Monday 10-18 Ett's Last Monday C1 Workshop

Saying bye to Ett's Monday Workshop

We attended two virtual square dances. First was Di Green's Weekly C1 Workshop at 9:00 am. She had 27 participants. She worked on Tally Ho, Relay the Shadow and moves that were requested by dancers. Larry and I had a super time dancing to Di's calling and with friends.

Second was Ett McAtee's Monday C1 Workshop at 6:30. Ett's local club is starting back up next Monday. She checked out the hall and she thinks she might be able to call live and virtually at the same time. Calling live will be to full squares all the time and virtually she calls for two couples and has four couples once and a while. Her other virtual dances on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday will continue.

This evening Ett had 34 participants. I attended it by myself. At the end of the workshop Ett thanked us for attending the virtual workshop for the last year and a half. We thanked her for calling for us. We had a great time.

 

   Ett's last Monday workshop

 

I did the Solitaire and Mahjong Daily Challenges and the Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour and 52 seconds to complete, which put me in 17th place in my group. Then I read.

While I was playing games Larry made a few Halloween cards. Then he played a bit with Linux.

After Ett's workshop we watched the final episode of Call The Midwife for the season. Then we watched the fourth episode of Grantchester. Then I finished the second season of Republic Of Doyle. I ended up doing 28,500 steps.

Sunday 10-17 Walking, Crafting, Dancing & Halloween

 

Just having fun

We had a fun day.

We woke up to a temperature in the mid 40s. We hadn't been walking or hiking for about a month so off to Crossroads Park trail we went. We parked in the parking lot at the baseball fields. Kids were practicing and using the batting cages. There was a game going on with lots of family members cheering. We walked around the park using the paved sidewalk trail for 40 minutes. It was a little nippy and we thought maybe we should have worn a long sleeve shirt. After awhile we were glad we didn't. We had a very nice walk.

 

Crossroads Park welcome sign

Our canisters for baking goods are very old and were starting to fall apart because they became brittle. Yesterday, when we went shopping we picked up a set of three canisters: a 10 cup, a 7.5 cup and a 4.5. I really liked the new canisters and wanted a couple more so on the way home we stopped by Walmart, we got a 16 cup and another 7.5 cup. They are perfect. The new canisters are made by Better Homes & Garden and you can stack them if needed. They have these really neat lids that seal tight by folding down the handle, we can also see what is in the canister and how much. They look great.

 

Left to right ( 16 cup, 10 cup, 7.5 cup and 4.5 cup)

Canisters stacked in the pantry

I played Solitaire and Mahjong Daily Challenges and the Event: Pyramid Mini of 5 games. It took me 14 minutes and 42 seconds, which put me in 20th place in my group. I read a bit.

While I played games Larry made a birthday card for his brother.

 

Birthday Card

 

We attended two virtual square dances. First was Ett McAtee's Weekly C Series at 1:00. This week she invited Loren Smith from Canada to help her call. She had Loren call three C1 tips with 37 participants and she called the three C2 tips with 34 participants. We attended the C1 tips and had a super time dancing to Loren and with friends.

Second was Loren Smith's Weekly A2/C1 at 7:30. This week Loren called three A2 tips, one C1 Teach tip and two C1 tips. The A2 tips had 23 participants and C1 had 16 participants. During the teach tip Loren taught Dixie Diamond and reviewed the moves from last week: Follow Thru, Circle By and Swing and Circle. During the first C1 tip Loren workshopped Linear Action. We had a super evening dancing to Loren and with friends. 

Halloween is in a couple of weeks. Just in case we have any Trick or Treaters we bought a couple of small bags of candy. In between the dances Larry helped me put up my Halloween decorations in the frontyard.

 

Halloween decorations a dragon and Pumpkin Reaper

After Larry went to bed I continued to watch the second season of Republic Of Doyle. I ended up doing 26,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group for the week with the total of 187,341.

Saturday 10-16 Doing This and That

 

Awesome Day

We had an awesome day with a lot of sunshine. There was a north breeze with a temperature in the mid 70s.

Larry made us french toast sticks for breakfast. Then we went to town to do our weekly grocery shopping at Walmart. Afterward we stopped by the UPS Store to pick up our mail. While there Larry renewed our mailbox for another year.

 

Grocery shopping

We have seen spiders and ants in the house. Larry thought his elbow was healed enough to allow him to do a few maintenance things. He started off by treating outside the house for bugs. He sprayed around the foundation, then used a granular pest treatment in the yards and finished up by treating individual fire ant hills with Amdro. Hopefully in a couple of days we will no longer see any crawling types of bugs. 

