Day 208

Today was a long day - in more ways than one.  The drive to Tucson was 440 miles.  It was long and boring.  The second half was made even more enjoyable with a cross wind that gradually turned into a head wind.  Yesterday we got a little over 10 mpg overall.  Today we go 11 at the beginning, but only 9.5 when the wind picked up.

The day was also long because we gained two hours.  We gained 1 hour because we crossed over the timezone line just after leaving Van Horn.  We gained the other hour because Arizona doesn't believe in daylight saving time.  That was good because it gave me time for repairs after 8 hours of driving. 

I went looking for batteries for the trailer.  The old ones are well past their 36 month lifespan and were leaking fluid even though they are "sealed".  The inverter has been running at at least a 50% duty cycle because of their inability to hold a charge.  I went to Camping World by the resort.  They wanted $137 a piece.  A call to Interstate got a quote of $125.  Costco wanted $81.  Guess where we got them.

Replacing the batteries was a hassle, but there were no real issues.  After I was finished I had to repair the bed cover.  When I tried to close it, it came apart.  The rivets holding one of the panels together had corroded and broke.  I fixed it with small screws.   I also fixed another panel that was in the process of breaking.

All of this was done in 90+ degree weather.

The best part of the day was dinner - we ate at In-N-Out.

Ellen's doing the laundry right now.  After all, it is Tuesday.

Day 207

Today was a travel day.  What's to describe about a 400+ mile trip through west Texas?  At least it was uneventful.

When we left the basement positively reaked with the smell of gray water.  It was so bad during the night that it woke us up in the trailer.  When we got to Van Horn the smell in the basement was gone.  I took everything out and crawled in to try to see what might be wrong.  The only thing that I could find was that the caulking around one of the tank pipes was no longer sealing anything.  The caulking I had with me was toast.  So I put everything back and we walked a couple of blocks to a NAPA store to buy some.

Unfortunately the combination of 90+ heat and the 8 hour drive left me with no energy to unload the basement again.  Doing a recaulk will have to wait until tomorrow.

One note.  It's 85 degrees at 9 PM.  It's also 5% humidity.  That makes it a lot more comfortable than San Antonio was at 72 degrees.  And there's no danger that the AC will ice up.

The trailer park we're staying in is kind of nice.  It's cheap and has super fast wifi and good cable.  That's more than you can say for Blzing Star - no internet and lousy cable.  It's like the club, between the freeway and a busy rail line.  But it seems to be quieter.

I'm not looking forward to another 400+ mile trip tomorrow.  At least I'll get to rest on the next day.

Day 206

This was the second day of the main.  We didn't shoot until 2:30, so there was no need to get up in the morning.  After breakfast I went out and disconnected the sewer hose.  I didn't want to spend the time doing it tomorrow.  Then I just killed time reading until it was time to go to the club.

When we got to the club we decided to shoot some practice.  I completely sucked.  I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.  After practice we hung around the clubhouse for awhile and then went down to the course.

I continued my practice performance on the course.  I was missing easy shots that there was no way I should miss.  I'd break the first two pairs at a station, and then miss three birds on the next two pairs.  It was awful.

The weather was totally different from the last two days.  It was sunny with a lot of fluffy clouds.  It was also really hot standing in the sun.  The temperature was only 85, but that was in the shade.  Many of the stations didn't have any shade.

When we finished we went back to the clubhouse and sat around waiting for the shootoffs.  They had free beer left over from last night.  They also had a free wine bar and a small cheese and fruit plate.  It got emptied quickly.

The shootoffs were fun.  They took the top 10 finishers and had them shoot difficult targets from three stations.  Again it was amazing to see those guys shoot.  After that it was home to pack up the stuff and get ready to take off tomorrow.

Day 205

We shot the first day of the main course today.  The weather was bad, but it could have been a lot worse.  It was cloudy, but hot and muggy.  At times in the morning it there was a misty rain.  That lasted until about 11:30 when we started shooting.

