Day 2803

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games for an hour.  Then it was up for p[et stuff and breakfast.  After that I called the trainer.  He said to bring Abby and Rico on Thursday.  I texted Hooch.  He seems to be OK with that, but we will have to make plans.

When that was done I went out to the shed.  I planned out the materials for some parts of the crawler course.  I also made up errands.  We started out at the post office to pick up some packages.  Then it was CVS for drugs.  I'll have to go back, they didn't have any in stock.  Then it was Michael's for some crawler supplies and Petco for cat food.  The final stop was Lowe's for more crawler supplies. 

After lunch at the teriyaki place we stopped at brooks HW on the way home for more crawler supplies.  When we got home I did retrieves with Abby.  She did well until she got bored.  Then Ellen did some heel's.

By then it was getting hot.  We watched videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed BLT's.  After dinner we took Abby out for "here" training.  She was bouncing off the walls before then, after she was tired.

The rest of the evening was videos.  Some of them gave me ideas for the crawling course.

Day 2802

 The dog woke us up at 6:30.  I fed them while Ellen took the dog out. Then we went back to bed.  I woke up at 8 and played games for half an hour before getting up.

After breakfast Ellen went out to the shed to clean her gun.  I went out to finish up the rc car.  It took a while, but I found out that the front wheels were actually set correctly.  Then I set the limits of the steering.  Finally I put on the back tires and wing.  That makes it officially done.  I can run it when the body is done.

When that was done I did retrieves with Abby.  She didn't do quite as well as she did yesterday.  Then Ellen came out and we did recalls.  That took the edge off Abby.

We went back inside.  I surfed until lunch and Ellen watched chick flicks.  After lunch I did a little surfing and then a little design work on the crawler track components.  That morphed into videos.

Dinner was a frozen dinner.  After that was some videos followed by a movie.

Day 2801

 I woke up at 8 and played games until 8:30.  Then it was up for shaver cleaning, pet stuff, and breakfast.  After a little surfing I took some garbage out and took some other stuff to the shed.  

Ellen brought Abby out and we took her into the shed and clipped her nails.  We want to stay on top of them.  Then I got a chair out because it was time for a haircut.  I drained the tanks at the same time Ellen was cutting my hair.

After that I got an attack of laziness.  I spent the rest of the morning and the first part of the afternoon surfing.  After lunch Ellen went shooting with a lady she knows.  I went out to the shed to finish setting up the rc car.

The process started out well.  I got the transmitter and receiver bound without a problem.  The problems started out with programming.  The programming app needed an update.  After a very slow download the app locked up doing the update.  Something about the failure screwed up internet access.  I had to reset the phone, delete the app, and reinstall the app.  That problem took over half an hour.

The app wanted a firmware update to the ESC.  I did that with no problems.  However, after that the app wouldn't read the ESC parameters.  I finally figured out that the ES needed a power on reset after the update.  After that I set the page and a half of parameters and got the ESC updated.

When I installed the tires I learned that the spiffy tire nuts from the manufacturer wouldn't fit.  Then I had to relearn the receiver controls for adjusting the steering.  As I started the adjustment I noticed that the front wheels aren't straight.  That's even though I measured the arm lengths with a micrometer.  I was too disgusted to debug it.  I went back into the trailer instead.

I sat down and typed up the crawler course notes I made yesterday.  In the process I fleshed out what I want to build.  I think the result will be pretty entertaining and not too hard to build.  I may start it soon.

When that was done I went back to surfing and videos.  Ellen fixed steak and salmon for dinner.  After dinner was videos.

Day 2800

 I woke up at 6.  That's right, the damn smoke alarm battery died so it started beeping.  I replaced the battery, fed the animals, and got back in bed to play games.

Eventually we got up to have breakfast.  Then we packed up Abby to go to a dog park in Keizer.  We stopped at Staples first to return an Amazon purchase.  I'd mis-read the description.

The park was large.  Unfortunately it had some muddy areas.  Abby was in need of a bath 5 minutes after we got there.  There weren't a lot of dogs there, but she found some to run around with.  I don't think she knew what to do without Rowdy and Rico.  We stayed there until she was tired.

We stopped at Dutch Bros. and Safeway on the way back.  Abby wasn't allowed in the trailer until after a bath.  We used the outside shower so that she would have warm water.  It works really well.

Lunch was leftovers.  I watched some Ukrainian videos.  Then I switched to RC track building videos.  I'm making notes on what I'll build for John.

Dinner was frozen pizza.  After dinner was more videos.

