Monday 3-30 Rainy Day

Smile and have a get day

When we woke up today it was overcast. The weather application we use predicted rain was going to come by 11:00 so we went outside to the Minnie to install the toilet and put on the bathroom door. After installing the new seal and tightening the bolts Larry hooked up the water and made sure there were no leaks. Next we put on the bathroom door. I held the door while Larry attached the hinges. This project is complete and the floor looks outstanding.

From the living area

Bathroom

Step

   

We got done right in time, the rain came in around 9:30 am. When we got in the house I did my daily challenges and the Event: Two Games Tango, which was 10 games of Klondike and 10 games of Spider. It took me 3 hours and 55 minutes and 41 seconds. I was stuck one the 10th game of the Klondike for a long time because you had to play the 9 of diamonds in 75 moves. 

I was busy doing my challenges when lunchtime came around so Larry made lunch for us. 

After lunch I worked on my puzzle until I couldn't keep my eyes open. Then I went and laid down for a couple of hours. While I was napping Larry wrote his Seeds Program review on the Shaw Vinyl Flooring. He also worked a bit on editing my annual book from 2019.

In the evening we started to watch the 16th season of Midsomer Murders. Then I finished the first season of Doctor Finlay and started the second season. I did 21,000 steps. We had a good day.

Sunday 3-29 Finished Project and Smoking Pork

Smile and have fun

It was an overcast day with a little wind. It got into the mid 70's. It was very comfortable. 

We started the day out by finishing up the Minnie project. We only needed to do the steps. The area was small but there were a lot of cuts and a couple of cuts had to be at an angle. We used a lot of the scrap pieces to do the steps. After cutting the pieces to fit Larry had to glue them into place. After that he installed the transition around the top of the steps. It looks excellent. We still need to reinstall the toilet and put the door back on the bathroom. The new toilet seal arrived late today so depending on the weather we might be completely finished tomorrow.

Blowing the drive before working on project

Installing vinyl flooring

The kitchen area after vinyl flooring was installed

The steps waiting for vinyl flooring

The finished project of the steps

Gluing the steps

Cutting the vinyl flooring

   

When I watered my flowers today I saw there were a lot more starting to grow. This is so exciting.

More plants coming up

After we finished the Minnie's flooring project Larry decided to smoke a pork roast on the grill. It took about five hours to smoke. While the meat was smoking I worked on my puzzle and did laundry. I did my daily challenges and The Event: Hard Road Mini, which had 3 games. It took me 22.5 minutes and I came in 45th in my group. We watched an episode of GizWiz. 

Doing laundry

 

Smoking a pork roast

Smoked Pork Roast

In the evening we watched a movie off of Amazon called This Beautiful Fantastic. The movie was a romantic drama where a young woman finds friendship with a cantankerous rich widower. It was a good movie. Then we finished watching the sixth season of Travels By Narrowboat. Then I started watching a new series on Acorn. The 1993 Scottish series was Dr. Finlay, it is about a doctor who returns from World War II to return to his practice. We had a very good day.

Saturday 3-28 Another Busy Day

I hope you had a nice day!!!!

The morning started out with a little bit of rain. It only sprinkled and lasted about a half hour. Afterwards we went back to work on the Minnie floor project. We were busy the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon. We finished the hallway and kitchen area. It took awhile because Larry had to cut angles and around trim and the electrical box. By the end of the day only the step remain to be done, we will then need to reinstall the cabinet doors and put other stuff back in place. We have also ordered a new seal for the toilet, it is suppose to arrive Monday. We're almost done.

While doing this project we saw our neighbors and other people in the neighborhood walking around. One positive thing about the Coronavirus, we have seen more families out walking then we have every seen before. It was another beautiful day.

In the evening we watched an Amazon movie called Blow The Man Down. The movie took place in a small town in Maine about two sisters who cover up a murder. It was a slow moving movie. I didn't like it. Afterwards we watched a couple of episodes of Travels By Narrowboat. I started a series last night called Acceptable Risk and I finished it tonight. It was an Irish drama thriller about a wife, who investigates her husband's death. I did my daily challenges and The Event: Solitaire World Tour of 30 games. It took me 3 hours and 50 minutes to complete them. I came in 26th in my group.  I did 20,000 steps. 

Friday 3-27 Minnie Project and Flowers

Spring is here

We had an overcast day with wind. The temperature got up to 85 degrees and the humidity was 53%.

Spring is definitely here. Every year in the spring our live oak trees pollinate big time. They shed pollen constantly, you can spend your whole day blowing off the driveway and porches. Before starting to work on the flooring in the Minnie Larry blew off the drive so we wouldn't track stuff into the Minnie. He also blew the out the garage and the driveway after stopping for the day. We have also been tracking it in the house for days.

We spent the morning and part of the afternoon working on replacing the Minnie's flooring. First Larry finished installing the support rail for the floor. Because it was going to be exposed to the weather he put sealant around the bolt holes. He didn't want water to leak under the floor. Then he screwed the rail down with bolts. I helped him by holding the bolt heads with a screwdriver while he was underneath the Minnie tightening them up.


