Day 174

I woke up at 8, but turned over and went back to sleep for 45 minutes.  When I did get up I discovered that I'd really screwed up playing Minions.  I couldn't do any of the things planned on.  So I did a couple of things and then put it down for today.

After breakfast I surfed for awhile.  It was a sunny day with no clouds, so I decided to wash and wax the truck.  I spent the morning washing it and then going over it with a spray bottle removing the soap and water spots.  After that it was getting hot and I didn't feel like doing more.  It was time for lunch anyway.

I went to the post office after lunch and ran Lucy at the field.  She did 25 retrieves even though it was about 85.I called a halt just as she decided to quit.  I made a quick stop at HEB (it was almost 90 by then) and stopped at Tomlinson's for cat food and a dog treat.

When I got home I surfed for a little while.  Fiocchi sent a bill of lading, so I contacted Lee to give him an update.  Then I went out to wax the truck.  It took about an hour and a half, but the truck sure looks nice.  It also marks the official completion of all the things that I wanted to get done while Ellen was gone.  There was one weird thing.  The hood of the truck has about 20 really shallow dents.  You can only see them if it's clean and the light is right.  They look like hail damage, but there's no dents on the roof.  I'm not sure what caused them.

After that I was really tired.  I almost didn't go to the mail.  The evening was spent watching movies.  I didn't want to get out of the chair.

Day 173

I still hurt - back and leg at night.  It's getting better though.

I got up at the normal time and played a little Minions.  There wasn't a lot to do.  It rained all day, so washing the truck wasn't in the cards.

After breakfast I did a little surfing.  Then I left for McBride's.  It was raining, so they didn't have 1826 screwed up.  There was a traffic jam on the Mopac from 360 until past Caesar Chavez.  I never came to a complete stop though.

When I got to McBride's they offered to refund my deposit.  I accepted.  I didn't even look around the place.  There's just nothing I am interested in.

I got back to 290 within an hour of leaving home.  Given the traffic that was amazing.  I stopped at the post office and ran the dog at the field.  She did 25 really long retrieves.  She would have done more, but I called a halt.

When I got home I had lunch and then cleaned the refrigerator.  The shelves were really dirty.  I also threw out a large bag of rotten produce.  That didn't seem like enough, so I went out to the garage and cleaned the Enfield and the M&P.  That way they are ready to take to the range if I decide to go.

I'm getting really, really, bored.  I did a lot of surfing in the afternoon.  In the evening I did reading and a little bit of Minions.  The game is now set up for another party.

Day 172

Last night was a little painful, but not as much as the night before.  I woke up at the normal time, but turned over ad went back to sleep for an hour.  Then I got up - there wasn't anything to do on Minions.

Today wasn't the day for washing the truck - it was raining.  I didn't have anything else planned, so I spent all of the morning surfing.  I went to the post office at lunch time.  I also stopped at Lowe's for some water conditioner salt and HEB for milk and bananas.  There was supposed to be a package delivered there yesterday.  It wasn't there, and it wasn't there today.  I'll ask them about it tomorrow.

Lucy ran retrieves at the post office field.  She did 17 and then quit.  She ran out to the bumper, refused to pick it up, and just ate grass.  Of course that was the end of that.

They've started work on 1826.  I had to wait to leave and again to get out.  I think it's going to be a real mess for the next couple of weeks.

When I got home I was bored, so I started a party on Minions.  Of course that meant I spent most of the afternoon and evening on it.

Day 171

I had kind of a bad night.  My lower back was quite painful after washing the car yesterday.  I'm guess I'm getting old.  It kept waking me up every time I moved in my sleep  My right leg was hurting also (it's been doing that when I'm sleeping for a week or two).  Between the two it was a painful night with several sleep interruptions.

I got up at the regular time.  There wasn't anything to do on Minions, so I surfed.  I basically surfed the whole morning.  I went out at lunch time to get the mail and eat.  Then Lucy and I stopped at Circle C and walked.

Lucy had kind of a read letter day.  First, she found a group of young bunnies under a bush at the park.  She got one in her mouth, but dropped it when I told her to.  I'm not sure if it was hurt.  Of course after that every bush in the park needed to be investigated thoroughly.  She also work out her bumper.  It broke where the rope hole attaches.  It takes a lot of retrieves to wear out a bumper.

