Day 73

Lucy is a lot better today. She is putting weight on her foot. Now the challenge is to keep her from overdoing it. It didn't work well. In the afternoon she was limping a little again.

I forgot to get screws for the vanity yesterday, so the first thing to do was back to Lowe's. When we got back I planned on finishing up the vanity. It decided to fight the process. The dimensions of the new vanity are slightly larger than those of the old one. That meant that I had to cut some off of the trim on both sides of the vanity. Than I had to cut off some of the splash shield above it. It took quit a bit of time and effort.

I have the base attached to the wall now. I'm ready to hook up the plumbing and glue the top on tomorrow.

The optical converter came today and I hooked it up. Now we get surround sound from the satellite receiver in the living room. It sounds very good.

I also finished entering the titles of all of our DVD's and Blu-rays into my phone. The only ones not entered are the ones in the trailer in Oregon. That should end my buying duplicates.

Day 72

We went over to the Lowe's in Bee Cave to get the fire pit. I was going to take the truck, but it's batteries were dead. My old charger wouldn't charge them. On the way back from Lowe's we bought a new battery charger at Wally World.

The new charger wouldn't charge the batteries because they were too low. I hate microprocessor controlled chargers that won't just do what you tell them to do. Fortunately the charger had a limp mode that it goes into that basically trickle charges that batteries at 6 volts.

After doing that for awhile the charger threw an error code. Of course the manual didn't list any codes. I restarted things and it started charging at 12 volts. Hopefully this will charge the batteries. The reason that they went dead was that the GPS was left plugged in when we last drove it.

Lucy was feeling better, so she went to the garbage can with me. Apparently she hurt herself again, because she let out a loud yelp while we were coming back. It was back on the couch for her.

I wanted to accomplish something today. So I put together the fire pit, put the outside temperature sensor up, and entered most of the DVD titles we have in my phone. That way I won't buy any more duplicates.

Day 71

The day started out strange. Ellen let Lucy out for her morning constitutional. When she came back in she wouldn't put any weight on her back right leg. We just let her lay on the couch.

I went over to the apartment and finished the putting the trim on the vanity and the faucet on the sink. I was feeling ambitious so I took out the old vanity. The dumbshits struck again. They didn't leave enough pipe for the shutoff valves, so I couldn't turn off the hot water without punching out some sheetrock. When I got finished with removing the vanity I didn't feel like doing anything else, so I quit.

Lucy had gotten worse, so we took her to the vet. $170 later it was determined that she had a seriously stubbed toe. She's supposed to take it easy for a week. Yeah, right.

We went to Lowe's to get the fire pit. After seeing it there for months, now they are sold out. We also stopped a Verizon to find out why my phone wouldn't download anything. The guy did a power on reset (I didn't know you could do that), and the phone started downloading.

It rained last night and part of the morning, so I didn't get the satellite mount painted.

Day 70

The new satellite stuff was installed today. It's a vast improvement over the old equipment. I went out in the morning and beefed up the mount that I built on the side of the house. It's a good thing that I did. The new dish wouldn't have fit without the modifications. The job was made especially pleasant by the steady rain. So was taking out the garbage. It rained all day.

The installer gave me a line on a dish to take on the road. I'm glad he did as the new dish requires a power supply.

While we waited for the installer I decided to shorten the blinds in the kitchen and entry. It wasn't hard, but it was time consuming and a pain in the ass. I wasn't finished until after he left.

During the install I discovered that one of the two HDMI inputs on the old TV is dead. Crap. I'll have to buy a remote controlled HDMI switch so that we can have both the satellite box and the blu-ray player hooked to the TV.

After I finished the blinds I put the bedroom sat box in the cabinet and cabled everything up. It works great with the surround sound.

Finally, I vacuumed the whole place. We haven't been very careful about taking our shoes off and it was pretty dirty.

Day 69

We slept in late and then went to the credit union to sign the papers for the loan. The office was way up in north Austin. The signing went well, and the loan officer said she'd call us with the name of a good contractor.

Since we were so far north, we went to Fry's. They didn't have anything that interested us. So we stopped by an outdoor mall just south of Fry's called the Domain. It's mainly high end clothing and jewelery stores. You couldn't swing a cat without killing a couple of yuppies. We stopped at Penney's on the way home so that I could buy some new underwear.

That pretty much killed the whole day. When we got home I put a second coat of paint on the wood I put up for the antenna mount.

I took Lucy up to pick up the mail. Apparently one of the neighbors has an outdoor cat. She saw it an started chasing it. I was upset when she didn't come back immediately when I called. I made her heel all the way home.

Day 68

We went out for a little while today. It was partially to look for after Christmas bargains and partially to get some wood so I could build up a place in the eves to mount the new satellite dish.

There wasn't much in the way of bargains, and surprisingly few people out looking for them. We got the wood and went home. I cut the wood up and attached it to the house. It was a little bit of work to figure out where the rafters were to screw into. Of course when the framed the house they didn't space the rafters evenly. I hit it right on the nose though.

I had looked for paint in the apartment where the previous owners had left all of the cans. There was one can of exterior paint, and it was gray. So I thought I was OK. When I started using it I found out that it didn't match either of the two shades of gray that were used on the house. Those people were true idiots.

I painted the new boards with the paint anyway because it was the only exterior paint that I had.

While I was painting that, Ellen painted the trim pieces for the new vanity. They'll be ready when I get back to that project.

Day 67

It was a pretty good Christmas. I slept in late because I got sick last night. I had a bad allergic reaction to something. There was a lot of sneezing and both my eyes swelled up. My right eye almost swelled shut.

I was much better this morning, although my right eye was still swollen.

We opened presents this morning. We got some cool stuff. Ellen called her sister and I called my brother.

Ellen worked pretty hard on dinner. It was Cornish Game Hen. It was pretty good.
the dog got a lot of good stuff - sweet potatoes, a bone, table scraps and cookies.

To top it all off, the Cowboys lost.

Day 66

It's been a good two days for presents. We got 5 packages worth between the two days. We aren't opening them until tomorrow.

We did a little surfing in the morning. I had to do something, so I put up a clothes hook in my closet. A big 10 minute job.

Then we went out to get the plumber's putty. We got it, but I didn't feel like doing any work when we got home. So we declared it an afternoon at the movies. We watched Up and Drag Me To Hell.

It rained hard when we were out and for about an hour after we got home. That should make the people crying drought a little happier.

I wonder if I'll have any visions of sugarplums tonight.

Day 65

This was mainly a fairly lazy day. We went out shopping for a few things that we needed. Things like or third set of cat bowls.

When we got back I felt guilty about doing nothing. So I got out the mower and finished the last bit of the side yard. They fixed it well. It seemed to cut grass better and throw the cuttings farther. The stuff was tall and thick. When I was finished I felt like I should rake it and bale it.

I also finished up the trailer. I drained the grey tank, lowered and fixed the antenna, and closed the oven vent (it took a ladder).

That wasn't enough, so I went over to work on the new vanity. I put the fixture on the sink and cut the molding to go around the bottom of the cabinet. I would have installed the drain, but I didn't have any plumber's putty.

My back hurt all day. And my sides started hurting from all the coughing I've been doing. Getting old sucks.

Day 64

The first morning in the new house. The foam bed is a nice bed. But its nothing to write home about from my point of view. Taiko spent the whole night roaming around the house jumping up on things and bumping things. He woke me up several times.

When we got up I moved the rest of the food from the trailer. Then I started cleaning it. The process took several hours. When it was finished I was too tired do anything else. Also I hurt. Somewhere along the way in the last two days I hurt my back. It was painful to lift a bowl of water.

Sooooo ... I spent the afternoon surfing. Both cats were very friendly. I think that they're adapting, but they are still unsure about things.

After dinner I had cabin fever. We had developed a fairly long list of stuff that we needed for the house. Nothing big, just a lot of little things that will make living here easier. So we went to Target and Walmart. We managed to get just about everything on the list.

Day 63

We moved into the house today. With Ellen's help I figured out which cables to use to connect the satellite to the living room TV. Then I moved the dish from the trailer and Ellen aimed it. While I was doing the wiring, Ellen started cleaning up the apartment.

I called the mower repair place. They had finished the mower, so we went over and picked it up. After wards we stopped for lunch at the Salt Lick. It was very good food. We bought a pound of brisket to take home.

When we got back Ellen continued with the cleanup. I did a little more wiring and then started moving stuff from the trailer to the house. We quit about five. There's enough stuff here for us to spend the night. Tomorrow we'll finish the move and clean up the trailer.

The cats are not happy about the move. Both of them are hiding in the catroom and Fletcher is crying. I expect that they will settle down after they sleep with us tonight.

Day 62

I decided not to do much today. Instead of working, we went out and about. I loaded up the car with a bunch of stuff for Goodwill. Five or so lights that I removed from the house, the wireless phones from our old house, and some stuff that the previous owners had left. It filled up the trunk.

After that we went looking for a comforter for the bed in the house. Half way through we stopped for lunch at Marie Callender's. We hadn't eaten a meal at a sit down restaurant in quite awhile. We picked up the comforter and cover from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I don't get why the cover should cost half as much as the comforter. It's just two sheets sewed together.

On the way back we stopped at Costco to stock up on frozen food. We also stopped at another Goodwill and bought some stuff for the apartment.

We ate dinner in the house. I think we'll probably move in tomorrow after I get the satellite dish hooked up.

Day 61

We picked up the new receiver about 10:00. We checked out that it turned on before we bought it. Then we went looking for a place to eat breakfast. No luck. We could only find one place in the whole area around 290. It had a line out the door.

So we went to Best Buy. That turned out to be a good deal. There were people there from Directv. I stopped to find out how much HDTV would really cost us. Their fee structures makes this very difficult to figure out. They told me that the best way to go was to sign up as new customers at our new address. So we did. It ended up saving us almost $30/mo for the first year, and is a wash after that. They'll install the new equipment at the end of the month.