I thought the course was a little easier than the prelim.  There were some long shots and some difficult shots, but nothing over the top.  Ellen shot better than yesterday.  I managed to keep sucking.  I actually got a 0 on a station.  It's been years since I got a zero on a station.

After the shoot we sort of messed around and did a little shopping.  We ate a late lunch - the one Ellen made yesterday.  We also had the dog do retrieves.  The weather was still miserable.  No rain, but hotter and just as muggy.  About 5 they started the free bar again and started a dinner service line at the snack bar.  I had a beer and a rum and coke.  We both couldn't finish all the food we ate, so Lucy had a really good pre-dinner. 

Just before dinner we were interviewed by a camera crew making a film for the NSSF.  They wanted to know why we shot.  We had fun talking about it.  I wonder if they will use any of the footage.

We didn't watch the shoot offs because we were eating.  We went over to the stadium after dinner to watch this competition between 6 US shooters and 6 English shooters.  They had set up 9 pretty difficult targets.  Each shooter got to choose one pair that everyone had to shoot.  The US won by a pretty large margin.  It was neat to watch these guys hit really difficult shots.

Then it was home.  Last night we didn't use the AC and it was a little hot and muggy in the trailer.  Tonight I turned on the AC as soon as we got home.  It's much more comfortable.

Day 204

We got to the club about 8:30 even though Ellen didn't shoot until 11:30.  It was in the 60's, and so foggy that you couldn't see the 5-stand targets.  I was also doing the misty rain thing that Seattle is famous for.  I went and got a belt from Lonesome Charlie.  We did a little more walking around and met up with Mac.  We talked to him for quite awhile, and then Jason joined us and we talked some more.   Mac is planning to come to the Western.

We had to cut the conversation short because we wanted to get in some practice.  After practice we went to the prelim.  Ellen lied to me about the time, so we were there 40 minutes early.  At least it had stopped raining.  It was really humid though and pretty uncomfortable.  The course was pretty difficult, but we expected that.  One problem was station 1.  It was a report pair with two long incomers.  The staion was backed up when we got there.  Then just after we got there one of the machines broke.  After a wait they sent us ahead.

The whole thing delayed the round so much that I had to go off to the 28 ga without Ellen.  She didn't get over there until I had shot 4 stations.  She was lucky to get a ride, because the two courses were at opposite ends of the property.

The 28 ga course was pretty hard.  In Salem they would have bitched about it as a tournament course.  I sucked, but then I didn't expect to do well.  I just wanted to shoot that gun.

I was really tired by the end of the course because of all the walking and standing that we'd done.  So I stopped by the clubhouse for a beer.  We were going to eat the lunches that we didn't have a chance to eat.  However, they had a free buffet, free beer, and a free bar set up.  We ate that stuff instead.  Even Lucy got a few bites of buffet.  I had a beer and most of a rum and coke.  I didn't drink it all because I wanted to make it home in one piece.

Day 203

Today was a "RVing  sucks" day.  We got up this morning to load the trailer and get on our way.  When I went out to the trailer the CO2 alarm was going off.  I opened up the trailer and it reaked of propane.  I turned off the propane tank.  This is puzzling because nothing that uses propane was turned on.  The refrigerator can use it, but it should have been using electric since the trailer was plugged in.  At least turning off the tank stopped the smell.

After we got everything loaded I moved the trailer a little forward and shoveled the extra crushed rock into the little pad I'd built for the low side wheels.  Hopefully this will level out the trailer when it's parked there.

As I drove up the driveway, the truck alarmed saying the trailer wiring was disconnected.  I figured no problem, just push the connector all the way in.  I did that, drove a few feet, and it alarmed again.  This was repeated several times as we left and drove out of the development.  It was alarming continually as we drove down 1826.  After we turned off at Salt Lick I had an idea.  I plugged the trailer into the bumper connector.  That fixed the problem, only the cord was likely to slip out of the bed and onto the road.  Ellen had the idea to bungy it, so I did and it's working fine.

