Saturday 1-25-25 Dancing with Brad Caldwell, Mini Pinball Project & More

 

Awesome Day

We had an overcast day. The morning temperature was 36 degrees and the high was 56 degrees.

Sunday, 1/19/25 started a new weekly challenge in pinball. This week's game is Tron. I have played this game before and wasn't impressed so Larry took it off the machine. Now that it's my challenge this week he reloaded the game on the pinball cabinet in both 2D and VR. Once it was installed Larry played it to make sure, that everything worked in the game. I played five pinball games, which were Tron, Spider-Man, Ted & Red's Road Show, Theatre of Magic and Mustang. My high score in Tron was 84,184,100, this put me in 20th place out of 60 participants. Larry changed the number of balls in Spider-Man from 3 balls to 5. While playing Ted & Red's Road Show I got multi-ball. I hadn't done this in a long time. I didn't enter my initials on the other games I played but I had a fun time.

 

Mustang

 

Ted & Red's Road Show

 

Spider-Man

Theatre of Magic

 

Tron

 

Larry spent most of the day working on the mini pinball cabinet. He started putting it back together. It is hard to imagine how many pieces go into this small cabinet. He's taking his time so it will probably take three days to completer the assembly.

 

Cabinet

 

 

Lots of Stuff to Install

Computer

 

 

Controller Boards

I worked on my diamond painting of the Fairy.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Free Cell and 5 Tri Peaks). It took me 43 minutes and 25 seconds, which put me in 23rd place in my group. Afterwards I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

I worked out on the Wii Fit for a half hour and a half hour with the Synth Riders. 

I played Asteroid Outpost for 45 minutes on Bounce Arcade. It was only one game. While playing the game I got a silver trophy and mined the asteroids six times. I started the Cryo-Rotors twice, Munitions Module twice and Fusion Module twice. I was successful on mining the asteroids once and played a multi-ball for the first time. I'm in 73rd place globally in Asteroid Outpost.

 

Asteroid Outpost 

 

We watched some YouTube videos.

In the evening we went to Georgetown to square dance with Brad Caldwell for his Plus U dance. We had three squares plus six people sitting out. We had a lot of fun.

Having fun dancing to Brad Caldwell

Waiting for the next call

Linda having fun dancing

 

Dancing with friends

Dancing to Brad

Brad calling the dance

On the way home we stopped by Walmart to pick up a few items. As we were entering into the store they had an announcement on the intercom saying the store was closing in an hour (11). The announcement also said if you weren't in line by 11:00 to check out they wouldn't check you out. 

 

We got home at 10:30. Larry read his e-mail. I did 18,000 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group. I watched Rambo III on Paramount +. 

 

  

Friday 1-24-25 We're Home

 

Home Sweet Home

We woke to a temperature of 43 degree in Pharr, Texas. By the end of the day the temperature was 69 in Belton, Texas. It was chilly because the wind was blowing out of the north. It was a beautiful day with a lot of sunshine.

 

Beautiful day with wind

We woke up a little before 5 in Pharr so we could get an early start. We got dressed and loaded the car. Larry read his e-mail. We were on the road by 5:30. We drove 370 miles to get home. We drove through small towns and on the 183 toll road until we got on I35. We were home by 12:30.

We had a super time in the Rio Grande Valley. We were only there for five days and danced four dances. We danced two dances with Joe Saltel and two dances with Bronc Wise. We had planned to dance six but Bronc was sick one of the days. We danced with people we hadn't danced with in person for five years. We met new dancers. We did very well considering we hadn't really danced in person for five years. When we did stumble other dancers helped us through the move. We danced with good dancers and the callers helped us get through the moves.

 

 

 

Joe and Chris Saltel

 

Joe and me

 

 

Joe calling his plus dance

 

 

 

Dancing to Joe

 

 

 

Bronc and Fia Wise

 

Dancing to Bronc

More dancers dancing to Bronc

 

Bronc calling his plus dance

 

When we weren't dancing we hung around the hotel. I worked out at the workout room and played games. Larry read four books. Previously we had done all the tourist stuff. We ate out a lot more than we were used to. We ate at places right by La Quinta, it was easy to walk to them: Teriyaki Madness, Church's and Wienerschnitzel. Other places we ate at were Whataburger and Taco Bell. We stopped by HEB and bought a couple of salads and sandwich fixing to eat in the room.

During our trip we drove 800 miles, spent $62.00 for dances, our total cost was $664.14. Most of that was the hotel.

When we got to town we stopped by The UPS Store and picked up our mail. We stopped at Murphy and filled up the car. Last stop was Little Caesar to pickup a pizza for lunch and dinner.  

When we got home we unloaded the car and I did laundry.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street Mini of 5 games. It took me 22 minutes and 53 seconds, which put me in 40th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds. 

I worked out on my Wii Fit for a half hour. Then I played Bounce Arcade. I played Monster Manor three times. My best game was the first one. I didn't earn a trophy but had fun. I played Gunpowder Gulch twice. My best game was the second one and I earned a bronze trophy. In both games I fought the deputies a couple of times and lost. I did have fun.

 

Gunpowder Gulch score

Monster Manor

I played six games of pinball. They were Road Show, Playboy, Medieval Madness, The Machine Bride of Bot, Star Wars and The Godfather.

Medieval Madness

Playboy

Road Show

Star Wars

The Godfather

The Machine Bride of Pin Bot

We started watching the YouTube videos we follow. 

In the evening we watched a couple of episodes of Elementary. When Larry went to bed I watched the first two Rambo movies called First Blood & First Blood II on Paramount Plus. I worked on my diamond painting (Fairy). I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.

