Thursday 3-30-23 Dancing, Jigsaw Puzzle & Playing Games

 

 

Dreary Day

We had an overcast day. It sprinkled all day and in the afternoon the rain came. It got up to 70 degrees.

I started the day out by playing the Daily Challenges in Solitaire and Mahjong. Then I did the event, which was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 16 minutes and 58 seconds to finish, which put me in 23rd place in my group. I played some Angry Birds.

We attended Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1 dance at 11:00 for an hour. Dayle called four two couple tips to 13 participants and one four couple tip to 12 participants. Larry and I had an outstanding time dancing to Dayle and with friends.

After lunch I finished assembling the popcorn jigsaw puzzle. It didn't took too long to assemble because it was a 500 piece puzzle. It came out great and cute.

The finished puzzle

After doing the puzzle I played games on the pinball cabinet and arcade cabinet for a couple of hours. 

The games I played on the pinball cabinet were Harlem Globetrotters on Tour, James Bond 60th Anniversary, Cactus Canyon, Dolly and The Tales of the Arabian Nights. Harlem Globetrotters on Tour is the weekly challenge and I didn't get a new high score but had fun. The Tales of the Arabian Nights I got all seven jewels but didn't rescue the Princess.

 

The Tales of the Arabian Nights

 

Dolly Parton

The games I played on the arcade cabinet were three pinball games (Pirates of the Caribbean, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Fast Break, three slots (Monte Carlo, Casino Crazy and Lord of the Rings ) and one arcade (Popeye). This was the first time I played Fast Break on the arcade machine, it was a little different because you only have one screen and not three.

 

Fast Break

Casino Crazy

Lords of the Rings

While I played games Larry finished a second book and started a third.

In the evening we watched the last Marvel movie on the list of 30 movies. The movie was Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. It was a good movie. Afterwards I watched The Fox and The Hound on Disney. It was about young fox and a puppy special friendship. It was very cute. Then I watched an episode of Hinterland. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.  

 

Wednesday 3-29-23 Dance Day

 

Dreary Day

A front came in last night around 11:00 pm and at 6: am it was still raining. The rain went away but the clouds stayed around. It was cool all day.

Larry spent the day reading. I danced most of the day.

In between the dances I played games. Before going to bed I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. Before the first dance I played the event, which was Event: Spider Mini of 5 games. It took me 11 minutes and 24 seconds, which put me in 15th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds. 

Playing Angry Birds

I played the weekly challenge Harlem Globetrotter on Tour. I still didn't get a new high score.

First dance was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 10:00 am for an hour. Di and Terry took turns calling five tips to 12 participants. They did an excellent job of calling and kept us dancing. Di called a few complex four couple moves. When she did this she would cue us through it. They dance with us so it makes it easier to see where we should be. I had a great time dancing with friends.

Second was Dayle Hodge's Weekly A1/A2 at 11:00 for an hour. Dayle called five tips, which were two two couple tips of A1, two two couple tips of A2 and one four couple tip to 8 participants. He put us in challenging positions and called very steady. If we had problems he waited before calling the next move. He waited for us to figure the move out if we couldn't he told us the formation and where we should be. Larry danced with me and we had a super time dancing to Dayle and with friends.

Third was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 at 1:00 for an hour and fifteen minutes. Ett called five tips to 20 participants. She doesn't do as much cueing as the other callers but she helps if you need it by calling the sequence again if requested. I did pretty good and had fun dancing with friends.

Fourth was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:30 for two hours. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped Dave call the A2 tips. The format was two C1 tips, five A2 tips and one C1. Dave called the three C1 tips to 7 participants. The second tip Dave introduced us to a couple of calls, which were Single Recycle and Single Recoil. It was fun learning the moves. During the A2 tips Greg Moore and Karin Rabe called two tips together, Dave called two tips and the fifth tip all three took turns calling to 10 participants. I had fun dancing with friends.

Square dancing with friends

After Ett's dance I worked on the jigsaw puzzle for a couple of hours. I want to get it done before going on our trip.

After Dave's dance we watched an episode of Poirot. Then I watched Pollyanna on Disney. It was a 1960 movie starring Hayley Mills as Pollyanna and Jane Wyman as her aunt. It was about an orphan girl who goes to live with her wealthy aunt and changes the people in the small town with her positive attitude. It was a good movie. Then I started the 2nd season of  Hinterland. I ended up doing 27,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.  

