Friday 7-30 Just Another Friday

 

It's summertime

We have been virtually square dancing through Zoom for fourteen months and love it. We have met a lot of wonderful callers and dancers from all over the world. It has kept our skills up and personally I think it has made me a better dancer. The dancing is mainly two couples, where we dance with a phantom couple. A lot of dancers dance by themselves so they have three phantoms to watch. Sometimes I dance by myself. At the beginning the dancing was very hard but now we can dance full squares with six phantoms. Zoom allows you to select and make one couple full screen, this can really help if you get lost. We dance to Di Green and Terry McCann from England and Joachim Ruehenbeck and his partner Mariyam from Germany, both couples dance with their backs to us and become a mirror image, this helps a lot because we know exactly where to be. We dance almost everyday one to three times a day. Last year we danced 349 virtual dances and so far this year we have danced 301 dances.

As to live local dancing:

Brad Caldwell has a A2 club called Diamond Masters, he started it back up awhile back in a new location. It use to be at held at Zilker Park in Austin and we never went because it's so difficult to get there, but now Brad has moved it to Georgetown which is more convenient for us. We started dancing there the last Tuesday of June. 

The Sundancers Thursday A2/C1 tape group started dancing again. We started going the last week in June.

The Sundancers Monday dances started up three weeks ago. These dances are Mainstream/Plus and if there are enough folks Brad will call a A2 tip. It's been about 18 months since most of the dancers danced so Brad has called slower and walked through the calls the dancers were having problem with. 

Virtual square dancing is great and has helped our dancing but it's great to get back to dancing in person because of the atmosphere of people visiting, hugging and having fun. I'm not saying we don't have fun virtually but it's different in person. Even though we're dancing in person we still dance virtually. 

 

Get a partner and dance

We had a relaxing Friday. I hope you have a great weekend.

 

 

I started the day out doing the Daily Challenges and Event: Free Cell Mini of 5 games. It took me 17 minutes and 28 seconds, which put me in 32nd place in my group. I also did the Mahjong Daily Challenges.

While I played my games Larry finished a book and started another one on his Kindle.

We attended two virtual dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Four Couples A1/A2 at 11:00. Dayle called two tips of each. During the A1 session we had 21 participants and the A2 session had 19. Dayle was having problems with his external microphone so he had to use the built in one on his computer. He sounded like he had a cold but the dancers could still understand the calls. We had a fun time.

Second was Di Green's Weekly C1 Workshop at 2:00. I attended this dance by myself and Di had 35 participants. I had fun.

While I danced Larry continued reading his book. After Di's dance we watched an episode of the GizWiz.

In the evening we watched the Olympics. When Larry went to bed I started to watch the fourth season of Silent Witness. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group.  

    

Thursday 7-29 Dancing with the Sundancers Tape Group

 

Get a partner and dance

We started the day out going to the storage center. Every month we take the Minnie for a spin, so that's exactly what we did. We drove it about 15 miles and then we put it back in storage. While driving we ran the generator to make sure that it stays running correctly.

On the way home we stopped by Walmart to do a little grocery shopping.

 

Grocery Shopping

We attended Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1 dance at 11:00. Dayle called four two couples tips and a four couples tip. We attended the four two couples tips, which had 17 participants. We had a great time.

In the evening we went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers Weekly Tape Group at 5:15. We danced an hour and a half of C1. We had six couples so we rotated in and out each tip. Afterwards we danced A2 for an hour and half. We had two squares plus and extra couple. This session was run by computer so we had an opportunity to dance with everyone. We had a super evening of dancing with friends.

In the afternoon I took a nap and Larry started reading a book on his Kindle. I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Klondike Mini of 10 games. It took me 41 minutes and 13 seconds, which put me in 23rd place in my group.

We got home from dancing around 9:00. We watched the Olympics. While doing this Larry continued working on organizing our photos. When Larry went to bed I finished watching the third season of Silent Witness. I ended up doing 29,000 steps, which put me in 7th place in my group with 102,000 steps. I'm all caught up in my weekly steps.   

Wednesday 7-28 Boating, Dancing and Mowing

 

Awesome Day

We had an awesome day of doing this and that.

