Day 1923

 I woke up at 8, got up and did the pet stuff.  Then I went back to bed and slept for another hour.  I was very tired.  I was still tired  when I woke up the second time, but I got up anyway.

After breakfast we took Lucy out to the truck and trimmed her nails.  It was the usual traumatic process.  I don't know why she resists so much.  When we were done we got stuff for applying the grout and went back inside.

The grout removal bit I bought for the Dremel yesterday worked fantastic.  It just chewed through the rout and made it easy to do things precisely.  The Dewalt vacuum cleaner made cleanup a snap.  When it was prepped Ellen applied the grout.  She did a great job and the color matches almost perfectly.  We'll have to see how it stands up.  The real problem is that a couple of the tiles are really loose.

I put everything away.  For some reason I decided to look at the apartment wall.  It's dripping again.  I did feel like messing with it today, but we'll have to tear into it tomorrow.

Lunch was a sandwich.  Then it was surfing.  I'd done all of the useful stuff that I felt like doing today.

Dinner was leftover pizza.  After that it was TV and more surfing.  I'm enjoying the faster internet.

Day 1922

 We got up about 8:30.  Spectrum called and said they would be there between 9 and 10.  I went out to open up the gate.  Then we had breakfast, did the pet stuff, and waited.  The tech showed up a little after 9.

I went outside and told him our sad story.  He was actually very apologetic.  I left him to string new wire.  He came buy a little later to say we didn't need new wire, just new connectors.  Yeah.  He replaced he connectors and the box on the outside of the house.  When we tested it everything worked perfectly, maybe a little better than before.

When he left we left, too.  We took some stuff to Goodwill.  Then we stopped at Lowe's and bought some grout to repair the tile in the kitchen.  I really wanted to stop at Doc's backyard, so that's where we had lunch.  The last stop was the post office.

Ellen spent the rest of the afternoon watching chick flicks.  I watched YouTube.  Dinner was some bacon and cheese croissants that we got from the donut shop on Brodie.

After dinner Ellen watched TV and I stuck with YouTube.

Day 1921

 We got up about 8:30.  There was no call from Spectrum, so I didn't get up to open the gate.  Ellen called them and they said someone would be out tomorrow to string a line on the ground.  Apparently the guy on Tuesday should have done that.

After pet stuff and breakfast we left to get the mail and return the charger that I'd ordered from Best Buy.  It wouldn't charge my watch.  We did both of those errands and then stopped at Rabdall's to see if they had frozen cajun food.  They didn't, but we picked up some sandwich stuff.

While we were there a guy from Spectrum called.  He was at our gate.  He was supposed to bury the non-existent cable with a shovel.  I told him he'd need a ditch witch.  He said he'd call the supervisor and call us back.  When he called back he said the cable has to me installed first and they couldn't find the ditch witch.  We called Spectrum again and told them the story.  We also told them to sort it out. 

After that we stopped at the pet store so Lucy could get a treat.  It's near her birthday, so we bought her a birthday cookie.  I wanted to get some croissants, so we stopped at Costco  We also got lunch.  Then it was home.

It was cold and rainy, so we spent the rest of the afternoon surfing and watching TV.  Dinner was Costco pizza.  It was surprisingly good.

After dinner was more TV and some games.

Day 1920

 We got up about 8:30 for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was in the 50's and raining a little bit.  I went out to the gate to open it because Spectrum said someone would be here.  They said about 4, but I wanted to make sure it was open.

I checked the apartment foundation on the way back.  It seemed to be a little drier than yesterday.  Better yet the drip seems to have stopped.  I hope that means there isn't a third leak.

The rest of the day was a repeat of yesterday.  I surfed and Ellen watched chick flicks.  That was fine with me as I was stiff in sore from all of the moving I'd done yesterday.  At one point I thought about putting some more of the apartment stuff back, but I just didn't feel like it.

So the day was spent with a lot of surfing and TV.  A guy showed up a little after four.  He was obviously a really low level flunky.  I showed him what needed to be done.  He didn't have a ditch witch, just a crummy unmarked van.  He muttered something about calling his supervisor and left.

I guess we'll have to call Spectrum tomorrow and complain again.

Ellen fixed BLT's for dinner.  After dinner was the usual menu of TV, games, and surfing.

Day 1918

 We got up about 8:15, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  I went out and opened the gate because Spectrum was supposed to come sometime today.  I also checked the drip from the apartment wall.  It was still there, but slower.  We decided to wait another day before tearing into the wall.