When we got home I decided to set up the new receiver. It took a long time to unhook all the old equipment and hook up the new stuff. As I was hooking up the speakers I discovered that the receiver doesn't have a amplified channel for the subwoofer. That sucks. Right now I'm using the old receiver to power that channel.

In the evening I watched football in high def on the new TV. It's very impressive. I think we'll probably move into the house tomorrow. We have to get a comforter first.

Day 60

It's finished. Ten days after I started, the antenna is installed and both TV's are hung on the walls and working. As an aside, the new TV has a fantastic picture. Reception for both TV's is very good.

Finishing up the antenna work took about 4 hours. First I strung the wire, then I put the antenna on the end of the pole. With Ellen's help I fine tuned the antenna direction. Then I raised the pole and drilled a hole for the bolt that locks the inner pole. After a little pruning to clear the antenna wire and installing a makeshift boot on the grounding block I was done.

I found another surround sound receiver. I'll probably buy it tomorrow. I'll make sure it works first. I messed around some with the one I bought. According to the manual, it probably has a bad voltage regulator.

Just before dinner I went up into the attic to try to figure out the wires that the previous owners had installed. I worked out all of them except the one that I'm most interested in. I'll have to figure out a way to identify that wire before I can move the satellite dish to the house.

Ellen has been dealing with a soap opera at the club for the last two days. Dan is afraid they aren't going to renew the contract. We listened to the meeting today. Dan made an emotional speech about his history with the club and how we shouldn't risk losing it. I suspect that this isn't the end of the story.

Day 59

Samsung sucks. Their stupid "mount" is basically a high strength picture hanging wire that you connect to two of the TV's mounting studs. It's barely long enough to reach between two 16" studs. What a great bargain at $200.

To make matters worse, the power cord plug is way too big to fit behind the TV. It's also too big to fit through a cable access panel. I had to cut a 1 1/2 inch hole in the wall below the cable panel and push the power cord into the wall space.

All of this involved pulling and repulling the wires in the living room wall. Part of this was poor planning and part was discovering how crappy the Samsung was.

Ellen worked with me on this all day. Having her around made some things easier and others possible at all. We finally got everything done and the TV on the wall. The Blu-ray and A/V connections work. That's all I can test for now.

Because I had the tools there I decided to put up the curtain rod in the master before having dinner. No drama, but it took awhile. Then I took out a bunch of garbage, the tools, and some stuff to store in the well house.

As I was finishing up I came across the bag of extra stuff that came with the TV mount that we used in the bedroom. It looks like some of it could have been used to adapt the living room mount to the Samsung. It looks like all I got for our $200 was a lot of frustration.

Late breaking news. I just tried to get the receiver that I bought to turn on. It's DOA. My first Craig's list ripoff. I've learned my $45 lesson. I won't buy anything from someone that I don't have contact information for.

Day 58

This was a pretty good day. It didn't start off good. I lost out on a converter that I was trying to buy on Craig's list.

So I took the implements of destruction to the house and worked on the antenna install. I finished the cable supports and removed the braces from the antenna pole. Then I pounded in the stakes for the guy wires and started making up the wires. About half way through I broke for lunch. After lunch we went over to Radio Shack to exchange the cable I bought yesterday for an audio cable. We also took the dog to the park for some retrieves.

While we were out a seller from Craig's list called about a surround sound receiver that he's selling for $45. I set up a time to meet him after 5:00.

When we got back I finished up the guy wires. I thought that would be difficult, but it turned out not to be too bad. It's probably the first part of the whole install that didn't turn into an unexpected pain in the ass. When I was finished the pole was within a degree of perfect vertical. I had some extra time, so I put the antenna together. It looks pretty sturdy. I hope it works as good as it looks.

Then we went out to meet the guy from Craig's list and bought the receiver. As long as it works, it's a very good deal.

One note. The TV mount from Samsung came today. It's just a couple of hooks and some cable. For $200 it's a colossal ripoff.

Day 57

I finished most of the antenna cable supports today and wired in the grounding block. That leaves putting up a couple of supports, stringing the guy wires, and putting on the antenna to go.

I probably would have gotten further except I went to get the oil changed. It took two hours, I'm not sure why. It gave me a chance to read the paper and surf.

Afterwards we went to Lowe's to pick up some odds and ends for the antenna install. Then we went on a search for a 15 foot A/V cable. Lowes, Home Depot, Target, and Best Buy didn't have any. Best Buy didn't have any A/V cables at all. I had to settle for a 24 foot one (way too long) at Radio Shack. It really sucks living so far away from Fry's.

The TV mount didn't come today (it was supposed to). So much for paying extra for expedited shipping.

Day 57

I started out today doing some small chores in the apartment. We had bought some hooks for the large bedroom's drapes. They set a new standard for cheap Chinese junk. They were so cheap that they wouldn't screw into wood. The price wasn't cheap - $1.50 apiece.

Then I built the supports for the antenna pole and connected them to the pole. I put the pole in the hole and poured in the quickcrete. Everything looks good this evening except that I expected the stuff to set quicker than it has.

While I was doing that, Ellen was doing the wash (it's Tuesday) and writing Christmas cards. Better her than me.

After a late lunch we went to Sears to get the other drape. They dicked around for half an hour looking for it. Then I bought a workmate kind of thing to use up that store credit that they gave us for the remote. They wasted more time bringing (or rather not bringing) it out for us. I finally got pissed and got it myself. I was not a happy camper.

On the way home I stopped by Home Depot to get another post to use as a grounding rod. When I got home I put up some of the supports for the outside antenna wire. I ran out of light before I got much done, so I finished up the day putting the workmate together. It's pretty slick.

Day 56

I decided to tackle the hardest remaining part of the antenna install. With Ellen's help I managed to pull the wire for the outside antenna inside the attic. The low pitch of the roof made this as unpleasant as pulling the bedroom wires was. I ended up with another scratch on my head and a cough from breathing fiberglass.

After lunch we went over to the credit union to sign some more loan papers. Apparently we're going to get the loan. We also made another pilgrimage to Home Depot. I got the hardware that I need to put up the posts to support the antenna wire.

We got home a little late so I decided to clean up a few details that wouldn't take a lot of time. I finished changing out the cables in the wall in the living room. I still can't believe the TV only has one A/V input. Then I put connectors on the antenna wires. I wasted three connectors by crimping them wrong. The problem is that I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. It's good that I bought some extra, I'm going to need them.

I also mounted the amplifier in the attic and connected everything up. The only thing I should have left to do in the attic is plug the amplifier power supply into the wall.

Tomorrow I'll start by putting up the antenna pole. If everything goes smoothly I should be able to get all of the wire support up by the end of the day. That will leave mounting the antenna, putting up the guy wires, and stringing the wire.

Day 55

We spent the morning reading the paper. Isn't that what the Sunday [a[er is for? While we were doing that a person I emailed yesterday called. He had a Logitech remote control on sale for about 1/3 of it's list price. We went to see him and bought it. It turns out that he works for Intel and used to live in Bethany. We had a good time talking to him about life at Intel.

When we got home I started to work on the antenna pole. The first step was to check out the one I bought last winter. It was pretty rusted. Ellen and I spent a couple of hours oiling it up and using the bench grinder to clean it up. It doesn't work great, but it should be serviceable.

Then we split up. Ellen sanded the kitchen table for the apartment and then put a second coat on it. I took the pick and shovel and dug a hole for the antenna pole. I took more rock out of that hole than I did dirt. It also reminded me of how much I hate digging holes.

It's after dinner now and time to watch the Cowboys get beat again.

Day 54

Today was supposed to be mainly a dog day, and it was. A local pet supply store was having a grand opening celebration. Money off on products, and free pies. We took Lucy over there and she had a ball. She got free treats and had a chance to meet and great a lot of other dogs. We even had her portrait taken ($10 donation to the humane society).

After that we went over to Sears to pick up the remote. They gave us the wrong one, a 520 instead of a 650. It turns out that something in their inventory system is screwed up. They have the 520 listed as the 650. Unfortunately we couldn't get a refund. We had to accept a gift card instead. The trip wasn't a total loss though. We found some drapes for the master that we liked. Unfortunately they only had one, so we bought it and had them order another.

On the way back we stopped at Rudy's to pick up some brisket. Then we took the dog to the park so she could do some retrieves (remember it's a dog day). Then we walked one of the trails in the park while Lucy explored the woods. When we got home she got a bone (from the pet store) to chew on.

We went over to the house to pull the antenna wire for the living room. When I first started this, I thought that would be the hardest part. It wasn't easy, but it was a lot easier than getting the bedroom wires pulled. Then we unboxed the new TV. I was all ready to hang it up when I discovered that it doesn't use a VESA standard mount. You have to buy one from Samsung. That's an extra $200. Assholes.

So now we have no remote and won't be able to use the TV until sometime late next week. I'm so happy.

Day 53

The TV is finally on the wall. In the morning we went out and got the power cord that I forgot to get earlier. We took our time and screwed around some. After yesterday's work I wasn't interested in another long work day.

When we got back I pulled the wires in the wall while Ellen did the patch up painting that needed to be done in the kitchen and cat room. After I got all the wires buttoned up and the mount installed she helped me put the TV on the wall. The Blu-ray player works with it. I didn't try anything else because I just didn't want to screw with it.

One note from pulling the wire. Those compression fittings for the RF cables are cool. The trick is to strip the wire correctly. If you do, the fittings go on slicker than snot.

In the evening I decided to look into buying a programmable remote for the bedroom. I found a great deal on a Logitech 650 at Sears. I ordered one for pickup tomorrow.

Day 52

I got up thinking I'd have the old TV installed in the master by noon. I should have known better. The task was conceptually simple. Drill two holes in the sheetrock, pull the cables through them, and put a cover on the hole. Fat chance.