We started the day out by going to the lake for about an hour. On the way to the lake as we were driving through Morgan Point we saw some deer. When we got to the street that went to Rogers Park Larry stopped and waited for a doe and three fawns to decide if they wanted to cross the road. The doe and two of the fawns crossed the road but the third fawn got scared and ran into the trees. The lake was gorgeous and flat. You could do anything but we decided just to float a bit. We watched a couple of people skiing. While we were floating it started to sprinkle. We waited for it to stop and headed back to the ramp. We wiped down the boat and went home. On the way home we saw some more deer. The deer were busy today.

Boat day

We attended one virtual square dance, Dayle Hodge's Weekly A2 at 11:00. He called four two couples tips with 23 participants and one four couples tip with 17. We had a great time.

 

Having fun dancing with friends

After lunch I mowed the frontyard and half of the backyard. Larry weedeated and blew off the drive. By the time I finished I was sweaty. When I finished we walked through our neighbor's house. 

I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Free Cell and 5 Pyramid). It took me 1 hour, 36 minutes and 23 seconds, which put me in 16th place in my group. I also did the Mahjong Daily Challenges. While I was playing my games Larry worked on organizing our photos.

In the evening we watched the Olympics. Then I finished watching the fifth and final season of The Heart Guy. I ended up doing 29,500 steps, which put me in 7th place in my group. I'm still 2,000 steps behind schedule.

 

Relaxing in front of the television

   

 

Tuesday 7-27 Dancing and Having Fun

 

Hot Summer Day

We had another 98 degree day with a lot of sunshine. We spent the day indoors keeping cool.

We attended two virtual dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Plus at 11:00. Dayle called four two couples tips with 14 participants and one four couples tip with 10. I danced the four couples tip by myself. Dayle did a great job of calling the dance. We had a super time.

Second was Di Green's Weekly A1/A2 Workshop at 1:30. Di and Terry called five tips in both sessions and Di called the four couples tip at the end of the A2 session. She put up a survey during each session to get feedback on the workshops. She asked if we wanted more cueing or less and if we wanted a four couples tip at the end of the A1 session. The dancers told her to continue cueing through out the workshops. We also wanted more four couples concepts in each tip and add one at the end of the A1. I danced the A1 session by myself. During the A1 session we had 23 participants, the A2 session had 25 and the A2 four couples tip we had 24. Di and Terry took turns calling in each session. We had a lot of fun dancing to Di and Terry because they're very enthusiastic, cheers the dancers on and celebrates when the dancers are successful. 

I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 5 games. It took me 11 minutes and 20 seconds, which put me in 26th place in my group. I also did the Mahjong Daily Challenges. While I played games Larry finished his Summer House.

Larry resizes many of his paper projects to be smaller than the original design. It makes them more difficult to cut and assemble but we have a limited amount of space to display them and making them smaller makes it possible to keep more of them around. He made the Summer House small enough to fit on his hand. This project had more pieces to assembly than any of his other projects. It also took him the longest to complete.

 

Look how small the summer house came out

The finished project

Side view of the summer house

In the evening we went to Georgetown to dance with the Diamond Masters Club. We had enough people for exactly two squares. We had a super night of dancing.

When we got home at 10:00 Larry read his e-mail and then went to bed. I watched a little bit of the Olympics and started to watch the fifth season of Heart Guy on Acorn. I ended up doing 21,500 steps, which put me in 8th place in my group with 43,500 steps. 

Monday 7-26 Boating and Dancing

Boating on Lake Belton

We had a gorgeous day. The wind was low so we decided to start the day out by going to Lake Belton. We spent an hour and a half at the lake. The lake wasn't perfect but we decided to water ski, we both did a short set. The water was a little choppy but it was the first time we skied this year so it was ok. After resting out came the Air Chair, we both did a set. When we finished air chairing we drove back to the dock. We had to wait because a fisherman had his boat at the dock. He was by himself so he had to do everything. This gave me time to take down the shade. 

 

Larry water skiing

 

Having fun skiing down the lake

 

Larry having fun air chairing

 

Look at me fly the chair

 We got home 15 minutes before Di Green's Weekly Plus at 11:00. This was the only virtual square dance I attended today. Di and Terry rotated calling the the five tips of two couples and Di called one tip of four couples. The two couples tips had 32 participants and the four couples tip had 21. I had a great time.