Day 2799

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games for an hour.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was some surfing before it was time to leave for the vet.

The trip up to the vet was uneventful.  We did have to go up to the Haines exit on I5 to avoid the backup on 217.  It was causing a minor slowdown on I5.

We spent very little time at the vet.  They weighed Abby (still 25 lbs) and gave us the medicine.  Then we went to Breakside.  They still haven't finished the inside, so I had an IPA and then we left.  It was lunch time, so we stopped at a Ramen place down the street.  It was OK, but not worth $20 for a bowl of noodle soup.

Hooch didn't want to come with us, but he wanted to go to a dog park near Multnomah.  It was really nice.  Abby had a great time playing with Hooch's dogs and ll of the other dogs at the park.  She may be small, but she was one of the fastest ones there.  We stayed there quite a while until both she and Rico were tired.

After that we took Abby to a nearby dog wash.  She'd gotten very muddy at the dog park.  That's because she kept lying down (being submissive) in the muddy spots near the dog bowls.

The dog trainer texted me suggesting Abby come next week.  I replied if Wed was OK and if Rico should come.  He hasn't replied.

The trip back was Hell.  I5 was backed up from Tualitin to Wilsonville.  We took a back road down to Ellison.  So did a lot of people.  We had to wait a long time at a stop sign.  I mad a big mistake not getting on at Ellison.  The traffic at the end of the frontage road was so heavy that it was almost half an hour before i got on the freeway.  Taking the freeway would have been about 10 minutes.

Abby was a very tired doggy when we got home.  She stayed in bed for the entire evening.  Ellen fixed hot dogs for dinner.  I spent the evening on videos.

Day 2798

 I woke up about 8 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that we went to do the laundry.

After the typical laundry experience we stopped at Safeway for milk and orange juice.

When we got home we took Abby for a walk.  The new spiked collar makes it a little more relaxing.  She still pulls, but it's not nearly as hard.  After a few jerks she calms down, at least for a while.

When we got back we gave Abby a bath.  I cleaned out the pool and we bathed her in it. She wasn't thrilled with the process.  I can't blame her, the water was pretty cold.

I surfed for quite a while before a late lunch.  Then it was more surfing and videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed sausage that we'd bought at Safeway.

After dinner I went out to the shed and took apart the ozone CPAP cleaner.  It all seems to be working except the fan runs really slowly.  The circuitry is all encased in a plastic block, so there's no way to fix it.  I went back inside and watched videos for the rest of the evening.

Day 2797

 I woke up a little after 8, played games for a little while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Today was cooler than it's been for a while.  It even started raining during breakfast.

I surfed until the rain was over.  Today was an errand day.  I put the big garbage sack into the trunk and we drove over to the dumpster.  Then it was off to Costco.  We bought water,drugs, nuts, and salmon.  Then we stopped at the RC place.  I bought Hooch a mini-B for Christmas.  Then we stopped at the pet store for a lot of cat food.  The final stop was AC Greasy for lunch.  I was tired of cold cut sandwiches.

When we got home it was raining again.  I watched videos for a large part of the afternoon.  I did take Abby out to do retrieves.  She didn't do really well.  I think I need to start her out wit short retrieves.

Ellen fixed corn and salmon for dinner.  After dinner I drained the tanks and watched videos.

Day 2796

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games for an hour.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that we worked with the dog.

I took her out and did retrieves.  She was dong pretty well until Ellen came out.  That produced a huge distraction, so I had to quit.  I went in to get dog food while Ellen worked on heel.  Abby's getting better at that. Finally we worked on recall.  She's getting better, but I think she thinks it's a game where she just rns between us.

That took up a good part of the morning.  When it was done I went out to the shed to do soldering.  It took a while, but I got all of the wires soldered.  I also installed the power switch and the receiver.  Finally I installed the receiver antenna.  The only assembly things left to do are install the wing and the tires.  Before i do that I need to program everything.  That's going to take a while.  I also need the painting to be done.

I finished up by putting everything away.  I'd stopped for lunch part of the way through the process, so it was mid afternoon before I was done.  I watched some videos and then decided to take the ozone generator apart.  I didn't get far because I needed tools from the shed and I was too lazy to get them.

Ellen fixed Mongolian beef for dinner.  It was good.  After dinner I watched videos while Ellen watched Korean chick flicks.

Day 2795

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Tony called, wanting to come see us.  I asked Ellen when the vet appointment was.  She looked and said she couldn't find it.  I told Tony Thursday.

