Day 53

This was another not very exciting day.  We spent most of the morning surfing.  Then cabin fever set in.  So we drove to Circle C and ran the dog.  She did a lot of long retrieves.  Then we went to the grocery store for a couple of items.  Then it was back home.

The dog got some extra excitement when we walked out to the mailbox.  The Amazon package was there.  Apparently the Best Buy package hasn't shipped yet.

I did a little Cyber Monday shopping, but I didn't see anything interesting.  I watched football for most of the rest of the day.

Day 52

We went over to Sam's club today.  They were letting anyone in this weekend.  The place is essentially a Costco, but they emphasize food more.  It was OK.  We bought a couple of things, but it didn't seem worth $45 to join.

After that we went to Best Buy just to look around.  It wasn't all that interesting.  On the way home we stopped at the post office and then the Ice House for lunch.  They were still serving breakfast, so we had that instead.  It was really good.  The last stop was Circle C.  Lucy did a whole lot of very long retrieves.

When we got home I we both watched TV.  Ellen said I napped.  I disagree. 

In the evening we watched Oregon win.  WSU is playing UW right now.  They're getting killed, mainly do to their own mistakes.

Day 51

We didn't wake up until 10.  I don't me get up, I mean wake up.

After breakfast I packed up the truck and we went to Capital to shoot sporting.  It's been a month or so since we shot.  I was very rusty.  I'm not used to Texas targets, or Texas wind, either.  They rearranged the courses and we ended up starting on the pro course.  That didn't help much.  The best i can say is that i was starting to look better by the time we were done.

There were too many people to let Lucy off lead.  She did get to do retrieves afterwards.

After that we went to the barbeque place for lunch.  It was really good, but a little more expensive than I remember.  Lucy got a little brisket tribute.

Then we just drove home.  Neither of us wanted anything to do with Black Friday.  I must say that some of the parking lots we saw weren't as full as we expected them to be.

We didn't get home until about 4.  We just watched TV and surfed for the rest of the day.  I didn't find any bargains online that I thought I had to have.

Day 50

Its Thanksgiving.  We had a good day.  I got up at 7 and went to the gas station to buy a paper.  There were a lot of people there doing the same thing.  When I got home I went back to bed and surfed.

When we did get up it was surfing and football.  Ellen worked really hard cooking dinner.  She fixed a full dinner - turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, beans, and cherry pie.  It was all really good.  Soaking the turkey in bourbon worked really well.

The football was OK.  The bears sucked, but Dallas lost the second game.  The Seahawks are still playing.

I did do a little shopping.  I bought one thing at Amazon and another at Best Buy (I just didn't want to go there tomorrow).  I used the ads in the newspaper to see if there were other things that I might want to order.  There weren't.

I also did a little reading on the Social Security website.  I think I can start sucking the government tit next year.  I still need to confirm that with Bob.  All in all we have a lot to be thankful about this year.

Today was a fine day.

Day 49

We stayed in bed surfing until after 10.  The pets were not amused at the late breakfast.

After we did get up I decided to finish building the n scale station I started a couple of weeks ago.  I found out quickly that I needed to do a little more painting on the walls.  So I painted them, but there wasn't anything else I could do until the paint drives.

I really felt the need to do something, so I took the containers we bought yesterday and installed them in the trailer.  They work really, really, well.  It both looks and acts like a grate improvement.  I also took the $1 spray paint can we got at Lowe's and sprayed the broken trees.  There's a lot of paint in that can.  It easily covered both trees.

After that it was time for a late lunch.  Also we needed more ice for the turkey..  We took the dog over to Circle C first.  Then we went to the brewery by Alamo.  We ate outside with the dog.  They had a really good IPA.

The last stop was the grocery store so that we could get the ice. 

When we got home I decided to do some looking at Netflix.  I spent quite a bit of time looking at things tyo watch.  I made up a list for later.  Then I watched a couple of them.  By then it was 9 and I was tired of Netflix.  So it llsurfing for the rest of the evening.

Day 48

This was a sort of dog day.

We've been going to bed late, after midnight.  That means that we don't get up until around 9.  That's how it was today.

