Day 1832

 We didn't get out of bed until after 10 today.  We were up much earlier, we just stayed in bed.  It was cold last night and cold this morning.  We didn't have any reason to get up.  When we did it was pet stuff and breakfast.

After breakfast I started to load up the truck with the stuff for Goodwill.  There was a big box in the house, bag of stuff and several other things in the garage, and the old garage cabinet.  Once it was all loaded we left.

I needed one thing - an extension cord.  I looked in Goodwill, none.  I did get a hedge clipper though.  I looked at the home store - none.  BTW it looked like the locusts had hit it.  There were many bare and almost bare shelves.  A week ago they were full.  I also looked at Target - no cords.  At that point is said fuck it - that's why God invented Amazon.

We stopped at Costco for toothbrushes (on sale) and water.  We also got a cake.  Then we went to lunch at Kerby's.  It was pretty good.  I'm going to have to remember to go there more often.

When we got home we put everything away.  I did a little surfing and then glued together the Lego baby Yoda.  Devon is going to get a surprise tomorrow when I put the two glued together figures out.

Ellen fixed pork chops for dinner.  They're good, but I'm getting tired of pork chops.

After dinner was recorded shows.  I started to watch a taped movie, but it wasn't a good one.  I deleted it after about 15 minutes.

Day 1831

 I woke up at 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  After that it was back out to the garage.

The first task was to move the stuff that I'd earmarked for the playhouse.  It took three trips to move everything,  I also installed another battery powered light there.  There's still a lot of room left if I want to put in more.

After that it was back to work on the garage shelves.  I still had several shelves left to go over.  I ended up throwing a few things away, but mainly it was just rearranging stuff.  It's amazing how much less room things take when they are carefully arranged rather than just heaped on a shelf.  The effort took until a little after noon.

I went back to the house and spent a little time surfing.  Then we left to go to Wally World.  I had a list of things to get to finish the garage organization.  We didn't go anywhere else except lunch at a Thai place.

When we got home I didn't feel like doing anything , so I surfed.  Eventually that got boring, so I went back out to the garage.  I put the last few things away.  One of the big things was putting all of the instruction manuals in a file folder.  I threw a couple away because they were for things I no longer had.

Ellen had dinner ready when I got back to the house.  It was sausage and scalloped potatoes.  After that I watched a couple of movies that I'd taped the other days.  I choose some good movies.

When the movies were done I did a little surfing and went to bed.

Day 1830

 I got up at 8:30 - I decided to sleep in.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  It rained all day, so I wasn't going to be hauling anything to the playhouse.  Instead I just went out to the garage to continue the cleanup/reorganization.

I started by cutting a replacement shelf for the cabinet I'm going to take to Goodwill.  That makes it useful and I was going to through the material away anyway.  Then I started on a big mess - the cleaning stuff.  Some of the bottles had leaked, covering the containers and the shelves with a sticky mess.  It took quite awhile to clean it up.

Somehow that morphed into cleaning up the pile of scrap wood.  It was so disorganized that I really couldn't make use of it.  It took a long time to straighten it out.  Now I can easily see and access what I have.  While I was doing that I noticed a piece of insulation had fallen off the wall, so I reattached it.

At that point I needed to get some more plastic containers to organize all of the stuff that had just been piled on the shelves.  It was also past lunch time.  So I went back to the house for some lunch and surfing.  After that we went to the post office and the Home place.  I got several plastic containers.  We also stopped for coffee and Domino's sandwiches (for dinner).  When we got home I went back out to the garage.

The containers were just the ticket.  I got all of the cleaning stuff put away along with the sanding sponges.  That cleared up a lot of formally messy shelf space.  I also cleaned up the rope/cord and nails/screws stuff.  It all looks pretty nice now.

That was as much as I wanted to do, so it was back to the house for some more surfing.  I fed the dogs.  We had the Domino's sandwiches for dinner.  They were good.

After dinner I watched two movies that I'd recorded off HBO.  They were both really good.  After that I was tired of movies, so the rest of the evening was surfing.

Day 1829

 I got up at 8:15.  After pet stuff and breakfast I went out to the garage again.  I started out by putting away some of the stuff that I'd left out yesterday.  I also switched one of the range bags around that I set up yesterday.  All of that took time, but didn't accomplish anything.

The "just switch cabinet contents" has evolved into "rearrange and reorganize the whole garage".  I started with one of the storage shelves.  I moved some of the current contents to the cabinet.  I took some of the stuff and put it in the Goodwill pile.  I even replaced one of the shelves.  When I was done I had a "garden tools, cleaning tools, and other tools" set of shelves.  It looks a lot better and I can now find things easily in those shelves.

I still have several shelves to go.  I'm really pleased with how the first one turned out, so I'm motivated to continue.  However, it is kind of a pain.  I stopped about noon because I just didn't feel like doing anything else.

I went back to the house and had lunch (leftovers).  Then I surfed for a while.  Then I decided to go out.  My two pairs of jeans are years old and pretty worn.  I wanted to take advantage of the Black Friday sales to get new ones.

We started at the post office.  No mail.  Then it was Target to look for Christmas lights.  We didn't find any, but I did find another Lego Mandalorian kit like Devon destroyed.  So I bought it even though it's on my Christmas list. I also bought some glue to glue it together with.

After that it was Kohl's for jeans.  They were $40 a pair, but that's better than the $55 a pair they are when they are not on sale.  We also stopped at the pet store for cat and dog food.  Of course Lucy got treats.

When we got home I started to put the Lego kit together.  I found out that gluing it with epoxy that has a 10 second set time is a little challenging.  The parts are designed to wiggle a little when you are assembling them.  The glue doesn't allow this and makes assembly harder some times.  I got halfway through and quit.

Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner was TV.  I also set up a bunch of movie recordings because HBO and others are free through the weekend.

Day 1828

 I woke up a little before 7.  Ellen was up with her phone and the light woke me up.  There was no way I was going back to sleep.  The light had convinced  my body that it was morning.  So I got up and did the pet stuff.

