Monday 6-29 Masks Required - Nope, Just Kidding

Hold on tight

It was very windy all day. We stayed around the house all day.

Today the yellow hummingbird feeder was seeing some activity. Later in the afternoon Larry saw a hummingbird at the yellow feeder and another at the orange feeder. The bird feeder with seeds was also active, we also had a squirrel trying to get to it but so far he has been unsuccessful. He started out eating the sunflower seeds that the birds had dropped onto the porch, then he climbed on the table and looked at the feeder trying to figure out how to get to it. He got off the table and climbed up the railing underneath the feeder. He stood on the hummingbird feeders for awhile trying to figure if he could jump up to it. Then he gave up and left. At dinnertime I threw a bag of shredded lettuce out in the backyard for the deer. After dinner the doe and fawn came back and ate the lettuce. Another doe joined them. After eating they continued the adventure on the empty lot next door.

While hanging around the house I worked on my puzzle, watered the flowers and attended a virtual C1 workshop with Ett at 6:30 pm. I did my daily challenges.

Last week our county judge said that all businesses and customers would have to wear masks starting today. The reason for this was because our county has seen a large growth in coronavirus activity. Today the 5:00 news said the county commissioners have now decided to make masks voluntary but they would strongly recommend wearing masks. So in other words we are back where we were other than the governor has ordered all bars to close.

At 6:30 we attended a C1 Workshop that Ett was giving. We stayed the whole time but it was frustrating. We spent a lot of time broken down. Last week Larry had written her an email asking if she could cue a bit more, she wrote backing saying she would and while she did try she was confusing. Ett had 60 people attend the Zoom call. While sitting out we noticed that there were a lot of people struggling. We'll have to think about attending again or maybe we will drop her and just use the two couple tapes we have.

After the dance we watched a documentary called Sit Stay Rider: The Story of America's Sidecar Dogs, it was about dogs riding in a sidecar of a motorcycle. The owners put goggles on the dogs when they're riding in the sidecar. It was cute documentary. Then I continued watching The Expanse. I did 20,500 steps.          

Sunday 6-28 Day of Virtual Dancing

Keeping Skills Up

We had another windy day. At times the wind was really strong.

In the morning I did my daily challenges and Event: Two Game Tango, 10 Free Cell games and 10 Pyramid games. It took me 2 hours, 9 minutes and 47 seconds to complete. When I finished I was in 14th place in my group. I probably will drop considering I finished by noon and the challenge lasts for 24 hours, it started at 6:00 am central time.

After playing computer games I worked on my puzzle. Larry wrote a review on a book he finished reading and started another book.

Today we attended three virtual square dancing events. The first event was a C1/C2 dance to Ett. She called three tips of C1 and then three tips of C2. This was great because we don't know C2. Our session of the dance was a half hour. The first tip was easier than the other two. Ett did better in cuing so that made it less frustrating.

The second event was a festival. Mike Dusoe and Denise Carbonell invited other callers and round dance cuers to attend. The festival started at 1:00 pm our time and was over at 3:30. The mainstream/round dance had 212 participants logged into Zoom. We danced plus for an hour and a half. During the plus dance we had 208 on Zoom and another 40 on YouTube. We danced 6 tips to 6 different callers around the United States and other callers were logged into Zoom to see how the festival was going. We danced to: Denise Carbonell, Mike Dusoe, Ted Lizotte, Darren Gallina, Tom Miller and Dean Singleton. Larry danced each tip but the singing call he sat down, I danced the singing call by myself. We had a great time.

The third event was Loren Smith's weekly A2/C1. We had 32 people participate in A2 and 31 for the C1 tip. Loren did three A2 tips, the first two were two couples and we did very well. The third tip was a full square, we didn't do too well. The C1 tip we did fine. We had a great time.

In between the second event and the third event we watched YouTube videos. I watered my flowers. They're still growing, when a few die another few grow. The ones that are really growing were the seeds that we received as a gift from Alexa.

Flowers on the side of the flower planter closest to the house

Flowers still growing on the south side of the flower planter

After the third event we finished watching Alpha House. Then I finished watching Agatha Christie Partner in Crime, which was three episodes. Then I started to watch the second season of The Expanse. I did 26,000 steps, which put me in third place in my group for the week with 178,070.