Next up was the water filter. We have a whole house water filter in garage and it was time to change it. When we had the house built Larry had the plumbers install the filter with a shut off valve on each side, this makes changing it much easier. Not a big job but if you are not careful you can make a mess.

When we got back from our trip our neighbor was kind enough to unload the motorcycle from the back of the motor home. Larry had him put it next to the boat and it was time to get it out of the way by putting it back where we normally store it in front of the truck. The truck had not been started in about two months but during that time we had left a small battery charger connected to it. It started right up and we took it out for a drive. Larry got the motorcycle out of the garage and let it run for a bit before he moved it into its normal parking spot. He would like to have taken it for a ride but his wrist and elbow are not quite ready for that.

While Larry treated for bugs I played games and read. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. Then I did the Event: Medium Mayhem Mini of 15 games. It took me 1 hour, 2 minutes and 46 seconds, which put me in 26th place in my group. 

We watched YouTube videos. While watching television I did laundry.

 

Doing laundry

In the evening we watched a documentary on IMDb TV called Remember The Sultan. It was about a riverboat that exploded in 1865 and killing many passengers, mainly Union soldiers. It was the worst maritime disaster in the history of the U.S. It was a very good documentary. Then I finished watching the first season of Republic of Doyle and started the second season. I ended up doing 26,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.  

 

Relaxing in front of the television

 

Friday 10-15 Windy Day & Tires

Windy Day

A cold front came in with a strong wind.

Our car has a bit over 105,000 miles on it and it still has the original tires. They still pass inspection and Larry says they are still safe for driving around locally, however we hope to go skiing this winter and for that they will need to be replaced. Since that won't be for a few months and you never know, we might not even go so we were not in a hurry to replace them. On a forum Larry follows some Equinox owners were talking about difficulties in getting the tires they want, specifically Michelins. Our car came with Michelins and while we don't always purchase Michelins we do prefer them. In comparison to a lot of tires they are quite expensive and at times we have made the decision to use less expensive tires, especially if we didn't intend to keep a vehicle much longer. Last week Larry looked on the web and sure enough some Michelins were not available or were very difficult to find. Discount Tire showed they could get the ones we wanted in a couple of days. 

While he was searching around Larry discovered that Discount Tire was going to have a three day sale on Michelins starting today. To take advantage of the sale you had to have an online account and purchase the tires online, not a problem, we have an online account. This morning he ordered the tires and sure enough the website knocked $110 off the price. The website indicated they did not have the tires on hand but they would be available sometime Monday. When placing the order you can setup an appointment for installation, Larry chose next Thursday at 9:00 am. A bit after placing the order the Local Discount Tire called thanking us for the order. About 3:00 pm they called back and said they had already received the tires and if we came by they would put us to the front of the line for installation. We did not really care to do this late on a Friday so we told them we would keep our appointment for next week. The gentleman said if we wanted to install them sooner they would ensure we didn't have to wait. Very nice of them.

I did the Solitaire and Mahjong Daily Challenges and the Event: Easy Street Mini of 5 games. It took me 13 minutes and 16 seconds, which put me in 32nd place in my group. I did some Coral Cove in the Star Club.

We attended two virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Four Couples A1/A2 at 11:00. Dayle called two tips of A1 and A2 with 17 participants. Every week Dayle calls a little more challenging and the dancers struggle a little. He asked us if he's calling too hard. The dancers told him just keep calling the way he's doing because it's a lot of fun. Larry danced with me.

Second was Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 at 6:30. Ett called four tips of two couples A2 with four couples moves with 21 participants. I attended the dance by myself. During the dance she mentioned having tee-shirts with the different square dancing formations. She told the dancers where they can buy them. I had a great time.

 

   

Larry played with the computer and I started reading another book on my Kindle. The book is A Brazen Curiosity written by Lynn Messina. Its the first book of the Beatrice Hyde series.

 

Relaxing with a book

In the evening we watched a documentary called The Beckoning Silence on IMDb TV. It was about mountain climbing and why climbers go to the extreme. It was very good. Then I continued watching the first season of Republic Of Doyle. I ended up doing 26,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.

Thursday 10-14 Fun Day

 

It was just another day of having fun.

I did the Solitaire and Mahjong Daily Challenges and the Event: Tri Peaks Mini of 10 games. It took me 28 minutes and 26 seconds, which put me in 8th place in my group.