I'd been thinking about getting all of the iPod stuff together for Isaac to sell.  I ended up looking all over the house for stuff.  It was scattered all over - in the headboard, in the bedroom stereo cabinet, and attached to the living room stereo.  That was the worse.  It took some effort to get it unconnected.  Somehow searching the bathroom closet turned into a major operation.

I ended up with going through the whole closet making three piles - garbage, Goodwill, and keep.  I got rid of a lot of empty boxes for items that we'd bought over the years.  I didn't get finished until almost 11.  Then I had mush for a really late breakfast.

I was kind of tired after that.  I did a little surfing and then watched TV.  Ellen had spent the entire morning smoking the turkey and fixing potatoes, stuffing, and cranberries.  We ate about 1:30.

Hooch had a Zoom meeting set up at 2.  It took awhile for him to get the whole thing set up.  It worked pretty well eventually, except everyone had to be really careful to leave their mic muted unless they were talking.  I don't see how anyone would consider it a good way to hold a class.

When the zoom was done it was more TV.  About 4 I went out to the garage to get something accomplished for the day.  I ended up emptying all of the range bags.  I ended up sorting everything and putting the results in three bags.  I'm going to keep one of the others for a spare and the last one is going to Goodwill.

After that I went back to the house for more TV.  That was basically it for the rest of the evening.

Day 1827

 I woke up at 7:30, but didn't get out of bed until almost 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  When that was finished I went out to the garage.

I spent a lot of time moving the stuff from the old cabinet to the new.  Part of that was because there was a lot of stuff.  The other thing was that I tried to organize the stuff in the new cabinet.  I also put some stuff from the garage shelves in the cabinet.  Finally, I moved the new cabinet into position and attached it to the wall.  That seemed like a good idea since there's a lot of weight in it.

When I was looking at stuff on the garage shelves I identified some stuff for the playhouse, so I took it there.  I also started a small Goodwill pile.  There's a lot more work to go in sorting through stuff.

By then it was lunch time, so I went back to the house.  I surfed and had lunch until it was time to go to the doctor.

When I got to the doctor they asked for a urine sample.  Of course I'd just taken a piss before I drove there.  With a lot of effort I supplied half an ounce or so.  The meeting with the doctor was short and sweet.  My PSA is down, although it's still a little high.  There are some other markers that look good.  The normal value is 15 - 20 percent.  Higher is better.  Mine is 29%.  I went home feeling good.

When I got home I went back out to the garage.  I had to sort out my sockets in order to see what I wanted to add to my Christmas list.  I have a lot of sockets.  It took almost an hour.  When I was done I went back to the house and mailed off the list.  Then I had leftovers for dinner.

After dinner was TV until I got tired of it.  Then it was surfing.

Day 1826

 I woke up at 8, but played games until 9.  After breakfast and pet stuff I went to the garage to put together the cabinet we bought yesterday.

There were a LOT of pieces.  That's because it's a 6 foot cabinet packaged in a 3 foot box.  The walls and doors were made up of two panels a piece.  The back was four panels.  Everything was held together with screws.  Unfortunately the screws were cheap Chinese shit.  That meant the using a driver broke them off.  I had to use a screwdriver.

The instructions said use 2 people.  The only place that was really necessary was attaching the walls to the top.  I got by with a 90 degree clamp.  It wasn't easy though.

The result is a pretty cool cabinet.  It took me until 1:30 to assemble it.  Did I mention the huge number of parts?  Then I hauled the packing to the garbage.  The guy that designed it owned plastic bag and Styrofoam factories.  The cans are almost full.

Grant emailed me asking for information for the new accounts.  He had a secure email system, so I spent some time describing our finances for him.

Lunch was a brisket sandwich.  After some surfing we left to go grocery shopping.  We needed a lot, including the last ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner.  HEB was packed.  When we got home it was a little surfing and then sloppy joe's for dinner.  Hooch asked for a Christmas list.  I really don't have much I want, so I spent the evening looking for stuff on the web.  I found a few things.

I also had a long text conversation with Hooch.  We talked about the final things to settle the estate.  He's a little worried about how Tony will take the trust.  I tried to make him feel better.

Day 1825

 We got up at 8.  After breakfast and pet stuff I went out to work out what size shelter I could have for the Ranger.  I'd been thinking about it all last night.

I spent some time with tape measures and some levels to work out I could do.  It didn't take long to determine that I was going to need to move part of the rock boundary.  I had to move about a dozen large rocks.  I also had to cut a few small fir trees.  That took a while.

Ellen came out to help.  I'm glad she did.  We finally figured out how to fit a 10' by 16' building into the expanded space.  It will be a little hard to back into, but not terrible.  It's the biggest that will fit without major reconstruction of one of the boundaries.  Later on I called the manufacture.  It's exactly the right size.  The relocated boundary looks better than the original, too.

After that it was lunch time - leftovers.  Then I did a little surfing and online shopping.  I decided to get a new cabinet for the garage.  I went out and made sure it would fit.  Then we left for San's Club to buy it. We also stopped at the post office. 

It was about 5 when we got home.  I unloaded the cabinet box in the garage and unpacked it.  There will be quite a bit of assembly.  It's basically two 3' cubes stacked on top ow each other.  No pieces are longer than 3 feet.

We had frozen pizza for dinner.  After dinner was TV.

Day 1824

 We were awake at 7:30 again, no particular reason.  After pet stuff and breakfast it was out to haul gravel.  I started to do gravel immediately because Ellen didn't have that much to do.  In fact, she finished weeding 20 minutes or so before I was done.

I hauled between 15 and 20 loads.  I was surprised I could do that many.  The last two went to adding gavel to some bare spots in the driveway.  It looks like I've moved at least half of the load.  That's more than a ton a day for three days.  I finished up by spot spraying some weeds in the driveway.  Everything was finished and put away by 10:30.