It was a nice warm day, but we couldn't do anything.  Spectrum was supposed to show up sometime during the day.  We got a phone call saying they'd be here tomorrow after 4, but we think that's the installation guy, not the ditch digging guy.

I took out the garbage - big deal.  Ellen watched chick flicks and I surfed and read.  Lunch was stuff we bought at HEB. 

A little after lunch I decided to move the ammo in the apartment.  By then it was hot, in the 80's.  Poor planning.  I sawed the board I purchased in half to make a shelf and used a couple of bricks I had left over from another project.  Then I moved all of the stuff that had gotten wet back into the bedroom.  I added some stuff from the garage until the shelf was full.  There's still stuff in the garage, but I did free up a couple of shelves.

Moving all of that took until after 5.  It tired me out, too.  I went back inside the house.  Ellen fixed teriyaki chicken and rice for dinner.  After dinner it was TV.

I closed the gate at 7.  Spectrum never showed up.  There was a Spectrum truck outside working on the cul-de-sac wiring for most of the day.  It looks like he replaced a lot.  Maybe we'll have a better signal when they finally get ours fixed.

Day 1917

 We got up about 8:15, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  It was warm again today, high 70's.  We went oiut to button up the apartment.

I'm a little worries because there's still some water dripping out of the wall.  Everything's soaked, so it may be that.  It could also be another minor leak.  We'll see in a few days.  

Putting the first two panels back on was pretty easy. I put in more insulation when I did it.  This time it's between the outside wall and the pipe.  Doing the corner wasn't so easy.  There were two problems.  I had to remount a 4x4 wood block that the outside faucet was attached to.  With the new insulation that wasn't easy.  I could barely get the drill inside the wall to attach the screws.  The second problem was the corner.  I had to cut a notch in it to fit around the wood block.  That hadn't been necessary when they built the place because the block was attached before the apartment was built.  Getting the corner attached was a little hard.  The top two screws were really high up on the wall.

We were done with the whole thing about noon.  The Spectrum guy was scheduled for 3, so we quickly left to go to the post office, get lunch (Fireman's), and stop at HEB.  HEB has recovered nicely.  There was no lines and the only area without stuff was the bakery.  Some of the shelves had bare spots, but not much.

Spectrum slipped their time to 4, so we were back in plenty of time.  I took the time to box up the rest of the ammo.  Now all I have to do is put all the stuff in the apartment back where it belongs.  I'm going to give it a little more time to dry out.  I had it opened all day today and will probably do the same tomorrow.

When the Spectrum guy got here he messed around for awhile and then announced that the buried cable from the pole to the house was bad.  He said he'd scheduled a contractor to come out tomorrow to fix it.  Unfortunately we have to wait around all day for the contractor to show up.  Then the Spectrum guy has to come out on Thursday to complete the fix.

I put the rest of the ammo in the boxes.  We had gone through a total of 20 cases to get rid of the rust.  Dinner was leftovers.

After dinner I ddi games and surfing.  Ellen watched chick flicks.

Day 1916

 We got up about 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Normal weather has returned, today was 80.  Yesterday the house pipes thawed.  There's no evidence that they are leaking and it's nice to have clean clothes again. 

After breakfast it was out to the apartment to take it apart.  We removed the siding panel above the place I'd marked for the leak.  My mark was 4 inches from where the leak was.  When we removed the insulation it was copper pipe.  It looked like I'd need a plumber.  Good luck getting one before mid March.

It turns out that one of the neighbors is a retired plumber.  He's been going around the neighborhood fixing people's problems.  He came over and fixed the leak.  He used something called a shark bite.  Even I can use those to fix copper pipe.  I'd never heard of them.

Unfortunately when we turned the water back on there was a second leak.  The neighbor left while I loosened two more panels and removed a corner.  This problem was harder.  He didn't have the 1 inch coupling he needed to fix it and of course no stores in Austin have them right now.  He left.

About half an hour later he texted to say that another neighbor had the coupling.  He came back and fixed the second leak.  We left the panels loosened overnight to give things a chance to dry.  We'll button the panels up tomorrow.  Hopefully that's the end of things except for getting the rugs cleaned and putting everything back where it belongs.  Now if Spectrum would just fix the internet.

When the pipe was fixed we went to Home Depot to get a board to put the ammo on.  I also needed bricks to place it on.  They didn't have any.  We stopped at Sonic for dinner.

After dinner I played games and read.  Ellen watched chick flicks.

I'm kind of interested in what our power bill for February will be.