After breakfast Ellen said she'd found that the vet appointment was on Thursday (I'm pretty sure that earlier she just wanted to get back to Scooter).  I left a voicemail and a text telling Tony to contact me.

After breakfast we took Abby for a walk. She got to see the usual sights and also got to play with a lab.

When we got back I did a little surfing and then went out to do some soldering.  I attached all of the wires to the ESC.  I also attached the ESC to the car.  The next step is to cut the motor wires to length and solder them.  It was hot and I didn't feel like it, so I went back inside.  I found some videos on ESC programming and watched a couple instead.

I went to the recliner to watch videos.  Of course there was also a nap involved.

Dinner was a frozen dinner.  After dinner was more videos.

Day 2794

 I woke up about 8 and played games for an hour.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went outside to drain the tanks.  I also emptied the swimming pool, cleaned it, and refilled it.

When that was done we took Abby for a walk.  It was really successful.  She had fun sniffing at the pond.  Then she met a dog to play with for a while.  We stopped at the club and she got a chance to put her smells on Dave and Vandy's dog's beds (they are out of town). Then we continued halfway around the club where she got to sniff around a lot of interesting bushes.  On the way back she got to play with two more dogs.

When we got back Abby played in the pool for a little while. Then we gave her a bath.  She didn't find that quite as much fun.  It was 11 by the time we were finished.

We surfed until after lunch.  Then we went to Safeway for food.  We also bought Abby a new Lufa dog at BiMart.  The old one smelled too bad to get near.

I'd planned on doing some soldering on the car.  It was hot though, so I ended up surfing and watching videos instead.  That turned into a nap.

Dinner was a frozen pizza.  The evening was a video marathon.

Day 2793

 I woke up about 8 and got up to do the pet stuff and have breakfast.  I texted Hooch.  He wanted to get together about 11.

I spent the next half an hour or moregetting out the cars and charging batteries.  Then we were off to Baumann's to buy stuff.  We got cherries, a cherry pie, corn, and donuts.  Then we headed to Portland.

The trip up was OK except for some minor slowing at Wilsonville.  Things are going to be bad for the next10 days though because they are closing a lane on 217 northbound.  We got to Hooch's houose about 11:05.

We sat out on the deck and watched Rico and Abby play.  They ran nonstop for quite a while.  Eventually Hooch put them in bins and we went to get lunch.  We ate at a large collection of roach coaches in downtown Beaverton by the MAX.  There had to be20 coaches.  We had Thai.  It was good.  Hooch and I had our first beers.

We drove over to the race track on Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy.  Ellen and I were marveling at how things had changed.  It was supposed to open at 2.  We got there at 2:30 and it was shut.  We decided to make the best of it and went to a new bar a block from the dentist.  It's run by Breakside.  Unfortunately they are only open outside right now and they were out of their IPA.  We sat in the outside and talked for quite a while.

Ellen wanted to go to Tammie's for paint.  As we drove there we saw that the bar next door was advertising beer and pinball.  We stopped, had a beer, and played pinball. Martha texted saying Abby had hurt herself.  We went home to find out the damage.

It turns out Abby had broken a toenail and it was bleeding.  Apparently we'd cut it too short and she'd cracked it playing with Rico.  It took a while, but Hooch got it stopped with stop bleed.

After that we sat in talked until about 8.  We didn't have dinner, no one was hungry.  When we left we stopped at Mickey D's though.

We got home after 9 and did a little surfing before going to bed.

Day 2792

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games for about an hour.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing we took Abby for a walk.

I put her on the check cord and we walked halfway around the course.  We walked past the clubhouse.  She finds this more interesting than the back side of the course.  There's the pond, the clubhouse (with people and dogs), water spigots, the pond, and lots of bushes.  We turned around at the far corner of the course and walked back.

We stopped briefly at the clubhouse.  There was a dog there that acted like it liked Abby.  However, after a short time it sort of attacked her.  Abby sort of defended herself a little bit.

It was getting hot when we got back. I went out to the shed and put the new soldering iron together.  I'd planned on soldering the ESC, but I just didn't feel like it.  I went back to the trailer.  Ellen went out and did some more painting on the RC car body.

That was pretty much it for the rest of the day.  I did some surfing and a lot of video watching.  There were also a couple of short naps.

Ellen fixed shrimp and rice for dinner.  It was really good.

Day 2791

 I woke up about 7:30, played games for half an hour, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that we left to do the wash.

When we were done with the wash we stopped at Baumann's.  We got some corn and peaches.  Then it was home.