After taking a shower I surfed until about noon.  Then we went to Rudy's for lunch.  We took Lucy.  She was very happy.  We couldn't think of anything else to do, so we went back home.  Some Amazon packages were waiting.  I opened them and assembled a dog bowl holder for Lucy.  I also got a cool case for my new computer.  Then I took a bunch of stuff to the garbage and recycle.

I got out the Lego truck and finished it.  That only took a few minutes, there were only three steps left to do.  I didn't feel like downloading an app to control it.  Instead I surfed for awhile.  Then I went back outside to try to figure out what size building we could put on the site.   I got a rough estimate, but I need the trailer dimensions, some string, and another person to finalize things.

The mosquitoes drove me back inside where I watched TV and might have napped.  Ellen fixed Rudy's sausage for dinner  After dinner was TV.

Day 1823

 We woke up at 7:30.  There was no particular reason, we just got up then.  After pet stuff and breakfast it was out to work on the gravel.

Ellen started to dig weeds immediately.  I had to put air in the Audi's tires.  The tire alarm had gone off yesterday.  They were all about 7 lbs low.  After that I did a little weed digging and then started to haul rock.  She should be finished tomorrow.  It may take me two more days.  I figure I have about 15 loads to go.

After that we went in and took showers.  We were both soaking wet.  After that we did a little surfing.  It wasn't noon yet.

We decided to go to Pei Wei for lunch.  Then we went to Central Market to buy some stuff fot Thanksgiving dinner.  The last stop was the pet store.  The cats had torn up their litter mat, so we bought another.

We were both very tired and a little sore when we got home.  I surfed for awhile and then watched TV.  Of course I fell asleep.

Ellen fixed spaghetti for dinner.  After dinner was surfing.

 

Day 1822

 We got up about 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then I went outside to do a little work on the Ranger parking space.  I dug up about 10 feet of the grass at the bottom of the area.  Ellen came out and did a little digging, too.  That's all I had time to do before it was time to go to Costco.

We got there a little before 10, but got in because they are open for old people at 9.  I went immediately to the Surface Pro display.  They had plenty of stock.  The we went looking for toothbrushes, but the sale hadn't started yet.  After that it was water.  We ended up walking the store and buying new silverware, peanuts and walnuts, Traeger pellets, and towels.  It's the most we've purchased at Costco in a long time.

We stopped at the post office an Mickey D's on the way home.  The happy meal had a Mickey Mouse toy for Martha.

When we got home it was back to work.  I started hauling gravel while Ellen dug grass.  I ended up hauling 12 loads before calling it quits due to fatigue.  Ellen kept in front of me.  We managed to get at least 1/3 of the area covered, maybe a bit more.

After that we went inside and took showers.  Then it was surfing and TV to recover.  I also started the configuration of the new computer - loading apps, moving data, choosing options, and updating software.  That process took the rest of the day and evening.

I washed the new silverware.  Unfortunately it doesn't fit in our drawer organizer.  The stupid drawer is too narrow to fit current ones.  I finally found one on Amazon that I think I can make fit with a little cutting.  I also bought a case and a cable for the new computer.

We did go out toe Waterloo for dinner.  It was good and they had happy hour prices on drinks.

Ellen spent the evening on the TV.  I was on the computer.

Day 1821

 I woke up at 7:30, but stayed in bed for awhile.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast, followed by a little surfing.

It was cool and misting, so I decided to go out and do a little test case on making the Ranger parking area.  I got out the pick and the cart.  I used the pick to clear away all of the grass between the truck shelter and the basketball court.  I also cleared a 2 foot strip along the part of the court that I think will be in front of the parking area.

The work didn't take an hour.  I was tired though.  I'm really out of shape.  I planned on moving rock n the afternoon, so I put air in the cart tires.  I also made up a gallon of weed killer to spray on the ground before  I put down the rock.

There was a estate sale I wanted to go to in Lakeway.  So I stopped about 10:15 and we left for it.  There must have been a lot of people there early, because most of the stuff I had been interested in was sold.  I did pick up a hand vacuum and a book for John.  I also got a cool handheld sprayer.

We went to lunch at the Oasis.  The weather was warm and it was nice sitting outside.  The food was expensive though.  We stopped at the super yuppie Lakeway HEB on the way back.

When we got home I got out the implements of destruction and started loading rock into the cart.  I only had three cart loads of rock left.  I used them to fill in some of the area between the truck shelter and the court.  That was enough to show that the 7 tons of rock that is coming tomorrow will be enought to cover what I want to cover.

After that I went inside and took a shower.  Then I surfed until dinner.  Ellen fixed pork chops.

After dinner was TV, with surfing during the commercials.

Day 1820

 I got up at 6 PST.  I had a banana for breakfast, packed up, and checked out.  I was on the road at 6:30.  Of course it was raining.

I was surprised at the amount of traffic on 26.  It was stop and go from the zoo to 405.  It was a relatively quick stop and go though.  405, 84, and 206 were all moving at speed.

The only glitch was Hertz.  They were supposed to have a place where you could turn in the car.  The place was there, but no one was working.  Everyone was just leaving their cars, so that's what I did too.

I waited briefly in line at baggage.  I'd printed out the info at the hotel yesterday, but I wanted to make sure it was correct.

I think I had to wait for one person at the TSA line.  They did X-ray me though.  I guess I looked suspicious.  I was on my way to the gate area by 7:30.

The flight wasn't until 11.  Luckily the gate across from mine wasn't being used that morning.  I sat by myself in it and watched movies.The flight was on time and actually arrived in Austin half an hour early.  Baggage was quick again and I was in the car in half an hour.

When we got home I spent quite a bit of time unpacking.  I think I spent more time doing that than I did packing.  I got everything done.  That way I can resume normal life tomorrow.

The evening was mainly surfing.  Hooch sent some paperwork that has to be filled out for the estate.

