Sunday 6-13 Making English Muffins

Hot Day

We had a hot day, on our thermometer it got to 100 degrees at 3:30. Officially they said it got to 95, either way it was hot.

 

100 Degrees at the house

Larry started the day out by working on the new blind. First he made a valance for the dining room window. He modified some brackets he had laying around to hang the valance. Then we went to The Home Depot  for some screws and a piece of conduit. The other day he used a piece of PVC (plastic pipe) to build the rod for the blind, after a couple of days he noticed that it was sagging a bit in the middle. He thought in time it would sag even more so he decided to replace the plastic rod with a metal conduit rod. When we got home he cut the conduit down to the size he needed and modified it for the blind motor. Then he put the original vinyl blind from Walmart on the rod and hung the blind. It looks and works great. Now he needs to work on hiding the power cord.

 

  The finished project

 

 I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Klondike Mini of 10 games. It took me 26 minutes and 11 seconds, which put me in 15th place in my group.

We attended one virtual dance. Every week Ett McAtee has a C level dance, this week she had a C1/C2, she had to go to a service so she asked Loren Smith to call the 3 C1 tips. We had 46 participants. Loren is a very smooth caller and a lot of fun. We had a great time.

Due to dancing with Loren we logged into Doren McBroom's DBD dance about 15 minutes late. Jeremy was covering for him but there was only one other dancer logged in. Larry told Jeremy why we were late and after talking for a little while we all agreed to cancel the dance.

After saying bye to Jeremy I made Easy English Muffins by Chef John. It took about 5 hours to complete because the dough had to rise a couple of times, 2 hours the first rise and 1.5 hours the second time. While making the muffins I watched his video, which is a great help. The muffins came out good and we have some for tomorrow.

 

Forming the dough

What the dough looked like after the balls were formed into muffins

 

Cooking the muffins 

The muffins cooling off

Finished English muffin

 

While the muffins were cooling down I made bacon sandwiches for dinner. I cooked the bacon on the grill. It came out delicious. 

A couple days ago I saw that my flowers were starting to bud. Well, today we noticed the buds were gone, the deer had eaten the buds and left the stems. In the evening when we were watching television I looked out the door window and saw a doe and her fawn eating under the oak tree. I think it was the same fawn we saw a couple of days ago. I told Larry but they were gone by the time he came out on the porch. I put some more food out and hoped that they would come back. As we were watching to see if they would come back the fox showed up and a few more deer. One of the does was limping and it looked like her leg was broken. I hope she will be ok. We did have activity on the porch with the birds and squirrels. It is so nice watching the wildlife in the backyard.

 

The bud two days ago

 

Now it's gone

In the evening we watched an Amazon movie for kids called All Creatures Big and Small. It was very cute about a Noah's Arc and a friendship between two young animals. Afterwards I watched a few episodes of the 3rd season of Gortimer Gibbons Live On Normal Street. I ended up doing 26,700 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group with 187,481 for the week.     

 

Saturday 9-12 Square Dancing and Blinds

Busy Day

We had a busy day of doing this and that.

Larry started the day out fertilizing the yards and spraying weeds. The grass was damp, there was no wind and it's not suppose to rain. It was a perfect morning to do this project. 

While Larry did this I vacuumed the house, cleaned the bathrooms, wiped down the floors and did laundry.

 

Doing chores

Next we went back to work on the blind conversion. Larry found a vinyl type of material at Walmart that he thought would work well. We rolled the material out on the garage rug. I noticed there were some scuff marks on the back of the material but since they were on the back Larry wasn't bothered by them. The vinyl had a crease in the middle and wrinkles so we got the iron out and Larry ironed out the wrinkles and creases. Next we cut it down to size. Larry taped the material to the rod and rolled it up. With the blind hung in the window and the sun behind it he noticed quite a few defects and a couple of small holes in the material. Upon further inspection the defects were located where the scuff marks were on the back of the material.The blind fit perfect and works great but when light is behind it you can really see the defects, once the light is gone it looks great. This is not going to work.

