Thursday 7-6 A Summer Day

Well, officially in Belton Texas it only got up to 94 degrees but at our house our thermometer said 100 degrees and the humidity 47. It was a hot summer day. 

Larry and I went back to the lake this morning. The wind was up but not as much as yesterday. We launched the boat at Rogers Park. I picked Larry up at the dock and then drove the boat to the middle of the lake. It was too rough for skiing so we got out the wake board. Larry was first up, he went a long ways down the lake but when he got back in the boat he said it was rough. I was up next, I tried to wake board but didn't do too much, it was way to rough for me. After about three minutes getting bounced around I gave up and got back in the boat. We rested and then out came the surf board. Larry had changed the plate around to get a steeper angle but when he went to put it on the boat he discovered one of the suction cup handles was not positioned correctly and it would not work. He did a set on the surf board without the plate and when he finished he got back and in the boat and fixed the lever, then he put the plate on the side of the boat. I tested it out and told him that it worked a lot better at this angle. Larry did another set of wake surfing and agreed with me. He played around with shortening the rope a little more during his set. When he got in the boat he said he may shorten the rope a little more next time we surf. While we were on the lake we saw a lady using a stand up paddle board. Yesterday when I was putting the boat on the trailer I didn't do too well so Larry had to muscle the boat on the trailer but today I put it right on the trailer without any problems. After drying the boat with a towel we went home. We were at the lake for an hour and a half. We had a super day on the lake.

Trying to wake board 

Larry wake surfing

After lunch I mowed the front yard. Larry blew off the driveway, the garage and the front porch. When I finished mowing he blew off the mower. Then I watered my flowers. After cooling off I worked on my puzzle and took an hour nap. Larry finished reading another book.

In the evening Larry and I went to Sun City to dance A. This week Larry and Patricia didn't go so we drove by ourselves. We had enough people for two squares and an extra lady. The dancing is all computer operated so when the lady was schedule to dance the man that was sitting out danced with her while his partner ran the computer. It worked very well this way. We had an outstanding night of dancing with the Sundancers. 

     

Wednesday 7-5 Boating Dancing and Having Fun

Having Fun

We woke up to some wind but Larry wanted to try out the new wake plate he built so we loaded up the boat. Larry put his plate in the boat and connected the strap to an old vest then he backed the truck to the boat trailer. We loaded ourselves into the truck and off to Rogers Park we went to launch the boat. 

The lake was a little rough. I picked Larry up at the dock and off we went to see if we could find a little better water. I drove all the way to where we usually ski but the water still a bit rough. Larry got into the water and mounted the plate on the side of the boat with the suction cups. While surfing he didn't notice much difference with the new plate so he moved the plate a bit lower and we shortened the rope then he tried it again. When he finished he said it was better with the plate than without but he had hopped to see a bigger difference. He built the plate so that he could set it at a 45 or 30 degree angle, the next time we go out we will try it at the steeper angle.

We rested for a few minutes and then out came the Air Chair. We both air chaired and then we called it a day. We were at the lake for an hour and a half. We had an outstanding day at the lake.

Having fun air chairing down the lake

Crossing the wake on the Air Chair

After lunch I worked on my puzzle until I couldn't keep my eyes open. I took about an hour nap and when I got up I worked out for a half hour with Gold's Gym. While I was doing this Larry started reading a book.

I made an easy dinner of fried potatoes and fresh green beans. In the evening we met up with Louis and went to Allemande Hall to do some A dancing with the TIPS Club using tapes. We had enough people for a square and three extra men. The women switched off to make sure the extra men could dance. We had a super evening dancing with friends.  

Square dancing is fun

   

Tuesday 7-4 Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July to everyone

I hope everyone had a good Fourth of July. We had a very relaxing day. Well, I should say I had a relaxing day. Larry worked on his boat project of building a wake plate all day. He started in the morning and finished about dinnertime. The only time he stopped was to have lunch. I barbecued baby back ribs for lunch. After lunch he went back to working on the plate. Once he finished the plate he put it on the side of the boat with the suction cups to see how it looked. It came out excellent. He read that the plate can come off the boat so you need to connect it with a floating device to retrieve it or it will sink to the bottom of the lake. Some people had the plate connected to a rope that was tied to the back of the boat. The problem with that was some people had it come back in the boat and it could hurt someone or do damage to the boat. Larry tied a strap to the suction cups and he's going to tie the other end to an old life vest that way the plate will float.

