Day 132

We didn't do much today. The morning was spent surfing. In the afternoon we stopped by the Post Office and then went looking for patio furniture. We also stopped at Home Depot to price out the materials for a pergola. It would cost at least $300 to build it. I think we'll end up with a patio umbrella instead.

We also stopped for lunch at Marie Callander's. This was the last day of their pie sale, so we bought one. We also stopped at the grocery store.

Finally, we took the dog to the park for a run. She didn't run very much. We're a little worried that she's not feeling well.

Day 131

It was raining this morning when we left to go to the tournament. We had to take a non-optimal route in order to avoid construction at 290 and I35. It was supposed to be done by now, but the government dweebs that run the traffic website apparently don't think it's worth updating the status in a timely manner.

The rain stopped just as we got to the range. We shot with a high school senior and their friend. He lives in Midland and Daddy has been supporting his shooting for years. He shoots about at my level.

Ellen didn't like the way she shot. At least her gun worked as long as she loaded RIO's in the top barrel. I didn't shoot very well either. I took second in AA though. I guess that everyone else had a real bad day. Apparently I got 2 punches.

We also shot the "hard" 50. It was more fun than the tournament. I like the hard targets.

We were robbed at the range. They charged us $75 for a flat of RIO's. That's about the same price as Academy Sports wanted for Remington STS's.

Day 130

I put together the chairs that we bought yesterday. It wasn't difficult, just time consuming. I think the worst part of the process was disassembling the boxes for recycling. The boxes had a bunch of staples in them that had to be pulled out. Overall the amount of packaging was amazing.

After putting the chairs together it was time to try them out. I spent a lot of the afternoon sitting in them reading Charlie's War. The experience taught me that we need at least a small table to set things on and some sort of shelter.

In the evening I looked into what it would take to build a pergola on the deck. It looks like a fun project. The thing is, I wonder how much the materials would cost.

Day 129

We went to another estate sale in Lakeway today. One of the main reasons we went was just to see the house. It was a 3500 or so sq ft yuppie castle. I made a good score. I got a Niles Audio amp for $150. They go on Amazon for $530. They also had a really nice Denon surround sound receiver for $150. I'd have bought it except that I have no need for it.

On the way back we stopped at the 360 bridge to have the dog swim. Unfortunately the county parks people were there. I didn't want to spend $6 just to stand by the river and have them yell at us because the dog wasn't on a leash.

Ellen got her Ranger sunglasses. They're really nice. I wish that that guy from the Nationals would get his act together on mine.

We stopped at Kohl's on the way back. The stuff we want is on sale. I'll have to get the truck to haul it though. The we took the dog for a run in the park. It wasn't swimming, but it had to do.

Gas is $3.25 and up everywhere. Diesel is $3.60 and up. I hate that son of a bitch in the Whitehouse.

Day 128

We didn't do too much today. We did go to a estate sale. It was a good sale, but there wasn't much that interested us. I got a few screws and hardware for the garage. Ellen got a box of envelopes.

It was cloudy in the morning and we left the sale to go to the park to run the dog. She only got in a few minutes of running before it started to rain pretty hard. We put her back in the car and went over to Kohl's to look at some patio furniture that they have on sale starting tomorrow. It's not clear if the stuff we want will be on sale. I'll probably go back tomorrow.

By the time we got home the roads were almost dry and the clouds were almost gone. It looks like the gutters are working fine. By mid-afternoon the sky was sunny and it was 83 degrees.

When we got home Ellen went to the garage to sand and paint the chest. I printed out the manuals for the gate opener and went up to take a look at it. When I opened the control box it was filled with fire ants. I couldn't do anything with the box except to verify that the latch wasn't wired up. I'll have to make up a harness and kill the ants before I can attempt to get the latch working.

Day 127

We went out and bought a rug today for the girl's room. It was a nice thick 5x8 wool rug for only $20. I lost out on a subwoofer though.

My attempt to fix the lamp didn't work. Apparently there was more wrong internally than I thought. I'm going to try to buy a lamp switch and adapt it to the lamp's switch housing.

We didn't do anything else today. We just surfed and played games.

Day 126

We went to the post office today and mailed off the Direct TV stuff and the subwoofer amp. We also took the dog for a run.

I got ambitious this morning and moved about a yard of small rock that was left by the previous owners. I used it to fill in one of the eroded spots in the road. That told me two things. First, it took me about an hour and a half to move it. Second, I'm going to need about 6 more yards of material at least.

I've pretty much settled on the smaller rock rather then the road base. I'm going to let the stuff I spread sit for a while and see how it works out.