After breakfast we went over towards Best Buy and I got a haircut.  The lady cut it a little shorter than I would have liked, but it will grow out.

Since we were halfway there, we took the dog to Zilker.  She was very happy.  Most of the park is blocked off for the Christmas lights thing, but there was still plenty of room.  Lucy had a good time doing retrieves and also did some socializing.  The weather was sunny and warm, so we walked around some.  That gave Lucy time to recharge, so she did a fair number of retrieves.

After the park we decided to have Chinese food, so we went to the place across from Harbor Freight.  It was very good.  We stopped at the Tuesday Morning next door.  We picked up some nice  bins for the trailer cabinet.  I'll install them tomorrow.  After that it was the post office, a quick trip to the grocery, and home.

The rest of the day was surfing and TV.  Ellen went to archery.  I turned on Netflix and it had a movie it wanted me to watch.  It was an Arnie movie I'd never heard of.  It was pretty good.  We also watched a comedy special from the guy who gets thrown out of Chinese restaurants.

Day 47

We stayed in bed surfing for quite awhile.  When we did get up, Ellen started working on the sewing that was left to do.  I took some stuff out to the garage.  After I put it away I decided to make up a new drill kit for the trailer.  I took stuff from three kits to make up one that had a good selection of bits and took up the least space.

After that I went out to the trailer to measure the medicine cabinet and the space under the sink.  The good news is there's lots of space in the cabinet.  The bad news is that there's no way to fit a slider under the sink.  I did notice that hanging the container we have there now on the side would make things a lot more convenient, so I did that.

I was suffering from cabin fever, so off we went.  We stopped at the liquor store and got some bourbon for soaking the turkey.  Then we went to the post office and Best Buy.  I really wanted to get a Tab S with phone capability.  They didn't have one, so we went to Verizon.  They only had white ones.

By then it was 3 and we hadn't eaten lunch.  So we stopped at BJ's.  Bad idea.  The hamburger was OK, but the fries were greasy.  I ordered potato skins as an appetizer.  They were the worst I've ever had.  They weren't skins, just hollowed out potato pieces.  In addition they were really greasy.  Finally there was little toppings on them.  We won't be going back to BJ's ever.

We decided to stop at Costco on the way home.  They didn't sell the Verizon tablets.  They did have a sale on the non-phone versions, complete with a cover.  So we bought one.  We haven't really used it yet, but the cover is disappointing.  It only covers the front, not the back.

The evening was football.

Day 46

Today was sort of a doggy day.  I wanted to go see the creeks after the rain.  Bear Creek had quite a bit of water in it.  The debris marks showed that the water had been 3 feet or so over the road at one time.

Then we went to Circle C.  We walked the dog around the path to the creek.  She did retrieves for about half the way.  When we got to the creek it was 6 or 8 inches over the path.  The water was also pretty dirty.  Lucy wanted to swim, but no way.  She did do a little wading.

We walked back through the golf course.  The water was really flowing in the places where you could see the creek.  The water was three feet deep where the course crosses it.

After that we went to Tomlinson's for some cat food.  Then we went to a restaurant across the parking lot.  It's only open on the weekend.  It's a really nice place with a knockout decor and good food.  Too bad it's not open for lunch.

The day was wonderful - bright, sunny, and mid-70's.  So we decided to do some shopping/errands.  We got the mail, stopped for some license plate frames, stopped at Staples to pick up a couple of sale items, and HEB for some Thanksgiving food.

When we got home I put the frames on the car and Ellen started shortening pants for me.  She got two pairs of sweats done before going to archery.  She still has a pair of sweats and two pairs of jeans to go.  I'm watching football.

Day 45

I rained hard in the morning.  Lots of thunder and lightning.  We went off to get the license plates for the car.  When we got the registration we saw that they registered the car in Travis county.  This pissed us off since we had specifically told him to make sure that it was registered in Hays county.  They going to call us on Monday about it.

After that we went over to Harbor Freight (Ellen went to the fabric store).  I really just went to get a free flashlight.  With the coupon and sale discounts I bought $30 (list) of stuff for less than $10 including tax.  We then went to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought some steak knives that they had on sale.  The 20% off coupon made them a really good deal.  We also got a bath mat and a bar-b-que pan using a $5 off coupon.  I like saving money.

