Saturday 2-13 Valentine Dance with Di and Kevin

 

It's cold

It's still cold, started out at 25 degrees and only made it to 30. We stayed indoors and kept warm. The ice is starting to melt off the roof but not the ground. This wintery weather is suppose to be with us for about a week.

In the morning I did my Daily Challenges and the Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 22 minutes and 16 seconds to complete, which put me in 26the place in my group. I did some Jewel games and Sudoku games.

We attended two virtual square dancing. The first was Dayle Hodge's Workshop on Four Couples A1 Moves. It was at 11:00 for an hour and a half. Dayle had 48 participants. He did three tips. He is a good teacher. One group had four couples which made a full square, this helped a lot because you can pin them and know where you need to be. Some of the moves weren't bad for us because we have been doing them in other workshops. We had a great time.

The second one was Di Green and Kevin Lovell's Valentine Dance at 2:00 for an hour and a half. It was a Plus Dance and had singing calls so I danced by myself. While Larry watched and got his next paper project ready. Di and Kevin are both from the U.K. and they're great callers and have beautiful voices. They had 63 participants during the dance. They both called three tips a piece. A lot of dancers wore red to celebrate Valentines Day. I had a super time.

 

Getting ready to dance

Promenading myself home

Zoom screen of 25 dancers

Barbara from Germany dressed in a red rose square dancing outfit 

Terry and Di 

Kevin and Annika 

Our friends Donna and John from Colorado

      

After the last dance we watched YouTube videos. In the evening we relaxed in front of the television. We watched an episode of GizWiz and a documentary on Amazon called Jasper Mall, it was about the manager of Jasper Mall in Jasper Alabama and how he's trying to keep it alive. Then I finished watching the first season of Law & Order UK and started the second season. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in fifth place in my group. 

Friday 2-12 Day Two of Winter in Texas

 

Another Cold Day

The temperature stayed in the high 20s all day so the ice stayed around the yard. When I fed the squirrels, birds and deer under the oak tree I has to be careful because the stairs still had ice on them. We stayed inside and kept warm under the heater. This cold weather is suppose to stay around until late next week.

We attended two virtual square dances. The first one was Joe Uebelacker's C1 at 10:00 for an hour and a half. We had 11 participants. Joe is still learning about Zoom so in between the tips the dancers gave him suggestions on how to improve the dance. Joe put us in positions we weren't use to be in, this made it challenging. Joe ended up calling five tips. We had fun.

The second was Di Green's Weekly C1 Workshop at 2:00 for an hour and a half. This week Di worked on the Concentric Concept. This concept is hard with all eight people and when using phantoms it is even harder. Di is a very good teacher so that helps. We had a great afternoon dancing to her calling.

In between the dances I worked on doing the Daily Challenges and the Event: Free Cell Mini of 10 games. I got stuck on two games so I only completed eight games. I gave up after working on the games for 1 hour, 10 minutes and 28 seconds. 

While I was playing my games Larry finished a paper project. Juliet is a card design but Larry modified the project, he made it smaller and designed it so he could put her in frame. He made the frame out of paper. It came out outstanding.

 

Today's Juliet

Juliets Larry made and framed

We watched YouTube videos and an episode of the GizWiz. In the evening we watched a documentary on Amazon called Down The Fence, which was about horse trainers and their journey to compete in the Reined Cow Horse Championship. It was very good. Then I watched a few episodes of Law & Order UK. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in fourth place in my group.

 

 

Thursday 2-11 Winter in Central Texas

 

Winter Day

We had a very nasty day, started out with drizzle and it turned to sleet. By mid afternoon it looked like it snowed but it was ice. It didn't get out of the high 20s. It was very cold. 

Even the ice and cold temperatures didn't stop the wildlife from paying us a visit. As soon as Larry hung the feeder and put the bowls on the porch the squirrels came. When they left the birds showed up. When the birds slowed down I put food under the oak tree. It wasn't that long before a squirrel showed up to eat that food. There was a lot of activity on the porch for most of day. Later on I went back out to fill up the bowl under the tree, I had to be careful climbing down the stairs because there was ice on the steps. Shortly afterwards the deer showed up. We had 11 deer at one time. 

 

Ice under the oak tree in the frontyard

Ice on the railing 

Birds eating on the porch

We attended two virtual dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1 at 11:00 for an hour. We had 30 participants. Dayle called four tips. We had an outstanding dance.

