Monday 6-19 Small Rain Shower

We started the day out by going to the dentist. Larry had a root canal done ten days ago and he needed to get a crown put on in but he had to wait at least ten days. This morning was the day. While the dentist was working on the temporary crown he cut Larry's tongue and it took about an hour and a half to get the bleeding stop. Once the bleeding stopped the dentist finished working on Larry's tooth. Larry's tongue is sore but he's ok. Now he'll have to go back in about a month to get the permanent crown put on. 

While we were at the dentist a rain storm came though the area. It didn't rain hard but it was steady for an hour or two. I'm not complaining because the rain will be good for our yards and flowers. The rain wasn't in the forecast but it was nice to get a little relief from the high 90's. The rain kept it in the 80's.

In the evening we went to Sun City to square dance with the Sundancers and Brad. We started out with six squares and by the last tip there were only six couples so Brad decided to call a six couple plus tip, two of the couples had never done this before so they weren't too sure but by the end of the tip they had great time. In fact everyone did. Brad did another understanding night of calling. We had a super day. 

   

Sunday 6-18 Happy Father's Day

Today is a day to celebrate all the great fathers. Happy Fathers Day!!!

We started the day out by watching Sunday Morning on CBS. Then we spent the afternoon having a fantastic time square dancing with our friends at Allemande Hall. Every Sunday we meet to dance A between 3:00 and 5:00, usually we have either Wendell Moore or Dale Smith calling but they weren't available this week so we danced to tapes by Jerry Story and Johnny Preston. This was the first time the TIPS club has used tapes and we did a super job. We had enough people for one square and an extra couple. By the end of the afternoon they decided they really liked dancing to tapes and they want to try it again next Sunday.

Square dancing with friends

When we got home we made tacos using the HEB seasoned pork for fajitas. I had made caramel brownies and took them to the dance today and there were  some leftover so we had them for dessert. After dinner we watched some shows on KLRU. We watched a new series called My Mother and Other Strangers, it takes place during the 1940s, so far it's pretty good. Then we watched the first episode of the third season of Grantchester. We watched Father Brown and Doctor Blake Mysteries. We had a relaxing evening.  

Relaxing in front of the television

Saturday 6-17 Adult Soapbox Derby

Visiting Marble Falls

Have you ever been to soapbox car race? First of all I'll explain what a soapbox car is. It is a car that is unpowered, relying totally on gravity to move. The soapbox car is homemade. The first race in the United States was in 1934, where 362 kids showed up with cars made out of orange crates, sheet tin, wagon and baby buggy wheels. Now days they use standardized wheels with ball bearings and start on a hill and can get speed up to 35 mph. The races are more organized.

Larry was reading the paper the other day and came across an advertisement about Marble Falls having an Adult Soapbox Derby on Father's Day weekend. He thought it would be fun to attend so this morning we decided to go. This was Marble Falls 8th year to hold the event. Usually soapbox cars are driven by kids but today they were driven by adults. We arrived a little early so we walked around the area and looked at some of the soapbox cars. There were vendors selling knick knacks and food. There were bleachers for spectators to watch the races. We watched the races for about an hour. There was a derby hat contest at 2:00 but we left at 1:00, it was getting hot. We watched the two oldest racers race, one racer was 65 and the other one was 75. This proves that you're never too old to have fun. We had a great time watching the races.

Two ladies racing in the derby

Another lady racer

One soapbox car was a tank to water cattle black one

A drone keeping an eye on the race

One of the soapbox car was made from a jet ski

Two ladies ready for the derby hat contest

On the way home we stopped in Burnett to have lunch at Storms, which is a hamburger place. We have never been there before but our friends (Dalbert, LuAnn, Connie and Harold) had and they said it was good food. It was good food and was very reasonable priced. We shared a hamburger and an order of fries and for dessert we had a cup of chocolate and vanilla swirl soft serve ice cream. 

When we got home I worked out for a half hour on my Wii Fit, then we watched our YouTube videos. In the evening we watched one of our dvds off Amazon called Martian. It was a good movie. Last year we watched a series called The Tunnel on PBS and Larry received an e-mail telling him that the second season started and it was available on our Roku. After watching the movie we watched The Tunnel. We had a very fun day.  

Friday 6-16 Cooking Fresh Green Beans

Smile and be happy

We haven't been to the lake since Louise was here over two weeks ago. It has been windy, we really wanted to go this morning but the wind came up. Instead we hung around the house. 

Larry finished editing my annual adventure book. I worked on my jig saw puzzle and reread my annual book to double check it for mistakes. 

Yesterday, when Larry and Patrica came to the house Patrica brought fresh green beans from their garden. I had never cooked fresh green beans, I boiled them in water for about twenty minutes until they were tender, then I drained the water off and added butter to them. They tasted pretty good. Larry said his mother used to put bacon in with them but I didn't have any bacon thawed. The other day when we went grocery shopping we picked up some seasoned pork for fajitas. While I was cooking the green beans I put half of the pork in the crock pot and slow cooked it for four hours. Then I shredded it and made tacos out of the pork for dinner.

I worked out with Gold's Gym for a half hour, Just Dance for a half hour and Wii Fit for a half hour. After dinner we watched YouTube videos and finished up the the ten episodes of the Amazon Pilot Z- The Beginning of Everything. I liked the shows, they were well done and there was a good story but the season didn't have an ending, it was apparently left open for Amazon to have another season. I didn't like that. Then I did my daily challenges. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

Thursday 6-15 It's Hot!!!