Day 1915

 We woke up about 8:30 and fed the pets.  Then it was an hour of games followed by breakfast.  Then it was off to the apartment.

We had about a case and a half of shells to go.  The first half wasn't bad, the second was kind of ugly.  My last brush died just as I finished the last shell.  Ellen went back to the house to dry shell boxes.  I stayed in the apartment and did some clean up.  It was warm today, so I opened up the apartment windows and doors to air it out.  I took some stuff that had been damaged to the garbage.  I turned off the heater in the well house and put the light in the well head shelter away.  Finally I emptied the water in the bathtub.

I also had Ellen help me vacuum and roll up one of the rugs which had dried in the sun.  Putting the rugs out in front of the garage door has turned out to be a good idea.  All of them are drying.  I have to turn them over occasionally.

Lunch was the last of the cold cuts.  It will probably be days before any are available for purchase.  I did a little reading and surfing before I decided I needed to to something else.

I went back out to the garage to drill the second lock hole in the cargo rack.  This one is going to be in the right place.  I used the drill press this time.  That made drilling the hole easier.  However, setting up the press wasn't.  I had to partially disassemble the rack also.  That was a pain in the ass.  Every part of the disassembly and reassembly process fought me.  I got it done though.

When I took the rack apart I discovered that the hole I'd drilled and tapped to discourage theft was in the wrong place.  So I drilled and tapped another one.  I have to get a shorter bolt for it though.

By then it was 5:30.  Ellen fixed the chicken parmigiana I bought yesterday.  After dinner was TV, games, and a little surfing.

Day 1914

 We woke up about 8:30, did the pet stuff, and had breakfast.  It was warmer today, up to 60 in the afternoon.  After breakfast we went to the apartment to clean ammo.

We cleaned three or four cases.  I forgot to count.  It ranged from some pretty clean stuff to some that was pretty ugly.  All of the cases had at least some shells with rust.  We have a system going.  Ellen sorts the shells, gives them a quick wipe, and passes the ugly ones to me.  She cleans the ones with small spots herself with a hand brush.  I spend my time cleaning the ugly ones with a Dremel.  I ran through two brushes.  When we have about 50 done I use the hair dryer to thoroughly dry them.  The bozes go back to the house to be dried.

We called it quits about one.  As we went back to the house I tested the outside faucets.  They weren't frozen and didn't appear to be leaking.  Yeah.  We went inside and Ellen started the washer.  It had water and didn't appear to be leaking either.  Double Yeah.

After lunch Ellen spent the afternoon washing clothes and drying boxes.  I decided to get the mail and check out the grocery store situation.  We had a little mail and a couple of magazines.  Then I went to Randall's.  It was BARE.  The meat and dairy sections were completely empty.  The flour was gone, too (Ellen wanted some).  Many of the other food aisles, like cereal and canned goods were also really picked over.  Most of the frozen food was gone (no pizza).

I picked up a couple off frozen meals that had been hiding in the back of shelves.  I also got a frozen apple pie.  I found the last ready made chicken parmigiana and got it.  That was it.  Hopefully we have enough food to last into mid next week.

When I got home all of the shell boxes were dry.  So I went back to the apartment and loaded 3+ cases worth.  Dinner was leftover chili.

After dinner was mainly TV.  The internet is out.  Apparently we're the only ones in the neighborhood without service.  Spectrum is not getting paid for the down time.

Day 1913

 We woke up about 8:30 and got up soon afterwards.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  When that was done it was out to the apartment.

We spent the next several hours cleaning up ammo.  The remaining cases were all thoroughly soaked.  We cleaned one case of 12 and one of 28.  That doesn't sound like much, but more than 80 percent of the cases were rusted.  I had to Dremel each one.

Ellen helped with sorting, drying, and cleaning.  She also used the hair dryer in an attempt to dry the boxes.  That didn't work very well.

We worked until 12:30 and then went in for lunch.  While we were eating we dried the boxes in the dryer.  That worked well.  Unfortunately it wouldn't work for the case boxes.  It may be a long while before they are dried out.

It warmed up to 43 and things started to thaw out.  By the end of the day almost 1/3 of the snow was gone.  I decided it was time to go out.  I wanted to get more brushes for the Dremel at ACE.  We took Lucy so she could go to Tomlinson's.  Those stops were successful.  The roads were wet in places, but no snow even inside the development.

I decided to get some takeout for dinner later.  The first place in Belterra was closed.  The second was packed.  They told us to order takeout in the bar.  After cooling our heels in the bar for 15 minutes the single waitress said we had to go on a wait list.  We left.