I haven't decided yet if I want to risk turning the propane back on.

We had an otherwise uneventful trip to San Antonio.  The traffic was even halfway manageable except for a couple of idiots.  After we set up we too the dog over to the office.  One of the ladies there, whom we'd met before, spent about half an hour fawning over Lucy and feeding her treats.

Then it was off to the club.  We made the rounds of the vendors and picked up a few items like clothing on sale.  They were having those vendor signup things, so we got ours all filled out.  We're not going to turn them in until late though.

Day 202

Today was a lot of preparation.  Both of us took stuff to the trailer.  Ellen also went through and cleaned up the house while I loaded up the truck.  That doesn't take much to describe, but it took hours and a lot of effort.

We've got things pretty well set for tomorrow.  Bring over the electronics, shut everything down, and we're off.

Everything's out of the house, so we went out for dinner.  We went to this cafe we hadn't been to before.  It was a liberal, granola crunching kind of place.  The food was good, but I was afraid that I'd be voting for Obama by the time we got out of there.

Day 201

It was washing day, so that got started.  We went over to the Post Office and bought a couple of items at the grocery.  We also stopped at Circle C so that Lucy could run.  She did pretty well for it being near 80.

When we got home I got out the sprayer and hit the weeds that I'd missed.  The effect on the ones I sprayed yesterday was amazing.  They were all gray and shriveled up - even the big ones.  That's pretty good for 24 hours after spraying.

Then it was time to do some more loading.  I started loading up the truck.  I also greased the hitch and repainted the top.  It was getting rusted.  It took a fair amount of time, and it was hot and muggy.  My shirt was soaked with sweat by the time I was done.

When I was finished I went inside.  No relief, since the AC doesn't work.  So I sat in the recliner and read.  Over the next two hours the temperature dropped 14 degrees.  Sometimes I like cold fronts.  Right now its dropped from 80 when I was working to 58.

Day 200

This was a preparation in earnest day.  I started out by spraying the thistles with the sprayer I bought the other day.  The thing worked really well for something that was really just packaging.  After that it was off to get the oil changed.

While they were changing the oil we went next door to look at Mazda's.  It was nice.  No one came out to bother us.  That might have been because we had the dog with us.  We looked around at all the models and trim levels.  We decided on the trim level and settled on the two colors that we could live with.  Now all we have to do is a test drive.

We got back just as they were finishing up the car.  Good timing.  On the way home we stopped and did some last minute shopping for things to take with us.

When we got home I opened up the trailer and we started putting things in it.  I put in all of the gifts and Ellen put in a lot of the food.  I also noticed some weeds that I had missed.  Oh well.  I also moved some of the personal items over.

Day 199

We decided to go to the auto show today.  We left early so that we could get a parking spot.  We went all over the place looking at a whole lot of cars.  We liked the Volkswagen diesels, the Mazda 6, the Altima, the Civic, and the Accord.  The Accord may be the best value, but it sure is boring.  The Mazda 6 is a nice looking car.

After the show we were hungry, so we decided to drive down south Congress and just pick out a place.  The only problem was that the place was packed.  There was absolutely no place to park.  We drove all the way to 290 and found nothing.  We had planned to go to the Mazda dealership to look at a model they didn't have at the show, so we stopped at the IHOP up the street.  It was pretty good.

The only problem with our plan was that the dealership was closed on Sunday.  So were all of the other ones around it.  That seems really weird.  I guess welcome to the Bible Belt.

So we just went home.  It was over 80, so I decided to spray tomorrow morning.  Instead I took a nap.

Day 198

I got up this morning and mowed the lawn.  It was easier than in the fall because the grass wasn't so high.  That meant that I could go a little faster.  It also meant that I could see what I was doing.  That allowed me to mow beside the playhouse and the trailer.  That was a whole lot easier than using the weed eater.

