Wednesday 1-21-26 Virtual Dancing Day, Workout & More

 

Having fun with friends

 

We had a super day.

It was overcast all day. It sprinkled in the morning and early afternoon. It was warmer than yesterday. The morning temperature was 54 degrees and the high was 71 degrees.

I attended three virtual square dances. First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 10:00 for an hour. Di called five tips to 8 participants. She continued working on the A1 moves, that were moved to Plus. The moves were Quarter Thru (right and left), Partner Tag, Clover & and Triple Trade. I was glad she worked on the Triple Trade in different positions because some of the positions we don't normally dance to. One that comes to mind is when we're in a quarter tag formation. The two couples outside trade and the two dancers in the center of the wave trade. I had a super time dancing to Di calling and dancing with friends. 

Second was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 at 1:00 for and hour. Ett called four tips to 17 participants. I had a fun hour dancing to Ett and with friends.

Third was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:00 for an hour and a half. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped Dave call the dance. The formation was three tips of C1 to 7 participants, three tips of A2 to 9 participants and two trivia question in between the A2 tips. We have a small group dancing on Wednesday nights but it's a lot of fun. Dave, Karin and Greg do a great job of calling to us. I always have a great evening with friends.

 

Get a partner and dance

 

I did my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Klondike and 10 Pyramid). It took me 1 hour, 30 minutes and 45 seconds, which put me in 10th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2. 

I played four games of pinball on the big cabinet, which were Attack From Mars, Jaws, Mustang and X-Men. I had to play Jaws three times before I was satisfied with the score I got. I did get a new high score in X-Men but I did very well. I didn't get on the board playing the other three games but had fun.

 

Attack From Mars

 

X-Men

 

Jaws

 

Mustang

 

I played four pinball games on the mini cabinet, which were Batman Forever, Cirqus Voltaire, Guardians of the Galaxy and JP Space Cadet. While playing Batman Forever I became high score #5. I had fun.

 

Batman Forever

 

Cirqus Voltaire

 

Guardians of the Galaxy

 

JP Space Cadet

 

A few years ago Larry installed Linux on one of his computers, it is an alternative to Windows. He spent quite a few weeks playing with a couple of different versions. In the end he did not feel it was a good alternative for Windows, it was too difficult to get working and to maintain. Today he thought he would look at it again. He installed Linux Mint on the old Dell computer. It went on much easier than past versions of Linux and much easier than Windows. In he past you had to do lots of command line configurations and there was no way to remember all of them but so far this new version works well with the graphical interface. He has run into a couple of issues but nothing terrible. It probably still won't replace Windows but he want to see how close it will come. 

In between doing this and that I worked on the Cambridge jigsaw puzzle by Charles Wysocki.  

I worked out with Synth Riders for a half hour with three songs twice, which were Paris Night Walk, Spectrum and Stardust. While workout with Stardust I got two new high scores, Spectrum I got two outstanding scores and Paris Night Walk I got one new high score and two outstanding scores. I had a good workout with Synth Riders.

 

Paris Night Walk

 

Spectrum

 

Stardust

After Dave's dance we finished watching the sixth season of All Creatures Great & Small on PBS. Then I watched Iron Man 2 from our the super hero movies collection. I ended up doing 1,500 steps. 

 

      

Tuesday 1-20-26 Liberty Hill Dance & Games

 

Just having fun

 

We had a terrific Tuesday. 

It looked and felt like a winter day. The morning temperature was 33 degrees and didn't get out of the 50s. The high temperature was 54 degrees. It was overcast most of the day.

We spent the afternoon in Liberty Hill dancing A2 to John Kephart. Because of Christmas and camping we hadn't been to the Ski's house since 12/9/25. We didn't meet up with Henry and Susan this week at noon because Susan had a sick cat. She had to baby sit it after having an operation. We didn't have to be at the dance until 1:00 so we left the house at 11:20 to be there on time. In fact we were about 20 minutes early and had time to visit with Kay, Bob, John Kephart, John Carlson and Sharon Carlson. We had just enough people for two squares. An hour into the dance another dancer showed up so we had an extra dancer. John Kephart worked on all four couples and all eight moves and other moves people had problems with. Everyone was happy to see Larry and me. We had a fun time dancing with friends and in person.

