Friday 7-17 Mowing the Yards

It's Friday

We started the day doing our weekly mowing. I wanted to get an early start so at 9:00 I went outside and started the mower. Wow, when I put the mower in gear it took off faster than it ever had. I had to move the gear leveler only a couple inches from the slowest gear. When Larry finished working on the mower he mowed the north side of the frontyard to test out mower so today I only had to do the other side and I mowed half of the backyard and along the neighbor's fence. It took me an hour. While I mowed Larry weedeated and treated for weeds. Then he blew the driveway and front porch. 

Holding on tight 

While I was cooling off I did my daily challenges and The Event: Two Game Tango Mini, which was 5 games of Klondike and 5 games of Tri Peaks. It took me 59 minutes and 48 seconds to complete, which put me in 16th place in my group. Larry read.

After lunch we went to the UPS Store to pickup our mail and the package that was waiting for us.

When we got home I worked on my puzzle and we watched YouTube videos. We watched an episode of the GizWiz.

After dinner we attended Ett's weekly A2 dance. Tonight Ett called an hour of A2 and a half hour of C1. During the A2 session of the dance we had 57 people Zoomed in. During the C1 session we had 52 people. This week we did lot better. We had fun dancing to Ett calling.

Then we watched an episode of Midsomer Murders. A couple of days ago Larry installed the Peacock channel on the Fire TV. The Peacock channel is owned by NBC and it shows programs that NBC has the rights on. This will give me another choose of shows to watch. Today I started to watch the first season of Psych. I ended up doing 28,500 steps, which put me in second place in my group. 

Thursday 7-16 A Beautiful Day

We had a beautiful day with a lot of sun and a breeze. It got up to 102 degrees.

The other day when we got back from going to the lake we saw a squirrel in our bird feeder. It was having a great time eating the sunflower seeds and other goodies. Larry scared it away. This wasn't the first time a squirrel has been in the feeder. To try and stop this Larry used a thin plastic shield and attached it to the bottom of the front of the feeder. The squirrel showed up and checked the feeder out. It didn't take long for the squirrel to figure out how to get in the feeder. It got on one of the hummingbird feeders and jumped onto the roof of the bird feeder. Larry saw him do it and tapped on the window, the squirrel ignored him. So Larry unlocked the back door and the squirrel jumped off the feeder onto the railing. Then it jumped to the ground and ran away. He came back this morning and Larry once again tapped on the window, didn't work. So he opened the back door the squirrel ran away. Larry did some research on how to prevent squirrels from getting into your bird feeder. There were a lot of suggestions, some worked for some of the folks but not for others. 

How can I get to the food

The bird feeder modification with the plastic shield

     

In the morning I did my daily challenges and The Event: Tango Thursday, which had 5 games of Tri Peaks. It took me 16 minutes and 11 seconds. It put me in 20th place in my group. Then I worked on my puzzle.

At 11:00 we attended Dayle Hodge's weekly C1 Virtual Dance. We had 52 people sign in to Zoom. Dayle called a great dance. He called the moves in some weird positions. When we took a break after the tips people gave Dayle feedback. Most of the moves Dayle cued but sometimes you can't figure out what happened and why you weren't in the correct spot. We had a fun time.

In the evening we attended two Virtual Weekly Dances. The first was Jeremy Butler's A2/C1 at 6:00. Jeremy had 38 people on Zoom. He called a challenging dance by calling the calls out of positions I'm not used to being in. He didn't cue much. I did a lot better on the C1 tip than the three A2 tips. My problem is once I get confused I can't figure it out and I have to go back home. Larry tries to help me get to the right place but I get more confused. Thank you, Larry for trying to help me. 

The second dance was Loren Smith's Plus Dance at 8:00. Loren had 31 people attending his dance. He invited Gary Smith to call one tip. He did very easy patterns. He did very well considering it was his first time to do a virtual tip. Loren called three tips himself, the last tip was a four couple tip. We sat this one out because we can't keep track of three phantom couples. We had a great time dancing because we didn't have to think too hard.

In the afternoon I did some housework and laundry. I have been neglecting this chore. When we were going to Sun City to square dance I usually did my housework once a week but now I'm not too motivated to do so. I'm going to try to do my housework once a week.

After Loren's dance I watched the second season of The Bench. I did 21,500 steps, which put me in fifth place in my group. I went over my goal of 20,500 but I'm behind my challenge goal by 2,000 steps. We had a busy day of dancing and having fun.

Wednesday 7-15 A Day of Virtual Dancing

We had a wonderful day. 

We started the day out by going to Walmart to pick up Larry's second prescription. It was a creme that was suppose to treat fungal infections. The pharmacist said that our insurance didn't pay for the creme because you can buy it over the counter. He told Larry he could either pay  $16.00 for the prescription or pay $6.78 for the same creme over the counter. This was weird because the pharmacy had to order the creme to fill the prescription and they did not tell Larry about the over the counter creme they had in stock. When Larry read the directions it said not to use the creme on fungal infections of the nail but you can treat athlete feet with it. Larry had not been impressed by the doctor he saw the other day, he's even less impressed now.