 

The material before it was ironed

 

Ironing out the creases

 

Looking better

After I finished dancing we went to Hobby Lobby and found a vinyl that might work but Larry wanted to see if he could find something he liked better. When we got home he looked at Joann's but they didn't have anything available. Next he checked The Home Depot. They had some white black out curtains. After our last dance we went to The Home Depot and looked at what they had but it wasn't exactly what we wanted. Next stop was Walmart to see if they had any more of the vinyl we had bought the other day. They did but it was too wrinkled and also had scuffs on the back. Larry is not sure what he is going do but we don't have to be in a hurry.

We attended two virtual square dances. First was Di Green's Monthly A1/A2 at 2:00 for two hours. This month she invited Jeremy Butler, Ett McAtee and Joachim Ruehenbeck to join her and Terry McCann to call the dance. She had a breakout room for A1, another for A2 and a Main room for the opening and closing tips. We had 33 participants. I danced by myself in the A2 room where we had 22 to 29 participants. Terry danced with Di but decided not to call. They danced with a couple of friends, one was Di's mother. Jeremy called the opening tip and Di called the closing tip. The dance was in three half hour sessions, the callers moved from the A1 room to the A2 room and vice versa. I danced three tips to Ett, two to Joachim, three to Jeremy and three to Di. The callers did an excellent job of calling. I had a great time.

Second was Don Moger's Saturday Night Fever at 6:00. This week he invited Bill Harrison to join him in calling the dance. They both called two tips of A2, one tip of C1 and the third C1 tip together. The A2 tips had 41 participants and the C1 tips had 37. We had an outstanding evening of dancing to Don and Bill and with friends.

I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Hard Road Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 25 minutes and 33 second, which put me in 12th place in my group.

I finished watching the second season of Gortimer Gibbons Live On Normal Street and started the third season. I ended up doing 26,000 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group.       

Friday 6-11 Dancing and Having Fun

 

 

It's Friday, I hope everyone has a great weekend.

We had a very good day. 

Larry continued playing with the new phone. He decided to make it our main cell phone so he put the sim card from our old phone in and set it up for our current provider. He also played with taking pictures and videos using the phone. 

Larry ordered a bridge device so he can use Alexa to control opening and closing the new blind. He received it today and and was successful in configuring everything. Now we can simply ask Alexa to open or close the blind, very cool. He is still not done with the blind but everything is coming together.

 

The bridge

The birds and squirrels were busy all day on the porch and under the tree. In the evening we had six deer visit us at one time. Later on in the evening the fox came by. After the fox left a deer came by and ate and laid down to rest. 

 

Relaxing before moving on

This year I didn't plant any flowers nor did I do anything with the planter but we have had so much rain that flowers are starting to grow. A couple of weeks ago some were growing and the deer decided to eat them. The last couple of days we have noticed more flowers are growing and we saw a couple of buds and flowers. When the deer came by I thought they were eating my flowers so I went out to scare them away from the flower. Once they were gone I went outside and put more food out. The deer hadn't gone far away because they were back a few minutes later. 

 

Flowers starting to grow

After breakfast we went to town. First stop was the UPS Store to check the mail. Next we went to Dollar Tree to get some bleach and cookies. We ended up getting rice rolls instead of cookies because they didn't have the cookies we like. Next we stopped at Walmart. 

On the way home we swung by Rogers Park to check out the lake. The lake is nine feet over full, the boat ramp it was almost completely under water and there is lots of debris floating in the lake. We will have to wait a couple of weeks for the lake level to drop and the debris to find its way to the bank before we put the boat in.

We attended three virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Four Couple A1/A2 at 11:00. This week Dayle had 20 participants. I was very grateful that Dayle didn't call too complicated and he cued. We had fun.

