Wednesday 3-21 Getting Ready for our Spring Trip

Getting Ready

For quite a number of years we have taken a trip in the spring, we are normally on the road for around 6 weeks. It's that time of the year and we are getting the Minnie ready. 

This morning we went to Mister Car Wash to give the car a bath. It wasn't that dirty but we wanted to get the underbody washed again considering we had taken it through snow and roads treated in salt. Yesterday when we went grocery shopping I had forgotten to pick up a couple of things so after the car got a bath we stopped at Walmart. 

Over the past couple of decades we have built up a number of bottles of left over prescription drugs, they are all well past the expatriation date and we wanted to dispose of them properly. Larry checked on the web and found only a few Walgreens accepted them and none were close to us, if you live in Austin there are only two Walgreens in the entire metropolitan area that participate. CVS did not offer anything. He could not find anything on the Walmart site so when we were there he asked them how to dispose of them. They told him they thought the Temple fire stations and police stations would take them. There was a sub-station on the way home so we stopped by, they said that the main police station downtown had a disposal kiosk. So off to the main Temple Police Station we went. Larry went inside, he said he didn't even have to go all the way inside, the kiosk was right inside the door, actually it was more like a metal safe, you put the bottles in a built in metal tray and turn a crank and they fall inside the safe.

The last few weeks we have been seeing Apple Maps vans going around town taking pictures. Today we saw one of the vans parked at the gas station by the house so we stopped and Larry asked if he could take pictures of the van, the lady said no problem. Click on the picture for a better look at the van. It has cameras all around the van and some spinning cylinders on each top corner, very neat. A couple of years ago we also saw the Google Maps cars in our area.

One of the Apple Maps vans

After lunch we started loading the Minnie. I started by wiping down the refrigerator. Then I loaded it up with food. I restocked other items for the bathroom and kitchen areas. Larry moved the Minnie to the front of the house and put the motorcycle carrier on. Then he loaded the motorcycle on the carrier. Once the motorcycle was loaded up he added more air to the air bags on the rear suspension. When he finished we took the Minnie for a ride to see how it handled the extra weight on the back. Larry said the Minnie did excellent. When we got home we covered the motorcycle up. Now it's for the trip. 

In the evening I did laundry while we watched our YouTube videos and the rest of the first season of Inspector Lewis. Tomorrow I will finish getting the Minnie ready. We had a busy day.    

Tuesday 3-20 First Day of Spring

Enjoy smelling the flowers

We had a beautiful brisk first day of spring. It's time to get the Minnie ready for our Spring Trip. 

First thing we did was go to by the post office to put our mail on hold. Then we went to O'Reilly Auto Parts to pick up a small gas container for the motorcycle. Then it was time for grocery shopping at HEB. Next we went by the UPS Store to pick up our mail. On the way home we stopped by the Little Bohemian to get a cinnamon roll, Larry bought a couple of them. We had them for our dessert after lunch and dinner.

It was a pretty day with a little breeze out of the north, seemed like a great day to mow the grass. We haven't started the lawn mower this year so Larry checked the oil and put fuel in it. He started it up for me considering it was the first time this year, it started right up. I mowed the frontyard and the front half of the backyard. Larry ran the weedeater and the blower. It took me an hour and a half to mow.  

Mowing the yards

When we travel we have a lawn service company come and mow so the yards don't get out of control.    

There is a nature area by Lake Belton called Miller Springs. A volunteer group ran it for 25 years and the lease came up. They couldn't get enough volunteers to keep it running so it has been closed for a long time. The cities of Belton and Temple have been getting calls on what is going on with the area and why is it closed. Lake Belton is run by the Corp of Engineers, both cities met with the Corp to discuss what was needed to get it reopened. The Temple newspaper had an article about a meeting scheduled for today to talk about reopening Miller Springs and to let the citizens know what's going on, we attended the meeting. We were glad to see a lot of people showed up. The city of Temple has committed to have a couple of full-time employees working the area and the city of Belton has a person in charge of getting volunteers to help maintain the trails along with submitting for grants to help fund the area. Both cities are working with the Corp to get a contract to reopen Miller Springs. The citizens there were very responsive to what is going on. People volunteered theirs services. It was a very positive meeting. Another meeting is scheduled for Thursday in Belton for people that couldn't make it today.