When we got home I cleaned the interiors of both vehicles.  The truck didn't need much, since I cleaned it in Oregon and we haven't used it much since.  Lucy was watching be from the shade of the purple tree.  A 4 or 5 inch green lizard ran from the lawn across the gravel directly at her.  She didn't notice.  It ran between her front legs, she still didn't notice.  Then it climbed up her right rear leg.  Then she noticed.  She jumped and the lizard ran into the grass.  Lucy spent the next 15 or 20 minutes looking for it.

I'm on track to finish up the cleaning tomorrow if my back can take it.

The evening was a little minions, a little reading, and the shooting TV shows.

Day 170

I got up early today.  After a little Minions in bed I had breakfast.  I was ready to wash the car, but it was raining.  So I surfed.  I spent all of the morning and the first part of the afternoon surfing with a little Minions and reading in between.

By aboutthree o'clock it had cleared up and was fairly warm (74).  So I decided that I would wash and wax the car.  That took a little over an hour and a half of pretty hard work.  The car looks nice though.  I'll probably do the interiors of the car and the truck tomorrow.  I need a day off before I tackle the truck.

The evening was more surfing and a movie.  I also did a little Minions.  It's now set up for another party.  I just don't feel like it right now.

Day 169

I got up reasonably early today, but still a little late because of how late I stayed up.Yesterday I planned on going back to an estate sale this morning.  Unfortunately today I forgot to.  Instead I started on dusting the house.  There was a lot to dust and it was made longer by the need to cleanup and rearrange stuff.  I think I spent over 3 hours on the task.  However, THE HOUSE IS CLEAN.

Of course that just means that tomorrow is a car wash day

After lunch I went to the post office and then to Circle C.  The park was very crowded - soccer is in full bloom.  We walked again.  I enjoy listening to a book on tape while walking.

After I got home I sat down to do some more reading.  I finished two magazines and the papers.  I also did a little Minions along the way.  Because there's no party it isn't very time consuming unless the requirement is to produce a lot of fast constructing items.

I didn't even turn on the TV tonight.  Just reading, surfing, and Minions.

Day 168

I didn't wake up until 8:30 this morning.  The only excuse was that I didn't get to bed until late.

After breakfast I did a little surfing and then went to an estate sale.  It had a lot of interesting garage stuff, but I didn't buy anything.  The guy worked for Phillips and had a lot of Phillips memorabilia.  I bought two Phillips toy trucks that were banks - one for me and one for Hooch.  They had a DR mower for $120.  It's half price tomorrow, so if it's still there I might buy it.

After that I stopped at Randall's, Wells Fargo, and Sonic.  The last stop was Circle C.  I walked with the dog throwing her the bumper.  I listened to a book on tape while I walked.

When I got home I got to work cleaning.  I mopped the rest of the house.  Then I scrubbed down both bathrooms.  That leaves only the dusting to do and I'll be finished.  Then it will be time to wash/wax the vehicles.

After some surfing I decided to do Minions.  I started a party and worked through building yet another earthquake machine.  One more machine and I'll have enough blue coins to up level some minions and get more storage space.  I need it.  The machine requirements make me have to carefully insure that there's enough room for up to 46 items.

The evening was a little reading, some TV, and a lot of Minions.

Day 167

Last night was a pain in the ass.  I went to bed about 11 (remember I got up at 4).  About 12:30 Lucy woke me up barking at a deer on the deck.  It was trying to get into the bird seed.  I got back to sleep and about an hour later the weather alarm went off.  It warned of a bad thunderstorm.  So at 1:45 I'm outside putting the car in the garage.  The radio was right.  The storm hit just as I was getting back in the house.

There was a high wind and continual thunder and lightning.  It was on top of us and the thunder shook the house.  Lucy was not happy.  There was a little hail.  It sounded like someone was throwing gravel against the kitchen window.  I watched the rain gauge go up about half an inch in about 5 minutes.  Of course I couldn't sleep in all of that.  The temperature dropped 15 degrees in about half an hour.  The storm lasted about 45 minutes, then I could get back to sleep.

With all that I didn't wake up until after 8:30.  I had breakfast and then got to work cleaning.  I vacuumed the rest of the house, including going over all of the baseboards.  I also rearranged the stuff in the office so that it was a lot neater.  I had to empty the vacuum several times.  I also had to stop and cut all of Ellen's hair from around the beater.  It had jammed it up.  There was quite a handful when I was done.