We drove to a take and bake pizza place on 290.  There were two people ahead of us and only one person in the store.  When I figured that out we left.  We drove down 290 and called Dominos.  When they finally answered the phone they said it was a 45 minute wait.  The last try was the Italian place.  They were closed.  HEB was open, but they closed just as we got there.  We stopped at CVS, they were closed.  The gas station across the street was open, but they were out of just about everything.  Elln bought two potatoes to bake for dinner.

When we got home I shoveled the ice off the apartment steps and the house entry way.  It was pretty icy, but it had been warm enough that I could break up the ice.  Then I took all of the dry ammo boxes out to the apartment and put the shells in them.  We didn't get as much done today as I had wanted, but that's OK.

The temperature dropped as soon as the sun went down.  It's 28 at 8:30 and will get colder.  Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer though.

Dinner was the baked potatoes.  Afterwards I ordered some stuff on Amazon - a slow cooker Ellen broke, a new Dremel because the old one is worn out, and a space heater because the one in the well house broke today.  Then it was games.

Day 1912

 Woke up at 7:30.  It’s still below freezing and won’t get above it until tomorrow afternoon, MAYBE.  Stayed in bed playing games and watching TV until noon.  Then got up to go to the apartment to turn on the water heater.  That way we could do the wash.

When I opened the door the apartment was flooded.  I ran to the well house and turned off the water.  After a search found that a pipe had broken on the outside wall.  All rooms except the living room were flooded.  There was even some water in the garage.  All of the rugs were soaked.  Some of the ammo was soaked as well as the Theil speakers.  The walls were dripping from condensation.  We have no mop.  We moved everything off the floor.  Then I used  a broom to push as much water as I could out the door.

As I was doing that Ellen decided to take a stupid pill.  First she took a shit in the apartment.  No water to flush.  Then she ran back to the house to take another.  I finished up with the broom and used the old towels to mop up part of the floor.  When they were soaked I took them back to the house.  

The stupid pill was still working.  Ellen was out looking for Cooper.  She’d left the door open.  I looked for tracks and couldn’t find any.  I went back in the house and with some searching found Cooper.  Then I filled up a bucket and took it to the apartment so I could flush the toilet.

It was 2, I hadn’t had any breakfast, and there was nothing to do until the towels dried.  So I made mush.  While I was cooking it Ellen said she couldn’t find Cooper.  I needed to finish cooking and eating the mush, so I told her to look until she found him.  Of course she didn’t.  Walking around aimlessly rarely does.  After I finished I searched in all the unlikely places until I found him - on top of the dresser.  He was freaked, and remained so for hours.  Ellen thinks he might have gone out and the weather scared him enough that he went back inside.

I typed up the blog notes I’d been writing.  There’s no internet so I can’t use the web page.  Then I waited for the towels to dry.  When they dried we went back to the apartment.

Much of the floor had dried.  Actually the water just soaked under the flooring.  We used the towels to wipe up the rest.  Then we started working on the ammo that got wet.  We opened up each case and looked at each shell for rust.  I used a Dremel to remove the rust when necessary.  We did 6 or more cases.  The last two had been on the garage floor.  Almost all of the shells were rusty.  We quit at 6 for dinner.

After dinner we were tired.  We watched TV.  We got enough Verizon internet back to do email.  I cleared out my emails and wrote a couple of long replies.  I also found out that the fuel in the truck has probably gelled due to the cold.  It will be several days before I can drive it.

I think the next few days will be a pain in the ass

Day 1911

 Woke up at 8:30.  Got up and did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  It’s “warmed up” to 32 and stayed there all day.  There’s still no internet, but the power stayed on.  Our power company has rolling blackouts, but we haven‘t been hit.  I finished the Minions Lego.  The rest of the day was games, TV, and reading.  The most entertainment is watching the local news gush over the effects of the cold.

Apparently the roads are clear enough, and it’s warm enough, that people are venturing out.  There are long lines at the grocery stores.  When you do get in the shelves are bare.  It might be 10 days until things are back to something resembling normal.  I’m a little worried if we can last that long, especially if the house pipes are broken.

Day 1910

 Woke up at 8, did the pet stuff, and went back to bed to play games.  When we got up we tried to do the wash, but the water pipes to the washer are frozen.  I don’t know if they are broken.  I won’t know for several days when it gets above freezing again.