We ate at a restaurant across the street.  It was raining so hard that you could only just barely see through the windshield.  I had a raincoat on, but it didn't have a hood.  We both got soaked walking the 60 feet from the car to the front door.

The last stop was Lowe's for some black spray paint for the trees I cut.  They had their Christmas sales going and I ended up buying a couple of tools for really good prices.

The rest of the afternoon was TV and surfing.  The evening was pretty wild.  The hard rain turned into a thunderstorm.  There was almost continuous lightning and a lot of thunder.  Neither Lucy or the cats were very amused.  It rained all night, sometimes really hard.  The neighbors said we got 5 inches of rain.  It rained so hard that the satellite TV quit working.  The internet response went to shit, too.  We couldn't tell if that was because of the storm or just the load on the line.  I had to use the Verizon connection to surf.

To top it all off there was enough rain to set of the sewer alarm.  To make it worse the reset button didn't work.  I finally got the reset button to work, but the alarm kept oscillating on and off.  Luckily the rain let up just before we went to bed and the alarm stopped.  We didn't take showers though.

Day 44

Today was a rest day.  We just hung around the house for most of the day.  I did some reading and surfing.  I also painted the parts for a signal tower that I bought at the train show.  I got a good deal.  It was $6.  On Ebay it was $10 plus shipping.

We did go out for the mail and the grocery store.  It rained a little on and off all day, so Lucy didn't get to stop at the park - too much mud.  She's stinky though, it's time for a bath.

We spent the rest of the day waiting to go to Cabela's.  It was raining pretty hard when we drove over there, but no problems except for one Texas driver who couldn't drive the speed limit.  We followed a Papa John's delivery car for miles.  They must have a really big delivery area.

Cabela's was cool.  The discounts were 5 - 20%.  They had live music and were serving a dinner - ham or beef.  We at even though we'd eaten about an hour before.  It was good.  We bought a few things - an electric knife sharpener, a long sleeve shirt, and 4 cases of B&P.  The price was only $5 more than the Fiocchi price.  We also got 2 bags of Zukes at a really good price because they were on sale.

There were a fair number of people there.  At 8 when they opened it was hard to get around the aisles.  We left around 10:30.  By that time the store crowd had thinned out, but the lines at the checkout were really long.  Apparently their computer system couldn't handle the load.

When we got home we didn't feel like going to sleep, so we watched a zombie show until after midnight.

Day 43

I did it.  I had a goal of getting all of the nuisance jobs around the place done by Thanksgiving.  I actually managed to do it one week early.

Today I finished cutting apart the big tree branch that fell in the basketball court.  Better still, Ellen managed to get all of the trash, front tree, basketball tree, and the other stuff that had been stacked up, burned.  That cedar stuff burns even when it's green.  She would just put it in the barrel, the green leaves would dry out, and then the whole thing would start to burn like it was soaked in gasoline.  Those tree are scary, and we have a lot of them.

Branch demolition and trash burning took about 3.5 hours.  Afterwards we both took showers.  Then it was off for a late lunch.  2 om is one of the few times that Chuy's isn't packed.  So we went there.  The food was pretty good.  I can't say the same about the mojito that I ordered.  I think the bar tender forgot to add any rum.  Also, the glass was filled to the brim with ice.  Apparently Chuy's is one of those places that specialize in selling weak drinks to people who don't care.

We stopped at Costco for some water.  They have a 75" TV on sale at a really good price.  I just don't know if I want to go through the hassle of changing out TVs.  I sure don't feel like doing it right now.

The evening is going to be surfing and football.  At least for awhile.  The teams playing may make it a real crappy game.

Day 42

The weather was good today.  I started out by cleaning the guns that I shot yesterday.  I took my time, because I just didn't feel like working real hard.

After that I went into the house for lunch and some surfing.  About 2 I decided I really ought to do something.  So I got out the chainsaw and went to work on the downed branches.  I took down the branch by the gate and used the lawnmower to drag it over to the burn barrel.  Then I used the chainsaw to cut it up.  I stacked the remains up to be burned.