That took almost 3 hours.  After lunch I went to the post office.  The latest Amazon packages were there - some lighted USB cables and a wireless headphone.  I stopped at the field and Lucy did 25 long retrieves.  Again she didn't want to stop.  I gassed up the car (estate sales tomorrow) and bought some lunch and dinner stuff at HEB.

When I got home I just didn't want to do any more cleaning.  So I surfed and read.  One of my goals is to make a dent in the pile of magazines that has accumulated.  I made a start.

After dinner I turned on the TV for noise and read.  I also did a little Minions.  It will probably be another day before I'm ready for another party.

Day 166

The day started early, 4:00 AM.  I drove Ellen to the airport.  I needed to get a couple of things at the grocery, so I stopped at HEB on the way back.  I was there at 5, they don't open until 6.  So I went home.

I wasn't awake yet, so I started cleaning the kitchen.  It was less painful that way.  I cleaned up the table, threw away a bunch of old paper, scrubbed the counters and sink, vacuumed, mopped the floor, and tacked down the cow hides with some things we bought months ago.  Along the way I had breakfast and lunch.

I was going to was the car in the afternoon, but I screwed up on Minions and started a party.  So the rest of the afternoon was Minions.  I never left the house except to put out the garbage and get the mail.  Lucy was really disappointed to find oit that the magic food bowl is broken.

In the evening Ellen sent me that invoice for part of the ammo.  I wrote a check and will mail it off tomorrow.  Unfortunately they aren't sending any of the metallic stuff.

I spent the evening surfing and watching youtube videos on the engineering of the Titanic.  Its funny what you find when you just click on interesting links.

Day 165

There wasn't much to do on Minions, so I got up relatively early, had breakfast, and worked on the control panel.  I finished wiring the power connectors and mounted the connector board to the enclosure.  That's kind of a cool milestone.  The only wiring I have left to do are the track switches and the 12V power switches.

That effort took until 1:00.  We decided to go out for lunch and the post office.  We went to the post office first and ran the dog in the field.  She was the opposite of yesterday.  She did 20 really long retrieves (the wind was blowing) and wanted to do more.  I called a halt though.

We had lunch at Fireman's and then took the dog to the pet store next door.  They don't have the Merrick treats.  The counter guy said that Purina has dropped all of the treats that Merrick used to make.  The last stop was Staples to get some Dymo labeler tape.

I'd had enough work when I got home.  What I really wanted to do was play Minions.  So I started a party.  Of course that took most of my time for the next 5 hours.  I sat and watched a Deadliest Catch marathon while I was playing.  I also did a little Amazon shopping.

Ellen spent a lot of the day getting ready for her trip.

Day 164

I didn't need to play Minions this morning, so I got up relatively soon after the alarm went off.  After breakfast I started to work on the panel.  That's when I ran out of wire.  So I turned off the soldering iron and we went to Fry's.

Unfortunately Fry's had red wire, but no black.  I bought white instead.  After walking around looking at some things we left and went to lunch at the restaurant across the parking lot.  We got a good lunch, and so did the dog.

We stopped at the post office on the way home.  I stopped at the field even though Lucy didn't seem very enthusiastic.  She wasn't, she only did 4 retrieves.

When we got home I decided to take advantage of the relatively cool weather.  I put the covers on the trailer tires.  I also mixed up some herbicide and sprayed the thistles in the lawn.  There isn't near as many in the lawn as there were in years past.  I spot sprayed the gravel area with the little I had left.

After that I read the paper until it was time to go to the mailbox.  Lucy acted normal, so I'm not sure why she didn't retrieve.

After dinner it was gun TV shows and then a movie - an old Bond film.

Day 163

I woke up to the alarm, turned over and went back to sleep.  The next thing I knew t was 9:30.  I think it had something to do with staying up until after 1 last night.

After breakfast I decided it was time I did something on the control panel.  I labeled the output panel, cut some wires, wired them onto connectors, and installed the connectors.  I got 11 of the 20 connectors done before I lost interest.  Unfortunately I miscounted.  I need one more connector than I have.  I'll have to come up with a plan B.