I drilled the first hole into the wall below the ceiling. It hit a 2x4. In the only luck I had today, part of the hole broke through the bottom of the 2x4. With some work with a rat tale file I opened the hole enough to pull wire through.

The hole in the ceiling was worse. There was 3 or 4 inches of wood above the sheetrock. I could have dealt with that, except halfway through I hit a nail.I managed to hog out the other half of the hole enough to pull wire.

Then it was off to Home Depot to get a sheet of plywood. I had them cut it into 2x4 sections. I used these to provide a floor for crawling around in the attic. It was a bitch. The highest point of the roof is about 3 feet, so everything was done on my hands and knees. To get to the place where the wire was coming up I had to lay on my back and scoot to the edge of the attic. It was just like caving. My face was 3 inches below the roof, which had a forest of sharp nails sticking through it. I had to stretch my arm out as far as possible just to get a pair of pliers on the wire as it cam up through the boards. I cut my head twice and my finger once.

All the wood above the ceiling was because the hole I drilled was directly below a ceiling joist (bad luck) which was also connected to a rafter (worse luck). If I had placed the hole 3" either left or right it would have been though only a layer of sheetrock. As it was it took me a spade bit and two drill bits to get the hole big enough to pull wire through. It also took two tries.

With considerable help from Ellen I finally got it all pulled. Then I buttoned up the openings. That's when I realized that I had forgotten to pull a power cord. And I didn't have one. So at 4:00 I called it a day. I'd been working on the "about an hour" job for more than 5 hours. I was bushed.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get the TV moved if something else doesn't go completely wrong. We got the 3D glasses today and Ellen is dying to use the new TV. Unfortunately I have to finish moving the old TV and pull one more wire run before we can hook it up.

Now that I've spent so much quality time up in the attic I'm really looking forwared to having to pull the wire for the outside antenna.

Day 51

We got the new TV today. It's in a big box and it's very heavy. It's still in the box. If we're lucky, we'll get to it tomorrow.

The TV was scheduled to get here in the morning. It made it here just before noon. That gave Ellen time to put the finishing touches on the bathroom. I started the process of mounting the old TV in the master. I measured out the position of the mount on the wall.

I went into the attic to see how much work it was going to be to install the antenna wire. Because of the pitch of the roof, it isn't possible to drill down through the header to run a cable. I settled for an alternative. I'll run the cable inside the wall up to the ceiling. Then I'll run it out of the wall and up through the ceiling. I'll cover the cable with a cable access plate. It will look a little funny, but it's the only alternative that I can think of.

With that worked out I started cutting holes for the cabling from the equipment to the TV. I got them done and ran the fish wire down from the top hole. It stopped 3 inches short of the bottom hole. The dumbshits that built the house had put a 2x4 across the studs, at an angle, about 6 inches from the floor. Who knows why.

Suddenly a 10 minute job became a major effort. I cut a hole above the 2x4 and drilled a 1" hole through it.

Then the TV came, so we went off to Fry's to buy all of the various cables I was going to need. Unfortunately they were out of long A/V cables. I made do with a pair of audio cables.

While were were out we also got the mail, stopped by the credit union to apply for a loan, ate a very late lunch, and did some grocery shopping.

When we got back I started to pull the cables. This was made very difficult by the need to feed each one through that 1" hole in the 2x4. I had to split all of the A/V cables and pull each wire through the hole separately. I think it took about 3 hours to do it all.

Finally I connected all of the cables to the equipment in the cabinet. Everything is ready to go when we move the TV. I'll need to pull the antenna cable first. I'll do that tomorrow morning. I'm not looking forward to it.

Day 50

It was relatively cold today. 39 degrees at 9 in the morning. The high was in the mid fifty's. So I decided to work inside.

I started in the apartment. I hung up the drapes in the large bedroom, put in a power cord through the closet wall, and put up a paper towel holder in the kitchen. This officially finishes the work on the apartment that we needed to do to make it livable. I'll replace the vanity sometime, but it's not a critical fix.

I hooked up the new Blu-ray player. I also debugged a problem with the power control on one of the amps. It needed to be power cycled (pull power cord from the wall) in order to work correctly.

Then I went to work on setting up the bedroom surround sound system and connecting the old Blu-ray player to it. It took a lot of messing around to get it the way I wanted it. The Yamaha amp will drive the front two speakers and the surround sound will drive the subwoofer, back and center channels. I still need to get some cables. I need a short optical cable and two long (5m) A/V cables.

While I was doing that Ellen was busy painting the bathroom. She's almost completely done with it. At the same time she did the wash.

After the bedroom system was (almost) set up I put the boxes away in the apartment attic and hauled out the garbage.

I also figured out why the previous owners put the TV connection in such an odd place. Two sides of the master are outside walls with insulation in them. The place I need a connection is on one of those walls. I'm not looking forward to trying to fish wires through that wall.

Ellen reprogrammed the system for the new Blu-ray player. I played Brothers in Arms on it. It's great. I just wish that I still had ears so that I could hear it. I listen to the music and I know what I should hear. It's just that my ears don't register all of the frequencies anymore.

Day 49

We started out on the web. I bought an antenna. Then the new Blu-ray player and TV mount showed up. Unfortunately the player only has a digital output. This wouldn't be a problem except the preamp only has one digital input and I'm using it for the TV. Sigh. Back to the web to order an optical to RCA digital converter.

Ellen spent a lot of time fighting with the computer and printer to print out mailing labels for the Christmas presents.

Once we won that battle it was off to run errands. I had a list of 14 things to do or buy. We managed to get eight of them done.

All this running around took a lot of time so we got home relatively late. We ate dinner, I fixed a whiskey and eggnog, and then we watched Monday Night Football.

Day 48

Today started at the crack of 10:00. After taking it easy the last few days today was a work day. I started out by taping the guest bathroom in the house. While I did that Ellen shortened the curtains that we bought a couple of days ago for the large bedroom in the apartment.

After I was through taping, Ellen started cutting in the bathroom. I went outside with the weedeater to clear a place to install the antenna pole. When I got that cleared I decided that since I already had the cords strung, I'd do the rest of the weedeating in the side and back yards. That took about an hour. Then I got ambitious. I decided to cut the thick tall grass between the house and the playhouse, and by the trailer. The weedeater wasn't the tool for that. It took hours and my back was killing me by the time I was done.

The place looks presentable now, and I've got one big thing off the todo list.

Day 47

We basically took the day off. Neither of us did anything except surf and read the newspaper.

A cold front is supposed to be coming in, so in the late afternoon I went over to UHaul to fill up one of the propane tanks. $4.00 a gallon. That's past highway robbery. On the way back we stopped by Home Depot and got paint for the guest bathroom in the house. I'll probably tape it up tomorrow. I also got a bunch of stuff for putting up the antenna pole. We also stopped at the park so the dog could have some fun.

Our internet connection has gone to shit today. It's barely functioning. I hadn't realized how dependent we had become on it until today.

Day 46

We went to get a new bathroom vanity for the apartment. It was as advertised, so we bought it. I won't put it in until we start living in the house. I don't know when that will be. The bed smells as bad as it did when they delivered it.

The table that Ellen painted looks good. It isn't dry yet though.

After we bought the vanity we went shopping for drapes. We bought blinds for the cat room and drapes for the family room. When we got home I installed the window coverings while Ellen finished the Christmas presents.

After dinner I had a double feature at the house. I watched Jonah Hex and the Expendables. The new sound system is really nice. It's going to be even better when the new TV arrives.

Day 45

I finally got my burn barrel. It was used to ship insulation. I had to drive past the airport to pick it up. Ordinarily that would be a pain. However, we had to go to the club to pick up the ammo. That made it a lot better. On the way we took the apartment table and the blue chair the owners left to the Salvation Army.

We shot at the club while we were there. They still had the tournament course set up. It was fun.

I expected to hear from someone selling a vanity today. They didn't call until after 4:00. Maybe I'll go see them tomorrow.

Ellen put another coat of paint on the new table. It looks pretty good. The CD storage boxes came today. They work great. Unfortunately the lid on one was broken. Also, I'll need to get a couple of more to hold all of the CD's.

Day 44

We slept in. When we got up we didn't do anything except surf and buy Christmas presents online. Mainly we were waiting around for the bed to show up.

After lunch it occurred to me that I should get the old stuff out of the bedroom. I did that and started to install the blinds that we bought yesterday in the kitchen. That's when the bed showed up. They brought it in and set it up in almost no time at all. It looks nice, but it stinks. It will be awhile before we can sleep on it.

While I was in the house Ellen finished the last door in the apartment. Except for possibly needing a second coat THE APARTMENT PAINTING IS FINISHED.

When the bed guys left we loaded up the truck with the box springs, bed frames, the old TV cabinet, the mattress topper, and a file cabinet that the previous owners left. The truck was pretty much filled.

We took all of the stuff to the Salvation Army. While we were there we saw a nice leather recliner and footstool for $90. So we bought it for the apartment.

We stopped at the Post Office and HEB on the way home, so we got home kind of late. After dinner we discovered that the trailer tank was out of water. I had to fill it up in the cold and dark.

After that we took all of the Christmas presents over to the house. Ellen wrapped them while I finished installing the blinds. It would have gone smoothly except for the cheap Chinese screws that kept stripping out. The wrapping would have gone smoothly except we don't have any packing tape. Sigh.

Day 43

It was an interesting day. Ellen got almost all of the painting in the apartment done. She only has one door left to do.

Tomorrow's garbage day, so I hauled out the garbage. I also took a bunch of the junk that the previous owners had left in the well house and put it in the can. They also left some nuts and bolts in there that I sorted and moved to my parts cabinet in the garage.