Then I took the chainsaw down to the basketball court and got to work.  I  just kept working at it.  I separated the branches I cut into green ones and dead ones.  I'll put the dead ones by the burn barrel.. The green ones will remain on the court.

By 5 o'clock I was tired.  I got a lot done, but there's a lot left to do.  Just before I finished I noticed that there was a smaller branch (4 inches) that was split.  So I cut it down.  Suddenly I had a lot more to do.  So I quit for today.  Ay least I made a real dent in what needs to be done.

I went in and took a shower.  I put on nice comfortable sweats when I got out.  Just the thing for an evening of TV and surfing.

Day 41

We got up late again, mainly from going to bed late.

The first order of business was Red's.  I got the Savage sighted in.  The Kimber was a disappointment.  It didn't jam as much, but it still wasn't reliable.  After that it was the post office and Wally World so I could get another power strip.  We also stopped at Kohl's so I could get some jeans.  All of my current ones have holes in them.  Lunch was at Fireman's The last stop was Circle C.  Lucy was very happy and did a normal number of retrieves.  I would have gone for a walk, but I wanted to get home and work.

When we got home I went out to the trailer to install the panel meter.  It took some time to measure out everything so that it would be a neat install.  The only glitch was the weird power outlet that I connected to.  It had push on connectors instead of screws.  The connector just didn't want to work with the lamp cord I was wiring with.  After some effort I did get it to work.  The meter does look nice.

After that I decided to bask in the feeling of accomplishment.  I went inside and read, surfed, and watched TV for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Day 40

So I made up some for the last few days of staying in the house because of the cold.

It was only up to 50 today, but it was sunny and fairly comfortable outside.  We stayed in bed until about 10 anyway.

I started by cleaning the Savage and then mounting the BSA.  It looks like a fine piece of work.  I also bore sighted it.

Then I put the mud flaps on the car.  The back ones were a pain, but I expected that.  For some reason both vehicles were covered with white spots.  At first I thought it was bird shit.  It wasn't.  Luckily it wiped off easily, so I wiped down the car.

Then I got out the ladder and put sealant around the edges of the shingle that was blown up in the storm.  That might be overkill, but it makes me feel better.

Finally I took down the old motion light and put up a new one.  It will be a couple of days before I know if it works.

The evening was football.

Day 39

It was a little warmer today, 50, but it still rained all day.

I decided to get out the Lego airplane that we bought in Oregon.  It has 600 pieces.  I spent some time organizing the pieces, and then Ellen wanted to go to HEB.  So we did.  On the way back we stopped at Tomlinson's.  We kind of needed cat litter, but the real reason was to entertain the dog.  Another cold snap is coming, so it may be awhile before she get to run.

When we got home I spent several hours building the airplane.  It was kind of fun.  The design is really clever, with retracting landing gear, moving flaps, and engine compartment, opening canopies, and a lever at the back that you move back and forth to turn the propeller.

After that it was time for football.

Day 38

We went down to New Braunfels today for the train show.  I picked up several neat things at the show, some cars, a locomotive, and a couple of buildings.  I almost bought another couple of cars, but you have to draw a limit somewhere.

After that we ate lunch at IHOP and headed north.  We stopped at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and bought a vacuum cleaner for 20% off.  I took a side trip to Cabelas to get a case.  Then I went up 1626.  That was a mistake.  I was stuck behind some slow guy with no opportunity to pass until we got to Slaughter.

We went by the post office and picked up the packages there.  Lucy really wanted to do something, but it rained all day and the temperature never got above 50.  So she was disappointed.

When we got home I opened up everything we bought and put it away.  The new vacuum cleaner works really well.  Ellen just had to try it out.

I showed restraint and only watched on Netflix movie tonight.  I let Ellen watch her shows.  That thing is really addictive.

Day 37

Today we went estate saleing in the morning.  There was a sale in Wimberley that had a work bench that I really wanted.  Unfortunately it was sold by the time we got there.  On the way back we stopped at the place that we thought was closed last week.  It turned out that it wasn't, it's just that they had the gate closed.  The guy there remembered us and was puzzled why we didn't come in.  Most of the stuff there was junk, but I picked up some yard art.