Tuesday 3-28-23 Minnie in the Shop & Dancing to Di & Terry

 

Smile and have fun

We had a great day. We had a lot of sunshine. It was cooler than yesterday because we had wind out of the north. The temperature got up to 65 degrees.

We started the day out by dropping the Minnie off at Ponders Auto & Fleet. The owner retired so he sold the company to Wisener's. When they took over they kept the mechanics from both companies. Initially they said they couldn't work on it until next week but after some conversation they decided they could get it in on Thursday. Larry told them he was going to leave the Minnie and hopefully they can work on earlier.

On the way home we stopped at Walmart.

At 10:00 am I attended Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2 dance for an hour. They took turns calling five tips to 15 participants. I had a super time dancing with friends.

Get a partner and dance

Larry started reading a book on his Kindle.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Klondike Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 15 minutes and 1 second to complete, which put me in 29th place in my group. Then I played some Angry Birds.

I played the weekly challenge Harlem Globetrotter on Tour. I didn't get a new high score but had fun.

I worked on the jigsaw puzzle after taking a couple of days off from it.

In the evening we watched Thor: Love & Thunder, which is the next Marvel movie. Afterwards we watched an episode of Poirot. Then I watched The Absent-Minded Professor. It was made in 1961. It starred Fred MacMurray as a college professor, who discovered anti-gravity. It was still cute after all these years. Then I watched an episode of Hinterland. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group. 

Monday 3-27-23 Dancing to Di & Minnie Preparation

 

Smile and be happy

We had another beautiful day of sunshine.

We started the day out by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 dance at 9:00 am for an hour. Di called five tips to 16 participants. Larry danced with me and we had a super time. 

We can't believe that we have been virtually dancing for a little over three years. We are still having fun dancing. We are grateful that Di and Terry are still calling three dances a week (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). Ett McAtee is calling three times a week (Wednesday C1, Friday A2 and Sunday C series). Dayle Hodge is calling twice a week (Wednesday and Thursday). Dave Eno, Karin Rabe and Greg Moore on Wednesday. The callers say they'll continue calling as long as there is a need. Thank you callers.

We continued getting the Minnie ready for our trip. I started loading up the dry food items and paper products. Larry started it up in the morning and it ran great but when he started it up in the afternoon it ran rough. Tomorrow we'll take it to a shop to get it worked on.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Pyramid and 5 Tri Peaks). It took me 49 minutes and 32 seconds, which put me in 20th place in my group. I played some Angry Birds.

Later in the afternoon I played games on the pinball cabinet and games on the arcade cabinet. On the pinball cabinet I played the weekly challenge Harlem Globetrotter on Tour and Junkyard. On the arcade cabinet I played three pinball games (Dolly, Elvis and Rolling Stones), one slot game Monty Python, one poker Reel Poker and an arcade game Roc N Rope. Roc N Rope is a cute game you have to climb a rock using a rope. Then you have to kill the cavemen and dinosaurs. I had a lot of fun playing games.

Elvis

Dolly

Rolling Stones

Monty Python

In the evening we watched the next Marvel movie, which was Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It was very dark but I liked it. After Larry went to bed I watched The Million Dollar Duck. It's a cute movie about a duck, that laid gold eggs. Afterwards I watched an episode of Hinterland. I ended up doing 27,500 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group. This is a good start for the week.

 

 

Sunday 3-26-23 Minnie Project, Ett McAtee, Games & Dancing

 

Spring Day

We had another gorgeous spring day. The birds were chirping and the sun was shining. It got up to 80 degrees.

I started the day out by playing games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Medium Mayhem Mini of 5 games. It took me 18 minutes and 44 seconds, which put me in 34th place in my group. It was a sad day for Solitaire. Then I played some Angry Birds. I did a few games of Sudoku. 

I started the new weekly challenge of pinball, which is Harlem Globetrotters on Tour. It is a 1979 Bally table. My high score for the day was 156,610. Then I played Iron Man on the pinball machine. Afterwards I moved over to the arcade machine. I played an arcade game called Tapper. It was where you had to fill mugs full of beer before the glass falls on the floor. It's hard but fun. I played a couple of fruit (slots) games, Bar-X 7even and Andy Capp. I liked the Andy Capp game because it paid out better.

