Friday 7-31-26 Dancing, Projects, Lunch & More

It's Friday let's celebrated with a dance

Today was a hot day with the high of 101 degrees and the morning temperature of 75 degrees. Even though it was another 100 degree day we had a great day.

The temperature at our house at 3:00 pm

We started the day out by going to Aldi to do a little grocery shopping. We arrived at Aldi a couple minutes before 9:00 am so we had to wait with a few other people. Aldi doesn't open until 9:00 am. The doors were opened by a couple of friendly employees with big smiles. We bought the items we like at Aldi and items you can only get at Aldi such as Pork Burnt Ends and Italian Trio (Genoa salami, pepperoni and provolone cheese). After doing our grocery shopping we went home.

Grocery shopping

When we got home Larry did a truck project. Every once in awhile the transmission doesn't seem to engage correctly. We seldom drive the truck and he thinks one of the valves in the transmission might be getting sticky so he wanted to  add an additive to the transmission. He could change the transmission fluid and while this hasn't been done in years there is only 15,000 miles on the fluid. Before putting in the additive he had to pump some fluid out so it would not be overfull. I helped him. Afterwards Larry wanted to take it for a ride to mix the additive with the transmission fluid. 

Larry wanted to take me to lunch and check the mail. We drove the truck. Taco Bell is right next to the UPS store and we hadn't been there for a long time. We shared a mini taco salad and cheesy bean and rice burrito. We were the only customers, thinking about it we figured it was because of the problem with the produce from their supplier. The lettuce was making people very sick and this was on the news. We forgot about this problem. If we had remembered we probably wouldn't have eaten there either. The meal was very good.

We were back home by 11:30 am. 

Larry spent the rest of the day working on different projects. He continued playing with Jukecab and a jukebox skin (jukebox menu of songs). He did  his monthly computer backup. He continued on working on shrinking the size of our movies. It going to take awhile because we have 261 movies. Larry is having fun doing these projects because he's learning new stuff.

While Larry did his projects I played games and worked out. 

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. This month I didn't get a prefect score on the challenges because I didn't complete one game in the Solitaire challenges and one game in the Mahjong challenges. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Klondike and 5 Pyramid). It took me 40 minutes and 5 seconds to complete, which put me in 16th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I was getting ready to workout by putting the Iron Horse jigsaw puzzle in the spare bedroom and I dropped one of the boards with pieces on it on the ground. As I was picking up the pieces I decided to do some housework. After picking up the pieces I cleaned the bathrooms, dusted and vacuumed the house. Hopefully, I found all the pieces.

Doing housework

I worked out for an hour. I did a half hour on the Wii Fit with the Wii Fit Plus Routine, that was chosen for me. The routine was for 25 minutes with 12 different exercises. I did two exercises from the Aerobics (Basic Run and Basic Step), one exercise from Balance Games (Lotus Focus), one exercise from Strength Training (Single-Leg Twist 10 reps), three exercises from Training Plus (Perfect 10, Rhythm Kung-Fu and Skateboard Arena) and five exercises from Yoga (Palm Tree, Standing Knee, Sun Salutation, Triangle and Warrior). I did two exercises from Strength Training to get the other five minutes (Sideways Leg-Lifts 20 reps 2 minutes and Single-Leg Extensions 20 reps for 3 minutes). I had a great workout.

Aerobics (Basic Run and Basic Step)

Balance Games (Lotus Focus)

Strength Training (Sideways Leg-Lift, Single-Leg Extension and Single-Leg Twist)

Training Plus (Perfect 10, Rhythm Kung-Fu and Skateboard Arena)

Yoga (Palm Tree, Standing Knee, Sun Salutation, Triangle and Warrior)

I worked out with the Synth Riders for a half hour with four songs two times each. The songs were Carbon Cult, From Hell, Satanic Panic and Space Rock. While working out with Carbon Cult I earned 2 outstanding scores and I new high new score, From Hell I earned 1 outstanding score and 1 new high score, Satanic Panic I earned 1 outstanding score and 1 new high score and Space Rock I earned 1 outstanding score. I had another great workout.

Carbon Cult

From Hell 

Satanic Panic

Space Rock

I played seven pinball games. I played three games on the mini cabinet, which were Lord of the Rings, Metallica and Red & Ted's Road Show. I played four games on the big cabinet, which were Bay Watch, Jaws, The Beach Boys and Transformers. I had fun playing pinball even though I didn't get on the board.

Lord of the Rings (Mini)

Metallica (Mini)

Red & Ted's Road Show (Mini)

Bay Watch (Big)

Jaws (Big)

The Beach Boys (Big)

Transformers (Big)

In the evening I attended Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 dance at 6:30 pm for an hour. She called four tips to 8 participants. This is her last dance of calling virtually until the end of August. She's going to caller school in Houston for a week and then she's going on a cruise for two weeks. I won't be dancing to her until we get back from our fall trip (end of October). Tomorrow is Ett's 70th birthday so we sang Happy Birthday to her. She called a few left handed Chain Reaction, dancers were having problems so she recalled it helped a little bit. I had fun dancing to Ett and with friends from the Unites States and Canada.

