Friday 7-5-24 Dancing to Loren, Crafting, Mowing & Games

 

Happy Friday

We had a wonderful day. It was hot but we kept cool under the air conditioner.

When Larry was doing paper crafting he came across a gentleman that designed heavy equipment. Larry built the mine truck back in May of 2022. There are no videos for the projects, simply written directions. It was probably the most difficult paper project he had built, it took quite a bit of time to build and it came out super. He liked the truck so well he downloaded an excavator from the same designer but he never got around to building it. Today he decided to start. He cut the pieces on the Cameo. There are a lot of pieces and no video to build it with so it's going to take a bit to build. 

 

The mining truck

 

Excavator pieces

 

More excavator pieces

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango of 10 games (5 Klondike and 5 Spider). It took me 52 minutes and 50 seconds to complete, which put me in 25th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

Today I played six pinball games using the new random icon. They were Fun House, Junk Yard, Monster Bash, The Guardians of the Galaxy, Who Dunnit and Playboy. While playing Junk Yard and The Guardians of the Galaxy I entered my initials in as the 3rd high score in the games. When I played Playboy I became the Grand Champion. I had a great day of playing pinball. I also did the weekly challenge of The Bourne Identity game.

 

Fun House

 

Junk Yard

 

Monster Bash

 

Playboy

 

The Guardians of the Galaxy

 

Who Dunnit

I also worked out with the Synth Riders for an hour.

Working out

In the evening we attended Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 dance at 6:30 for an hour and fifteen minutes. This week we had a guest caller, Loren Smith. Loren use to call on Sunday nights so it was a pleasant surprise. He told everyone he would fill in for Ett now and then. He won't be back on Sundays because there's too much to do in his life and he doesn't have the time. Loren called five tips of A2 to 12 participants and one tip of C1 to 10 participants. Larry danced with me the whole dance. We were the only couple so we were pinned by Loren and other dancers. It was nice to have a partner for this dance. Larry helped me get in the right place at times. We had a super time dancing to Loren and with friends.

 

Get a partner and dance
 

After the dance we went outside to mow. The sun was going down and it had cooled off, there was also a breeze, it was a perfect temperature. I mowed the frontyard and the north side of the backyard. While I was doing this Larry weedeated, blew off the porch and driveway and treated for weeds. Afterwards Larry filled in a few low spots in our yard and Jason's yard. It took us about forty-five minutes.

 

Hold on tight and mow

 

When we went inside we changed clothes and cooled down. We watched the last episode of the second season of Professor T on PBS. Then I finished watching The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells. It's a four part series about H.G. Wells, where a report is interviewing H.G. Wells on his short stories of science and scientists. The series starred Tom Ward as H.G. Wells. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.  

 

    

Thursday 7-4-24 Happy Fourth of July & Having Fun

 

 

Fourth of July

 

Happy Fourth of July to everyone. I hope everyone had a great day.

Louise and Alice came out to celebrate the Fourth of July with us. Louise arrived at 8:00 am to beat the crowd and road closures from the Fourth of July parade downtown. We visited and had lunch to celebrate. Louise brought out a platter of brownies from HEB for dessert. I made a relish tray (salami, ham, sweet pickles and pepper jack cheese) and deviled eggs to snack on before lunch. For lunch I barbecued Southside sausage links, tortillas and cooked tater tots in the air fryer. The food was delicious. Alice was dressed up with a fourth of July scarf. We hadn't seen Louise and Alice for a long time so it was very nice to have them here. I had fun playing with Alice. We had a super visit. They didn't leave until 12:30. 

 

Fourth of July lunch

Shirley dressed up for her Fourth of July luncheon 

 

In the evening our neighbor (George) had fireworks. We were invited to sit on Jason's patio to watch them go off over the lake but we decided to stay home. What I saw of them they were very nice.

 

Fireworks over Lake Belton

More fireworks

Before going to bed I played my Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. After Louise left I did the event. The event was Event: Free Cell Adventure of 20 games. It took me 2 hours, 54 minutes and 25 seconds, which put me in 9th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

In the afternoon Larry installed another icon in Popper on the pinball cabinet. Popper shows all the pinball games, that are on the machine. A gentleman had written a program that randomly selects pinball games to play. You set it for how many you want. Everytime we get on the machine to play pinball we have to scroll through all the games we have loaded and decide what to play. This way the machine selects for you. He installed it under the virtual reality icon and set it up for three games. It works great. This way you play games you might not have played in awhile. I played the weekly challenge of The Bourne Identity a few times and didn't get a new high score. Then I had the machine using the random icon select three more. The games it selected were No Fear, Indiana Jones and Star Trek. When I played Indiana Jones I entered my initials for the #3 high score. I had fun playing the games.