Second was Don Moger's Weekly C1 Workshop at 12:00. Due to attending Dayle's dance we were a few minutes late. Don called six tips and we missed the first one. Don had 33 participants. He worked on moves dancers were having problems with. We had great time.

Third was Di Green's Weekly C1 at 2:00. Di had 25 participants. I danced alone while Larry worked on setting up the phone. Di called six tips. She worked on Tally Ho from two face lines and alter the wave from tidal waves. I had fun even though I did make some mistakes.

I did my Daily Challenges and Event: World Tour Mini of 7 games. It took me 19 minutes and 54 seconds, which put me in 24th place in my group. 

In the evening we watched a kids movie on Amazon called Rio. It was very cute. Then I watched five episodes of Gortimer Gibbons Live On Normal Street. I ended up doing 26,500 steps for the day, which put me in 2nd place in my group.

 

Thursday 6-10 New Family Member & Lots of Projects

 

Having Fun

Larry woke up to a pleasant surprise. When he was putting out the birdfeeder he noticed that there was something in the yard. It took him a bit before he figured out it was a young fawn, probably not even a day old. When I woke up he said he had something to show me. It was very small. It laid there until a construction worker showed up, while we were checking it out it jumped up and ran right through our neighbor's fence as if it wasn't there. It disappeared into the trees. The guy and I looked at each other in surprise on how fast it ran.

 

Waiting for mom to return

It was another 90 degree day and it was time to get the boat ready to go to the lake. I helped Larry back the truck into the garage to line it up with the boat trailer. Then we pulled the boat out. Next Larry put all the hoses and the plugs back in their places. Then we put the plunger on the bottom of the boat and I turned the water on. The boat started right up. Larry ran it a bit. After de-winterized the boat we put the platform on and loaded our water sports equipment (wake board, wake surfer and air chair). Once everything was loaded up we put the boat back in the garage.

 

De-winterizing the boat

Making sure everything is running correctly

Water coming out the exhaust 

After the boat project Larry moved on to replacing the lawn mower's rear tires. The last time Larry mowed he noticed that one of the rear tires worn out so he ordered new ones. After he replaced the wheels something was binding so it took him a bit to get things right. Then he added a bit of oil to the transmission. Now the mower is ready to be used.

 

Putting new wheel on

The old wheel

Removing the old wheel

 

After Joachim's dance I mowed the frontyard and half of the backyard. I weedeated and Larry blew off the porch and driveway.

I wrote a few days ago that Larry had to replace the battery in our backup cell phone and the new battery would not charge. The vendor sent us another battery and it also would not charge. The old battery charges fine so he knows it not a problem with the phone. The vendor was terrific about trying to help and he refunded our money without us even asking.

Larry has been thinking about getting a "new" unlocked phone. He decided on a Google Pixel 3a XL, they were discontinued a year or so ago. He found a company on EBay selling refurbished ones inexpensively. The phone arrived today so he spent the evening updating the software and loading it up with the applications he wanted. He will continue playing with it. So far he's happy with it.

 

Our new phone

Another project we worked on was our dining room blind. Every morning Larry opens the living room and dining room blinds. The blind in the dining room has not worked correctly in quite some time and there was no way to fix it. Larry thought if he was going to replace it he might want to replace it with a automated blind, preferably one that would work with Alexa. He found a few but they were prohibitively expensive. He found a few people who had built their own so he bought some pieces to experiment with; pvc from The Home Depot, tubular motor from Amazon and a cheap roller blind from Walmart. The last piece arrived today so he finished modifying and putting everything together. We hung the new blind in place of the old one and Larry programmed the remote control. The blind automatically raises and lowers with the remote, he does not have something he needs to get it to work with Alexa. This is still a work in progress. The blind works but he is not totally satisfied, he wants to make some changes.

