Day 2227

 I woke up after 8 and played games until 9:30.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  This was the last day of 2021, so it was time to put away the Christmas stuff.

I brought the boxes from the garage so Ellen could start dismantling the tree.  Then I took out some garbage and brought in some paper towels.  I also took down the lights on the gate and the lights on the deck.  I tested the expensive lights I'd bought when we put up the lights.  They are truly dead.  I threw them away.

I went back into the house and packed up the gift shirt I got to send to L. L. Bean.  Then I helped pack the tree away.  When everything was boxed I took the boxes back to the apartment.  It was too early for lunch, so I did some more searching for safes.  Then lunch was a sandwich.

We had errands to do, so after lunch we loaded the old TV stand from the guest bedroom into the truck.  We also loaded some other stuff that had been sitting around for Goodwill.  The trip was efficient.  Goodwill, post office, UPS store, Academy, pet store, and Doc's.  The last was because I developed a need for a Guinness.  We sat outside (it was high 70's) and had an appetizer.  I got to watch WSU lose it's bowl game.  At least they made it close.

We got home about 4.  I surfed and Ellen worked on another Metal Earth model.  Dinner was a frozen pizza.  I was sick of leftovers.

After dinner Ellen continued work on the model.  I surfed.  The fireworks were really excessive.  I even went outside to look, but couldn't see much.  We went to bed before 12.

Day 2226

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games until a little after 8.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  Ellen had a haircut appointment in the morning, so I surfed until she left.  Then It was time to get some stuff done.

I made a couple of trips to the garage, and one to the trailer, moving stuff from the house.  Then I looked at the sink drain n the apartment.  It does look like it leaks a little, but I couldn't get it to.  I'm going to wait until John comes back to ask for advice.

After that I went back into the house and called Home Depot.  I told them I wanted a firm delivery date.  The lady I was talking to put me on hold.  After about 15 minutes she hung up.  I gave a bad review on the phone review.  I called again and actually got someone who spoke English as a native language.  He put me on hold for a short time and came back to say that the safe was lost.  Better yet, it's now out of stock.  At last he immediately issued a refund.

I spent then next hour+ looking for an alternative.  I couldn't find any I like.  I'm going to call a safe place in Buda tomorrow.  They're expensive though.

Ellen came home about then.  She'd been to HEB and brought home some cold cuts.  I made a sandwich for lunch.  After that it was surfing.

Eventually I got sick of that and switched to TV.  We watched three movies from the web (Disney+ and Prime).  We stopped for dinner - leftovers.

After that it was more surfing until bedtime.

Day 2225

 I woke up at 8 and played games until 8:30.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast, followed by some surfing.  John and Melissa came by a little after 9 to say goodbye.

After they left I started working on the Star Wars LEGO.  I finished it and put it in the guest bedroom.  Then I went out to do errands.  I took the recycle to the can.  then I took the ice chest Ellen used for the turkey back to the storage building.  I also turned on a heater in the apartment bathroom where they said there was some water on the floor.

Finally I started cleaning out the TV packing material in the garage.  I took the pile of Styrofoam to the garbage.  It just barely fit.  Then I cut up unused cardboard and put it in the recycle.  When I was finished both cans were full and I put them out on the street.

By then it was 78 with 85% humidity.  I was hot, sweaty, and tired (it got up to 83 later).  I went back inside and surfed until lunch.  I had a HEB salad that was nearing being "too old".  I continued to surf for several hours.  Melissa texted to say they thought the water in the apartment was from a leak in the sink drain.  I decided it was a tomorrow problem.

I finally got guilty about not doing thing and started to look into starting work on the RC truck again.  I put batteries in the transmitter and got out the battery and charger.  The charger is quite complex and I took quite a while reading the instructions.  Then I tried to figure out to wire in lights.  I think I can use an output of the speed controller, but hours of searching didn't uncover any documentation on the output.  I sent an email to Traxxas asking about it.

The end result is I'm ready to start work on the truck whenever I want.

By then it was time for dinner.  It was leftovers again, but still good.  After dinner was TV.  First it was a movie, and then it was some old comedy shows.  I'd forgotten how funny they are.

Day 2224

 I woke up at 7:30, turned over, and went back to sleep until 9:30.  I was making up for yesterday's 6 AM wakeup.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.

After a little surfing I started working on the LEGO Star Wars thing.  I ran into a problem when I couldn't find one of the parts.  It turns out that it's the first kit I've had where the parts bag didn't contain all of the parts.  The part I was looking for was in another, unmarked, bag.

I didn't get much done before John and Melissa came over.  I continued for a while while the women sewed and John surfed.  Then we decided to go to see the Tesla gigafactory.  We drove buy it on the freeway.  I wanted to go on the service road, but couldn't find the entrance.  I drove up and down the freeway looking for it.

By then it was past lunch time so we went to the Cajun place.  It was crowded event though it was past 1:30.  After lunch we made short stops at the post office, bank, pet store, and Costco.  Then it was home.

When we got home the women went back to sewing.  John and I embarked on a Roadkill marathon.  We watched until dinner (leftovers), and then until about 8:30.  By then we were Roadkilled out.  John and Melissa went home.  They are going back to Dallas tomorrow.  I'm not sure they'll be coming back.

Ellen surfed and I did LEGO for the rest of the evening.

Day 2223

 We got up at 6 and did the pet stuff.  Daniel got up and packed.  We said our good byes and saw him off.  Then we had breakfast.

After a little surfing we left to go to Tomlinson's.  We needed more cat food.  We also stopped at the Dunkin Donuts and bought half a dozen sugar donuts for John.  We gave them to him and then went back to the house.

I called Home Depot.  They had closed my complaint, I don't know why.  They promised to have it delivered by Home Depot rather than a contractor.  We'll see.

I worked some moe on the Star Wars LEGO I got for Christmas.  I completed step 3 (of 6) and sorted the parts for step 4.  At that point I was tired of working on it.  I switched to a little game playing followed by  TV.

John and Melissa came over and we talked for a little bit.  Then the women sewed while John and I watched car shows.  Eventually we ate lunch.  There is an amazing amount of food in the refrigerator, so it was easy to fix a good lunch.

After lunch we continued with TV and sewing for a while.  Then John and Melissa took the dog for a walk.  I continued watching TV, and might have napped.  Eventually John and Melissa came back and it was a replay of women sewing while John and I watched car shows.

Dinner was also a replay.  We had a good selection of leftovers to choose from.  After dinner was more sewing/TV.  A package came and John and I walked out to the mailbox to get it.  John brought the dog.  The dog was very tired by the time we got back.

The rest of the evening was TV until the in-laws left.  Then it was surfing.

Day 2222

 We got up at 7:30 and did the pet stuff and I had breakfast.  Ellen prepped some bacon and pancakes for everyone, but she didn't tell me about her plans until after I'd eaten.

Eventually John and Melissa showed up.  Daniel was still in bed, but he got up a little later.  Everyone had breakfast and talked.  When breakfast was over Daniel, John, and Melissa went over to the apartment.  I surfed for a while and then got out the LEGO that Isaac had given me.    I didn't get very far before Isaac and his girlfriend showed up.

Shortly after that we all left for Wimberley.  We stopped at "Bald Peak", a hill outside of Wimberley.  After climbing a long steep set of stairs we were rewarded with a fantastic 360 degree view of the area.  We got back in the cars and went to Jacob's Pool.  We'd never been there.  It's a really deep water filled hole.  I'm not sure why anyone would scuba dive in it.

From there we went to a winery outside of Wimberley.  We did some wine tasting.  Ellen and I found two we liked enough to buy bottles of.  There was a food truck there and we had pizza.  The weather was nice - mid 70's.

After that we went home for talk and birthday cake.  As always the Central Market cakes are great.  When the cake was done we talked for a while, then the kids played games and everyone else hit electronic devices.

I fixed mojitos.  They were actually pretty good.  At least that's what Melissa and Isaac's girlfriend said.  Maybe they were just being polite.

That was pretty much it for the rest of the evening.  There really wasn't any dinner.  Eventually the kids got tired of games so the TV was turned onto football.  Everyone turned in a little early because we all have to get up at 6 tomorrow.

Day 2221

 We got up at 7:30 and did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  After breakfast we played with the TV until John and Melissa came over.  We added a couple of apps and looked at all of the free channels that came from LG.  There's about 150 of them.  Between them and the app channels there's no real reason to have DirecTV if you are connected to the internet all of the time.

Eventually John and Melissa came over.  Ellen and Melissa worked on dinner while John and I watched car related shows.  The nephews and the nephew's girlfriend showed up about 2.  We had dinner almost immediately.  There was smoked turkey (really good), Traegerized shrimp (OK), stuffing, mashed, potatoes, etc.  It was all really good.

After dinner we were all in a food coma.  John and I watched TV for a while and then we hooked up the kid's XBox so they could play.  Apparently it's a great game TV.  After a couple of hours everyone was ready for dessert - peach pie.  It was great.  After that it was more games until Isaac and his girlfriend went to their hotel room.  Daniel stayed with us.

John and I reclaimed the TV and watched motorcycles shows until about 10.  Then he went home and I did some cleanup.  Then I went to bed.  I was tired.  I was too tired to opened the presents (six of them) from Hooch's family.  I texted him and said I'd call tomorrow.

Day 2220

 I woke up a little after 6.  I couldn't get back to sleep, probably because last night I fell asleep at 9.  I played games until about 7 and then got up.  After breakfast and pet stuff I went out to the garage.  Ellen went to HEB for some more last minute grocery shopping.