It got hot today, up to 92.  I was going to solder up the RC car, but Ellen wanted to do painting.  There's only room for one of us to work in the shed, so I stayed inside while Ellen painted.  That lasted all day.

We did play in the pool a little with Abby.  I also did some retrieves.  The session went fairly well except once again I didn't quit soon enough.

I spent a lot of the day watching videos.  Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner was all videos.

Day 2790

 I woke up at 7:30 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was a cool day, about 62.  That meant it was time to fix the roof.

I got out all of the stuff I'd need and put it in a bucket.  Then I attached the check cord to it.  After that I took down the Starlink antenna and got out the step ladder.  Then it was time to climb up on the roof.  Using the step ladder to get halfway up made things easier.

When I got on the roof I hauled up the stuff with the bucket.  Then I used alcohol to clean the part of roof I was going to patch.  The hole was only about 3 inches, but the edge of the roof was scratched for about 6 feet.  

Applying the eternabond wasn't easy.  I had to lean over the edge and apply it.  It would have been much easier if I could have gotten a ladder up to the side of the roof.  Quite frankly I didn't do a very neat job, but I think it will be OK.  When I was finished I lowered the bucket back down and then climbed down the ladder.  I'm not sure I would have made it without the step ladder and Ellen to tell me where to put my feet.

I put the antenna back up and put everything away.  I was really tired and a little sore.  I'm too old and fat to be doing that sort of thing.  I did do some retrieves with the dog when I was finished though.

After that we went on errands.  We got the mail (lots of packages), went to Wally World for orange juice, TP, rolls, bananas, and some other items.  After a stop at Dutch Brothers we picked up burgers at AC Greasy and went home.

After lunch I was wiped out.  I sat in the recliner and predictably went to sleep.  When I woke up I watched videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed frozen lasagna.

We took Abby out and played with her in the pool.  We had bought a new water toy at Wally World.  I'd throw it in the pool and she would retrieve it.  It was cool. 

Abby spent a lot of time in my lap when I was in the recliner.  I liked it.

Day 2789

 I woke up at 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was hot again today, eventually in the mid 90's.

I took Abby out and did some retrieves with her.  She did OK, but eventually got bored.  Then I surfed for awhile and then started watching videos.  Abby sat on my lap while Ellen worked on masking the body of the RC car.  That lasted until about 1:30.  Then we decided to go to lunch with the dog.

We ate at Hopdoddy's.  It was happy hour, so I had a couple of mango margaritas.  Then we went to the pet store and pot some cat food.  We also bought a bag of dog treats to keep in the truck.  We gave Abby a couple and she hated them.  Oh well.

It was really hot when we got home, so we hid out in the trailer.  At dinner time Abby broke her chain (the nut came loose).  I went outside and replaced it.  I assembled the new one with red locktite.  I made a sandwich for dinner.  I sat down in the recliner to eat it.  Abby jumped up to try a bite.  I was telling her to get down when she took it off the plate.  I grabbed her, shook her, yelled at her, and put her in her box.  She stayed there for the rest of the evening - no 8 o'clock treat.

Hooch sent me a text from Yo.  It's incoherent, but we think it says that Tony's gone off the deep end again.  I'll try to call him.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler.  Perhaps I'll fix the roof.

Day 2788

 I woke up at 7, turned over and went to sleep until 8.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast. After breakfast I did a little surfing and then went out to the shed.

I reloaded the 100+ 20 gauge shells that I'd shot a while back.  Then I decided to make sure that I was ready to do the soldering and complete the RC car.  It was good i did.  It turns out that the ESC was missing a cable.  Also, I didn't have an extra receiver like I thought I did.  I went back inside and ordered both.

I sent a text to Hooch asking what they were doing tomorrow.  He answered, but my phone didn't droid or post a screen notification.  He's shooting in Sherwood.  We might go watch. 

I drained the tanks and then went inside.  It was hot - 99 degrees.  We spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening hiding out in the trailer.  Ellen watched chick flicks and I watched videos.

Dinner was fish and pasta.  About 7:30 we took the dog out and ran the calling drill.  It didn't work well.  She's too smart.  She runs to one of us, gets the treat, and then turns around and runs to the other without waiting to be called.  I'm not sure what to change to keep that from happening.

Day 2787

 I woke up about 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing we went to Woodburn.

We stopped at the hardware store and got cutoff wheels for the Dremel.  I also got a small link for the dog's chain.  Then we went to Safeway to get some groceries.  We also stopped at the post office.  The Amazon stuff wasn't supposed to be delivered until late, which probably means I won't get it until Monday.

