Friday 11-6 It's Friday

 

We had a wonderful day. 

I started the day out by playing Solitaire games. I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Two Game Tango Mini (5 Klondike games and 5 Pyramid games). It took me 31 minutes and 34 seconds to complete, which put me in 16th place in my group. I also played a few games on the Star Club challenges. While I played my games Larry read.

We were going to go camping next week but the high temperatures are going to be in the 80's. We like to hike during our camping trips so we prefer lower temperatures, we decided to take the Minnie back to storage.

We attended three virtual square dances. The first dance was Don Moger's Weekly C1 at 12:00 for an hour and a half. Don had 45 participants on Zoom. We stayed for three tips. During the first tip Don cued the whole tip and when the dancers were struggling he walked us through the moves, this was very helpful. As the dance went on he added more complex moves and stopped cueing. We spent more time broken down than dancing. By the middle of the third tip we stopped because we were getting frustrated. 

The second dance was Di Green's Weekly C1 Workshop for an hour and a half at 2:00. Di had 37 participants on Zoom. She worked on the Galaxy Circulate, Triangles Wave Base Circulate, Square the Bases, Percolate and Ramble. Di called seven tips and we had a great time.

The third dance was Ett McAtee's Weekly A2/C1 at 6:30 for an hour and a half. We had 38 participants. We danced the A2 session, which had very little cueing. We had a great time.

In between the dances we read. I finished reading Shamus in a Skirt. For dinner I made Pork Empandas, they came out good.  

 

Pork Empandas

We hang the birdfeeder up during the day and take it down when it gets dark to keep the raccoons out of it. I also put a small bowl of bird feed on the porch. During the last dance we had visitors on the back porch, the visitors were two raccoons and a possum. When the raccoons showed up they were busy eating the food out of the small bowl, I decided to bring in the feeder so they won't get in it. I scared them off. A little later the possum showed up and ate the food the raccoons left. Most every night we have deer come and visit. We don't mind the wildlife visiting because we enjoy watching them.

After Larry went to bed I watched a few episodes of The Mentalist. I ended up doing 23,500 steps, which put me in fifth place in my group.

 

 

 

Thursday 11-5 Back to Virtual Dancing

Get a partner and dance

We had a great day. Larry started the day out by changing the Minnie's tank valves. Once he put the new valves on he tested for leaks, no leaks. He looked at the old valves and found that the seals were shot and brittle, not surprising since the Minnie is 25 years old. We have owned her for 15 years and have had very few problems, most of them are maintenance items. Once again I'm very lucky to have Larry because he enjoys working on the Minnie. By having Larry doing the work it saves us a lot of money and the inconvenience of taking the Minnie to a dealer.

While Larry worked on the Minnie project I played my Solitaire games. Today, the Solitaire games were called Tango Thursday, where every Pyramid game you solved your points are doubled. The points only help your stats. I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Pyramid Mini of 5 games. It took me 16 minutes and 46 seconds, which put me in 22nd place in my group. I also did a few Pyramid games in the Star Club Challenges.

We attended three virtual square dances. The first dance was Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1 Dance at 11:00 for an hour. We had 29 participates. Dayle called four tips but we only did three because we have another dance at 12:30 and we wanted to have lunch. We had a great time dancing to Dayle Hodge.

The second dance was Joachim Ruehenbeck C1/C2 dance for two hours with a half hour in between the sessions at 12:30. We attended the C1 session, which had 43 participates. Joachim called four tips. We had a super time.

The third dance was Jeremy Butler's Weekly A2/C1 dance at 6:00 for an hour. Jeremy called four A2 tips and one C1 tip. During the A2 tips we had 23 participants and the C1 tip had 20. We had an enjoyable hour of dancing to Jeremy Butler.

After the second dance Larry started the third book of the series he is reading called The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. 

I worked out for an hour using my Wii Fit program for a half hour and Just Dance 2013 for forty minutes. We watched YouTube videos.

Relaxing with a good book

 

After the last dance we read. When Larry went to bed I continued watching The Mentalist second season. I ended up doing 265000 steps, which put me in fifth place in my group.

   

 

 

 

Wednesday 11-4 We're Home

Camping is fun

 

We're back home after three magnificent days of camping at Jim Hogg Park on Lake Georgetown. 

We got up this morning and got the Minnie ready to go. We weren't in any hurry so we didn't leave until 8:00. As we were leaving Larry dumped the tanks and we put our trash in the dumpsters. 