 

We love square dancing

 

Before the dance I played games. Before going to bed last night I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 42 minutes, which put me in 21st place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

When we got home I made dinner. 

After dinner I played pinball while Larry watched his YouTube videos. 

I played four pinball games on the mini cabinet, which were Cirqus Voltaire, Jaws, Medieval Madness and Pirates of the Caribbean. I didn't get on the board but had fun. I played four pinball games on the big cabinet, which were Big Bang Bar, Big Buck Hunter Pro, Star Wars and X-Men. Once again I didn't get on the board but had fun playing.

 

Mini Cabinet 

 

Cirqus Voltaire

 

Jaws

 

Medieval Madness

 

Pirates of the Caribbean

 

Big Cabinet

 

Big Bang Bar

 

Big Buck Hunter Pro

 

Star Wars

 

X-Men

 After playing games and watching YouTube videos we finished watching the sixth season of All Creatures Great & Small on PBS. Last night I was going to watching the fourth super hero movie, which was The Incredible Hulk but I watched the sixth movie (Thor) by mistake. So after Larry went to bed I watched The Incredible Hulk. I ended up doing 3,000 steps.  

    

Monday 1-19-26 Dancing, Cold Front & More

 

Happy Monday to you

 

We had a super day. The weather was brisk with the low of 30 degrees and the high was 67 degrees. We had a lot of sunshine.

We started the day off by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 at 9:00 for an hour. Di called five tips to 17 participants. Larry danced four of the tips with me. I was very thankful that Di cued and she danced with Terry throughout the dance because she got me pointed in the right direction. I was thankful, that Larry danced with me because he was a lot of help. We had a great time dancing with our virtual friends from, France, Germany and the United States.

 

  

Get a partner and dance

 

Larry kept busy playing with the new pinball launcher. He figured out his problem and got it to work. The launcher we have now is a wheel with the games on it. You choose your game by rotating the wheel. Once you find the game you want you launch it by pressing a button. The new launcher works different. The games are on a list and you scroll down the list to find the game. Once you find the game you click on it and it launches. It looks great but Larry is thinking he will stick with the one he already uses. 

Later on one of the developer of the Time Lord game wrote Larry, he said he found and corrected a couple of errors in the code. He said he would appreciate it if Larry would install the new code and play the game as hard as he could to see if the changes worked. I played the game and didn't have any problems. Then Larry played it probably a dozen times and he could not get it to fail. He wrote the developer back and thanked him.

We're suppose to get really cold weather this weekend, currently they are saying it will get into the teens so Larry decided to take the Minnie back to storage because we weren't going to use it. 

Before putting it in storage we went to Ace Hardware to fill it up with propane. Next stop was HEB to pick up Larry's prescription. On the way home we stopped at 7-11 and filled it up with gas. When we got home the other day Larry drained the water out of the plumbing and the water heater but he had not drained the water tank. Since it is going to get so cold with possible snow/ice he went ahead drained the water tank. After it was drained we took the Minnie back to storage.

 

Minnie preparation

 

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Free Cell Adventure of 20 games. It took me 2 hours, 26 minutes and 12 seconds, which put me in 14th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I played three games on the mini cabinet, which were James Bond 60th Anniversary, Dr. No and Goldeneye. While playing Dr. No I became high score #4. Then I played four games on the big cabinet, which were Big Bang Bar, Space Lord, Willow and X-Men. I played the new Space Lord, that Larry installed yesterday to see if it worked. While playing it I became high score #1. While playing X-Men I got a new high score of 16,111,030, which put me in 35th place out of 50 participants in the weekly challenge so far.