Harlem Globetrotters high score

Bar-X 7even

Tapper

Larry spent the afternoon tuning up the Minnie. When it is starts after sitting or cooling down it has taken to idling rough for about 30 seconds, then it smooths out. This happened a year or so ago and after adding some fuel additive the problem disappeared. The last time we filled it Larry again put in some additive, we then drove it on a short camping trip where we only started it once. We planned to do more camping and figured we would see if the additive helped. Well, Texas weather had other ideas and we never got to go on another trip and we promptly forgot all about the idle issue until we started it yesterday at the storage center when it once again started up running rough. Larry certainly doesn't want to travel with it if it is not running perfectly. 

A year or so ago he was ordering some parts from Rock Auto (you can get factory replacement parts from them for much less than the local parts places) and knowing he would need to tuneup the Minnie in the future he ordered all the tuneup parts. It really isn't due for a tuneup but since he already had the parts and it was not running correctly he decided it was time. If he could not fix the problem we would have to take it to a repair shop. He replaced the eight spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor, PCV Valve and fuel filter, he had replaced the air filters last fall and they still looked like new so he didn't change them. While working on it he also checked every vacuum line he could find for leaks and re-tightened all the hoses going to the emission systems air pump. After returning from our trip last fall he did some major maintenance on the front of the engine that required removing of that pump along with lots of other things. After letting it sit for a couple of hours we took it for a ride, it started up and ran great. We won't know for sure if the problem is fixed until we start it in the morning but we are optimistic. 

Great news,,,, Larry started it at about 6:30 this morning (Monday) and it ran perfect. What a relief.

Tuning up the Minnie

I attended a special program on Zoom, which was put on by Joe Uebelacker called Callers in Cars Getting a Drink. He interviews a different caller every week at 4:00 eastern time. This week it was Ett McAtee. I logged on along with 33 other people. It was a very good interview and I learned a little bit about Ett and her square dancing and calling life. 

Joe Uebelacker

 

Ett McAtee

In the evening I attended Loren Smith's Weekly A2/C1 dance at 7:30 for an hour and a half. He called three A2 tips with 14 participants, two C1 Teach with 13 participants and one C1 with 13 participants. He worked on Interlock Diamonds. I had a great time dancing to Loren and with friends.

After the dance we watched an episode of Poirot. Then I watched The Ugly Dachshund on Disney. It was about a Great Dane that thought he was a Dachshund because he was raised with a husband and wife who loved Dachshunds. It was made in 1966 and was very cute. Then I watched an episode of Hinterland. I ended up doing 26,000 steps, which put me in 4th place for the week with 191,207 steps. 

 

 

 

Saturday 3-25-23 Errands, Mowing, Bike Ride & Minnie Projects

 

Busy doing this and that

We had a gorgeous day with a lot of sunshine. It got up to 80 degrees.

We kept busy doing this and that. First we went to town. I wrote the other day we did some spring cleaning. During the process we decided to give stuff to the local goodwill. We stopped at Ace Hardware to buy some small screws Larry needed for his arcade relay. Then we dropped off the stuff at Heart of Texas Goodwill. Finally we stopped at the storage center to pick up the Minnie and the motorcycle carrier, next week we're going to start our annual Spring Trip. 

By the time we got home it was almost lunchtime. After lunch we went outside to do projects.

I mowed the frontyard and backyard, which took me about two hours. I did the whole backyard. I edged the frontyard and weedeated it. Larry had to show me how to use the weedeater for the edging, its the first time I used the new weedeater for edging. It's nicer than the old one because it has a wheel that guides it along the edge. Its not too pretty but it's edged. It will look better once I get used to it.

Backyard mowed

While I mowed Larry did some maintenance on the Minnie. He changed the oil and replaced the oil filter. Then he cleaned the battery posts and filled the washer fluid. He also filled the water tank. After doing the maintenance he blew off the driveway.

 Minnie projects

 

Larry took the motorcycle out for a spin to make sure it's running right. It ran great.

Getting ready for a ride

I played my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 34 minutes and 29 seconds, which put me in 14th place in my group. Then I played some Angry Birds.