When I was finished I decided to play Minions.  I started a party.  Of course that meant that I wouldn't be doing much else in the afternoon, and I didn't.  I wasn't hungry until about 3, so it was a late lunch and no dinner.  I did have a piece of key lime pie.  Yesterday I learned that it wasn't good with the massive amount of topping it had.  Today I scraped it off and the pie tasted much better.

In the evening Ellen went to archery and I watched a movie on Amazon.  It has better movies than Netflix.  I had a piece of the chocolate cake.  It was some of the best I've ever had.  It made a great dinner.

Day 162

I spent about a hour in bed playing Minions in the morning.  I discovered a corner of the new stuff from the update that I needed to deal with.  The earthquake machine is a bust.  It doesn't do anything.  Building up something else started up, but it will be days before I figure out what it is.  I continued messing around with it all day.  By evening I had it set up for another party.

After breakfast and surfing I got out the new upper.  That's when I discovered that changing the cover would require removing the barrel.  That was out, so I got out the labeler that I bought awhile back.  I had to mess around with it for awhile, but I managed to make some nice labels.  Then I had to degrease the cover in order to get them to stick on.  Eventually I had some nice labels on the cover.  We'll see how long they last.

I wanted to get a birthday cake.  Ellen suggested the yuppie grocery - an excellent idea.  We went to the post office and to take the dog for a run first.  Lucy didn't want to run when we stopped at the field, so we skipped that.  Of course we had to stop at the dog treat store.  Lucy got excited about that when we were blocks away.

We got a cake at the store.  We also got fish and garlic bread for dinner, a prepared dinner for some other day, and a key lime pie (because I had to try it).  There was about 10 items in all, and the bill was $100.  We stopped at In-n-Out for a really late lunch. 

When we got back I did reading and a little Minions. 

Ellen fixed a late dinner.  It was great.  It's the first real meal she's cooked since she started her treatments, over two months ago.

The evening was TV and a little Minions.  We watched cooking shows, Futurama, and the Tarheels win their game.

Day 161

Today was kind of a Minions day.  I had set everything up last night so that I would get a "Earthquake machine".  Building it set off a lot of other things.  I don't get to see the machine until tomorrow about noon though.  A concert appeared and I couldn't resist even though it pushed me into a party.  I was disappointed to find that the update changed my party options to much less desirable ones.  Not only that, but sometimes a item builder won't speed up.  Crap.

I did some online shopping, surfing, and Minions in the morning.  I also changed the ammo order based on what Dee had told us.

After lunch we went to the post office.  Lucy really wanted to go some place after two days off.  The upper was there along with some tax stuff.  We ran Lucy at the nearby field because it rained last night.  Se did 20 long retrieves.  That was obviously enough because she could barely walk to the mailbox later and only loped down to the house when I opened the gate.

The last stop was HEB.  We needed milk and bread.

When we got home it was a lot more Minions and surfing.

In the evening there was a nasty thunderstorm.  The warnings said large hail, so I put the car in the garage.  Most of the storm missed us, but the thunder and lightening was just about continuous for more than two hours.  There wasn't much rain, though.  Lucy was not a happy camper.

Friday night doesn't have anything on TV.  MTV is broadcasting a crossroads concert, so we're spending the evening listening (not watching) that.

Day 160

I started a new Minions party today.  That I spent significant time on it before and after breakfast.  About 11 we left to go to the restaurant to see the pipes.  The dog had to stay at home.

It was raining when we left, and rained for about 45 minutes after we got there.  So we sat at a covered bar on the patio.  It had a good view of the stage.  The pipes were great.  Ellen even liked them.  After the pipes was a duo that played Irish tunes on a guitar and flute.  They were OK.  I played a lot of Minions and listened to the music.

We ate a lot of food.  We had lunch, dessert, and later chips and salsa.  It was all really good.  I had 2 glasses of Guinness and an Irish whiskey.  Ellen had lemonade.  The whole bill came to less than $60.  I was impressed.

I expected that Ellen would have to drive home, but I wasn't drunk.  Ellen said it was because we ate so much and sat there so long.  We stopped at the post office on the way home.  I decided not to stop at the second place to get a Guinness glass.

We were tired when we got home. I did more Minions and surfed.  Lee called in the morning and wanted me to put his garbage cans back.  When I went to get the mail the garbage men hadn't picked up the cans on the circle.  They did pick them up on the road.  I'll leave it until tomorrow.