Before the first dance I did my daily challenges and The Event: Easy Street Mini of 10 games. It took me 29 minutes and 9 seconds, which put me in 25th place in my group.

Today we attended three virtual square dances via Zoom. The first dance was Dayle Hodge's weekly A2 dance. We had 50 participants Zoomed in. The dance format was four tips: first two tips dancing, the third tip was a workshop and the last tip was dancing. Today Dayle made the dance more complex by putting us in lefty positions and some weird positions. It was hard but a lot of fun. 

The second dance was Ett's weekly C1 Workshop/Dance at 1:00. We did a lot better this week. We didn't break down as much. We had 47 participants. We had a super time.

The third dance was Bear Miller's biweekly Virtual Plus Dance. We have danced to Bear years ago, for a week in Fun Valley and one other time in Killeen. The dance was an hour and a half. The actual dance was an hour with a round in between the tips. Bear called two tips. The last half hour was a time to socialize with the other dancers. Bear is an excellent caller and a really nice person. We had 17 participants. We had fun.

Before the last dance we watched YouTube videos. I worked out for a half hour with my Wii Fit and a half hour with Fitnation. In Fitnation I did two episodes, which were seventh episode and ninth episode. The seventh episode was called Upper Body Workout  and the ninth episode was Lower Body. 

After the third dance I started to watch The Bench, which is a series on Acorn. It is a British series about the British court system. It was good. I ended up doing 24,000 steps.  

        

Tuesday 7-14 Two Virtual Plus Dances

It is hot!!!!

This was the fifth day in a row that it got up to 100 or higher. Today it officially got to 104 degrees in Belton/Temple area. It was windy.

We started the day out by going to the storage center to take the Minnie for its monthly drive. Larry tries to do this once a month when we're not using it to keep the Minnie running correctly. While taking the Minnie for a drive we run the generator.

Taking the Minnie for a ride

We attended two virtual plus dances today. The first dance was at 11:00 with Dayle Hodge. Dayle had 33 participants on Zoom. Some of the participants were single people but the majority were couples so there were more than 33 people dancing. Dayle is a pleasure to dance to because he cues the whole time. He sights calls so he knows when the dancers are having problems. When dancers have problems he will walk us through the move. He explains the move first and then he has the dancers dance the move while he cues it. It's always nice to be able to just dance without stress. We had an outstanding time.

The second plus dance was at 6:30 to 8:00 with Dick Otis and Bill Harrison. We had 44 participants. This was the first time that Dick Otis had done a Zoom dance so there were a few mistakes but that was ok, he still did a great job. Dick and Bill did three tips a piece. We had a super time dancing to Dick and Bill. 

In between the dances I did my daily challenges and The Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 10 games. It took me 36 minutes and 20 seconds, which put me in 28th place in my group. We watched YouTube videos and I worked on my puzzle.

 

After the second dance we watched an episode of Midsomer Murders. I watched a couple of movies on Amazon, Cover with Chocolate and Footloose. Cover with Chocolate was a murder detective movie and was good. It has been years since I watched Footloose and it was still a good movie. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in first place in my group.

Relaxing in front of the television

Monday 7-13 Boat Day

Boat Day

We had another hot day. We spent most of the day indoors.

The first thing we did today was go to the lake. We were on the lake by 9:30, we wanted to beat the heat. By the time we got to the lake a little breeze came up. Larry has been nursing a toe nail for over a year to get rid of a fungus that was growing under the nail. When he was putting his foot into the binding of the wake board the nail broke half way down his big toe. The nail hurt and he didn't want to take a chance of an infection so he got back in the boat. I did a wake board set and then we called it a day. After pulling the boat out of the a water we wiped it down. We had a nice time on the lake.

After lunch I worked on my daily challenges and The Event: Two Game Tango Mini, which was 3 games of Spider and 3 games of Pyramid. It took me 18 minutes and 31 seconds, which put me in 23rd place in my group.

Larry called our doctor and the soonest they could get him in was Friday so he went to urgent care. The doctor didn't know what to do, he said they didn't have any tools to trim off the broken nail, he said he could deaden the toe and remove the entire nail but it would hurt and the entire nail did not really need to come off.  He asked Larry what he wanted to do. So the doctor didn't do a thing. When Larry got home he soaked his foot for a half hour to soften the nail. Then he trimmed the nail down as far as he could. There is still quite a bit of the broken nail still attached, not sure what he is going to do. He did get a prescription for an antibiotic.

I worked out on my Wii Fit for a half hour and I took a nap. After my nap we watched YouTube videos.

In the evening we attended Ett's weekly C1 Virtual Workshop/Dance at 6:30. We had 73 participants on the Zoom. This week we did a lot better, I think that was because a couple of folks told her they simply didn't understand what she wanted and she finally walked through those moves.