I also finished connecting the downspout to the drain pipe. It looks pretty good.

I met the neighbor again today. He invited me to his place so I went up and talked to him. They have a fantastic view.

Ellen put a top coat on the chest. I hope it's getting near done. She says it will need another coat.

Day 125

I woke up tired. So I let the dog sleep between us and stayed in bed until mid-morning. I felt guilty when I did get up, so I decided to do a couple of minor chores. I took some stuff out to the garage that I'd been meaning to move for a while. I also moved the chest outside in the sunshine (it was 80 degrees today) so that it would dry.

The most ambitious thing I did were to remove the amp from the subwoofer and pack it up for shipping. I also took apart a broken lamp and tried to fix it. The lamp head is a special one, so it would be difficult to find a replacement. The existing one is pretty broken up. I tried to use super glue to repair it. We'll see if it worked in a day or two.

In the afternoon we took the dog over to the park to run. It was hot, but she still did a pretty good set of retrieves. Then we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. That pretty much describes that day.

Day 124

We got a 9:00 call from a guy I contacted last night about a Workmate that he had for sale. We met him up on 290 not far from where we live and bought it. It was hardly used and he only wanted $40 for it.

Then we went home and I started to put up the gutters. The work wasn't hard, but it was time consuming. Ellen had to help because of the stupid hanger system that they use. It requires that the hangers be attached to the gutter before the gutter is attached to the house. Apparently there are two alternative methods that don't require this. Unfortunately Home Depot doesn't' sell them.

I only got a little way into the job before I discovered that the instruction sheets failed to show a part that was needed to connect some of the pieces. So It was off to Home Depot to buy them. I also bought a used miter saw that they had on sale. It hadn't seen much use and it was about the same price as I would expect to get one on Craig's list.

When we got back home we finished up the install. It was 6:30 before I had everything put away. I mis-measured the down spout, so I'll need to do a little more extra tomorrow to connect it to the drain pipe.

I'm tired.

Day 123

We went to an estate sale in the morning. The ad listed a bunch of interesting items. When we got there there were only a few things. They were nice, but nothing was interesting to us.

After that we went over to Home Depot and bought all of the stuff for doing the gutters. It was raining, so we didn't put the stuff up. I might put them up tomorrow if the weather is good. Things cleared up at the end of the day, so maybe it will be.

I spent the afternoon reading. A good thing to do when it's raining. The book is Charlie Wilson's War. I've wanted to read it for a while. It's a good book.

Day 122

We went to a couple of estate sales today. They were authentic estate sales and we picked up a couple of small things at a good price. Ellen found a plate that her sister collects. We bought it for her. We also bought a suitcase to replace the one the dog chewed up. I also got a couple of landscape lights for the sidewalk.

On the way home we stopped at Home Depot and I priced out gutters. They're a little cheaper than Lowe's. I'll probably get the materials tomorrow.

When we got home Ellen did some more painting on the chest. I installed the lights. Then she washed the dog while I helped a little.

Day 121

We went to the RV show today. It wasn't a very large one, but we had fun with it. We actually saw one trailer that I'd love to buy. It's just I think that it would cost us about $20K after a trade in and I just don't want to spend that kind of money anymore.

The show took up most of the afternoon (it started at 12). So when we got out I wanted to leave downtown Austin before the traffic got too nasty. So we went back down south to a restaurant that I've wanted to eat at for quite a while. It was really good and relatively inexpensive. I'm sure we'll go back again.

We just surfed and watched TV when we got home.

Day 120

We went shooting today so that I can try out the new gun. It works fine. I didn't have to adapt any at all. I shot pretty good except for two stations. I couldn't hit a damn thing on them. The gun has a broken top lever spring. I'll get it fixed at worlds.

Ellen's gun decided to quit firing the top barrel. Dan suggested trying my trigger, so we will. If that works, then I'll replace the spring on her trigger.

We got stuck in traffic on I-35 on the way back. So we turned off and crossed beautiful downtown Austin to Loop 1. It really wasn't bad, as the lights were timed and the traffic wasn't heavy enough to back up more than one cycle of the lights.

Day 119

Today was interesting. The doorbell range in the morning. And the gate was closed. It turned out to be a guy from the electric company. They were replacing the power pole at the edge of our property and wanted permission to turn our power off. Of course I said yes.

The power was off for about three hours. We surfed and read while we waited for it to go back on. The real pain in the ass is that there's no water. That means no toilets. I may end up buying a generator to make sure that we have water if the power goes out here during a storm.