Finished Wake Plate for the boat

While Larry was working on the boat project I worked on my puzzle and I started getting ready to begin my new annual book, I also worked out for an hour using WiiFit and Just Dance. 

For dinner we had corn on the cob, Larry also had a salad while I had a tortilla with cheese and pepperoni on it. In the evening we watched YouTube videos and an Amazon movie called Ladies in Lavender. The movie starred Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. It was a drama, music, comedy about two sisters who befriended a foreigner who washes up on the beach in their 1930's village. It was a good movie. Afterwards we watched The Tunnel. Then we went to town to get dessert. We were going to Freddie's but when we got there they had closed early so we went across the street to McDonald's and had a sundae. We had a very nice Fourth of July.    

Monday 7-3 Boat Project

Doing New Project

We had a very nice day. We stayed around the house and did this and that. I worked on my puzzle and worked out for an hour and a half. I've been busy doing other stuff and hadn't really worked out with my WiiFit programs for about a week so today I decided to get back into it. I worked out with my WiiFit for a half hour, Gold's Gym for a half hour and Just Dance for a half hour.

Just Dance Program

Wii Fit Program

Gold's Gym Program

Larry finished reading his book and started to work on a boat project. When we're at the lake we water ski, wake board, air chair and wake surf. Our MasterCraft boat puts out a small wake which is what it is designed to do and it is great for skiing but when we are surfing we would like a bigger wake. To get a bigger wake most people add a lot of weight to their boats but we have never wanted to do that. Recently Larry read where some people were increasing their wake by using a plate that attaches to the side of the boat via large suction cups. There are now commercial companies building these and some people buy them but others build theirs. Larry decided he would build one, he had most of the materials he needed, the only thing he needed to order was the suction cups. The suction cups are the cups glass installers use to move large pieces of glass or mirrors, they're huge. They came in today so in the afternoon he started on the project. He is building the plate out of plastic by cutting and milling it down to the size he wanted. Then he machined a groove in the plate so it can fit on the suction cups. He still has some work to do before he can assemble the plate to the suction cups. The suction cups will stick on the side of the boat and the plate will be mounted on the cups, it will go in the water on the opposite side of where you surf to get the wake you want. He loves doing projects like this so he is having fun. 

The suction cups used for the boat project

Checking out the plate as he builds it  

Last week Larry read that Amazon had a special going on, if you buy an Amazon Dash Wand for $20.00 you would get a credit of $20.00 in your Amazon account when you activated the device. Larry read the reviews on the Wand and the reviews weren't too good, a lot of folks had problems getting it working and then there are not many uses for it. He ordered one anyway but it was on back order so it was a surprise when it showed up today. This device is pretty cool, it works just like the Dot except you push a button and ask the questions or commands without saying Alexa. One of the complaints about it is that you can't set a timer. Larry programmed it and then we played with it. It is a lot of fun and it works perfect. At times the wand responses faster than Alexa and it was basically free. It was actually designed to be used in the kitchen to order food items from Amazon, it has a bar code scanner built in so when you have a product you are getting low on you can simply scan the bar code and it will automatically add the item to your Amazon shopping cart. We never buy individual food items from Amazon but we experimented with this and it worked pretty well. The wand has a magnet built in so that you can attach it to your refrigerator. Larry has a couple of ideas on how we can use it that don't involve purchasing food.

Amazon Dash Wand

In the evening we went to dance with the Sundancers. We had six squares. We wore red, white and blue for the dance and were surprised that not too many people were dressed up. We had four couples for an A tips. We had another super time dancing with the Sundancers and to Brad.

Sunday 7-2 Sunday Fun

Just having fun

Once again the wind was blowing when we woke so we stayed around the house. We watched Sunday Morning. I worked on my puzzle and Larry read. 

Reading is fun

After lunch we met up with the TIPS Club at Allemande Hall to dance A. This week Wendell Moore called the dancing. We had a square plus three extra people. Wendell did a great job calling. We had a great afternoon dancing with friends.

Dancing with friends

For dinner we had leftover ribs and pizza. After dinner we watched our weekly PBS shows. We had a fun day. 

Saturday 7-1 Starting of a New Month

Welcome to July

This morning started out with a bit of wind and by mid morning we had some light rain that stuck around until lunchtime.

