Juliet

Rosie

I did some housework. Then I worked out with the Gold's Gym for a half hour. We watched YouTube videos.

In the evening we watched a couple of episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. Then I watched the fourth season of Inspector George Gently. I ended up doing 28,000 steps, which put me in f4th place in my group.

     

 

 

Tuesday 12-29 Running the Dishwasher

Hold on tight

 

We had a windy overcast day. It got up to 70 degrees. By evening it started to sprinkle.

Larry started the day out by going to town to pick up our mail, we had not been to the UPS Store in about a week and the box was full. Then he went to Walmart to pick up a few things. He likes to beat the crowd so he was there before 8:00. He said very few people were there.

Later in the day we received an e-mail from the UPS Store indicating we had a package. It was some 4ft bulbs Larry ordered for the kitchen and workroom lights.

I worked on my Solitaire games. I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 10 games. It took me 52 minutes and 31 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group. Today was Tri Peaks Tuesday so the points of Tri Peaks games were doubled. I played some Mahjong games. I also did some Sudoku games.

We attended three virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Plus at 11:00 for an hour. This week Dayle invited Blaine Knupp to come and help call. They both called two tips a piece. Blaine also did a couple of singing calls. We had 36 participants. We had a great time.

The second one was Di Green and Terry's Weekly A1/A2 Workshop at 1:30 for two hours with a fifteen minute break in between each session. We had 34 participants for the A1 and 32 participants for the A2. Each session Di and Terry called five tips. I danced the A1 session by myself. We had an enjoyable afternoon dancing to Di and Terry.

The third one was Don Moger's Weekly A2 at 6:00 for an hour and a half. We had 56 participants. Don called five tips. During the fourth tip Don worked on all four couples moves using phantoms. One move was motivate. We had fun dancing to Don.

 

Square dancing is fun

 

When I danced Di Green's A1 session Larry replaced the light bulbs in the kitchen. He also worked on replacing some of the bulbs in his workroom, he has to rewire the fixture for the new bulbs so he did not get finished.

Larry has been fighting with the drain in the kitchen smelling for awhile. He has takes the plumbing apart and cleans it and the odor goes away but then after a couple of months it returns. We decided to use the dishwasher and see if that might help. This is our third house, each house had a dishwasher but I never use them. It's only Larry and me so there's not a lot of dishes and I prefer to do them by hand. We had to get the manual out to see how to use it. We have been in this house going on 7 years and this was the first time the dishwasher was turned on. We found out it takes a long time, no wonder people forget to unload their dishwashers. The washer ran prefect. 

After Don's dance we watched three episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. Then I watched the third season of George Gently. I ended up doing 27,500 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group with 55,508 steps.         

 

 

Monday 12-28 Dreary Day

 

Dreary day

 

We had a dreary day. It misted on and off all day and it barely got to 60 degrees. 

We stayed around the house. Larry worked on a Cameo project. I did my Daily Challenges and the Event: Easy Street of 30 games. It took me 57 minutes and 40 seconds, which put me in 13th place in my group. I did some Sudoku puzzles and Mahjong games.

I worked out for a half hour using my Wii Fit.

In the evening we attended Et McAtee's Weekly C1 Workshop at 6:30 for an hour. We had 40 participants. This week we worked on Swing and Circle and Interlock Diamond Concepts. It was very challenging because we had to keep track of three phantom couples.

Then we watched two episodes of Stay Trek: Voyager. Then I finished watching the second season of George Gently. I ended up doing 28,000 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group. 

 

Watching television

 

Sunday 12-27 Super Day

 

Have a super Sunday

We had a super day. It started out being a little chilly with a strong wind out of the south but by the late afternoon it was 70 degrees.

I placed our weekly grocery order online last night and it got delivered this morning at 8:30. I was putting the bird feed in the garage and I noticed it was the wrong feed, it didn't have any sunflower seeds. I thought the wrong seed was delivered but Larry went online and found out I received the seed I ordered. So we got dressed and went to Walmart. It was Sunday and early so it wasn't busy. Larry went inside and returned the seed, then he got a small bag of the correct one because they didn't have the larger size. While there he picked up some bananas because I forgot to order them. The moral of the story is that it's easy to order the wrong thing online so be careful.

On the way home we stopped at Crossroads Park to walk the trail around the park. We walked for 40 minutes. We had a pleasant walk.

 

 

I did my Daily Challenges and the Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Klondike and 5 Free Cell). It took me 51 minutes and 16 seconds, which put me in 21st place in my group. I always takes me a long time to complete the Free Cell games but I still have fun. I also played some Mahjong games. 