While I danced Larry continued building the Summer House paper project. Another day of crafting.

 

The summer house so far

Larry crafting

I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Hard Road Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 38 minutes and 37 seconds, which put me in 14th place in my group. I also did the Mahjong Daily Challenges.

In the evening we attended the Sundancers Weekly Dance at 7:30 to 9:00. We got there at 7:00 and Brad was work shopping mainstream moves. The dance format was workshop for an hour and an hour and a half of mainstream and plus. This week Brad called 2 mainstream tips and a plus tip. He saw that the dancers were all plus dances so he called all plus the last 45 minutes. During the mainstream tips we had four squares and enough women sitting out to form a square of their own. I danced the first tip as a boy and had a super time. The second tip was danced with a gentleman. But the ladies did form another square and danced. During the plus tips we had three squares. At 9:00 Brad called an A tip, we had a square plus one extra person. Larry danced the plus tips and the A tip with me. We had a super evening of dancing with Brad Caldwell and our square dancing friends.

 

We got home at 10:15. Larry read his e-mails and then went to bed. I watched the third episode of Jack Irish third season. Then I watched the Olympics (U.S. and China Volleyball). I ended up doing 22,000 steps, which was 3,100 steps shy of my daily goal. This put me in 9th place in my group. I need to do an extra 3,000 tomorrow to be on track of the weekly challenge of 175,000 steps.  

 

Sunday 7-25 Sundaes on Sunday Dance

 

Smile and be happy

We had another gorgeous sunny day in the high 90s. The temperature got to 98 degrees.

Larry spent the day working on The Summer House paper project from Dreaming Tree. He went through the file and separated into the pieces he needed to cut. Next he decided on what paper colors and designs to use. Once this was done it was time to cut the pieces. Next he started to assemble the project. He spent most of the day crafting with Leo from Dreaming Tree. He's not finished but so far its looking good.

 

Paper Crafting

 

Some of the pieces assembled (front wall and roof)

While Larry was doing his project I attended a Mainstream/Plus Dance called Sundaes on Sunday. Darren Gallina calls a virtual mainstream/plus dance on Sundays. This week he decided to call it Sundaes on Sunday and invited Tim Bressinck from Germany to call with him. He asked the dancers to bring their own sundaes to eat after the dance. The dance was at 1:00 for an hour. Darren and Tim both called a mainstream tip and plus tip a piece. Each tip had a singing call. The dance had 38 participants and was very energetic. I had a great time dancing to Darren and Tim. Tim was at the Tie Dye Palooza dance yesterday but we didn't have a chance to dance to him. He is a great caller and a lot of fun.

 

Tim Bressinck from Germany

 

Darren Gallina and his partner from California

 

Some of the dancers who attended the Sundaes on Sunday dance

 

I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 53 minutes and 30 seconds, which put me in 34th place in my group. 

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

In the evening we watched the Olympics. Then I finished watching the second season of Silence Witness and started watching the third season. I ended up doing 28,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group with the total of 190,567 steps for the week. 

 

 

 

  

Saturday 7-24 Tie Dye Palooza 2

 

Keep cool

We had a beautiful day with a lot of sunshine. It got up to 97 degrees, it didn't feel like it. We spent the day in the house keeping cool.

Larry has been working on a couple paper projects. One was a beautiful bag, which he surprised me with. It was made from the free package he got from Dreaming Tree. He modified the project by making the bag smaller and he combined two projects. He also made the bag in my favorite color, which is orange. He substituted the sandals with the banana split and ice cream cones from another project. 

 

The original bag design

 

Front (after modifications)

Back

While Larry worked on his paper project I did the Daily Challenges and Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 3 hours, 41 minutes and 15 seconds, which put me in 31st place in my group. I did the Mahjong Daily Challenges and I finished doing all of the 31 Anniversary games. 

