Thursday 1-30 Just Another Day

I hope everyone had a great Thursday. We had a relaxing day hanging around the house.

We're are getting ready to go snow skiing in New Mexico, Larry made hotel reservations in Santa Fe. We haven't been snow skiing in a couple of years. Whenever we go skiing we're gone for about a week.

We spent a large part of today reading.

Relaxing with a book

The other day Larry noticed that my tennis shoes were worn out so he went online and ordered another pair for me. We use to buy my shoes at Academy Sports, sometimes they were out of stock or didn't carry them anymore. That's where Amazon comes in handy. We bought the exact same shoes, they arrived in two days with free shipping. They came in this afternoon and fit perfect.

New shoes

In the evening we went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers, tape group. We got there at 5:00 to dance C1 before the A2 dance. We had 7 people so we did two couple tapes. The tapes we danced to were complex, lots of phantom stuff, but we had fun. For the A2 dance session we had three squares and three extra people. We had a lot of new dancers so the tapes had to be slowed down because the new dancers were having problems. We had a very fun night dancing with friends and new dancers.

When we got home we watched a couple of episodes of Boston Legal. Then I watched a few episodes of Bones. Then I did my Daily Challenges. Earlier today I did The Free Cell Adventure Challenge of 20 games. Today I did a lot better by the time I went to bed I was in 17th place. We had a great day.

  

Wednesday 1-29 Driver Licenses

Having fun

We had a cold day, it didn't get out of the low 50s. We had a breeze out of the north.

I mentioned a couple of days ago about renewing our driver licenses. We had heard from friends they had to stand in line for hours. Larry tried to make an appointment to get our licenses done but he couldn't. We decided to go down to the Department of Transportation to renew our licenses this morning. The line wasn't too long but only three people could be in line in the building, another three could be in the foyer and the rest had to wait outside . We were lucky we didn't have to wait outside. To renew your license you need either a birth certificate or a passport. Many people were sent home because they didn't bring either one. Larry had checked the website and it was very confusing on what was needed so he decided to bring our social security cards and passports just to be on the safe side. He had also printed out the applications and filled them out. Once we were checked in we had many seats to sit on. It only took us a few minutes after we were checked in to get our licenses renewed. It took about an hour to go through the process. It probably will take a lot longer in the summertime. 

In the afternoon I worked on my jigsaw puzzle. I also started reading an e-book called The Hummingbird by Stephen P. Kiernan. I've only read a couple of chapters but I like it so far.

In the evening we went to Sun City to attend the Sundancers new A2 Dance. This was the first week for the dance, the caller was Dan Clairmont. We had three squares plus an extra couple. The two rooms we had were small so the middle square of dancers had to go opposite as the other square. The head couples were side couples and the side couples were heads. Dan did a great job of calling. We had a great evening of dancing with friends.

When we got home I started watching season seven of Bones. I watched four episodes. Then I did my daily challenges of Solitaire. Earlier I did the World Tour Mini (8), I didn't do too well I came in 84th. We had a super day.

   

Tuesday 1-28 Going to the Dentist

Smile and be happy

We had a wonderful day.

This morning we woke up to a light rain, it sprinkled all morning. In the afternoon the wind came up and was out of the north so it was a little cold.

Larry has been fighting a tooth ache for awhile. Last summer he told our regular dentist it was bugging him, the tooth in front of it was missing, an implant had been placed but it still needed a crown. The dentist thought once the crown was placed the tooth would be better supported and that would fix the problem. At the end of summer he got the crown but it did not help. Over the past few months it has gotten worse and when we were in The Valley it got really painful. This played a big part in our decision not to stay longer.

We have been with our dentist for years and have really liked him and his staff but he has not kept up with technology. He still uses the old film x-rays and has no digital technology at all. We have been thinking about changing dentist for some time so before we left The Valley Larry made an appointment to see a new dentist in Temple at Lakewood Dentist Trails.

At 11:00 today we went in for his appointment. I waited in the waiting room and played my Solitaire games. He was in the back for a little over an hour. They did a full skull scan x-ray and individual digital x-ray's, they also used a digital scope and took pictures of each tooth. The dentist said she found the tooth was cracked and needed a crown, she did not feel it needed a root canal. Larry was relieved because he thought maybe he would have to get a root canal or another implant. Then she told him to come back at 2:30 and she would grind the tooth down and take an impression for the crown. We went home and were back in a couple of hours. She numbed him up, ground down the tooth, took an impression and placed a temporary crown on the tooth. Now we have to wait three weeks for the crown to come in.

