Tuesday 11-25-25 Dancing to Di and Terry, Home Assistant and Games

 

Awesome Day!

 

We had an awesome day with a lot of sunshine. The temperature in the morning was 46 degrees and the high was 76 degrees. 

Larry started the day out by doing his morning routine. Then he got my cell phone ready to be shipped out to get a new battery. He backup the programs up from my phone. Then he followed the directions on how to box the phone. He printed out the shipping label and put it on the box.

I made more apple empanadas for breakfast. After breakfast we went to town to mail my phone out at the UPS Store. While there Larry checked out mail. Then we went to Walmart to pick up a couple of things. We'll be down to one cell phone for 10 working days. It may be a little longer because of Thanksgiving.

When we got home I played games. I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong before going to bed last night. I did the event: Event: Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 33 minutes and 37 seconds, which put me in 18th place in my group. I played Angry Birds and Friends and Angry Birds 2 later on in the day.

We attended Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2 dance at 10:00 for an hour. We usually go to Liberty Hill to dance in person but this week people were going to be out of town for Thanksgiving so it was cancelled. Di and Terry called five tips of A2 to 13 participants. Terry called the first tip and Di called the other four tips. Di worked on four couple moves with a full square. The moves were Chain Thru, Left Chain Reaction, and Spin Chain the Gears. It's great dancing to Di and Terry because the cue the moves and dance together. Sometimes the dancers get confused about dancing four couples of two couples so the cueing helps us out. We had a super time dancing to Di and Terry and with friends.

 

 

We love square dancing virtually or in person

 

Larry continued working with Home Assistant. He has it installed and it works. There's a lot to do to get it configured and working for all of our devices. He'll continue playing with it.

I worked on my jigsaw puzzle most of the day.

Because we shipped my cell phone to get a new battery Larry decided to install the programs I use on an old phone he had lying around. The first program was Meta Horizons, I need it for my VR games. He soon discovered the phone was too old and Meta Horizons could not be installed. He was able to install the program for my watch/band. He decided he really didn't have to use a phone, he could use the tablet. So he installed Meta Horizons and my Weekly Pinball Challenge on the tablet. Now I can play pinball games, Bounce Arcade, Synth Riders and download the pictures from the headset. I'm very happy I can do my daily routine of playing games in VR. Thank you Larry.

I played seven games of pinball. They were Jaws, Dr. No, Star Trek the Next Generation, Scared Stiff, Superman and the Justice League, Attack From Mars and Slimer! Ghostbusters. While playing Ghostbusters I got a new high score of 11,472,230, which put me in 26th out of 31 participants so far. I had a fun time.

 

Attack From Mars

 

Dr. No

 

Jaws

 

Scared Stiff

 

Slimer! Ghostbusters

 

Star Trek the Next Generation

 

Superman and the Justice League

In the evening we watched the last Mission Impossible movie, which was Mission Impossible- The Final Reckoning. When Larry went to bed I watched Forrest Gump. Both movies were from our collection of movies. I ended up doing 3,500 steps.

 

  

    

Monday 11-24-25 Home Project, Dancing with Di, Working Out & More

 

Rain and Humid

 

We had rain on and off all day. At times it was very hard. We woke up to 64 degrees and it got up to 70 degrees with 88% humidity. I won't complain, we need the rain. We spent the day hanging around the house.The rain went away around 4:00. 

 

Temperature at the house at 2:00pm

Larry gets up at 6:00 and checks his e-mail and reads the groups he follows on the internet.. Today he also straightened up his workroom and finished the front door camera installation.

 

Security camera at the front door

 

Door bell on the wall and camera above the door

I got up a little early to make more apple empanadas for breakfast. By preparing the empanadas the night before I think they come out flakier.

 

Apple Empanadas

 

At 9:00 Larry and I attended Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 dance, which was for an hour. Di called five tips to 11 participants. Terry danced with Di so it helps the dancers get in the right place. Larry danced four of the tips with me. We had a great time dancing with friends and to Di's calling.