One note about Minions.  I expected to run a 2X party all day.  When I got to the restaurant there was an update available, so I did the update.  When it was finished the party was changed to a non-2X choice.  I was pissed.  The update added a whole lot of new things with no explanation of how they worked.  I have most of it worked out, but not all.  Because there's no 2X, it will be most of tomorrow before I have things built so I can figure the rest out.

In the evening it was surfing, TV, and Minions.

Day 159

I got up a little after the alarm went off.  This is a "look every few hours" Minions day.

After breakfast Ellen and I fine tuned the ammo order.  Then she emailed it to Dee.

The dog is kind of dragging her ass today.  I think she overdid it yesterday.  I decided to take her to lunch.  Ellen discovered that the restaurant by Fry's has another on south Congress.  So we went there.  It was nice.  They have a deck overlooking Congress.  We sat there and had lunch, dessert, and so did Lucy.  After that I stopped at Wally World for socks and then we went home.

When we got home I felt really tired.  Maybe it was because I had a pint of IPA AND a mojito at lunch.  Anyway I layed down on the bed and took a nap.

Lucy wasn't really anxious to go to the mailbox.  She just walked beside me.  On the way back the neighbor stopped at the end of their driveway and a little dog got out.  Luckily it didn't bark at Lucy, who was nearby so Lucy ignored it.  When I walked up it sort of growled at me.  When it did Lucy was going to go after it.  Fortunately Lucy obeyed me when I told her NO.

The evening was surfing and watching TV.  There really wasn't much on, so the TV was really on for noise.

Day 158

I slept in a little this morning.  For some reason I just couldn't motivate myself to get up.  Once I did I had breakfast and sat down to figure out the ammo order.  After I did that I called Lee.  He said he was busy and would call me in the afternoon.

After some surfing I really wanted to go somewhere.  So we went to Costco to get some water.  We had a $31 rebate to spend, so we bought a few food items also.  The total came to $35.  After Costco we went to the post office and then took the dog swimming at Circle C.  She had a great time.  I finally called a halt when it was clear she was getting pretty tired.  She didn't want to stop.

After the park we went to the Italian place for lunch.  It was a little warm (80's), but a breeze made it night.  Of course we stopped at Tomlinson's first to get Lucy some hamburgers for lunch.

When we got done with lunch I sat down to read.  The sleepiness from the morning came back and I ended up taking a nap.  I don't know what's going on.  A little after I woke up Lee texted me.  We had a long text interaction about what he wanted.  He finally just called me.  We got it all worked out.

Ellen went to archery after dinner.  I made the bed and watched TV.  There wasn't much on.

Day 157

Today was "pi day".  We didn't get any, but Lucy had a good day.

I decided that I'd play Minions today.  That meant a late get out of bed time.  After that it was breakfast and some surfing.  It was amazing.  The upper I ordered from PSA on Friday night shipped at 8:15 their time today.

I went out and hung the tarp on the truck shelter.  I folded it in half, which showed up that the grommets on each side don't match up.  Cheap Chinese junk.  I also put a second coat of paint on the control panel enclosure.

About 11 we left for some errands.  I had to pick up some drugs at Wally World.  They told me they didn't have an order.  They were going to fill it right away, but I noticed that the lady had entered the wrong birthdate.  When she corrected it the order showed up.

After that it was the yuppie grocery and the dog crunchy store.  I wanted some raisin bread, which they only make on Monday.  We didn't need any doggy cookies, but of course we stopped to buy a couple for Lucy's immediate consumption.  She got excited when were were blocks away from the store.

After that it was the post office and running the dog at the field nearby.  It was hot, about 90.  Lucy did 15 long retrieves, that's all I wanted her to do.  The last stop was the NW beer place.  We had a coupon for there and Lucy could eat with us.  Of course she loved it.

When we got home I did a little surfing and finished the book I was reading.  There was also a fair amount of Minions.  I may have taken a short nap also.

The evening was Minions and watching the shooting shows.

Day 156

For some reason I just didn't want to get out of bed today.  So combine that with the switch to daylight savings time and we got a late start.  After breakfast and some surfing we went to get some deck screws.  We went to Dripping Springs because it has a Home Depot next door to HEB.

We went to both places and also ran the dog at the park behind HEB.  I got a couple of brackets as well as the screws.  The last stop was lunch at Dairy Queen.  Unfortunately they don't have the "5 buck lunch" anymore.