When we got back I went out with the dog to get the mail. There were a couple of neighborhood kids out there and we had a good conversation. They told me the names of all the dogs in the neighborhood and showed me their ATV trail. It's impressive. I also talked awhile to one of the electric workers. We bullshitted while another guy worked. Typical.

In the evening we went over to Costco and stocked up on frozen stuff. We also went ot Walgreens and bought some half price Valentine's day candy. Finally we bought a nano from a guy on Craig's list. It's got a whole lot of music on it from groups I've never heard of. I plan to listen to it in order to determine if there's anything that I ought to buy.

Day 118

I opened up the shotgun today. The stock looks great and seems to fit perfectly. Of course it should given what I spent on it. The barrel will have to go to Briley. The chokes are modified and full. That's probably not too bad for Texas sporting clays, but I'd like the flexibility of changeable chokes. I'd like to go shoot the gun sometime this week.

We kind of messed around this morning. I made some phone calls to tie up some loose ends. I found out about fixing the subwoofer, updating the preamp, ordered a power supply for the xrocker, and made sure that the hospital doesn't think I still owe them money. I also emailed a guy about a nano.

In the afternoon we went out to find a replacement snap for the furniture we bought. The search was a bust. We also stopped at HEB and bought ourselves a Valentine's Day cake and some ice cream to go with it.

When we got home I had a brainstorm. I ground down a screw and used it as a replacement for the broken snap. It seems to work fine.

Day 117

We went back to the estate sale that we went to on Friday. As usual the remaining items were half off. The cabinet that I wanted was still there, so we bought it. Unfortunately the patio furniture was not. We also got a new in box toy rocket set for the nieces.

After the sale we went to the 360 bridge over Lake Austin. The lake is really a dammed river. Under the bridge is a boat launch area. We let Lucy go swimming. She did a whole lot of water retrieves, and then at least 40 land retrieves. She still wanted to do more, but she was getting pretty tired.

After that we stopped for a late lunch and then went home. Lucy's toe nails were getting long, so she got a dogicure. I also cut a branch off the was overhanging the deck. I sure wish I had some furniture to sit on out there. It was a nice afternoon. Mid 70's and a light breeze.

Day 116

My shotgun came today. I haven't opened it yet. That's because I wanted to get the deck finished. I started out by doing the rest of the work that I could do once I had battery power. I thought that the miter cuts would be difficult, but they weren't really.

Then we went to get the mail and some more wood at Home Depot. The Saturday traffic was murder. Now I remember why I don't go out on the weekends unless it is really necessary.

When we got back I finished up the railing. It doesn't look too bad, and it's plenty sturdy. At least it's something that won't bother me every time I look out the window anymore.

I guess the next thing will be either the gutters or the gravel.

Day 115

We got up and went to an estate sale. The house was impressive. It's 7,400 sq ft and sits on a hill in Lakeway with a view of Austin and the hill country. It's on the market for $3 mil. We bought a new in box Lego set for the niece and nothing else. I may go back on Sunday to see if a couple of other items have been discounted.

On the way back we stopped a Rudy's for barbecue and Penney's for pillows. I also picked up some wood for the deck at Home Depot.

When we got home I started work on the deck and Ellen did more painting on the chest. I was doing OK until I ran out of battery charge and deck screws. Fortunately that happened at about the same time. So we went to a building supply place on 290. It's closer than Lowe's or Home Depot.

When we got back I continued on the deck. I made a lot of progress. One of the two panels that I need to put up is almost done.

Day 114

Another cold day, but about 10 degrees warmer than yesterday. It was almost pleasant because there wasn't a wind.

We went to the grocery and the post office. I also stopped by some sand and gravel places to price out gravel for the driveway. It looks like about $200 delivered.

Lucy got to run in the park. She's got all of her energy back. A guy we met there told us of a lake near by that we can take Lucy swimming at.

I looked for estate sales on Craig's list. There's one with a nice patio set tomorrow. I took the hitch out of the truck so that I can pick it up if I like it.

Day 113

Another cold day in Austin. It didn't get above 32 degrees all day. The wind was blowing and it was COLD. So we stayed in bed until noon and surfed. Then we got up and ate lunch.

It was too cold to do anything outside. It was also too cold to paint in the garage. I did get Lucy's new collar out of the trailer and Ellen shortened it. That was the sum total of the day's accomplishments.

Duke played NC tonight. They won after NC blew a 14 point halftime lead. Crap.

I'm thinking about ordering 2 or three yards of rock and spreading it out in the driveway. It would be my exercise program.

Day 112

After our typical late rising and surfing we went to Home Depot. I needed to get some materials to enclose the pipes in the well house. Ellen needed to get paint for the chest. We also used the opportunity to get the mail and lunch at Sonic.