Going to the dentist

We spent the evening watching television. We streamed a GizWiz show and watched The Bird Cage. We hadn't seen this movie in years and still like it. Then I watched the rest of season six of Bones. Then I did my daily challenges. I did The Hard Road Event of Solitaire, which was 16 games, I came in 26th out of my group. We had a great day.   

Monday 1-27 Another Beautiful Day

Another beautiful day

This morning I got up around 8:00 and the fog was rolling in, by mid morning the sun burned off the fog. It was cooler today, it got up to the mid 60s.

After breakfast we decided to go to town to do some errands. We were going to go for a walk but my right knee was bugging me so we decided it would be better to let it rest.

A couple of years ago we recovered the seat of the couch in the Minnie and replaced the foam. We only did the seat so the rest of the couch is a different material. We had some of the material left but not enough to cover the rest of the couch. We had bought it at Hobby Lobby so this morning we took a small piece of the material and stopped by, we discovered they no longer carry that material. Larry talked to the ladies working there and while they both recognized the material they didn't know who made it or have any idea who might be able to obtain any. When we got home Larry went online. He found there was hundreds of companies that sell upholstery cloth and it may be impossible to find the exact same material. Not terrible news, we can simply continue on as it is.

On the way home we stopped by Walmart to do some shopping. While there we checked out Fire Ant killers. We found Amdro but we will wait for a bit and see if it goes on sale. Yesterday I used the last of our charcoal so we looked at the charcoal. We don't use charcoal often and the HEB store brand is less expensive than what Walmart has so we will pick some up later. We didn't leave empty handed, we did purchase some grocery items. To check out we used the self serve register, we had a gift card from Larry's mother and we could not figure out how to use it, Larry asked the clerk, she knew exactly what we were doing wrong and got us finished up.

Grocery Shopping

When we were on our trip last fall Larry received a notice that he needed to update his driver license to one that meets the new federal requirements. I didn't get a letter because mine expires this year. He got online to see what he needed to do. He found the form and printed one for both of us. He filled them out and went to the Temple Driver License site to schedule a time to go into the office and renew. The website said Temple supported this but it was not working. We will try again in a day or two. 

Larry read in the afternoon and I took a nap. My knee was feeling better so we were going to go to the Sundancers Monday dance. While I was barbecuing sausage patties my knee started acting up again. I told Larry I had to pass on going dancing because I like to twist and turn and I was worried my knee wouldn't hold up. Instead we stayed home and finished watching Resistance. Then we watched a few YouTube music videos. Then I watched a few episodes of Bones. I did my daily challenges I did my steps of 15,500.

  

Sunday 1-26 Baking Bread

I'm excited

Last night I took a loaf of Rhodes White Bread out of the freezer and put it in a baking dish. Then I put it in the refrigerator so it could start to thaw out, Larry got up at 5:00 in the morning to take the loaf out of the refrigerator so it could rise. According to the directions it should take between 2-3 hours. Well, it took much longer, it wasn't ready until 10:30. That was ok, we weren't in any hurry. Once it finished the rising cycle Larry put it in the oven for 20 minutes to bake. It came out delicious.

Fresh baked bread

It was a gorgeous day, it got up to 74 degrees. In the morning the temperature was in the 60s. While the bread was rising Larry and I went for a walk. We walked from the house to Temple Lake Park hiking along the old lake road. The road took us along the shores of Lake Belton. It was breezy so the lake was rough and had white caps. We saw a fishing boat flying down the lake until it got too rough and the driver slowed down. We walked to the gate that went into the park and turned around and headed back to the house. On the way back we saw a pontoon boat on the lake, it was even rough for it. We had a very pleasant walk we hadn't done this walk in a very long time. By the time we got back to the house we had walked about an hour.

Lake Belton

Boating on Lake Belton

     

In the afternoon we started catching up watching the GizWiz. The GizWiz is a weekly tech show and each episode is around an hour long. While we were in the Valley we didn't watch any of the shows so we have five episodes to watch. We watched a few today. Then we got caught up with the YouTube videos we follow. While getting caught up with our streaming I finished doing laundry.