 

Square dancing virtually with friends around the world

Larry spent part of the day working with a new computer. He has been talking about installing Home Assistance for the house for awhile now. At this time we have Alexa devices controlling a lot of things in the house, such as: opening and closing the blinds in the living and dining rooms, set timers, turning on and off the television, turning on and off lights throughout the house and many more things. He wanted to play with something that doesn't rely on Amazon. He decided to give Home Assistance a try. He bought a mini computer for it. It arrived yesterday so he played with it today. He got Home Assistance installed an the computer. Next step for him is to play with it and set it up to work with our devices. It's going to take awhile but he's not in any hurry.

 I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong before going to bed last night. I also played 8 Tri Peaks and 8 Pyramid games to reset doubling my bonus points everytime I play Solitaire. The event was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Pyramid and 10 Tri Peaks). It took me 1 hour, 9 minutes and 39 seconds, which put me in 15th place in my group. I played Angry Birds and Friends and Angry Birds 2. 

I worked out using Synth Riders for 45 minutes. I used four songs, which were The Curse (3:25), Silver Stallion (3:27), The End Of The Night (3:56) and Pursuit (3:49). I got 7 outstanding scores and one new high score. While working out to The End Of The Night I missed 2 balls so I earned a perfect instead of outstanding. I had a great workout.

 

Pursuit

 

Silver Stallion

 

The Curse

 

The End Of The Night

 

I played three games of Gunpowder Gulch on Bounce Arcade before earning a trophy. The trophy I earned was a silver trophy. I played three events, which were gunfight, barrel barrage and quick drawl twice. I was successful in the gunfight event. I played two multiballs, which were jailhouse brake and saloon. I earned an extra ball. 

 

Gunpowder Gulch

I played seven games of pinball, which were, Slimer! Ghost-busters, JP Space Cadet, Star Wars Trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, Road Show, Creature From The Black Lagoon and Queen. While playing Slimer! Ghost-Busters I got a new high score but didn't move up in the group, I'm 14th out of 17 participates. The other games I didn't get on the board but I still played very well.

 

Creature From The Black Lagoon

 

 Slimer! Ghost-Busters

 

JP Space Cadet

 

Queen

 

Road Show

 

Star Wars Trilogy

 

The Lord of the Rings

 

I continued working on my jigsaw puzzle.

In the evening we watched the seventh Mission Impossible movie called Mission Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One. When Larry went to bed I watched You Got Mail and the first Sonic movie, which was Sonic the Hedgehog. All three movies were from our collection of movies. I ended up doing 3,000 steps.  

 

 

 

        

 

 

 

Sunday 11-23-25 New Pinball Challenge, Home Project & Games

 

Happy Sunday

 

We had a very nice day with a light cloud covering. The temperature when we got up was 52 degrees and the high was 71 degrees. There was a little breeze, which made it very comfortable. 

I got up at 7:00 to make apple empanadas for breakfast. I made them before going to bed so in the morning I just had to bake them. They came out very good. After breakfast I went back to bed for a couple of hours. 

While I was sleeping Larry finished a book and wrote a review on it. He is very good at writing reviews after he reads a book. People do read reviews. Sometimes he will get a comment on a review he has done years ago. The author once in awhile will comment or give a thumbs up. I don't write any reviews.

 

Reading can be fun

Larry worked on installing the security camera on the porch. He figured out where he wanted to mount the camera and how to wire it in. He did an excellent job. Now he can see where the packages from Amazon are delivered.

Today starts a new week for my weekly challenge on pinball. This weeks pinball challenge is Slimer! Ghost Busters. Larry downloaded the table and installed it on the pinball cabinet in both 2D and VR. It didn't have an actual VR version but Larry has converted other games before so he did the same for this game. It came out perfect. After installing the game he played it in both versions. Then he played Dracula and Magic Pinball.  

Before last week's challenge of Austin Powers stopped I played it for a half hour and was unsuccessful in getting a new high score. My high score of 271,767,310 put me in 60th place out of 84 participants. Once the new challenge began I played it a few times and got a high score of 8,383,520, which put me in 7th place out of 9 participants. 