         

Saturday 6-27 Just Another Saturday

Just chilling out

It was windy all day. The temperature was in the mid 90's. 

We stayed around the house and kept cool under the air conditioner. Larry read and I worked on my puzzle. I did my daily challenges and The Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 5 Free Cell games and 5 Tri Peaks games. It took me 27 minutes and 57 seconds, which put me in 36th place in my group.

We watched an episode of GizWiz and the YouTube videos we follow. I worked on my puzzle.

In the evening we danced C1 to Johnny Preston on tape for an hour and a half. Then we watched an Amazon movie called Blue Jasmine. It was about a New York socialite who is down on her luck and in denial, she goes to San Fransisco to visit her sister to find herself. It was directed by Woody Allen, not a great movie and really didn't have an ending. Then we watched an episode of Alpha House. Next I started a series on Acorn called Agatha Christie Partner in Crimes. It's a series about a husband and wife who get involved in solving crimes. I watched three episodes. It's a good series. I did 22,000 steps, which put me in third place in my group.  

Friday 6-26 Cardio Workout with Julia Bognar

Cardio Workout

In the morning we went back to Crossroads Park. We parked next to the baseball fields. A few of the batting cages were being used by families. One had a mother pitching to one of her girls while the other girl was warming up with a bat behind the net. The batter was wearing a helmet. Another cage was being used by a father and son. Our walk was the same trail as Wednesday except we walked the opposite direction. While walking we saw a couple of ladies walking their dog. When we got back to the playground there was another family using a batting cage, the family appeared to be a mother, father and two girls.

It's amazing, no matter how many trails a city puts in there is always someone using them. Today there was a breeze out of the south so the walk was pleasant. I was sticky when we got back to the car but not drenched with sweat. We walked 35 minutes for 1.7 miles.

After lunch I used another cardio workout program that Larry downloaded from Amazon. The program is called 21 Day Transformation and Julia Bognar hosts it. The program has ten episodes and each episode is for each day. I'm not doing the 21 days challenge but I did do the first two episodes. Each episode was 20 minutes long. The first episode was called Home Cardio for Fat Loss, it concentrated on burning fat. There was a lot of kicking and punching. The second episode was called Ultimate No Equipment Butt Lifting & Ab Toning Workout. There was a lot of leg lifts, twisting from side to side, shuffling from side to side, lunges and squats. The last five minutes was on the floor for a few ab exercises. Some of the exercises on both episodes I couldn't do because I am out of shape and not limber enough but I still kept moving the full 20 minutes. I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow.

I worked on my daily challenges and The Event: Free Cell Adventure of 20 games. It took me 2 hours, 27 minutes and 32 seconds. When I finished I was in 10th place in my group but I probably will fall a few spots by the end of the challenge.

Today Larry did our online grocery shopping at Walmart. We usually go to the Walmart in Belton because it's convenient to The UPS Store and we pick up our mail. There were no openings in Belton today so we sent our order to the Walmart in Temple. That was ok, we will pick up our mail next week. The Temple store is actually a bit closer than the Belton store.

Weekly Grocery Shopping

At 6:00 we attended an A2 Virtual Square Dance with Ett hosting it. There were 56 people participating in the virtual dance. After the second tip we were getting frustrated so we stopped, dancing with phantoms is very difficult and Ett was not cuing at all. Most callers help by cuing calls where you are in unusual positions or if they see folks having problems. After the dance Larry sent Ett an email asking her if she could cue a bit more.

We continued dancing but used the A2 two couple tapes with Johnny Preston for 45 minutes. Then we tried a C1 tip with Lee Kopman, after 15 minutes we gave up.

After square dancing we watched a few episodes of Alpha House. Then I watched a 1993 series called The Fragile Heart on Acorn. It was a drama about a cardiac surgeon, who's ambition and self confidence takes him through events that shakes his personal and professional life. It was an ok drama. I did 26,000 steps.         

Thursday 6-25 Walking, Mowing and Dancing

We had another humid day with no breeze. At 2:00 the temperature was 87 with the humidity at 56%.