I fixed the door seal on another door that the previous owners had messed up. Then I put a door seal on the apartment's garage door. I also sanded the new table some more. Now it's ready for Ellen to put on the second coat. Finally, I finished sorting the rest of the CD's. There's still more than two large boxes of them that didn't fit in the CD storage cabinet.

The IR extender came today so I installed it after lunch. It works like a champ. I need to get another cable to run to the subwoofer.

The paper started coming today. I'll have to make sure I set aside time to read it.

They were supposed to fix the dishwasher today. The service guy called to say he was coming. He asked what was wrong. When Ellen told him that it wouldn't turn on, he said look for a light switch that controls it. We found one and the dishwasher worked. So no service call, and we saved $60.

I contacted a guy from Craig's list about a table saw. He responded and we went to see it tonight. It's an old, heavily built, Craftsman. They don't build them like that anymore. For $100 it was a great buy. It was no picnic getting it off the truck though. The thing must weigh over 100 pounds.

Day 42

I got up fairly early this morning. I just didn't feel like sleeping in.

I called about getting the mower fixed. They wanted me to bring it in and they'll fix it in 3 or 4 weeks. It sounded stupid to me, but I don't have any choice. So I loaded it in the truck and drove it over. Unfortunately the ramps I bought are barely long enough to use if I can back up the truck to a slope.

Then we loaded up the truck with the washer, a light fixture, and some other junk that the previous owners left. It cost $20 to leave it at the "recycle" center. It was really just a transfer station.

The station was in Bee Cave. So we stopped at the mall and did some Christmas shopping. We also stopped at Lowe's and bought some curtains.

When we got home I put up the curtains in the apartment's small bedroom and living room. They look OK. Not great, but OK.

After dinner we attended the neighborhood association's annual meeting. There were six people there including us. They have trouble getting the board members to attend. The big issue was getting people to vote on increasing the dues.

Sears finally called about the dishwasher. They'll be here tomorrow "sometime between 8 and 5".

Day 41

I scored the RG6 today. I also got a bunch of connectors and a crimper. All for $65, that's a real deal.

We had to meet the seller in downtown Austin. So after-wards we went back up to Fry's to buy an antenna. They were out of stock. Instead I bought a whole lot of the hardware that I'll need to install the antenna. I'll have to get the antenna online.

Along the way we did some grocery shopping. I signed up for a newspaper subscription at a booth in front of HEB.

On the way home we stopped at a park so that Lucy could run. She did a whole lot of retrieves before she just got too tired to do anymore. That didn't do it for her though. When we got home she recuperated in about 2 hours and then drove us crazy. We gave her a Kong with a couple of cookies in it to keep her occupied.

I was going to do some work, but watching football interfered with that.

Day 40

Ellen is getting close to a red letter day. She finished painting the kitchen today. She needs to paint the inside of the entry doors and put a second coat on the closet doors. When that's done she will be FINISHED WITH THE APARTMENT PAINTING. She's already looking at colors for the guest bathroom in the house.

They called today about delivering the bed. It will be here Wednesday afternoon.

I made two scores on Craig's list. I got a rug for the large bedroom in the apartment. I also contacted a guy about getting some RG6. It's at a great price. I'll be meeting him tomorrow.

While Ellen painted I did a bunch of little tasks. I measured all the windows so that we can get drapes. I replaced the kitchen light in the apartment with the kitchen light that used to be in the house. Then I replaced the knob on one of the apartment's bathroom doors with one that used to be in the house. I fixed a sticking problem with the same door. Finally I picked up all of the paper in the bathroom and moved all of the stuff back into it.

With a floor and some window coverings the apartment wouldn't look half bad. We can't hide that it's a cheaply built place. However, it looks lightyears better than it did when we bought the place.

Day 39

We slept in rather than participate fully in Black Friday. We did our share though. After noon we went to Target, Walmart, and Best Buy. We didn't buy anything at Target because what we wanted wasn't there. We bought about 6 discounted blu-rays at each of Walmart and Best Buy. I was impressed with Best Buy. Even in the afternoon they had plenty of most of their loss leader products in stock.

When we got home I did a little bit of work on the apartment bathroom. I put the switch outlets back on after putting backing washers on the switches. This was needed because the builders couldn't nail a box to a stud correctly.

I also ordered the stuff we wanted from Target through their website.

We also scored the final piece of furniture that we needed for the house. We got a reproduction of an antique washstand to use as a microwave cart. It fits really well.

Day 38

Today is Thanksgiving. We'll have slices of a smoked turkey breast a little later.

We went over to Sears to buy some things at their Thanksgiving sale. I even managed to get a couple of Black Friday items today. The big things were a cart for the lawn mower and another set of shelves for the garage.

When I got home I spent the afternoon putting the cart and shelf together. Ellen did a little more painting in the apartment bathroom. She's getting very close to finishing it.

I was pissed that I couldn't find a paper. We didn't start looking until noon, and by then every place was sold out.

I'm going to watch football for the rest of the evening.

Day 37

I was planning on getting some stuff accomplished today, but it didn't work out that way. We stayed up pretty late last night, so we slept in late today. When we did get up I didn't feel like putting on much of an effort.

I decided to fill up the CD holder in the apartment. It only holds a fraction (about 150) of the CD's in my collection. So I unpacked all of the CD's and tried to pick out 150 of the best. That took all day and it still isn't done.

We also went out and got the ramps at Harbor Freight. We didn't go anywhere else.

Day 36

After yesterday's major effort we decided to take it easy today. We went around to several stores and bought a few items for the house. I tried to get some ramps for the truck at Harbor Freight so that I can load the lawn mower. They didn't have them, but they are supposed to have them tomorrow.

We met a lady from Craig's list in the Sear's parking lot. She sold us a nice dresser for the apartment. It turns out that her real job is laying tile. We'll probably talk to her about doing our bathroom.

We also stopped at the post office and Ellen solved the mystery of why we weren't getting our mail. The dumbshit at the post office gave us the keys to the wrong mailbox. The right box was filled with our mail.

After we go back we just sort of screwed around. Reading, surfing, watching TV and a movie.

Day 35

Ellen spent the day as a painting fool. She worked a good eight hours or more on the bathroom. She's got it almost done. When she finishes the doors the apartment will be finished. This is a big accomplishment. Except for some help I gave her on the living room and hallway she painted the whole apartment her self.

I had a crappy day. I started out trying to finish painting the table. Apparently the paint I put on reacted with the existing paint. The result was a surface covered with rough bumps like sandpaper. So instead of painting I sanded.

I called the home warranty place about the dishwasher. It's going to cost $60 to have them send someone out to look at it. The fine print says I might have to pay for parts also. Some warranty. I also called a guy to pick up the washer. He didn't want to.

Then I tried to install the flooring that I bought last Spring in the apartment attic. The 4x4 sheets wouldn't fit through the attic access so I had to cut them in half. By the time I got that done it was hotter than hell in that attic.

Then I decided to do something "easy". I got out the lawnmower to finish up a section by the back gate. I got about 1/4 done when the mower blade drive belt slipped off. I spent 2 hours struggling to get it back on. I thought I had it on correctly, but I was wrong. I got a little more mowing done before the belt self destructed. Now I have to buy some ramps so I can load the mower on the truck to get it fixed.

The only thing that went without a hitch was putting away the speaker shipping boxes. I'm disgusted.

Day 34

We basically took the day off. The morning was spent sleeping in and surfing. The only thing that we accomplished was giving the dog a dogicure. We went off to the grocery store to buy a paper. Then we came back and Ellen watched a chick flick while I read the paper.

One interesting thing. The subwoofer wasn't making noise today. I'm not sure if it has a problem or not.

We did a lot of online investigation on a new TV. I think we'll wait until after "cyber Monday" to order it.

I did spend a little time modifying a battery holder for the trailer. It's going to take a little effort to install, so I'll defer that for awhile.

Day 33

I'm writing this a little early because I'm tired and I don't want to wait until later.

We got to bed after midnight last night and got up at 7:45. We left a little after 8 to pick up the washer. Then we returned items at Home Depot and Radio Shack. We stopped to look at TV's at Best Buy. They didn't have the right models. We also picked up things for the house ad Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Target.

When we got back we installed the washer. Ellen did a test run and discovered that I hadn't tightened the hoses enough. Then she continued painting the bathroom. I was going to put a second coat on the table, but it isn't dry yet. So instead I went out and did some more weed eating. I got the front yard and most of the side yard done. I've still got the rest of the side yard, the back yard, and the area around the playhouse to go.

I may go look at a CD stand if the seller calls me back tonight.

Day 32

We started by going up to Fry's to get an optical cable. It's 30 miles one way. We ended up going to the Harbor Freight next door first. I bought a bunch of miscellaneous tools that I needed.

When we got to Fry's we bought the cable, a USB dongle, a soldering iron, and some cell phone chargers. All of it was much cheaper than we could have gotten anywhere else. We also looked at TV's. They have the one we want at a good price. Unfortunately the price isn't so good after giving the state $200. I think we'll order it online.

I was supposed to pick up the washer in the afternoon. The seller backed out. The guy with the table saw didn't call either.

More painting. Ellen in the bathroom. I put the second coat on the shelves and painted the table we bought. It will definitely need a second coat. Then I put all of the tools that I bought away.

I went to the house and finished pulling the wires. Then Ellen helped me put the TV back on the wall. We spent an hour or more setting up the pre-amp again. I even managed to make the trigger work for the new amplifiers. The bad part was that one of the HDMI cables was bad. That will only be a problem if we get HD satellite.

We ate our first dinner in the house - frozen pizza. After-wards we found out that the dishwasher won't turn on. I hope the home warranty covers that at least.

After everything was finally set up, we watched a blu-ray version of the latest Star Trek movie. I'd already seen it, so I left once I was sure the sound system was set up.

Day 31

We started out by gong to an estate sale. We scored a nice end table for the large bedroom in the apartment. It cost all of $5.00. Then we went to another place that advertised a warehouse of miscellaneous stuff. It was a bust. I was full of old broken down antiques and parts for repairing antiques.