I played games on the arcade cabinet, three pinball games (Rocky & Bullwinkle, Pirates of the Caribbean and Spider-Man), two slots games (Adders & Ladders) and Blue Moon, two arcade games (Snow Bros. & Popeye) and two poker games (Poker King & Red Hot Poker). I'm still struggling on the arcade games. I played five pinball games in the pinball cabinet. They were Theater of Magic, Great Houdini, Junk Yard, Playboy and Scared Stiff. I didn't get a new high score in Scared Stiff. I'm having fun playing games.

Arcade machine on it's cabinet

Adders & Ladders

 

The Pirates of the Caribbean

Rocky and Bullwinkle

In the evening we watched Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was very good. Before Larry went to bed he downloaded and installed next weeks pinball challenge, Harlem Globetrotters on Tour (Bally 1979). The challenge starts tomorrow. After he went to bed I watched The Sword In The Stone on Disney. It was animated movie about Merlin, the wizard mission was to train an orphan boy to be the king. It was very cute. I started a series on Acorn called Hinterland. It's a detective series. I have watched this series before and I liked it. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group. 

 

Friday 3-24-23 Dancing to Ett & Having Fun

 

 

The day started out with a little drizzle, by the afternoon the sun came out. The temperature got up to 80 degrees.

I spent the morning playing games. Before going to bed I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. Then I moved onto the event, which was Event: Free Cell Adventure of 20 games. It took me 2 hours and 2 seconds, which put me in 13th place in my group. I played some Angry Birds. I didn't play much pinball but I did play Scared Stiff. I didn't get a new high score but had fun.

Larry spent part of the day educating himself on how to make changes to pinball tables. He was able to move a few items around in the Dolly table, one corrected a visual mistake by the developer and the others were to slightly modify the exit gates and flippers to make the game a bit easier to play. He is not a programmer but sometimes he can figure things out by studying the code.

After lunch we went to town to pick up our mail at The UPS Store. Then we went to Walmart to do our weekly grocery shopping and get oil for the RV.

Grocery shopping

When we got home I worked on the jigsaw puzzle.

In the evening I attended Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 dance at 6:30 for an hour. Ett called five tips to 15 participants. She worked on split counter rotate, split circulate and transfer the column from columns. I had a great time.

Afterwards we watched the next Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Of all the Marvel movies it would rank at the bottom. The script was poor, the acting was not the best, it didn't really tie into the series and it reminded you of the old Jackie Chan movies. For a Marvel movie it was disappointing. After Larry went to bed I watched Ever After on Disney. The movie was a Cinderella story about a girl who loved her father. He remarried and died so she became a servant. It was cute and good. Then I finished watching The Witness on Acorn. It was a four-part mini series about a mother, who wanted revenge on the death of her son. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group. 

Thursday 3-23 Dancing, Jigsaw Puzzle & New High Score

 

Smile and have fun

We had a windy day with clouds. It got up to 80 degrees.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. This morning I did the event, which was Event: Experts Only Mini of 5 games. It took me 38 minutes and 12 seconds, which put me in 12th place in my group. I played some Angry Birds.

Larry and I attended Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1 dance at 11:00 for an hour. Dayle had a small group of 10 participants. He called four tips of two couple and one tip of four couple. Dayle put us in positions we aren't use it being in. He called as if we had a full square. He kept us moving. We had a great time.

We love square dancing

Larry installed two new pinball games. He installed The Matrix on the pinball cabinet and installed Corvette on the arcade cabinet. After installing the new games Larry played them to make sure they work correctly.

I played six different games on the pinball cabinet: Star Wars, Star Trek, The Matrix, Attack From Mars, Playboy and Tales of the Arabian Nights. Then I moved over to the arcade cabinet. I played three arcade games (Ms Pac-Man, Naughty Boy and Operation Wolf), two slots (Mario Kart and Monti Carlo) and one pinball (Corvette). Naughty Boy and Operation Wolf I had problems playing them because I didn't know how to play them. I did the weekly challenge in pinball Scared Stiff and got a new high score, which was 4,205,590. I had a great time playing games.

The Matrix

 

Corvette

 

Ms Pac-Man

 

New high score

This afternoon I started a new jigsaw puzzle called Popcorn Tin puzzle, it has 500 pieces. I didn't want to started a large puzzle because we're going to go on our Spring Trip pretty soon.