There was one hitch.  While mowing by the side yard I found a few thistles.  I want to kill them before we leave.  I don't feel like mixing up any more solution, so I decided to buy one of those Roundup sprayer deals.

The first stop was the bank to put the LLC papers in the safe deposit box.  We also wrote out an inventory of what was inside.  We also went to Tomlinson's and turned in our dog food.  We won't be getting nay more of that brand.  We replaced it with a bag of some other type we haven't used before.  Then we went over to pick up the mail and go to Home Depot.  We lucked out.  The sprayer was on sale.  I'll probably use it tomorrow.

On the way home we stopped at Circle C.  We ran the dog and then we went over to watch the soccer rugrats.  We watched about a half of soccer and then we walked around the park.  By that time it was getting on towards dinner time.  So we went home to surf and watch TV.  There was a fgood zombie movie on.

Day 197

We went estate saling today.  We went to four places.  A couple were real busts.  One was really a garage sale with a whole 6 or so items.  Another was a small house that dated from the 40's.  It just had the leftovers from what the family didn't want.  The other two were OK though.  I got some western books for Dan, an audio book for us, and some paint thinner for the garage.

We drove by squirrel island as we were going between places.  So we stopped for the dog to swim.  There was another guy there who actually had a dog that was trained to do water retrieves.  He was only 19 months old, but he obeyed really well.  We cut the session short though when we saw a snake.  It was at least 3 foot long.  The guy said it swam like a water moccasin.  I'm not sure Lucy will ever swim there again.

I finished tiring out Lucy with land retrieves.  No checks were found, but I noticed that I had lost my pedometer again.  When I got back to the car, it wasn't on the seat like it was before.

On the way home we stopped at Wally World so I could get my drugs.  Another scratched off the todo list.

The day was relatively cool, about 70.  So when we got home I did the spraying.  While I was spraying I found the pedometer on the driveway near the garbage cans.  It's a miracle we hadn't driven over it.  I'll probably mow the lawn tomorrow.

Day 196

It was a good thing I didn't spray yesterday, because it was cold an raining this morning.  It rained until about noon and then started to warm up slowly.  It was 60 by evening.  I wanted to get my pills refilled today, but Wally World couldn't do it until late.  So we just went to the Post Office and to Randal's for some bread.

My cousin LuAnn is in town for some business thing.  We met here at her hotel downtown at 5:15.  It's the first time I'd been through that part of downtown.  And I had to do it during rush hour.  It really wasn't that bad.  We didn't hit the really bad traffic until after we'd picked her up.  Waiting in it was OK, because we could talk.

We took her over to Rudy's.  Getting downtown was a pain until we got over the Congress bridge.  Then we drove Riverside and Barton Springs where there wasn't any traffic.  Loop 1 was a parking lot, so I drove the frontage road to 360.  360 eastbound was a parking lot, but there weren't many cars westbound. 

We ate and then sat and talked in Rudy's for hours.  It was a lot of fun.  We took her home about 8.

Day 195

Today was interesting.  It started early, maybe 3 AM.  The dog got really paranoid about something.  She climbed up on our bed and wouldn't leave.  We had to let her sleep on the bed for the rest of the night.  The only thing that we can figure was that it was the flapping of the window shade.  The window was open because it was so hot.

When we got up we did a little reading and surfing.  We also got the farm paperwork ready to mail to Dan.  Then I went over and got a haircut.  I would have sprayed, but it's supposed to rain today.  Then it was off to squirrel island.  As usual Lucy was woofing for joy as soon as we got out of the car.  Lucy had her usual great time swimming.  That was until I saw a snake swimming in the water.  She was doing a retrieve at the time.  I called her out of the water and that was the end of swimming.