Finishing laundry

We're planning to go snow skiing in a few weeks and my thermo underwear are shot, yesterday Larry ordered me a couple pairs off of Amazon. One set of pants and shirt came as a package deal, it was purple from Thermajane. The other set he had to order the shirt separate from pant, it was berry delight from Duofold. They came in this afternoon and they fit great.

While I was in the Valley our friend from Canada was cleaning out her house and gave me a green hat that lights up but it wasn't working so Larry ordered batteries for it. They also came in today. He replaced the batteries and it still didn't work. So far he has been unsuccessful at fixing it.

After dinner we started watching a series on PBS called Resistance. The series took place in France during World War II. It's about a group of people young and old who were resistance fighters during the invasion from the Germans. It's a good series except that it's in French so you have to read the subtitles to understand it. Then we listened to some music. After Larry went to bed I watched a few episodes of Bones. I did my daily challenges and the World Tour of 30 Solitaire games. I ended up only doing 29 of the games. We had a great day.

Relaxing in front of the television

Saturday 1-25 Doing This and That

Doing this and that

We had a busy day. After being in the Rio Grande Valley for a month we had a few things to do when we got back.

We woke up to a chilly morning. We went to town and did a few errands. The first stop was the UPS Store to pick up our mail. Next stop was the Post Office to pick up the rest of our mail and to restart our mail delivery. The final stop was O'Reilly Auto Parts to pick up some clips for the car. 

Yesterday, when we were loading the car on the dolly I forgot to lock the ramps in place and the front plastic piece under the bumper got caught on the dolly. Larry was able to reattach it but it was not going to stay. This morning Larry reinstalled a clip in the plastic piece but it still was not sitting correctly. After getting home from doing errands he drilled another hole in the the piece and installed a new clip. Now the piece is back in place.

The next project Larry worked on was on the car dolly. He lubed up the strap mechanisms and greased the articulating parts.

Once that was done we used the truck to take the dolly back to storage.

Car Project

Car Dolly Project

While Larry was doing his projects I unloaded the Minnie. Then I swept the Minnie out. Later on in the afternoon I started doing laundry.

Doing laundry

Do you remember the snowman yard decoration we got for Christmas? Before we left for The Valley we put it in the garage. We decided to keep it but we needed to store it in the attic. It would not fit without being partially disassembled but all the lights were wired permanently which prevented you from taking it apart. Larry cut the wiring at the arms and soldered in a couple of plugs so we can remove the arms, with the arms removed it went into the attic.

After doing our projects we watched some of the YouTube videos we follow.

In the evening we streamed a movie called Sweet Land and a documentary called Sled Dog Soldiers. Sweet Land was a very slow moving movie that took place in 1920. It was about a German national, Inge, who came from Norway to rural Minnesota for her arranged marriage to a Norwegian farmer and the problems that occurred. The Sled Dog Soldiers was a documentary about two French Army officers who went to Alaska to get 450 sled dogs to take from Alaska to France. The dogs were to help fight World War I. It was very interesting. Then I finished a few episodes of Bones.

Relaxing in front of the television

  

Friday 1-24 Fantastic Friday

Fantastic Day

We had a fantastic day. We started out by going to Bronc Wise's C1 Dance. Bronc was out of town so Darryl Lipscomb called the dance. We had exactly eight squares so everyone had to dance. Darryl started the dance out by having an open tip because he had trouble with his monitor. Near the end he had another open tip because some dancers wanted to rest.  Darryl cued us through Counter Rotate in different positions. During the dance we said our good-byes to our C1 friends. We had a super time dancing to Darryl and friends.

Good-bye friends

After the dance we went back to the Minnie and had lunch. Then we finished getting it ready to go home. We were on the road by 1:00. We took a different route home, it was mainly two lane highways that went through small towns. We had to make more stops and drive slower but it was about 20 miles shorter and we avoided San Antonio. It still took us eight and a half hours to get home. We were going to stop in Seguin for the night but when we got there we decided to drive on home, it was only another 120 miles but most of that was on I35. It wasn't that bad except for Austin where the traffic was heavy and there was some construction. We had a couple of delays. Arrived home about 9:15. We had an outstanding trip to the Rio Grande Valley but it is nice to be home.