I love square dancing

After the dance we watched 101 Dalmatians from our movies collection. This was one of the movies Larry shrunk and it played great. After Larry went to bed I watched Jack Reacher from our movies collection. I ended up doing 4,000 steps.

Relaxing in front of the television

I worked on Horse of Iron a little bit.  

 

 

        

 

 

 

Thursday 7-30-26 Just Another Day of Doing This & That

 

Summertime Fun

We had another beautiful day with sunshine. The morning temperature was 76 degrees and the high was 101 degrees. 

Larry continues working with Jukecab. He is also working on our movies to shrink the size of each movie.

Late in the afternoon we got a phone call from Doughty Automotive saying the Equinox was ready to be picked up. So we went and picked it up. We are very impressed with the service. They called us everyday giving us update on where they were on the Equinox. Yesterday, they said they were 80% done. We didn't hear from them until 4:30 so we figured the work wasn't going to be done until tomorrow. For $2200 we now have a properly working air conditioner. 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango of 20 games (10 Spiders and 10 Tri Peaks). It took me 2 hours, 12 minutes and 38 seconds to complete, which put me in 22nd place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

I worked out for an hour and 45 minutes. 

I worked out 45 minutes on the Wii Fit using the Wii Fit Plus routine, that was chosen for me for 27 minutes, Training Plus Perfect 10 3 times for 3 minutes, three exercises from the Balance Games for 10 minutes (Ski Jump three times for 3 minutes, Ski Slalom three times for 3 minutes and Table Tilt for 4 minutes) and two exercises from Strength Training for five minutes (Single-Leg Twist 20 reps for 2 minutes and Torso Twist 6 reps for 3 minutes. The Wii Fit Plus Routine was 12 exercises, that consist of three exercises from Aerobics (Advance Step, Hula Hoop and Rhythm Boxing), one exercise from Strength Training (Rowing Squats of 15 reps), three exercises from Training Plus (Perfect 10, Rhythm Kung-Fu and Snowball Fight) and five exercise from Yoga (Deep Breathing, Half-Moon, Palm Tree, Triangle and Warrior). I had a great workout.

Aerobics (Advance Step, Hula Hoop and Rhythm Boxing)

 

Balance Games (Ski Jump, Ski Slalom and Table Tilt)

Strength Training (Rowing Squats, Single-Leg Twist and Torso Twist)

Training Plus (Perfect 10, Rhythm Kung-Fu and Snowball Fight)

Yoga (Deep Breathing, Half-Moon, Palm Tree, Triangle and Warrior)

I worked out with Just Dance for 30 minutes with Just Dance 2019 with 9 songs. The songs were Rhythm of the Night, New Rules, Work Work, New World, Water Me, Havana, One Kiss, A Little Party Never Hurt Nobody and Sweet Unforgettable Thing. I earned new avatars by dancing to songs I haven't danced to. The avatars are the people sing the song. It was a fun workout.

Just Dance 2019 10 minute songs (Rhythm of the Night, New Rules and Work Work)

Just Dance 2019 for 20 minutes songs (New World, Water Me, Havana, One Kiss, 

A Little Party Never Killed Nobody and Sweet Unforgettable Thing)

I worked out with the Synth Riders for 30 minutes with four songs two times. The songs were Choices, Neo Tokyo, Sunset Hologram and Suppress It. While I did Choices I earned 2 outstanding scores, Neo Tokyo I earned 2 outstanding scores and 1 new high score, Sunset Hologram I earned 1 outstanding score and Suppress It 1 outstanding score and 1 new high score (not the outstanding score). I had a great workout.

Choices

Neo Tokyo

Sunset Hologram

Suppress It

I played eight games of pinball. I played four games on the mini cabinet, which were Ace of Speed, Great Houdini, Theatre of Magic and Willy Wonka. While playing Great Houdini I became high score #4 and Willy Wonka I became high score #1. I played four games on the big cabinet, which were Bay Watch, Guardians of the Galaxy, Jaws and Mustang. While playing Guardians of the Galaxy I became high score #1. I had a fun time playing pinball o both the mini cabinet and the big cabinet.

Ace of Speed (Mini)

Great Houdini (Mini)

Theatre of Magic (Mini)

Willy Wonka (Mini)

Bay Watch (Big)

Guardians of the Galaxy (Big)

Jaws (Big)

Mustang (Big)

I worked on Horse of Iron jigsaw puzzle.

In the evening we watched the next superhero movie from our movies collection, which was The Avengers. When Larry went to bed I watched the last Mission Impossible movie, which was Mission Impossible-The Final Reckoning, I ended up doing 4,000 steps. 