We attended one virtual square dance, which was Tie Dye Palooza 2 at 2:00 for two hours. The dance was put on by Ett McAtee, she invited Di Green from England, Loren Smith from Canada, Uwe Kramer-Ave Marie from Germany, Tim Bressinck from Germany, Karin Rabe from New Jersey, Patty Greene from North Carolina, Hanna Tenebaum from Sweden, Greg Moore from New Jersey, Denise Carbonell from Maine and herself from Maryland. The dance had three breakout rooms, Mainstream, Plus and A2, all the tips were two couples. Everyone signed in the main breakout room to say hello and good-bye for fifteen minutes. We danced in the A2 session to Ett McAtee for a half hour and Loren Smith for a half hour. Ett called two long tips, Loren called three short tips and Hanna Tenebaum for one tip with 31 participants.  I danced in the Plus the last forty-five minutes with 44 participants. The dance started in the main breakout room with 58 participants by the end we had 48 participants. Larry had bought tie dye tee-shirts for us to wear and they were very nice. A lot of the dancers and callers wore tie dye shirts. Some people had tie dye virtual background. It was a fun dance.

 

Some of the virtual dancers 

Loren Smith 

 

Ett McAtee 

 

Di Green

 

More dancers

 In the afternoon we watched some of the Olympic swimming events.

In the evening we watched more of the Olympics. When Larry went to bed I continued watching the second season of Silent Witness. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 4th place.

           

 

Friday 7-23 Fun Day

 

Have a fun day

We had a wonderful day. It was a little breezy with a lot of sunshine. It got up 93 degrees.

We attended two virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Four Couples A1/A2 at 11:00. Dayle called two tips of A1 with 18 participants and two tips of A2 with 17. We had a fun time.

Second was Di Green's Weekly C1 Workshop at 2:00. I danced by myself. Di called six tips with 30 participants. This week she worked on modifies; replace, finished and substitute. She did a great job of cueing and walking the dancers through moves we were having problems with.

 

Having fun square dancing

Larry continued working on his paper project. I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 10 games. It took me 49 minutes and 53 seconds, which put me in 27th place in my group.

We watched YouTube videos.

When Larry went to bed I finished watching the first season of Silent Witness and started the second. I ended up doing 26,500 steps, which put me in 6th place in my group with the total of 135,058 steps for the week so far.

 

Relaxing in front of the television

 

 

Thursday 7/22 Saying Good-bye to Another Virtual Dance

 

Saying good-bye

Today was a humid day. We hung around the house relaxing.

I started the day out by doing the Daily Challenges and Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 6 games (3 Spider and 3 Pyramid). It took me 16 minutes and 58 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group. I also did the Mahjong Daily Challenges.

While I played my games Larry worked on a paper project. Every month Leo from Dreaming Tree gives a package of three new projects away if you spend $10.00 dollars. Larry really liked this months summer package so he purchased a gift card for $10.00 and got the package for free.

We attended two virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1 at 11:00. Dayle called five tips. He called four two couples tips with 16 participants and one four couples tip with 10 participants. Dayle did a great job of calling and cued when necessary. We had an outstanding hour and fifteen minutes of dancing to Dayle and with virtual friends.

Second was Joachim Ruehenbeck's C1 at 12:30. This was his last C1 dance because his club is going back to dancing in person. We will miss dancing to him and his partner Mariyam. Joachim had 24 participants. I danced by myself and had a great time.

Due to live dancing starting back up we have had to say good-bye to four virtual dances, two were weekly and two were semi-weekly. Along with that a couple of dances were put on hold for the summer. Of course with live dancing coming back we have added three live weekly dances.

After Joachim's dance I did my weekly housekeeping and finished the laundry. Larry continued working on organizing our photos.

We went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers Weekly A2/C1 tape group at 5:15 to 8:00. We danced an hour and a half of C1 with six couples. We danced another hour and a half A2 with two squares and an extra person. We had an outstanding time dancing with friends.

We got home at 9:00. Larry read an article saying our Fire TV was adding coverage of the Olympics so we checked it out. The article said it was free but so far only a half hour of NBC coverage was free. After that the app said you could only continue watching if you were a cable subscriber, we don't have cable. Unless they add something else we'll have to watch the Olympics through the local NBC station. 