The internet was down again all day.  Ellen gets real spotty service.  She found out that only our end of the development is without internet.  Fucking Verizon.  I spent most of the day on TV, a movie, and reading.  I’ve gone through a lot of magazines that I had stacked up.  I also worked some more on the Minion Lego.

Dinner was pork chops.  Luckily the power stayed on all day.  At least 70,000 people on Austin Power are out, many since yesterday.  The power company doesn’t know when they be on again.  All the company has is excuses.

Day 1909

 It was cold last night - 7 degrees.  I got up about 9, did the pet stuff and went back to bed.  Later I got up and had breakfast.  There was 6 inches of snow on the ground.  The internet - both wired and Verizon are down.  The temp got up to the low teens.  The power went out about 11.  It was out until about 1.  The house got down to 56 degrees.  There was a second 30 minute outage about 9.  

I read a lot of magazines and watched TV when the power was on.  When we went to bed we used Mom’s quilt for the first time since we’ve been in Texas.  We needed it.  We had blankets when we were in the chairs most of the day.  The furnace isn’t up to this level of cold, especially with the single pane windows.

Day 1908

 I woke up about 8 today.  It was cold, about 25.  I did the pet stuff and then went back to bed to play games for a while.  Then it was get up and have breakfast.

Going outside or going somewhere was out of the question.  It was cold and there was more freezing rain last night.  It would have take quite an effort to get the thick layer of ice off the car's windows.  Instead it was videos.  At least I found some interesting ones.

The weather got considerably colder all day.  The wind picked up some, too.  By 9:30 at night it was 12 degrees.  They say it's going to get down to 7.  Apparently this is record cold weather.  I hope there's no problem with pipes.  They say that it won't get above freezing for another 4 days.  They also say there will be 4 to 8 inches of snow tonight.  I think that's TV weatherman bullshit.  

We had leftover pizza for dinner.  After dinner it was TV.  There's only so much internet I can stand.  I'm really starting to hate the cold and not going anywhere.  It's going to get worse though.  With all the roads coated in ice and covered with snow we won't be going anywhere for awhile.  There's so much ice on the gravel that I'd need 4WD just to get to the gate.

Day 1907

 I woke up about 9:15.  I played games for a short time and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was cold again 27 and under 32 for the whole day.

 I played videos and surfed for all of the morning.  A little after noon we left to go to the post office and HEB.  I had to chip a thick layer of ice off all of the car's windows before we could leave.  With the temperature below 30 it wasn't pleasant.

The trees are all covered with ice, but there wasn't any on the roads.  Some Texans were driving like there was though.  

HEB was packed.  There was barely any spaces in the parking lot.  The checkout lines stretched down the aisles.  Everyone seemed to have carts that were stacked full.  The shelves had a lot of bare spaces.  We had 11 items.  I went in the shelf checkout lanes.  They moved pretty quickly, so I though tit was a good experience considering.

.I wanted to go to Waterloo for lunch.  They were closed though, apparently because of the cold.  So we went home and had HEB pizza instead.

After lunch I finished one part of the Lego I did yesterday.  It's a pretty cool Minion.  I also sorted the parts for the second.  I was sick of the computer, so I turned on the TV.  I watched a bunch of recoreded shows.  I love fast forwarding through commercials.

Dinner was a sandwich.  The rest of the evening was more TV and a little surfing before bed.

Day 1906

 It was another day of get up, feed the pets, and go back to bed to play games.  The cold snap is real.  It didn't get above 31 today.  The trees are all covered with ice.  Then I went out to take out the garbage the lid on the can was frozen shut.  I had to hit it with a rock to get it open.

In spite of that I had a couple of victories today.  Devon had disappeared a tiny Lego Baby Yoda last night.  The thing was less than an inch tall.  After searching around the kitchen and living room.  I looked under the oven and found it.  It's now locked in the china cabinet.

The second victory was finally writing a response to Diane for the sympathy card she sent me for Mom's death.  I've been meaning to do this for over a month.  Now all I have to do is get it mailed.

Other than that I did nothing today except watch videos.  I didn't even play any games.  I admit that the cold is beginning to get to me.  Apparently it's going to last for several more days.  I even considered going out to the garage.  Unfortunately I stupidly left the door open last night, so it was literally freezing inside the garage.

Ellen fixed bacon wrapped frozen chicken from Costco.  It is really good.  After dinner was more videos.

Day 1905

I didn't wake up until 9:15 today.  I'm not sure what kept ne asleep so long.  Ellen had done the pet stuff, so I just had mush for breakfast.