  

Going home

I emptied the refrigerator and Larry brought our electronics in. Tomorrow I will finish unloading the Minnie. Then I did 15,000 steps. Afterwards I finished doing the Solitaire World Tour Challenge, which was 30 games. When I went to bed I was in 31st place in my group. I also watched a few episodes of Bones. Now it's time to say good night.

Thursday 1-23 Dancing and Card Bingo

Saying bye to friends

We started the day out by going to a C1 Dance with Ross Howell. This was the second week we danced to Ross here in the Valley. We had three squares and an extra couple. Before the dance Sharon, Mike and I were talking and Ross stopped by to ask Sharon what moves she was having trouble with considering they had just learned C1. She said mainly the big moves when they're not vanilla. One of the calls was Relay the Shadow, the vanilla positions are where the ladies do the outside part while the men do the inside parts. Ross walked us through this call and put us in different positions. He also walked us through other moves people were having trouble with. Ross did a great job. As we were leaving we said our good-byes to Ross considering we're leaving the Valley tomorrow afternoon. We had a great morning dancing with Ross Howell.

Ross Howell

We had an hour and a half lunch break so we went back to the Minnie and had soup for lunch. This gave us a little extra time to rest.

This week we decided to change things up and go to Bronc Wise's Thursday afternoon A2 Dance. Bronc was going to be out of town for the weekend so he asked Marty Northup to call, he's out of Clove, South Carolina. He wasn't that good of an A2 caller. He admitted this because he has only been calling A for three years. The floor was broken down a lot but I give him credit he kept trying. The problems weren't totally his fault because we did have some weak dancers. During the dance we went around and said our good-byes to our A2 dancing friends.    

Square Dancing is fun

In the evening I went over to the recreation hall at J-Five to play card bingo. We had 22 people. The paybacks for the games were five games at $3.20, the sixth game was $6.00, a break, five more games at $3.20 and the last game $6.00. In the group of four I was playing with we won 5 out of 12 games. One lady won three of the games, two at $3.20 and one at $6.00. I won one at $3.20 and a gentleman next to me won one at $3.20. There was only one game where the payback had to be shared by two people so each of them won $1.60. At the end of the games I said good-bye to everyone. I had a fun night playing card bingo.

When I got home I finished doing 15,000 steps, which was about 150 steps over my goal. We had a super day.  

    

Wednesday 1-22 Morning Get Together

Having fun with friends

We started the day out by attending the Wednesday Get Together at J-Five. Before discussing what was going on in the park they serve donuts and coffee. Last Saturday the park had a garage/bake sale and lunch, they raised over $900. They went over upcoming group events, Marty went over activities going on by day and gave out door prizes. We had a great turnout.

After the get together we went to our morning dance. It was an A2 Dance with Darryl Lipscomb at Pharr South. We had nine squares and two extra couples, which gave most of the dancers a chance to rest during a tip. Darryl made the dance challenging by changing the square formation from a square setup to a T-Bone. He had to stop and walk us through the moves a couple of times because the whole floor was broken down. Darryl called a Split Chain Thru by using the left hand instead of the right hand, people struggled with this because we're not use to doing the call this way. Our friends Sharon wore a beautiful pant suit, where the pants had jewels down the whole length of the leg on both sides. I forgot to take a picture of her. We had a super morning of dancing with friends and to Darryl.

For lunch we went to Fazoli's and had the Italian Submarino and bread sticks. 

Our afternoon dance was at Tropic Star. It was a C1 Dance with Joe Saltel. We had three squares and an extra couple. Joe walked us through a Tally Ho where we were in a Siamese Formation, which is a formation where there are two couple that are partners and the other two couples are in Tandem. He called it Concentric and it confused the dancers. But once he walked us through it a couple of times we understood the concept. We had an outstanding afternoon with Joe. We said good-bye to him because it was going to be our last dance with him in the Valley this year.

In the evening I finished doing 17,000 steps. I did some Sudoku puzzles. I finished doing my Solitaire Event: Two Game Tango (10 games of Klondike and 10 games of Free Cell). By the time I went to bed I was in 19th place in my group. We had an awesome day.
   

Awesome day

Tuesday 1-21 Dancing and Bingo

Laughing makes you feel good

Today was chilly with a wind out of the north. When we left for our first dance in the morning the sun was shining but as we were driving the sun went away and we did not see it again.

