Sunday 8-19 Just Another Day

After reading the news paper Larry wrote and submitted his reviews on the speakers and the Rachio irrigation system. I worked on some Sudoku puzzles.

The Sundancers round dancers weren't using their room today so the Sundancers and Brad decided to do a four hour special dance. The first hour was for class level dancers and the second hour was for mainstream dancers. The last two hours were for plus dancers with more complex moves. We attended the last two hours which started at 4:00. The other day when Louise came out to go to the lake she forgot a bag of clothing so on the way to Sun City we swung by and delivered her the bag. When we arrived at the dance there were exactly five squares of mainstream dancers and Brad was having to call and dance a woman's part at the same time so I tapped in and took his place. He's amazing, he didn't even miss a beat, he kept on calling. The plus dancing started out with three squares but the last hour we only had six couples. When there were six couples we had fun with a six couple square tip, where there were four head couples instead of two. We also did a hexagon tip, where there were three head couples and three side couples. We had a great time with Brad and friends. I can't wait to dance with Brad again tomorrow.

On the way home we stopped by Denny's and had dinner. By the time we got home it was 8:00 so we spent the rest of the evening relaxing. We had a super day. 

Saturday 8-18 Speaker Project

Busy working on speakers project

Larry stayed busy all day working on a project. The Leviton JBL speakers he received yesterday were designed to work in your ceiling. One is a two-channel speaker and the other one is a larger single channel. He hooked them up on his workbench and they didn't sound very good. A few weeks ago when we got the small speakers for the kitchen they also didn't sound very good until he built boxes for them. Since he really didn't want to cut holes into our ceiling he spent the day building two boxes for the new speakers. He used a table saw and jig saw along with some scrap wood and a hot glue gun. He built both boxes the same size but one has a larger hole to accommodate the larger speaker. After installing the speakers they sound great. The smaller speaker sounded the best, it is very crisp and has better bass. Being a two channel speaker probably helps but you really need two speakers to get the best effect.

Cutting the speaker hole out

Making sure the speaker fits hole

Gluing the box pieces together

One side down a few more to go

The finished boxes

JBL Two-Channel Ceiling Speaker

JBL LAE8C Ceiling Speaker

While Larry worked on his project I did some Sudoku.

In the evening we watched a few episodes of House. We had a very relaxing evening.

Friday 8-17 Birthdays Celebration

Birthday Celebration

Due to Larry and I taking an extended trip every fall we pick another day to celebrate not only our birthdays but also Louise's birthday. Today was the day we decided to celebrate our birthdays.

I got up early and prepared our birthday lunch. I made skewered grilled potatoes and stuffed hot peppers. This time I used hatched green chili peppers, they gave the dish more flavoring but were not hot. I prepared the dishes and cooked them up when it got closer to lunchtime. 

Louise showed up at 9:00 with Alice and then we went to the lake. Due to the wind we hadn't been to the lake at all this month. We were very excited about going and this was Louise's second time out this year to go to the lake. There was a small amount of wind but Larry and I each did a wakeboard set and then we went to find smoother water for Louise to waterski. We found some really nice water and Louise was able to get up on the slalom ski. She had a great run. Afterwards we swam. There weren't a lot of people on the lake, we saw a few fishermen. We also saw a small plane and a military helicopter. Our lake day was very peaceful.

Louise skiing down Belton Lake

Larry and Louise swimming

Way to go Larry crossing the wake

When we got home I completed the dishes I had prepared earlier by cooking them on the grill. They came out delicious. Louise brought a German Chocolate cake for dessert which was also delicious. After lunch we opened our gifts. We got a lot of super gifts such as snacks to take with us on our trip, gifts cards for Amazon and I got some Sudoku puzzle books. We had a wonderful birthday celebration with Louise and Alice.

One big happy family

Look at all the Birthday gifts

Larry having fun

I'm so tired

Opening my presents

Louise having fun opening her gifts

After Louise and Alice left we went to town to pick up a couple packages at the UPS Store. They were two different speakers from the Seeds Program. Now Larry has another project. When we got home he started playing with the speakers. It's going to be hard to review them considering he only has two single speakers.

In the evening we went to Killeen to dance with the Killeen Kickers. There were enough people for three squares and a few people sitting out. Dan called seven tips and Christina did line dancing in between the tips. The club supplied a lot of delicious food. We had fun dancing with our friends. 

Having fun square dancing with friends

Louis celebrating getting home

Line dancing with friends

Thursday 8-16 Doing Weekly Stuff

What should we do today?

Larry started the day out by mowing the front yard. It wasn't out of control but it was a little tall. The lawn crew doesn't come this week. Larry got the lawn mower out and it started right up. It didn't take him long at all, about twenty minutes. Then he blew the drive and walkway off. All finished for today.