 

Indiana Jones

 

No Fear

 

Star Trek

 

In the evening we continued watching the second season of Professor T on PBS. Then I watched Jason Bourne from our movies collection. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday 7-3-24 Crafting, Dancing & Playing Games

 

Have a great day

Larry spent a good part of the day working on his jukebox paper crafting project. He cut the pieces yesterday and today he assembled it. Lots of pieces and careful gluing. He also installed a light inside. The jukebox came out super.

Crafting

The finished jukebox

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 33 minutes and 38 seconds, which put me in 21st place in my group. Then I moved on playing Angry Birds.

I attended two virtual dances. First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 10:00 for an hour. They took turns calling five tips to 9 participants. Di worked on Relay the Duecey and Spin Chain The Gears. I had a great time dancing with friends.

Second was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:00 for an hour and a half. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped Dave call the dance. The format was 3 tips of C1, 3 tips of A2 and two trivia questions. During the C1 session we had 6 participants and A2 session had 10 participants. The trivia questions we in between the A2 tips. I had a very nice evening of dancing with friends.

Get a partner and dance

In between the dances I worked out with the Synth Riders for an hour.

I played pinball. I played The Bourne Identity, Black Rose, Aerosmith and Fish Tales. Larry installed the virtual reality version of Aerosmith. Then he played it to make sure it worked. It looks and work excellent other than a few bugs that the developer has acknowledged.

 

Aerosmith

Black Rose

Fish Tales

The Bourne Identity

Larry put an add up on Craig's list 6/30/24 and got a phone call last night. The lady said she was interested on taking the coach. She called a few times about coming to get the couch. Last night her brother called and said they would be here between 9:00 and 10:00. They did make it. They called at 10:00 and said they were on their way. They finally showed up at 11:45. They looked at it and she said she wanted it but she needed to get a hold of her friend because he had a truck. They called again while I was dancing to Dave. They showed up to get the couch. They ended up renting a truck from U-Haul. The couch fit perfectly in the bed. She was very happy to get the couch because she has been renting a couch. Now she has her own couch and can return the rental.

 

Good-bye couch

   

In the evening after Dave's dance we started watching the second season of Professor T on PBS. Then I watched The Bourne Ultimatum from our movie collection. I started watching a series on Acorn called The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells. It was a four hour 2001 series about H.G. Wells, who foresees the future. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.  

Tuesday 7-2-24 A2 Dance, Crafting, Games & Puzzle

 

Hot Day

We woke up to 76 degrees. At the house it got to 100 degrees and officially it got to 99 degrees. 

We started the day by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2 dance at 10:00 for an hour. Di and Terry took turns calling five tips to 11 participants. One of the dancers, Robin fell while walking through a parking lot the other day, some folks in the vicinity helped and called an ambulance. She said it was her first time in both an ambulance and emergency room. She had some bad cuts, a broken finger and many bruises, her face was especially bruised up. She said she was healing fine. Larry danced four of the tips with me. We had an outstanding hour of dancing with friends.

 

Square dancing with friends

 

Before the dance I did some housework. I dusted, vacuumed and cleaned the bathrooms. I did a few loads of clothes.

Doing housework

 

After lunch we went to Walmart to pick up a few things.

Larry spent the afternoon crafting. The project is a jukebox. He started by selecting the colors, he also created a paper that looks like wood. Once he had that done he had to design the pieces to be cut on the Cameo. Then he cut the pieces on the Cameo. Tomorrow he'll assemble the pieces.

I worked out using Synth Riders for an hour.

 

Working out

 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. I tried to do the event a few times but the X-Box site was down. I finally was able to play the event around 10:00 pm. The event was Event: Hard Road Mini of 5 games. It took me 53 minutes and 36 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group. I played Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends.

I worked on the jigsaw puzzle a little bit.

Larry and I played a few games of pinball. Larry played The Bourne Identity, Game of Thrones, James Bond 60th Anniversary and Lord of the Rings. He installed a new version of Elvira Party Monsters game. Once he installed it in both 2D and VR he played it a few times. I played the same games and Elvira Scared Stiff. When I played The Bourne Identity I got a new high score of 1,288,400. When I played James Bond 60th Anniversary and Elvira Scared Stiff I entered my initials for the high score #3. We had fun playing pinball.

 

Elvira Party Monsters

Elvira Scared Stiff

Game of Thrones

James Bond 60th Anniversary

 

Lord of the Rings

 

The Bourne Identity

In the evening we finished watching the first season of Professor T on PBS. We have two more seasons. After Larry went to bed I watched The Bourne Supremacy. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.