The second was Jeremy Butler's Weekly A2/C1 at 6:00 for an hour. Jeremy called four A2 tips and one C1 tip. During the A2 tips we had 20 participants and during the C1 tip we had 17. We had a fun evening dancing to Jeremy and friends.

For the last couple of days Larry has been working on making a second clock, it came out very cute. Made with paper and a Styrofoam ball. 

 

The newest clock

Back of the clock where the battery goes

 

Both Clocks

While Larry worked on his projects I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Easy Street Mini of 5 games. It took me 8 minutes and 10 seconds, which put me in 11th place in my group. I also did a few Mahjong games and Jewel games.

After the last dance we watched a couple of documentaries on Amazon. First was Silverton Gold. It was about how Silverton Colorado and its residences adjusted from a mining town to a tourist town. It was very good. The second one was Life Adjusted, which was about Dr. Jay Komarek, who is a Chiropractor for horses and other animals. It was a great documentary. Then I watched a couple of episodes of Law & Order UK. I also watched an Amazon movie called The Secret Dare To Dream. It was about a single mother trying to raise three kids after her husband death. It was a cute movie about moving on. I ended up doing 27,500 steps, which put me in sixth place in my group.

 

 

Wednesday 2-10 Cold Front Is Here

It started out in the 40s, by dinnertime it was in the mid 30s with a north wind. The temperature is suppose to continue to drop. By morning it's suppose to be below freezing and stay there for a few days.

We spent the day staying warm. In between square dancing Larry worked on a paper project on his Cameo. I played the Daily Challenges and Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Klondike and 10 Spider). It took me 2 hours, 26 minutes and 55 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group. I did a few Sudoku games and Jewel games.

We attended two virtual square dances. The first one was Dayle Hodge's Weekly A2 at 11:00 for and hour and fifteen minutes. We had 39 participants. Dayle called five tips. The fourth tip he workshopped Box Transfer because a few dancers requested it. The last tip was full square, where we danced with three phantoms couples. We had another fun time dancing to Dayle calling.

The second one was Doren McBroom's Weekly C1 at 6:30 for an hour and a half. We had 17 participants. Doren called five tips. We had a great evening of dancing to Doren.

After the last dance we watched a documentary on Amazon called Losing The West. It was about a 70 year old Native American cowboy Howard Linscott, who is a rancher and small businessman and how times are changing. It was good. Then I started watching the first season of Law & Order: UK. I ended up doing 26,500 steps, which put me in fourth place in my group.  

Tuesday 2-9 Cold Front Coming

It's going to be cold

It didn't get out of the 40s and there was a north wind. This weekend they are now predicting two or three days will not get above freezing and it may get into the single digits.

Yesterday, we took the Minnie back to storage because we weren't going to use it for a bit but since the weather man now says it's going to get well below freezing we brought the Minnie back to the house. Larry drained the water out of the water heater, the fresh water tank and the lines.

We attended three virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Plus at 11:00 for an hour and fifteen minutes. We had 43 participants. The last fifteen minutes was a tip with full square calls. Dayle called total of five tips. The third tip Dayle worked on Swing Thru using different fractions: once and a half, once and three quarters, etc. We had a great time.

The second one was Di Green and Terry's Weekly A1/A2 Workshop at 1:30 for two hours with a fifteen minute break in between the sessions. During the A1 session we had 43 participants and the A2 session we had 46 participants. Di and Terry called five tips per session. I danced the A1 session by myself, Larry had to go to the dentist. Larry danced with me for the A2 session. We had a fun afternoon dancing to Di and Terry.

The third one was Don Moger"s Weekly A2 at 6:00 for an hour and a half. We had 49 participants. We had fun time.

 

Square dancing with friends

In between the dances we took the Minnie back to storage. Our storage unit has power and we could have just left the small heaters plugged in but Larry was concerned that if there was a loss of power we would not know it and something could freeze and be damaged, it was easier to simply drain everything. Once it was back in storage we setup the heaters and opened the cabinets doors in the bathroom and kitchen. I put up the curtain that separates the cab from the living area. We wanted to make sure that nothing freezes. Then we swung by the UPS Store to pick up a couple of packages. 

 

 

I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 5 games. It took me 9 minutes and 29 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group. I played a few Jewel games and Sudoku games. We watched YouTube videos.