The first thing I did was take all of the packing material for the new TV to the garage.  It was way too big and bulky to keep in the house.  Then I got out the ladder and used it to bring down an old TV box.  By old I mean it was the first flat panel LCD TV we bought back about 2006 or 2006.  I wanted to use it to help build a box for the old LG TV.  John and Melissa want it.

After that I went back to the house.  There wasn't anything else to do until John and Melissa came over, so I surfed.

Eventually they came over.  We planned out how we were going to connect the TV and commenced to do it.  Overall things went well.  John and I lifted the TV without much problem while Melissa connected the cables.  The only problem was we forgot to tighten the lag bolts on the mount.  We lifted the TV off the wall while Melissa tightened them.  Then we hung it back on.  The initialization of the TV took a while, but when it was done everything worked perfectly.

The next step was to pack up the old TV.  John and I carried it out to the garage.  Then all four of us worked on constructing a box for it.  We used pieces of the new TV box to build the base and sides.  Then we built the cover using the old LCD box.  The result works really well.

About halfway through that project I left to go back to the house.  There were plenty of hands to build the box.  I got to work putting the living room back together.  It took quite a while to move furniture and reconnect wires.  I finished that about the time the others finished the box.

Everyone came back to the house and had lunch.  After lunch we sort of broke up into surfing ans sewing.  About 4:30 the new wi-fi antenna showed up.  We took it outside and I held the ladder and John replaced the antenna.  Then Ellen configured everything.  They now have good wi-fi in the apartment again.

John and Melissa came back to the house.  He and I watched TV while Ellen and Melissa fixed dinner.  The new TV is amazing.

Brad called just as we were sitting down to dinner.  I went out to the deck and talked to him for quite a while.  He's doing well.

I went back inside for dinner.  Afterwards we talked for a while and then everyone watched the greatest Christmas movie ever - Die Hard.  Did I mention the new TV is amazing.

John and Melissa went home after the movie.  I did a little surfing and then went to bed.

Day 2219

 We woke up at 8 and got up to do pet stuff and have breakfast.  When that was done I went over to the garage to check on the wifi extender and the phone amplifier.  It turned out that the extender had died.  Ellen ordered another one.  I moved the amplifier to the inside of the apartment.  That improved things somewhat, but the basic problem is that the hardware is flaky.

After that Ellen, Melissa, and I went to Central Market.  It was packed.  There was no where to park.  We ended up parking in the boot store's parking lot.  Of course that meant there were a lot of people inside.  That made getting around inside a chore.  We bought fish, bread, and bakery goods.  Then we left and went home.

By then it was almost noon.  John and Melissa came over and we had lunch and talked.  After surfing John said he was up for working on the TV.  I told him to keep surfing and I went to work clearing the area in front of the TV.  I moved furniture, disconnected and untangled wires, and vacuumed up all of the dust.  It took quite a while.

After that John helped me take down the TV.  I was going to do the wire work myself, but he wanted to help.  We removed all of the old and unused wires from the wall.  Then we disconnected the unused wires from the preamp and connected the new cable to the blu-ray.  Finally we strung the three new HDMI cables in the wall.

That process took hours.  We were both tired when it was done.  The last thing we did was partially unpack the new TV and move the wall mounts from the old TV to the new one.  John went back to surfing and drinking wine.  I spent some time installing the new bottom wire cover.  Then I joined everyone for dinner after making a milk punch.

After dinner we talked and surfed together for an hour or so.  Then John and Melissa went back to the apartment.  We surfed for the rest of the evening.  TV was not an options.

Day 2218

 I woke up a little after 8 and played games until 9:30.  Then Ellen did the pet stuff and I had breakfast.  After that I surfed for a while while Ellen dealt with asshole issues.

Ellen's sister texted to say that they'd be here at 2.  We finished with Devon's ear drops so Ellen made a vet appointment at 5.

When Ellen was finished we left to go to a Christmas craft sale in north Austin.  It was actually fairly neat.  We ended up buying a couple of small items for gifts.  On the way back we stopped at a Japanese market for some soy sauce and sesame seeds.  We also stopped at the gift shop next door and I bought Patty a metal lawn rabbit.

Traffic on Mopac sucked.  There was a truck stopped in the toll lane.  The other three lanes were stop and go because everyone had to look at it.  Assholes.  We stopped at the post office and then went home.  Traffic sucked at the Y, too.

We did some cleanup when we got home, mainly putting things away.  Then we had a late lunch and surfed.  John and Melissa were over an hour late due to traffic.  Surprise, surprise.

I took Devon to the vet while Ellen stayed home to smoke the ham.  The vet said his ears were fine.  The vet said he wasn't too thin, but don't let him get any thinner.

We had dinner when I got home and then talked until about 9.  John is going to deliver some books for Isaac in the morning.  Then we're going to debug the wi-fi in the apartment.  Apparently it's stopped working.

Day 2217

 I woke up a little after 8 and got up after playing games for a while.  After pet stuff and breakfast it was surfing.  I really had nothing of importance to do.  So I helped Ellen with the wash.

I didn't want to work on the RC truck because I wasn't interested in testing and possibly debugging electronics.  Instead I went through version 2 of a search for the TV stand.  I made a careful search of the garage, apartment, the apartment attic, and both storage areas.  I also went through every cabinet and closet in the house.  I couldn't find the stand anywhere.  I give up.

After that disappointing effort I surfed until lunch time.  After lunch I took a walk.  I was a nice warm day with a breeze - perfect for a walk.  When I got back I wasn't overly tired.

I was tired of surfing, so I sat down and watched TV.  That was a lot more enjoyable.  I did have a hard time staying awake at times.

Ellen tried to fix waffles for dinner, but the waffle iron wouldn't work.  So dinner morphed into sausage and hash browns.  After dinner it was more TV and listening to an hour long interview with Elon Musk on YouTube.  It was very interesting.

Day 2216

 I woke up a little after 8 and got up.  I didn't feel like games.  After pet stuff and breakfast it was time for a couple of needed activities.  I called Home Depot while Ellen called her lawyer friend.

After a short fight with the Home Depot phone tree I got a real person.  She was really helpful.  She said that it was very unusual for the delay in delivery.  She opened a "ticket" on the problem and promised resolution within 72 hours.  I hope she's right.

Ellen got the FFL info from the lawyer and I forwarded it to the CG guy.  I also wrote out a check for payment.  Ellen was filling out a huge number of Christmas cards while I was doing this.  When she was done I took everything to the post office.  I had to park on the lawn because the parking lot was completely full.

When I was done there I went to Wally World.  It was packed.  Unfortunately they didn't have the shampoo I came for.  I wouldn't have bought it anyway.  They have completely replaced their checkers with self checkout.  The lines for the two checkout areas had at least 30 people in each.

After that I went home.  Ellen was watching chick flicks and smoking a brisket.  I didn't feel like working on the RC truck, so I watched videos and surfed.

A little before dinner Ellen gave up on the movies and I watched some recorded shows.  I may have napped a little.

Dinner was a couple of snacks.  After dinner Ellen went back to chick flicks and I went back to videos.

Day 2215

 I woke up about 8, played games, and then got up.  It was pretty cold - 41.  I surfed for a while when pet stuff and breakfast was done.  That got old, so I got out the RC truck.

The next part of the assembly was installing the electronics - servos, receiver, motor, and controller.  It was kind of a pain in the ass, especially dealing with routing the wires.  The instructions didn't help any.  I got everything installed, but the next step is testing it.  I stopped there because it all seemed to be turning into work.

I took out the garbage.  While I was doing that I looked for diesel in the driveway.  There definitely was some.  It was spotty though.  I'm not sure the delivery truck got damaged when they ran over the rock or maybe it just had an existing leak.

After that we went to the grocery store.  I wanted to get some cream so I could make a milk punch.  The HEB at Circle C was out of it.  We ended up at the one on 290.  They had only a limited supply.  We ended up buying a few more food items also for the holidays.

When we got home I surfed for a while and then started watching TV.  I watched it for the rest of the day except for the times I was napping.

The shotgun guy called.  He says he needs the name of an FFL.  Then he wants me to send him a check.  I'll try to locate one tomorrow.

Dinner was only a sandwich due to the really late lunch we had.

Day 2214

 I woke up about 6:30 because of a loud thunderstorm.  I couldn't go back to sleep, so I played games until about 8.  Then it was get up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I moved the car to behind the truck.  I also looked in the apartment for the TV stand, but didn't find it.

The delivery guys from Costco got here a little after 9.  It didn't take them long at all to move the TV next to the pinball machines.  The TV is huge and heavy.  I didn't bother to open it up because there's mo way the two of us are going to unbox the thing.  Instead we left.

Our first stop was the post office.  The second stop was a nearby estate sale.  There was something there I wanted to buy, but it was already sold.  We did get some spare wine glasses and a couple of wine books for presents.  The next stop was the new HEB.  We bought a little less than $200 of groceries including a ham and a turkey.  When we got back outside it was raining cats and dogs.

After that we went to the Belterra Tomlinson's.  We got some cat food and treats.  They had some people wrapping presents there for donations, so we had them wrap the books.  The final stops were ACE for BBQ rub and Torchy's for lunch.

When we got back I called the gun dealer.  I'd pretty much decided to buy the gun.  What sealed the deal was that they gave me 10% off MSRP and no sales tax.  That saves over $2,000.  I asked for pictures of the gun.  Later that day after I'd seen the pictures I texted them saying I'd take the gun.

The rest of the day was surfing, a few videos, and lots of TV.  Ellen fixed a frozen chicken dish we got at Trader Joe's.  It was pretty good.

Day 2213

 I woke up a little after 8 today and played games for a half hour.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast it was surfing for a little while.  Of course the Home Depot site said the delivery was delayed until Monday.