Day 1819

 I got up at 8 CST (6 PST).  I drove to McDonald's and got a pancake breakfast.  I also got some snacks at Safeway.  Then it was back to the room for breakfast and to wait for the funeral.  

The funeral was at 11 PST, so I spent the time surfing and watching a movie.  When it was time I got into my suit and went to the church.  The funeral itself was a mass.  The priest gave the eulogy.  Hooch had it live streamed, so I'm not sure how many people actually attended.  After that we all went to the cemetery.  Of course it was raining.

The priest said some more words and put Mom's box in the cubicle.  It's actually quite nice, with a marble face and a gold nameplate with her name and the dates.  It's even relative easy to find and get to.

Throughout the funeral and commentary service I kept my distance, especially from Hooch.  I did explain to everyone why.

After the ceremony I stopped at Safeway to by stuff for lunch and dinner.  The restaurants have been closed by Oregon's dipshit governor.  I got stuff that could be put in the room's microwave.  It was small, but worked really well.  I spent the rest of the day on surfing, games, and movies.

Day 1818

 I woke up at 8:30 and did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  The highest priority was packing.  I put all of the toilet items in the suitcase.  I'd had the tablet on charge all night, but it was still only 15%.  so I left it on the charger for another 3 hours.  Then it was full and ready to go.

After that I did some surfing.  It was the first time I'd really looked at anything political.  It sure seems like there's strong evidence of voter fraud in every swing state that Trump lost.  We'll have to see what happens in the next three weeks.

After that I went out to do some work.  I cleaned up all of the painting stuff in the garage.  I also rearranged the two drawers of painting stuff so that it's more accessible and they are easier to close.  Then came the electric kool-aid acid test.

I drove the mower down to the playhouse and put it inside.  I was able to get through the door fairly easily.  Then I moved the sprayer and the power washer down there.  I also moved some miscellaneous stuff from a shelf down there.

It was a little difficult to get the mower of the edging rocks, so I rearranged some to make it easier.  I also cut some low hanging tree branches to make accessing the playhouse from the parking are easier.  I'll cut more next spring when I can tell dead branches from live ones.

After that it was lunch and killing time until it was time to go to the airport.  The flight leaves at 6 and I need to be there by 5 to get my baggage checked.  Give it an hour for the TSA line so I targeted being there at 4.

I had plenty of time at the airport.  There was almost no one there.  I dropped off my bag with no waiting.  I think I had to wait for one person in the TSA line.

The flight was great.  The plane was an Airbus.  Each seat back had bot an USB and a 11 outlet.  No worries about running out of battery.  I spent the whole flight watching movies.

We got into Portland right on time.  I didn't have to wait for either the luggage or the rental car.  Of course it was raining.  The hotel was at the corner of 26 and Cornell.  I went to the room, surfed for awhile, and went to sleep.

Day 1817

 I woke up at 8:30, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  I'd been thinking about the shelter for the Ranger,so I went outside to get an idea of how hard it would be to remove the grass.  I gout ou the weed eater and tried a spot.  It was surprisingly easy.  Of course there are a few heavy spots that will be much harder.  All in all it is doable.

Then I took the broom to the playhouse and swept off the porch so Ellen could paint it.  After that I went inside to do what I'd been avoiding.

While Ellen went outside to paint.  I began packing for Portland.  I put my suit and two day's worth of clothes in the suitcase.  The cats were happy to help.  I also got together the electronics - the big tablet, noise cancelling headphones, chargers, and cables.  I got all of the paperwork together and put it in my carry-on.  That's when I discovered that you need a passport to rent a car nowadays.  This country is getting more fucked all the time.

After that I really didn't have much to do for awhile.  I killed time surfing until the headphones were charged.  Then I paired them with my phone and made sure that they would work with phone in airplane mode.

Ellen came in and showed me how to download Netflix movies to my tablet.  I spent a long time in the afternoon and evening looking for things to download.

About 4 the porch paint was dry so I went out and painted the floor of the playhouse.  It didn't take very long with the roller.  Then I got out the power washer and washed the rabbit planter I bought yesterday.  It cleaned up really well.  Then it was back to searching Netflix.

Ellen interrupted my fixed leftover shrimp and some chicken for dinner.  After dinner was more Netflix search followed by some reading and TV.

Day 1816

 I got up at 6:45 today because Devon dumped the Lego Baby Yoda off the desk.  I put it back together and then did the pet stuff and breakfast.  After that we left for Hog Heaven.

Ellen said we should be there by 8.  We got there a little before then.  There was no reason to get there that early.  There was nothing for us to do but sit around until the shoot started at 9.  There weren't enough trappers for all the stations, so each squad had a trapper that went with them.  I did two squads.  Then I did a third one with Ellen.  At least we had a cart for that one.

We got finished about 2:30.  We went to the metal building place in Dripping Springs, but he wasn't there.  We also got some bird seed at Tractor Supply.  We had a late lunch at the outdoor place in Dripping Springs.  They are doing a good business.  The parking lot was full.

After that we went home.  We were both too tired to do anything.  That meant the rest of the evening was TV.  We didn't have dinner - only some snacks.

Day 1815

 I woke up at 8:30 today.  The 8 o'clock cat alarm didn't go off.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  Ellen went out to paint.  I went out to work on the pressure washer.

I hooked up the pressure washer down by the house.  I connected the water, turned it on, and pressed the trigger.  It started right up, just like the manual said it would.  The new GFI worked perfectly, too.

I started by cleaning the front sidewalk.  It was almost black from moss.  The washer did a good job cleaning it off although there's a few black spots that I couldn't get off.  Then I cleaned the dirt off the bottom of the brick.  I've been meaning to do that for as long as we've owned the house.

Next I washed the Ranger.  It was covered with road chemicals.  It even had road gravel in the bed.  I think this is the cleanest it's been since it was new.  It actually looks really good.  When that was done I put everything away and went back into the house.  I ordered a 12x 6.5 tandem trailer for $1,900.  It won't be here for 3 to 5 weeks though.

