Monday 7-24-23 Dancing to Di, Solar Generator & Games

Happy Monday

I started the day out by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 dance at 9:00 for an hour. Di called five tips to 19 participants. She did an outstanding job calling by cueing and clicking when changing from four couple moves back to two couple. Terry and Di always dance while they call, this helps me a lot when I dance by myself. Today I danced by myself and had a super hour of dancing.

When I got up at 8:00 Larry was already outside working on the solar generator project. Today he started working on the Minnie part of the installation. He has to install a DC to DC charger and tie the wiring into the house battery area. First he had to drill a hole through the bottom of the floor of the Minnie where the house battery is located. Then he fed a protective casing and the wiring for the charger and for the solar panels through the hole. After that he had to sit in the sun working inside the house battery storage area to install a circuit breaker and complete the wiring. He worked on it for over three hours, by then it was hot and he had gone as far as he could without the charger. The charger arrived late in the day. 

In the afternoon he built and installed a heat sensing fan controller inside the solar generator box. Now the fans will only run if the temperature inside the box goes about 95 degrees. He is having a great time doing this project.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Hard Road Mini of 5 games. It took me 38 minutes and 27 seconds to complete, which put me in 23rd place in my group. I always have problems with the Spider games and Free Cell games but I still enjoying solving the challenges. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

I finished reading Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson. It was a very good book.

I played a few games on the pinball cabinet. I did the weekly challenge (Congo) and got a new high score of 640,826,490. Then I played Creature From the Black Lagoon, Godzilla and IT Pinball Madness. I hadn't played IT Pinball Madness in a very long time and did very well I entered my initials as the third high score. 

Creature From The Black Lagoon

 

Godzilla

 

IT Pinball Madness

On the arcade cabinet I played three pinball games (Monster Bash, Killer Klowns & Junk Yard) and three fruit/slot games (Casino Crazy, Chico The Bandit & Carry On Joker). I had never played Chico The Bandit and Carry On Joker before and they were a lot of fun.

Junk Yard

 

Killer Klowns

 

Monster Bash

 

Carry On Joker

 

Casino Crazy

 

 Chico the Bandit

In the evening we watched the first episode of tenth season of Poirot. Then we started watching the second season of The Librarians. Afterwards I watched a James Bond movie called Die Another Day out of our movies. Then I watched a couple of episodes of The X-Files. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in first place in my group. 

   

 

 

 

Sunday 7-23-23 New Week Begins

 

Have a great week

We had another 104 degree day. Today starts another week of having fun.

Larry continued playing with his solar generator. First off we headed to the Home Depot to pickup some wiring casing that he will be needing on the Minnie. He needs to drill a hole through the floor to run wires to the external battery, the casing will protect the wires. 

He also hooked up a completely different performance monitor and experimented with it. It was very inexpensive and he is thinking he might mount it remotely so that we can see it better. He discovered he prefers the original one and is glad he installed it into the box. He will go ahead and wire the other one in and while we are on our trip decide if it's beneficial or not.

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Free Cell Mini of 10 games. It took me 37 minutes and 52 seconds, which put me in 14th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends.

Today started a new weekly challenge in pinball, which is Congo. Larry downloaded the game and installed it. Last weeks game took over two hours to install and configure, this weeks game was much easier, about 45 minutes. Larry played it a few times to make sure it worked correctly. He said it was a lot of fun and thinks it may be a game we will keep. He has already removed last weeks game from the machine. Not a game we enjoyed so why keep it. 

I played the new game a few times, getting my first high score of 453,984,220. Not enough to push Larry out of Grand Champion but before the week is up I should, we will see. Then I played a couple of other games; Cactus Canyon and Red & Ted's Road Show.

Congo high score

 

Cactus Canyon

Red & Ted's Road Show

I spent most of the day reading on my Kindle.

Reading is fun on a Kindle

In the evening we watched the last episode of the 10th season of Poirot. We watched the last episode of the 1st season of The Librarians. Then I watched the fourth Indian Jones on Disney, which was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Afterwards I watched a couple of episodes of The X-Files on Freevee. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group for the week with 125,645 steps.

 

  

Saturday 7-22-23 Relaxing Day of Fun

 

Just relaxing

No dancing today.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Klondike and 10 Pyramid). It took me 1 hour, 39 minutes and 4 seconds, which put me in 18th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

Playing Angry Birds

I spent most of the day reading. I played the weekly challenge of Batman. Then I moved over to the arcade machine and played two games (Out Run and Pengo). I played each one five times. Out run is a racing car arcade game. My high score today was 1,078,480 I didn't have enough time to enter my initials so I'm AAA. I had a great time playing games.

Larry continued playing with the solar generator. He is now at the point where he needs the Minnie so we went to the storage center and picked her up.