We attended two virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1 at 11:00. Dayle called four two couples tips with 15 participants and one four couples tip with 12 participants. We had a fun hour of dancing to Dayle and with friends.

Second was Jeremy Butler's Weekly A2/C1 at 6:00. Jeremy called three two couples A2 tips with 11 participants, one A2 tip with four couples calls with 10 participants and one C1 tip with 9 participants. Jeremy called a lot of do your part of a move, where the ladies did one part and the gentlemen did another part. This was a lot of fun because it caused you to think of what to do. We had a fun night dancing to Jeremy and friends.

When we weren't dancing I finished reading Ian Rutledge' A False Mirror. Larry continued playing with Linux. We watched another episode of Grantchester. Then I started watching a new series on Acorn called Republic Of Doyle. It's a poplar series about a father and son private investigators agency. I ended up doing 27,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.

 

  

Relaxing

Wednesday 10-13 Morning of Dancing

 

 

We had another overcast day. The rain came in in the evening. It's suppose to stay around a couple of days. We should get between 3 to 6 inches of rain.

We attended three virtual dances. First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 10:00. Di and Terry took turns calling the five tips with 17 participants. I attended it by myself. I had a great time dancing to Di and Terry and friends.

Second was Dayle Hodge's Weekly A1/A2 at 11:00. He's still enjoying celebrating his 60th birthday. The dancers from Germany surprised him with a birthday card that was signed by all of them. Along with the card he received a letter that was written in German. Dayle has been taking German lessons so he has been translating the letter to English. He read part of the letter in German and then he translated it to English. He did an outstanding job and the dancers from Germany were very impressed. Larry joined me for the dance. Dayle called two tips of A1 and A2 with 21 participants and one four couple A2 tip with 14 participants. We had a wonderful time.

Third was Don Moger's Weekly C1 Workshop at 12:00. He called four tips with 18 participants. He worked on Triangles and other moves the dancers request. The second tip Don asked the dancers to square up as couple number two instead of couple number three. It was fun. He decided not to do this again because he got confused, he kept calling head couples instead of side couples. We had fun dancing to Don and with friends.

 

I did the Solitaire and Mahjong Daily Challenges and Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 9 minutes and 48 seconds, which put me in 14th place in my group. Afterward I read.

Larry continued playing with Windows 11 and Linux.

In the evening we watched the next episode of Midsomer Murders 22nd season and the next episode of Call the Midwife 10th season. Afterwards I finished watching the second season of Murder Is My Life. I ended up doing 27,500 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group.   

Tuesday 10-12 Muggy Day & Dancing

 

Muggy Day

It was overcast all day with a little bit of sprinkling now and then. The temperature got into the low 80s with humidity in the 70s.

We attended three virtual dances. First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2 at 10:00. They took turns calling five tips with four couples move thrown in once and awhile. Larry danced with me. We had 18 participants and had a great time.

Second was Dayle Hodge's Weekly Plus at 11:00. Today was his 60th birthday so everyone wished him a happy birthday. Di and Terry zoomed in just to wish him a happy birthday. They didn't stay around because they had to get ready to call their local club dance in the U.K. The U.K. time is five hours ahead of us. Dayle called five tips; three Plus with 18 participants, one DBD with 14 participants and one Four Couples Plus with 10 participants. Dayle was happy to see Larry dancing and said Larry was doing great. We had an outstanding time dancing to Dayle.

Third was Don Moger's Weekly A2 at 6:00. Don was very happy to see Larry dancing again. He said he won't call too many left hand moves. Everyone laughed because he was joking. Don called five tips of two couples with full square moves within each tip. We had 26 participants and had a super night of dancing.

I did the Solitaire and Mahjong Daily Challenges and the Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 6 games (3 Pyramid and 3 Tri Peaks). It took me 9 minutes and 7 seconds, which put me in 9th place in my group. Then I played some Wild West games in the Star Club group. When I tried to solve a couple of the Tri Peaks on the computer and it would not let me complete the game. So I moved over to the tablet and ended up completing them. 

While I played games Larry played with Linux. He is enjoy figuring out how to make Linux work. When I finished my games I read.

After Don's dance I did my steps, which was 28,000, which put me in 4th place in my group. I finished watching The Broker's Man so I went through Acorn to choose what I wanted to watch next. I found that Acorn but the second season of My Life Is Murder so I started to watch it. My Life Is Murder is a series about female ex-cop, who became a police consultant. It's not a bad series.

 

Watching television