It was raining and cold, 33 degrees, for most of the day.  Apparently we're in for some vicious cold weather.  It's not supposed to get above 35 for the next week.  One night it's supposed to get down to 7.  Needless to say I won't be doing anything outside.  I predict a lot of video watching.

I did do two things because of the cold.  I turned on the heater in the well house and put the light in the well head enclosure.  We're also going to let Devon out of the cat room for the next few days.  It would get too cold in the cat room with the door closed.  I'm more worried about the pipes then the cat.

We did turn on the TV, something we haven't done much of lately.  We wanted to watch the local news concerning the idiot Texas drivers.  The rain and temperature combination produced freezing rain.  The bare trees here are covered in ice.

Ellen had a doctor's appointment at 1:30.  Fortunately the roads were just wet.  I drove her to the doctor's and went to get cat food while she was there.  Then we went home.

The rest of the afternoon was videos.  Dinner was frozen food.  We turned on the TV again at dinner time.  We watched Texas idiots on the news.  When it was over we watched some taped shows.

Day 1904

 This was another day where I got up at 8 to do the pet stuff and then went back to bed to play games until after 9.  It was cold, under 40, when I got up.  I fixed myself some mush for breakfast.  Then I watched videos.

I really wanted to go out and work on drilling the correct hole for the cargo rack.  It never got about 45 today, so I didn't.  In fact, it's supposed to be really cold for the next few days.  Instead I finished the Baby Yoda Lego that I got for Christmas.  He's actually pretty neat.  

We did got out to get the mail and do a little grocery shopping.  That was the extend of acconplishing anything.  The rest of the day was videos and games.

Ellen fixed spaghetti for dinner.  It was good.

After dinner was more videos and games.  I was actually OK with the day, it was just too cold to do anything else.

Day 1903

 I think I set a record today.  I didn't wake up until a little after 9.  Then I played games in bed until 10:30.  I can't say I'm embarrassed.  After that I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.

The weather was fairly warm, but I didn't feel like doing anything.  So it was videos while Ellen did the wash.  Grant sent me an email with a recovery link for their website.  Now I'll be able to see the financial reports.

About 1:30 we left to get the mail and do some grocery shopping.  There was a check in the mail, so the list of stops expanded to include the bank and Tomlinson's.  We hadn't had lunch, so we stopped at Torchy's.

Remember the late start?  We got home just in time for Ellen to go to Hog Heaven.  I watched videos.  I had a frozen thing for dinner.

After dinner it was more videos.  I found a lot of cool things to look at.  Some were histroy and others were about odd places in the world.

Day 1902

 I purposely stayed sleeping until about 9:15 today.  I just felt like it.  Then I played games until after 10.  I did get up to do the pet stuff though.

I got up for breakfast and then watched videos.  I just didn't feel like doing anything useful.  I didn't have anything to do anyway.

Lunch was leftovers.  After lunsh I took the phone holder I got yesterday out to the garage and put it on the bike.  I think it's going to work really well.  That was the only useful thing I did today.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was videos, mainly historical ones.

Ellen fixed waffles and sausage for dinner.

Day 1901

I woke up at 8, but dosed and played games until 9.  Then I got up for breakfast.  It was cold, so it was videos until about 11.  Then I went outside to do some work.

I wanted to prepare to take the bikes somewhere.  So I located the 2 inch adapter for the truck hitch.  Then I took the hitch platform off the 5th wheel.  I had to search for the pin keys, bu I found them.  I put it in the playhouse.

While I was putting things away I noticed that I'd screwed up big time.  I'd drilled the wrong hole in the cargo rack.  So I went inside to order another drill ($16).  Shit.  I decided to further reduce the chance of the rack being removed by drilling a hole and bolting the rack to the hitch.

The internet is a wonderful thing.  I went inside and immediately found two 3 minute videos that told me how to drill and tap a hole.  I only had one tap - 5/16.  Another query and I had the diameter of the pilot hole.  I went back outside and drilled and tapped the hole.  I took awhile, but I found a 5/16 fine thread bolt (my only one).  It worked great.

by then it was sunny, fairly warm, and a little windy.  I went inside to see if Ellen wanted to go cycling.  I had to wait awhile while her asshole settled down and then we went for a ride.  She did really well.  We went about two miles, half of it into a head wind.  I think we're ready to go somewhere with the  bikes.

We had lunch when we got back.  I spent the rest of the afternoon watching videos.  Dinner was a frozen package.  After dinner was more videos and some games.

The phone holder for the bicycle came.  It's really nice.  I'll install it tomorrow.