Yesterday, he had sanded down a support board in the Minnie, this morning he taped it off and painted it. He ended up putting on four coats. In between each coat he worked on laying the flooring in the Minnie. He started in the bathroom. This took the rest of the day, the bathroom is a small area and he had to cut the vinyl to fit around the walls and the door frame. When he had to cut the vinyl I helped by holding the vinyl. It took longer than we expected, that's ok, we're in no hurry.

Lots of corners to cut around

Bathroom before the vinyl planks

Cutting the flooring to fit

The vinyl floor installed around the toilet

The finished project in the bathroom

In the afternoon I worked out on my Gold's Gym for a half hour. I did my daily challenges. I didn't have an event to do. We watched YouTube videos.

 

Today when I went outside to water my flowers I was surprised because some of the seeds were starting to germinate. I was so excited I had to run into the house and get the camera to take pictures. It has been only three days since I planted the seeds. The seeds that are starting to germinate are the Partial Shade Seeds. This was a nice way to start the day.

Flowers starting to grow

In the evening we watched a two part series on Amazon called Going Postal. It was a movie taken from a novel by Terry Pratchett. It was a cute movie about a con artist who was conned into taking over the Postmaster job in the Ankh-Morpork Post Office. It was a comedy.

A while back I watched all three season of the Miss Fisher murder mysteries. I really enjoyed them. The last season ended five years ago but the other day Larry read they brought her back in a new movie titled, Miss Fisher & The Crypt of Tears, the movie was available on Acorn. I watched it tonight and enjoyed it. The movie had all the actors and characters who were in the original series, it was just as good.

I did my daily challenges and 20,000 steps.

Thursday 3-26 Minnie Project and Mowing

Busy day

Yesterday, we spent an hour or so getting the Minnie ready for it's new kitchen floor. Larry removed the bathroom door and a couple of cabinets doors. He removed the toilet and the old stick on vinyl on the steps. While he was doing this I removed the old vinyl flooring. This part of the project was hard because when RV's are built they put the flooring down and then they put the walls on top of the flooring. I had to trim around the walls and the ring around the toilet. When I was doing this I had to be careful not to cut too deeply and cut the walls boards. The vinyl flooring goes into the bathroom, after Larry removed the toilet he removed the wood box that was covering the pipes and some wires. It took him awhile considering he couldn't see how the box was held in, he finally found three screws that were covered with carpet. Once he removed the box I finished removing the vinyl flooring.

The plywood under the vinyl floor in the kitchen and on the steps

Old vinyl flooring in the bathroom

The power tool Larry used to remove screws

The vinyl flooring on the steps

Over the years we have noticed the floor in the kitchen area has been flexing more and more. This morning Larry moved the Minnie to the driveway so he could use his creeper to get under it. He found a perfect place to add a bit of support. He found a square aluminum bar and some bolts that were hanging around the house to use for the project. The bar had been used for something else and already had a few holes drilled in it so he only had to drill a couple more. Once he drilled the holes in the bar he crawled back under the Minnie and put the bar up and lined the bar up with where the floor was. He drilled holes through the floor, then he put the bolts in and tightened them down. The extra support took out a lot of the flex.


It was cooler today so in the afternoon I decided to mow the yards. I mowed both yards and I also mowed the back of the backyard. While I mowed Larry weedeated. It took me an hour and a half to mow. By the time I finished I was exhausted, the humidity was very high. The temperature was 83 degrees and the humidity was 56%.

The backyard mowed

  

Last week I hung my hummingbird feeder off the back porch. The other day the nectar was gone, I figured that was because of the weather so I put more nectar in. While I was barbecuing some sausage links for dinner today Larry told me that a hummingbird came to the feeder. What a surprise because I didn't see it. When I had put the feeder out I thought maybe it was too early but I guess not. 

In the evening we watched the old Jame Garner movie Support Your Local Gunfighter. I love these old comedies. Then we watched an episode of Travels By Narrowboat. I finished watching Vexed. I did my daily challenges and The Event: Two Games Tango 10 games of spider and 10 games of Free Cell. It took me about 4 hours and I came in 23rd when I went to bed. We had another busy day.  

Wednesday 3-25 Goegeous & Busy Spring Day

Gorgeous spring day at home

Spring started four days ago. The last two days have been gorgeous with plenty of sunshine. The temperature has been in the mid to high 80's.

I was going to mow today but the yards were too wet in the morning. In the afternoon it was 87 degrees. So I passed on it. 

Instead of mowing we went to the storage center to get the Minnie, Larry wants to do a couple of projects. First up was to dump the tanks and change the oil.  I helped him when needed.

Doing Minnie Projects

Dumping the tanks

Removing oil filter

Draining old oil

Putting fresh oil in

For many years our vinyl flooring in the kitchen has been coming up but we have been putting off replacing it, during the best times of the year to work on it we were using it and we were concerned of what we would find. This month the Seeds Program had some snap together vinyl floor planks that we decided to use in the Minnie. Now Larry can review the flooring for the Seeds Program at the same time replace the kitchen flooring. After changing the oil Larry peeled back the vinyl flooring and was pleasantly surprised to find that the plywood under the flooring had no damage. Yesterday, Larry had put some items in his cart on Amazon that he thought he would need to repair the plywood, he was glad he hadn't ordered the items.