In the evening we watched our YouTube videos and started watching Detective Lewis through the Amazon. We had a great day of sunshine.    

Monday 3-19 Spring is here!!!!

Spring is not officially here until tomorrow but it appears to already be here. For the last week as we were driving around we have been seeing blue bonnets and other flowers springing up along the highways. Some places they're coming up thicker than others. It looks like we're going to have a good wildflower year. 

Today was another laid back day. Larry received the connections and wire for his motorcycle battery jumper project. He built an adapter that he wired to the motorcycle and an extension to connect it to a jump start start device.

In the evening we went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers. There were seven squares. Brad did a super job of calling. We had a lot of fun. 

When we got home I watched my weekly shows on KLUR. We had a great day.   

Sunday 3-18 Super Sunday

Having fun with friends

We had a super day of dancing with friends. Once a month Jimmy Johnson calls a DBD Dance in Briarcliff, which is a two and a half hour drive from our house but it's well worth it. The dance consist of two dance sessions, each is two hours long with an hour break in between the sessions for dinner. Today we had three squares and an extra couple. The dancing was challenging and a lot of fun. We hadn't danced to Jimmy since December so it was great to see Jimmy and our friends. 

Before going to Briarcliff I baked sugar cookies and blueberry/lemon cookies to take with us. They were a hit. I also put a cooler together with sandwich makings for our dinner.

We got back to the house about 9:00pm, we watched a couple of YouTube videos and relaxed before going to bed. We had a super Sunday of dancing.

Saturday 3-17 Happy St. Patrick Day

Happy St. Patrick Day

Happy St. Patrick Day!! It didn't get as warm as yesterday but it did get in the high 70s. 

Our motorcycle is out of the Houston area and it had a small amount of rust on a few places on the edge of the gas tank. Larry sanded down those areas, next he applied primer and then touched up the paint with with gloss white. Now you can't even tell it had rust.

While Larry worked on this I did some Sudoku puzzles. 

In the evening we watched YouTube videos and the last The Lord of the Rings, Return of the King. After the movie I worked out with Just Dance for a half hour. We had a very relaxing day.

 

Friday 3-16 Let's go for a ride

What a beautiful day

We had a beautiful day. It got to 87 degrees. The sun was shining and there was a little breeze.

I spent the morning doing Sudoku puzzles. Larry decided to make a jumper cable adapter for the motorcycle in case the battery needs a jump start. He didn't have the right size wire or a connector to do the project so we went to The Home Depot where he bought the wire but they did not have a connector that would work, he wasn't surprised.

When we got home he went on Amazon and found exactly what he wanted. While he was ordering the connector he decided to also order some silicone wire, the wire he purchased at The Home Depot is quite stiff and silicone wire is very flexible. The parts will be here Sunday.

It was such a beautiful day in the afternoon we decided to go for a ride on the motorcycle. Larry wanted to test the work he did on the motorcycle with two people on it. We rode to Belton and Roger Park, in total we put about 20 miles on the motorcycle. Everything worked great and the ride was very nice.

The other day when we were in Walmart we bought a new Lord of the Rings Two Towers dvd to replace the old one that quit working. This evening we decided to watch it. Afterwards I worked out with my Just Dance for a half hour. We had a very nice day.   

Thursday 3-15 More Errands and Dancing

Outstanding day

We had an outstanding day. The temperature got to the low 70s but the wind was back. The wind was a little chilly, which was a surprise considering it was out of the south. 

Larry wanted to get a haircut so this morning he tried to check in at Great Cuts online but he couldn't because the shop wasn't open yet. We arrived at the store a few minutes after it opened. They already had two customers they were taking care of, we were the only ones waiting so the wait wasn't too long.

Time for a haircut

We are getting things ready for our Spring Trip so we stopped by Walmart and then we went across the street to Dollar Tree. Then we went to Aldi to buy some pulled pork. The last stop was Target to pick up the chili we like.

Grocery Shopping

After lunch Larry blew the leaves out of the garage and off the porches. I vacuumed the house.

About 5:00 Larry and Patricia Daniels came by the house to drive together to Sun City to do our weekly A dancing. We had three squares. Bob called a couple of tips and we danced to tapes. We had a great time. 

When we got home I worked out for a half hour with Just Dance and then I watched Poirot Season 12 Dead Man's Folly. We had a very nice day.