Day 1900

I woke up at 8, got up, and did the pet stuff.  Then I went back to bed and played games until after 9.  The it was breakfast.  It was cold and I didn't have anything to do, so I just surfed for a couple of hours.  About 11 we left to get the mail and go to Costco.

Costco was having a sale on some things we wanted.  We got them and also got Costco dogs for lunch.  I folded down the step on the truck's tailgate and we ate in the parking lot.  Then we went home.

By then it had warmed up.  I had planned to go riding, but there was a strong wind.  So the afternoon was spent on videos, TV, and games.  I've found a vein of historical videos on YouTube that's really interesting.

Ellen fixed bacon wrapped chicken that we'd purchased at Costco for dinner.  After dinner was more TV and videos.

Day 1899

 I woke up at 8, did the pet stuff, and went back to bed to play games.  It was cold out and I really didn't have anything to do today.  I got up and had breakfast about 9.  It was still cold - mid 40's.

I tried to log on to the financial site and failed.  So emailed Grant for assistance.  He hasn't responded.  After that it was surfing.  I found a couple of interesting articles on quantum mechanics to read.  It did start to warm up, so after lunch we left for McKinney Falls.  Lucy was raring to go.

I drove over there on William Cannon.  It was surprisingly fast.  Truthfully I just got lucky with the lights.  It cost us $6 a piece to get in.

The park is really neat and a couple of miles long.  It has a big creek (small river) running through it with a lot of cool limestone formations.  We hiked a trail to a prehistoric rock shelter along the creek.  Unfortunately the trail was closed.  We did have a good time waling around the falls.

Lucy was amazing.  She walked the whole trail, stopping to sniff all along the way.  It's the best she's done walking in quite some time.  When we were done she was tired, but still pretty spry.

While we were there Ellen looked up on the web and saw that there's a free senior discount card you can sign up for.  We stopped at the entrance on the way out.  They gave us cards and refunded half our admission for the day.  Nice.

On the way home we stopped at Best Buy.  Ellen had a $5 coupon, but we couldn't find anything we wanted to buy.  We also stopped at Home Depot to get numbers for the mailbox.  The 3 had fallen off.  It was dinner time, so we stopped at Cheddar's.

It was after 6 when e got home.  I stopped at the mailbox and put on the number.  Yesterday's missing package was in the box.  That's weird, because Amazon said it was shipped UPS.  It actually came next day air.

After feeding the pets it was TV, games, and surfing.  Rad hasn't gotten back to me on the fork.  Instead I got another "we'll get back to you" email.

Day 1898

 I woke up about 8, did the pet stuff, then played games in bed until about 9.  Then it was breakfast and outside to the garage.

I started by putting away all of the loot that arrived yesterday.  The most time consuming was attaching the T handle wrenches to the pegboard.  Then I went through the box of old bicycle stuff.  Some of it went in the garbage.  Some I'm keeping, some is going to Goodwill, and some is going with the old bikes.  I put all of the miscellaneous bike stuff in an extra storage box I had.  It was just the right size.

One of the things I got yesterday was a drill bit to drill larger holes in the cargo tray for the bike lock.  It was advertised as a drill for steel.  It lasted 1 1/2 drill holes.  I tried sharpening it, but with no luck.  So I threw it away.  I finished the second hole with some carbide router bits that I'd bought on sale a while back.  They were slow, but they worked great.  Finally, something that was just what was advertised.

I used a file to smooth out the holes and then I painted them.  That was the end of the garage work.

Both of the bikes needed to be run today because their batteries were fully charged.  Ellen was filling sick, so I ended up riding both of them.  I rode around the development twice - about 5 miles.  I'm beginning to get the hang of riding the bike - when to shift, when to change modes, and when to use the throttle.  I noticed the fork on Ellen's bike is leaking oil.  I emailed Rad about it.  The auto reply said it would take a couple of days for them to reply.

While I was riding Ellen finished painting the flamingos.  They look pretty good.

After the ride I went back into the house for lunch.  I looked over a map of a state park that I picked up at REI.  It looks like it has some neat biking trails.  I might go scout it out tomorrow.  I also called the doctor to make an appointment for my yearly examine.  The first available date is mid June.  I made an appointment for November.

Ellen fixed steak for dinner.  Lucy got some scraps.  After dinner I looked for a phone mount for the bicycle.  The state park has some neat online maps of the trails.  I'd like to see what it's like to navigate them using the phone.

I did a lot of game playing today.  I make actually finish second in one of the competitions.  I haven't done that in a long time because I don't play much any more.