We left to go to an estate sale about 10.  The sale opened at 9 and I wanted to let the line go down.  That strategy didn't work.  There was a line of 10 or so people outside when we got there.  It took half an hour or more before we got in.

The sale had a lot of good stuff.  Most of it was priced well.  We'd come for a book case for the guest bedroom.  They still had it.  It is all wood and priced at $75.  We bought it.  It was just small enough to fit in the car when the seats were folded down.  We also bought a couple of other small items.

After loading everything in the car we went to the Armadillo Christmas sale.  It was held outside at the Parmer Auditorium.  It was 78 today, but fortunately it was cloudy.

There were an amazing number of booths, at least 50.  The guy who makes lights out of old electronics was there, but he didn't have anything I liked.  We did find a few small items we liked.  The best was a wooden remote control holder that actually holds remote controls.  When we were finished we ate lunch at Sandy's drive-in.

I left there a little sad.  We spent a lot of time with Lucy in that area - the dog park, the drive-in, the dog stores, the park areas, etc.  I really miss that dog.

After lunch we stopped at Trader Joe's.  We liked some of the stuff we bought there last week, so we bought more of the same.  The Caesar Guerini guys called to say the Revenant was in.  I put them off saying I was driving.  I'll have to call them with a decision tomorrow.  I don't really need the gun, and it's really expensive.  On the other hand I have literally no other use for the money.  It just feels like I'll be wasting a lot of money if I buy it.

When we got home I packed up all the train stuff in the guest bedroom cabinet.  Then I moved it out and put the new bookcase in its place.  All of the Lego vehicles I've built fit on it nicely.  Unfortunately there isn't room for any more.

We watched TV for the rest of the evening.  Dinner was a sandwich.

Day 2212

I woke up at 8:30 and spent an hour playing games.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Just like yesterday, they have postponed the safe delivery until tomorrow.

I did a little bit of surfing, but I really wanted to build the RC truck.  It was a lot of fun yesterday.  I got out the stuff about 11:30.

The next step was building the front axle.  It was essentially the same as the rear axle except for some extra parts like CV joints.  It did have another tiny C clip just like the rear.  I managed to install it without a lot of difficulty.

With the axle done the next step was building up the chassis.  You start with two frame rails and attach fenders, bumpers, and cross members.  I got finished with that step about 3.  It was time to do something else.

Ellen left about 1:30 to go coaching again.

I went to the garage and spent a few minutes modifying the new cable wall cover that I got yesterday.  It's the brush type and I cut some of the interior away to make it easier to string cables.  After that I walked around the place a little bit.  It was warm - high 70's.  I got bit on the ass by two mosquitoes.

When I got back inside I continued prep for redoing the TV cables.  I labeled both ends of each of the three new cables.  That will make connections easier.

Ellen got home a little after I finished doing the labeling.  She ate leftovers.  I wasn't hungry because I didn't eat lunch until 3.  I surfed while she watched chick flicks.  Eventually I fixed frozen lasagna for dinner.

After dinner Ellen continued with the chick flicks and I watched videos.

Day 2211

 I woke up about 8, played games for an hour, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I checked the safe delivery website.  Sure enough, they delayed it another day.

That left me with pretty much nothing to do.  I put out the garbage and took some stuff to the trailer,  Then I surfed.

Surfing got old pretty quickly, so I decided to start on the RC truck.  I opened up the box and unpacked all oft the tools I'd purchased.  It took a while just to get everything set up on the kitchen table to start work on the truck.

I got off to a rocky start.  The first step was the transmission.  I couldn't get it to quite work right.  After a lot of time and effort I got it assembled.  I moved on to the front axle.  That's when I discovered that one of the gears I'd put in the transmission was the wrong one.  I had to take it all apart to replace the gear.  The good news was that it went back together a lot easier and worked a lot better.

The next step was the differentials.  They went together pretty easily.  The last step was the rear axle.  It wasn't hard except for the installation of a tiny C clip.  By the time I was finished I'd spent all of the afternoon working on the truck.  It was time to quit.

Ellen had gone to coach and returned while I was working.  She'd picked up packages at both the post office and the front gate.  One package was the trailer lock membrane switches.   The others were the cables to redo the TV cables.  I'm sick of that TV.  It didn't work again tonight.

Ellen fixed orange chicken for dinner.  There was no TV, so I spent the evening watching videos.  Fuck that TV.

Day 2210

 I woke up at 8 and turned over and went back to sleep until 8:30.  Then it was some games followed by pet stuff and breakfast.  It was warm and lightly raining, so I decided to just finish up some small todo items.

I rearranged some of the stuff in the guest bedroom.  That made room for me to move the D11 off the bed.  I took three big empty Lego boxes to the apartment and put them in the attic.  I also took a bunch of gifts to the trailer.  The final result is that the guest bedroom is ready for guests.

After that I got out the D11 to test it.  Everything worked correctly except for one of the tracks.  It didn't work because I assembled a bogie wrong.  I had to get out the instructions to figure out how to fix it.  Luckily it wasn't hard.  I also need the instructions to remember where the on/off switch was.  After running it for a while I put it away.  I wonder if I'll ever run it again.

The web tracking said that they've delayed delivery of the safe until tomorrow.  We'll see.

By then it was lunch.  I had a sandwich.  Then it was videos for the rest of the day.  I'd intended to start the RC truck, but I lacked the ambition.

Ellen went to coach.  I fixed a frozen chicken parmigiana for dinner.  It was pretty good.

This is another day where I didn't accomplish much.  I'm OK with that.

Day 2209

I woke up at 8, turned over, and went back to sleep until 8:30.  Then it was some games before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.

It was cold again this morning.  I surfed for a little while and then took out a bunch of stuff that needed to go to the garage.  I got some wrapping paper from there and used it to wrap the book we bought yesterday for Patty.  Ellen was smoking some salmon we bought, so I took the book to the post office myself.

The wait at the post office wasn't bad.  After that I went to Costco to look for a TV.  They didn't have the one we wanted in stock.  I called Ellen and told her to order one from either Costco or Best Buy.  She chose Costco.

I messed around a little.  I went to Whole Paycheck and bought some rolls.  Then I went to Spec's to look for flavored bourbon.  They didn't have what I wanted.  That discouraged me, so after that I just went home.

I fixed a turkey sandwich for lunch.  There's a couple of things I could do - work on the gate bearings or test the D11.  I just didn't feel like doing either, so after lunch I surfed instead.  After a while that turned into watching TV.

Ellen fixed me a fish burger and hash browns for dinner.  I really like the Louisiana hot sauce I put on it.

The rest of the evening was TV.

I looked for a delivery time for the safe tomorrow.  There was none, so I'm pretty sure it's not coming tomorrow.  If it doesn't, I'm going to call up and complain.

Day 2208

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a long time.  It was 31 degrees when I wok up.  Eventually it was get up for pet stuff and breakfast.

It was still just 50 when we were finished.  I decided to drive to the estate sale with all of the lighthouse stuff.  It was 30 miles away.  Getting there involved driving on the toll portions of 71 and 130.  I decided to do it just to see the road.  I'm glad I did.  Driving on the freeway at 80 is a lot nicer than driving on the frontage roads with all the stoplights.

We passed the Tesla Gigafactory on the way.  The thing really is huge.  Take one of the huge Wally World distribution centers and triple it or more.

Today was the last day of a four day sale at the estate sale.  Things were really picked over.  What was left was 75% off.  I bought a couple of pieces of yard art.  We also got Patty a book on lighthouses and a nice framed picture of the lighthouse at Yaquina Head.  It was $4 for everything.

We drove back on the Toll road.  It was fun.  We went to Trader Joe's "just to look".  We ended up buying $60 of stuff.  All of it was stuff you don't see at other stores.  We also stopped at the pet store near Fireman's to get cat food.  The new cat food types are successful.  Both cats are starting to clean their bowls again.

The last stop was Cheddars for a late lunch.

When we got home I decided to do some research about buying a new TV.  Ellen reprogrammed the remote to see if it would fix the TV start up problem.  I learned a lot about the new HDMI cables.  Identifying working cables is difficult, maybe impossible.  We measured out how the new TV would look.  I'm actually not sure I want one that big.

Dinner was cold cut sandwiches.  After dinner was TV.  Elle will test out the new remote program when she goes to bed.

Day 2207

 I woke up a little after 8 and played games for quite a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I looked at the state sale website and there were a couple of interesting sales.  One was in Dripping Springs.

After breakfast we left for the Dripping Springs sale.  It was actually 5 miles north on RR12.  There was some interesting things there, but the pricing was weird.  Some things were a good price, others were priced at several times what they were worth.  Unfortunately the things I was interested in fell into the second category.

We went back to Dripping Springs to Tractor supply.  We bought some bird seed and I got a coule of brackets that I may be able to use to put bearings on the gate.

I looked on the web.  Home Depot now says that the safe will be here Tuesday.  We'll see.

We stopped a Tomlinson's on the way home.  We wanted to get cat food, but they didn't have the right kind  We did get kitty litter and another cat toy.  We ate lunch at Legends and stopped at Spec's for simple sugar.  Then it was home.

I was really tired when we got home.  I surfed for a little while and then sat in the recliner and watched TV.  I did that until it was bed time.  Dinner was leftover sausage

Day 2206

 I woke up a little after 8 and played games until a little before 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast it was back to surfing for a while.  I checked the delivery of the safe and it was back to sometime today, no details.