Our first dance was at Tropic Star with Joe Saltel. It was an A2 dance with nine squares plus three extra couples. Overall the dancers were very good but we did end up in a couple of squares that broke down a bit. Karen brought me another hat and a belly dance belt. The hat is green and it lights up. The belly dance belt was very close to the belt I was wearing except the jingles were gold and I had silver. I loaned it to Sharon so we got be twins. At the end of the dance she gave it back. I thanked Karen for the hat and belt. We had fun dancing to Joe and with friends.

For lunch we went to Burger King and had a couple of tacos.

At 1:00 we were back on the floor dancing C1 with Darryl Lipscomb. We had exactly nine squares. Everyone had to dance each tip. One couple needed to be out one tip to rest so three other couples volunteered to sit out, we were one of them. Before the dance began our friend Sharon from Colorado asked Darryl to go over Magic Column Transfer the Column. We were asked to help make a square. We had a great afternoon of dancing with friends and Darryl.

In the evening I went over and played Bingo with our J-Five friends. We had 20 people show up. I paid $3.70 to play three cards. We played 7 games, took a break and than played another 7 games. Every other game was a regular bingo. The other three were different types of bingo. The 7th game in both sets were cover all. The six games payback were $2.70 and the cover all was $8.00. The first one I won I had to share with three other people so we all got $.70 cents. I won another one that I didn't have to share so I received $3.70. I had a great time.

Bingo night at J-Five

When I got back to the Minnie I did some steps. I did a total of 15,000 steps, which was about 300 steps over my goal. I was too tired to do the full 16,500 steps. I finished reading Oil and Marble by Stephanie Storey. It was very good. It was a fiction book about Leonardo and Michelangelo. We had a great day of dancing and having fun with friends.

Reading is fun

 

Monday 1-20 Entertainment at J-Five

Entertainment at J-Five

Our day started out being a bit nippy. Then the sun came out and warmed things up.

We started the day out by going to Peppermint Palace to attend Bronc Wise's C1 Workshop. He spent some time on Magic Columns Formation. I was glad because sometimes it's hard to see where to go. He went over transfer the column in this formation, he put us in different positions so we could see the concept from different places. We did it going left and right. While he went over transfer the column he also did it in the O Formation and Butterfly Formation. Another move he went over was Tally Ho in different positions. We really like Bronc's Workshops because he teaches the move in a way you can understand. We had nine and a half squares. We had a great morning dancing with friends and to Bronc.

We had an hour before going to our afternoon dance so we went to Wendy's. We shared a taco salad. It was a big salad and good. It was different than Taco Bell's taco salad. They served the salad with the chili either on the salad or on the side, we had it on the salad. They put the chips, sour cream and salsa on the side. This was great for us because we took the chips with us when we left so we could snack on them later.

Our afternoon dance was an A2 Dance with Darryl Lipscomb. We had five squares plus three extra couples. Everyone had a chance to sit out one tip. We had a super afternoon dancing to Darryl and our A2 friends.

In the evening I went to the clubhouse to see the entertainment, which was KAI. KAI's name is Kainoa Kamaka. He is from Hilo, Hawaii and he now lives in San Antonio. He plays the ukulele. He learned to play the ukulele when he was young. He sings Hawaiian, Oldies, Rock & Roll, Country, Contemporary, Pop, Folk and Mowtown. He is very energetic and gets the audience to participate in some of the songs. He sung songs from Blue Hawaii, that Elvis sang. He did an excellent Elvis. He told stories about Hawaii and his boyhood. He brought his wife with him and she did a couple of Hula dances as KAI sang the song. Some of our square dancing friends were there (four couples). KAI handed out vials of bubbles for the audience to blow bubbles while he sang the song Tiny Bubbles. I enjoyed the evening.

KAI at J-Five

KAI singing Tiny Bubbles, while the audience blew bubbles

KAI singing and play the ukulele

KAI's wife doing a hula dance

While I was at the entertainment Larry watched his YouTube videos. 

When I got back I finished doing my steps, 16,500 total. I finished up doing the Solitaire Event: the World Tour (30 games). I read a little bit. We had a very good day of dancing.

Sunday 1-19 Goldwing Express Show

Laid back day

Relax and enjoy your Sunday!! 

