Thursday 6-29-23 Dancing, Puzzle, Games & Project

 

We had a relaxing day.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Spider and 10 Klondike). It took me 2 hours, 11 minutes and 3 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends. 

Larry continued working on installing the plunger on the pinball cabinet. The installation and configuration is taking awhile. Larry wanted to mount the plunger where the launch button was. The plunger required a large strange shaped hole. To cut the hole he had to remove the board from the machine which meant removing all the buttons and wiring. He used his mill to add the hole, then since he wants to keep the launch button he had to drill a new hole for it. Once everything was reinstalled and wired the plunger didn't work correctly. He watched a YouTube video and found out he had wired it wrong. He fixed the wiring and it still did not work correctly. He experimented and found that most games worked fine with the plunger but a few did not. Some actually were never designed to use a plunger and only work with a button. Once he is done with everything he may need to tweak a few of the game programs. 

I played a couple of games using the plunger. The plunger is very smooth and it makes hitting skill shots so much easier. Skill shots are made by launching the ball with a specific force or timing so the ball goes where you want.

 He is not yet done, he needs to clean up and label the wiring and when he folds the playfield down the plunger hits the bottom of the cabinet. To correct this he is going to modify the cabinet 

Plunger Installed

We attended Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1 dance at 11:00 for an hour. He called four two couple tips and one four couple tip to 13 participants. He is a great caller and sometimes he calls a move and we break down. When this happened he walked us through the move. He site calls so this can be difficult for him because he doesn't write the sequences down. Larry danced with me and we helped each other out when necessary. We had a super time dancing to Dayle and with friends.

I worked on my jigsaw puzzle most of the day. I played a few games on the arcade cabinet. They were Pac Mania, Super Pac Man, Dig Dug and Rolling Thunder. 

In the evening we started watching a series on Freevee called The Librarians. It's a cute series about a group of people, who protect the world. Then I watched Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Afterwards I watched two episodes of The X-Files. I ended up doing 16,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.    

Wednesday 6-28-23 Busy Dance Day & Pinball Machine Projects

 

Hot Summer Day

We had a great day with the high of 101 degrees. 

I attended four virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly A1/A2 at 11:00 for an hour. He called two tips of two couple A1, two tips of two couple A2 and one tip of four couple A2 to 11 participants. Dayle put us in positions that we weren't use to but he helped by cueing. Larry danced with me and we had a great time.

Second was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 at 1:00 for an hour. She called four tips to 18 participants. She did a great job. I had to leave during the fourth tip because I had another dance. I warned her and said good-bye to everyone when I left. I had a super time dancing to Ett and with friends.

Third was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2 for an hour. Dave Eno called four tips for them. He had a super small group he had three dancers. It's probably because it was later then usual. Di and Terry dance is usually at 10:00. The dancers who usually show up are from UK and they dance in the evening at their clubs. This dance was at 8:00 pm UK time. Peter was the only one from the UK. I had a fun time.

Fourth was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:30 for two hours. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped Dave call the dance. Dave called one tip of C1 and Karin and Greg called the other tip to 10 participants. Dave called two A2 tips, Karin and Greg called two A2 tips and the fifth tip all the callers took turns calling to 11 participants. The last C1 tip Dave called to 10 participants. In between the A2 tips we did a little trivia. Don Moger showed up because he didn't have a dance to call in person. It is always a pleasure to see him. I had a good time dancing with friends.

While I danced Larry did a couple of pinball machine projects. First was updating the scoring screen. I wrote the other day, that he upgraded the cabinet by installing a larger scoring screen. It works great but because of the viewing angle sometimes the color in the screen was very dark. He decided he would modify the mounting plate to change the angle of the screen. He took it apart, cut the hole in the mounting plate a bit larger and made an angle box from black foam board, he then did a bit of paint touch up, he assembled and attached the angle piece with hot glue. It came out outstanding and now when you are standing and playing the screen colors look perfect. Good job, Larry👍👍.

Larry also wanted to update the pinball machine with a plunger. Currently we launch the ball with a button, the majority of real machines use a plunger, not all, some use a button. A couple of weeks ago he ordered the parts, the actual plunger came from a company in the US but he ordered the electronic pieces from a company he has previously used in France. The pieces from France arrived today.  

This is a bit bigger job. He had to disassemble a major part of the machine. The plunger requires a large strangely shaped mounting hole in the front of the machine and he also has to do a major modification to the playfield monitor mounting board. Tonight while I danced he took everything apart. Tomorrow he will begin the modifications.

The pinball machine torn apart

When I wasn't dancing I played games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 51 minutes and 17 seconds, which put me in 26th place in my group. I played some Angry Birds.

Since Larry was working on the pinball cabinet I played a couple games of pinball on the arcade cabinet. I played Cactus Canyon and Iron Man. While playing Cactus Canyon I got the Grand Champion high score, which was 17,497,810.