On the way home we did a few errands. The first stop was at Harbor Freight to pick up a tool so Larry can put air in the Minnie's tires. The second stop was at Academy. My hiking boots are worn out so I needed a new pair. We were in luck I found a pair. The last stop was at CEFCO to fill the Minnie up.

 

Doing errands

When we got home we unloaded the Minnie. Then it was time for lunch. After lunch Larry went outside to do a few of small projects on the Minnie. The first project was the water heater. When we turn the water heater on and it gets to temperature it will make a noise like it is boiling so we turn it off. It actually is not boiling, the water is only warm and the tank itself is not hot. Larry drained the water heater and cleaned up the heating element. The next project was put air in the rear tires. 

The last project was checkout the tank valves because the gray tank valve has started dripping. Larry called Sunbelt RV and asked if they had a replacement valve, they did so back to town we went. There are two dump valves and he wanted to replace both of them. The owner said that he is having trouble getting the larger original valves but he had another brand. He told Larry it fits just like the original. Larry bought both valves.

 

Minnie Projects

While we were in town we did a few more errands. We stopped by the UPS Store and picked up our mail. Then we to Murphy and filled the car with gas. The last stop was Walmart.

While Larry did his projects I played my Solitaire games. I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 games of Spider and 5 games of Free Cell). It took me 2 hours, 2 minutes and 1 second to complete, which put my 23rd place in my group.

We spent the rest of the day and evening relaxing. Larry finished reading The Girl Who Played With Fire. I did our monthly finances and worked with Gold's Gym for a half hour and Just Dance for a half hour. It had been 97 days since I used my Wii Fit. After Larry went to bed I started watching the second season of The Mentalist. I ended up doing 24,000 steps, which put me in fifth place in my group. 

 

Working Out

 

  

 

 

Tuesday 11-3 Gorgeous Day at Jim Hogg Park

Camping at Jim Hogg Park

We had another gorgeous day. The morning was in the 40's and by mid afternoon it was in the 70's with a breeze. 

We started the day out by going for another hike. Today, we decided to hike the trail in the other direction. We walked to site 126  on the loop that is closed and went through the trees to pick up the trail. We have hiked from here before so Larry knew, where the trail was. He's a lot better at remembering things like this than I am. This section of the trail took us out in the open most of the time. We had to climb off granite slabs of rock and through a cove,that is empty most of the time. The trail was just as rocky as yesterday so we had to be careful not to fall. I continued to trip over the rocks once in awhile. We had to cross a muddy area, we found some rocks to use to get through the mud. We hiked about 2 miles and turned around and hiked back to our site. We usually hike up to the dam but it was another mile to go, we hadn't been hiking in a long time and we didn't want to push it. As we hiked we saw a couple of guys on bicycles and a gentleman hiking like us. The hike was very pretty and peaceful. By the time we got back to the Minnie we had hiked 5 miles.

The area we hiked

We hung around the campsite and read. Before I read I played my Solitaire games. Today, it was called Tri Peaks Tuesday, where the points on the Tri Peaks were doubled. I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 10 games. It took me 32 minutes and 21 seconds, which put me in 10th place in my group. Afterwards I started reading another Maggie Sullivan Mystery, Shamus In A Skirt. The battery in my Kindle was low so while it was charging I played a few games of Sudoku. I walked around the campground a couple of times to get some of my steps in. I ended up doing 26,000 steps, which gave me 51,000 steps. This put me in third place in my group with 53,058. 

We had a super day.     

 

 

Monday 11-2 Camping and Hiking at Jim Hogg Park

Having fun camping

Jim Hogg Park is one of the three parks on Lake Georgetown. The parks are run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Each park has a four lane concrete boat ramp along with developed and primitive campgrounds. The parks have picnic areas, group shelters and swimming beaches. The campsites are roomy with a covered picnic table, grill, a fire ring, electricity, water and black top slab for RVs. Some of the sites have a lot of trees, that provide the campers provicy. There is a 26.5 mile bike/hike trail, that goes around the lake.

We had a gorgeous day at Jim Hogg Park. The day started out with the temperature in the 40's and ended up in the low 70's. There was plenty of sunshine with a lite breeze.

After breakfast we went on a two hour hike. We had to walk a half mile to get to the hiking trail. Once at the trail we hiked two miles of the trail, we rested and hiked back. The trail went through trees and had a lot of rocks and tree roots. We had to be careful not to fall. The only person we saw was a bicycler at the beginning of the hike. We had to step on rocks to cross over a creek. The hike was very peaceful and beautiful.