When we got home I screwed in the two boards from yesterday.  Then I pulled up another board and replaced it.  After I put everything away I put the brackets I bought on the apartment stair banister.  It really made it a whole lot more steady.

After that I was hot and a little tired, but not near as much as yesterday.  I spent the rest of the afternoon surfing.

Ellen went to archery in the evening and I watched a couple of movies on Netflix.

Day 155

Today was a work day.  We got out of bed at 8:30 and after breakfast I took the panel case out to the garage.  I cut the hole for the power connections in the back and then painted it.  That took awhile because I had some trouble measuring it out.

After that we left for Lowe's to buy some boards for the deck.  I decided to buy 5 even though we only saw four that really needed replacement.  After that we went to Randal's so see if the Girl Scouts were there - they weren't.  We also got lunch at Jimmy John's.  After fueling the truck we stopped at the field to run Lucy.  Yesterday she did 32 retrieves.  Today we limited her to 20.  She didn't complain.  The last stop was the post office.

When we got home I started work on the deck.  The first board was already removed, so it was easy.  The second and third boards were a pain in the ass.  The screws were rusted and would break off or strip.  I had to pry them up and drill some out.  It was partly cloudy, and when the sum was out I was sweating like a pig.

It took a lot more screws than I thought, and I ran out on the third board.  I'll have to get more before I can finish up.  I'm going to use the 5th board to replace whatever looks worse.

When I was finished I was really tired.  It was 4, and at 5 I wasn't about to go to the mailbox.  Lucy didn't even complain.  She just stayed in bed until 5:30 when I fed her.

The evening is TV and surfing.  I think I'll watch the Tarheels.  They won yesterday, today is the championship.

Day 154

I was going to work on the panel today, but somehow that didn't happen.  After surfing in bed for awhile I got u and had breakfast.  I surfed through breakfast and just  kept doing it.  Eventually it was time to go to the estate sale.  It was the same place as last week, only this time they were selling things in the garage.  I didn't see anything I wanted.

After that we stopped by the post office.  Lucy didn't run yesterday, so we stopped at the field.  It rained a lot last night and early this morning.  The field was dry enough for her to run, but it did have some standing water in it.  It was amazing how fast the grass had grown over the last few days of rain.

Then we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get a solar address light.  We didn't like it, but we did buy a solar peacock for Patsy.  We went to Academy and I got a couple of light summer shorts.  Then it was lunch at Schlotsky's.  We had a coupon that expired tomorrow.  The last stop was Randall's for some ambrosia.

I could have worked on the panel when I got home, but I didn't.  Instead I read and did a little Minions.  I also did some surfing.

An interesting thing happened.  Yesterday afternoon about 4:30 PSA sent me an email with a sale on a 300 blk upper.  The price was way lower than I could build one.  I didn't read the email until about 8.  By then it was sold out.  This afternoon I got another email advertising the same thing.  This time it was in stock, so I bought one.  That gives me an extra upper receiver, but I'm sure I'll find something to use it for.

After dinner it was a whole evening of TV and a little Minions.

Day 153

Because this was a doctor day, I decided to do Minions.  That meant that I spent some time in bed when I woke up doing it.

After breakfast I worked on the control panel.  I completed soldering the wires for the direction switches.  Just as I finished I realized that I needed to wire the roundtable also.  I couldn't do it then because it was doctor time.

The doctor took over two hours.  I got a lot of Minions in.  After that we stopped at the dog cookie store and the yuppie grocery.  It rained most of the day.  So lunch was at the place across from Harbor Freight.  That allowed Lucy to eat with us.  After lunch I made a quick stop at Harbor Freight to get a tarp.  The last stop was the post office.

When we got home I went back to work on the panel.  I added some more connectors to one of the circuit boards, installed the roundtable switch, and connected up the wires.  That finishes all of the wiring except the track switch switches.  I'm not sure if I'll do that next or wire up and install the connector panel.

After that I sat down to do some Minions and some reading.  I'm pretty sure I had a short nap instead.  I woke up at 5 - time to get the mail.  After dinner it was a little Minions and some TV.  I'll probably spend the rest of the evening surfing.

Day 152

It rained and thundered for most of the night and into the morning.  As good Texans we didn't do anything today.  I spent most of the day reading with a little surfing.  In the evening we watched Blacklist.

