5-18 & 5-19 Two Fabulous Days of DBD

Jerry Story calling for the High Level DBD

May 18, 2016

Wow, we're tired. Today started two days of High Level DBD dancing with Jerry Story calling. It didn't start until 3:00 so we hung around the house until it was time to go. We did go to town to get two packages the UPS Store had for us. Flo went with us so she was happy she went for a ride. This square dancing event is taking place at Allemande Hall in Waco. It had two sessions each day. Todays sessions today were 3-5 and 7-9. We had seven squares and a few extra dancers. They used a computer program that told you which square you danced in. One good thing about using the computer is you get the opportunity to dance with different people. But a bad thing about using the computer is you may not rest. Jerry did a great job of keeping the dances going, we were lucky if we had more than three minutes between tips. The first session I didn't sit out at all because a gentleman needed a partner to dance with. Larry also ended up dancing the tip we were suppose to sit out, a friend of ours was having knee problems so Larry filled in for him. We danced and visited with people we don't get to see very often. For the two hours in between sessions we went with Dalbert and LuAnn to BJ's for dinner. There were about twenty of us there. We had a super time dancing with Jerry and our friends and we are looking forward to going back tomorrow. When we got home Flo was very excited to see us considering she was left at home for over eight hours.     

Having fun dancing with friends

Maureen and friends waiting for Jerry to call the next call

Jerry explaining what he wants us to do

Dancing with friends

May 19, 2016

This morning we woke up to rain. I got up the same time as Larry. While Larry was getting dressed I fed Flo and took her outside. The first session started at 9:00 so we had to leave the house 7:45, we don't like to be late. It rained on and off all day. The morning session had seven squares plus a few more people. We broke for lunch around 11:00. Once again we went with Dalbert and LuAnn to lunch. Today we went to a local sandwich shoppe called Schmaltz's Sandwich Shoppe. This was the first time we have eaten there. We shared a large The Schmaltz sandwich. It was good. In the afternoon we had six squares with three extra couples. We had another super day of dancing with Jerry Story and friends.

Friends dancing to Jerry Story

Dancing with friends while Larry rests

Jerry Story calling the dances

On the way home from dancing we stopped by the storage center to get the Minnie and the car dolly. In the evening we got the Minnie ready to go to Fredericksburg for another two days of dancing with Jerry Story. After getting the Minnie ready we relaxed all night. We watch the movie Blue State via Amazon, it was a Canadian/American romantic comedy starring Breckin Meyer and Anna Paquin. It was a cute movie.  

 

5-17 Another Busy Day

A busy day

Larry and I are going to be really busy square dancing starting tomorrow, we have two, two day events getting ready to start, Jerry Story is the caller for both events. Today we did projects that needed done. We started the day off by doing our weekly grocery shopping and buying food for Flo. We loaded Flo into the car and went to town. The first stop was at the Belton Feed & Supply for Flo's food. Then we went shopping at HEB. On the way home we stopped at the UPS Store for our mail and then got gas in the car. We thought about taking Flo swimming but we were afraid the rain was coming. When we got home I put the groceries away and then made lunch. 

Shopping at HEB

Flo's food from Belton Feed & Supply

After lunch Larry worked a bit more on cleaning the boat carpeting, not sure if he will be happy with it or have to clean it a bit more. While he was doing this I did laundry and some housework. After our projects were done Larry read Tamarack County. I worked on my puzzle. It's slowly getting done but I'm having fun working on it in between reading books. We had a very busy day.

Cleaning the boat's rug

Doing laundry

Reading is fun

Slowly putting The World of Dogs puzzle together

This is what the finished puzzle should look like

5-16 Installing A Sprinkler

Installing another sprinkler in the front yard

The other day when Larry was changing out the sprinkler heads he thought there should be one more sprinkler. We had one area of the yard that was not getting as much water as the rest of the yard. He measured where all of the heads are and decided that one is missing. Over the last few days he has poked, prod and dug up a small area looking for the missing head. He finally came to the conclusion there simply was not a head where there needed to be one. He decided he would install one. He had to dig around in the yard to find the nearest pipe for the irrigation system, once he located the pipe he had to dig a trench to where the new head was going to be installed.  When the trench was finished we loaded Flo into the car and headed to town. We stopped by The Home Depot to pickup a sprinkler head, PVC pipe, connectors (elbow and adapter) and PVC glue. When we got home Larry was going to start back on the project but he found he needed a 45 degree elbow that he had not purchased. We had lunch and then we went back to town. We went to Ace Hardware and bought an elbow. When we got home Larry installed the new sprinkler head. He then had to replace the dirt and then the sod he cut from the lawn. He tested out the sprinklers. It made a big difference by adding another sprinkler and changing the heads to rotating heads. Now it looks like the yard will be watered more evenly. While he was doing all that digging he cut through the Invisible fence wire that runs under the grass. He knew he cut the wire because the alarm on the Invisible Fence system started to beep. Since we still use this for Flo he had to fix the wire, fortunately he had extra wire and connectors from when he originally installed the system.