Yesterday, I decided on my next puzzle to assemble but didn't get around to starting it. This morning I started separating the pieces. I separated the frame pieces from the rest of the pieces and tried to separate the rest by colors. When I finished doing this Larry helped by starting to assemble the frame. I worked on and off the puzzle all day.

The puzzle pieces separated and waiting to be assembled

Larry helping by putting the frame pieces together

Every year I write a book about our adventures throughout the year. The company that prints my book is called Blurb, I have always used their BookSmart program to write my books. Over the years they have continued to improve the program but this year they announced a new program called BookWrite. Larry downloaded and installed it for me. They have 10 short YouTube videos explaining how to use BookWrite and while Larry was working on the puzzle I watched the videos. After watching the videos the program sounds more user friendly and I'm excited about using it this year.

After watching the videos it was time to make lunch. What should we have? How about a pizza cooked on the grill. I turned on the grill and put the temperature gauge in the grill so I could monitor the temperature. I put the cast iron pizza pan on the grill to get it hot. Once the grill got to temperature I put the frozen pizza on the pizza pan. I cooked it for 24 minutes and I removed it from the grill by using the pizza peel. The pizza came out a little crunchy but it tasted great. Next time I'll just cook it 22 minutes. I really enjoy using the pizza pan and pizza peel. 

The finished pizza on the pizza peel

During lunch Larry received an e-mail from the UPS Store that said a package was waiting for us. Once the rain stopped and the roads dried up we went to town. The package was the gears for the boat trailer jack. When we got home Larry worked on replacing the gears. As he was doing this he noticed where the gears went in the jack one of the sides was bent. He removed the jack from the trailer and straightened the frame back in place then he decided he would drill a hole and put a bolt in it so it wouldn't bend again. He didn't have the correct bolt so we went back to town to Ace Hardware and bought a couple of bolts. When we got back to the house Larry finished his boat project.

Old gears

New gears

Larry replacing the gears on the trailer

When Larry was doing the boat project I decided it was time to get back to working out on the WiiFit. I hadn't worked with it for about a week. I worked out with Just Dance for forty-five minutes.

When it was time for dinner I barbecued a rack of baby back ribs, they were really good. In the evening we rented a movie from Amazon called John Wick. It was a action movie but I wasn't impressed. I usually like action movies but this one had way too much violence and blood. After the movie we watched Dr. Blake Mysteries on PBS. We had a busy day just hanging around the house. 

The ribs waiting to be cut and eaten 

Friday 6-30 Windy Day

Hold on tight

We were going to go to the lake but when we looked out the back window the trees were blowing, instead we decided to do our weekly grocery shopping. We usually do our shopping at HEB in Belton but today we wanted to go back to Aldi so we did the shopping at the HEB in Temple. After we put the groceries in the car. We walked to Dollar Tree, which was in the same parking lot as HEB. Larry likes Lance Van-O Lunch Cookies and the only place we can find them is at Dollar Tree. While we were in Dollar Tree we picked up more bleach for our septic tank. The next stop was Aldi for short ribs, fortunately they had restocked so we picked up a few packs. 

Weekly shopping at HEB

After lunch we were hanging around the house with nothing to do so Larry suggested going to the storage center to install the couch seat back into the Minnie. I asked him if he was sure considering it was 95 degrees, he said no problem we could run the generator to pull the air conditioner. Before we put the seat back in the Minnie we took it for a short ride. Larry takes it for a ride once a month when it's not being used. There's not a lot of room in the Minnie to work. The couch pulls out and makes a bed so Larry and I pulled it out far enough he could get his hands under it and we could line up the two bolts on each side with the bracket. Once we did this Larry screwed the nuts on the bolts to hold it place. When we picked up the seat Larry thought maybe the new foam wasn't firm enough but testing it out we found out it was fine. Obviously the material does not match the back but it it looks great and is much more comfortable, it will work well in our 21 year old RV. 

New couch seat in the Minnie

Yesterday, I finished the Evening Surprise puzzle so today I took it apart to get ready for a new puzzle. I looked at the puzzles I have and decided on Majestic, it has 2000 pieces. I think this puzzle will be challenging considering it has a lot of flowers and the pieces are very small. I like challenges so I think it will be fun to do.

New puzzle to assemble

   

In the evening we watched our YouTube videos and a movie Paterson. It was a comedy, drama, romance movie about a bus driver's daily routine through poetry. The reviews and ratings were very good but I found it really slow and I didn't like it. We had a very nice day.