We needed groceries, so we left to get them.  As I was leaving I got a text that CVS had drugs for me.  We stopped there first.  Unfortunately they weren't ready yet.  We continued on to the new HEB.  After that it was on to the post office.  There was a package there from Hooch.  Traffic at the Y was a mess, so we took the back way from the post office.

I was hungry, so we stopped at the Cajun place.  We hadn't stopped there since we got back.  It was really good as usual.  After lunch Ellen wanted to stop at the pet store.  We bough some diatomaceous earth for the ants and an electric squeaky mouse for the cats.  I don't think I've mentioned that the cold nights have driven the ants inside like it does every year.  We stopped at CVS on the way home to pick up the drugs.

When we got hoe I gave the cats their toy and opened the package from Hooch.  It had about a dozen small packages inside, each with a bow.  When I put the under the tree the cats left the toy and started attaching the bows.

I got out the Legos and finished the D11.  There was quite a bit of work left to do.  I decided I'd wait a day to test it out.  It will be very difficult to fix if it doesn't work.

Dinner was a turkey sandwich.  After dinner I turned on the TV.  We no longer use the programmable remote.  We turn on the TV with its remote, and then turn the amplifier and DirecTV by hand.

We spent the evening watching recorded shows.  There wasn't anything worth watching on the broadcast channels.

Day 2205

 I woke up a little after 8, played games for a short time, and then got up for breakfast and pet stuff.  I played games last night until after 1, so it was a short sleep.

When breakfast was finished I loaded up the truck with the shooting stuff.  Then Ellen came out and helped me hitch up the trailer.  It actually went really well.  I manage to use the combination of the mirrors and the backup camera to make an almost perfect approach to the hitch.

After hitching up I pulled the trailer up the driveway to a flat spot and loaded the Ranger.  Of course there was plenty of room on the trailer.  Then we left for the club.  The interchange of 183 and 71 is finally done.  I took the old exit.  It turns out that I could have taken the new exit and gotten off before the toll started.

We got there with no problems.  I stopped after we got off 185 to buy gas for the Ranger.  It was $4/gal for premium.  Fuck Biden.

Unfortunately the main course was being set for a tournament.  We could only shoot a few stations, and they were easy.  We shot the hard course, but it was only 6 stations.  Overall we shot OK.  I used the CG instead of the Perazzi.  I miss not having a recoil reducer.  Ellen is getting better.  I think the lessons are helping.

When we got home I put everything away, including parking the Ranger by the well house and covering it.  Now the truck can go pack in the carport where it belongs.  I was sweaty when I was done.  It was humid and high 70's.  I had lunch and then started watching TV.  At least it turned on.

Dinner was leftover stirfry.  After dinner was more TV.  I got bored about 10 and started too surf instead.  I checked the delivery of the safe.  It's changed from tomorrow to "we have no idea".  Great.

Day 2204

I woke up at 8, played some games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I went out to see if I could get the Ranger to start.

The reason was pretty simple.  The weather is still really nice - it was mid 70's today.  The Ranger has been sitting since I parked it before we left last Spring.  It just won't do to have it sitting unused so long.  I decided to get it running and, if I could, take it to the club tomorrow.  The first job was to find the trailer keys.  That took a while.  I finally found the trailer box keys in the trailer box.  It turns out I never locked it last Spring.

I took the cover up and looked at the battery.  There was some corrosion on top, but it was in the middle of the battery, not near the terminals.  I'm not sure what it was from.  I checked the battery voltage and it was 12.5V.  I turned on the battery switch and tried to start the Ranger.  It cranked a little and then started right up.

I let the engine warm up while I put some stuff away and added a little water to the battery.  Then I got Ellen and we went for a ride around the development.  We drove all the way to the North Madrone entrance and back.  At first the engine ran a little rough, but is smoothed out by the time we got back.

I parked the truck and got the truck keys.  I backed the truck up to the trailer and hooked it up.  The combination of the camera and the practice I been doing backing the truck with the mirrors mad it fairly easy to do.  Unfortunately there was no room to load the Ranger on the trailer without moving the truck and trailer.  I didn't want to do that, so we'll load it tomorrow.

By then it was almost time for Ellen to leave for a lesson followed by coaching, followed by a Christmas party.  I stayed at home.  After lunch and some surfing I went for a walk.  I walked a little less than 3 miles.  Listening to music makes the walk a little nicer.

When I got back I sat on the deck and read a bunch of magazines.  It was too nice to go inside.  Eventually it got a little chilly and I went inside to feed the cats and have dinner - leftover stirfry.

After dinner I wanted to watch TV, but the damn TV wouldn't turn on.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to replace it.  I need to find high quality HDMI cables first.

I ended up spending the rest of the evening watching YouTube videos.  It was actually as interesting as the TV.  Ellen didn't get home until after 7.  She brought some cookies from the party with her.  They were excellent.

Day 2203

 I woke up at 8, but spent hours playing games.  It was after 10 before I was done with pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I went out to put the bearings on the gate.

I took one of the mounts off and took it to the garage to drill.  That's when i discovered that both brackets are too small.  Oh well.

Ellen had to get drugs and mail off her passport application.  So we left and did that.  I also stopped at Home Depot and Lowe's, but they didn't have anything I could use for brackets.  We stopped for lunch at Torchy's on the way home.  I'm disappointed.  They don't have pink stuff anymore.

When we got home I went looking on Amazon for brackets.  They have something I can use, but it's very expensive.  I decided to wait.

After that it was videos for the rest of the day.  Ellen went to coach the kids, so I had leftover meatloaf for dinner.

Day 2202

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little while it was time to take Ellen to get a passport photo.  

After the photo session we went to an oil change place to get a safety certificate for the Audi.  Then it was a stop at Central Market.  I needed bananas.  We also got some other stuff that is better there.  Prices were notably higher, especially meat.  Ellen found a cut of meat that was $50/lb.  I hate Biden.

The last two stops were a gas station and the post office.  When we got home there was a package with Christmas presents from John and Patty inside the gate.

I got out the Lego after we put everything away.  I want to finish it before John and Melissa come.  Later on I found that they aren't going to be here until the 22nd.  I didn't think they'd spend much time here this year.

I forgot to work on the gate today.  Instead I spent the rest of the afternoon watching videos.  Ellen fixed stir fry for dinner.  The flat beans were especially good.

After dinner we watched TV.

Day 2201

 I woke up about 8, played games for a short while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  John and Melissa have made it to Dallas.  That means we need to get things ready for them.

The first activity was cleaning off the kitchen table, the guest bedroom, and the kitchen counter.  Some stuff go put away and some stuff got thrown away.  When that was done I took out the resulting garbage and went to the garage.

I was determined to finish the rifle.  I cleaned off the receiver and the barrel.  I used Flitz to finish it.  That made the cosmetics as good as I could make them.  Then I started to clean the magazine.  When I took off the magazine cap the screw holding it on went flying.  I found it almost immediately, EXCEPT I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE IT.  It's not a regular screw.  It's more a pin than a screw.

I spent a lot of time on my hands and knees looking for the screw.  I put what I'd found in the gunsmith box for later examination.  Eventually I decided to continue cleaning the magazine.  The follower was rusted in.  I damaged it a little getting it out.  I don't think it will compromise function.  It took a lot of time to remove the rust form the follower and the inside of the magazine.

With the magazine finished I cleaned the barrel.  It was really easy.  I put the rifle in the safe along with the spring and follower.  By then it was after 1 and I went in for lunch VERY disgusted.

I logged on to Numrich to look for a new screw.  It took some searching, but I discovered that the mystery part I'd found was the screw.  Oh well.  After lunch I went back out, assembled the magazine, and put the rifle away again.  I now considered the work on it complete.  It's ugly, but it should shoot safely.

I went inside and wrapped presents - the motorcycle lift and two books from an estate sale.  Wrapping a 50 lb lift in an almost destroyed box isn't easy.  After that I called it quits for the day.

I watched videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed steak on the Traeger.  It was  good.  It should be, it cost $10 pound.  One of the videos I watched showed that diesel in Hurricane is $4/gal.  FUCK BIDEN.

After dinner I wanted to watch TV, but it wouldn't turn on again.  I might replace it when John gets here.  I ended up surfing and playing games.

Day 2200

 We got up at 7 today.  After pet stuff and breakfast we left for Hog Heaven.  When we got there we endured about half an hour on "how to pull targets".  Then we went to one of the trap/skeet fields.

Over the day we pulled several 50 rd trap competitions and several 50 round skeet competitions.  It was fun, but pretty tiring and a little boring.  It did help that most of the day was cloudy and 70.

We had lunch at the roach coach that came in.  Two hamburgers, a fry, and two lemonades were $40.  Fuck Biden.

We were done about 3.  I'd wanted to go to Dripping Springs to sit and drink. Unfortunately CVS had some drugs for me.  They send two texts about it today, so we went to pick them up instead.

When we got home I was tired.  I did some surfing.  The TV wasn't working again.  Dinner was leftover pizza.

After dinner was videos (no TV, remember).  I went to bed a little early.

Day 2199

 I woke up at 8, mainly because Ellen did.  She got up and did the pet stuff.  I got up a little later and had breakfast.

Ellen had gotten up because she had a lesson this morning.  It was raining a little in Dripping Springs, so she delayed it an hour.  I surfed for a while because I felt lazy.  I went ouot to the garage about the time she left.

I went back to work on the rifle.  I cleaned off the remainder of the receiver.  Then I cleaned the loading gate.  That pretty much completes making the rifle functional.  It won't be pretty, but it should shoot.  The only problem is that the action isn't as smooth as it should be.  I might try operating it some more to smooth it out.