I did get a little done on the panel.  I soldered another 2 direction switches and routes the wires for the remaining 4.  I also went out to the garage and cut a piece of plastic to mount the RCA jacks on.  Then I drilled the 20 holes in it.  I won't mount the jacks in it until after I've soldered the wires onto them.

Day 151

We surfed in bed for awhile and then ate breakfast.  After breakfast I worked a little on the panel.  The LEDs I was testing lived through the night.  However the resistors were really hot.  On melted itself to the patch board.  So I started another using a larger resistor.  I also wired one of the direction switches.  Then I decided that was all I wanted to do.  The only other thing I did was verify that the larger resistor ran cooler.

I spent most of the day reading the book I got at the estate sale.  We did go out to get the mail and have a late lunch.  We also stopped at Costco so that I could buy Ellen some more of those chocolates she likes.  We also ran Lucy for 15 very long retrieves.

When we got back I did more reading.  In the evening we watched several episodes of the Blacklist.

Day 150

I woke up at 7:30, but turned over and went to sleep until 8:30.  After a little surfing I got up and had breakfast.

I started work on the control panel.  I soldered the power switch wires from the circuit board to the switches.  I was going to do the direction switches, but when I set them one of the blue LED's was out.  I had 2 extras.  The first died when I soldered a wire to it.  The second did the job.  As I was installing the fix, a blue LED on another switch died.  I had no extras.  I made up six new ones and set them up to burn in.  One started to die after about an hour.  The other 5 are still going.

That ended my work on the control panel.  So I did some surfing and then had lunch.  After lunch we went to the post office and ran the dog in the field nearby.  It was windy and she did 20 very long retrieves.  We stopped at Randall's on the way home.

I couldn't do anything more on the panel, so I read and surfed for the rest of the afternoon.

The evening was a lot of TV and a little surfing.

Day 149

This is the second day without Minions.  I think I'm suffering from withdrawal.

After breakfast I decided to replace the board in the deck.  That's when I discovered that the lower deck boards are 5/4 thick, not 2".  We went to Lowe's and they had the right thickness.  They were cheaper than the 2" boards.  The weird thing was that our friend used the thicker boards on the other two levels.  I have two choices now.  I can replace the whole lower deck, or just replace the three or four boards that really need it.  I'll probably just replace the boards.

After Lowe's we went to the post office and HEB.  Then it was breakfast across from HEB.  Finally we ran the dog.  It was cooler today and she did 20 long retrieves.

When we got home I sat down to read.  It's something about that chair.  I fell asleep in a short time.  I slept for quite awhile.  When I woke up it was time to feed the dog.

The evening was reading and movies.  No surfing or Minions.

Day 148

We got up this morning and after breakfast we drove to San Antonio.  I wanted to go to one of the "real" San Antonio gun shows.  The one we went to before was lousy.  This one was big.  It wasn't as big as the old Expo shows, but it was the biggest I've been to in years.  Most of the vendors were selling new firearms.  There were a few with older stuff, but nothing that I thought was too interesting.  The prices ranged from good (internet) to "you have to be kidding".  On guy was selling a lower for $150 that you could buy a few tables away for $70.  The only thing we bought was a package of Girl Scout cookies.

After the show we went to Popeye's for lunch.  I wanted to try them because I'd seen them on TV.  The service was really slow.  The food was OK though.  While we were there two kids cam in selling small packages of cookies.  We bought one just to support them.

Before we went home we stopped at another gun store.  I'd stopped there over a year ago.  It's a big place, but I didn't get to spend much time there because Ellen in the dog were parked outside in the heat.  I'd been wanting to return veer since.  This time the dog wasn't with us.  We went through the whole place.  It had an amazing collection of stuff.  There were guns of all kinds, ammo, reloading stuff, gun cases, clothes.  The place was packed.

After that it was drive home.  The car turned 10,000 miles on the way back.  When we got home I started to read a book I'd bought at the estate sale yesterday.  I fell asleep.  When I woke up it was time to get the mail and have dinner.  After dinner it was movies and reading.

Day 147

After the morning Minions I had breakfast and went outside to spread the cement.  It took awhile, but it wasn't all that hard.  I didn't try to lift the bags.  I just rolled them off the truck tailgate into the cart.  The six bags covered more or less all of the area I wanted to cover.