Iron Man

 

Cactus Canyon

After my last dance we started to watch On Any Sunday: Motocross, Malcolm & More on Tubi. It was suppose to be only an hour but it was the whole movie. Larry got tired after an hour of it so he went to bed. We'll finish it tomorrow. I watched the first movie of Jack Reacher. Then I watched an episode of The X-Files. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.

Tuesday 6-27-23 Dancing with Ett & Games

 

It's hot

Here in Belton, which is in Central Texas we're having a heat wave. Everyday we get a message on our Alexa devices to be careful because there is a heat advisory in effect. It got up to 101 degrees I'm ready to have relief from the heat.

During the month of June we had 10 days of 100+ degrees officially. This is very unusual. I'm glad we have air condition. Larry follows people on pinball forums who are in Europe and they're having higher temperature than normal. They don't have central air. Some of his parts for the pinball machine come out of Europe and the people who built them say it's too hot to make the parts. I'm so glad for my air conditioner. 

A few weeks ago people from our local neighborhood wrote they hadn't seen any hummingbirds coming to their feeders. We noticed the same thing so I brought the feeders in because I thought they were gone for the summer. A week or so later Larry saw a hummingbird looking for the feeders. I already had the nectar made up so I filled the feeders and once again we have hummingbirds drinking from them. I will continue feeding them until they stop coming.

Hummingbirds return

I started the day out by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2 dance. Ett McAtee called it for them. Di and Terry logged in to say hi and good-bye because they were at the airport waiting to fly out to the United States. Ett called four tips to 9 participants. We only had one couple to pin and they were struggling. I did very well. When we dance with Di and Terry they dance with us and call. This helps the dancers because we know where we should be. You don't realize how much you rely on Di and Terry until they're not there. Ett did a super job. I had a great time dancing with friends.

    Having fun dancing with friends

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Medium Mayhem Mini of 5 games. It  took me 19 minutes and 13 seconds, which put me in 35th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

After lunch I took an hour nap and Larry read. When I woke up I setup the card table and brought my jigsaw puzzle out. I started assembling more of it. This part of the assembly will be slow because it's all the same color. Yesterday, I brought out a lamp to help me see show the pieces fit together.

We played some pinball. Larry had a bad start in playing but by the end he ended up having an outstanding day playing. I played the weekly challenge of Who Dunnit and got a new high score of 1,001,284,120. I also played 8 other games: Junk Yard, Mustang, Theatre of Magic, The Matrix, Star Trek, Batman, Playboy and Strip Poker. 

Playing pinball

New high score

 

Star Trek

Mustang

 

Junk Yard

In the evening we watched a movie on Freevee called Joy. It was about Joy, who becomes the founder and matriarch of her family business. It was a cute movie starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper. Then I watched the third Star Trek movie called Star Trek Beyond. Afterwards I watched a couple of episodes of The X-Files. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.

Monday 6-26-23 Di Weekly C1 Dance & Games

 

Wonderful Day

We had a wonderful day. It got up to 103 degrees and had a lot of wind.

We started the day off by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 dance a t 9:00 for an hour and a half. Di did an outstanding job of calling five tips to 22 participants. She cued when necessary. Larry danced with me and we had a super time. 

This was the last dance Di and Terry are calling for a couple of weeks because they're going on holiday to California. Ett McAtee is covering their A2 dance tomorrow and Dave Eno is covering the rest of their dances.

Dancing with friends

Larry finished upgrading the scoring monitor on the pinball machine and it looks great. We played some pinball games and the larger screen is super. We have no problem seeing our scores and other videos look great on it. I played Who Dunnit and got a new high score of 505,229,220. Then I played three other games: Willy Wonka, Great Houdini and Godzilla.

New high score

 

Willy Wonka

 

Great Houdini

 

Godzilla

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Easy Street of 30 games. It took me 1 hour, 46 minutes and 35 seconds, which put me in 32nd place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

I spent most of the day assembling the jigsaw puzzle (York 1500). 

Larry started a new book.

In the evening we watched the second episode of Endeavour. Then we watched an episode of Poirot. After Larry went to bed I watched the second Star Trek movie, Star Trek Into the Darkness. Then I watched a couple of episodes of The X-Files. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.  

Sunday 6-25-23 No Dances Just Having Fun

 

Just having fun

We had another hot day. We spent most of the day indoors keeping cool.

Larry started the day working on the new scoring monitor upgrade panel. The current monitor is 7 Inches and the new one is almost 11. Yesterday he built the panel and cut the holes for the monitor and speakers. Today he built and installed mounting blocks on the back. It was still really windy but on the north side of the house most of the wind was blocked allowing him to paint it, it came out great. Tomorrow he'll install the panel in the machine once it's dried.