Last night it got down into the low 50s and it didn't get out of 60s. We had wind out of the north so it made it a little cooler. 

We hung around the Minnie all morning. I played my daily challenges, which is five Solitaire games a day. You have all month to solve the games. Sometimes you need that amount of time. Yesterday, when I was finishing up The World Tour Event, 30 games I stayed up until 2:30 trying to solve the final game. I finally gave up and went to bed. Even though I didn't finish I still came in 23rd in my group. Today I get a break from the special events but tomorrow I'll be back in the saddle. Tomorrow Solitaire Event is The World Tour Event of 30 games to solve in 24 hours. Larry and I read.

Relaxing with a book

In the afternoon we went to Mission West RV Park to see The Goldwing Express, it was their final show in the Valley. They have been performing in the Rio Grande Valley for 10 years. For the last three years they have also been performing in Branson at Dolly Parton's Stampede. This year they will be there for 11 months and perform about 600 shows. They want to spend more time with their families. Goldwing Express is a family group; Bob Baldridge (dad) on the mandolin, Paul on the guitar(oldest son), Steven on the banjo and Dobro (middle son) and Shawn on the bass guitar (youngest son). They perform old Country, Bluegrass and Gospel. They did a cute song giving tribute to their Native American Indian culture. They did a good job entertaining the audience.

Goldwing Express in the first half of the show

Dad, Stephen and Paul having a great time

Shawn on the bass guitar

Stephen showing his talent on the banjo

Goldwing Express paying tribute to their Native American culture

Once we were home we spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading. I started doing my steps after dinner. I walked around J-Five five times. Then I finished my 16,500 steps by stepping in place. We had a wonderful day.

    

Saturday 1-18 Bake Sale and Dancing

Having fun

We didn't have a get together this morning because J-Five was having a garage and bake sale. Instead we went to Kripsy Kreme and bought a few doughnuts. Larry had read that Krispy Kreme was now making mini donuts with the calorie count of 90. When we got to Krispy Kreme the sign was on so we got a free donut. We looked at the mini donuts and found that they were $1.00 a piece and the regular size donut was $1.19. We passed on the mini donuts and bought two maple glazed donuts and two of the regular donuts. On top of that we received a free donut. Today was our first Krispy Kreme donut since we arrived in the Valley.

Visiting Krispy Creme Doughnuts

While we're in the Valley we normally go to the two major flea markets, Mercadome and Don Wes. Today after breakfast we went to Don Wes. We walked around and walked through vendors for about an hour. We stopped by the vendor that sells Western shirts and looked at the shirts. We were looking for two shirts that matched and had short sleeves. We didn't find what we wanted. We had a very nice time walking around Don Wes. 

When we got back at the Minnie I went to the club house, where the J-Five had its bake sale, They had two six foot long tables full of goodies. I bought a mini banana bread and a plate full of peanut butter Rice Krispy treats. Instead of lunch we snacked on these items.

Banana Bread and Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Then I worked my Solitaire Event: World Tour (30 games). I did 19 games before we went to our afternoon dance.

On Saturday afternoons Randy Dougherty has two dances, C2 and C1. For C1 We had 18 couples which was four and a half squares. Randy put us in weird positions, the C2 dancers that stayed for the C1 dance were also having problems. We had a super afternoon dancing to Randy and with friends.

By the time we got home it was time for dinner. After dinner I walked around for 45 minutes to get in some of my steps. 

When I got finished Larry was waiting for me. He asked if I wanted to go to Joe Saltel's Saturday Ice Cream Social Plus Dance. The dance started at 7:00 with rounds and 7:30 to 9:30 was the actual dance with one round in between tips. Joe had 39 couples. He was one couple shy of having 10 squares. They had 10 couples doing rounds. After the second tip Klondike Bars and Fudgesicles were served. Ron Woolcock did the cuing for the round dancers. Joe did an outstanding job of calling and making the dance fun. Betty did a great job of taking in the money and serving the ice cream. We had a fun time dancing plus to Joe.

Some of our plus dancers friends

Dancers enjoying taking a break

Round dancing to Ron

Joe Saltel talking to a couple of dancers

Ron Woolcock

When I got home I finished up the World Tour Solitaire game and did my daily challenge. We had an outstanding day.