We received an e-mail from Walmart about 1:30 that said they substituted some of our grocery items with other similar items and that other items were out of stock. When the order was complete we received another e-mail to come and pickup our order. While we were waiting for our order to be delivered to the car Larry went inside to see what he could find to replace the items that were out of stock, he hit the jack pot, he found other substitutes for the items and found items that had shown to not be available at all. On the website there was absolutely no meat of any kind available but in the store they actually had a bit of everything. He picked up a pound of hamburger and a pork loin. Bread is still a problem, none online nor in the store, however he did find a loaf of sliced french bread in the bakery area. The gentleman, who delivered our groceries to the car was very friendly and helpful. Walmart did an excellent job of filling our order.

The downside of going into the store was that we have been working very hard to avoid being near other people. Due to this Larry went in alone, he said there were very few people in the store and he went out of his way to avoid getting close to anyone. He only picked up a few items and was in and out very quickly. He said checking out was a bit less efficient since I was not there to help. At Walmart we almost always use the self checkout, he scans and I bag.

Grocery shopping

 

In the evening we watched Support Your Local Sheriff. It was an old movie and I enjoyed watching it again. Then we watched a couple of episodes of Travels By Narrowboat. Last night I started to watch a British detective series called Vexed. It's a very laid back movie with humor. Tonight I finished the first season and started watching the second season. I did my daily challenges and The Event: Tri Peaks Mini of five games. I came in 42nd in my group and it took me 8 minutes and 5 seconds. I did 20,000 steps. We had a wonderful day.

Relaxing in front of the television

   

 

Tuesday 3-24 Planting Flowers

What a beautiful day!!!

We woke up to high humidity but no fog or rain. We had sunshine all day. The temperature got to 87 degrees. Just think it's only March.


I didn't get out of bed until 8:30, I usually get up at 8:00. We had oatmeal for breakfast.

We prefer to shop at HEB but their soonest available pickup date is more than a week away
so Larry ordered this weeks groceries from Walmart. There were fewer items to select from this week. There was no beef, chicken, pork or other meats available online. Our order will be ready tomorrow at 2:00. We're extremely thankful we can order online so that we don't have to go inside the store but one of us might have to run in to see if they perhaps have an item or two that was not available online.

Grocery shopping is getting harder

As you know we love Amazon. Most morning we eat instant oatmeal for breakfast, we like most any flavor but our favorites are Maple & Brown Sugar and Apples & Cinnamon. The local stores are out of stock on all oatmeal. Previously we have purchased oatmeal from Amazon if we found it to be less expensive and sure enough they had a box of Apples & Cinnamon, we received the box today at our front door.

Oatmeal delivered to us

After breakfast we went for an hour walk from our house to Temple Lake Park. As we walked we saw a few boats on Belton Lake fishing and lots of people walking their dogs. Our neighbors across the street were walking their two dogs. We stopped and visited with them but we did all keep our distance. We normally see a person or two on this walk but today there were a lot more people. We saw a float plane flying down the lake and he landed on the lake. We had to walk up a hill to get to Arrowhead Point Road from the ramp. By the time we got to the top I was out of breath. When we got home I was soaked with sweat because of the high humidity. We had a great walk.

The float plane flying away

A fisherman enjoying a morning on the lake

In the afternoon I did my daily challenges and the Solitaire Event: The Hard Road. It had 16 games and I finished in an hour and 25 minutes.

I've been putting off planting my flowers for a bit because of the weather so after lunch I planted them. I planted three different kinds: the free seeds that Alexa spent us, American Seed Pollinator Wildflower Blend from last year and a new one from Seed Needs for partial shade. Before putting the seeds down I carried the three bags of potting soil from the truck to the planter. Then I spread the bags around the tree. I sprinkled the pollinator wildflower blend all around the area. Then I walked around the area to flatten the soil. Next I sprinkled the partial shade seed on the three sides that don't get a lot of sunlight. The last pack of seeds was from Alexa, it only covers 5 square feet. Then I padded down the seeds and watered them lightly so I won't wash the seeds away. Now I need to wait. It should take about a week to start seeing some seeds germinate.

The garden soil I spread

My watering container

The seeds I planted

Carrying the bags of soil to the planter

The pollinator wildflower blend seeds

The partial shade flower seeds

The Alexa flower seeds

Larry finished making foot pads for his ski boots. He had started this a couple of weeks ago and then the weather went bad and he could not work outside.

Sanding new pads for his ski boots

Shaping the pad

        

In the evening we watched a couple of episodes of Travels By Narrowboat. We watched a 2010 movie called Salt. It was an action movie about a Russian spy that worked for the CIA. The movie starred Angelina Jolie and Liev Schreiber. We liked it. I finished watching Deep Water. It was a good series. Then I started another series.