I started to clean the rust off the barrel.  I didn't get very fa before the battery on the Dremel died.  I plugged it in and called it quits for the day.  I wasn't done accomplishing things though.  I replaced the plastic box in the truck bed.  It broke on the way from Oregon.  I'd gotten another at an estate sale, so I transferred the contents and threw away the old box.  Then I went inside, took out the garbage, and cleaned the kitchen counters.

I fixed myself some lunch and then started surfing and watching videos.  Eventually I got bored, so I got out the Lego.  I finished step 7 and sorted the parts for step 8 (the last step).  The D11 is complete now except for the blade.  Step 8 is nothing except building and attaching the blade.  There's an amazing number of pieces involved.

Dr. Cox's office called while I was building.  They say I need a CPAP machine.  They're going to set me up with an appointment.

Ellen fixed sausage and pancakes for dinner.  I used prickly pear syrup.  It was OK.

After dinner I started watching TV.  Sort of.  I ended up surfing at the same time.  It's the only way I can stand watching something with commercials.

We're supposed to be at Dripping Springs at 8 tomorrow to work a shoot.  Apparently I need to be there to be instructed on how to pull targets.

Day 2198

 I woke up at 8 and played games for a while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast it was surfing.  I was waiting for an Estate sale to open.

We left for the sale about 11.  The sale was about 4 miles west of Bee Cave.  We went up a back way that started with Trautlein road and headed north.  We stopped at Tomlinson's first to get some crazy ant killer.  They've been attacking the cat food.

The sale was fun.  There was a big garage and a big house.  I bought some yard art and three sockets at the garage.  Ellen bought a couple of small things at the house.  We went to Bee Cave next, but didn't stop.  There just wasn't any place we wanted to stop.

We drove to the post office to pick up mail.  I had to stand in line for 20 or 30 minutes to get a package.  Then we went to Jack Allen's for lunch.  It was great as usual.  After a stop at the new HEB we went to Walgreen's to pick up Ellen's drugs.  By then it was almost time for Ellen to go coach the kids.

I spent until dinner time surfing.  I had frozen pizza for dinner.  After dinner it was TV and videos.

One note.  I forgot to mention yesterday that the eye doctor called.  I have an appointment for Jan 6.  I hope there's time to fix my eyes before we leave.

Day 2197

 We woke up, did the pet stuff, loaded Devon into a carrier, and left for the vet.  We got a little bit of a late start and were about 10 minutes late.  

We told the vet about Devon's weird behavior.  It's a little worrying that he's lost a pound since he was last there.  He definitely has an ear infection.  She gave us two drugs to give him.  He's going to love it.

When that was done we went to the cafe in Dripping Springs for breakfast.  It was good as usual.  They now have a heated case for their pastries.  I had a warm cinnamon roll that was great.

The next stop was ACE.  We bought 40 lbs of bird seed - it was on sale.  I also spent $5 to replace the lost hardware on John's Christmas present.  After that it was home.

I wanted to install the bearings that I got yesterday on the gate.  Unfortunately I didn't have a big enough drill bit.  I ordered one.  It will be there tomorrow.

I decided to do more work on the rifle.  I cleaned off all of the Blu I'd put on yesterday.  Then I gave the action another 50 cranks.  When I was done the action didn't stick anymore and the trigger safety worked.  I'm becoming a fun of that Blu stuff.

I used the Dremel to remove a bunch of the rust on the receiver.  It's gone from everywhere except the left side where it was heaviest.  I soaked it in Blu and left it for the day.

That was the end of the work for the day.  I spent most of the rest of the afternoon surfing and watching videos.  I should have taken a walk, it was a nice day, but I didn't.

Dinner was coconut shrimp.  We spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

A package came at 7.  Ellen didn't tell me until 9.  When I got out there someone had stolen it.  Then dumbass who delivered it had stood the package on a fence post outside the fence rather than putting it inside the fence.  It was easy to see and steal.

Day 2196

 I woke up about 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I surfed for a little while while I waited for it to warm up.

When it got up to about 60 I went to the garage.  I had a good day working on the rifle.  I got the action to work by thoroughly cleaning things, filing rust off some of the inside parts, and rapidly working the action 50 times.  I used a glove for that.  It still sticks, but not much. 

I got the hammer working by hammering it open and closed a few times.  Then I used the Dremel to remove the rust scale from the sides.  The hammer looks ugly, but it works fine.  The only non-functional things left were the trigger safety and the loading gate.  I decided to use the Blu cleaning solution.  It got the safety loosened up some, but it still wasn't 100% reliable.  I decided to soak the safety and receiver in Blu and leave it.  I'll work on the loading gate later, it mainly needs rust removal.

I went inside and had lunch.  Then I surfed for a while.  About 3 I went out for a walk.  I used my Sony ear buds listening to music from my phone.  It worked really well.  I was tired when I got back.  The watch said I'd walked 2.5 miles.

Ellen left to coach the kids.  I surfed until dinner - left over meat loaf.  I wanted to watch TV, but it wasn't working.  I unhooked it and spent the rest of the evening watching YouTube videos.

When Ellen came home she said there were packages at the gate.  I went out and got two small ones and the motorcycle lift for John.  It was so heavy I only got it half way to the house before had to get the cart.

When I got the lift inside the box had a hole in it. Sure enough there were hardware parts missing.  We'll be going to ACE tomorrow.

Day 2195

 I woke up about 8, played some games, and then got up for cat stuff and breakfast.  After that I did medical stuff.

I went back to the WellCare website.  This time instead of trying to log in I tried to set up an account.  It allowed me to do so.  That tells me that there stupid website can't distinguish between a member that has a login and one who does no.  Idiots.  The good news was that I didn't have to be on hold with their help line forever.

The second call was to the eye doctor.  They said I couldn't get an appointment without a referral.  I called Texan Eye.  I was on hold for 15 minutes, but they said they'd get me a referral.  They called back later to say they would send the referral tomorrow.

I was feeling pretty good.  I went to the garage to work on the rifle.  I've come to the realization that at this point the rifle is ruined, so anything goes.  The action was still locked up.  I'd cleared the problem with the Marlin with the judicious use of the hammer, so I decided to do the same here.  I hit the loading gate a light tap and that freed it.  Yeah.  Then I started pounding on the riser behind the bolt.  I had to pound on it pretty hard, but eventually I got it to go all the way down.  That allowed me to open the action part way.

The hammer was also stuck.  I pounded it back part of the way.  I still couldn't free it.  I then pounded it back what I think was all of the way.  I stuck there.  I had to pound on it some more to make it go back forward.  There's quite a bit of rust on the back of the hammer.  I was going to take it off with a brush on the Dremel tool, but its battery was dead.  I put the battery on the charger and called it a day.  It's working a lot better than I thought it ever would.  I might be able to get the action fully working tomorrow.

I went back inside to surf and have lunch.  It was nice today - 70 and sunny.  I decided to go for a walk.  I walked out to the end of Madrone and back.  The whole distance was probably a little more than a mile, but I was tired when I got back.  My back hurt, too.  That's probably because I have this big gut.

I felt like Legos, so I got out the D11.  I finished step 6.  It ends with putting the cab on the chassis.  The result is a pretty big vehicle.  It will get bigger when I add the blade and the digger.  I also sorted the parts for step 7.  There isn't as many as in the other steps.  I'm getting close to the finish.

Ellen fixed meat loaf for dinner.  After dinner I watched the Seahawks lose.  Actually I watched YouTube videos and glanced at the game.  They lost, but I had fun watching D11 videos.

Day 2194

 I woke up at 7:30, turned over and went back to sleep until a little past 8.  Then it was some game playing before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.

It was much warmer today and after breakfast I went out to the garage to work on the rifle.  It was depressing.  The rifle is totally trashed.  Even if I do get it completely cleaned up it won't look great.  I used a brass brush on the Dremel to clean off a little rust.  It comes from the screws in the receiver.  Every screw head has been trashed.

After working on the outside of the rifle for a while it occurred to me that all that work is pointless if the rifle no longer works.  It's locked up solid, and the rust on the screws means that it's impossible to get apart.  I gave up on the cosmetics and worked to free up the inside.  I loaded the inside with penetrating oil.  Then I used the heat gun to heat it up and put in more.  I'm going to let it sit and see if it frees up anything tomorrow.  It was encouraging that the hammer loosened up a little while I was applying the oil.

I went back inside and did a little surfing.  I was going to die of boredom if I did that all day, so I decided to go to Costco.  There were a couple of items on sale that we wanted.  The parking lot was crowded, but we got a space up front.  When we checked out there was only one person in front of us in line.  All in all a great Costco stop.

We ate lunch at Fireman's.  I wanted to stop there once more before Burger King ruins them.  We went to the cookie store for dessert.

When we got home I measured the pins on the gate actuator.  Then I went inside and ordered bearings that fit them.  I'm hoping the they will install easily and the gate will open smoother.

That was it for the day.  When I went back inside Ellen was on a chick flick marathon.  I think she spent 8 hours or more watching them.  I surfed and later on watched videos.  Dinner was leftover turkey and mashed potatoes.  It was really good.  The Traeger is great.

Day 2193

 I woke up at 8, played games for a little while,and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was cold this morning, 45 degrees.  I turned up the heat in the house and checked the furnace filters.  Yup, they were filthy.

After breakfast we did a little surfing.  Then it was time to go out to do errands.  The first stop was Lowe's.  We got furnace filters, a string of lights to replace the burnt out ones, and hangers and a timer for the baby Yoda lights.  The next stop was the pert store for cat food.  We were down to the last can.  We also stopped at the post office and picked up several days of mail.  The last stop was HEB for a resupply.  Traffic was pretty light everywhere.  I guess everyone was tired after yesterday's Black Friday.