We spent the day doing a little exercise. After breakfast we went back to Crossroads Park but we parked where the soccer fields are and where you can pick up Pepper Creek Trail. We walked Pepper Creek Trail for 35 minutes and went 1.7 miles. As we walked the trail we saw a couple of families riding bikes, a few people jogging, people walking and a lady with her son walking their new dog. By the time we got back to the car we were soaked because of the high humidity. We had a great walk on Pepper Creek Trail.

After lunch I worked out to Fitnation. I did the second episode, it was a higher level, we did lunges, leg lifts, jumping jacks, squats and punches. It was hard but I enjoyed doing it because they had people working out with the instructor at different intransitive levels.

After I cooled down I mowed the back half of the backyard. It had been about a month since I had mowed it so the grass and weeds were getting out of control. After I mowed by our neighbor's fence Larry weedeated along the fence and around the areas I couldn't get to with the mower. Then he blew off the driveway and when I finished mowing he blew off the mower, filled it with gas and rechecked the oil so it will be ready for the next time we mow. It took me an hour and a half to mow the backyard.

While cooling off we watched the birds. Today the birds weren't as active as they were yesterday and the day before. We had made three hummingbird feeders and we had not seen any hummingbirds, today Larry removed one and filled the other two. A little while later we saw a hummingbird come and hang around a bit. It appeared there were two of them coming and going. While one was drinking a bird was eating in the bird feeder. The hummingbird kept looking at the feeder while he drank. After it got its fill of nectar it flew away. The other bird kept eating.

Hummingbird checking out the feeders

Hummingbird at its feeder and another bird above it

In the evening we did two virtual dances on Zoom. The first dance was at 6:00, Jeremy Butler hosted an A2/C1 event. During the session Jeremy did three A2 tips and one C1 tip. He called for 45 minutes. We had a lot of fun.

The hour between the dances we danced an A2 two couple square to Johnny Preston. We have been working on this tip for last couple of nights and it has taken us over an hour or more to get through. Tonight it only took us a half hour. During the tip we did stop a few times to walk through moves we had problems with. It was more fun tonight.

 

The second dance was Plus at 8:00 with Loren Smith. Loren hosts this dance every Thursday. He called four tips (three were two couple and the last was four couple). We had fun dancing to Loren, he cues a lot.

After the second dance we watched a couple of episodes of Alpha House. I watched Club Zero on Amazon. It's a comedy movie about a misfit girl who has dreams of outer space. When a competition gives her a chance to be recorded for NASA's Golden Record, she recruits a group of Birdie Scouts to help. She forms friendships with them. It was a cute movie I thought it was better than the reviews. Then I watched a 2003 movie on Acorn called The Return. The movie was a drama about a woman that was released from prison after 10 years for murdering her husband and returns home. It starred Julie Walters and Neil Dudgeon. I did my daily challenges, there wasn't an event today. I did 28,000 steps, this put me in third place in my group for the day.

Relaxing in front of the television

   

Wednesday 6-24 Going For a Walk

It was overcast all day and occasionally we had a light sprinkle. There was a little breeze. What should we do? Larry suggested going for a walk. We decided to go to Crossroads Park. It has been a long time since we went for a walk so we weren't sure how far we would walk. There was only one other car in the parking lot. We took the paved trail around the park. The walk took us around the baseball diamonds, tennis courts and the playground. We saw a few people walking. A couple of the people had dogs. We walked for 35 minutes, 1.7 miles. It was a very nice walk because the breeze kept us cool.

Once we were at home we relaxed under the air conditioner. I did my daily challenges and Event: Solitaire World Tour of 30 games. It took me 3 hours, 31 minutes and 15 seconds, which put me in 9th place in my group. While I worked on my computer games Larry read. Yesterday Larry finished a book so he wrote a review on it. Then he started reading another book.

In the afternoon we had a virtual C1 square dance/workshop at 1:00. Our friend Dan from Sun City had sent us some two couple square dancing tapes. A half hour before the C1 dance we did one tip of C1 two couples. It was challenging and we had to walk through some of it to figure out the sequence. We're still having problems keeping track of the phantom couple. When it was time for the C1 dance Larry logged us on to Zoom. The workshop was an hour and Ett did a lot more cuing, which made it a lot better. We did six short sessions. We broke down here and there because we lost the phantom couple or we turned the wrong way. We had a lot more fun than the Monday C1 workshop.