 

Playing with the blind using the remote controller

The PVC pipe for the new blind

 

We attended three virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1 at 11:00. We danced 4, two couple tips. Dayle had 20 participants. He did a fantastic job of calling and helping went necessary. He put us in more complex position. We had a great time.

Second was Joachim Ruehenbeck's C1 at 12:30. Joachim had 25 participants. He called 5 tips and did a super job. We had an outstanding time.

Third was Jeremy Butler's Weekly A2/C1. Jeremy called 4 A2 tips with 14 participants and 1 C1 tip with 11 participants. He did a great job of calling. We had fun.

When we weren't dancing and doing projects I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Klondike and 10 Spider). It took me 1 hour, 53 minutes and 43 second to complete, which put me in 16th place in my group. 

In the evening we watched a movie on Amazon called Out Of The Wild. It was about a cowboy who was down and out with a dark past. He meets a Mustang with a past and they heal each other. It was slow moving movie but had a happy ending. It wasn't that bad of a movie. Then I finished watching the first season of Gortimer Gibbons Live On Normal Street and started the second season. I ended up doing 27,600 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group with 109,254 steps for the week.   

   

Wednesday 6-9 Pita Bread and Cleaning Porch Railing

 

 

Summer is coming. It got to 91 degrees and no rain.

Larry started the day making Chef John's Pita Bread. The recipe said it only takes 30 minutes for prep but you have to let the dough rise a couple of different times. Total time is a bit under 5 hours. After mixing the first three ingredients you let the dough rise for 20 minutes. Then you mix in the rest of the ingredients and knead the dough. Afterwards the dough needs to rise for another 2 hours. Next you pat the dough flat and cut it in 8 pieces. Then you roll the pieces into small balls and let then rest for 30 minutes. Next you roll each piece into a round bread 1/4 thick. Then fry each bread in a cast iron pan for 3 minutes and flip them and cook another 2 minutes flipping them over every 30 seconds. After the breads cools cut them in half and open the pockets. The pitas came out perfect and were delicious. Larry did an excellent job. 

Patting out the dough 

 

Eight pita bread balls

Rolling out the pitas

Cooking

A stack of pita bread

The pita bread after it has been cut in half

The pita bread stuffed with ham & cheese and pepperoni & cheese

 

Every year we wash the back porch railing after the oak trees stop pollinating and dropping their leaves. This year have we had a lot of rain and I feed the squirrels and birds on the porch and the birds use the railing as a perch and the squirrels use it to get into the feeder. I have nectar for the hummingbirds on the railing and when the squirrel jumps out of the feeder they sometimes tip the bowls over. The railing was filthy. This morning was beautiful so we decided to clean the railing. While Larry was making the pitas he worked on the railing. After I had breakfast I joined him. It took us a couple of hours.

 

The railing before it was clean

 

Cleaning the railing

 

Clean

We attended three virtual dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly A2 at 11:00. Once again Jeremy Butler covered for him. Jeremy called 5 tips of two couples A2 with 31 participants and 1 tip of four couples with 19 participants. We had a great time dancing to Jeremy and with friends.

Second was Don Moger's Weekly C1 at 12:00. We arrived a little late because we were dancing with Jeremy. Don had 26 participants. Don worked on Recycles, Split Recycles and the Butterfly Formation. Don walked us through the moves we were having problems with. We had a fun time with Don and friends.

Third was Doren McBroom's Weekly A2/C1 at 6:15. Jeremy Butler covered for him. Jeremy called four A2 tips with 10 participants and three C1 tips with 8. We had a super evening of dancing.

In between the dances I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Medium Mayhem of 5 games. While I was doing the event I kept dozing off so it took me 32 minutes and 44 seconds so it put me in 39th place in my group. When I finished doing my games I took a nap.

After the last dance we watched a movie on Amazon called From The Vine, it was about a lawyer who experienced an ethical crisis and quit his job. Then he goes back to his hometown in Italy to find himself. It was a good movie. Then I watched five episodes of Gortimer Gibbons Live On Normal Street. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.   