When we got home I went through the mail.  The Medicare drug plan wanted me to log into their website to validate the new card.  Unfortunately I'd forgotten the password and they wouldn't let me reset it.  I bet I'm on hold forever on Monday.

Most of the rest of the afternoon was surfing.  I got tired of that and watched TV instead.  Dinner was a frozen enchilada.  It wasn't too bad.  After dinner was more TV.

Day 2192

 I woke up at 8 and played game until after 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went out to the garage and brought in all of the Christmas stuff.

I set up the tree and then put up the lights on the deck and on the front gate.  No matter how neatly I coil the lights up they are always a pain to untangle.  One of the deck strings is half dead.  I'll probably buy another string tomorrow.

While I was doing that Ellen was putting the ornaments on the tree.  We have a lot of them.  They look really good though.

Lunch was a turkey sandwich.  Imagine that.  After lunch I did some internet shopping.  I didn't buy anything.  I just looked for stuff that I could put on a list for Melissa.  I also did a little surfing.

When I got out dinner for the cats we couldn't find Devon.  In fact, we hadn't seen him since this morning.  We looked all over - all the rooms, all the closets, and even some of the cabinets.  I did a second check of my closet.  When I turned around to leave he was standing behind me.  We have no idea where he was.

Amazon delivered a couple of Blu-Rays I'd ordered. We watched one after dinner - Ellen fixed hamburgers on the Traeger.  It was really funny and well worth the $10.

After the movie I searched through 3 days of every movie channel on DirecTV.  They are all free this weekend.  I only found a couple that I might have wanted to watch.  I've already got too many recorded to record any more.

After a little more surfing it was time to go to bed.

Day 2191

 I woke up about 7:30.  Ellen got up to start the turkey and I played games.  She came back to bed and we both played games for a while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.

Ellen sat down in front of the TV and watched chick flicks for hours.  I surfed and did some internet shopping, but didn't buy anything.  I made myself a drink which led to cleaning out the seasoning area of the kitchen cupboard.  I threw away some outdated stuff, cleaned up the spilled spices, and put everything back.  Now you can actually see what's there and access it.

Dinner was ready about two.  It was really good.  The turkey came out perfect.  I just had the mashed potatoes, but Ellen fixed herself cranberries and sweet potatoes.

When dinner was done I cleaned up a lot of the pots and pans as well as cleaning most of the counters. I also made two trips to the garbage can and two trips outside to dump greasy water.  It was 60 out, but a brisk wind made it feel colder.

Tony called after dinner.  Amazing.  He sounded OK and reasonably sane.  From what he said I gathered he's still at Yo's.  Of course he didn't deal any money plans and refuses to get money from the government.  I tried to encourage him to do so.

After the phone call I watched part of a football game.  The Cowboys lost.  Yeah.  Then I went back to shopping and surfing.  We left the TV on, but neither of us watched it.

Day 2190

 I woke up about8 and played games until after 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went out to the garage.  Ellen came out a little bit later.  She was doing preparations for Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Ellen worked on rifles while I worked on pistols.  I was really disappointed about 1.  I worked for quite a while cleaning it up.  I had it finished and it looked good.  Unfortunately when I test fired it it broke.  It's an old, cheap pistol that isn't worth paying to have fixed.  I may take it apart just for enjoyment someday.

The rest of my work went pretty well.  Ellen did fine also except for the instances where she didn't listen to what techniques I told her to use.

When we were done Ellen went back to the house.  I packed everything away in the safe.  It's a very tight fit.  We had another late lunch.  It's really nice to have that all done though.

We spent the afternoon and evening surfing.  I watched some videos.  Ellen did a little more meal prep.  The TV wouldn't turn on again.  I think it's because the programmable remote fucks it up somehow.  From now on we won't be using it.  That will make turning things on a pain, but it's better than not having a TV.

Day 2189

 I woke up at 9 and got up immediately.  The water people were supposed to be here sometime between 10 and 2.  Ellen and I spent some time cleaning the kitchen and under the sink.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  I logged on and tried to setup another eye appointment.  They didn't call back.

After breakfast I went out to the garage.  I spent an hour or more cleaning the Astra.  When I was done you could see a few places that had rusted, but it operated perfectly.  Ellen came out and started working on a .22.  I started to install the safe shelving.  About that time the water people showed up.  Ellen went inside to lock up the cats, do the wash, and wait for the water guys to get to the reverse osmosis machine.  I finished the safe, the .22 she was working on, and started another.  By then it was lunchtime, so I went inside.

The water guys finished up and left.  When we finished lunch we went back out to the garage.  We worked another two hours.  I got one pistol done and another half done.  Ellen finished three more rifles.  She called it quits.  I loaded up the safe with the things we'd cleaned and locked it up.  We still have another day's work.  Then the only thing left will be the trashed lever action.

An order from Amazon came.  It included anew silverware holder.  I washed it out.  Hopefully we'll be able to use it tomorrow.

We surfed and watched TV until dinner.  Dinner was leftover meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  It was still really good.

After dinner was more TV and surfing.

Day 2188

 We got up at 7:40 because Ellen had an 8:45 doctor's appointment.  I took off all of the crap from the sleep study and put it in the return box.  Then we left for the doctor's.

I sat outside while Ellen had her appointment.  When she was done we went to Lowe's and bought some rust remover.  I near as I can tell, no one in Austin sells Kroil, so I ordered some.  We shipped off the sleep test stuff and then we went to a blood draw place so Ellen could have her blood tested.  By then it was 10, so we had breakfast at Jim's.  Then we went home.

When we got home we went out to the garage to start day 2 of the great gun cleanup.  Ellen started on her 28 ga and I started on the Marlin lever action.  I discovered the problem was a sticky hammer.  I fixed it and put it in the clean gun pile.  Then I didthe final cleaning of a couple of other long guns.  When she was finished cleaning I put Ellen's 28 ga back together.

After that we split tasks.  Ellen cleaned 3 shotguns.  Then I showed Ellen how to clean rifle barrels.  I started refurbishing the safe shelves.  They were stained and warped from the water.  Apparently the water had run along the outside wall and into the safe.  We hadn't noticed.  I lso attached a shelf to the middle of the second shelf to reinforce it.  It was badly warped.

Ellen cleaned several .22's while I was doing that.  She's getting pretty good at it.  That's good, because there are 4 to go.  Fortunately the only barrel with rust damage so far was the 97.  For all I know it was damaged when I purchased it.

By then it was 4.  I decided we'd done enough for the day.  We really made good progress.  The last thing I did was open the Astra.  I had to hit the mag release and the slide release with a hammer to unjam them.  I took the slide off and it looked good inside.  It will probably be shootable, but there will be rust pitting.

We went back inside and surfed.  I has a HEB salad for dinner.  After dinner I watched TV.

Day 2187

 Last night was uncomfortable.  I had to sleep mainly on my back because of the sleep study apparatus.  The tube in my nose kept waking me up every time I moved.  I have to do it again tonight.

I woke up a little after 8 and played games for about an hour.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I tackled a group of 6 small tasks that needed doing.  Things like replacing a temperature sensor battery and improving the trailer hatch lock.  I was feeling good having done all that when .....

Ellen came in.  She'd opened the safe in the guest apartment.  She said all of the guns were rusty.  FUCK.  I went outside to look.  There had definitely been water in the safe.  I started to survey the damage.  Of the many pistols, five had significant damage.  The Astra Sig clone is a complete loss.  It can probably be made to shoot, but it looks like crap.  The one that hurt the most is one of the Colt clones.  It doesn't have much damage, but what it has has completely ruined its value.

The long guns were a lot worse.  One model 97 was significantly damaged.  About half the other guns have at least a little noticeable cosmetic damage.  The worst gun by far was the Legendary Lawmen commemorative.  It's now a significantly damaged shooter if it can be made to shoot at all.

I only tried to make three guns operation.  The first was a Savage .17.  I worked forever to get it to function.  It's working fine now though.  The second was Ellen's 20 ga. sxs.  It mainly works and I suspect by tomorrow it will be fine.  The third was a Marlin lever action.  It's locked open right now and I have no idea why.  I'm hoping the penetrating oil will loosen it up by tomorrow.

I still have a lot of work to do.  I'm going to be cleaning 25 barrels or so.  I also need to make sure that all of those guns still operate.  FUCK.

Ellen worked beside me on all of this, which was great. We worked until after 6.  She's got a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning.  We'll go to that and then start work on the guns again.

We took showers when we were done and threw our gun oil stained clothes in the wash.  We wpent what was left of the evening watching TV.

Today definitely sucked.

Day 2186

 I woke up at 8 and played games until after 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was surfing for a couple of hours.  I wanted to do some errands, but Ellen's asshole was giving her grief.  Eventually it ended and we left.

The first stop was ACE.  They had the Traeger turkey grilling kit that Ellen likes.  They also had bird seed on sale.  Then we drove to Sam's club.  We had a coupon for a free year's membership.  We walked through the place, but didn't buy anything.  We'll be back though after Thanksgiving.

We  were going to stop at the sandwich shop there, but it died of COVID.  We stopped at the pizza place instead.  It was good as usual.  The last stop was HEB for a couple of items we forgot yesterday.  On the way home the tire inflation alarm went off in the car.  I'd been meaning to check them, but hadn't done it.

When I got home I filled up the bird seed containers and inflated the car tires to the max recommended.  They were warm, so that wasn't really max.  I'll check them tomorrow.

The sleep test was in the driveway.  I read the instructions.  It's going to be a pain in the ass.  I'll start it tonight.

Cooper had gotten in the pantry and pigged out.  I'm going to install the door latch tomorrow.  I should have done it this morning.

