12-7 Sundancers Christmas Dance

Mrs. Claus and Santa Claus

We spent a relaxing day around the house with Flo. In the evening Larry and I went to the Sundancers Christmas Dance. It was a terrific dance with thirteen squares. Usually Brad plays a song in between the square dancing tips for the round dancers but tonight he used that time to call a tip for the class. He called a class level tips, mainstream tips and plus tips. The tips went very smoothly with only a minute or two in between each tip. Brad did an outstanding job calling and the dancers continuously danced. There was a surprise appearance of Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. They stayed the whole dance giving out gifts, hugs and they even danced a little. What a great way of spending your evening with friends, laughing, visiting and dancing. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

Dancing to Brad Caldwell

Mrs. Claus and Santa Claus

Brad Caldwell enjoying calling a tip

Dancing with friends

Rick dancing with his Granddaughter Hanna

Betsy Nyhan and Brad Caldwell calling together

 

12-6 What a fun day!!!!

Briarcliff  Recreation Center

We had a very long day. We left the house around 10:30 am and didn't get back until 9:30 pm. A few weeks ago when we were dancing in Tool Texas we met Jimmy and Gwen Johnson. They told us they had a group of folks who danced DBD about once a month and asked if we would be interested in participating. Their group met today in Briarcliff at the Recreation Center which is about 90 miles from Belton. There were two dance sessions; first session was 2 to 4, then a potluck dinner from 4 to 5:30 and the second session was 5:30 to 7:30. There were two squares and two couples sitting out. Jimmy was the caller and he worked with a computer program that told each couple which square they were in and what tip you danced. We had a super time, interestingly we had danced with almost all of the folks at some time before. There was a lot of delicious food. We also met a King Charles Spaniel named Molly, she was very friendly and well behaved. We didn't want to leave Flo at home all day so we had picked up the Minnie to use for our transportation, this gives Flo a place to relax. During our potluck I fed her and took her for a walk. By the time we got home we were all tired. 

My new friend Molly

Dancing to Jimmy calling

   

12-5 The Continuing Door Install and An Evening of Relaxation

This morning we returned to Louise's and we drove the car today so we took Flo along. Autumn was  surprised when Flo walked in the door, she jumped off her chair and said hi to Flo. Louise was sound asleep so we tried to be quiet so we wouldn't disturb her. Today we painted the outside of the door, the first thing we did was prep work I put tape around the windows and doggy door and Larry removed the door knob, lock and seal around the door. Then he taped up the threshold and door hinges to prevent them from getting painted. Then we started painting, I started with a brush but didn't like how it looked so I went to a roller. This looked better but I still had to use the brush along the edges and corners. Larry painted with a brush and he touched up where I missed. He's a lot better painter than I am and is definitely better with a brush. After putting on the first coat I cleaned the tools and then we ate lunch while the paint was drying. When we finished lunch Larry put a second coat on. Flo, Autumn and I stayed outside and sunned while Larry did this. While we were cleaning up Louise woke up to say hi. Larry told her we would be back another day to do the inside of the door. We loaded Flo into the car and homeward bound we went. On the way home we stopped at HEB and did a little grocery shopping. We try to avoid HEB and Walmart on the weekend because they're real busy but we needed to get a few things. HEB definitely was busy but we got what we needed and then went home.

Cleaning up caulk

Caulking the door before painting it

Painting the door frame

In the evening we relaxed and watched TED TV.     

12- 4 More Door Work and Killeen Kickers Dance

Killeen Kickers Dance

Larry and I went back to Louise's this morning. We were over 30 miles down the road when Larry realized he forgot the air hose for his compressor so we had to turn around and go back to the house. Louise works nights so when we arrived she was asleep, we found muffins sitting on her kitchen counter and assumed they were for us, ate the muffins and started back on the door. We finished trimming the outside of the door and caulking it. We were going to paint the inside of the door and decided it was too late in the day to start so we called it a day. We loaded up a bunch of tools and other stuff that we didn't need any more into the truck to take home. While we were there Autumn hung out with us. She was happy to have us there to keep her company. She went in and out of her new doggy door a few times. Once she gets used to doing this with the flap up the next step is to train her with the flap down. So far she's doing very well. On the way home we stopped at The UPS Store and picked up our mail and a couple of packages that were waiting for us. Then we went to Taco Bell for a late lunch, after that we went by the storage area and picked up the Minnie.

Square Dancing to Betsy calling

Teresa and Billy Ray posing with Teresa's new jingle skirt

Larry square dancing with friends

Line Dancing with Christina and friends

In the evening we went to the Killeen Kickers Dance. Their Christmas Dance isn't until the 18th and they will have a special caller and cuer. Their caller Betsy wanted to call a Christmas Dance so tonight she called to Christmas songs and Christina cued to Christmas Songs. Most of the dancers were dressed up for the dance. We had enough people for four mainstream squares and three plus squares. Dan Clairmont, who is a caller that has just moved to Texas from California was at the dance so he called one tip, he is very good. In between the tips Christina either did line dancing or round dancing. I danced the line dancing and five of the six square dancing tips. We had a great time at the dance.    