 

 

Thursday 1-23-25 Overcast Day & Dancing

 

Overcast Day

We had an overcast day. The morning temperature was 47 and the high was 59. We had wind out of the north.

We started the day off by going downstairs to have breakfast. We were the only ones there and it was well stocked. The lady working there was friendly and said if we needed anything let her know. 

After breakfast we went back to the room to relax before leaving for our dances. We both took a little nap. I can't say I didn't get a lot of sleep during this trip. I was in bed before 10, was up at 6 and napped a couple more hours after breakfast.

We attended two square dances. First was Joe Saltel A2 at Tropic Star in Pharr at 10 for two hours. During the dance Joe called and worked shopped moves to three squares and a couple of couples were sitting out. He workshopped Mini-Busy from different positions, Checkmate from different positions and Spin the Windmill from different positions. We danced with dancers from the Plus dance yesterday and others we hadn't seen in over five years. Donna from Colorado was there, we met her and her husband John here in The Valley. We also danced with them via Zoom, unfortunately he passed away. She now dances with a lady named Jill who we have danced with via Zoom. I was nice to see both of them in person. We danced all the tips except one, where I took pictures. Joe once again did an outstanding job. We had a super time dancing to Joe. 

  

Joe and Chris Saltel

 

Having fun dancing A2 with Joe

More dancers having fun

Joe calling the dance

All three squares dancing in a row

Dancers waiting for the next call

Our second dance was C1 with Bronc Wise at Tropical Valley Acres, it is located in Mission, Tx. The dance was at 1 for two hours. Bronc had four squares. He called and worked shopped a few concepts. The concepts were Stretch Concepts from tidal waves, Triple boxes/waves/lines/column Concepts, Rotate and Reverse Rotate and Single Rotate and Single Reverse Rotate. He called most of the moves from the C1 list except for Blocks and Track (0,1,2,3,4). We hadn't in person danced C1 in five years and we did very well. We find that most dancers at any level will help you through a move to make sure you succeed. Its always more fun when dancers just partner-up with someone and keep dancing. That way they can fix the problem when we go home. Bronc knew it had been five years and he noticed we did very well. He also knows we virtually dance. Dancing virtually really helped us keep our skills up. We danced with dancers from the morning and other dancers we hadn't seen in five years. The dancers were happy to see us. We danced every tips so I couldn't take any pictures. We had an outstanding time.

 

Fia and Bronc Wise

In between the dances we stopped by Taco Bell and had lunch. 

At the end of each dance we said our farewells to everyone. They didn't want us to go. We would have stayed longer but there's just not enough dancing at the level we dance to keep us busy. We have done all the tourist stuff before. But we had a super five days in the Rio Grande Valley.  

After Bronc's dance we went back to our room. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the room. Larry continued reading, he finished his fourth book. I played games. The games were the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Hard Road Mini of 5 games. It took me 1 hour, 19 minutes and 50 seconds, which put me in 32nd in my group. Then I played Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends. I didn't go to the workout room but I did do 18,000 steps. This put me in 2nd place in my group.

 

Relaxing

 

  

Wednesday 1-22-25 Beautiful Day & Dancing with Joe Saltel

 

 

Sunny Day

We had beautiful day with sunshine. The day started out at 27 degrees and got to 57 degrees. There was wind but it wasn't anything like yesterday. The wind was 5 to 10mph. 

We started the day out by going downstairs to get breakfast. Today we shared a Belgium waffle and I had eggs. We both had apple juice. We were the only ones at the breakfast area. 

After breakfast we went back to the room and relaxed for an hour and a half. Our dance didn't start until 10:00 and it was just down the street at Tropical Star in Pharr. The dance was called by Joe Saltel, his wife Chris hosted the dance. Chris collected the money for the dance it was $15 per couple. She greeted people with a big hug as they paid. We had nine squares and short one couple to have a tenth. We saw a lot of people we hadn't seen since 2020 when we were here last. One of the couples were Lanny and Sheryl from South Dakota. They are a very nice couple and helped us learn C1. They were very happy to see us. One of the dancers birthday was today so they brought cookies (chocolate chip, white chocolate chucks and oatmeal and raisin). Dancers snacked on them throughout the dance. We were surprised the hall wasn't cold. Joe told us they finally installed heaters. Joe still has medical issues (only one lung works, ribs are still sore and his back has a couple of compacted discs). He did an excellent job of calling the two hour dance. He called eight tips and visited with everyone in between tips. We danced every tip except the last one, it was an open tip and I wanted to take pictures. In fact the first, third and last tips were open tips, which means you dance with whomever you want to. We were given a slip of paper as we entered the dance, which tells you which square you are in for a certain tip. This makes sure everyone dances. We had a super time dancing.

 

Me and Joe Saltel

Joe calling the dance

Dancers have fun dancing to Joe

Dancing to Joe

Larry and Barb from Sundancers having fun

  

We stayed a little bit after the dance to visit with Joe.

In the afternoon I played games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Medium Mayhem of 27 games. It took me 1 hour, 22 minutes and 12 seconds, which put me in 16th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

While I played games Larry read. He finished a book he started yesterday. Later he started another book.

 

Relaxing with a book

 

 When it was time for dinner we walked to Church's. We had their special 2 Chicken Sandwiches for $4.00 and an order of fries. After dinner we walked back to the motel. For our dessert we had oatmeal cookies and peanut butter cookies from the hotel.

I went to the workout room and worked out for 45 minutes, which was 30 minutes on the treadmill and 25 minutes on the weight machines. When I got back to the room I finished my steps, which was 18,000 steps. This put me in 2nd place in my group. I also did 20 minutes of yoga and stretching.

 

Having fun working out

We had a super day.