After the dance I continued to work on the Solitaire Event. Larry read.

At 7:00 we participated in another virtual square dance. It was a Plus dance hosted by Mike Dusoe. He called for a half hour, which was two tips. During the half hour Mike introduced us to Relay the Ducey with two couples. He modified the move to fit the two couple concept. We had a great time. Afterwards Larry and I danced another hour and a half to tapes of Johnny Preston, we did A2 two couple. We got through one whole tip. It went a lot better tonight than last night.

Then we finished watching the first season of Alpha House and an episode from the second season. Afterwards I finished watching Mystery Road. I watched Code of a Killer, which was base on a true story about how the first DNA helped police solve a double murder and the scientist, who discovered DNA. I did 27,000 steps.          

Tuesday 6-23 Working Out

Working Out

We woke up with a little rain so we hung around the house all day. What should we do?

Since the shut down caused by the coronavirus back in the middle of March (101 days ago) I have put on ten pounds. I have talked about going on a diet but it's hard to get motivated because I'm hanging around the house. Two weeks ago I decided to go on a diet. I've lost six pounds so far. It's a slow process. We haven't gone square dancing so I haven't gotten much exercise. We started doing virtual square dancing a couple of weeks ago, it's not a lot of exercise but we move a little bit. I do 20,000 to 26,000 steps a day but it's still not enough exercise. I have no excuse because I have the Wii Fit, Just Dance Programs (6) and Gold's Gym but I haven't been motivated to do them. I have only used them seven times this year. I also have hand weights that I don't use at all. Years ago Larry bought me some stretch bands and a resistance tube that I only used a few times.

Yesterday, Larry went through Amazon on the television and found a couple of workout videos that sounded good. He put them on our watch list. After lunch today I decided to start using one. The workout program was called Fitnation: Fitness For All, it went for a season with 10 episodes. I worked out with the first episode, which was 20 minutes long. It did a lot of stepping, kicking and leg lifting. There were two hosts and six ladies working out with them, each lady was at a different level of working out beginner, intermediate and advance. By the time I finished I was sweaty and I had fun.

After I cooled down I got my resistance tube out. We bought it at Walmart years ago. It comes with a routine of 10 different types of sets (Chest Press, Chest Fly, Standing Row, Reverse Fly, Overhead Press, Lateral Raise, Upright Row, Biceps Curl, Overhead Triceps Extension and Squats). Each set recommends between 12-16 repetitions. I did all 10 sets and 16 repetitions of each. It took 15 minutes to complete. I know my muscles will be sore tomorrow.

The resistance tube I used

Six of the sets I did

The other four sets I did

In the afternoon Larry had to go to the oral surgeon to get his implant checked out. While he was gone I worked on my puzzle.

We watched the birds coming to the feeder most of the day. Today we were surprised to see doves use the feeder considering it's so small. It was harder for the doves to use it because of its size but once one figured it out the others figured it out. At one point I saw two doves at the feeder together eating. But when the doves were at the feeder the smaller birds kept their distance. Once the doves left the smaller birds returned. It was fascinating watching the birds at the feeder. Once in awhile one bird would chase off the other birds. We saw a beautiful dragon fly on the chain of the bird feeder.

A dove waiting for its turn at the feeder

A dove eating the bird seeds

A dove waiting to eat

Two doves eating together

Four doves at the bird feeder

A beautiful dragon fly hanging around

In the evening we watched YouTube videos. We danced two couple A2 for an hour and a half to Johnny Preston's two couple tapes. It was challenging and fun. When you're using tapes if you're struggling you can go back thru that sequence and do it again and you can stop the tape at the sequence where you're having trouble. Afterwards we watched three episodes of Alpha House. Last night we watched the movie Mystery Road and tonight I started watching the first season of Mystery Road. I did 24,000 steps.

Before going to bed I did my daily challenges and The Event: Medium Mayhem Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour and 45 seconds, which put me in 26th place in my group.    