Minnie solar project

Our neighbors son stopped by and asked about borrowing an adult size life jacket. After selling the boat we gave away most of our life jackets but we did keep a couple so we were able to help them out. Funny though, after all those decades of having tons of water stuff lying around we dispose of most of it and then someone wants to borrow one. He returned a little while later wondering if we might have a whistle, well it just so happens in all of our dive gear that we hoped the sell there is a whistle, we were happy to let him have it. For safety most divers carry a whistle, just in case you come up a long way from the boat and they can't see you a whistle will help to get someones attention.

In the evening we watched an episode of Poirot and an episode of The Librarians. Then I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Afterwards I watched a couple of episodes of The X-Files. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group.

Relaxing in front of the television

 

Friday 7-21-23 Dancing, Solar Project Continues, Reading & Games

Smile it's Friday

We had a wonderful day.

Larry spent the day working on his solar generator project. He was waiting for a battery monitor to arrive later in the day so this morning he started experimenting with charging it via the truck battery. He discovered the size of wire and distance made a huge difference in the rate of charge. Using a 12 gauge wire the truck would charge the battery at about 7 amps but when he used a shorter 10 gauge wire it would charge at 17 amps. When he brings the RV to the house he will have to figure out how to get a really large wire from the house battery inside and see how much wire he will need. 

In the afternoon he received a new battery monitor. To install it he cut a hole in the box and did a bit of wiring. To calibrate it he has to fully discharge the battery and then charge it. The battery was about half way charged so it took about 5 hours to completely drain it, it will take about 10 hours to fully recharge it. He is really learning a lot and having fun doing the project.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Pyramid Mini of 5 games, which took me 30 minutes and 45 seconds to complete. This put me in 41st place I didn't do too well but had fun. Then I move onto playing Angry Birds.

I played some pinball today. I played the weekly challenge Batman, The Matrix, Theatre of Magic, the other Batman and Areosmith. 

Aerosmith

 

Batman

 

Weekly challenge Batman

 

The Matrix

 

Theatre of Magic

After playing games I continue reading Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne. 

In the evening I attended Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 at 6:30 for an hour. She called four tips to 14 participants. I had a great time dancing with friends and visiting.

After the dance we watched an episode of Poirot. Then I watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Afterwards I watched a couple of episodes of The X-Files. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group. 

 

 

Thursday 7-20-23 Project, Dancing, Reading & Pinball

 

Smile and have fun

Larry spent the day working on his solar generator project. He received all the parts he needed for his A/C modifications to the battery box. He has installed the components and now all of the A/C charging works. Testing takes quite a bit of time, he has to discharge and charge the battery which takes many hours. Next up is doing the same thing for DC charging. Some of this he can model using the truck but eventually he will need to bring the Minnie to the house and install some components. He is having a lot of fun figuring out how the battery and components work together.

We attended one virtual square dance at 11:00, which was Dayle Hodge's Weekly C1. He is doing modifications to his house. The contractors he hired needed to work in the basement where he calls the dance so he only called three tips. He called to 8 participants. We had a great time dancing with friends. Dayle did an outstanding job calling and walking us through moves we were having problems with. 

Dancing with friends through Zoom

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Experts Only of 10 games. It took me 2 hours, 9 minutes and 47 seconds, which put me in 16th place in my group. Then I moved over and played Angry Birds.

I played pinball on the pinball cabinet, I played the Batman (weekly challenge), Medieval Madness and Red & Ted's Road Show. I hadn't played on the arcade cabinet for a few days so I played three poker games (Poker King, Red Slot Poker and Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack), two arcade games (Pac Man and Mappy) and three fruit games (Hagar, Golden Shot and Double Diamond Haywire). I played my best game so far on Pac Man and got 8990 points. I had a great day of playing games.

Golden Shot

 

Hagar

Medieval Madness

 

Pac Man

 

Red & Ted's Road Show

 

Red Slot Poker

After lunch we went to town to pickup a couple of packages waiting for us at the UPS Store. Afterwards we walked over to Walmart and bought a few things we were low on.

I read for a little while.

In the evening we watched the new episode of Secret Invasion on Disney. We also watched the first episode of the tenth season of Poirot. After Larry went to bed I watched Indiana Jones: Raids of the Lost Ark. Then a couple of episodes of The X-Files. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in second place in my group.

 

Wednesday 7-19-23 Dance Day & More

 

Awesome Day

We had an awesome day.

I attended four virtual square dances. First was Dayle Hodge's Weekly A1/A2 at 11:00 for an hour. He had technical problems during the first tip. He tried fixing by changing cables. The vocal was good but the music was gone. He asked if we wanted to continue with the dance and he would call with no music or call it a day. We agreed to dance with no music. He had music to call to, this made it good for him. He called two two couple tips of A1, two two couple tips of A2 and one four couple tip of A2 to 6 participants. We had a great time. As we were saying our good-byes he said he would work on getting the problem solved by tomorrow's dance. Larry danced with me. We wished him luck on solving the problem.