When we got back Ellen painted while I did the enclosure. I had Home Depot do most of the plywood cutting. I cut the insulation and attached it to the plywood. There was a bit of other assembly also. I wanted to get it all done today because a cold front is coming in tonight.

While I was installing the enclosure I noticed that the thermostat on the heater isn't worth much. It's set at 45, but it was going off when the temperature was in the high 50's. Hopefully the box will help with that.

Day 111

After about a week of doing just about nothing, it was time to get something accomplished. I started by painting the wood base that I put up to mount the phone antenna. I had left the ladder on the side of the house because I ran out of daylight when mounting the antenna. The rain started the next day and lasted until we left, so no painting. I forgot about the ladder, and it's been out there for weeks. It's aluminum and none the worse the wear.

Then I finished sanding the chest for the apartment. I finished up the rough sanding and did all of the finish sanding. It's ready for painting. I think that we'll get some paint for it tomorrow.

I also mounted the router on the router table and put the table together. The previous owner had spilled some resin or something on the table and I spent quite awhile scraping it off. Now all I have to do is teach myself how to use it.

I priced out the cost of the materials for the rain gutter yesterday. It's going to be a little more than $200. We're supposed to get another freeze later this week, so I'm going to delay buying it. Instead I'm going to build an insulated box for the well plumbing inside the well house. That will make heating it during freezes a little bit more efficient. Eventually I might buy a thermostat controlled heater just for it.

Day 110

We went to see a couple of Craig's list sellers today. We decided not to buy one thing, a CD cabinet, and bought the other, a center speaker for the bedroom.

The seller of the speaker lived in an area of Austin that we'd never been in before. It was an older area and a little bit rundown. There was a park by his place and we took Lucy there to run. She didn't even do 10 retrieves before she quit. So we decided to walk around the park and enjoy the 75 degree weather.

This evening the Packers won the super bowl - they even beat the point spread.

Day 109

It warmed up today. All of the snow was gone before noon. By afternoon it was in the mid 60's. I needed to get a prescription filled so we went to the pharmacy. We had a coupon for Marie Callander's so we went there afterwards for lunch.

After that it was a stop at Best Buy. They didn't have anything that interested us. That was OK, we were really just dealing with cabin fever.

We took the dog to the park. She only did a few retrieves before she quit on me. It was too nice to go home, so we walked around the park. The park has a frisbee golf course and there were at least three groups of people playing it.

On the way home we found out that 1826 was blocked off. Luckily we were able to drive through the other part of the neighborhood and get home.

Day 108

The dreaded snow fell last night - one whole inch. The problem was that freezing rain fell before the snow. The city is paralyzed.

The good news is that the sun came out in mid morning and the temperature went up immediately. In late afternoon it's 43 degrees. That's a lot better than yesterday's 26.

Of course the snow and most of the ice melted immediately. Any place that's shaded is still very icy. That makes driving on interchanges a little tricky. You're cruising along on dry pavement and suddenly your on glare ice.

Our last window shade came in. So we picked it up at Lowe's and I installed it in the study. It looks pretty good.

I've been looking in DIY books for how to install flooring. I might give it a try. I also tried to price out the gutters at Lowe's. It will probably be $250 - $300. I think that I'll get an estimate from the roofing guys.

Day 107

The TV is full of all sorts of dire threats concerning snow in the area tonight. We heeded the warning and went to the grocery store. We didn't really need anything. It was more just to relieve cabin fever.

It's marginally warmer today. Maybe 3 or 4 degrees warmer. It's still in the low to mid 20's and the wind makes it seem colder. It's really unpleasant to go outside.

So we did what we've been doing for the last couple of days - surf and watch movies.

Day 106

Another uneventful day. It was cold in the morning - 18 degrees. Apparently this made a big demand on the electric grid. The Austin area had rolling blackouts. They included us. We lost power for about 20 minutes. It had me a little worried because we depend on electric heat.

We stayed in bed until about noon. There wasn't any point in getting up. It was warm, the pets were there, and we had the phones to surf on.

Then we got up and went to get the mail. There was a bill from the hospital that we had already paid. I'll have to call them tomorrow. A bottle of water that we had left in the car was frozen solid.

Nothing else happened. We just sat in the house and tried to stay warm.

Day 105

It was cold today. About 20 when we got up, and about 20 now. I think that the warmest it got was 34. The wind was blowing too, so that made it seem colder.

We stayed in and did nothing. Surfed some, played some pinball, and Ellen did the wash. I did go out for a little while to put out the garbage and put heaters in the trailer and well house.