Current panel with monitor and speakers

 

The new panel

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 5 games. It took me 9 minutes and 16 seconds, which put me in 13th place in my group. Then I moved over to Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends. 

Angry Birds characters are Chuck (yellow bird), Blues (three blue birds), Matilda (chicken bird), Bomb (black bomb bird), Red (small red bird), Hal (green and white bird with orange beak), Bubbles (pink bird) and Terence (the big red bird). Everyday I do a couple of challenges, where the object is to kill as many pigs as possible to get a score. 

Angry Birds

After Larry did his project he played some pinball games. He is working to knock me out of Grand Champion on Great Houdini. I don't think that will happen, my Grand Champion score is really high. He is in first and second place but those scores are a long way from my Grand Champion😁. 

Then he finished a book he started a couple of days ago. He liked it so much he recommended it to me.

Reading id fun and relaxing

While Larry read I worked on my jigsaw puzzle. I'm working hard to complete it. Once in awhile I took a break and played games. Today I played the weekly challenge of Who Dunnit and got a high score to start the week of 403,248,900. Then I played the Great Houdini.

High Score

In the evening we watched a movie called Elsa + Fred. It was about two elderly people, who meet and fall in love. It starred Christopher Plummer and Shirley MacLaine. It was a very good movie. We watched an episode of Poirot. Then I watched Star Trek and a couple of episodes of The X-Files. I ended up doing 16,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group in the 100K challenge. I ended up doing 118,302 steps.

Relaxing in front of the television

 

Saturday 6-24-23 Darren's Dance & Games

 

Smile and be happy

It's hot!!! We kept cool indoors under the air conditioner, well, I should say I kept cool. Larry did a bit of work in the driveway, it was hot but there was a really strong wind which helped a bit.

I have talked about joining a weekly pinball league. The participants are all over the world. The competitions run for 13 weeks. Participants are put in different divisions based on how they score. Each week you earn points based on where you place. I don't really know how the leagues work but its ok. I always come in toward the bottom of my division. Two weeks ago the thirteen weeks ended and I came in first place in my division. 

I nor Larry have any idea how this works. Larry e-mailed Ian who started and runs this league asking how the challenge actually works. He didn't answer the question but he congratulated me on coming in first place with a thumbs up. I guess it really doesn't matter. I enjoy participating and we get to try out new games each week so I'll keep playing. 

The first game for this thirteen weeks is The Addams Family. The challenge ends tomorrow I'm in 30 place out of 40 participants. The new game is Who Dunnit 1947 (Bally 2021).

Today Larry and I played some pinball. I played The Addams Family, Total Nuclear Annihilation, Red & Ted's Road Show and Tales of the Arabian Nights. While playing Total Nuclear Annihilation I got a top score, which put me in high score #2. When I played Red & Ted's Road Show I got the high score #1. Larry installed the new weekly challenge Who Dunnit and we played it a bit.

 Red & Ted's Road Show

Total Nuclear Annihilation

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Pyramid Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 16 minutes and 20 seconds, which put me in 16th place in my group. Then I moved over to playing Angry Birds.

I attended Darren Gallina Mainstream/Plus dance at 1:00 for an hour. Darren called one tip of Mainstream with 11 participants and two tips of Plus with 13 participants. I had a great time.

Larry spent much of the day working on his update for the larger scoring monitor on the pinball machine. Had to get out his saws to build a new piece that will be used for the monitor and speakers. He is not finished, more work will be done tomorrow.

In the evening we watched the movie Ithaca on Amazon. It had a lot of big stars but wasn't very good. I have no idea what the point of the movie was. Afterwards we watched an episode of Poirot. After Larry went to bed I watched an episode of Father Brown and three episodes of The X-Files. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.

 

 

 

Friday 6-23-23 Dancing, Games & More

Smile and have fun

It's Friday. We had another hot day of 100 degrees.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Experts Only Mini of five games. It took me 1 hour, 39 minutes and 22 seconds, which put me in 20th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

Larry had a busy day packaging items to be shipped. He sold our hard shell bindings for our water skies, a propeller for our old boat and a remote control. After getting them ready we went to town to mail them at the UPS Store and post office. While at the UPS Store we picked up a package that was waiting for us. 

The package was the part for a laptop monitor that Larry ordered from China.

Larry read a book and played pinball. I worked on my puzzle and played pinball. I played The Addams Family and got a new high score, which was 78,387,840. The other games I played were Great Houdini, Theatre of Magic, Scared Stiff and Total Nuclear Annihilation.

 

 

The Addams Family new high score

 

Scared Stiff

 

Theatre of Magic

Total Nuclear Annihilation

I assembled more of the York jigsaw puzzle.

York puzzle

In the evening I attended Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 dance at 6:30 for an hour. She called five tips to 13 participants. Today she concentrated on Linear Cycle. I had a great time dancing with friends.