Monday 6-22 C1 Virtual Workshop

Clouds rolled in and out all day

We were going to go to the lake this morning but it was too windy. The humidity was between 40% and 50% all day. The temperature was in the low 90's. We spent the whole day inside keeping cool.

While in the house I worked on my daily challenges and The Event: Two Game Tango, which was 10 games of Spider and 10 games of Free Cell. It took me 6 hours, 3 minutes and 42 seconds, I got stuck on the last Spider game and the last Free Cell game. Both games were the Expert level. Even though it took me so long I still came in 8th in my group. While I was playing my games Larry read.

In between me doing Solitaire games and Larry reading, we watched birds flying in and out the bird feeder. In the afternoon the doe and fawn came walking through our backyard.

After dinner we attended a virtual C1 Workshop with Ett at 6:30 for an hour. During the workshop we went over 1) circle by X by Y, 2) follow thru, 3) weave and 4) <anything> with the flow. We struggled at times because Ett didn't cue the dancers much. It was the first workshop on C1 and hopefully we will do better next week. We had 39 participants in the workshop.

When we finished dancing we watched an Acorn movie called Mystery Road. It takes place in Australia. It starred Arron Pedersen and Hugo Weaving. It's a crime movie about an indigenous detective who returns home to solve a murder. Then I watched Dirty Dancing and finished watching the second and final season of Prisoners Wives. I ended up doing 25,000 steps, which put me in second place i my group.    

  

 

  

Sunday 6-21 Father's Day

Happy Father's Day

I hope all the fathers had a great day. 

In the morning we had a lot of activity at the bird feeder. We had over six birds visiting. It was fascinating to watch them. There were no more than two birds at the feeder at a time. A couple of them stayed awhile and ate the feed. The other birds would take a piece of food and then fly away and eat it, then they would come back for more. When two of the birds were on the same side, one would fly away or move to the other side. The birds continued to eat throughout the day. This was great entertainment. For the last few days we have seen a doe and a fawn walk through the backyard. At times they would run across the yard. It is amazing how fast the little fawn can run. It kept up with mom very well.

Red headed bird eating from the feeder

Beautiful gray bird

Bray bird looking straight ahead

Two red headed birds

    

Mama looking at me

The fawn safely across the yard

In the afternoon we did a virtual square dance with Wendy VanderMeuler. The schedule was: 2:00-2:30 Mainstream with 1 singing call, 2:30-3:00 Not So Easy Plus and 3:00 -3:30 A1. The time is eastern time, here in Texas it's an hour earlier. This was Wendy's last week for virtual calling. It was the first time we danced to Wendy and she did a great job and was fun. We participated in the Plus and A1 session. For the Plus session we had 43 participants and for the A1 session we had 42 participants.

After the dance I went outside and watered my flowers. I was surprised to see three of the Amazon flowers blooming and another three buds. I still have a few small white flowers blooming. I will continue watering the flowers.

Amazon flowers

White flowers still growing

Throughout the day I worked on and off on my puzzle and Larry read. We also watched some YouTube videos. I did my daily challenges, there were no event today.

In the evening we attended Loren Smith's weekly A2/C1 dance. It was at 7:30 our time. We had three tips of A2 and one tip of C1. For the A2 tips we had 32 participants and C1 had 31 participants. The third tip of A2 was very challenging because we did a four couples square where we had to dance with three phantom couples. It's hard enough to keep track of one phantom couple but it's almost impossible to keep track of three. We struggled a lot so we sat most of the tip out and watched the rest of the dancers. Some of the real good dancers we know were struggling but they kept trying. Loren did a super job of calling,

After the dance we watched three episodes of Alpha House. Then I finished watching Kingdom. I started watching the second season of Prisoners Wives. I did 22,000 steps, which put me in fourth place in my group with 177,582. I missed third place by 1,000 steps. 

Saturday 6-20 Relaxing Day

Relaxing Day

Larry woke up to a light drizzle and a little later in the morning it sprinkled again. We didn't leave the house at all today.