Looking for the sprinkler

Digging the trench for the line

Connecting the PVC pipe and connectors

Repairing the Invisible Fence

The finished project before covering up the pipe

The PVC primer and glue

Having fun square dancing

 In the evening we went to Alemande Hall for our A lessons. Tonight we had two squares. We spent most of the night reviewing the moves we were introduced to. Wendell did introduce us to one new move and walked us through another. We had a nice night with friends.           

5-15 Soothing Sunday

This morning we hung around the house. Larry read the paper, we then watched the Giz Wiz and three episodes of TED TV, I also read a little. After lunch Larry and I went to the TIPS dance, they called it, Caller Appreciation Dance. This is the last dance that they are having on Sunday, they're moving the dance to the first and third Thursday's of the month. We had enough people for two squares. Wendell Moore called the dance. We had a half hour plus workshop before the two hour dance. In between a couple of the tips Betsy did a presentation, where she read the background of both Dale Smith and Wendell Moore. These presentations showed how much the dancers appreciated the dedication both Dale and Wendell do for square dancing. We had a very nice time.

Betsy doing one of her presentations

Wendell Moore calling the dance

Christina enjoying the dance

Larry and our friends enjoying the dance

Our friends dancing to Wendell's calling

 In the evening we watched our weekly shows Call the Mid Wife and Wallander. We had a very nice day.

    

5-14 What a busy day!!!!

What a busy day!!!!!

We started the day out by mowing the yard and cleaning the rug in the boat. Yesterday, when Larry was replacing the the sprinkler heads he was one short so we went to The Home Depot and bought one. Before starting on our projects he replaced the sprinkler head. We had a couple of stains on the carpet in the boat caused by us getting in and out of the boat that we wanted to try and remove. It is almost time to start boating so Larry decided he would clean the rug. He sprayed the rug with a carpet cleaner, then with a sponge he rubbed the cleaner in the rug so it can start to clean the rug. Then he waited for the cleaner to dry. Once it was dry he checked it out and found he will have to clean it again.

Larry rubbing the soap into the rug of the boat

The carpet cleaner before being rubbed in

Mowing the yard

This week we are going to be busy square dancing and there is a chance of rain all week so we decided we should mow the lawn today. While Larry was working on the boat I mowed both the front and back yards. When Larry was waiting for the rug to dry he weedeated and blew off the drive and walkway. It took me an hour and a half to mow the yard. When I finished we went inside and cooled off before having lunch. While we were cooling off we had a small rain storm come through. Larry said good thing I had mowed otherwise we may not be able to mow for another week.

 

Dinner with friends

Ken Ritucci

This weekend the Austin Square and Round Dance Association (ASRDA) was having their 68th Annual Mid-Tex Festival. They had three dances, one on Friday night with local callers and three on Saturday with Ken Ritucci. There was a morning "A" dance, an afternoon dance and a evening dance. We went to the Saturday afternoon dance. There were only two squares for the dance. They hadn't told Ken if it was a plus or mainstream dance so he asked us. At the beginning all dancers were plus dancers so he decided he would call just plus moves. During the first tip a few new dancers showed up so he rotated one tip of plus and one tip of mainstream. It was a very fun. This was the first time we ever danced to Ken and he was a very good caller. We danced every tip so I didn't have a chance to take pictures. After the dance we went to Hat Creek Burger Company with some friends for dinner. The hamburgers were delicious. We had a super afternoon with friends.

Watching television

By the time we got home Flo was excited to see us. In the evening we streamed an episode of Arm Of Light. This episode was about a minister struggling with the conflict of Pro Life and Pro Guns. The documentary was very well done. We also watched an episode of Frontline called Secrets of the Vatican. This was about the power the Vatican has. It was a good documentary. We had a super day.      

5-13 It's Friday the 13th.

Are you superstitious?

Well, today is Friday the 13th. Are you superstitious? If you are I wish you luck. We're not. We just think of it as just another day.