In the evening we watched the next Marvel movie, which was Eternals. It was the first time we watched it. I liked it. It was about Eternals, an immortal race who lived on the earth. It starred Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie and more. Afterwards I watched Hello Dolly on Disney. It starred Walter Matthau and Barbara Streisand. It was a 1969 musical about a matchmaker. It was good. I watched an episode of The Victim on Acorn. I ended up doing 27,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.     

Wednesday 3-22-23 Dancing, Games & Puzzles

 

Have a great day

The day started with a little drizzle by afternoon it was gone. The temperature got up to 78 degrees.

I started the day by doing my weekly housework. I cleaned the bathrooms, dusted and vacuumed the house.

 Doing chores

We are so excited. Our friend Sherry came to the house this morning to look at my puzzles. It was great to see her. We hadn't seen her since COVID started. She decided to take all the puzzles. We were surprised and pleased. She loves doing jigsaw puzzles. Below are most of the puzzles she took, there were a total of 27. 

Most of these were 2000 piece puzzles, lots of people don't have room or the time to work on such a big puzzle. I still have 10 that I have not assembled. For the last few years Larry has been using the dining room table for his hobbies, between that, virtual dancing and all the games that I now participate with I don't find many opportunities to assemble puzzles.

 

I attended two virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly A1/A2 at 11:00 for an hour. He had a small group today, which 5 participants. We were all A2 dancers so he called A2 moves the whole dance. He called four two couple tips and one four couple tip. He worked on Single Wheel from different positions because some of us were having problems with the move. Larry danced with me and we had a super time.

Second was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:30 for two hours. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped Dave call the A2 tips. The format was two C1 tips to 7 participants, five A2 tips to 8 participants and one C1 tip to 7 participants. I had a fun time.

 

I spent the afternoon playing games. I did the Daily Challenge of Solitaire and Mahjong before going to bed last night. The event today was Event: Solitaire World Tour of 30 games. It took me 3 hours, 53 minutes and 27 seconds, which put me in 6th place in my group. Then I played some Angry Birds. I played the weekly pinball challenge of Scared Stiff. I didn't get a new high score but I had fun.   

After Dave's dance we watched an episode of Poirot. Then I watched That Darn Cat! on Disney. It was about a cat, that was mischievous. He got caught up with a kidnapping. It was a cute movie. Afterwards I started watching The Victim on Britbox. It was a crime series about a grieving mother, who was accused of conspiring against the man she believes killed her son. I ended up doing 28,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.

 

Tuesday 3-21-23 Dancing & Playing Pinball

 

Wet Day

It was a wet damp day with the high of 67 degrees. It seemed colder than yesterday because of the rain.

I started the day out by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2 dance at 11:00 for an hour. Di and Terry took turns calling five tips to 12 participants. It is nice that they dance while they call. They did a lot of left handed moves, which made it very challenging. They also cued the moves when necessary. They gave us a great workout. I had a great time.

Larry spent the day working on the arcade cabinet.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Hard Road Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 48 minutes and 27 seconds, which put me in 21st place in my group. I played Angry Birds.

I finished cleaning the second bedroom and boxing the puzzles. Larry took pictures of the puzzles. I have 26 puzzles that I would like to donate to someone. Larry sent a message to our friends Sherry and Tea to see if they would be interest in any of the puzzles. Sherry responded saying she would love to have a few more puzzles, she will stop by tomorrow morning.

I spent the afternoon catching up on playing pinball that I missed yesterday. I played Tales of the Arabian Nights, Attack From Mars, Cactus Canyon, Shrek, Star Wars, Playboy, Star Trek and Scared Stiff (Elvira). While playing Scared Stiff I got a new high score of 3,639,290 for the weekly challenge. I'm having a lot of fun playing pinball. I enjoy the weekly pinball challenge even if I don't get a new high score.

Cactus Canyon

 

Shrek

 

 Star Trek

 

Star Wars

New high score

In the evening we watched Spider-Man Far From Home. Then I watched My Dog, The Thief, on Disney. It was made in 1969 and was about a St.Bernard name Barabbas. He adopted a helicopter air-traffic reporter as his master and Barabbas sold a million dollar necklace from a team of thieves. It was very cute. Then I finished watching Suspect on Britbox. It was about a detective investigating his daughter's death. It had a lot of twist and turns. I've watched better series. I ended up doing 28,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.