After Don's dance we watched a documentary called United States of Tents. It was about people living in tents. It was very interesting. Then I watched a detective series on Acorn called Harry, which was about a detective who returned to his job after his wife committed suicide. It was good except for some of the language. I ended up doing 26,500 steps, which put me in fifth place in my group.

 

 

Relaxing in front of the television

           

 

Monday 2-8 Super Monday

 

Today was warm with the high in the low 70s and a strong wind out of the south. Today we virtual square danced with lots of people from outside the US, most of them had temperatures that were minus degrees with strong winds and snow. I'm so glad that we live in Central Texas. Of course the Australians were happy, for them it is summer.

 

We started the day out going to town to do a couple of errands. We're getting ready to do a home project. Our second bath has a marble surround on the tub and the marble on one side is pulling away from the wall. Larry has an idea on how to repair it but he needed some supplies. He ordered an adhesive from Amazon and it's suppose to be here tomorrow but he needed a couple of things from the Home Depot. Afterwards we went next door to Michael's to buy some small rope, he wanted to use it to finish up the edges of his clock. While there he looked at the cardstock paper. He didn't find any paper he wanted. But we didn't leave empty handed we bought some rope to add to his projects.

 

Before the rope

 

After installing rope around edges

A side view 

 

We attended two virtual dances. The first one was Joachim Ruhenbeck's Bi-Monthly A1/A2 at 12:30 for two hours with a half hour break in between each session. The A1 session had 42 participants and the A2 session had 39 participants. Joachim called five tips for the A1 and four tips for the A2. While I danced the A1 session Larry worked on his clock project. During the A2 session Joachim worked on the center part on Spin the Windmill. We had a super afternoon dancing to Joachim.

The second one was Daryl Murphy's Weekly A2/C1 at 5:45 for two hours with a fifteen minute break in between each session. The A2 session had 12 participants and the C1 session had 10. Daryl called four A2 tips and three C1 tips. The last tip of each session Daryl called full square material. We had a small group of dancers but we had a great time.

In between the dances we watched YouTube videos. I played games on the computer. I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Easy Street of 30 games. It took me 1 hour, 17 minutes and 50 seconds, which put me in 20th place in my group.

After Daryl's dance we watched a documentary called True Appaloosa, it was about horse breeder Scott Engstrom, she has been trying to prove that the Appaloosa horse came from Asia and not Spain. She traveled to Kyrgyzstan to find the truth. It was a good. Afterwards I watched two movies. The first one was The Silence on Acorn, which was about a detective who was assigned to a desk job after a shooting and solves an old case of a beautiful woman and finds out the woman was his mother. It was an ok movie. The second one was Bliss on Amazon, which was about a man whose life is a mess and meets a beautiful woman who tries to convince him he is living in a simulation. It was weird movie because it goes from realty to fantasy. I ended up doing 27,500 steps, which put me in fourth place in my group.       

 

Sunday 2-7 Super Sunday

 

It was another beautiful cold windy day. It got in the low 60s with a strong wind out of the south.

We spent the day hanging around the house. Larry worked on a paper crafting project using his Cameo. I played games. I did the Daily Challenges and Event: Klondike Mini of 5 games. It took me 8 minutes and 59 seconds, which put me in 9th place in my group. Then I played Mahjong games and Jewel games. I did a few Sudoku games.

We attended two virtual square dances. First was Doren McBroom's Bi-Weekly DBD dance at 1:30 for an hour and a half. We had 32 participants. Doren invited Dick Otis to attend the dance and help call. They called 6 tips, the sixth tip they called together. We had a super time.

The second one was Loren Smith's Weekly A2/C1 at 7:30 for an hour and 15 minutes. This week Loren invited Joe Uebelacker to come and help call the dance. We had 29 participants for the A2 and 26 participants for the C1. Three tips were called for the A2 session and two tips were called for the C1 session. In between the two session Joe called one tip of Intro to C1, where we went through Ramble and Scoot and Ramble. We had a great evening of dancing.

 

 

We watched some YouTube videos. I watched a detective series on Acorn called Chasing Shadows. It was a four part series about a missing persons unit, who investigates serial killers who target the impressionable people. It was very good until it left you hanging at the end. I ended up doing 26,600 steps, which put me in fourth place in my group for the week with 190,541 steps for the week.