When we got back from our trip last fall the grass in one part of the lawn looked really bad, but it was fall and the grass was going dormant and it was time to turn off the sprinklers for the winter so we really didn't worry too much about it. When Larry turned the system on this year he used bowls to capture and measure how much water our system was putting on the grass, he discovered that one area was getting half as much water as the rest of the yard. One of the things he decided to do was to replace all of the adjustable spray sprinkler heads with new, more efficient rotator heads. Our new heads arrived the other day so Larry decided to replace them today. The heads get buried below the grass so first he had to find and mark the location of all the sprinklers. To locate them you turn on the system so the heads popup and then you can mark where they are, he discovered one wasn't popping up at all. That one ended up being really hard to find. The next step was to dig them up a little to get to the heads. Once the sprinklers were dug up he changed out the heads. The last step was adjusting the sprinklers. This took some time but he got them working great. While Larry was replacing the heads Flo and I kept him company. After the heads were adjusted it looked like the heads were covering the grass evenly and these new heads are suppose to use a bit less water. He will need to get his bowls back out and measure the amount of water going on the lawn to figure out if the system is really working correctly and to figure out how long we need to water with the new heads to get the proper amount of water on the grass. Once he knows the correct amount of time he can reprogram the sprinkler controller.

Larry weed eating around the sprinklers

Larry digging out the sprinklers heads

New sprinkler head spraying

Old sprinkler head spraying

Larry and I had finished reading The Devil's Bed and listening to Northwest Angle so we needed to return them to the library. After lunch we loaded Flo into the car and off to the library we went. While we were at the library we found the next Cork O'Connor book in the series we hadn't read which was Tamarack County. We checked it out. We had put the Northwest Angle book on hold last week but since we had listened to it via the audio book we told them to take it off hold. We asked them to put the last Cork O'Connor book on hold, which is Windigo Island. Once the book is returned we will get an e-mail saying it's available for us to check out.

Watching television

 After dinner Larry and I went for a little ride just to get out of house. When we got home we watched the rest of Janis Joplin: American Masters. It was a very good documentary about Janis Joplin's career. Then we streamed Arm Of Lights: Faith and Guns on PBS through the ROKU. It was a good documentary that gave you both sides of the story of guns and faith through six different ministers. We had a very relaxing evening.

5-12 What a great day!!!!!!

Swimming in Nolan Creek

Once again it was overcast in the morning. We needed to go to The UPS Store to pickup a package so we loaded Flo into the car and went to town. The package that was waiting for us was our new sprinklers heads that Larry just ordered a couple of days ago. Then we stopped by and filled up the car with gas. Afterwards Flo's wish came true, we took her to Nolan Creek so she could go swimming. The creek was higher than it was the other day but that didn't stop Flo. I think she really enjoys swimming in the current of Nolan Creek. She just hangs in the current and swims, when she's finished she swims out of the current. While I was walking Flo around the area Larry read. On the way to The UPS Store Larry stopped by the bakery across the street from the high school. Larry had read that it had great food and you had to get there early before the items disappeared, once the item is gone they don't bake it again until the next day. He bought a cinnamon roll. It was huge so he only bought one. When we got home we had lunch and ate the roll as our lunch dessert. The reviews were right, the cinnamon roll was delicious. In the afternoon I finished listening to the Cork O'Connor book, Northwest Angle and Larry finished reading The Devil's Bed. I vacuumed the house.

Vacuuming the house

Audio Books

After listening to Northwest Angle via the audio book I have decided I prefer to either read the book on the kindle or having the book in my hands. It was a good experience but I found that it takes a lot of concentration otherwise you loose your place and miss pieces of the book. I didn't want to disturb Larry so I had to wear ear phones. I noticed that the volume had to be adjusted once in awhile because they start to slip out of my ears. Other times the ear phones made my ears sore.

Friends enjoying themselves during the Coryell County Squares Dance

Waiting for the next call

Dale Smith and Wendell Moore calling the dance

Larry enjoying watching friends square dance

Deer grazing in our backyard

In the evening Larry and I went to Gatesville to dance with the Coryell County Squares. While we were waiting to leave for the dance we looked out our window and saw four deer walking along the tree line in our backyard. It's always a pleasure to watch the deer grazing. Ed Larder still wasn't feeling well so Wendell Moore called the Coryell County Squares. Dale Smith and his wife Pam were there so Dale helped Wendell call the dance. There were enough people for two squares and had a few people leftover. We had a fun time.

What a great day!!!!!

We had a great day. We took Flo for a swim and I walked a long the banks of Nolan Creek. Larry and I finished reading our books. We went dancing in the evening. While doing our activities we laughed and had fun. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!