After Larry went to bed I started a new series called Silent Witness on Acorn. I watched two episodes of the first season. Its a series about a forensic pathologist and how she works with the police to solve cases. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group.      

Wednesday 7-21 Mowing and Dancing

 

Mowing the yards

We started the day out by going back to the Social Security office for my appointment for Medicare. When we arrived the security guard unlocked the door and checked me in. He said Larry couldn't go in because he wasn't on the list, when Larry made the appointment he told them that both of us would be there. He waited for me in the car. It didn't take long, the gentleman made a copy of my birth certificate, baptismal certificate and driver license. Now I have to wait to be notified to continue the process. I asked when the benefits would began. He didn't know but he made a note to start it on January. Seems that the Social Security office has a lot of people who "don't know".

We attended Dayle Hodge's Weekly A2 virtual dance at 11:00. Dayle called four tips of two couples with 22 participants and one four couples tip with 14. Dayle cued when necessary. We had a great time.

After Dayle's dance I mowed the yards. Larry told me that I had a flower in the planter so while I was mowing the backyard I took a picture of it. Not sure how it survived the deer. It took me a couple of hours to mow. Larry weedeated and I blew off the porch and driveway.

 

A beautiful flower growing

 

Larry edging and weedeating

 Half of the frontyard after it was mowed

 

While I was mowing Larry changed the oil in the car. He also replaced the engine air filter and the cabin air filter. After that he had to clean everything up.

 

Changing oil in the Equinox 

 

Changing the air filter

 

Taking the plug out to drain the oil

 

I did the Microsoft Solitaire Daily Challenges and Event: Klondike Mini of 5 games. It took me 9 minutes and 44 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group. I also did the Mahjong Daily Challenges.

In the evening we listened to our music on Amazon, while working on updating our photos. I did some laundry. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group. 

 

Doing laundry

 

 

  

Tuesday 7-20 Air Chairing on Lake Belton

 

We had a terrific day.

I'm going to be 65 in September, which makes me eligible for Medicare. Larry has started the process to sign me up. He called the Medicare folks and they explained that Medicare signup is administered via the Social Security folks. I am not currently drawing Social Security. A couple of weeks ago he started signing me up via the Social Security website, to complete the process of setting up an account they have to send you a code via the mail, no other way to get it other than wait for the mail. The code arrived so he went back to the website and completed the form to setup an account. Now they sent me an email saying I have to provide them with the original copy of my birth certificate, either via mail or by going to the local Social Security office. We are not really comfortable with sending that 65 year old piece of paper via the mail so we decided to drop by the local office, not so easy. First Larry called and the automated voicemail system said no agents were available to help and hung up on him, so we drove to the office. The building is locked up tight, no cars in the employee parking lot and no lights on in the building. Sign on the door indicates they are open from 9-4, it is 9:30 and obviously no one is there. Around the corner we find a sign saying you must have an appointment. In the afternoon Larry calls back and this time after waiting about 15 minutes the phone system connects him to a Social Security person who seemed to have very little idea what to do. After a bit of prodding and 30 minutes of time Larry was able to get us an appointment tomorrow. Apparently they have to get a security guard and agent scheduled so we can be allowed in the building. 

We attended two virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Plus at 11:00. He was back home so he called from there. He called four two couples tips with 21 participants and one four couples tip with 15. We had a great time.

This week Diamond Masters Club didn't meet because the hall wasn't available so instead of live dancing we attended Don Moger's Weekly A2 at 6:00. He called five tips with 28 participants. During the fourth tip he added two more phantom couples. We had a fun time.

After Dayle's dance we decided to go to the lake. The clouds had rolled in so Larry checked the weather before we left for the lake. It didn't look threatening. The lake was a little rough so we got the Air Chair out and put it together. We both flew the chair. Afterwards we did a little floating. The clouds were getting darker so we decided to put the boat on the trailer and go home before it rained. We were at the lake about an hour and had a super time. 

 

Having fun flying down the lake

Larry crossing the wake while flying the chair

I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Two Game Tango of 10 games (5  Spider and 5 Tri Peaks). It took me 3 hours, 17 minutes and 3 seconds, which put me in 20th place in my group.

After Don's dance I finished watching the first season of Proof and started the second season. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group.