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.

Day 2172

 We woke up about 8, but didn't get up until after 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.

After breakfast I got out the two new address signs that came yesterday.  I carefully put the nubers on them.  I think it came out pretty good.  Then I took them outside and placed them on top of the car where they soaked up the sun for the rest of the day.

It was sunny and things are starting to dry out.  However, I wanted to tie up lose ends instead of mowing.  I started by replacing a warped board on the guest house stairs.  Then I replaced part of the deck railing  It was totally rotten and falling off in pieces.  I finished up work on the deck by putting up 2 pink flamingos and a blue heron that we'd brought back with us.

While I was doing that Ellen went out to the trailer and finished cleaning it up.  I think we are sbout ready to button it up for the winter.

After that it was a little surfing and  lunch.  I also wrote an email response to Diane.  Then I got out the three wall hanging things we'd bought.  One went up in the entryway, one above the bedroom door, and the last in the guest bathroom.

By then it was after 3.  I planned on doing a little mowing just to get a start on it.  Unfortunately the battery was dead.  I'd charged it two day ago.  We went to Walmart for another, but that store doesn't carry them.  We went to Home Depot and got one.  It took a long time because no one could tell me where they were.  When we found one no one knew how to do a battery core return.

It was 5 by the time that fiasco was over.  We went to Doc's back yard.  It was great.  They had Guinness.  I also got a chance to go next door and get a key lime cookie.  After dinner we stopped at the post office and went home.

I put the new battery on the charger and had half a cookie.  It was great.  Then I spent some time ordering parts for a light I'm planning to make to light up the heron sculpture we can't remember buying.  

The rest of the evening was videos.  Ellen spent all evening watching chick flicks.

Day 2171

We woke up about 8 and played games until 9.  After pet stuff and breakfast I went outside to accomplish stuff.

The first item was blowing the water out of the trailer lines.  It's the last thing I needed to do to the trailer before winter.  I drained the hot water heater and then hooked up the air hose.  Everything went as expected, but it sure took some time to drain the toilet.

The next item was fixing the DirecTV mount.  I put screws at each end of the turnbuckles.  That should keep them from slipping.  Hopefully there won't be anymore periodic adjustments.

It was too wet to mow.  I'd tentatively planned to spray, but it was too wet to do that, too.  I went out to look at the gate opener.  I turned it on (Lee had turned it off) and tested it.  It worked perfectly.  I suspected it might.  The asshole that wired the pump had put it on the same circuit as the gate.  That means that when I turn off the pump, eventually the gate battery goes dead.  I'm not sure how to fix that.

While I was doing all of that Ellen was out cutting back the bushes in front and back.  They look pretty good now.

I went inside and made an appointment for the imaging test I didn't get in the Spring.  It took me an hour, including long times on hold with three organizations.  Because I'm a glutton for punishment I then went through all the stuff to get my Medicare drug plan changed.  The premiums on the old one went up a lot.  They wanted $900/yr to supply me with $180 worth of drugs.

I was on a roll doing things I should be doing instead of surfing.  I read 6 AARP magazines.  They have gone screaming liberal.  Ellen also cut my hair.  It finally got warm enough (65) to do it outside.

Ellen fixed stir fry for dinner.  After that I spent hours looking for things to send Dan for a Christmas wish list.  The problem is, if I find something I want I immediately buy it.  I did finally find some modestly priced stuff and sent it to him.

The rest of the evening was videos.

Day 2170

 We woke up at 8, but played games until about 9.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast we went out to pull weeds.  Yesterday's rain was actually good.  It allowed me to rest and get a little more healthy (I'm still sick).  It also soaked the ground so the weeds are much easier to pull.

The gravel area in front of the car port and trailer parking was covered with grass.  It almost looked like lawn.  Ellen and I spent over an hour and a half pulling weeds.  We took 7 or 8 loads of weeds over to the burn barrel area and dumped them.  When we were finished the whole area was clear.  It looks 1000% better.  I'd been dreading this job.

We were both tired and my back was killing me when we were done.  We went back inside.  I surfed and Ellen worked on a Metal Earth version of baby Yoda.  Eventually we had lunch.

About 2 I felt recovered enough to do something.  I went out to the garage and put away all of the stuff from the trailer that I'd piled there.  The took a while.  Then I opened the new DeWalt tool.  I put it together.  Then I reorganized the power tool cabinet so the new tool would fit.  I also put away the extra drill/driver I brought from Oregon.

By then it was after 5, but I wanted to do one more thing.  I got oout a hammer and some wire hangers and hung up the new Christmas lights we'd purchased earlier.  They look nice and pretty much match the existing ones.

I called Tony like I said I would and left a message.  I'm pretty sure he won't call back.

Dinner was frozen pizza.  After dinner was surfing and TV.

Day 2169

 We got up about 8, did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  By then it was raining hard.  We surfed for a while until the rain slowed down.  Then I took the dishes we'd washed back to the trailer.  I returned with a big box of stuff from the basement.

We spent some time putting all of the stuff in the box away.  By then it was raining hard again.  We got in the car.  We needed to get cat food, we were down to the last can.

I stopped at Academy to look at safes.  Then it was Petco.  We also stopped at the post office.  There was a fair amount of mail.  The last stop was the new HEB where we bought a lot of food.  It rained hard the whole time.