Ellen Traegerized shrimp for dinner.  They were really good.  After dinner I watched TV and surfed at the same time.

Day 2185

 I woke up about 8, played games until after 9, then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  My first activity was to sign up online for an appointment with the eye surgeon about my floaters.  We had a list of errands to run, so after that we left.

The first stop was gas.  The second was Lowes for a door knob.  Cooper has learned to open the pantry door.  That means he gets lots of extra treats.  Lowes didn't have what we wanted, so it was off to Home Depot.  They did have what we wanted.  I'll need to do some installation work though.

After that it was Academy.  I was going to buy a safe, but they didn't have the right size.  So we stopped at the post office and then the new HEB.  We bought all of the rest of the Thanksgiving groceries.  The last stop was an estate sale.  I bought a rusted wrench for yard art.

When we got home Ellen fixed hot dogs for lunch.  I did a little looking online for safes, no joy.  After that I started updating my Surface computer.  It had a long list of updates, because it hadn't been updated for 7 months.  It took two hours.

I worked on the D11 during the update.  I got about half of step 6 completed.  The subassembly I'm working on is starting to look like a cab.  I tried to get some Medicare info.  I went through a long phone tree only to end up with a message saying their computers were down.

Ellen was watching chick flicks.  I sat down in the recliner and surfed.  Ellen put some Costco meatloaf in the oven to warm up and we had that for dinner.  It was good.  After dinner it was more chick flicks.  I fell asleep.  Eventually I woke up and we watched a little Gold Rush before going to bed.

Day 2184

 I woke up about 8, played some games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  My doctors appointment today was a 11 at Balcones.  That meant we had to leave a little after 10.  I surfed until it was time to leave.

Traffic was pretty light and moving about 10 over the speed limit.  It was interesting to note that the "not crowded" price for the express lane is now $.70.  I think it started at 10 or 15 cents.  It's also scheduled to increase soon.  The traffic and speed meant that we got to the doctor about 20 minutes early.

Amazingly I didn't have to fill out any paperwork.  More amazingly they took me in about 5 minute after I got there.  A tech examined my eyes and prepped the left one.  I still see fine in my right, but my left could barely read two lines above the 20/20 line on the chart.  I waited for the eye to dilate and then they put me in a small room with the machine.

The doctor came in a few minutes later.  When he looked at my eye he said "it really needs this".  The procedure itself only took a couple of minutes.  When he was finished I asked about not seeing very well after the computer.  He said it was dry eyes.  He also gave me the name of a doctor that removes floaters.  He said it's a really safe procedure with little side effects.  I'm going to call the guy tomorrow.

After the doctor we went back to Whole Paycheck to return an Amazon package.  We also went through the store, but didn't buy much.  Then we went to Costco for water and hearing aid batteries.  The final stop was Central Market for Thanksgiving food.

When we got home the gate opener didn't work.  I removed the battery and tested the charger.  It seemed to be working.  I put the battery on a charger even though it was a 95%.  I went inside and had lunch while it was charging.

After lunch I went back out and installed the battery.  I also increased the stall force on the opener.  After that the opener worked.  I didn't stop there.  I opened up the charger box.  There was a wasp nest in there along with a live wasp.  I killed the wasp and cleaned out the box.  Then I sealed the holes the wasps used.  Finally I lubricated the gate hinges, opener ends, and the opener with silicon spray.  The gate seemed to work smoother after that.

Yo called while I was working.  I told him to call back later.  he didn't.

Ellen left to work with the kids just as I finished.  I went back inside and started work on the D11.  I finished step 5 and sorted the parts for step 6.  This thing is going to be big.

I had dinner after I finished the Lego - frozen pizza.  Then it was TV and some game playing for the rest of the evening.

Day 2183

 I woke up about 8, played some games, and then got p for pet stuff and breakfast.  My first doctors appointment was a noon, so I did some work on the D11.  I got a good portion of the fifth step done.  I also went out to the garage and finished putting the heron lamp together.

We left for the doctor's about noon.  The CT scan didn't take long, maybe half an hour.  After a stop at the post office we drove over to the A and W on Packsaddle.  We ate lunch there.  It was OK, but not great.  After that we went to the Urology place.  We were about a 1/2 hour early, so we just surfed in the parking lot.

The meeting with the urologist didn't take long.  The news wasn't good.  The PSA count went from 7.6 to 9.  He said we could wait and watch, or do a MRI.  I decided to wait and made another appointment in March.

After that we went home.  Ellen had to get ready to go teach the kids.  I did a little more work on the D11 until dinner time.  Dinner was some cheese and meat we bought a while back at HEB.

After dinner I was tired of the D11, so I watched TV.

Day 2182

 I woke up about 8, played some games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I started the wash and got out the D11.

I finished step 4.  It took a while as I had about half the arts left to assemble.  That also completes volume 1 of the instructions.  With the wheels attached the D11 is now considerably wider and taller than it was at the end of step 3.  I got out the pieces for step 5.  It's going to be another complicated one.  I really didn't want to get started on it, so I got out the three bags of tread parts and put them together.  It was 116 pieces.  The track isn't used until step 7 though.

Ellen wanted to go to the grocery store.  I headed towards the new HEB, but some asshole hauling an oversize load were blocking the road.  Ellen found out later that their truck didn't have the power to putll the load up the hill.  I turned around and we went to the Circle C HEB.

The store was pretty crowded and most people were buying full carts of stuff.  We bought some frozen food, bread, and bananas.  I told Ellen she should consider doing Thanksgiving shopping early  There were lots of empty shelves.  Fuck Biden.

We went home and put the groceries away.  It was after 3, so I had a very late lunch.  I surfed and watched TV until dinner time.

Ellen fixed pork chops.  They were really good.  After dinner I tuned into part of a Tarheel's game.  They won.  The rest of the evening was surfing.

Tomorrow is a doctor day.  Two appointments.

Day 2181

 I woke up a little after 8, played some games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I surfed a little and then got out the D11.

I finished the third group of parts and sorted the parts for the fourth part.By then I was tired of it and it was time for lunch.  Lunch was leftover brisket and pizza.  After that I decided to go out to the garage and finish up the heron lamp.

I spent quite a while going through my miscellaneous parts bins looking for things I might use.  I came up with three alternatives, and after a little prototyping settled on one.  Of course that one involved looking for special sized screws and nuts.  That's always time consuming.  I eventually got everything assembled.  There was epoxy involved, so it won't be done until tomorrow.

When I got back inside there was a text saying call to schedule a sleep study.  I leave a message and they called back a little later.  Apparently they are mailing me some stuff.  I'm supposed to use it for two days and then send it back.  Hot dog.

I did a little more surfing and then had dinner - Ellen fixed sausage and fries.  I wanted to watch TV, but Ellen didn't listen to me.  The TV quit yesterday and I told her to tur off the power for 24 hours.  Apparently shutting off the switch was too much work, so she didn't.  Therefore, no TV until tomorrow.  I watched youtube for a while, but that got boring.  I got out the D11 instead and spent the rest of the evening on it.

Yesterday morning Devon got up in a snit.  He's been hissing, chasing, and whacking at Cooper ever since.  It's getting old.

Day 2180

 I woke up a little after 8 and stayed in bed playing games until after 9.  After that it was pet stuff and breakfast.  We left for Circle C park as soon as we had eaten.

It was a nice day, 70 degrees and sunny.  It's the first time we'd been there since Lucy died.  Walking there made me miss Lucy a lot.  We went because there was water in Slaughter Creek.  Everything was nice and green.  There were 2 or 3 plant types that we'd never seen growing in the park before.  There were a few people, but it wasn't crowded.  We walked all the way around the park.  It was nice.

We went to the post office and picked up the mail - bills and investment statements.  One investment made $140K in October.  That was almost exactly the amount that Intel lost.  Easy come, easy go.  Then we went to the Italian place for lunch.  I wanted a place to sit outside, drink, and enjoy myself.  It fit the bill exactly.  When lunch was over we went home.

I have a little more work to do on the heron lamp.  I blew it off and worked on the D11 instead.  I had fun.  In fact, I had to stop myself when I found I was getting into "get the job done" mode rather than "enjoy the process" mode.

After that I surfed until dinner - leftover pizza from lunch.  After that it was a little more surfing and then TV.  We watch a lot of recorded shows.  It's so nice to fast forward through the commercials.

I finished up the evening with a little more surfing.  All in all it was a nice relaxing day.  I needed one.

Day 2179

 Ellen woke me up with her game playing about4:30.  I couldn't go back to sleep, so I played games until about 8.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went out to the garage and built the lamp for the heron sculpture.  It came out pretty good.

When I was finished with that we went to the electric vehicle show at Circuit of the Americas  It was pretty interesting.  There were electric cars, electric bikes, and even electric motorcycles.  Ellen test rode a smaller Rad bike.  She fell down going around a corner and they wouldn't let her ride anymore.  I've come to the realization that it isn't the bike, she just doesn't know how to ride one.  I'm not sure what to do about that.

We decided not to eat there.  The choices were limited and the prices were high.  We went to Pei Wei instead.  They let you sit outside, but not inside.  It wasn't as good as it used to be, but it was still OK.  We made a quick stop at the Sprouts grocery, but it didn't have anything interesting.  By then I'd timed out, so we went home.

I did some surfing while Ellen watched a chick flick.  Then I started working on the D11.  I carefully checked over all of the gearing.  It's correct, so I resumed building.  I finished step 2 and sorted the parts for step 3.  There were a lot of them.  Then I did a few pages of step 3 before I called it quits.

Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner I watched a couple of movies on Netflix.  By then it was time for bed.