 

Larry crossing the creek

Lots of cactus

A rock formation that looked like a face

Part of the trail

We spent the rest of the day hanging around the campsite. Larry is reading The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and I finished reading Don't Dare A Dame. I played my Solitaire games. I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Two Game Tango, 10 games of Klondike and 10 games of Spider. It took me 2 hours, 34 minutes and 45 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group.

When dinnertime came around Larry barbecued pork patties. We walked around the loop, that was closed for the season for about a half hour. I walked around the campground for another forty-five minutes to get some of my steps. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in fourth place in my group. We had a super day of camping.

 

One of the host decoration for fall

Larry having fun barbecuing

    

       

 

 

 

Sunday 11-1 Happy November

Camping at Jim Hogg Park

It's starting to cool off so let's go camping. It has been a long time since we have just gone camping in the Minnie. The last true camping experience was at Muleshoe Bend in February of 2013. We are normally on the road for five months of the year with the Minnie and while we camp we are actually traveling around seeing things. We also use the Minnie for multi day square dancing events but that is not really camping. 

This year due to the coronavirus we haven't traveled since March. We missed doing a spring or fall trip. We were going to go to Arkansas a few weeks ago but we decided against it due to the coronavirus numbers being so high.

The other day Larry went online to make reservations at Jim Hogg Park on Lake Georgetown. Weekends are full well into December but he could get a site during the week, that was fine with us. November 1st they close one of the loops so everyone is in one loop. Larry made a reservation for site 70 for three nights.

This morning we finished getting the Minnie ready. I did my Solitaire games. I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: World Tour Mini of 7 games. It took me 23 minutes and 42 seconds, which put me in 37th place in my group.

While we were getting the Minnie ready our new neighbors stopped by. They bought the empty lots on both sides of us and will start building on the lot to the south later this month. A very nice younger couple with two young children.

After lunch Larry checked the air in the tires. The tool he uses to check the rear dual wheels would not work so he was unable to check or add air to two of the tires, he has a tire pressure monitor that shows they are a bit low but they're ok. He filled the water tank and we were ready to leave.

We arrived at Jim Hogg Park at 2:20. The gentleman, who checked us in was friendly. He used a pole to hand us our pass for our stay. Once we got to the site we set up the Minnie for three days. Then we relaxed.

 

Lake Georgetown

 For dinner Larry barbecued some pork patties. After dinner we walked around the campground for 40 minutes. While walking around we saw deer and people having fun. We saw a couple of families pulling their boats out of Lake Georgetown. We even saw someone wake surfing. We figured the water would be too cold for us. Once back at the Minnie we spent the rest of the evening reading. I ended up doing 23,000 steps, which put me in third place in my group with 177,176 steps for the week.

We had a super day.         

Saturday 10-31 Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween

 

Happy Halloween. I hope everyone had a great day.

We didn't have any square dances today.

I started the day out by playing Solitaire. Today was called Spider Saturday, where every game of Spider you solve your points are double and the Event games points were doubled.  I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 games of Spider and 5 games of Klondike). It took me 59 minutes and 7 seconds, which put me 27th place in my group. 

While I played Solitaire Larry made another turkey, which came out very cute.

 

New turkey

Two cute Thanksgiving turkeys

I had cleaned the interior of the Minnie after we got back from the Rio Grande Valley at the end of January. After being in storage for the past 9 months it needed another cleaning to get ready for our camping trip. This trip is only for a few days so I didn't have to load up too much clothing or food. It took me a couple of hours to complete the task.

 

Getting ready

I also did some housework and I made a new dish Larry found on all recipes called Picante Chicken Chili. 

 

Picante Chicken Chili

For Halloween we bought some Reese's Take 5 bars, they have peanut butter, pretzels, caramel and chocolate in each bar. We didn't have anyone for Trick or Treat. We were glad we only bought one small bag.

 

Reese's Take 5 candy bar

In the evening we watched a special Austin City Limits show on PBS about the musical group Asleep At The Wheel. They took clips from the last 40 years about Ray Benson, the leader of Asleep At The Wheel. Then we watched two episodes of Warehouse 13. Then I finished watching the first season of The Mentalist. I ended up doing 24,000 steps, which put me in third place with 154,125 steps.

 

Relaxing in front of the television