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Wednesday 7-29-26 Virtual Dance Day, Jukebox Project & Missing Bowl

 

Awesome Day!

We had an awesome day. The morning temperature was 75 degrees and the high was 98 degrees with the humidity of 42%. 

High Temperature

For the last two days I have been putting a small metal bowl with nectar in it on the back porch for the squirrel to drink. Larry and I have been fighting with a squirrel for awhile now. He kept climbing up the rail on the back porch to get to the bowl we have full of nectar for the humming birds. It made a mess and we had to spray off the area where the squirrel spilled the nectar. Then we had to chase down the bowl. We put Velcro around the bowl to hold it on the Command Strips. The squirrel figured out how to remove the Velcro from the bowl. That's when I decided to put the metal bowl on the porch. The squirrel has been drinking from it and the humming birds bowl hasn't been touched by the squirrel. I had a big surprise when I woke up this morning. The small metal bowl was gone. We looked everywhere, it was no where to be found. Larry looked through the back porch security camera footage from the early morning. He discovered a racoon was on the porch, it found the bowl and drank some of the nectar. Then it picked the bowl up in it's paws and walked away with it at 1:01 am. 

Years ago Larry had read, that racoons like shiny things. When they find anything shiny they will take it. There are signs around campgrounds we camp in to put everything away because they have masked bandits around. People have lost their car keys and other items. The signs have a picture of a racoon as the mask bandit. 

A cute racoon

I attended three virtual square dances.

First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 10:00 am for an hour. This week Di asked Loren Smith to cover for them because they had another engagement and wouldn't be back in time. He called four tips to 6 participants. He called the moves, that were added to the Plus moves from the A1 moves. He also called Spin-Chain-The-Gear and Exchange, Relay The Deucey and Coordinate, which are four couples moves. Larry danced with me and Liz from Canada was happy he did that way she could follow him dancing. She dances the man's position. We had a super time dancing to Loren and with friends from United States, United Kingdoms and Canada.

Second was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 at 1:00 pm for an hour. She called four tips to 15 participants. During the third and fourth tips she worked shopped Half Tag, Vertical Half Tag, Vertical Tag (3/4, 1/2, 1/4 and full tag. She explained what formation you were in. She didn't cue but she did say where you should be. I had a fun hour dancing to Ett and with friends from the United States, United Kingdoms, Canada, Australia and Germany.

Third was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:00 pm for an hour and a half. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped Dave call the dance. The format was three tips of C1 to 7 participants, three tips of A2 to 9 participants and two trivial questions in between the A2 tips. It's always a small group but we have fun dancing with each and visiting in between tips. Dave, Karin and Greg did a wonderful job of calling the dance. I had a great evening dancing with friends.  

Get a partner and dance

While I danced and played games Larry continued learning Jukecab and how it works. He spent most of the time today redesigning a skin to work with the program.

In between the dances I played games and worked out. 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 36 minutes and 32 seconds to complete, which put me in 6th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2. 

I worked out on the Wii Fit for 30 minutes with the Wii Fit Plus Routine. The routine was for 32 minutes but I only did three Aerobics exercises (Advance Step, Basic Step and Basic Run), two Balance Games exercises (Lotus Focus and Table Tilt), one Strength Training (Balance Bridge 6 reps), four Training Plus (Big Top Juggling, Rhythm Parade, Skateboard Arena and Snowball Fight) and two Yoga exercises (Triangle and Warrior). I did Perfect 10 to do the 30 minutes. I had a great workout.

Aerobics (Advance Step, Basic Step and Basic Run)

Balance Games (Lotus Focus and Table Tilt)

Strength Training (Balance Bridge)

Training Plus (Big Top Juggling, Perfect 10, Rhythm Parade, 

Skateboard Arena and Snowball Fight)

Yoga (Triangle and Warrior)

I worked out with the Synth Riders to four songs two times. The songs were Pursuit, Silver Stallion, The Curse and The End Of The Night. While working out with Pursuit I earned two outstanding scores, Silver Stallion I earned two outstanding scores and The End Of The Night I earned one outstanding score. I had fun working out with the Synth Riders.

Pursuit

Silver Stallion

The Curse

The End Of The Night

I played six games of pinball. I played three games on the mini cabinet, which were Pirate's Life, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Goonies. I played three games on the big cabinet, which were Bay Watch, The Beach Boys and Willow. I didn't get a new high score or on the board in any of the games but I had fun.

Pirate's Life (Mini)

Pirates of the Caribbean (Mini)

The Goonies (Mini)

Bay Watch (Big)

The Beach Boys (Big)

Willow (Big)

After the last dance we watched Stuart Little from our movies collection. When Larry went to bed I watched the next Mission Impossible movie, which was Mission Impossible-Dead Reckoning Part One from our movies collection. I ended up doing 4,000 steps.