When Larry finished we went to shopping at HEB. It didn't take too long because we only needed a few things. Next stop was the UPS Store to pickup a package and our mail.

I have mentioned many times that Larry participates in The Home Depot Seeds Program. He hadn't gotten anything from the program in months because he couldn't find anything he wanted. Last month he got the shelving unit we installed in the garage and this month he found a few items. The package at the UPS Store was one of the items, it was a Rachio 3 Smart Water System Sprinkler Controller. He already has an earlier version of the Rachio Controller so our sprinkler system was already wired for the new one. He removed the old system and the new one went in perfectly. All of the settings transferred from the old one to the new one via their smart phone app. The only problem he had was getting the rain sensor to work, it wired in differently than the old system and that information was not provided in the directions, he had to find it online.

Wiring in the Rachio Water System

The Rachio Water System control panel

While Larry was doing his projects I worked on my puzzle and did my weekly chores. I did laundry, vacuumed the house and cleaned the bathrooms.

Doing laundry and much more

In the evening Larry and Patricia met up with us and we went to the Sundancers Thursday A Dance. We were shy one couple to make two squares. We danced every other tip so we had plenty of time to rest. We danced to calls where the callers made it more complex.

When we got home I watched my weekly PBS shows. I stayed up until 1:00 and finished assembling my puzzle, Feline Bookcase. It was very challenging because there was a lot of browns but I had fun.

Feline Bookcase puzzle finished.

  

Wednesday 8-15 Recycling and Returning Items

Just having fun

We started the day out by going to town. First stop was Dollar Tree to buy rice rolls, they're low in calories and taste good. Next stop was The Home Depot to return a plug we didn't use. Then to Hobby Lobby to return a piece of foam we didn't use. The last stop was in Temple to recycle our aluminum cans. We try to recycle when we can.

Recycling cans

During the afternoon I worked on my puzzle and Larry finished reading a book on his Kindle.

In the evening we went to Shirts 'n' Skirts for their weekly dance with Brad calling. There were enough people to make six squares plus a few sitting out. Brad called eight tips tonight and three of them were plus tips. In between the tips Martha cued some line dancing. Martha did a great job with the line dancing and I danced everyone of them. Brad did an excellent job of calling. We had an outstanding evening dancing with friends.

Tuesday 8-14 New Stuff

I'm excited

The wind stayed around all day.

I worked on my puzzle and Larry read. After lunch Larry decided he wanted fresh baked bread. We had three loafs of Rhodes White Bread in the freezer. We got the package out and followed the directions for the shortest prep time, it took about 3 hours instead of 12. When the bread has risen you bake it for 20 to 25 minutes. I only had to bake it for 20 minutes. It came out great. The problem is we eat the whole loaf in one day 😀.

Freshly baked bread

While I was working on my puzzle the mailman delivered a few packages from Amazon. Our extra  battery and charger for our new camera arrived. We have some old stools that are normally in Larry's workroom but I also use them when I assemble puzzles, the seats are splitting which makes them uncomfortable so Larry ordered a replacement padded seat cover and it also arrived today. I put the cover on and the stool is far more comfortable. We're getting ready to go on our trip so Larry ordered a couple of Canadian maps, Ontario and Quebec. Lately the packaging from Amazon has been interesting, they will ship us some very small item in a huge box instead of an envelope. 

New charger for camera battery

New battery

New stool seat cover

The box that the charger came in

Do you remember the television series House? Well, this evening we started watching the first season. I like it just as well as I did when it was on television 14 years ago. 

While we were watching television we saw deer in our backyard. We saw two does and a fawn first. Then all a sudden a young buck comes running out of the trees and a doe was chasing him. He was starting to eat some grass when she came after him. She chased him until he was far away in the lot next to our house. After he was at a distance she came back and started eating with the other deer. During this incident the fawn got hurt. I guess it was ok because it came back and ate next to the doe that chased the buck. We were watching this and it was amazing because we never seen a doe go after a buck. We had a very relaxing day.

Deer in our backyard

Monday 8-13 Weekly Sundancers Dance

Having fun with friends

The front continued to linger on all day. We had wind but no rain. The temperature officially got up to 97 degrees.

We stayed around the house all day. I worked on my puzzle and Larry finished reading a book. During the afternoon we watched YouTube videos. While watching videos we saw a buck, two does and a fawn walking through our backyard. 

Deer in the lot next to our house

A buck eating leaves

For dinner I grilled chicken, I used the Grilled Greek Chicken recipe from All Recipes. It came out delicious.  

Grilled Greek Chicken

In the evening we went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers. We had six squares and just enough people for a square to have an A tip. Brad made the dance challenging. We had a super time dancing with friends.