 

60th Anniversary (mini cabinet)

 

Dr. No (mini cabinet)

 

Goldeneye (mini cabinet)
    

 

Big Bang Bar

 

Time Lord

 

Willow

 

X-Men

I continued working on the Cambridge jigsaw puzzle by Charles Wysocki. 

In the evening we continued watching the sixth season of All Creatures Great & Small on PBS. Then I watched Thor from our super hero movies collection. I ended up doing 4,000 steps.

 

   

 

Sunday 1-18-26 Puzzle, New Weekly Challengs & Bounce Arcade

 

Smile and have fun

 

We had a gorgeous day with a lot of sunshine. It didn't get as cold as the weatherman predicted but it was close. The morning temperature was 24 degrees and the high was 63 degrees. We had a little wind. The temperature was very comfortable.

I played my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Hard Road Mini of 5 games. It took me 29 minutes and 14 seconds, which put me in 12th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2. 

For years we have been refilling our plastic water bottles. Larry decided to try replacing the plastic bottles with stainless steel insulated bottles. On Amazon he found 12 ounce insulated water bottles that came in a lot of different colors. They also came with a strap. He ordered three of them to try out. They arrived yesterday. Larry took off the straps because we probably won't use them. We washed them and put water in them. Today Larry has been drinking from them and likes them. The water gets cold and the bottle maintains the cold. They are a bit more difficult to hold then the plastic bottles, he is concerned they might be easy to drop. We always put the plastic bottles in a koozie so he is trying that with the new bottles. They fit perfectly in our little ice chest.

 

Water bottles

I spent most of the day working on the Cambridge jigsaw puzzle by Charles Wysocki. 

I played one game of Asteroid Outpost on Bounce Arcade. I earned a gold trophy, played two multiballs, mined ten times and was successful twice. I started two modules. I played it for half an hour and had fun. Below is what the playfield looks like and my game score.

 

The playfield

 

Asteroid Outpost

Today is the beginning of a new week so I got a new weekly challenge in pinball. The new game is X-Men Wolverine. Larry downloaded the pinball game and installed it on the big cabinet. Once he had it installed he played the game to make sure it worked correctly. He installed it in both 2D and VR. 

Larry spent a good part of the day on pinball stuff. A new updated version of Time Lord was released today (a game we really like). Larry installed it and while playing it he ran into a problem twice, he wrote the developers to let them know. One of them wrote back thanking him for the input and asking for a bit more information. The problem isn't severe and doesn't always happen so you can still play the game. He also played a game of Pirates Life on on the mini cabinet. He's having a great time updating the pinball games and VR.

He also installed a new pinball game launcher on the Dell test machine. He has it working but there is some setting he can't figure out. He wrote the developer to see if he could help.

All of the virtual pinball software stuff is developed by individuals or small teams of people working together. Everything is free. Most of these folks and other people in the community are thrilled to help. Larry follows a number of online resource boards and whenever someone needs help and he thinks he has something to offer he is quick to offer suggestions. He does this not only on virtual pinball but also other areas like digital jukeboxes, yesterday he helped someone with a Alexa problem. 

Before playing the new challenge I played last week's challenge of Indiana Jones. I didn't get a new high score but had fun trying. My final high score was 427,392,590, which put me in 55th place out of 127 participants.  My first high score was 11,705,590, which put me in 8th place out of 14 participants so far.

 

Indiana Jones

 

X-Men Wolverine

I played three pinball games on the mini cabinet, which were No Good Goffers!, Pirates Life and Transformers. While playing No Good Goffers! I became high score #2 and Transformers I became Grand Champion. I had a Good day of playing pinball on the mini cabinet. Larry's still high score #1, #2 and #4 in Pirates Life. Good job, Larry!

I played another four games on the big cabinet besides the weekly challenges. They were Dracula, Mission Impossible, The Addams Family and Time Lord (in both 3 balls and 5 balls). I didn't get on the board in any of the games but I had a great time.