After playing my games I worked out for an hour, 30 minutes of Gold's Gym and 30 minutes of Just Dance. It had been 50 days since I worked out with Gold's Gym and Just Dance so I'll probably be sore tomorrow.

Our birdfeeder was very quiet and we didn't see the squirrels today. While I was barbecuing dinner I saw a couple of Cardinals eating under the oak tree where the squirrels hang out. It is always a pleasure to watch wildlife.

 

A male Cardinal eating under the tree

 

In the evening we relaxed in front of the television. We watched Citizen Four, which was a documentary on Amazon about Edward Snowden by Laura Poitras. It was very interesting. Then we watched an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. I started watching the second season of George Gently. I ended up doing 26,000 steps, which gave me 181,244 steps for the week. I came in second place in my group.

   

Saturday 12-26 Boxing Day Dance

A beautiful day 

 

It was a beautiful day with sunshine. The wind came up in the afternoon.

Today was Boxing Day. Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas. It originated in Great Britain, servants got the day off and were given a gift box from their employer. The servants got to go home and give gifts to their family. The gifts are given in a box.

We attended a special Boxing Day virtual square dance at 1:00. It was an A2/C1 dance, Ett McAtee, Loren Smith and Di Green called. It was a fundraiser for the organization called Doctor Without Borders. All monies donated by the dancers went to Doctor Without Borders. The A2 session had 67 participants and the C1 session had 65 participants. Each session had three tips. We had a super time.

 

When we weren't dancing we relaxed around the house. I did my Daily Challenges and the Event: Spider Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 47 minutes and 54 seconds, which put me in 24th place in my group. I also did some Mahjong games. We watched an episode of GizWiz and YouTube videos.

In the evening we watched The Guardians of the Galaxy from DVD. Last night I started watching the first season of George Gently on Acorn and finished it tonight. George Gently was a detective series, it's very good. I ended up doing 26,000 steps, which put me in second place in my group.  

  

Relaxing in front of the television

  

 

 

 

Friday 12-25 Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas to you all. I hope you had a great Christmas.

We spent the afternoon at Louise's celebrating Christmas. Louise made chili for our Christmas feast. She put a relish tray together with sweet pickles, cheese, olives and ham and deviled eggs to snack on until lunch was ready. For dessert we had a pecan pie and brownies, peanut butter cookies and chocolate oatmeal haystacks. Everything was delicious. After lunch Larry installed a couple of security cameras that we gave Louise for Christmas. We also gave her big 23" monitor so she could monitor the cameras, she is one happy woman. I really think she was more excited about having visitors, during Covid-19 she spends most of her time alone and is excited just to visit with someone.  We had a super time with her and her dog Alice. 

 

Security camera at Louise's front door in a box Larry made

Security camera by her garage

Security camera monitor

 

Below are some of the projects that Larry worked on for Christmas. He made Christmas cards, gift cards, ornaments and other Christmas stuff.

 

Penguins Christmas Cards

Snowmen Carolers 

Coffee Cup Gift Card Holders

Gift Card Boxes

Penguin Gift Card Holder

 Christmas Ornaments

Snowmen Ornaments

I did my Solitaire games, which were the Daily Challenges and the Event: Medium Mayhem Mini of 5 games. It took me 17 minutes and 33 seconds to complete, which put me in 22nd place in my group. Then I did some Mahjong games.

We spent the evening relaxing in front of the television watching YouTube videos and YouTube music videos. I finished watching Murder Investigation Team. I ended up doing 27,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place with 129,211 steps for the week. 

Thursday 12-24 Christmas Celebration

 Christmas Eve

 

It was a very windy day, which made it chilly.

I started the day out by doing my Solitaire games. I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Easy Street Mini of 5 games. It took me 5 minutes and 48 seconds, which put me in 13th place in my group.

We attended Dayle Hodges Weekly C1 dance at 11:00. It was a Christmas Eve dance so Larry and I wore a red shirt and white pants. A lot of the other dancers wore red and green and Dayle wore reindeer antlers. Dayle did a super job of calling and everyone had a great time.

In the afternoon we went to Round Rock to celebrate Christmas with Louise. Louise did an outstanding job decorating her house for Christmas. For dinner I brought ham hock and beans and dinner rolls. Louise did the desserts, brownies, chocolate oatmeal haystacks and peanut butter cookies. After dinner we opened our Christmas gifts. We received a lot of wonderful gifts. While there I paid attention to Alice. We had a super Christmas celebration at Louise's house. 