After we got home it was time to do some more painting. Ellen continued on the bathroom. It looks like it will take a solid two coats to cover the ugly paint that was there. I painted the other sides of all the shelves. I also pulled the wires for the surround sound up to the TV. I would have finished except the optical cable wasn't long enough.

Then it was time to conference w/Jerry on finances. It looks like we are doing OK. It's just that after a lifetime of saving it feels wrong to withdraw money from an account.

In the evening I got a line on a second washer for $75. I'm going to try to get it tomorrow. Also a guy called about a table saw I asked about. I should be able to get that tomorrow also.

We finished the day conferencing in on the board meeting. The connection was lousy, so it was hard to keep up with what was going on.

Day 30

One month since we left the land of rain and cold. I haven't missed it one bit.

We spent the morning working. Ellen continued on the bathroom. It's going to take a lot of paint. After the first coat the underlying grey color is plain to see.

I put the shelf up in the laundry room. I also replaced the dryer hose connector with a flat one so that I could move the machines closer to the wall. It wasn't a big move, but it made a big difference.

After lunch we went to Wimberly to buy another table for the apartment kitchen. It's a lot better quality than the one we have now. Also it has drop leaves which make it fit better. We also stopped at ACE to get some paint for the table and some real, American made, masonry bits. On the way back we stopped in Dripping Springs at Home Depot for more bathroom paint. We also went to HEB and bought a whole lot of food. It's nice to have a place to store stuff.

After dinner I decided to do some more work. I drilled the rest of the second mounting hole for the closet door guide. With a decent bit it took about 30 seconds. Then I hung up a bunch of my tools on the pegboard in the garage. I like that a lot better than rooting for them in a toolbox.

Day 29

I began the day by getting a line on a new bathroom vanity for the apartment. $50 complete with sink and faucet. We'll see if the seller comes through.

We got kind of a slow start getting to Home Depot. It turns out that we got the wrong kind of rod holders. We bought the right ones. I also scored a parts bin at Lowes. I really needed it.

When we got back I took down the shelves in the bathroom and painted them. I think they're going to need two coats. It wasn't until I painted the shelves white that I realized what a dingy color they had painted the apartment. No wonder it looks so much better now.

Ellen paid a shit load of bills and then started to do some more painting in the bathroom. She is also doing the laundry. It's going to take all day.

After the painting I tried to put in the closet door guide. I got one hole drilled in the cement. The second hole hit a rock. I only got about halfway down before the drill bit was so dull that it broke. Oh well, back to Home Depot.

To fill in time I moved all my nuts and bolts to the new parts bin. It's got plenty of room for more. Then I spent an hour weedeating the areas that I couldn't hit with the mower. I got all of the area around the pump house and the basketball hoop done. I still have to do the yard. Maybe tomorrow.

Day 28

This was another pretty good day. I got the paper pulled up in the kitchen and the kitchen put back together. It came out great. I also got the broken washer out of the apartment and into the garage. I hung the closet doors. I couldn't put in the guides because the masonry bit I had was a cheap piece of Chinese shit that BENT when I tried to use it. Not broke, bent.

So while Ellen started cutting in the bathroom, I started to remove the remaining finish from the chest. From what Ellen's done, I think the bathroom is going to turn out as good as the kitchen. I made some good progress on the chest, but it's going to take a lot more work.

We did our daily trip to Home Depot (at least it seems that way). I picked up some hopefully decent bits and a shelf for the laundry room so Ellen can hang up clothes. Unfortunately part of the shelf doesn't fit together. That means another trip tomorrow morning. We also found a couple of nice rugs there at very good prices.

When I got home I started to do the shelf. I also spread out the rugs. They look pretty good.

Now, if I could find a cheap washer my life would be complete.

Day 27

We kind of hit the jackpot today. We continued our search for the bed at this large mall north of here. We looked in Macy's, Penney's, and Sears. Sears had a couple of beds that we could live with, but they cost $1,000.

Then we went to Dillard's. We'd never been in one of their stores before. They had good quality beds at better prices than we had seen anywhere. They even had a memory foam bed a a semi-reasonable ($1,299) price. Ellen decided that she needed that one. While they were doing the paperwork the salesman told us that the bed would cost only $1,000. Nice.

We walked the entire mall. It's large and had two floors. We scored another great deal at Penney's. We got a full set of pans and cooking utensils for less than half price. Apparently lots of stores are holding Black Friday sales early.

The savings more than offset running out of propane in the morning and having to pay $3.50/gal to get a tank filled.

Day 26

There was good and bad today. Ellen finished painting the apartment kitchen. That leaves only the bathroom and the apartment is painted.

I didn't do as well. I started to hang the closet doors. I got the doors cut. The doors are amazing. They're basically cardboard with a microscopic layer of wood on the outside. However, when I opened the slide box half the hardware was missing. I filled in some time trimming a tree and beginning to work on the chest. It's going to take some time to complete.

After lunch we went to look for a bed. The place we went to wanted a minimum of $1,100 for a bed. We're going to look at some other places tomorrow. We also tried to look at some furniture, but the sellers left home before we got there.

I struck out at buying a washer for the apartment. There's a lot out there, so I'm confident that we'll get one eventually.

Day 25

The washer/dryer was due in the early afternoon, so we headed to Home Depot in the morning. Ellen needed a little more paint to finish the kitchen. Also she had located a cheap mattress place near us.

At Home Depot we got the paint, some pegboard for the garage, an a microwave. The microwave was cheap, so we bought it. Then we went over to Target and bought bedding for the apartment bedrooms. Target was having a sale, so we got some bargains.

Then we went over and bought a full size mattress set for the apartment. It cost a little more than we thought, but it's a nice bed.

After that we went home to wait for the washer/dryer. It came on time. Ellen is really thrilled with them. She started immediately to wash the clothes that we hadn't been able to wash. I called about getting the washer fixed. The guy said that it wasn't worth fixing.

I installed the pegboard in the garage. Then we went to the grocery store. Now that we have a real refrigerator, so we bought a lot of stuff to put in it.

Day 24

After all the work we did yesterday, I decided to take it easy today. We got a surprising amount accomplished anyway. There were ads for two estate sales on Craig's list. We went to both. The first was a disappointment. It was really a low quality moving sale. The second was a real estate sale. I picked up a few small items at a great price.

After we went to the sale we went to Sears. They had some very good prices on washer/dryers, so we bought a pair. I also bought a whole house water filter for less than one third its normal price. It was a display model.

Then we went over to the gun club and signed up as members. We shot a round. The targets were pretty good. They have a "hard" course as well as an easy and "normal" course. They agreed to let us ship our ammo there. That avoids us having to pay shipping.

Finally, we stopped at a consignment furniture store. It had a perfect lamp table for the house, so we bought it.

All in all it was a successful day.

Day 23

We got our refrigerator today. It's pretty neat. We bought it last night about 8:00. It was delivered this morning before 10.

Both of us made a lot of progress today. Ellen got the first coat of paint on the kitchen and almost finished the trim. She has about one more day of work to do on the kitchen. She worked hard all day on it.

I took the washer apart, but I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. Of course the process soaked the paper that I had put down in the bathroom. I think the question is moot. Sears is having a washing machine sale tomorrow and we'll probably buy one.

Then I installed the new pump and oven vent in the trailer. The pump would have been easy except the manufacturer changed the way the pump connects to the water hoses. That necessitated a trip to Lowes. While I was there I got some nuts for the bunk beds and some casters for the full bed.

With the pump, nuts, and casters installed I decided to finish up the mowing. I spent two+ dusty dirty hours mowing the back road, the entry road, the area around the pump house, and the front yard. Things look pretty good. They'll look better if I bother to do some more work with the weedeater.

We're both very tired tonight. I think tomorrow should be a light day.

Day 22

I started out by doing the final connections on the audio system and turning it on. It works and sounds fine in 2 channel. I'm going to have to wait until Ellen reconfigures the preamp to check out surround. While doing this I discovered that the subwoofer is broken again. This time I think I'll just replace it.

After that I started to cleanup and put away stuff in the garage. I got about 1/4 done before I ran out of time.

Ellen continued to cut in the kitchen. She's a little over half way done.

After lunch we went to get the truck's door lock fixed (20+ miles down to San Marcos). It cost $450 and took most of the afternoon. Then we went over to Lowes and bought some closet doors for the apartment's large bedroom and a refrigerator for the house.

When we got home I filled the garbage can up and put it out for tomorrow.

Day 21

It was a pretty good day. I got the paper pulled up in the large bedroom. The furniture is back in place. All we need to do is get a mattress and it's ready for habitation. Then I swept up the place and then taped the bathroom. That's all the taping that needs to be done in the apartment.

Ellen got a lot of the cutting in done for the kitchen. There a lot of it to do. The kitchen is going to be really yellow - just what we wanted.

Two weird things. First last night I sprayed the wasp nests outside the apartment door. It killed a lot of bugs, but there were a lot left. All day long there were sick and not so sick wasps buzzing around the door. The not so sick ones were aggressive. I'm going to hit them again tonight.

That lead to the second weird thing. One of the wasps bit Lucy while she was in the kitchen. She jumped into the paint tray that Ellen was using. Lucy got paint all over her foot and face. She got an immediate bath.

After lunch we went to look at a couch from Craig's list. We didn't buy it. We bought the matching love seat instead. It was cheaper, in better shape, and fits the apartment better. All in all a good score.

We also drove into south Austin to look at a couple of antique stores. They didn't have anything that interested us.

Day 20

I finally got the stereo hooked together except for on speaker. I need to get some wire for it. I hope it all works when I turn it on.

I spent more than an hour putting together the bar stools we bought yesterday. They really fit well in the kitchen.