 

Dracula

 

Mission Impossible

 

The Addams Family

 

Time Lord (five balls)

 

Time Lord (three balls)

 

In the evening we started watching season 6 of All Creatures Great & Small on PBS. Then I watched Iron Man from our super hero collection of movies. I ended up doing 4,000 steps, which included a fifteen minutes workout with a Jazz routine. 

   

 

     

Saturday 1-17-26 Just Another Day!

 

Just Another Day

 

It was just another day. But we still had a lovely day. 

It was windy with the morning temperature of 31 degrees and the high of 51 degrees. The wind was out of the north so it was cold. The wind was so strong it blew our birdhouse all day.

Larry took the birdhouse down to clean it out. He tries to do this once a year. This year we saw wasps going in and out of the birdhouse so Larry thought he was going to see a big wasp nest. He was surprised it was very small. Once he cleaned the bird house he hung it on it's hook outside on the back porch.

 

Birdhouse
 

I have been charging my new cordless vacuum batteries on the counter in the kitchen. Today Larry decided to put the charger in the pantry where the old charger was. He had to drill a bigger hole to fit the charging plug through. Then he installed the charging system. Now the charger is out of the way. When he was putting the pantry items back he organized my pantry a bit. It looks great. Thank you Larry. 

Larry is thinking about possibly trying a new hobby but he has no idea what. He did some reading on the internet but so far nothing is appealing to him. He has done many hobbies in the years. We raced radio control cars when we were in our 20's & 30's. We also learned to square dance in our 20's. We got out of it when we moved to Austin in 1989. We got into boating and all the sports that went along with it (water skiing, wake boarding, air chairing). We also got certified to scuba dive which lead to lots of traveling. Later we got into snow skiing which also required travel. Larry retired and we moved to Belton about 13 years, we got back into square dancing and still enjoy it. During COVID we square danced via Zoom and we still do. We square dance in person on Tuesdays when possible. During COVID Larry got into paper crafting. Later on he got into building pinball cabinets and arcade cabinet. He built a big cabinet first and last year he built a mini cabinet (portable to move by hand). He built an arcade cabinet, where he put pinball games, arcade games and fruit games (slots). Then he built five jukeboxes. The pinball hobby is a continuing hobby because he adds new games on the two cabinets. About 20 years ago we bought the Minnie and started camping. This has grown into lots of travel in the US and Canada. Is it time for something new?

 

Big Pinball Cabinet

 

Mini Cabinet

  

Seeburg Consoletes 

 

 

 Rowe Compact Disc (my favorite color)

 

Rock Ola Jukeboxes

 

Arcade Cabinet

 

I played my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street of 30 games. It took me 49 minutes and 34 seconds, which put me in 5th place in my group. I played Angry Bird Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I worked on the Buffalo jigsaw puzzle called the Cambridge by Charles Wysocki.  

I worked out for a half hour on Synth Riders with three songs twice, which were Get Up On My Keys, On My Way and Raw. While working out with Get Up On My Keys the first time around I got an outstanding score.

 

Get Up On My Keys

 

On My Way

 

Raw

I played three games of pinball on the mini cabinet, which were Monster Bash, Pirates of the Caribbean and Three Angels. While playing Monster Bash I became high score #3 and Pirates of the Caribbean I be came high score #1. Even though I didn't get on the board in Three Angels I had my best game ever.

 

Monster Bash

 

Pirates of the Caribbean

 

Three Angels

I played four pinball games on the big cabinet, which were Blizzard of Oz, Dracula, Indiana Jones and Magic Pinball. While playing Blizzard of Oz I became high score #4. I played Indiana Jones twice and entered my initials both time as high score #3 and #2. I didn't get a new high score on the weekly pinball challenge of Indiana Jones but I'm in 41st place out of 99 participants. I had a good time playing pinball.

 

Blizzard of Oz

 

Dracula

 

Indiana Jones

 

Magic Pinball

In the evening we finished watching the sixth season of Miss Scarlet on PBS. Then I watched Captain America: The First Avenger from our super hero movies collection. I ended up doing 3,000 steps.