When we got home we put everything away.  The mail had the Morningstar results for Q3.  All of the accounts lost  money.  One lost 10%.  I don't see how that could happen.  The stock market is doing good.  Oh well.

That was it for the day.  The rest of the day and evening was spent surfing and watching videos.  I won't be mowing the lawn tomorrow, but hopefully I can do a couple of other short tasks.

Day 2168

 We woke up before 8, played games for a short while, got up and had breakfast.  Then we went to vote.  It was nice to only have to drive over to Belterra.  When we were finished we went home.

The first thing I did was put the mower battery on the charger.  Then I got out the implements of destruction.  There was a lot of water on the well house floor when I did.  I don't know where it's coming from.  I'll have to keep an eye on it.

I cut the Wisteria way back so that we could get onto the deck.  Then I cut a whole bunch of dead limbs off it and the tree by the deck steps.  When I was finished I hauled 4 cart loads of debris into the wood.  By then I was hot, sweaty, and tired.

The next stop was hauling the three gun cases into the attic.  Those metal cases are heavy.  I got the AC people's number and called them.  They said they could have a person there at 3:00.  Amazing.  By then the battery was charged, so it went back on the mower.

Ellen was working in the trailer all of this time.  She met me as I was coming out of the garage.  I loaded her up with stuff from the trailer basement and took some myself.  We put it in the house and had hot dogs for lunch.  After some rest I went back outside.

I put back most of the rocks that we moved parking the trailer.  I left some out to drive in the mower.  Then I took a couple of loads from the basement to the house and put them away.

In the mean time Ellen updated the software on the TV.  Perhaps that will keep it from going dead.  She also determined that the Blu-ray player was dead.  Apparently it was known for problems.  She found a good one at Best Buy.

I sat down to wait for the AC repair guy.  He was right on time.  In about half an hour he game back with a broken motor start capacitor.  It had shorted the leads from power and the motor.  The whole fix cost $300.  He also said he'd send me a quote for replacing the system.

When he left I took a shower.  Then we went to Best Buy and bought a Blu-ray player.  We got a good deal, $50 off.  Then we went to Costco for batteries and water.  We were very low on both.

Ellen fixed pizza for dinner, exactly what I wanted.  While she was doing that I hooked up the new player.  It was surprisingly easy.  After dinner she programmed everything up.  I watched a movie on YouTube.  Playback was fine, but the commercials sucked.

After that I played games for a while and went to bed.  I'm tired and sore.  The next few days won't be fun.

I should add that I now have Ellen's cold.  There's much coughing and sneezing.  I'm also feeling very run down.  What a great time to get something.

Day 2167

 We woke up at 7:30, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Then we left to get the mail.

We ended up stopping at the new HEB on the way to the post office.  It's impressive.  We bought a some orange juice and a salad.  The work at the Y is progressing slowly (surprise).  They have cleared a lot of space on either side of 290.

There was a lot of mail.  It totally filled a plastic mail bin.  We stood at the post office and sorted it out.  Some stuff went into the recycle.  We ended up with a ten inch stack of magazines, a stack of investment stuff almost as high, a stack of bills, and some other stuff.  We put it all in the truck and went in search of a place to do the safety certification.

There was a quick lube place on 290 by the Y.  I stopped in.  They said half an hour wait because there were two cars ahead of us.  I didn't mind, I called Hooch to talk about a letter I got about the inheritance.  It was sort of a payday loan place that loans money in expectation of an inheritance after probate closes.  It turns out the trust prevents this.  He also got a voicemail from Yo's accountant.

The call took about 15 minutes or so.  When I hung up I watched the lube place put the last car on a rack.  There were 5 guys standing around doing nothing.  I went out to ask the manage why someone isn't looking at the truck.  He gave me some shit about telling me to wait 30 minutes and that's what I had to do.  I told him to fuck himself and left.

We drove towards Dripping Springs.  We found another lube place on 290 that said 30 minutes.  I said OK and we waited in the truck reading mail until he came out.  It was 30 minutes.  We sat for a while while they did the check.  It took longer than I expected.  The guy said that most Texas counties require a smog check.  Luckily Hays doesn't.

We took the truck to Dripping Springs and got the license.  We had to wait a little time, but not much.  Then we stopped at Tractor Supply for bird seed.  I saw on the web that Home Depot had DeWalt batteries on sale.  We stopped there, bought one, and also a tool that I'd been wanting.  The last stop was lunch at the pizza place next to HEB.

On the way home we stopped at Tomlinson's for cat litter.  It's all they carry that we can buy anything else.

When we got home we started moving stuff from the trailer.  It was hot again.  I cleared out everything under the bed and put it away.  Ellen cleared out the refrigerator and the pantry.  I helped a little with that as well as moving some of the miscellaneous stuff.  I had to stop at one point and rest for a little while.

We stopped about 5:30.  I didn't feel like eating.  I turned on the TV.  It worked on broadcast.  I ignored it and read stuff and handled mail.  After a while Ellen turned on DirecTV.  Of course it didn't work.  It was getting dark, but I went out to fix it.  Unfortunately one of the adjustments broke and I had to fix it, too.  I got the antenna positioned, so now we have TV.  We still haven't looked at the Blu-ray.

The rest of the evening was watching TV, mail, and a little surfing.  All in all it was a busy day.  Tomorrow will be the same.