While I was doing that Ellen finished up the large bedroom. She even got a small start on the kitchen.

In the afternoon we went up north to pick up a set of bunk beds. They are very nice and sturdy. Now we have to get bedding. We had to partially disassemble them to get them through the tiny door into the bedroom. That was a serious pain in the ass.

In the evening I watched the Packers kick the shit out of Dallas. How nice.

Day 19

Ellen did a little painting of the large bedroom in the morning. She's getting near done. I spent the morning calling people on Craig's list. Also the speakers came this morning. Three big boxes that took awhile to unpack.

We spent the whole afternoon going to Craig's list people and doing some shopping. We got a chest and some bar stools. I also got some adapters for the stereo trigger cables. We ended up near Cabela's, so we stopped in. We bought a few odds and ends. I was surprised that we didn't have more credit. After all, I charged the $900 it cost to fix the well on that card.

Day 18

I forgot to post for this day. Nothing memorable happened anyway. We went to a couple of estate sales. There wasn't anything of interest.

Ellen worked on the large bedroom. It's slow going because of the closet. She's getting near finished though.

I used the mower for the first time. I mowed the entry road, the front yard, the back yard, and the side yard and septic field. I had to go over everything at least twice because the grass (weeds really) was so high. It's a very dirty job. I ended up covered in dirt and grass clippings. I still have the road to the shed and the area around the basketball hoop to mow.

After mowing I did a little more unpacking/putting away of stuff in the house. It's time consuming and I use it as a time filling task when I'm too disgusted to do anything else.

Day 17

Ellen put in a long day. She touched up the paint in the small bedroom and painted the door. Then she got the large bedroom completely painted except for the closet. She even put a second coat on two of the walls.

I started the day by taping the kitchen. It was a pain because I had to work around the table and appliances. Then I took up the paper in the small bedroom. That completes the small bedroom.

The guy we bought the mower from delivered it in the morning. It looks great. I'm going to try it out tomorrow. That gives the grass some time to dry out from yesterday's rain.

In the afternoon i put some handles on the CD cabinet that we bought. I think that they came out looking pretty good. Then I continued to wire up the stereo. I needed another cable so I went to my trunk to get one. I ended up cleaning out the whole trunk in order to find what I needed. Then I discovered that the new amps use a micro plug for the trigger cables. I'll need to get adapters or make up cables.

I think that we'll hit a couple of estate sales tomorrow morning before doing any work.

Day 16

We were tired, so we slept in. Then we decided to do some errands. We had to get money for the mower. We also wanted to get a post office box. I needed to get a prescription filled. And we wanted to look into a credit union.

We got the money and the prescription. We got an application for the post office box, but no box. The credit unions didn't have loan officers, so we have to call people. All in all not a very good score.

I did order some repair parts for the trailer. I also did some work to hook up the two amplifiers for the surround sound. I got it about 2/3 done before I quit because I didn't feel like working anymore.

Tomorrow we'll get back to work. Ellen will start on the second bedroom and I'll tape up the kitchen and finish the stereo wiring.

Day 15

This was a big change from yesterday. The day started out cloudy and cool. It warmed up a little and the wind started blowing. Then it started raining in the late afternoon.

They replaced the pressure tank in the morning. The water is working now.

From my point of view the weather was perfect. I spent half of the day weed eating around the parking areas and the driveway. I didn't get the driveway done because I ran out of extension cords.

I also taped up the big bedroom in the apartment. Ellen made a lot of progress. She put the second coat on the small bedroom and did its trim. She'll be able to start the big bedroom tomorrow.

I also finally finished unloading the trailer. I even got a lot of the stuff that was supposed to go into the garage put away. There's still a lot to go though.

In the evening we went to see a lawn tractor that was advertised on Craig's list. It was in good shape at a reasonable price so we're going to buy it. We'll have to get the money from somewhere tomorrow. We also did the laundry art a laundromat. That's because the hot water smells like sulphur and the water coming out of the tap is brown.

Day 14

It was hot (85 degrees) and humid (75%) today. That made for a sweaty and uncomfortable day. I started out by putting down the paper in the apartment's small bedroom. Then Ellen spent the day putting the first coat of paint on it.

While Ellen was painting I weed-eated the car parking space. I also cut back the Wisteria on the deck. The thing was amazing. During the summer it had managed to grow across the 5 foot entrance to the deck and wrap around the post on the other side.

The weed eating stopped when the guard fell off and I didn't have the right screws to reattach it. I started unloading the trailer. I got the inside unloaded and the tool cart assembled to put some of the stuff in. The cowhide that we bought looks great on the bedroom floor.

The well guys came out to fix the well. The bladder in the pressure tank had ruptured. Unfortunately that causes the well pump to short cycle. This had damaged the well pump. Hopefully it won't need replacing. They're bring out a new pressure tank tomorrow.

We spent the late afternoon looking at appliances. They didn't have what we wanted in stock. I also picked up a DVD cabinet that I saw on Craig's list. It's a nice inlaid cabinet in great shape that I got for $45.

Day 13

We made it back today. It was hot, which made all of the work that we had to do a little more unpleasant. The whole place is overgrown. That was expected. Unfortunately so were the road and the parking areas. I spent about an hour weed eating the place where we park the trailer so that we could park it. I also had to cut off some tree limbs to clear the road.

After parking the trailer we unloaded the truck and the car. We also took the hitch out of the truck. I didn't put anything away. I just moved it out of the vehicles.

Both the house and the apartment looked OK, so we went out to buy paint and some string for the weed eater. We also stopped at HEB. When we were leaving HEB I had a little fender bender with another car that was backing out at the same time that I was. Crap.

To cap off everything, when we got home I turned on the hot water to see if the heater was working. It was, but the water had a nasty sulpher smell. Se I turned on the taps to drain the tank. When I came back, there wasn't any water running. The well pump isn't working. That means we don't have any water here, or in the trailer tank. No toilets either. I'll call to get that fixed tomorrow.

Day 12

We slept in late. I mean until about 10:00. When I did get up I emptied the grey water tank. No reason to haul that to Austin. The water tank is empty too, so that will help with the efficiency.

With that chore done we went to the gun show. There was a great selection of stuff, but nothing that I was interested in. After the show we hit several antique stores. They all had neat stuff. Unfortunately none of them had exactly what we were looking for.

When we got back I took the computer and went to a small park area with a gazebo that they have at the back of the park. I made a long list of things that we need to buy and chores that need to be done. It's length is a little intimidating. Then I spent hours looking for the stuff we needed to buy on Craig's list. I found some possibles and sent a couple of emails.

This evening I watched the Ducks beat USC.

Day 11

We went down to Nationals today. It was a 135 mile round trip.

Nationals was fun, even though we weren't shooting. We started out by throwing the bumper for the dog. That tired her out some and made her more manageable as we went through the crowd. It seemed we couldn't go more than half an hour without someone stopping and telling us what a good looking dog she was. Lots of people stopped just to pet her.

We met several people from Oregon that were down for the shoot. We also saw several people we know from elsewhere. The first person we saw was Mack. We talked to him for quite a while, and then I had Ellen call Dan and give the phone to Mack.

We had some good luck at the vendors also. I talked to the people that I'd ordered my glasses from last year. They had lost my order and couldn't contact me. Ellen got a new set of frames to replace one that she broke. They replaced them for free. I also got a $300 dollar coat for $100.

Fiocchi had some samples of these cool tracer loads that use the same material as cylume sticks. I picked up 5 for Dan to use in his lessons.

We shot the practice course. It was fun, but neither of us did very well.

Day 10

Did the 272 miles to Fredericksberg. Another boring and uneventful drive. I did get sub 10 mpg due to the hilly terrain and a head wind.

When we got to Fredericksberg we set up and immediately went to town. It was surprisingly crowded. We scoped out the furniture and antique stores. We found a store that has a hall tree that looks interesting. We also found a thing that would serve as a microwave stand. I might buy it before we leave.

We had dinner and then went back to the park. We took the dog to the dog run and she got to chase a ball a little bit.

No I'm going to look up back roads to San Antonio for tomorrow.

Day 9

It was a good day for the dog. We took her to the dog park. It's the nicest dog park we've ever seen. Two enclosures, each at least 3 acres in size. One even had a dog agility course in it. Unfortunately there weren't any other dogs for her to play with, so I spent the time throwing the bumper for her.

After that we drove over to Windwalker and shot a round of sporting. We shot the course that they set up for practice for Nationals. We didn't do well. Part of it was not shooting for a month. The other was we just don't get enough practice on hard targets.

It was a typical Texas traveling day. We went over 120 miles doing those two things.

On to Fredericksburg tomorrow. We're thinking about a day trip down to Nationals from there on Friday.

Day 8

On today to Midland. The drive was typically boring. Exactly like you'd expect a drive through west Texas to be. The only notable event was when a semi ignored a yield sign on the highway and I had to brake very hard in order to avoid rear ending him.

Once we got to Midland we took the dog to the Dogwash K9000. She was just as happy to get a bath as she usually is. We softened the blow a little bit by having her chase the bumper at the park for awhile before we took her.

Nothing else of any note happened today.

Day 7

Another road day, 340 miles to Roswell. It was a very windy day today, at least 30 mph. Fortunately it was from the west. Our route consisted of 200 miles due east on I40 and then 140 miles SE on secondary roads. I got really good gas mileage on I40 and good mileage on the secondary roads. It was the first time I ever drove through dust so thick that I had to slow down because I couldn't see the road.

The dog's on a rice and cottage diet which seems to have addressed the diarrhea.

We got an early start because we left the truck connected to the trailer. That put us into Roswell about 3:00. We've seen all of the UFO sights in town, so we just fueled up the vehicles. Then we took the dog for a walk in the field behind the park. She scared up a rabbit and chased it at least a quarter mile. Of course it didn't slow down when she barked for it to do so.