For breakfast I tried a new dish, the South Beach egg, bacon and tomato sandwiches. It consisted of a tomato sliced in four, seasoned with salt and pepper and tarragon, mustard, Canadian bacon (I used turkey bacon instead) and eggs. It was delicious.

Egg, bacon and tomato sandwiches

 

After breakfast I did my daily challenges and The Event: Medium Mayhem of 27 games. It took me 1 hour, 35 minutes and 41 seconds, which put me in 15 place in my group. Larry finished reading a book and wrote a review on it.

While we were hanging around the house we saw a doe and her fawn walk through our backyard. They have been coming through the yard the last couple of days. The fawn was still young because it still had it's spots. We also had a couple of birds visit the bird feeder. They actually ate some of the food.

Birds with nut in its beak

Bird in the feeder

I worked on my puzzle all afternoon.

Progress

In the evening we watch a movie off Amazon called Molokai. It was a 1999 movie about the story of Father Damien, a priest who volunteered to go to the Hawaiin island of Molokai to help the lepers. It was a good movie but sad. Afterwards we started to re-watch The Alpha House series. Then I finished watching the second season and started the third season of Kingdom. I did 26,000 steps. 

Friday 6-19 Equinox Reached 100,000 Miles

Windy day

We had a super day. It was windy and overcast most of the day. It got up to 97 degrees.

This morning Larry did our weekly grocery shopping online at Walmart. Yesterday, Larry ordered a drain cleaner from Lowe's. Today we picked it up. We didn't have to go inside because we used their curbside service. On the way home we stopped by Walmart to exchange one of our empty propane tanks for a full one. 

When we got home I mowed the frontyard and half of the backyard. It took me an hour and a half. Larry took the motorcycle out for it's monthly ride, when he got back he weedeated and blew off the drive and porch.

Mowing the yards

  After lunch I did my daily challenges and The Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 25 minutes and 42 seconds, which put me in 25th place in my group.

At 4:00 we went back to town to pick up our grocery order at Walmart. This week Walmart had to substitute a couple of items. The service once again was perfect. 

Grocery shopping

 

Driving home from Walmart the Equinox reached 100,000 miles. We love the Equinox. It is six years old and has been very dependable. Other than normal maintenance the only repairs we have done were replacing the battery and an exhaust valve solenoid was replaced under warranty. Nothing else, the car still has the original tires. We hope that the Equinox will be great for another 100,000 miles.

Our Equinox

Getting to a milestone of 100,000 miles

  

In the evening at 6:00 pm we did a virtual A2 square dance with Ett, who is from Baltimore. We had 53 people participating in the dance. Ett called five tips. We did very well today. Ett did an outstanding job of calling. After the dance we finished up the first season of Expanse. Then I started watching the second season of Kingdom. I ended up doing 28,000 steps, which put me in fourth place in my group.

Thursday 6-18 More Spring Cleaning

Washing windows

We had a beautiful day with a breeze out of the north. It was very pleasant. 

We started the day out by working outside doing more spring cleaning. Larry washed the gas grill and the charcoal grill. While he did this I washed the three back windows. There was a lot of cobwebs and dirt on them. I cleaned the windows with soap and water, then I wiped them down with Invisible Glass. Larry washed the window screens and put them back in the windows. It took us a couple of hours to complete our cleaning.

When we finished it was lunchtime. After lunch I worked on my puzzle and Larry read. Larry had finished a book yesterday so he wrote a review on it. Then he started another book. Around 3:00 I laid down for an hour. When I woke up we watched our YouTube videos.

I did my daily challenges and The Event: Pyramid Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 24 minutes and 44 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group.

In the evening we did two virtual square dances. The first was at 6:00 pm with the Capitol Squares, every week they do an A2/C1 dance with Jeremy Butler calling. Tonight Jeremy invited Dan Sahlstrom out of Minnesota to call. Dan called two A2 tips and one C1. We had a little trouble on the C1 tips because we are a little rusty. There were 52 participants in the A2 dance and 50 participants in the C1 dance. Dan did a great job. The second dance was a Plus dance with the Calgary Square Dance weekly dance with Loren Smith calling. He called three tips, the last tip was a four couple tip where we danced with six phantom dancers. It was very hard because it was hard to see where the phantoms were. Loren did a great job. We had a super night of dancing.