Ellen was still painting.  In fact, she painted for another couple of hours.  I surfed.  When Ellen was done she took a shower.  Then we went to the Italian place.  We took Lucy so she could have some time away from the house.  Of course we got her treats at Tomlinson's.

When we were finished with lunch we went to a nearby estate sale.  I picked up a heavy porcelain bunny planter for Patty.  It will need a good cleaning.  More work for the power washer.  Then we came home.

Elle said the playhouse door wouldn't shut.  I looked at it.  The last 6 inches of the door bottom were interfering with the rubber threshold.  I got out the sander and used it to remove some material from the bottom of the door.  That seems to have fixed the problem.

Did I mention that the playhouse looks fantastic?  Ellen has painted all of the trim, the porch railings, and the front siding.  She also did some touch-up on the side trim and siding.  All that is left is a second coat on the porch floor.

The rest of the evening was surfing, on-line shopping, and TV.  Ellen signed us up to work at Hog Heaven tomorrow.  That means we get up early.

Day 1814

 I woke up about 8, but played games in bed until almost 10.  Then it was up for breakfast, Ellen did the pet stuff.

Ellen went out to pain the playhouse.  I went out after breakfast.  I went to the garage and found hardware to attach the battery powered lights.  I also drill holes in the cabinet handle I'd bought for the inside of the playhouse door.  Then I went to the playhouse and installed them.

After that I couldn't work in the playhouse because it would get in the way of Ellen's painting.  So I surfed instead.  About 1:30 she was working on the outside, so I went back to work.  I measured and cut four shelves out of scrap wood.  I put to across the back of the playhouse and one on each side.  

By then it was almost 3.  We went inside and both of us took showers.  Then we went for a really late lunch at Torchy's in Belterra.  We took Lucy.  She's been really bored and wanted to go even though she hasn't been walking well.  Of course we took her to Tomlinson's afterwards.  They were glad to see her and fed her several treats.

When we got home it was reading and TV.  There wasn't a dinner of course.

Kessler called to follow up on an email I sent him a long time ago asking for pictures of Tri-county's lower range.  He said he didn't have any, but that he'd try to take some.  We had a good conversation anyway.  After that it was a little more TV and bed.

Day 1813

 I got up at 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then it was outside to give the playhouse a bath.  The first step was getting the washer down to the playhouse and connecting water and power to it.  That went well.

I've never used the washer before, and couldn't figure out how to connect the wands to the gun.  I finally looked up the manual.  It seemed to show that a piece was missing from the gun.  We searched the web and only found one place that might have parts.  When I called them the lady who answered didn't sound very bright.

We drove to the place, on the other side of I35.  I showed the lady what I needed.  She said "oh, we don't carry anything like that".  I was was right, she was a fucking idiot.  We stopped in a parking lot and did some searching.  There didn't seem to be any place in Austin to buy an electric power washer.  We decided to go home and order a part.

As I was taking the gun and wands out of the truck I noticed that one wand had a spring on it's end.  The manual had said "insert the wand against the spring".  I tried inserting a wand into the part with the spring and it worked.  Then the wand with the spring (actually an adapter) screwed to the gun.  This is nothing like the description in the manual.  I'd wasted the whole morning because of a crappy manual.

I took about 45 minutes to wash the entire playhouse.  Then I had to drive over the the urology place for a blood sample.  On the way back I stopped at Central Market and got some fresh shrimp.

When I got back I tried to use the power washer to wash the brick on the house.  It has a built in GFI which kept popping.  I tried different plug ins and cords with no luck.  I finally tried it on the cord and plug I'd used to wash the playhouse.  It still popped.  I took the washer to the garage and busted open the GFI to make sure I could reuse the cord.  Then I order a replacement GFI from Amazon.

While I was doing that, Ellen was sanding the playhouse.

Ellen fixed shrimp wrapped in bacon on the Traeger for dinner.  It was great.  After dinner we watched recorded TV shows.  About 7 the transport driver called to say he wanted to deliver the Ranger about 10.  The catch was his truck was took big to get in the neighborhood.  I agreed to meet him at the gas station at 45 and 1826.  I was not a happy camper.

We ended up meeting him at CVS instead.  That was actually better.  It was amazing to watch him shift vehicles on his truck.  It was a semi with a two level car rack.

We signed off on the Ranger.  I drove it over to the gas station to put some gas in it.  There was a sheriff car in the parking lot.  I put in the gas and then started down 1826.  He either didn't notice or didn't care.  We didn't see a car in either direction from the station to North Madrone.  From there it was easy sailing to home and bed.

Day 1812

 I woke up at 8.  Devon is becoming a kitty alarm clock.  He starts yowling about 8 every day.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast followed by a trip out to the playhouse.

I'd realized last night that I hadn't accounted for the door trim, which means the threshold had to be moved.  I removed it and then discovered that I needed to add some more foundation material.  I cut some, painted it, and installed it.  I put the threshold back and Ellen put the rubber on it.

Things fighting me continued.  When I installed the trim I learned that Swedish lumber is the cheap Chinese shit version of wood.  It splits when you drive a screw into it.  I had to drill pilot holes first.  Then I got Ellen out to fit the door.

The fighting continued.  The door opening measured perfect.  So did the door.  The door did not fit in the opening.  It was too long.  I ended up using the circular saw to cut 1/4 inch off the top of the door.  The blade wasn't big enough to cut all the way through, so I had to finish the cut with the jigsaw.  More pain in the ass.

After that the door fit, but not quite evenly.  Ellen said the door was slightly off square.  That's because of the crooked 2x2's I used for the frame.  They were the only ones available.  With a little messing around we got it to fit, but it doesn't look as good as it should.

Putting on the hinges was the first thing that went smoothly.  The latch went on perfectly as well.  At that point the door was finished.  Ellen went back inside.  I cut the door molding.  It went OK except I'm not good at cutting 45 degree angles by hand.  At that point I didn't car how it looked.  It was fun using the air nailer though.