 

Look at all the wonderful Christmas gifts

Alice having fun

Opening my gifts

Larry opening one of his gifts

Louise having a great time

 

We got back to the house at 9:15. We put our gifts away and relaxed. After Larry went to bed I watched a few episodes of Murder Investigation Team. I ended doing 18,500 steps, which was 5,000 steps away from my daily personal goal. I ended up coming in 3rd place in my group with 101,709 steps.    

Wednesday 12-23 Christmas Tradition

Doing This and That

 

Christmas is only two days away.

We had a beautiful day with the temperature at 70 degrees. A front came in in the afternoon with a strong wind. 

I started the day out by doing Microsoft Solitaire games. I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 games of Klondike and 10 games of Spider). It took me 3 hours, 10 minutes and 45 seconds, which put me in 9th place. I did some Mahjong games.

We attended Dayle Hodge's Weekly A2 dance at 11:00. We had 37 participants. Dayle did an outstanding job of calling and cueing. We had an enjoyable hour of dancing to Dayle.

I spent the afternoon doing housework, I dusted, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed and mopped the floors. I did some laundry and made ham hock and beans.

 

 Getting ready for Christmas

 

In the evening we watched The Polar Express, we have made this into a kind of Christmas tradition. I don't remember when we started but we have watched it at Christmas for many years. 

After Larry went to bed I watched a few episodes of  Murder Investigation Team Season. I ended up doing 28,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group with 83,200 steps.  

Tuesday 12-22 Awesome Day

 

Awesome Day

 

We had an awesome day. The day started out with fog but by 5:00 we were at 70 degrees.

I started the day out by doing my Solitaire games. I did the Daily Challenges and Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 58 minutes and 55 seconds. Then I did a few Mahjong games.

We made a trip to the local Goodwill to donate some stuff we didn't need any more. When we got home Larry took the motorcycle for its monthly ride. When he returned home he changed out the house water filter and the AC filter.

We attended three virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Plus at 11:00 for an hour. He invited Karin Rabe and Terry Moore from New Jersey to help him call the dance. We had 32 participates. Dayle called two tips. Karin and Terry called a tip a piece with a singing call. We had a great time.

The second one was Di Green and Terry Weekly A1/A2 Workshop at 1:30 for two hours with a fifteen minutes break. We had 45 participants during the A1 session and 42 participants during the A2 session. During each session Di and Terry called five tips, the last tip of the A2 session Santa came to dance. We had a super afternoon with Di and Terry.

 

Di dressed up as Santa

Santa dancing with Terry during the singing call

 

The third one was Don Moger's Weekly A2 at 6:00 for an hour and a half. We had 43 participants. Don called six tips. We had an outstanding time.

After the last dance we finished watching Warehouse 13. I watched the second season and final season of The Advocates. Then I started to watch Murder Investigation Team Season 1. I ended up doing 27,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group with 55,089 steps.    

Monday 12-21 First Day of Winter

Happy Winter

 

Today was the first day of Winter. Here in Central Texas we started the day out at 32 degrees by 5:00 we had the temperature of 64. No complaints from me.

Larry started the day out by going to town to do a few errands. He stopped by Walmart to pick up a few items I forgot to order. Afterwards he stopped at the UPS Store to pick up our mail. Larry likes to beat the crowds so he likes to be at the Walmart before 8:00 and I don't get up until then. 

I started the day out by doing the Daily Challenges and the Event: Medium Mayhem Mini of 15 games. It took me 54 minutes and 25 seconds, which put me in 21st place in my group. Then I did a couple of games in the Star Club Challenges. Later on in the day I did a few Mahjong games.

We attended two virtual square dances. The first was Joachim Ruehenbeck bi-weekly A1/A2 at 12:30. During the A1 session we had 41 participants and A2 had 34. Some of the dancers were dressed up for Christmas, Barbara out of Germany had a great Santa outfit. Joachim called 5 tips in each session and the very last tip he did a singing call. In between each session we had a half hour break. We had another super afternoon dancing to Joachim Ruehenbeck and his wife Mariam.

 

Cool Santa Outfit

Virtual Square Dancing

 

The second dance was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 Workshop at 6:30 for an hour and fifteen minutes. We had 45 participants. Ett didn't workshop any moves instead she just did a review night. It was very challenging. We had fun.

Our friends James and Jeanne from Sun City called. We always look forward to seeing and visiting with them at the Sundancers square dances. We miss them and it was terrific hearing from them. 