Later we watched an episode of Midsomer Murders. Then I finished watching Line of Duty, I liked the series a lot. The series was about internal investigators, who investigate bad cops. It went on for four seasons and each season had one bad guy. It had a lot of twist and turns throughout the season. Then I watched an Amazon movie called My Spy, which was about a spy, who had to go undercover to protect a mother and her daughter. It was cute and funny. It's a lot better than the previews. I did 26,000 steps, which put me in second place in my group.      

 

Sunday 7-12 Lawn Mower and Dancing

Laugh and have fun

We had another 100 degree day, it actually got up to 104 at the house. I'm very grateful that we have air condition to keep us cool.

Yesterday, Larry ordered oil for the lawn mower from Walmart. While I was sleeping Larry went to Walmart, the oil was in the automated kiosk. Then he stopped and got gas for the lawn mower. On the way home he stopped at Jack 'n' Jill Donuts to buy breakfast.

By the time he got home I was getting up. After breakfast we went outside and finished putting the mower back together, then Larry filled it with gas and oil. After starting it he had to do the final blead. Then he mowed part of the front yard to make sure the mower worked correctly. When Larry put the mower in gear it took off much quicker than it normally does. Another project well done by Larry.

Before lunch I worked on my daily challenges and The Event: Klondike Mini of 5 games. It took me 9 minutes and 13 seconds, which put me in 11th place in my group.

After lunch we attended Ett's weekly Virtual C Dance at 1:00. This week Ett invited Joachim Ruehenbeck from Germany to call for her. Joachim is a good caller but very difficult. We only danced to three tips because we kept breaking down. We weren't having fun so we logged off. The dance had 87 participants in the Zoom.

After the dance I worked on my puzzle and Larry read a bit. I worked out using my Wii Fit and Gold's Gym for an hour. We watched YouTube videos.

Working Out

In the evening we attended a weekly A2/C1 Virtual Dance with Loren Smith. We had 33 people for the A2 and 30 for the C1 tip. We had a great time. We broke down now and then but Loren cued the whole dance. He called two A2 two couple tips and one A2 full square. The full square was very hard because it was easy to loose the six phantoms. We also did the C1 tip. We had fun dancing to Loren and with the other dancers.

After the dance we watched an episode of Midsomer Murders. Then I started to watch the fourth season of Line of Duty. I ended up doing 22,500 steps, which put me in third place on my group. We had a good day.  

Saturday 7-11 Lawn Mower Repair

It's hot!!!!

We had another 100 degree day. It got up to 104 degrees at our house.

We started the day out by working on the lawn mower. We have a Honda lawn mower that was given to us by a friend. We don't know exactly how old it is but it is probably about 20 years old, we have had it for about 13 years. It has been terrific. Lately every once in awhile the transmission does not go into gear correctly and it has been getting more frequent. Honda claims the transmission fluid never needs service but in doing some reading Larry found a number of people who had similar problems to ours and changing the fluid corrected the problem. However, since Honda feels it does not need service they did not design it to be serviced. To change the fluid you have to remove the transmission. We worked on this all morning and still are not done.

Larry had to take the back of the lawn mower completely apart. He started by draining the engine oil and gas. Then we lifted the mower onto our work table and turned it upside down. Larry removed the rear wheels and the height adjusters. Before removing the adjustment pieces Larry took pictures of each wheel to make sure he could put them back together. He had to be careful because the piece are designed to fit the left side or the right side. Then he disconnect the drive shaft. He drained the fluid into a bucket, refilled the transmission and then blead and refilled it again. Now it's ready to be put back together. He also discovered the rear wheel bearing are worn out so he will have to order those. It was getting hot outside so we called it a day.

Lawn Mower

The drive assembly

The lawn mower without the rear wheels

Removing the drive shaft

After lunch I did my daily challenges and The Event: Easy Street Mini of 10 games. It took me 37 minutes and 40 seconds, which put me in 28th place in my group. While I did my computer games Larry read.

We attended a Virtual A2/C1 Square Dance, that was hosted by the Gay Callers Association (GCA). The event schedule was 1:00 to 2:30 Mainstream/Plus and 2:30 to 4:00 A2/C1 Dance. We attended the A2/C1 Dance. The dance alternated A2 and C1 with a different caller each tip. We danced to Kris Jensen, Ett McAtee and Michael Levy. While we were dancing to Michael we started having internet problems, our internet connections would go up and down. We fought the internet for about a half hour before giving up.

For dinner I barbecued pork ribs and they came out good. We streamed our YouTube videos via our Mobley hotspot because our internet was still giving us problems. We danced for an hour to a Johnny Preston two couple A2 tape, we did very well. Then we watched Hildalgo, which was one of our dvds. Then I finished watching the third season of Line of Duty. I did 26,000 steps.