After dancing we watched an episode of Expanse. Then I finished watching the first season of Kingdom. I did 24,500 steps. 

 

Wednesday 6-17 Cleaning the Railing

Gorgeous Day in Belton Texas

A couple of days ago when I was looking for a container to hold bird seed I came across a container that had some dog food in it. It surprised me because we said good-bye to our beloved dog Flo three years ago. She was almost 14 years old. I miss her all the time. I was going to throw the food away because it was so old but I ended up throwing it in the backyard for the wildlife. I wasn't sure if the wildlife would eat the food so I only threw out half of it. Yesterday morning I went out and checked and it was gone. Then I threw the rest in the same area. Later in the afternoon we saw a deer walk straight to the area. She stayed there a little while and ate all the dog food. Then she walked away. It's amazing everytime I throw food out such as potatoes and other vegetables, they always disappear, I guess the wildlife like the change of diet. We also had a couple of birds visit the new feeder while we were watching television last night. 

Look, I found something new to eat

Time to leave

This morning I finished washing the porch railing. I started about a half hour earlier and it took me about an hour and a half to finish it. By the time I finished I was soaked with sweat. I cleaned everything up and went inside. I looked at the thermostat and it said it was 90 degrees with the humidity of 50%.

The stair railing all clean until next year

The porch railing all clean

While I was working on the railing Larry read. 

After I cooled down I made lunch, which was very easy because we had bought a salad from Walmart. After lunch we went to town to pick up a prescription of antibiotics for Larry to take for his implant. While he was in Walmart I went and filled the car with gas. One thing about being shut down because of the Coronavirus is that we seldom have to purchase gas for the car.

When we got back I took a couple hour nap, I had stayed up until 3:00 in the morning to play my Solitaire Event game before calling it quits. Today I only had my daily challenges to do.

In the evening we watched our YouTube videos. We watched four episodes of The Expanse. I watched the last two seasons of Trail & Retribution. I did 25,000 steps today.   

Tuesday 6-16 Keeping Busy

Busy do this and that

We had a busy day of doing this and that around the house. 

In the morning I started washing the back porch railing. Every spring we wash down the railing. We wait until the live oak trees stop making a mess of replacing their leaves and pollinating. The railing is filthy and had some mold on it. I worked on it an hour and a half and ended up doing two sections. I need to do another section and the step railing. I stopped because it was getting hot and I was sweaty. While I was washing down the railing a saw a hugh stick bug clinging to the foundation. It was the biggest stick bug we had ever seen.

The railing I started cleaning

Mold on the railing

Mold removed

Stick bug

  

While I was cleaning the railing Larry wrote up his review of the Moen Kitchen Faucet we received from The Seeds Program. We really like the new faucet.

In the afternoon I did my daily challenges and The Event: Solitaire World Tour of 30 games. I got stuck on two games #28, which was an expert level of Free Cell and game #30, which was an expert Tri Peaks. After playing the event for 1 hour, 46 minutes and 59 seconds I called it quits. I still came in 16th in my group.

In the afternoon Larry went to the oral surgeon. He has been having pain from a tooth for months. His regular dentist thought a crown would fix it so back at the very end of January she put on a crown. The tooth was still painful but shortly after that everything locked down due to the Coronavirus and the dentist offices closed. He was finally able to see the dentist a few weeks ago and she made an adjustment but it did not help. Today he had the tooth removed and an implant put in. Now he just has to wait months for it to integrate and then he will get a crown on it.

Normally Larry and I do everything together. If one of us goes to the dentist or doctor the other goes along and waits. The Coronavirus has changed that. Now you can't wait in the waiting room and since it is too hot to wait in the car I have been staying at home. We try to avoid going into stores but when we do one of us goes in and the other waits in the car.

While Larry was at the dentist I cleaned the bathrooms and vacuumed the house. I started doing the laundry. I ended up doing a few loads. What a busy afternoon.

Housecleaning

In the evening we finished watching Grantchester on PBS. Then I finished the 18th season and watched the 19th and 20th season of Trail & Retribution. I did 26,000 steps.