We started walking around the island.  There was a piece of paper on one of the park benches.  I looked at it and it was somebody's paycheck.  It was even signed, ready for deposit.  I called the employer, a vet clinic up towards Bee Cave.  The person wasn't there, but I told them to call her and tell her we'd bring her check to the clinic.  We finished our walk.  Lucy did some socializing.  I was disappointed though.  There was a group of 3-4 dogs playing fetch in the water at one point.  Lucy wouldn't join in.

Ellen noticed that I'd lost my pedometer while Lucy was swimming.  When we got back to the car, it was on the seat.  That was nice.

After we dropped off the check at the clinic we went to Bee Cave for lunch.  We went to the outdoor cafe that likes dogs.  We got to park almost front row center.  They have changed their menu.  I like the old one better.  It had items I liked better, and it was cheaper.

After that it was home.  The whole day had been hot and sticky, although it got a little better in the evening.  I'm glad for the door screen.  Unfortunately the wind always seems to be blowing the wrong way for cross ventilation.

Day 194

It was hot again today.  And without AC it was pretty miserable in the house.  We just sat inside and kind of toughed it out.  I was going to spray today, but Ellen said that it might rain tomorrow.  There's no use repeating the original spray fiasco.

I needed a few things at the grocery store, so we went there and to the post office.  It was too hot for Lucy to be in the car alone, so Ellen stayed in the car while I shopped.

After that we took Lucy to Circle C.  I wanted to do that last because I didn't want her sitting in the car all overheated.  She did a respectable number of retrieves given the heat.

The rest of the day was mainly reading.  I finished the zombie book and started one on the Mafia.  It's a collection of writings by mafioso's about their life in the mafia.  It's kind of interesting.

Day 193

I think the AC in the house has died.  The compressor was running all night long, but it wasn't doing much to cool the house.  Also the fan didn't seem to be moving much air through the vents.  I changed the filter, which might help that some.  I turned off the system and eventually the system turned off.  Then I raised the set point to 80.  The system hasn't turned on since.

Ellen spent a large part of the day sewing cloth strips on the screen door.  Hopefully that will keep the dog from running through it.  The door was open most of the day, so that's why I didn't try the AC.  It actually would have been comfortable if the wind had been blowing north or south.  Instead it was blowing from the east, so there was little air flow through the house.

While Ellen sewed I went out and got the oil on the truck fixed.  I waited until 1:30 to leave, but it was still crowded when I got there.  I was there until 3:00.  I took Lucy to Circle C on the way home.  She did a good number of retrieves given how hot it was.  I didn't bother to stop by the post office because today is tax day.

The house has been miserably hot for all afternoon and evening.  It would actually be nice if the wind was blowing in the right direction.

Day 192

I went out to do some rock hauling this morning.  The battery in the tractor was dead, so I had to haul everything by hand.  That wasn't too bad because it was almost all downhill.  The heat and humidity wasn't pleasant, though.  I took down 5 loads down to the trailer.  I spread it around the tires on the low side up to the level of the blocks that the tires are on.  I also left a load dumped by the tires.  I'll use that the day we leave to fill in where the blocks were and to finish out the pad for the wheels.

After that we went to JoAnn's to pick up some stuff so that Ellen can attach it to the screen door.  We'll see how it works.  It was hot and sunny, so I stayed in the car while Ellen went in.  When she was done we had lunch at Steakburger and then took Lucy to Circle C.  It was hot, so she didn't run much.  We didn't walk because Ellen had to buy some stuff for the potluck at HEB and then go home and fix it.

The potluck was in our cul-de-sac again.  It was fun.  We sort have knew some of the people and had a good 2 hours or so talking to different folks.

It's close enough to leaving that I'm starting to plan out what needs to be done before we leave.  I think tomorrow will be changing oil in the truck.  I need to get the spraying done sometime this week also, as well as some of the packing.

Day 191

We went to the gun show today.  The dog stayed at home because it was going to be hot.  The show was way up in Cedar Park, an area we hadn't been in before.  The last part of the drive would have taken us on a toll road.  So we left the freeway and drove on surface streets instead.  It wasn't that bad, but it was still a little bit of a pain in the ass.