Summer is arriving and today was the hottest we have seen this year, it got to 97 degrees. We didn't notice how hot it was until we walked outside. 

We started the day off by watering the flowers. We have a an Aerobic septic system and when the third tank gets full the sprinklers kick in and they water the backyard. This morning the sprinklers ran and left the planter's soil damp so I didn't have to water the flowers as much as I have been.

We didn't have anything on our agenda so we hung around the house all day. I did laundry, vacuumed and did dishes, I also worked on my puzzle while Larry worked on editing my annual book about our adventures. 

In the evening Larry and Patrica met us the house and we all went to Sun City for the Sundancers weekly Thursday Advanced dancing. Every week we dance for an hour and a half to A dances on recordings. Usually there is someone sitting out to run the recording and stop it when we need to walk through the moves. The first half hour we had exactly enough people to have two squares and no one was sitting out so we didn't have anyone to stop the recording. The gentleman who was running the dancing Dan picked recording that weren't too difficult, we did very well. Another couple showed up for the last hour so someone controlled the recording. This worked out even better and we could dance to more complex recordings. We had a super time dancing with friends. 

Wednesday 6-14 What a wonderful life!!!

What a wonderful life!!!!

I have a wonderful life!!!! Most years we go on two long camping trips a year, one in the spring and the other one in the fall. We square dance multiple times a week with friends. We spend time on the lake boating and doing water sports when we want to. I have a great husband. I wouldn't change my life. 

We woke up to free entertainment in the backyard. It was overcast and the wildlife was enjoying it. We watched squirrels running around in the grass and a couple more chasing each other through the trees. We saw a couple of roadrunners hunting for breakfast, very unusual, we frequently see roadrunners but they are usually loners. 

After watching the wildlife play we ate breakfast then I watered my flowers. It has been a week since I planted the seeds and I'm very excited. There are plants on all sides now. The Nasturtiums are now starting to grow. The package did say that it took between 8-12 days to germinate. Now I need to be patient for 32-60 days to actually see flowers blooming.   

We thought about going to the lake but there was a breeze, instead we went to town and did our weekly grocery shopping. It was around 9:00 and there was hardly anyone in the HEB so we were out of there in no time.

Once we were back at the house we didn't leave. I put the groceries away and worked on my puzzle. After we ate lunch I laid down for about an hour and Larry received an e-mail about the Seeds Program. It always takes him awhile to pick the products he wants to review considering there are pages and pages of products to choose from. By the time I woke up he had decided on the products. Now we just have to wait on them. I worked out on my Wii Fit for a half hour and Just Dance for a half hour. 

For dinner I barbecued a rack of pork ribs that we bought this morning, they were really good. 

Ribs for dinner

After dinner we watched our YouTube videos and Amazon. We watched a movie called Youth in Oregon, which was about a man taking his 80 year old father in-law across the country to Oregon to legally get euthanized. It was a good movie and it starred Frank Langella, Billy Crudup and Mary Kay Place. After the movie we started an Amazon Pilot called Z - The Beginning of Everything. It a biography series based on Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. We had a great evening.         

Tuesday 6-13 Just Another Day

Just Another Wonderful Day

We had another wonderful day.

We started the day out watering the flowers. Larry asked if I wanted to go to the lake and I told him no, for some reason I just couldn't get motivated to do anything

After buying the first Amazon Dot (Alexa) and having so much fun with it we bought a second one. Now we have one in the living room and one in Larry's workroom. For a bit we had the second one in the kitchen but sometimes when we give one a command the other one would hear it and things could get confusing. When I cook I use Alexa all the time for setting timers, I would say "Alexa: set a biscuit timer for 12 minutes" and one of the Dots would set the timer, later I would ask "Alexa: how much time is left on the timer", if the Dot that did not set the timer heard me first it would say there were no timers set so I would have to try and be sure the Dot that set the timer was also the Dot that answered my question. After moving the one from the kitchen to the workroom they work a lot better. We have bought wall plugs so Alexa can turn on and off the lamp and fan. We have bought switches for the lights so Alexa could turn on and off the lights in the kitchen and other areas. Larry is having a ball playing with both Dots.

Yesterday I mentioned we went to The Home Depot and picked up a few things, we got a few new light switches and wall plates so Larry's could add Alexa switches in the living room. The first thing Larry had to do was figure out how the three way switch to the ceiling fan light was wired. He took off the plates and using a volt meter got it figured out. He then removed the switches and replaced them with a combination of Alexa switches and a new one from Home Depot. He then programmed Alexa to turn on and off the ceiling fan and its light and the desk light. Now we have Alexa turning on and off the lights in the kitchen and living room on command. There is so much you can do with the Alexa, it is so cool. We can even turn off all the lights at the same time by simply saying "Alexa: turn off all the lights".

After lunch I worked out on my Wii Fit for forty-five minutes and with Gold Gyms for a half hour. When I started my workout with Gold Gym I had to register on the program and start at the very beginning. I had fun.

In the evening we watched YouTube videos and a two hour episode of American Epic. The American Epic is a series on PBS about early music in the United States. Tonight we watched the episode about the first recording machine they used in the 1920's. There is only two of the machines left in the United States and only one of them work. They invited different singers into the studio to record on the machine. It was very interesting to learn about the history of the recorder and how it works. Then I worked on my puzzle and did my daily challenges. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!!