12-3 Christmas Dance with the Central Texas Lone Stars

Christmas Dance with the Central Texas Lone Stars

This morning Larry and I went back to Louise's to continue working on her door. Today was another long day, we caulked the frame inside the house and primed and painted a couple boards for the back frame. We were going to trim out the exterior of the door but Larry's nail gun wasn't working. We left Louise's at 2:45 so the traffic was not as heavy as yesterday. By the time we got home Larry was exhausted and Flo once again was very happy to see us. Larry found his other nail gun and made sure it worked. Then he put it in the back of the truck. We rested a little bit and then we had dinner.

Desserts for the Christmas Dance

Dancing to Charles's calling

Round Dancing to Charles

More of our friends square dancing

Tanya and Charles Crockett

Our square dancing club, The Central Texas Lone Stars had their Christmas Dance this evening. Larry was stiff and tired and I don't think he really wanted to go but he dragged himself to the dance. The club is closing down so the Christmas Dance was their last dance. We had a special caller from the Dallas Fort Worth area named Charles Crockett. There were three mainstream squares and two plus squares and few others. When Charles cued the round dancing tips there were three to four couples that danced. There was a lot of delicious desserts. We had a good time. We're going to miss dancing with people at our club but we're still going to continue dancing at the other local clubs, Sun City and Georgetown.    

12-1 and 12-2 Two Long Days

Louise's new door

 For the last two days Larry and I have been at Louise's house replacing her backdoor. Larry has been telling Louise that her backdoor has some wood rot and it should be replaced. She wanted to go ahead and replace but she really wanted a doggy door in the new door. She works sixteen hours shifts and her dog Autumn is in the house for whole time. Sometimes Autumn has accidents in the house so she felt if she could train her to use the doggy door this would help. About six weeks ago Larry and I went shopping for a door for her. McCoy's said they could get one for us so Larry ordered one. Before he ordered the door he drew out the door he wanted. The door came in last week and Larry looked at it Monday to make sure it was right. It was perfect. Yesterday we rented a trailer and picked up the door. Before picking up the trailer Larry loaded the tools and supplies he thought he would need to do the job. We left Flo at home because it's too hard on her to climb in and out of truck. After getting the trailer we went to McCoy's and got the door, then off to Round Rock we went. When we got there Louise was gone, Larry was walking back to the truck when she showed up with a Papa Murphy's pizza. Louise and Autumn were disappointed when they realized that Flo wasn't with us.  While the pizza was baking we unloaded the door and the truck. After lunch Larry removed the interior trim of the door to see what we were up against. Once this was done we called it a day. When we got home Flo was very happy to see us. We had some extra trim laying around from when our house was built so Larry cut it to take with us today.

The wood rot on the old door

Removing the old trim from the old door

What the old door looked like after the trim was removed

Today we went back to Louise's. On the way we stopped by Lowe's to pick up some items. We arrived at Louise's about 9:30 and didn't leave until 3:30. It's over an hour's drive back to our house. We did a lot today. We removed the old door, then Larry cleaned up the threshold area. He grounded out the old seal and insulation with his grinder. Once the area was cleaned we installed the new door. Then Larry shimmed the door and leveled. Then he trimmed the door inside to stop insects from getting into the house. Then he sprayed the insulation in the door frame area. Larry was exhausted by this time so we called it a day. On the way home we stopped by the UPS Store to pick up our mail. By the time we got home Flo was very excited. Once she calmed down I barbecued sausages for dinner. We are still not done with the door, still need to complete the outside trim, caulk and paint both inside and out.

Removing the old threshold

Grinding off the old insulation

Installing the new trim

Spraying in the insulation

What the new door looked like from the inside after the trim

The new door with the blinds down

The new door with the blinds up

Autumn staying out of the way

The last two nights we have been so tired that we relaxed and watched PBS. They're raising money right now so we watched special programs. Last night we watched Arlo Guthrie and Ken Burns The Civil War documentary. They were both good. Tonight we watched Nature Pets: Wild at Heart: Playful Creatures and NOVA-Inside Einstein's Mind. Nature's show was very cute about pets. Inside Einstein's Mind was about Einstein and his discoveries.              

11-30 Wow, It's almost Christmas

It was cloudy all day but the rain was gone. Larry wanted to make sure that the GPS program on the new tablet was working. So we loaded Flo in the car and we went for a ride. While we were driving around we went by the storage center to get a couple of items out of the Minnie. Then on the way home we stopped by Walmart and bought a loaf of bread. When we got home Larry called Wes at McCoy's to see if Louise's door was in and he was told it was. He was a happy man he told Wes he would be by to make sure the door was correct. After we had lunch we loaded Flo back into the car and took her for another ride. While Larry went inside McCoy's I kept Flo company. When he got back he said the door was perfect so tomorrow we'll rent a trailer and take the door to Louise's house. 

My Wii balance board

 This morning I started back on tracking my calories and physical activities on MyFitnessPal. I've been saying I needed to go back doing this so I could loss the twenty-five pounds I put on in the last year. I know the holidays are here so it's going to take longer to do it but I'm going to try hard to keep close to my daily goal. My daily goal for exercising is forty-five minutes. I worked out on my Wii for forty-five minutes using the Wii Fit for fifteen minutes and Just Dance for a half hour. In the evening we went square dancing with the Sundancers and danced for an hour and a half. There were seven mainstream squares and five plus squares. Brad did a fantastic job of calling. We had a great time.

Larry enjoying watching our friends dance

Square dancing to Brad's calling

Our friends dancing the A tip after the dance

Sherri enjoying round dancing to Jerry's recording