I put all the tools away and cleaned up the inside.  My work's pretty much done.  I have to pressure wash it and do some sanding.  Then Ellen can finish painting.  I went back inside and had a late lunch and a big beer.

I was too tired to do anything but surf.  By the time Ellen left for the club I had enough energy to take a shower.  After that I went out to the garage and scrounged up a latch to hold the new door open.  I'll have to order something for an inside handle and lights.

Ellen fixed pork chops for dinner.  After dinner I ordered a handle and some battery operated lights.  After that it was TV.  I'm too tired to do Lego.  It feels very good to have the project done though.

Day 1811

 I got up at 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then it was out to the playhouse.

I started by screwing down the  threshold.  I was about to put the rubber seal on when Ellen came out.  She put it in after I showed her how.  While she did that I started measuring for putting up the top of the door frame.  Unfortunately I got talking to her.  I measured one side correctly and measured the other side 1/2 an inch short.

My error resulted in me spending at least an hour trying to figure out why things weren't going right.  I recut the center 2x4 twice.  Eventually I figured out what was wrong.  Things went smoothly after that.

It turns out that my plan to reuse the vertical door trim pieces wouldn't work.  The bottom 4 inches of both were rotten, which made them too short.  Also, they were too narrow to mount the hinges on.  So we left for Home Depot to get two 1x6's and paint for the siding.  Ellen got the paint while I got the boards.

The next stop was Wally World.  It turns out they have the mango juice I like in gallon jugs (not cans).  I bought two gallons.  Then we stopped at the home store to look for Christmas lights.  They didn't have what I wanted.  The last two stops were the post office and Sonic.

When we got home I cut the trim pieces for the top for trim and the two new bottom pieces.  I used the old trim to do it.  I had to cut angles at the ends of the top piece to clear the roof.  Again I measured something wrong and had to recut both.  The 6' 1x6's I bought were just the right size.  When I test fit everything it fit perfectly.  That made me feel very good.

I set up everything in the garage for Ellen to paint - two tables with a tarp underneath, nails in the ends of all the boards, and all of the painting materials.  I also put away some of the tools that I won't need anymore.  Then I left the trim painting to Ellen.

I went inside and took a shower.  Then I did some online shopping, but didn't find anything I wanted.  I fixed leftovers for dinner.  After dinner I sat down to watch TV and fell asleep.  When I woke up I got out the Lego.

I sorted all the parts for part 4 (the last part) of the build.  It's basically the dump bed, so there's not much to add to the current build.  I had several times where I put things together backwards and had to take them apart.  Maybe that's why my measurements didn't work out today.  I stopped building when I got tired.  I have one or two more sessions before it's done.

Ellen's sister called.  They won't be here for Thanksgiving.  Chalk up another crappy thing on the 2020 list.

I went to bed a little early.  I'm getting tired every night.  I'm going to be glad when the playhouse is finished.

Day 1810

 I got up at 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then it was out to the playhouse.

I put the threshold down on the floor and measured how high the door would be.  It will require me to cut some off the top of the opening.  It will also require me to do a bevel cut on the end of the top 2x4.  By the time I done the measuring Ellen was ready to paint.  So I cleaned everything off and took the 2x4 to the garage.

I made the bevel cut.  This time it was easy and perfect.  I guess practice makes perfect.  Then I re-positioned the mounting points for the handle and latch.  I put the outside sheet on the door.  That's when I realized I shouldn't have moved the mounting points.  So I put them back where they were.  

I screwed the outside sheet to the door.  I'd made a rookie mistake.  When I cut the sheet I'd assumed the sheet was square.  It wasn't.  That meant that it didn't fit the square frame.  It was offset on the bottom.  I got some of the pieces I'd cut off the sheet and used then to fill in the "short" side.  I started to use the Dremel to cut the excess off, but it overheated halfway through.  I took that as a sign to eat lunch.

After lunch I used the Dremel to cut off the patch excess.  Then I used the jigsaw to cut off the excess on the other side.  That went a lot faster.

The refrigerator delivery came while I was working.  It turns out the new one has a water dispenser and an ice machine.  The delivery guys asked if they should hook it up.  In a fit of abject stupidity Ellen said no.  I'm not going to hook it up.  She can look at the dispenser every time she opens the door and reflect on her stupidity.

I wanted to do more work on the playhouse, but I couldn't because the entrance was all wet paint.  Ellen did a good job, it looks nice.  So I decided to unbox the new DirecTV antenna.

The antenna came in a heavy big box filled with small boxes.  I unpacked everything.  There were no instructions, so I was glad I had the old one to use as a pattern.  I was also glad that about half the weight was the mount, which we don't need in the trailer.  I left it broken down into three easy to assemble pieces and put them in the trailer.  Finally I removed the old one from the trailer and put it behind the well house.

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading on the deck.  I got through a lot of the magazines that had piled up.  Ellen fixed steak for dinner.  It was good.  After dinner was TV.  No Lego tonight, I didn't have time for both.

Day 1809

 I got up at 8 today.  I'm trying to make that my daily get up time.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.

The first task of the day was to go to McCoy's for window shims and double sided tape.  Then it was back home to work.  I put double sided tape along the outside wall.  Then I placed the shims along the wall.  I used 60 of them.  The tape held the shims in place when I put the new flooring down on top of them.

I put some screws in the flooring to hold it.  Then I cut pieces of scrap plywood to repair the wood where the threshold is going to go.  Then I finished screwing down the flooring and the scraps.

Ellen volunteered to do the caulking.  However, when I tried to puncture the barrier on the caulk tube something went wrong.  It was very hard to puncture.  I had to pound the nail in.  Something got damaged and caulk spewed out the end of the tub when she tried to apply it.  That was the end of the caulking effort.

We decided to look for refrigerators and convection microwaves before we went to get the caulk.  That was because Home Depot, Lowe's, and Best Buy were the candidates for having what we wanted.  Also, Ellen had determining that some full size refrigerators will fit in the kitchen.  She found one she liked at Lowes.  We didn't find an oven we liked.  We may have to buy one sight unseen.