After that we went estate saleing.  The first place we stopped had some nice books at very cheap prices.  I picked up a couple for myself and two for Dan.  On the way back we ate lunch at the pizza place associated with the coffee shop we went to last week.  It was really good, and they had a deck Lucy could be on.  The second house had three Star Trek Christmas ornaments.  They are the same three that we already have, but I bought them anyway.

After that it was off to the post office.  I ran the dog at the field near there.  She only did 12 retrieves, probably because it was warm and sunny.

When we got home I played Minions, surfed, and read.  In the evening we watched Gold Derp and I played a lot of Minions.  I may not play at all tomorrow.

Day 146

After the usual morning Minions I did some work on the control panel.  I completed attaching the direction switch and power switch wires to the circuit boards.  The next step will be to connect the other ends of the wires to the appropriate switches.  That's 25 wires in all.

After that I had lunch and then we went out.  We stopped at Home Depot and I got three bags of cement (80#) and three bags of sand (60#).  I can barely lift 80 pound bags any more.  It they'd been any heavier I'd would have been out of luck.  After that we went to the post office and HEB.  The last stop was HEB.  Lucy did 20 retrieves, which was surprising considering how hot it was.

When we got home I did some Minions and some reading.  I had a perfect chance at a squirrel, but I missed.

The evening was TV and Minions.  Both of us went to bed early and surfed in bed.

Day 145

I got up after Minions in bed and did a little work on the control panel.  I couldn't do much, because I ran out of wire.  So after that I did a little surfing.

Ellen had to pick up a prescription, so we went to the drug store.  Then it was over to Home Depot to get some more wire.  I bought all they had.  I hope it's enough.

We ran the dog at the field near the post office.  We limited her to 24 retrieves. After the post office stop we went to Tomlinson's to get some dog food.  The last stop was the Italian place for lunch.

When we got home I didn't feel like doing any work on the panel.  So I surfed, read, and did some Minions.

The evening was a Boston Legal marathon.

Day 144

After a little morning Minions I did more work on the control panel.  I started wiring the circuit boards for the connectors.  I did most of the short connectors before it was doctor time.

The first doctor was the surgeon.  He stuck a scope up Ellen's ass and pronounced the tumor pretty much gone.  He said the major surgery is still indicated because it's the only way to check the lymph nodes.  Also he's a surgeon, so he wants to cut.  There's about a 20% chance they are infected given she has stage 2 cancer.

We had a lot of time to kill until the cancer doctor, so we had lunch at a cafe by the first doctor.  We had to park two blocks away because it was noon.  The food was good.  After lunch we stopped at McBride's to kill time.  I didn't see anything interesting.

We got to the cancer doctor about an hour early.  After a little wait we got in anyway.  He basically said surgery then chemo.  That's the basic treatment.  He didn't even look at what the surgeon reported.  I'm not amused.  The cookie cutter approach is not what I'm looking for.  I think Ellen is going to contact MD Anderson for a second opinion.

After that I stopped at the dog cookie store for some cookies.  Then it was the post office.  There was no mail at all - that's unusual.

When we got home Lucy was really glad to see us.  She wanted to go someplace, but it was late.  Instead I did more work on the panel.  I finished the shorting wires and wired half of the direction switch connections.  Then I ran out of wire.

The evening was a little Minions, some reading, and some TV.

Day 143

After some Minions on bed I spent most of the morning working on the control panel.   I wired up the power connection board and installed it.  That completes the rotary switch connections.  I'm at the point now where every time I wire a connection I also complete a component connection.  My next step will be to complete the track power (direction switch and siding switch) connections.  The last step will be the track switch connections.  That's ironic, since those are the connections I started with.

After lunch we went on an errand trip.  We stopped at Circle C so Lucy could run (she did great).  Then it was HEB so Ellen could pick up something she forgot yesterday.  The final stop was the post office.  Some strain relief for the panel was there, along with the books I ordered for John.

When we got home I wrapped the books in Christmas paper and found a box to ship the presents in.  I also wrote a note to pt in there explaining why they were late and why we won't be up this year.  I'll mail them off on Wed after we've talked to the doctor.  That way John and Patty have up to date info.

The rest of the afternoon was reading, some surfing, and some Minions.  The evening was a little TV and reading and a lot of Minions.