The show had a lot of people and a lot of vendors.  We overheard someone who described things perfectly.  He said "it seems gun prices are coming down some, but ammo is really expensive).  We saw one guy selling a 500 round brick of .22 for $78.  All of the ammo was way overpriced, 2X to 3X what it should be.

I was looking for something to replace the 709, but I didn't see anything that I wanted.  There were a couple of pistols that I would have bought if they weren't selling for over their list price.

After the show we ate lunch at this random Chinese place.  It was OK, but a little expensive.  Then we went over to Fry's.  It was interesting driving south on Parmer instead of north.  We walked around Fry's for quite awhile, but only bought a couple of small items. 

On the way home we stopped at the Post Office and mailed off the paperwork to the cousins.  When we got home the dog was ecstatic.  She was running around outside with us and woofing for joy.   We went out to get the mail with here and extended the walk a little.

A little after we got back Stew was in the back yard again.  I let Lucy out to chase him.  Stew is one fast rabbit.

Day 190

Just a note about last night.  We had a great time at Trudy's with Dave and his friends.  They were an hour late because they got stuck in the traffic at the Y.  They were really good sports about it.  They all liked the food, too.

Today we went to a couple of estate sales.  Both were at higher end houses.  Unfortunately one was really a moving sale, they family had taken a lot of stuff with them.  We bought a couple of books and I bought an electric string trimmer for $10.

After that we took Lucy over to Zilker.  She had a good time doing retrieves, but it was hot show she didn't do a lot.  She also did a fair amount of socializing.  Then we walked along the river to the bridge.  There were a lot of turtles on logs along the river.  One was crossing the path.  It's the first time we've had a chance to look at one up close.  They are kind of neat.

It was pretty hot and so was Lucy.  So we watered her down at the shower by the volleyball courts.  She didn't complain at all.

We walked across the bridge and then upriver to the swimming pool.  They did a real good job rebuilding it.  It has a neat mosaic mural, but we couldn't get a good look at it because you had to go into the pool to do so.

Just up the block was a pizza place that allowed dogs on the patio.  So we had lunch there.  Lucy got a bowl of ice water and some treats from the pizza.  On the walk back she even did a few more retrieves.

We stopped a Randall's on the way home for a few items.  By the time we got home it was almost 5:00.

Day 189

We had to deal with paperwork today.  The first stop was the bank where there was a notary public.  He watched while I signed the papers.  Then we went over to a Postal Annex to get copies made.  There were 5 copies of about 55 pages.  The whole thing cost $23.  It took almost an hour.

Then we went to the post office to pick up the mail and mail the papers off to the attorney.  I need to mail copies to Nick and Luann when I have their addresses.  We'll send them first class, it's half the price of priority.

After that we went to the club.  On the way we stopped at the hamburger place for lunch.  The food is good, cheap, and the guy running it is always friendly and cheerful.  Dave Fiedler was at the club putting on a charity shoot.  They were just finishing up when we got there.  We talked to him for about an hour.  Then we made a  dinner date for tonight at Trudy's.  We're meeting them for dinner about 6:30.

Day 188

It was Oregon weather: 44 degrees and raining when we woke up this morning.  So we called Lucy up on the bed and stayed in bed surfing until after noon.  Lucy and the cats sure were glad when we finally did get up.  It was way past breakfast time.

Ellen had to get get her fingerprints taken today at 4.  So we spent the time until then surfing and reading.  It was still cold in the afternoon, but the rain had stopped.  The first stop when we did leave was to get the mail.  The papers from Hooch were there, just like we expected.

Lucy had gotten pretty antsy by the time we had left the house.  So after Ellen was done I threw the bumper for Lucy in the grass by the parking lot.  I stopped after awhile because it looked to me like Lucy was favoring her back left leg.