We went to Lowe's for the caulk.  They had the refrigerator we wanted on sale and in stock.  They're going to deliver it tomorrow.  Amazing.  It was 3 buy the time we were finished.  We went to Jack Allen's for a really late lunch.

When we got home Ellen did the caulking.  I had no problem with the new caulk tube.  I turned on the refrigerator in the apartment.

Later on Ellen moved most of the refrigerator contents from the house to the apartment.  Lowe's says they come between 8 AM and 8 PM tomorrow.  She spent the evening watching chick flicks on her computer.  I watched recorded shows on TV and did Lego.  I finished step 3 (of 4).  That completed the truck cab.  This thing is massive.

Day 1808

 I got up at 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.

Ellen informed me that Biden had won via voter fraud.  Just when 2020 couldn't get worse.  Sometime in the future historians will mark this as the point where the US went into a great decline.  We're now a banana republic complete with fixed elections and a one party, socialist, political system.  I'm doing my best to not become extremely depressed, but it's not easy to do.

I needed to buy some stuff before I could do any more work on the playhouse.  So we got in the truck and went to Lowe's.  I bought a 4x4 sheet of plywood ($20!!!!) and had them cut it in half.  I also got a package of window shims (wedges) and some caulk.  Ellen got some deck stain.

After that we stopped at Best Buy and Sam's Club looking for appliances.  We didn't see anything that really range our bell.  The next stop was Randall's.  We got food for the  next few days, but they didn't have my mango drink or butter flake rolls.  We stopped at the post office.  There were two checks ther, so we took them to the bank.  The last stops were a hamburger place and CVS.  I wanted some masks.  CVS was selling them singly at $2 a piece.  Later we ordered 50 from Amazon for $10.

When we got home I went out to the playhouse.  The new decking needed several irregular cuts to fit.  They were made harder because nothing was square.  I spent a frustrating time making small modifications to all of the cuts.  It all fit well when I was finished.

I was going to use the wedges to raise the new decking a little so the water wouldn't flow towards the building.  The wedges only raise it enough to barely slope it away.  That's better than towards the building.  The problem is I need a lot more wedges.  I'll have to buy some more tomorrow.

I was stuck on the decking, so I cut some scrap plywood to repair the water damage under the door threshold.  Then I cut the threshold we bought to fit.  It looks nice.  I took a bunch o scrap to the garbage can and called it a day,  The mosquitoes were thick.

Ellen fixed tacos for dinner. After dinner I looked a craiglist for awhile.  I want to get a trailer for the Ranger and some chain link fencing.  No luck, but I'll keep looking.  I also got out the suitcase for m trip.  I found a case I can use for my tablet.  I added chargers and cables to it.

I got out the Lego.  Right now it's all constructing details.  That takes a lot of small parts and time.  The results don't look like much though.  This is the first time on this build that I quit working on it because it just wasn't fun.

The rest of the evening was reading and TV.

Day 1807

 I got up at 8, did the pet stuff, and had breakfast.  Then it was off to the playhouse.

I started off by moving all of the tools back to the playhouse.  I'd moved almost everything to the garage last night because I thought I might not work today.  Hah.  Then I swept out the whole playhouse and the porch.  That let me see the major water damage on the porch floor.  That made me decide to resurface the porch.  I can do it with one 4x4 sheet of plywood.

After that it was on to demo.  I took off the door trim.  Then I removed the old door threshold.  I cut the overhead door frame with the sawsall.  Unfortunately I poked a small hoe in the siding when I did that.  Then I removed the overhead frame.

I had to remove a bunch of nails that attached the siding to the side door frames.  That was a lot easier than yesterday because I could pry the siding from the frame and then just remove the nails with a hammer.  Finally I removed the side door frames.

By then it was time to have lunch with Lee.  We went to the place in Belterra.  It was OK.  We had a good conversation.  Hopefully Lee liked it.  I hoping we can do it again.

After lunch I went back to work.  I used the circular saw to cut the angles at the top of the new side frames.  I'd never done that before.  I got one "pretty good" and the other perfect.  I also used the sawsall to cut the floor framing.  I did pretty good at that.  I also cut the siding.

The last part was installing the side door framing.  That went well.  I'm leaving the top of the frame open until I see how the door fits.  After that was cleanup.  I can't really do anything more until I have the new porch plywood down.  I'll go get it tomorrow morning.

I cut up some of the garbage wood that I didn't want to keep and took it to the garbage.  Then I went in and took a shower.  Ellen was off teaching.

Dinner was a frozen dinner - there's nothing else in the house.  After dinner I did some shopping on craigslist.  I'm looking for a trailer.  There's a trailer manufacturer in Manor that seems to have some good prices.  I may contact them when the playhouse is done.

After dinner was TV and Lego.  Step 3 of the Lego isn't very interesting.  It's mainly adding non-functional bits to the truck to make it look authentic.  There's a lot of one-of, non-standard, parts.  I want to get back to building things that make it work.

Day 1806

I got up at 8 again today.  After pet stuff and breakfast It was out to the playhouse again.

I started out by adding "hard points" to the interior of the door for the door handle and the door latch.  I also replaced the ones for the hinges with better ones.  Then I went to the playhouse.  The first activity was putting the table in there in the garbage.  I removed about 40 screws to take apart the fram and then cut the top into four pieces.  It all went in the can - garbage day is tomorrow.

I spent a lot of time measuring out where I needed to remove existing structure.  Then I planned how I would do it.  I even had Ellen out for a little while to help.  Once I was sure I had everything down I started to cut.

I quickly learned that I'm no good with a reciprocating saw.  It's a blunt instrument that's no use for fine work.  I managed to do a little damage to the siding that I need to keep.  Fortunately the damage will be covered by the door trim.  I also learned that the guy who did the framing put nails in places that made no sense at all.  In a couple of cases I don't know how he did it.