Tomorrow is only a 212 mile trip to Midland. I'm going to try to get there close to noon so that we can take the dog to the Dogwash 9000. She smells like she needs it.

Day 6

Today's drive to Gallup was a pain in the ass. There were the usual connection of truckers and other drivers who couldn't hold a constant speed. This road aggravates these tendencies because about half of it consists of hills you climb just so you can go down the other side.

A lot of the road is very rough. This is a major truck route and they've pounded the road pretty badly. There is one section that they are rebuilding with Obama bucks. It will be nice when they are finished, but right now it's a pain. I'm glad we went through on Sunday when they weren't working.

There were three special pains. Lucy has the runs. I had to stop twice for her. The second time the keys got locked in the truck while it was running. That's when I find out the wifey lost hers and didn't tell me. Fortunately OnStar unlocked the truck. The final pain was a particularly tight gas station in Cortez. I had to fuel up there. In getting out the rear of the trailer got scraped against one of the guard posts. There are a couple of small tears in the skin, and I'll have to recaulk the back edge of the trailer. Luckily the damage wasn't any more severe.

Tomorrow is a longer drive down to Roswell. Fortunately over half of it is on the interstate.

Day 5

Today's weather was an improvement over yesterday. It was cloudy, but not raining (at least until the afternoon). We took a loop around a highway and some paved national forest roads to the east of Moab. The whole loop was about 65 miles.

The scenery was fantastic. The route starts in the Colorado canyon with the road winding alongside the river. There was some nice photo ops, except the lighting was too poor. We stopped at a turn off an let the dog do some running. She came back with several cactus spines in her legs. After about 15 miles the route turns away from the river and goes up a valley that heads south from the canyon.

The clouds cleared up a little and I got some good shots of some of the rock formations. At the end of the valley the road starts up into the mountains. I'd say we climbed at least 1,000 feet. We passed a lot of hunters. I think that they were looking for deer. At the top we could look back over the valley we drove up. By then the clouds had cleared a little more and I got some good shots.

The drive down the other side of the mountains wasn't as spectacular. It did offer some fine vies of the valley that Moab is in.

When we got back to Moab we did a little grocery shopping and ate lunch at a burger joint. While we were shopping it started raining again. We just went home and sat in the trailer.

We did see a couple of neat places to explore next time we are in town. There are trails on both sides of the Colorado that would be nice to walk.

Day 4

Today sucked. It rained all day. We travel 1000 miles to get out of the rain, and it's better weather in Salem than it is here.

We spent the day inside the trailer. I made out a tentative schedule for the rest of the trip. If we hold to it, we'll be done in about a week. Of course, everything is subject to change.

I also spent some time looking for apps for my phone. I couldn't find a decent solitaire app. I quit looking for games when the battery in my phone gave out. I didn't find any interesting ones.

The rest of the day was spent reading. I finished one book and made a good start on another.

Day 3

We decided to chill today. I spent the morning researching retirement homes for my mother to visit next week. Ellen paid bills. I took the dog to the field behind the RV park. It's thick with thorny weeds, but there's enough clear space for her to get some exercise.

Then we went to Moab for lunch. We had a nice meal at the local brew pub. Here's an interesting fact. Micro brews have 29.9% of the Portland beer market. That's highest in the country.

We did a little more Christmas shopping and also took advantage of a couple of sale items that we found at a local discount store.

I watched the Ducks game in the evening. They crushed UCLA. I bet the BCS still won't rate them #1.

Day 2

Today was one of the worst travel days I've had with the trailer. Everything was fine until we got south of Salt Lake City. They are rebuilding about 20 miles of the freeway. The whole way was narrow lanes with trucks on all sides. To make it even better, there were a couple of traffic jams. I thought we were free when we left I-15. No such luck. Out in nowhere east Utah we were held up while they ground rumble strips in the center line of the road.

A word about fuel prices. They've been falling the farther east we go. In Baker City they were 3.40/gal. In eastern Idaho and Utah they were 3.15/gal. The difference is the monopoly of the west coast refineries.

After we set up in Moab we went into town. We got some visitor info and bought some Christmas presents. We also stopped by a pet store and got some spray mouthwash for the dog. Her breath has been atrocious. Then there was the obligatory grocery store stop.

The cable TV here is pretty good. So we're spending the evening veging out in front of the tube.

Day 1

There's not much that's interesting about the 400 mile trip from Richland to Snowville. At least travel through Nampa and Boise wasn't a pain. The biggest problem was a couple of idiots at the fuel stops. Somehow they can't seem to have the courtesy to clear the pumps when they are finished fueling.

They've done some work on the Snowville RV park. It's a lot neater than it was. The owner says he wants to sell, but no one is buying. It's another place that will probably evaporate when the current owner is too old to work it.

We had a good dinner at the local restaurant. I wanted to help out the local economy. There wasn't anything else to do in Snowville, so early to bed to get up early to drive to Moab.

Day 0

Tomorrow we start out on the return trip to Texas. It was a fairly eventful summer. We had a good set of tournaments. The Western was a great success.

Both of us had some health issues. I learned the joys of passing a kidney stone. Three trips to emergency, an operation, and a night in the hospital. After all of that it may still be in the kidney. Ellen had a scare concerning liver function. Tests indicate that nothing serious is going on.

We had a good time hunting. Lucy had some good days and some bad. She disappointed me on chukar, but did good on a pheasant. I shot my first blue grouse.

We're bringing a new car, a Hyundai Sonata, with us to Texas. It and the trailer are loaded with stuff that we bought in Oregon to avoid the sales tax. This is going to make travel a little interesting. I won't have a copilot to look for places to fuel up. I have to plan out the fuel stops in advance. Ellen is going to learn the joys of long distance driving.

Day 205

We made it home a little before noon today. You can make some really good time if you only have to travel on the interstate and don't have to stop for fuel.

Getting home was just the start. We spent hours moving from one trailer to the other. Just filling the tanks with water took 2 hours. I finally quit about 5:00. The rest of the stuff can wait until tomorrow.

We ate lunch in the club. Of course everyone who came in stopped by to say hi. We need to get the mail and start going through stuff.

I'm not going to continue this on a daily basis now that we are home. I'll probably do an entry whenever I feel that there's something notable to write about.

Day 204

We started out the day doing cleanup. I drained the grey tank and tried to flush it. Ellen cleaned up the kitchen. The flushing didn't work, so we went to the store and bought some vinegar. I filled the tank half way and added the vinegar. Hopefully that will do the trick. If not, I suppose we'll never have sensors that work.

The rest of the day was spent just chilling out. We had lunch at a little hamburger joint in Canyonville. It was really quite good. Then I read the paper and surfed. Ellen just surfed.

In the evening we went over to the casino. We spent a couple of hours playing our favorite machine, Alien. It was nice that they had one in the non-smoking section. At one point we were up $16. In the end we lost $5. Probability theory really works.

I plan on getting up early tomorrow for the trip home. I'll need to spend some time setting up the big trailer before we can stay in it.

Day 203

The day started out bad. I wanted to get an early start on the trip up to Canyonville, but the world wouldn't cooperate. It was cold, 41 degrees, when I started to hook up. The tires were all low, so that took extra time to inflate them. Then the hitch refused to engage. I spent half an hour getting it to engage.

The trip went as expected, long and boring. Some of the scenery around Mt. Shasta is spectacular. We went through a large area that must have had a big forest fire last year. There were burnt trees in all directions for a far as you could see. The scenery doesn't make up for the fact that you're on the road for almost 8 hours. The reason for the long time is that we stopped several times at info centers to try to find a coupon for the camp ground. Apparently they don't have that promotion any more.

When we got to the campground we set up and then just chilled out. Ellen fixed dinner and we spent most of the evening watching TV and surfing.

Day 202

We went to a sporting clays place called Walker River today. It's about 55 miles south of where we are staying. We went with Dave Fiedler, who is someone we know from the Western. The course is nice with some great terrain. Some of the targets were a little boring, but most were quite entertaining. Of course I didn't shoot well, but I steadily improved while we were there. A little practice and I'll probably be shooting OK again.

The traps they had were home built by some guy who rents the machines out. They were made out of car parts. They really look like Rube Goldberg creations. Dave says that they aren't very reliable. The welding was really bad, so the welds break frequently. All of the actuating mechanisms are really fragile. The springs look like they come from cars. All of the target are thrown very slowly. To compensate a lot of the stations had machines set on hills high above the stands.

Dave was going to shoot at Sage Hill this evening. We could have gone, but I just didn't feel like shooting at two places today. Instead we're going to a casino. We have a two for one coupon for the buffet. Also, this casino has a couple of slot machines that we really like to play.

Day 201

After yesterday's drive, I didn't want to do anything very strenuous. So after doing the wash, we went looking at pawn shops. We went to three, and a Goodwill store. I didn't find much that I was interested in. One store had some Blu-ray discs and X-box games that we liked, so we bought several.

Then we stopped at the grocery store. When we get to Canyonville there won't be any services, so we need to be able to go a couple of days without a grocery or restaurant stop.

After lunch we went to Costco. We went just because it's next door to the trailer park. Ellen bought a pair of socks.

We went home, got the dog, and then went to the dog park. We spent hours there. We were a little disappointed with Lucy. She was so focused on fetching the bumper that she didn't play much with the other dogs. Most of the dogs were run of the mill. However, there were a wonderful GSP and a Llewellyn pointer. As we left a really nice, and well trained, pointer showed up.

Lucy's a tired dog again tonight. I spent some time trying to find a new iTouch game to buy. The iTunes user interface is making this very difficult.

Day 200

What can I say about a 9 hour drive through some of the most desolate areas of the country. The road goes northwest past Creech AFB, where they hunt ragheads. Then there's nothing except increasingly bare desert for hundreds of miles until you get to Yerington. Then you go over a low pass and into a valley that has enough water for farming. That lasts for about 40 miles and then it's back to desert until you get to Carson City.