 

Austin Powers

 

Slimer! Ghost Busters

I played six other games, which were Playboy, Fun House, Big Bang Bar, Dark Chaos, Big LeBowski and Willow. While I was playing Playboy I entered my initials in two places. One place was as high score #5 and the other place was because I played Manson Mania. Even though I didn't get on the board while playing the other games I still had good games.

 

Big Bang Bar

 

Big LeBowski

 

Dark Chaos

 

Fun House

 

Playboy

 

Willow

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of ten games. It took me 42 minutes and 52 seconds, which put me in 8th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds and Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I didn't play Synth Riders or Bounce Arcade because I decided to work on my jigsaw puzzle instead.

In the evening we watched the third The Kingsman, which was The King's Man. When Larry went to bed I watched the second National Treasure, which was National Treasure: Book of Secrets. I also watched The Little Mermaid II: Return To The Sea. I ended up doing 3,500 steps.   

 

    

 

 

  

Saturday 11-22-25 Car Show, Workout & Games

 

Happy Saturday

 

We had great Saturday. The low this morning was 50 degrees and the high was 71 degrees. 

Larry follows a Texas Car Show Group so he can find out when and where the local car shows are. Today there were two, one was in Gatesville at Bare Bones BBQ, which was their 5th Annual Toy Drive & Car Show. The other one was in Moody at the high school, which was Moody FFA 2nd Annual Car Show. We attended the one in Moody because it was only 18 miles away. We arrived at the show at !0:00 when it started. There were 24 cars in the show. There were a lot of beautiful vehicles. We were there about fifteen minutes. 

 

1967 Pontiac GTO

 

A beautiful vehicle

 

1937 Chevrolet (restored by owner)

 

A beautiful motorcycle in the car show

We swung by Walmart on the way home but it was so busy we didn't stop. I had already put items we needed in the Walmart site. When we got home Larry put in a home delivery order. The groceries were delivered around 3:00.

 

 

Grocery shopping

 

Larry decided it would be nice to have a security camera that could see packages left on our front porch. We have a camera that watches people coming to the front door but if he points it down far enough to see the ground then it can't see folks walking to the door. He dug an old camera out of his stash of stuff. He got it to work and updated the code on it. Now he has to figure out where to mount it and how to get power to it.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Spider Adventure of 20 games. It took me 2 hours, 40 minutes and 12 seconds, which put me in 13th place in my group. I played Angry Birds and Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I worked out on the Synth Riders for 40 minutes to four songs twice. They were Riot (3:39), Go! (3:15), Tonight (3:06) and Lazer Pink (3:52). The songs were very challenging and I earned two Outstanding plays and one new high score. The new high score was made while playing the second time with Riot. The two outstanding scores were while I played Tonight. 

 

Go!

 

Lazer Pink

 

Riot

 

Tonight

After working out with the Synth Riders I played two games of Monster Manor on Bounce Arcade. I earned a bronze trophy, awakened the manor but failed to stun the manor during the first game. The second game I earned a silver trophy. I awakened the manor twice, stunned the manor once, played the spider multiball and earned points by doing the banister buster. 

 

Monster Manor

I played six games of pinball, which were Austin Powers, Superman and the Justice League, No Fear, Monster Bash, Dracula and Magic Pinball. While playing No Fear I came in high score #2. While playing Magic Pinball I came in high score #4. My high score of Austin Powers from yesterday was approved so I'm in 47th out of 69 participants.

 

Austin Powers

 

Dracula

 

Magic Pinball

 

Monster Bash

 

No Fear

 

Superman and the Justice League

In the evening we watched the second Kingsman called The Kingsman: Golden Circle. This series of movies were based off a British multimedia franchise consisting of comic books, films and video games. The Kingsman are secret service spies. When Larry went to bed I watched the first National Treasure and the first The Little Mermaid. I ended up doing 3,000 steps.

While watching television I worked on my jigsaw puzzle.