   

Tuesday 6-8 Woke to No Power

 

Just having fun

Before I got up a front came through and knocked the power out. For some reason it woke me up. The construction workers next door thought they popped a breaker. They went to the power pole and played with the breakers. Larry went out and told them the power was out. The power was out for less than 30 minutes.

After breakfast I did the Daily Challenges and the Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 10 games. It took me 48 minutes and 19 seconds, which put me in 13th place in my group. While I played games Larry started reading another book.

We attended three virtual dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Plus at 11:00. Back near the beginning of the pandemic Dayle was laid off from his job as a project manager. He has not been able to find another job in his field so he retrained as a truck driver and has now accepted a job as a school bus driver. This requires him to go through orientations with each county he will be driving in. This week he had to attend three days of classes on how to handle children on the bus. Today he was in class so he asked Warren Loewen from Canada to call for him. Warren was a good caller and called five tips. During the 4 two couples we had 23 participants and the four couples tip we had 19. We had a fun time.

Second was Di Green's Weekly A1/A2 Workshop at 1:30. Terry danced a couple of the A1 tips and the four couples tip, his leg isn't completely better. Di called 5 A1 tips, 5 A2 tips and 1 four couples tip. During the A1 tips we had 33 participants, A2 two couples tip we had 30 and the A2 four couples tip we had 24. I danced the A1 tips by myself and Larry joined me for the A2 tips. We had a great time.

Third was Don Moger's Weekly A2 at 6:00. Don called 6 tips and he had 35 participants. During the dance Don worked on the center part of Cast the Shadow and with phantoms. We had a fun evening dancing to Don and with friends.

After the last dance we watched an Amazon movie called Larry Crowne, that starred Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. It was about a gentleman Larry Crowne, who was let go from us job because he didn't have a college degree so he went back to school to earn a degree. It was a comedy and very good. Then I started watching an Amazon Kids series called Gortimer Gibbons Live On Normal Street. I watched 6 episodes and the series is cute. It's about the adventures Gortimer Gibbons and his two best friends Ranger and Mel. It reminds me of the Wonder Years. Each episode is a half hour long. I ended up doing 27,500 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group.

 

Relaxing in front of the television
    

 

Monday 6-7 Another Muggy Day

 

Smile and be happy

We had a muggy day. A front come through at 10:30 am. It got dark and sprinkled on and off for a few hours, just enough to get the streets wet and mess up your vehicles.

I started the day out doing the Daily Challenges and the Event: Free Cell Mini of 5 games. It took me 10 minutes and 9 seconds to complete, which put me in 25th place in my group. 

Then I worked on my annual book. 

Larry finished reading, Refuge: A Novel. Even though the book had a lot of heart wrenching parts he said he loved the writing. He thought the author (Dot Jackson) was extremely talented and wanted to read another book written by her. He found this was the only novel she wrote. If you have a Kindle and are a member of Amazon Prime the book is currently free to read.

Larry found recipes for English Muffins and Pita bread by Chef John on the All Recipes website. I didn't have all the ingredients so went to Walmart. Then we stopped and filled the car up with gas. Next stop was The Home Depot to pick up parts Larry needs for a project he is working on.

In the evening we attended Steve Kopman's Weekly A2/C1 dance. He called four A2 tips with 30 participants and two C1 tips with 18 participants. Steve cued the moves through out the dance. He called some complex moves and was just as excited as the dancers when they were successful. He is a pleasure to dance to. We had a great evening of dancing. 

 

 Get a partner and dance

After the dance we watched a movie on Amazon called To Keep The Light, which was about a woman lighthouse keeper in the 1800s. The lady's husband died and she stepped in and kept the lighthouse going. It was based on a true story. It was very slow moving but ok. Then I watched the fifth and final season of The Commander. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group. This was a good start for the week.

 

    

Relaxing in front of the television