I was tired after 9 hours on the road. It didn't help that we had some trouble unhitching. That hitch works nice, but it is very touchy. It won't hook up unless the truck and trailer are perfectly aligned. It won't unlatch unless the trailer has been raised just a little bit. Then you have to raise the trailer more to get it to unhook.

Then we went to the dog park. There was a boxer there that Lucy played with for awhile. I also let her do a few retrieves. When we got home she curled up on the couch and didn't move until it was time to go to bed.

Ellen didn't bother to get a key to the men's room. I'll have to walk over to the casino across the street to go to the can. I miss taking a shower the most.

Day 199

We spent the morning at Hoover Dam. It is an incredible piece of engineering. We took the deluxe tour which takes you inside the dam. One of the fun parts was going through one of the ventilation shafts (6' in diameter) that open out onto the face of the dam. The view looking out of the grate was very cool.

One of the notable things about the dam is all of the artwork that was incorporated. The floors of the power houses, elevators, and upper levels are 3 inch thick terrazzo with amazing designs set into them. There are interesting bas reliefs on some of the exterior walls. There's even an entry plaza with a star chart set in the floor and a couple of amazing bronze sculptures of winged men.

Everywhere you look there are cool designs. The overflow basins (used only once in the dam's history) are huge. You could literally float a battleship in each one. They left one of the 9 original cableways standing. It's an incredible work of engineering in it's own right.

All in all it was well worth the $30 and I'll probably do it again some time.

After the tour we went over to Camping World to get a replacement for the bathroom light. When we go home I installed it. Then we took the dog for a swim. As usual she didn't want to quit. She's still a very tired doggy tonight.

For dinner we went back to the casino for the buffet. It was half price for seniors (over 55) again. It's a good meal for $4.50 a piece.

Then off to bed early. It will be a long day tomorrow.

Day 198

I had been sort of planning to go shooting today. However, when I woke up this morning I felt lousy. I was groggy and didn't feel like doing anything. Going shooting would have been a waste of time. I would have spent the whole time wishing I was at home.

So we went to the Boulder City celebration instead. It was one of those typical street fair things with people selling overpriced junk food and stuff you don't need. What set it apart was the car show. They had some amazing hot rods, custom cars, and restored older cars. Things like a 1911 Cadillac, one of 3 in existence. They even had 2 original Shelby Cobras. No early '70's Challengers though.

After that we went home for lunch. I still felt lousy so I spent most of the afternoon on the couch asleep. In the early evening we went over to Lake Mead so that the dog could swim. The wind was blowing and the waves were 1.5 to 2 feet high. She loved it. She would crash through the waves on the way out and surf them back in. Ellen took the video camera and got some good pictures.

The light in the bathroom died last night. I'm going to try to get another one tomorrow. That takes second priority to touring the dam.

Day 197

We made the drive from Kingman to Boiulder City in the morning. It's a bitch drive if you're hauling a trailer. There are several places where you climb 1,000 feet or more just to go back down the same amount. The worst part is going into Laughlin. You go down an 8 mile grade that drops 2,300 feet. Then you cross the river and immediately go up another grade that climbs 2,300 feet. The climb up was steep enough that I could only go 45 mph.

When we got to Boulder City we had lunch and then took the dog to Lake Mead. It's her favorite place. She did 20 to 30 water retrieves and then about 20 land retrieves to dry off.

After that we decided to visit Hoover Dam. It's as spectacular as ever. We were disappointed that we couldn't walk over the dam because they don't allow dogs. We're going to stay Monday so that we can go back without the dog. While we were ther we struck up a conversation with a guy that just hung out there for cheap entertainment. It was fun talking about our various interests.

On the way home we stopped at a scenic overlook. Lucy was allowed there. She got a lot of attention from people who stopped to look and ended up petting the dog.

In the evening we went to a casino for their buffet. It was very good. What was better was that we got it for half price. Saturday was half price for seniors and the cashier gave us the discount without even asking us our ages. I'm not sure how I should feel about that.

We may go shooting tomorrow, or we may go to this festival thing that they are having in Boulder City. It depends on how we feel in the morning.

Day 196

Cloud computing only works if you can contact the server. We're in Kingman now and connection to the internet sucks. We can't get a signal with the MyFi (this is a first). The campground connection is slow and keeps dropping you out.

We made 300 miles today. We are now a little more (53%) than halfway to Oregon. Along the way I came across something I've never seen before. We gassed up at a Flying J in Phoenix. The price on the signs was $3.02. However, the price at the pump was $2.94. I only made one gas stop. When we got to Kingman it took 18.6 gallons to fill the tank. That's the lowest I've ever let it go when hauling the trailer.

I got some good news today. I called up the Oregon health insurance people. They will start my coverage tomorrow. I'm lucky, since I sent in my application so late. Of corse I don't have any of the information about it. Hopefully I won't need any until I get back to Oregon.

We also got lucky on the campground reservations. They are having some sort of festival in Boulder City. The campground is almost full, but they managed to fit us in. I guess it's bad planning to stop over in Las Vegas on the weekend. We just have to decide if we will go shooting or go into town.

The dog got to run in the area adjacent to the park. She was bouncing off the walls when we parked. We had to wait an hour after she ate before we could run her. She's quiet now.

We're going to walk down to a kind of truck stop place to have dinner. We ate there last year and liked it.

Day 195

We planned to go shooting today. We got up early (the club is open 9 to noon), fed the animals, loaded up the truck, and went to the club. We were met by someone who informed us that the office wasn't open. The website said it would be. Our fault for not calling and checking. We won't be shooting at Tucson this year.

We were out of milk and nearly out of water. So we went to the store. Then we went to the dog park. There was another dog there that was about Lucy's size and age. They hit it off and played some, although not as much as we would have liked. We had a good talk with the owner while they played.

After that we just went home. The wind was blowing pretty hard, 20 mph with gusts to 40. We didn't feel like doing anything. After lunch we just read for the whole afternoon. I went over to the library and worked on a puzzle for awhile. I must have contributed a whole dozen pieces.

The wind rendered the TV dish inoperable, so I watched a DVD I had picked up at a pawn shop. It was some old shows from a TV series called Tripping the Rift. It's a funny scifi cartoon. Then it was time for bed. We've got 300 miles to do tomorrow, and part of it is driving through Phoenix.

Day 194

Got up fairly early and took the dog for a walk. Then we hitched up and drove 70 miles to Tucson. I'd forgotten how nice a place it is. It's also nearly deserted. Everyone except for a few diehards has gone back up north.

We took a walk around just to look the place over. Then we gave the dog a bath at the dog wash. She wasn't thrilled, but now she smells a lot better.

One of the changes that they made was building a library in one of the apartments. It's really nice, with brand new bookshelves along all of the walls. They must have over a thousand paperback and hardcover books.

It was hot (over 90). So I got a book down and spent several hours there reading. Ellen had gotten the satellite set up and was watching the chick flick channel. I couldn't bear it.

In the evening we went over to the casino to gamble and have dinner. We won $6. We ate at a restaurant that we had eaten at before. Last time we had sandwiches and they were great. This time we had fried seafood and it was terrible. Oh well.

We may stay an extra day here. It's nice.

Day 193

The dog and I love the desert. Lucy got to run twice today. Once in the morning and once at night. I got to enjoy a sunny day with a high of about 85. That's a whole lot better than the 55 degrees and raining that Oregon is having today.

We spent the morning doing the wash and running the dog. It was nice not having to hook up and drive somewhere. Almost like being retired.

After that we went to Tombstone. We left the dog at home because it was too hot. We had a good time doing the tourist thing. Going through the shops (only bought a t-shirt and a book). We also attended one of the several "shoot out shows" that are put on at various places in town. We'd been there before. It's fun. You sit there and eat lunch while they reenact gunfights that happened in Tombstone. The $2 margaritas are nice, too.

I got some good news. Oregon is going to give me health insurance. Maybe I won't have to go without coverage at the end of the month.

We stopped by the river on the way back. I wanted to hike to it to see if Lucy could go for a swim. There wasn't enough water. Ellen got hot and pissed during the hike. I'll hear about it for awhile.

Day 192

Drove from Deming to a campground near Tombstone today. There's something screwy about the gas stations in Deming. They all sell Diesel at an inflated price. They were asking $3.49 a gallon while all the other stations we saw near the town were selling it for $2.98 - $3.05. I think there's an informal cartel going on in town.

When we got to the campground we got unhooked and then went to Sierra Vista to do a little grocery shopping. I didn't feel like doing anything else. I was still tired from yesterday and the four hours of driving today.

Arizona doesn't believe in DST. So we set our clocks back another hour today. That puts us on PST. It also means that it gets dark early here. It was dark by 7:30. The dog still got a chance to run all over the hiking area. She didn't tire herself out totally, but she's a little subdued tonight.

We'll go play tourist in Tombstone tomorrow. It will be nice to have a day when I'm not hauling the trailer.

Day 191

There isn't much to write about a 400 mile drive through west Texas and southern New Mexico. Midland isn't a garden spot, but as you go west the environment just deteriorates. The vegetation turns to scrub sagebrush. The land turns to dark brown with an overlay of windblown sand.

400 miles translates into about 7.5 hours on the road when you include the fairly frequent fuel stops that are required due to 10 MPG and a relatively small fuel tank. Also, you don't want to run out of fuel anywhere along this drive.

I was tired by the time we got to Deming, but for some reason the dog was not. So we took her on a walk. We found a nice little park (it even had some heavily irrigated grass) that we walked through. By the time we got back she was tired and thirsty.

I was, too. So I got a drink and then took a nap. The campground has cable, so I'm going to try to find something to watch. Then I think I'll go to bed early. We only have to go 200 miles tomorrow, so we won't have to get up early. Early to bed and late to rise. That's the retired life.