It's really nice being able to do stuff without having to worry about undone chores.

Day 2178

 We got up at 7:30, got dressed, and left for my doctor's appointment.  I got there in time and spent about 20 minutes getting my blood drawn.

After that we stopped at Walmart.  I was looking for stuff to make my heron lamp.  They didn't have what I wanted, so we went to Home Depot.  They did, except for DEF.  We got that at Lowe's.  The last stop was the donut shop on Brodie.  We got donuts and breakfast croissants.  We ate the croissants in the car (we were hungry) and left the donuts for later.

I got home ready to do the spraying.  That's when it started to go wrong.  I loaded up the sprayer.  When I turned it on and tried to spray the sprayer handle started leaking badly.  After some surfing it was off to Lowe's to get a replacement.  I bought two.  When we got back home I started to replace the handle.  That's when I noticed that some asshole had stolen parts out of the package.  They'd stolen parts out of the other one, too.  That meant another 24 mile trip to Lowe's.  They had three left.   One was missing parts.  I bought the other two.

It took two hours from the time we first got home until I was back with a usable replacement.  I was pissed.  I replaced the sprayer and finally got to start spraying.  On the bright side the new sprayer is the best I've ever had.

It took about 2 hours to spray everything.  I didn't even used the spray nozzle on the back, I just used the wand.  I did most of it slowly driving the tractor along.  It worked well.

I was tired, hungry, and didn't feel well when I was done.  I put my clothes in the washer and took a long, thorough, shower.  Then I had a really late lunch.

I was tired and felt like shit, so I sat in the recliner and napped.  Ellen woke me upfor dinner - chicken fingers.

After dinner we watched Zombieland 2 on blu-ray.  I'd forgotten how good the TV is with a 4K course.

When teh movie was over I did a little Lego and then went to bed.

Day 2177

 The phone woke me up about 4:30 for some alarm about a kidnapped child.  I managed to get back to sleep until the weather radio woke me up with the same message.  I gave up and played games until 8.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.

We left for my doctor's appointment about 8:30.  When I got thee they had me fill out a form with the same information if input into the computer program to confirm the appointment.  I sat around for a short time and then they put me in a room where I sat around some more.  Eventually the doctor came in.  He commented about my weight and the risk of Diabetes.  He also said he thought I needed a CPAP.  He's making me an appointment for one.

He looked at my left hand and said I should see a surgeon.  He gave me a name.  I might do that.

I thought I had an eye appointment at 11:00.  I was wrong.  Fortunately I'd asked Ellen to call while I was waiting.  The appointment is next Thursday.  That means I'll have to reschedule a urologist appointment.  Oh well.

When we were done we decided to go to the mall.  I wanted to go to the Lego store.  I'm glad I did.  They had a new large model of a D11 dozer that is motorized.  It should match my other big Lego's.  I bought the last one they had.  We walked around the mall for a while, but didn't see anything we wanted.  we ate lunch at the Cheesecake factory and went home.

It was still windy, so I started on the D11.  There are 8 groups of parts.  I sorted and finished the first group.  I sorted the second group and finished about half of it before I got tired.  It's really fun.

I had a HEB salad for dinner.  After that I surfed and watched TV.

Day 2176

 We woke up about 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went out to get ready to spray.

I got out the sprayer and tested it.  It worked fine.  Yeah.  That's as far as I got.  It was just too windy to spray.  So I got out the pole chainsaw Instead.  

There were three rather large broken branches in the back yard.  Two were by the playhouse and the other was in the opposite corner of the yard.  I cut them all down, cut them up, and hauled the pieces off into the woods.  By then I was a little tired, so I put everything away.

On the way back to the house I decided to look at the downed tree in the side yard.  It was a 10" tree with a lot of branches.  It looked like it would be fun to cut up though.  I went back to the garage and got everything out again.

I was right, it was fun to cut up.  I left about 8 feet of the trunk bent over and sticking out of the ground.  I think it looks better than a hole in the tree line.  Cutting up the branches and hauling them off into the woods wasn't any fun at all.  By the time I was finished I was hot, tired, and sweating again.  I was also bleeding from a minor cut on my arm. 

While I was working on the tree Ellen was cutting dead branches off the rosemary bush.  It's almost completely dead.  I waited inside until she was done.  I wanted to go to Goodwill to get a measuring cup for the poison.  We also had a lot of stuff to take to them.

We stopped at Randall's first.  We bought some items that HEB doesn't carry.  We left the stuff ant Goodwill, but I forgot to buy a measuring cup.  Crap.  The last stops were a hamburger place and the post office.  The property tax bill was there.  $8,000.  They have the place assessed at $550,000.

The wind had died down some by the time we got home.  I was sore and tired, so I took a shower.  Ellen went to the gun club.

Dinner was one of the frozen dinners we bought at Randall's.  After that I watched TV and read soe of the magazines that piled up while we were gone.  There's still a big pile left.

I have two doctor's appointments tomorrow - 9 and 11.  There won't be any spraying tomorrow.  That's OK, it's supposed to be windy again.

Day 2175

 I woke up a little before 8 and didn't get up until almost 10.  There wasn't anything for me to do until I had the lawnmower bolt.  I had breakfast and surfed until a little before noon.  The only thing I accomplished was putting the 6A DeWalt battery and the sprayer battery on chargers.

I called the lawnmower place.  After a brief hold they hung up on me.  I called again and was on hold for over 15 minutes before I hung up in disgust.

I decided to drive there.  When I got there the guy at the counter was on the phone apologizing to someone about the phone system.  Apparently they have a new one today and it isn't working worth a shit.  I got my parts and went back home.

I reattached the belt cover and replaced the clipping chute.  It was 1, but I decided to "mow a little" before lunch.  That turned into a two hour mowing and cleanup session.  The sharpened blades seemed to work better and the clipping chute really seemed to help.  Some of the grass in the middle of the side yard was so thick and tall that it almost stalled the lawnmower motor.  Blowing all the clippings off the gravel, front walkway, sewer outlets, and front brick area used all of the 6A battery.  I was done a little after 3.

I went back inside and had lunch followed by a late lunch.  Then I sat in the recliner and watched TV.  I may have napped.  It feels damn good to have the lawn stuff complete.  I still have to spray.  After that there are a couple of broken tree branches (and maybe a dead tree) that need to be removed.  Then I'm done.

Ellen fixed steak on the Traeger.  It was really good.  After dinner Yo called.  I talked to him for quite a while.  He wants to rent out the condo.  

When he hung up I noticed that Hooch had called earlier.  The phone hadn't rung.  I called him back.  We had a fairly long conversation just catching up.

The rest of the evening was surfing.

Day 2174

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while before pet stuff and breakfast.  When that was done we left for the lawn mower store.  They didn't have the bolt I needed, but they said they could get it here tomorrow.

We went to ACE and I bought two bolts that I thought might fit.  We also stopped at Tomlinson's to get cat food.  Ellen needed drugs, so the next stop was Walgreen's.  Then it was HEB to get bread, milk, bananas, etc.  The final stop was Wells Cargo to deposit a check.  It was a little after noon when we got home.

I went out to the garage and got the trimmer.  I spent the next two hours finishing trimming the yard.  I had to do a big patch to find the sewer controls.  The grass was way too thick and high to see them.  I was hot, tired, and sweaty when I finished - just last yesterday.

I took a shower, ate a really late lunch, and then spent the rest of the afternoon surfing.  I wasn't as sore as yesterday.

Dinner was frozen enchiladas.  After dinner was more surfing and videos.

Day 2173

 Wake up time didn't mean anything today because we "gained" an hour due to daylight saving time ending.  Anyway the clock said about 9 when breakfast was finished and I went out to mow the lawn.

I got the mower out, put the battery in it, and gassed it up.  It started right up.  Before I started mowing I took it to the garage and aired up the tires.  The front tires were half empty and the back were about 25% down.

I started with the trailer section, then did the pump section, then did the driveway and outside the gate, then did the car port area.  Some parts were slow going because of the height of the grass. In some places it was at least 3 feet high.  I could tell that the blades were dull, too.

I started to do the section above the house.  The grass was very thick and high.  I got about 3/4 of the way around the perimeter and hit one of the edging rocks HARD.  It hit hard enough to jar the drive belt off the blades.

I took the mower back to the garage.  That's when I noticed that one of the bolts that hold on the belt guard was missing.  I looked through all of mine and couldn't find one that matched.  That was the end of mowing.  I jacked up the mower and sharpened the blades instead.  They were really dull.  I also straightened a bent end on one of them.  It was actually good this happened.  The nuts holding the blades on were both hand tightened.  They're now tightened to spec - 80 ft-lb.

I went in for lunch and a little rest.  When i came back out I mounted the two new number signs on the gate.  This should have been a 15 minute job.  Cheap Chinese screws that kept breaking turned it into an hour of frustration.

I finally got the numbers installed.  I checked later when it got dark.  They both work and they look really good.

I got out the string trimmer and started trimming.  I trimmed all of the areas that I mowed today.  I also trimmed the section above the house, the area where the swimming pool was, and the area in front of the front door.  I also cleared around the front sewer outlets.  That's most of the trimming that needs to be done.  It will also make mowing tomorrow a lot easier.  I'll have to go get a bolt first though.

It was after 5 when I got done.  I was hot, dirty, and sweaty.  I went in an took a shower.  After that I surfed while Ellen fixed dinner - spaghetti.  It was really good.  By then I was so stiff and sore I could barely stand and move.  I tried to watch some football,, but it was too boring.  I ended up watching Roadkill instead.

I went to bed early, or late, depending on how you look at it.