Day 1897

 I woke up at 7:30, did the pet stuff and went back to bed to play games.  I didn't get up until 10.  It was too late to eat breakfast.  Instead I went out and plugged the bikes in.  Apparently I shoud be doing this after the first three rides.  They need to be plugged in for 12 hours when it's over 50 degrees.

That meant no riding today.  I'm waiting on parts, so no work on the bikes either.  We surfed until about noon.  Then we went to the Cajun place.  We had another coupon to use that expires tomorrow.  Afterwards we stopped at Randall's to get some things that HEB doesn't sell.  Then it was a quick trip home because Ellen's asshole was giving her trouble.

It was nice and warm when we got home, but for some reason I didn't feel like doing much.  I spent the afternoon playing games and watching TV.

Dinner was leftovers.  Shortly after dinner today's packages came - 5 tools, a chain, and a bike lock.  I didn't really need the bike lock, but it was only $7 and really good quality.  I'll have something to do tomorrow.  Also we'll have to use the bikes to drain the batteries.

The rest of the evening was TV, games, and surfing.

Day 1896

 I got up at 8, did the pet stuff, played some games, and then got up for breakfast.  After breakfast I went out to the garage.  The new throttle control came yesterday and I wanted to install it on my bike.  

I hooked up the new throttle to test it.  It worked great.  The Amazon vendor I bought it from charged $14.  There's another vendor selling the same thing for $29.  I feel like writing a review.

Getting the old grips off the handlebars was a real pain.  I had to have Ellen hold the bike while I used a wrench to twist them off.  It took a lot of time and effort.  I got the right one off without damaging it.  Unfortunately I tore the left one.  Then new grips fit fine and feel better than the stock ones.

When that was done I installed the bottle holders on both bikes.  They're trick, with adjustable grips.  After that there wasn't anything else to do until I get stuff tomorrow evening.

It was 1 by the time I got back to the house.  I had lunch.  Then we left to go to the post office and HEB.  Lucy really wanted to go.  She was prancing around like she hasn't done in a long time. That meant the last stop was Tomlinson's.

We got home about 3.  After a little surfing Ellen left for Hog Heaven.  I watched a couple of videos.  Then I was sick of them.  I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching TV and a movie.  It was a nice change

Day 1895

 I woke up at 8, but didn't feel like getting out of bed.  So I turned over and went back to sleep until9:15.  Then I got up for breakfast - Ellen did the pet stuff.

 The first thing I did was turn on the TV.  Thankfully it was working fine.  However, the DirecTV wasn't.  So after breakfast I hauled the ladder and tools from the garage down to the antenna.  It was sagging again, just like I suspected.  I decided to change the antenna adjustments rather than my turnbuckles.  That's harder and takes more time, but I don't want to run out of adjustment on the turnbuckles.  It took a while, but I got all of the numbers back in the 90's.  We'll see how long that lasts.

By then it was getting warm.  I went back into the house and told Ellen we should go for a bike ride.  She agreed, but her asshole was giving her grief.  So I waited for half an hour or so until that was done.  Then we went out.  We covered about the same ground as yesterday, but a little bit more.  Ellen fell when she stopped once, but not very hard.  She's getting better.

When we got home it was 1 and time for lunch.  I'm still eating cold cuts on croissants.  They're pretty good.  After that I went back out to the garage.  I adjusted Ellen's seat and straightened my handlebars.  I also did a little inventory of take along stuff we needed for the bikes.  We have most of what we need.

I also noticed a big problem with the cargo rack.  It only takes the removal of one bolt to remove the whole thing from the vehicle.  I spent some time trying to come up with a solution.  Eventually had I had an idea of what needed to be done.

I went back into the house and started searching for things that would help me fix the rack problem.  I watched some videos.  I went through a lot of stuff and finally decided on a fix that involved a heavy chain and one of the bike locks we already have.  So the next step was choose a chain.

Ellen fixed chopped beef for dinner.  It was good, sort of like high class sloppy joes.  Afterwards I got back to shopping.  I decided on a heavy lock chain for the cargo rack.  I also got a take along took kit and some chain pliers.  That took a while, there were a lot of choices to look at.

About 9 a package showed up.  It was about 45 degrees when I went out to get it.  About 10:30 I happened to look at Amazon orders.  It said some more stuff had been delivered.  I went back out, it was 39 and there wasn't a package.  I went back inside and investigated.  The package had been sent USPS.  So I got into the car and went to the mailbox to pick it up.

By then it was bed time.