We went up to Dripping Springs.  The dog got to run at the park.  She did an incredible number of retrieves.  The 40 degree weather may have been part of it.  On the way back we stopped for fuel for the truck.  We paid $3.29.  That's the cheapest we've paid since 2011.  We also stopped at Trudy's to eat lunch.  They are open all day on Friday.  They kind of ripped me off.  They charged me $3.50 for a lemonade, and then another $3.50 for a refill.

We stopped for the mail.  Some of the packages were in, but since it was only 1:00 of course they hadn't been put out yet.  I couldn't wait, because I had to get to Wally World before 1:30 to get my drugs.  I just made it.

After that we went home.  I spent some time updating the list of Blu-rays that I have on my phone.  That was the only useful thing I did all day.  I spent the whole evening watching a couple of movies on Netflix.  That thing is addictive.

Day 36

I needed to get some more drugs today.  So we went to Walmart.  We also stopped at Costco for water and toothbrushes.  Costco had a latest technology Blu-ray on sale, so we bought it.  For some reason the TV won't connect to the internet.  The last stop was Circle-C to run the dog.  She had fun because it was only 40 degrees and windy.  We didn't.

When we got home I switched out the Blu-ray's.  The new one works great.  We'll use it for all of the interet viewing.

In the evening I watched a zombie movie and a GI Joe movie on Netflix.  Everything worked perfectly.

Day 35

Today was another it's cold, don't do anything day.  I was going to go out and buy a couple of small items.  Then I realized that I could order them from Amazon w/free shipping.  They'd be here in a couple of days and i would save on gas.  Either way I was going to pay sales tax.  So I spent a large part of the morning shopping.

We spent the afternoon mainly surfing.  We did go out to get the mail, take some stuff to Goodwill and get a late lunch.  We went to this new microbrew/restaurant next to the drafthouse.  It was pretty good.  Then it was home to surf some more and wait to go to the movie.

The movie was great.  I have always liked it.  It was nice to see it on the big screen.  There's always detail lost even on a 60" HDTV.

That's all.  Tomorrow may be more interesting.  Apparently there may be some estate sales to go to.

Day 34

Today was a "do nothing" day.  A cold front is coming in.  It was in the low 50's today and is supposed to get colder for the next few days.

We stayed in bed surfing until almost 10.  The dog got up on the bed and played with us.

When we got up, we just surfed until 12:30.  Then we went to Alamo Drafthouse to watch Interstellar and eat lunch.  It was an OK movie, but 3 hours long.  They are showing 5th Element tomorrow evening.  I've never seen it in a theater, so we bought tickets.

After the show we did some grocery shopping and went home.  When we got home we did the only useful thing today.  We sorted all the mail that has been collecting and sitting around since we got here.  Ellen filed a bunch of stuff and now the kitchen table is almost cleared off.

Ellen went to archery class this evening.  I surfed and watched TV.

Day 33

We started out the day by going to Red's.  I wanted to try out the Solo one more time before sending it in.  Fortunately I discovered that the problem wasn't the Solo, it was the stuff I was feeding it.  A trip to Academy allowed me to acquire some stuff that would work.  I'm a happy camper.

I went over to the car dealership to get the trunk pad and the mud flaps for the car.  Apparently the service guy they introduced us to is useless. 

We stopped at Office Depot for printer ink.  We also picked up something called a Roku to allow us to watch Amazon Prime on the TV.  Of course that will add another cable to fish in the wall for the TV.  We took Lucy to Circle C on the way home.  She had a good time doing retrieves.  I had a strong following wind, so they were long retrieves.

When we got home we ate lunch.  Then it was time to attack the TV.  The package we got Saturday contained the new cable (the second book for John came today).

The TV fought us all of the way.  We had to prop it next to the wall because the power cord doesn't detach.  That made accessing the wall the string cable difficult.  It was really hard to get the new cables (optical, HDMI, and LAN) through the bottom cable wall plate.  I had to cut one of the inductors off the HDMI cable in order to do it.  Twice I had to fish the string through the wall. 

Finally, after three hours or more of struggle, it was done.  As we were testing everything out, we fouind out that one of the HDMI cables was labelled wrong.  Fuck.  That meant taking the TV off the wall to change them.  After that everything works as expected.