 

 

 

Monday 7-1-24 Projects, Dancing & Games

 

Summer Day

It got to 100 degrees at the house but officially it got to 99 degrees. We woke up to 78 degrees.

 

It's hot

Before it got too hot Larry did a few projects. It's the first of the month so he backed up the computer and put bleach in the septic system. He had fertilized the yards awhile back and our grass is growing fast in the frontyard and on the north side. Larry mowed the frontyard and the north side on the side of the house. After mowing he weedeated and edged. Then he blew off the porch and down the driveway. 

 

Mowing the frontyard

We have five irrigation valves spread around the yard. Over time the grass can grow over them making them difficult to find. Every few years Larry paints the covers a bright color to make them easier to locate, he also tries to keep the grass at bay with the weedeater. As he was mowing he noticed he could not see a few of them. It took him a bit to find all of them, between the grass growing over them and the paint being faded they were hard to find. He decided it was time to repaint them, he likes to paint them a bright color so he used some yellow spray paint he had. They were red.

New color for the irrigation covers

While Larry did his project outside I danced. Di Green and Terry McCann have a Monday morning C1 dance at 9:00 but this week Di asked Ett McAtee to cover for her. Di's mum had a hip replaced last Thursday and she and Terry are taking care of her. Ett called four tips to 11 participants. She did a great job. I had fun dancing to Ett and with friends.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Klondike Mini of 5 games. It took me 11 minutes and 15 seconds, which put me in 20th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

Before lunch we went into the garage and took of picture of the old couch. Then Larry put it on Craig's list for free. The new couch is working out great and there's no need to keep the old one.

 

Old couch

 

In the afternoon I took a nap for a couple of hours. When I woke up I worked out on Synth Rider for 45 minutes. Then I played pinball. I played The Bourne Identity, Apollo 13 and Black Rose. I had a great time.

Bourne Identity VR Room

The Bourne Identity

Apollo 13

Black Rose

While I played games Larry read and finished his book.

 

Reading is relaxing

In the evening we started watching Professor T on PBS. Then I watched the 4th episode of the 4th season of My Life Is Murder. Afterwards I finished watching The Alice. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.

 

 

Sunday 6-30-24 New Couch, New Weekly Challenge, Games & Puzzle

 

Relaxing Sunday

 

We didn't have anything on our agenda so we just relaxed around the house.

Larry finished his paper project by making an envelope for Joe Saltel's card. It came out great.

Envelope for Joe's card

After breakfast we moved our old couch to the garage and brought the new one into the living room. We had left the new couch in the garage to air out. We had a window open and a blower pointed at it and for the first few days there was a noticeable odor, the odor has now dissipated. We have a couple of furniture dollies that made the job much easier. We also don't have any steps. There is not a step at any of our entries, even the garage entry, there is only a small bump for the thresholds. When Larry designed the house he wanted to ensure we would be able to get in and out of the house as we aged so most of the house was built to ADA standards.  

The new couch is very comfortable and much more supportive, its about 3 inches taller so it's going to take time to adjust to the new height. The pillows came with it, really like them.

New couch in the living room

 

Larry did a little reading. 

Today is the beginning of a new week so I have a new Weekly Pinball Challenge. This week the game is The Bourne Identity. Larry downloaded the game and installed it on the pinball machine in both 2D and VR. Once it was installed he played it to make sure it worked. It works great. The VR room is very good, you are standing in a CIA firing range, there are are some weapons and a couple of guys shooting on the firing range. Also a couple of Jason Bourne wanted posters on the wall.

Before I played the new challenge I played last week challenge of Game of Thrones I got a new high score of 397,245,440, which put me in 20th place out of 59 participants. I played the new challenge of The Bourne Identity and got my first high score of 713,300, which put me in 9th place out of 9 participants. Then I played a few more games. They were Cactus Canyon, Cirqus Voltaire and Game of Thrones (five balls). I had fun playing pinball.

 

Game of Thrones

 

The Bourne Identity

 

Cactus Canyon

Cirqus Voltaire

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Spider and 5 Tri Peaks). It took me 1 hour, 23 minutes and 33 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group. Then I moved onto Angry Birds.

I worked on my puzzle.

In the evening we watched a movie on Amazon called The Age of Adaline. It was a story about a 29 year old woman named Adaline Bowman, she got in an accident that left her where she doesn't age. It was a cute love story. Then I watched The Bourne Identity from our movies. I watched a couple of episodes of The Alice. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group for the week with the total of 122,566 steps.