Second was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 at 1:00 for an hour. I told her I would have to leave after the fourth tip to go to Di's dance. She said that was ok she was only going to call four tips because she had to take care of Linda. Ett called to 15 participants and did an outstanding job. I had a fun hour dancing to her and with friends.

Third was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 2:00 fro an hour. Di and Terry took turns calling five tips to 14 participants. I had a great time dancing with friends.

Fourth was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:30 for two hours. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped him call the dance. They were back from their trip to Canada. The format tonight was two C1 tips, five A2 tips and one C1 tip. Greg and Karin called one of the C1 tips and two of the A2 tips. Dave called two of the C1 tips and two of the A2. The fifth A2 tip Karin, Greg and Dave took turns calling. During the first two C1 tips we had 7 participants, A2 tips had 10 participants and the last tip had 5 participants. In between the A2 tips we had a little trivia. I had a fun evening dancing to Karin, Greg and Dave and with friends.

Square dancing is fun

While I danced Larry continued working on the solar generator project.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Solitaire World Tour of 30 games. It took me 2 hours, 43 minutes and 52 seconds, which put me in 5th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds. 

I read a bit.

I played the weekly pinball challenge Batman. I got a new high score, which was 24,550,920.

New high score

After Larry went to bed I watched Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, which was the third movie in the series. Then I watched a couple of episode of The X-Files. I ended up doing 27.500 steps, which put me in third place in my group.

 

Tuesday 7-18-23 Hot, Solar Box, Dancing, Amazon & Games

 

It's hot everywhere

We had a high today of 106 degrees. Phoenix, Arizona made the news today for having 19 consecutive days of being over 110 degrees. Death Valley was the hottest place in the world yesterday with the temperature of 132 degrees (55 degrees C). I feel for the people who's jobs are outdoors. Our neighbors are building a new house and the construction crew continues to do the work on the framing and roofing. I don't know how they do it.

 

Death Valley National Park 

 

Temperature at our house

I started reading a book on my Kindle that Larry recommended. The book is Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne. So far I like it. Julia is a great writer keeping the main characters in character. The storyline is about a special relationship between a nine year old autistic boy and an assistant from a well-known publisher to make sure his mother makes her commitments to her new book. 

I attended Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2 dance at 2:00 for an hour. The dance has been moved from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm for the summer because their local clubs are shutdown for the summer. Di and Terry took turns calling five tips to 11 participants. They did an excellent job of calling and cueing us through the dance. I had a great time.

Larry ordered fans and other parts yesterday on Amazon. Today he received the two fans, Time Delay Relays and a power supply. The fans and power supply go inside the solar generator box. The relays will be used later inside the RV.

DROX 48V Power Supply

 

Time Delay Relay

Larry started modifying his solar generator battery box. He drilled holes in the box for two fans. If he had ordered the box with an inverter installed the fans would have come with it but he didn't need the inverter. He had a fan on hand that he used to model the project. I helped him by holding the box while he drilled the big holes for the fans. Then he drilled the holes to hold the fans and guards. When the fans arrived the box was ready for them. It looks great. 

Drilled hole for fan

Fan installed

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Free Cell Mini of 5 games. it took me 14 minutes and 16 seconds, which put me in 21st place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

Every Sunday I start a new weekly pinball challenge. this week the challenge is Batman. We already have a Batman but this one is different. Our Batman was taken off the actual Batman television series from back in 1966 and 1967. The new game was based on the movies before the Black Knight movies. Due to a server upgrade the site that Larry and everyone else uses to get most of the games had been down for a couple of days. The owner of the site thought it would take a day maybe two but he had some problems. It finally got up late last night. Today Larry downloaded and installed the game. It then took another hour or two to get it tweaked and make sure it worked correctly. He played it a bit and so did I. I got my first high score for the week, which was 5,647,960.

High score

A gentleman out of the U.K. (Ian Longstaff) spends a lot of time promoting virtual pinball and arcade games. He has multiple sites and a YouTube channel dedicated to arcade games and pinball. He is also the person behind the weekly challenge series that I participate in. All of his content is free. We have donated money to him and he just started offering promotional items with his logo on them, the money is used to pay for the services to keep the channels running. He had t-shirts available but only in black and grey. Larry wrote him and asked if there were other colors and hour or two later he wrote back saying he had added more colors. We liked the blue tee shirt with the Virtual Pinball Logo and ordered two of them. They came in yesterday. Larry took a picture of me wearing one of them and posted it to Ian's Facebook page, he was thrilled. 

Modeling the tee shirt

In the evening we started watching the 10th season of Poirot. Then I watched the second movie of Fantastic Breasts, which was Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Afterwards I watched a couple episodes from the fourth season of The X-Files. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in third place in my group.