I started by cutting out some of the framing on the right side.  That went OK except for the hole in the siding.  It taught me that I was going to have to remove some of the nails holding on the siding.  That was a pain because I had to basically dig them out of the siding.  I finally settled on cutting around the nail head with a razor knife and then removing the nail with locking pliers.  With about 20 nails, it took a while.

I had to break at noon to call Dave.  He said the shipper was coming that afternoon.  Later he sent me an email with the shipping info.  I'm glad that part seems to work out.  A little later I had to go the the doctor for a blood draw.  When I got there they said it was next Wednesday.  I was not happy.  I stopped at Arby's for lunch and the yuppie grocery store to buy french bread.

I finished up by cutting some of the framing on the other side of the door.  It was a good stopping place, plus the mosquitoes were beginning to eat me alive.

I went back inside and read some.  I really don't want to deal with the election, so I didn't surf.  Apparently they haven't decided who won yet.  That gives the nod to the Democrats, since they are masters of voter fraud.

Hooch texted me the date of the funeral.  It's the 17th - 13 days.  I talked to him and it doesn't seem like there's much for me to do, so I'll fly in on the 16th and out on the 18th.  Ellen spent quite a bit of time getting the flight, hotel, and car set up.  I love having a travel agent.

Ellen fixed sausage for dinner.  After dinner I did some reading and watched recorded shows (no commercials).  I also finished step 2 of the Lego truck.  It involved connecting the cab to the body.  This thing is big.

Day 1805

 I woke up at 8 and got out of bed fairly immediately.  After pet stuff and breakfast I went outside to work on the playhouse.

I started out by putting gravel at the bottom of the ramp.  It took 1 1/2 loads.  The process taught me that I am no longer capable of spreading gravel like I did years ago.  That little bit damn near killed me.  I doubt I could have done 5 before calling it quits.

When the gravel was done I went inside the playhouse to confirm the size of the door.  I also looked at what I was going to have to change.  Some of it won't be easy.  Then I went into the garage to build the door.

I cut both pieces of plywood to the correct size - 48x71 1/4.  Then I used the 2x2's to build the interior frame and attach it to the interior plywood.  At that point I'd identified some other supplies I needed.  It was noon, so I decided to go get them.

We stopped at both Lowe's and Home Depot.  We got everything that I needed.  We also looked at appliances.  They didn't really have what we wanted.  I think we'll end up at Best Buy.  Then we went to Doc's Backyard for lunch.  It was home after a stop at the post office.

We got home about 3:30.  By then it was time for Ellen to go to Hog Heaven.  I did some surfing.  I had a HEB salad and Rudy's for dinner.

After dinner I watched a movie I'd recorded.  Then I did Lego.

I totally ignored the election.  I don't need the aggravation.

Day 1804

 I woke up about 8, played games for a little while and then got up.  The first thing was pet stuff and breakfast.

After breakfast I went outside to work on the playhouse.  My goal for the day was to build the ramp.  I started by getting two concrete blocks to use as the foundation for the end of the ramp.  I spent some time getting them both level.

Then I used scrap wood to make a template for the ramp supports.  I ended up making two.  The first taught me what was necessary and the second was the refined version.  Sounds like A and B phase.  This took over an hour.  It wouldn't have taken near as long if I'd known what I was doing.

After I cut the supports I used the hangers I'd purchased to attach them to the playhouse.  I started to drill hols for screws.  Then I noticed that there were already points for screws, they just didn't look like holes.  They made the job a lot easier.

After lunch I finished the ramp by screwing on 6 boards on top of the supports.  When I was done one of the supports was too high.  So much for my leveling work.  I found a higher concrete block and that fixed the problem.  The result was a level ramp end.

The end of the ramp was significantly above ground level.  I'd planned it that way.  I used more scrap wood to build an enclosure at the bottom of the ramp.  I was going to fill it with gravel, but the mosquitoes were beginning to eat me alive.  It was only 3 o'clock.  Usually they come out a little later.

I put everything away and went back to the house to surf until dinner.  The shipping company called.  They plan on picking up the Ranger in two or three days.  I called Dave.  Hopefully he will be there to handle it.

Ellen fixed some sort of chicken in a sauce for dinner.  It was OK, but a little cold and maybe under cooked.

After dinner I got out the Lego.  I was really having fun.  I finished step 1, sorted the parts for step 2, and started step 2.  I purposely called a halt at 9.

The rest of the evening was surfing.

Day 1803

 We got up at 9, but it was really 8 because of the time change.  After that it was pet stuff and breakfast.

When breakfast was done I went out to the garage.  I got out the leaf blower and blew the leave in the front and back.  It was a lot easier than using the broom and did a better job.  It was fun, too.

When that was done I attacked the play house.  I cut back the porch railings so that there is a 4 foot opening.  Then I spent some time measuring and planning out what needs to be done.  I made a long list of the stuff I was going to need.  When I got done we left to go shopping.

We stopped at the ACE hardware to get BBQ pellets.  Then we stopped at Tomlinson's for cat food and a dog treat.  The last stop was Home Depot for the playhouse supplies.  Lumber is incredibly expensive.  I bought two sheets of low grade plywood, some 2x4's, a couple of 2x12's, paint, and a couple of other boards.  The whole bill was $202.

We were loading the purchases into the truck when Hooch called.  Mom died about 1:00 our time.  I called Tony.  Apparently he thought Mom had died yesterday.  He's screwed up when he's not on his meds.  Hooch said arrangements will take several days.  He'll call me when I should come up.

I've already pretty much done my grieving.  When we got home we unloaded the truck.  Then I went back to work on the playhouse.  I rebuilt the railings.  Then I started to lay out the ramp.  The mosquitoes were coming out in force, so I went back inside.  There I planned out how to do the ramp.

I didn't have any lunch, so I had an early dinner.  Actually it was about the regular time not considering the time change.  The pets really don't like the change.

After dinner was TV and surfing.