When we were finished Ellen fixed me a couple of Mojitos.  They were really good even though she spilled half of one and I had to clean it up.

All in all I'm really tired, but pretty happy about how everything worked out.

Day 32

I got up this morning and didn't want to do yard work.  So I went out to the garage and unpacked the stuff from Oregon.  It all fit in the new cabinet - barely.  I also glued the horn back on the cow scull.  We'll have to see if it works.  Even though it was morning the mosquitoes were eating me alive again.  That and surfing took the morning.

I went over to Bee Cave to get a .17 HMR cleaning kit.  They had one, for $20.  That's highway robbery.  I'll order one online.  We walked through the galleria and ate at a new restaurant.  It was good, but expensive.  It was fun looking at the new dog cam.  We got home about 4.

On the way home I decided I really wanted the edging off my chest.  So I did it.  It took about an hour, and I'm sure happy to have that over with.  The only yard thing left to do is remove the downed tree branches.

The evening was spent surfing and watching football.

Day 31

The day didn't start off well.  I went back to the estate sale, but someone had already bought the ship model.  Oh well.

We stopped by the archery place on 290.  Ellen wasn't impressed.  It's attached to a pawn shop.  Their prices on used tools were higher than you could buy new ones at Lowes.

After the post office we went over to Circle C for the dog.  The place was packed.  There were cars parked all over where I usually throw her retrieves.  We walked over to the creek.  It was dry.  Lucy got plenty of retrieves in while we walked.  The cars were because every soccer field was being used.  There was literally no place to park in the park.

After watching for awhile we went to the Italian place for lunch and the ice cream place for dessert.  Then it was home.

Ellen was still sick from the wasp bite she got yesterday.  So she drove to an urgent care place.  I decided to work.  I used one of the 2x4's I bought yesterday to prop up the last leaning fence post in the back yard.  Then I finished mowing the lawn (YEAH).  I replaced the rocks along the edge of the yard.  The only thing I have left to do with the lawn is edge around the doll house, the pump house, and the yard light areas.   Maybe tomorrow.  One weird thing.  A frog, about 4 inches long, jumped out of the lawn while I was mowing by the doll house.

Then I went to the garage and finished hanging and assembling the new cabinet.  It actually went easier than I expected.  The only major problem was being eaten alive by mosquitoes.  I was too tired to fill it up when I was finished.

After a shower I just sat.  I'm really tired and my legs are really sore.  One interesting thing.  it took about a week for the hot water to quit stinking.

Day 30

So we've been gone a month.

DirectTV called this morning and said they wouldn't be here until the afternoon.  So we went to an estate sale in Dripping Springs.  It had a lot of neat stuff, but we only bought a nice comfy desk chair for Ellen.  We went to a second one that was supposed to be open at 8.  It was 9:30 and they were closed.  There was a guy inside the gate, but he ignored us.  So we said screw it and left.

We went back to Dripping Springs.  We got gas and groceries at HEB.  HEB had quite a bit of stuff on sale.  We bought several good dinners worth of stuff.

Then it was time to go home.  I switched to the truck and went back to pick up the chair.  Then I went to the post office and to Lowe's for another garage cabinet.  I found out later that my package was at the post office, but they didn't put the notice in our box until about half an hour after I got there at 1:30.  Assholes.

While I was out Ellen called to say that she'd destroyed the TV optical cable that I tried to fix yesterday.  I wish she hadn't fucked with it.  Now we have to order another cable and a converter. When it gets here we'll have to unconnect the TV, fish the new cable, and reconnect everything.  I told Ellen I didn't want to hear a peep of bitching when we do it.

When I got back I went to work on the cabinet.  It took awhile to figure out how to mount it under the shelf.  Finally I decided to cut the support of one bracket.  I also put up two boards to mount it to.  That way it won't start to fall off like the other one did.  I couldn't finish because I didn't have bolts to mount it.

The new cable box doesn't have an optical out.  I didn't have one, so no TV sound. 

After dinner we went to get a cable.  Amazingly Radio Shit had one.  We also went to Lowe's to get some bolts and spare 2x4's.  We also stopped for some ice cream.  When we got home I hooked up the new cable.  Now we have TV sound.