We stopped at Circle C for something to eat on the way home.  I had nachos.  Of course I didn't at all of it, so about half is in the refrigerator right now.  When we were finished we went over to the pet place for cat food and the bank to deposit a check.   Of course Lucy got a couple of nacho snacks when we got back to the car from eating.  She also got a snack at the pet store.

Day 187

I slept really late today, almost to 11:00.  Obviously that made for a short day.  I decided that I wasn't going to just sit around, but it was too hot and muggy to do any real work.  So I went to the garage to do some reloading.  I'd forgotten how much time it takes to reload using the RCBS press.  I spent more than three hours out there and managed to do 150 rounds.

It does give you a sense of accomplishment though.  So I think it was time spent OK.  The poor dog didn't agree.  She sat outside with me until the clouds burnt off and it started to get really hot.  Then she got disgusted and went inside.  I ate a late lunch (about 4). and then took the dog out to the mailbox.  She was sure glad to do at least something.

After that I decided to do some more zombie reading.  Those stories are a lot of fun.

Day 186

We went to Red's today.  I was going to shoot my 709.  Unfortunately it only lasted two rounds.  Then a part, I think the ejector, fell off.  Shit.  We had fun with Ellen's zombie and my S&W though.

It was cloudy and muggy today.  It's amazing how high humidity can make a temperature in the 70's miserable.

Yesterday Ellen did a proof of concept test that showed that she could sew some fabric on the screen without messing up it's operation.  So today I took down the broken one and put up the replacement.  It sure was a lot easier then the original install.  Then I took the old one plus the unused parts from the replacement to the recycle.

That was about it for the day except for a lot of TV watching.

Day 185

We went over to the club today.  It was a pretty good day for it.  It was cloudy, but it got warm and humid in the afternoon.

We hadn't shot for at least 6 weeks.  I should take time off more often.  I shot really good except for one crosser on the main, and one of the hard stations.  Lucy spent most of her time off lead, which sort of made up for being locked up all day yesterday.

We stopped at the hamburger place on Decker on the way home.  I was surprised that they were open on Sunday.  Their food sure is good, and cheap, too.

That was all that really got done today.  The rest was surfing and reading.

Day 184

We went to the train show this morning.  It was going to be above 80 today, so we had to leave the dog at home.  It was a pretty large show with a whole lot of vendors as well as some neat displays.  I bought 3 cars and that was it.  We looked at a whole bunch of layouts to get ideas of how to do landscaping things.  There was also an amazing set of train layouts made out of Legos.  Even Ellen had a good time.

We got out of there about 1:30 and went to find a place to eat lunch.  We found a seafood place by the freeway.  It was really good.  We had coconut shrimp and seafood nachos.

Then we stopped at the outlet stores.  We only went around half of them because by the time we did that we were pretty tired.  We got a few items like shoes for Ellen and a sweater for Hooch.

The last stop was Cabela's.  Of course they didn't have anything.  We did have fun filling out an automated exit survey that a guy asked us to stop and fill out.

A short stop at HEB and then it was home.  We traveled just over 100 miles.

When we got home we were both pretty tired.  The dog was really glad to see us.  I took her up to the mailbox.  She was woofing for joy all the way up the driveway.

Day 183

It was an estate sale day.  Surprisingly all three of them were within a couple of miles of each other.  Two of them were interesting, the third wasn't as cool. 

The first was a smaller house that was just jammed full of stuff.  The person had to be some sort of hoarder.  There were room fulls of racks of women's clothes.  In the yard outside they had bins of women's shoes.  There were bunches of collectables all over the house.  It was hard to move around there was so much stuff.  In fact we had to wait for more than half an hour just to get in there even though we got there 45 minutes after they opened.  We didn't buy a thing.

The second house didn't have a whole lot of stuff in it.  Apparently the lady was an artist and she had her paintings covering all of the walls in every room.  She was really pretty good.  Ellen bought a little art stuff.