I did my steps of 27,500 steps, which put me in third place. After the last dance we watched two episodes of Warehouse 13. Then I started the first season of The Advocates over again and watched the whole season, which was three episodes. It was about the legal professionals in Edinburgh and the streets. It's a good series and was for two years.   

    

 

 

 

Sunday 12-20 Doing This and That

 

We had a beautiful day with blue skies. It got into the 60's, cold enough for a lite sweater. 

I started the day out by doing my Microsoft Solitaire games. Today it was called Solitaire Sunday, which means all Klondike games points are doubled. I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Klondike Mini of 10 games. It took me 17 minutes and 44 seconds to complete, which put me in 2nd place when I finished but by the end of the day I was in 4th place in my group. Then I played a few Star Club Challenges. Later on I played some Mahjong games.

It was such a beautiful day we decided to go for a walk at Crossroads Park. We walked around the park for 40 minutes. We saw a few people walking the trail and families using the batting cages. We started the walk with a jacket on but shortly afterwards the jackets came off. We had a very pleasant walk.

Larry and I did a few little home projects. The first one was backing the RCA computer.

The next project was installing a security camera. A couple of weeks ago Larry installed a electrical outlet on the back porch for a security camera that we have been using to watch the squirrels and birds on the back porch. We have been using it via an extension cord from the original outlet, it was messy and unsafe. Larry decided to finish this up. He strung a cable from the new box to where he wanted the camera. Then he attached the cable with plastic cable clamps. Once the cable was tacked into place he plugged in the camera. It looks great. 

 

Stringing cable from outlet to camera location

The camera electrical outlet Larry made and cover he painted

 

Secured above

 

 The finished project

The final project was to clean up the garage. We went through boxes we had storing stuff. We had five boxes of stuff for water skiing and boating. As we were going through the boxes it was hard for us to decided what to throw away, what to keep and what to donate to Goodwill. We got it down to three boxes. We decided to donate items that we hadn't used in a long time, such as a air tank and a couple of water skies we hadn't used in years.  We also threw away an old television antenna for the Minnie. Now the garage looks better, still too much stuff but better.  

We attended one virtual square dance. Loren Smith's Weekly A2/C1 dance at 7:30 for an hour and a half. This week Loren invited Barry Clasper to join him and help call the dance. They called 4 tips of A2 and 2 tips of C1. We had 28 participants in the A2 and 24 participants in the C1. This was the last dance for the year. It was the Holiday dance, where the dancers wore Christmas sweaters and one dancer, Dawn was dressed up as an elf. We had an outstanding evening of dancing with Loren and Barry.

After the dance we watched an episode of Yorkshire Vet. Then I watched an Acorn mini series called State of Mind. It was about a woman finding out about her husband having an affair. She takes her young son to live with her mother and tries to deal with the separation. It was an ok movie. Then I started watching a series called The Advocates, which is about a young lawyer Ewan Stewart investigates a prostitutes drug overdose. I ended up doing 25,000 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group. I ended up doing 187,669 steps for the week.  

 

Saturday 12-19 Phil Ochs Zoom Concert

We had a great day hanging around the house.

I started the day out by doing my Daily Challenges and Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 13 minutes and 28 seconds. Then I did a few Star Club Challenges games. In the afternoon I did some Mahjong games.

 

 Mahjong games I play

 

We watched a couple of episodes of the GizWiz and some YouTube videos. 

In the evening we watched a Phil Ochs Concert celebrating what would have been his 80th birthday. It was a two hour concert on Zoom. Phil's sister Sonny Ochs hosted the concert at the Woody Guthrie Center but it was all virtual. Sonny invited Emma's Revolution, Greg Greenway, Pat Wictor, Reggie Harris and Tom Prasada-Rao to perform. Tom Paxton made a special appearance. All the performers did a great job of singing Phil's songs. The concert started out and ended with all the performers singing together. During the concert each performer sang a song or two of Phil's. Tom Paxton talked about his friendship with Phil and sang one of Phil's song. It was very relaxing.

 

Pat Wictor

Emma's Revolution

Reggie Harris

Tom Prasada-Rao

Greg Greenway

    

After the concert we listened to a couple of episodes of Tom Paxton's Still Ramblin' Radio Show on YouTube, where Tom interviewed John Prine and Pete Seeger. During the interview John and Pete sang a few of their songs. Then I watched two Christmas movies on Amazon, they were Most Wonderful Season of the Year and Angels in the Snow. I ended up doing 24,500 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group with 162,663 steps.