Day 29

We stayed home all day waiting for people to work on the house.  The internet guy showed up a little after 10.  It took him a couple of hours to do the install.  Apparently the people who used to own the house had two lines installed.  One was a "commercial line", whatever that means.  It was installed in the apartment.

It was way too wet to work on the lawn, so while he was doing the install I went out to the garage to unpack some of the stuff we brought.  I put away some of the stuff.  The rest will have to wait until I put up another cabinet to put it in.

When I went back inside the install was finished.  That's when the crap started.  We had to take the TV off the wall to connect up a LAN cable.  That was a pain.  Then I couldn't get the audio to work.  After a lot of time spent trying to figure out what was wrong, I found that the digital cable from the TV wasn't connected.  The reason it wasn't was that it was broken off.  Crap.

The cable was plugged into a converter.  I glued part of the connector back together.  Unfortunately I can't get the rest out of the converter.  That means that I'll have to glue the connector to the converter.  That will work as long as the converter doesn't fail.  Replacing the cable is something I don't think I could do withough help.  Ellen really can't lift the TV any more.

The ADT guy finally showed up late in the afternoon.  He worked for almost 3 hours connecting up all of the new hardware.  The new camera is really cool when you look at it on the phone.

We aren't looking at streaming video yet because I have to wait until tomorrow for the glue to dry.

Tomorrow is the DirectTV guy.  They didn't give me a time when he will show up.

Day 28

It rained hard all night and and all of today.  Ellen waited around for the washer guys while I picked up the mail and went to Centex.  While I was out I stopped by Home Depot.  They are selling the next model up from our washer for $120 less than what we paid for ours.  Shit.

On the way home I called home using the car.  It was really good sound quality.  She says she is doing OK.  She does sound like she's got it a little bit better together.

When I got back we wrapped up all of the Christmas presents.  It was about all that we could do with it raining so hard.  I called ADT about upgrading the alarm.  They are going to do it tomorrow.  We'll get internet monitoring and it will cost us $1 less a month.  Go figure.

The rest of the day was surfing and watching TV.  At least watching the channels that weren't fuzzed out because of the rain.

Day 27

It rained last night, so not yard work today.  It was supposed to rain today all day, so we left after breakfast.  It was wash day, so we went to a laundromat (thanks Samsung).  We got a late start, so it was noon before the wash was done.  It was expensive, too.

We ate at Cici's, a pizza place that we had been to before.  It wasn't as good as the last time we were there.  We probably won't go back.

In the interest of putting miles on the car we went to Cabela's.  We got an arrow target for Ellen and a couple of Christmas presents for Martha.  My original intention was to get a cleaning kit, but I forgot to.  Oh well.

When we got home Beaver was standing in the cul-de-sac.  So we had a nice talk with him.  They will be spending every weekend for the rest of the year except Thanksgiving and Christmas at the deer lease.  They bought a lot in Kerrville for their new house, but they won't start building until this one sells.

When we got home I unloaded the basement of the trailer.  It's amazing how much stuff I had in there.  It wasn't a pleasant job.  The temperature was 80, and the humidity was above 90%.  It did feel good to get one more thing off the "after arrival" list.  Of course I still have to put everything away.

The evening was surfing and Tv.

Day 26

I got up and started work about 9.  Because I mowed yesterday I decided to edge today.  I edged and trimmed everything that I'd mowed yesterday.  I also used the trimmer to cut all of the grass where the swimming pool used to be.  I had to replace the trimmer string, but I expected to do that at some point.  The replacement went smoothly.

I also edged the area between the front yard and the basketball court.  It hadn't been mowed yet.  One of the trees there had a lot of dead branches hanging down to the ground.  So I took the time to cut them off and haul them away.  It makes the area look a lot better.

When I was trimming around the sewer controls I found a broken off mower blade.  I thought it came off the mower.  So I got out the mower ramps and put them up on the railroad ties by the garage.  That allowed me to see under the mower when I drove the mower on them.  Luckily the mower blades were OK.  That leaves me with the mystery of where the broken blade came from.  I found it in a place that I've walked many times.  I think I would have noticed it.