While I danced Larry worked hooked up the part he received from China to the old laptop monitor. It works great.

After the dance we watched a movie on Freevee called Drag Becomes Him. It was a documentary about Jinx Monsoon, a drag performer. It was a good movie. Probably not for everyone since there seems to be a push across the country to outlaw drag performances. I know Texas just passed a law targeting it. The Texas law is aimed at stopping minors from being able to see such things.  

Not sure why it is such a big deal. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemon performed in drag in Some Like it Hot all the way back in 1959. There have been plenty of famous stars dress and perform in drag on TV and the movies. At some point they will probably get around to try banning these movies and shows. 

After Larry went to bed I started watching the 10th season of Father Brown. Then I watched a couple episodes of The X-Files. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.

 

  

 

Thursday 6-22-23 Dancing, Games & More

 

Summertime with friends

We had a very good day. The high today was only 93 degrees. Early afternoon we had a lite sprinkle just enough to wet the driveway.

Still blooming in 100 degrees temperature

We started the day out by attending Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1 dance at 11:00 for an hour. Dayle called four two couple tips and one four couple tip to 13 participants. Dayle did a super job of calling and cueing when necessary. Larry helped me out now and then when I got confused. We had a great time dancing with friends.

Yesterday, I wrote that Larry was getting items ready to sell on e-bay. We have had items just hanging around the house, we don't use anymore and they still work. Since we sold the boat we didn't need items for the boat. He already sold a few things.

After Dayle's dance we went to town. First stop was the post office to mail at one of the items he sold on e-bay. Then we stopped at the UPS Store to pick-up a coupled of packages and our mail. 

One of the packages was a Home Depot Seeds Program product that Larry requested before we went on our trip. It was a Milwaukee M18 Fuel, which is a grinder. It was only the tool and didn't come with a battery. The other one was a part for our outside hose bib.

Milwaukee M18 Fuel

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Easy Street Mini of 5 games. It took me 8 minutes and 09 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends.

Larry read and played some pinball. I played the weekly challenge The Addams Family and three other games (Medieval Madness, Tales of the Arabian Nights and Red & Ted's Road Show). We are still having fun playing games on the pinball machine.  

Red & Ted's Road Show

 

Medieval Madness

In the evening Jason came over to tell us what's happening with his new house. While he was here Larry showed him our pinball machine and explained how he built it. 

We finished watching the first season of Ridley on PBS. Then I finished watching the third season of McDonald & Dobbs. I watched an episode of The X-Files. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in second place in my group.

 

  

Wednesday 6-21-23 Happy Summer, Dancing & Games

 

First Day of Summer

Today was the first day of summer. The high was 96 degrees. We kept cool under the air conditioner.

I attended four virtual square dances. First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 10:00 am for an hour. Di did a fantastic job of called and cued the dance to 9 participants. She called five tips but I only danced four because of Dayle Hodge's dance. I had a great time dancing with friends.

Second was Dayle Hodge's Weekly A1/A2 at 11:00 am for an hour. Dayle was back from Germany. He had a super time but was glad to be back. He did an excellent job of calling two tips of two couple A1, two tips of two couple A2 and one tip of for couple A2 to 9 participants. Larry danced with me and helped me get in the place multiple times. We had a super time dancing to Dayle and with friends.

Third was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 at 1:00 pm for an hour and fifteen minutes. She called five tips to 17 participants. She did a great job of calling and walking us through sequences we had problem with. I had fun dancing with friends.

Fourth was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:30 pm for two hours. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped call the dance. This week Dave Hutchinson helped call because his club wasn't dancing because of National Square Dancing Convention. Karin and Greg called the first C1 tip and Dave Eno and Dave Hutchinson called the other C1 tip and had 11 participants. Karin and Greg called two of the five tips of A2, Dave Eno called one, Dave Eno and Dave Hutchinson called a tip together and the last A2 tip was called by all four callers to 14 participants. The last C1 tip Dave Eno and Dave Hutchinson called the last C1 together to 10 participants. I had a great evening of dancing with friends.

Get a partner and dace

While I danced Larry got items ready to put on e-bay. I played two games on the pinball machine, they were Aerosmith and The Addams Family. On the arcade machine I played three pinball games (Corvette, Elvis and Monster Bash) and two fruit/slot games (Band of Gold and Bar X 7even). 

Aerosmith

Bands of Gold

Bar X 7even

Corvette

Elvis

 

Monster Bash

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Free Cell and 5 Tri Peaks). It took me 2 hours, 39 minutes and 47 seconds, which put me in 18th place in my group. I did some Sudoku games. I played Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends.

After the last dance we watched an episode of Poirot. As I was checking shows to watch on our watch list I found I hadn't finished finished watching the second season of McDonald & Dobbs so I watched the last episode and started the third season. I watched an episode of The X-Files. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.