The third house was someone who was an incredible nerd collector.  There were room full of old tools, electronics, antiques, and other stuff.  There were a couple of nice things we could use a microwave stands.  Unfortunately one was too small and the other was too expensive.  In general the prices were a little high.  I got a table saw fence, a rusty horseshoe, and a ruler for a carpenter's T.

On the way home we ate at Rudy's.  Lucy liked getting the brisket scraps while we ate outside.  Then we took her over to Circle C and a half walk around the park.

Day 182

Well, we've been gone 6 months now.  How time flies.

I've been looking at the weeds I sprayed just before it started to rain a total of 3 inches.  The broad leaf weeds are all dead.  Unfortunately I'm not sure if the grass will all die.  I'll have to keep an eye on it for a few days.

We gave the dog a bath last night.  So she was nice and soft and sweet smelling today.  She climbed up on the bed when we woke up and gave us an excuse to stay in bed until almost noon.

After breakfast we both did some bill paying and signing papers.  We also got Mom's clothes packed up.  So we left for the office with a package and a pile of envelopes.  We had to stand in line to mail off the taxes.

After that we went over to the place we took the class to look at a purse I'd seen.  Ellen liked it so we bought it.

The day had started out crappy and cold - in the 40's.  That's why we had stayed in bed.  It started to clear up and warm up when we left the house.  So we stopped by Circle C.  Lucy did a whole lot of retrieves.  She also had a chance to socialize with several dogs that stopped by.  Then we walked around half the park.  There wasn't any water in the creek by the 18th hole, and sort of a pond by the walkway.  I think the only reason there was a pond was because leaves had filled up the holes in the walkway, so it was acring as a dam.

Day 181

We slept in some this morning and then did a little messing around.  We went to the post office and Costco to get my drugs.  Then we decided to buy Mom some exercise clothes.  Apparently she's been exercising in panty hose.  Go figure.  We stopped at Academy, but they didn't have anything that we thought she'd use.  We did get a couple of boxes for the 709.

Then we went to Kohl's .  That was a complete bust.  There was a friendly clerk there who told us to go to the cut rate places across the street.  We found something at T. J. Maxx, and another thing at Ross.  We'll mail them off tomorrow.

We didn't take the dog to Circle C because today was a real Oregon day.  It was in the 50's and it rained pretty steadily all day.  I'd be disappointed except that the area really needs it.

The evening was all surfing.  I found a really long funny pictures thread and read it for hours.

Day 180

Today was boring - both for me and the dog.  I spent the whole day doing the wash.  That washer and dryer make cleaning the clothes a real drawn out process.  So I spent the day reading and surfing and listening to the machines.  Fletcher was cute.  He slept in the window bed until the first load of sheets came out of the dryer.  As I walked into the bedroom he followed me in and jumped up on the bed.

About 4:00 the weather radio alarm went off.  They said that there was a big thunderstorm headed directly towards us with possible golf ball hail.  So I put the truck in the garage and took the dog to the mailbox.  It was the only fun she had all day.

The storm hit about 5 and lasted until 6:30.  The weather radar colored it red.  It did rain pretty hard at times, but I don't think it was worth a red.  There's probably nothing left of the spray I put down.

This evening I'm just surfing, watching TV, and waiting to go pick up Ellen.

Day 179

The dog was so cute today.  I spent the morning surfing.  About noon she started coming over to me and was nuzzling me.  She was trying to get me to do something or go somewhere.  Anywhere.  She got quite insistent.

So I took her over to Circle C.  It was pretty hot, but she still did a fair number of retrieves.  Then we went for a walk around half the park.  It was a little too hot to do the whole circuit.

We returned home and we retreated to the AC.  A little later in the afternoon I saw Stew in the backyard.  I think he was eating bird seed.  I took some pictures.  He left, but he came back later.  When he came back I let Lucy out to chase him.  Lucy hadn't noticed him, she was sacked out on the couch.  When Lucy went out Stew took off.  He is really, really, fast.