By that time it was after 11 and I was really tired, dirty, and a little sweaty.  Since I had the mower out I decided to mow the area that I'd edged.  With that complete I have now finished with the lawn all the way around the house and up the driveway on the left.  I still have to do the area by the doll house, the trailer, and the back 40.  I also have to trim the right side of the driveway by the yard light.

Of course after that I still have to remove the broken tree.  It's a big one, so that will be a non-trivial job.

After lunch we went out.  We stopped by the vet and gave them all of the Valley Fever drugs that we bought for Lucy but didn't use.  Then we put in an order at Centex.  Finally we stopped at Best Buy to look at washers.  Ellen saw one she liked, so we bought it.  It will be delivered on Wednesday.  Too bad for Lowe's.

In the evening I went to the neighborhood association meeting.  The people that bitch about shooting weren't there.  There were two new owners.  They seemed like nice people.  They said they moved to Bear Creek to escape Nazi neighborhood associations.

I learned a couple of interesting things.  Bubba's has been sold, but no one knows what will replace it.  A strip mall is supposed to go in across the street.  They are going to build a HEB where the Nutty Brown Cafe is (crap).  They are going to build a Target on 290 by Belterra.  Pretty soon you won't be able to drive on 290 at all.

Day 25

I got up at 9 today, but because today is the switch to Daylight losing time it was really 8.  It was a work day.  I started out by mowing the front yard and the back yard.  Then I fixed the fence. 

First I tied a rope to the middle fence post and pulled it upright with the mower.  Then I reattached the top wire and fixed the support wire.  I got some scrap 2x4s and put braces on two of the fence posts.  I would have done all three, but I didn't have enough wood.  Finally I tightened up the support wire.  When I untied the middle fence post nothing moved.  The fence is almost vertical now.  It looks OK.

While I was fixing the fence I noticed that a fairly large tree, about 10 inches, had been uprooted by the storm.  It was just by the antenna.  That means that the tornado missed the house by less than 50 feet.  We sure lucked out.  On the down side I noticed today that one of the garage windows is cracked.

It was about 11 when I finished the fence.  So I got back on the mower.  I mowed the rest of the side yard, the area around the basketball court, and the sides of the driveway.  I even did a little by the well house.  Then I ran out of gas.

It was about 1 when I finished.  I was covered with dirt, so I went in and took a shower.  Then we went to lunch at the Italian place with the dog.  We also stopped at the post office, Tomlinson's, and HEB.  I got a flu shot at HEB.

On the way back we got gas.  The pump rejected my card.  Apparently Ellen lost hers yesterday and the bank cancelled it.  Crap.

When we got home I filled up the mower, but the battery ran down before it got enough gas to start.  So I pushed it from the side yard to the garage and plugged in the battery charger.

I did a little surfing and then it was time to go to the neighborhood potluck.  There weren't a lot of people there, but it was fun.  We ate a little and visited for a couple of hours.

The rest of the evening was TV and surfing.

Day 24

Today was a dog day.

The weather was nice, sunny and cooler.  I felt guilty about not doing anything, so before we left I put away the stuff from under the bed in the trailer.  I also picked up all of the stuff from the recycle bin.  I put the water soaked paper in the garbage.  It was really heavy.  Then I hauled both cans out to the gate.

After that we went to Zilker.  Lucy was ecstatic.  We were there for quite a while.  Lucy would do a bunch of retrieves and then rest and socialize a little.  Then it was time for more retrieves.  It was cool enough that she didn't get over heated.

After that we went estate sailing.  I knew it was Saturday, so we wouldn't get any good stuff.  The real point was to put miles on the car.  The car works great.  It's quieter than the oregon car and seems to have a little more power.

The three places we went were up north near Fry's.  Of course they were al picked over by Saturday afternoon.  So we went to Fry's afterwards.  We didn't buy anything.

Ellen had a archery class at 5:30.  So we had to hurry home.  We made record time.  I exceeded the speed limit for most of the way and we made both lights on the Mopac green.  She had plenty of time to get to her class.

While she was a  class I watched a couple of movies on the DVR.  I think we'll lose everything we've recorded when the electronics are updated next week.