One of the letters we got was from Medicare.  It listed 4 fake charges on my account.  They were all for $100 for at home COVID tests.  I called Medicare to report the fraud.  I took half an hour more to get the process completed.  It involved being on hold to talk to someone, then explain it, then wait on hold, then explain it again, then wait on hold, Then wait while they entered it all into the computer while I just listened, followed by "goodbye".  Wonderful government efficiency.

After that I had lunch and then went to the shed.  I used the cutoff wheel to shorten the heatsink.  Then I attached the pinion gear to the motor.  I installed the motor and set the gear mesh.  Finally I installed the heatsink.  That's all I can do until I get the new soldering iron.  Using the old one on the battery connectors showed me that it's tool old to connect the ESC.

By then it was very hot.  I didn't check, but the temp might have gotten up to 100 or more.  I hid ouit in the trailer and surfed.  

Ellen fixed steak and pasta for dinner.  After dinner it was some videos and a movie.

Day 2786

 I woke up about 7.  I'd been up until 1 last night, so I went back to sleep until 8.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.

After breakfast I surfed and did a few minor things like take out the garbage.  At ten we took Abby to the club to pick up a couple of packages.  When we got home I took her over to do some retrieves  She only did a few before she lost interest.

By then it was time to go to McMinnville for the farmer's market.  We had to take a detour to avoid a big backup due to the work on the bridge.  That turned out OK, because we stopped at a Dutch Bros.  The not so good thing was that Abby barfed up her entire breakfast.  It was quite a mess.  Fortunately we had paper towels and cleaning solution in the car.  I cleaned it up while we were waiting in line.

There wasn't really anything new at the market.  We looked at everything and bought strawberries and some pastries.  We didn't eat there because we had passed an old time burger joint on the way in.  It had plenty of outdoor seating.

The burger place was good and not too expensive.  While we were eating some people showed up with a huge GSP and a larger wirehair.  Both were much larger than Lucy was.  I told Abby she was not allowed to get that large.

On the way back we stopped at Hopewell.  It's really just a couple of closed buildings and a store that sells local arts and crafts.  Ellen bought soap and a locally made candy bar.  I got a lemonade.  The candy bar was small and cost $8.  It was REALLY good though.  

It was over 90 when we got home.  I went out to the garage to solder connectors on the battery and ESC leads for the RC car.  It was hot.  The job took longer than it should have.  I was going to mod the heat sink too, but I didn't have any cutting wheels for the Dremel.  I'll have to get some.

Ellen fixed shrimp and tator tots for dinner.  After dinner was videos.

Day 2785

 I woke up about 8, played games for a little while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Today was a sewer day, so there was nothing to do until the guy showed up.

Ellen went out to the shed and did some masking on the body for the RC car.  I spent time inside watching videos on soldering and looking at examples of body paint scheme and wiring layouts.  I showed some of the paint schemes to Ellen and we worked out a general plan.  

I was going to do some soldering, but first I had to take apart the soldering iron.  It doesn't get very hot anymore.  That's not surprising, since I got it at the Tek surplus store 40 years ago.  God I'm old.  The iron was dirty and rusty.  I cleaned it all out inside, but it is still far from optimal.  The tip is about history.

I went back inside and looked up new tips.  They are rare, but Amazon had some.  While looking I found that the spiffy soldering iron I have in Texas was on sale for Prime Day.  I ordered one of those, too.  Everything is coming in a couple of days.  I may solder connectors while I'm waiting with the old iron.

We took Abby out and did another session of calling her between us.  It went pretty well.

After that all there was to do was surf and wait for the sewer guy to show up.  He came about 4.  I tried a new approach to flushing the tanks that got him finished a lot sooner.  Then I spent a lot of time trying to get the tank as clean as possible.  I didn't really improve anything.  By the time I was finished it was 5 and too late to go to Hooch's birthday dinner in Portland.

Ellen had gone to the outhouse.  I had Abby out when she got back, so I let Abby off lead to go see her.  Ellen didn't bother to stop Abby, so Abby kept going towards station 3.  She was past there when I called her back.  She turned around and came back.  That was great.

Dinner was frozen pizza.  After dinner was some videos and a movie.  The movie played well even though Starlink throttles us from 6 to 10.

Day 2784

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games for a little while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that we went to do the wash.

When the wash was done we went to Wally World.  I wanted to get some more of the Mexican mango pop.  They only had two bottles left.  We stopped at the post office on the way home and picked up three packages.  We also stopped at Baumann's and got some more corn and fruit.

When we got home we played a new game with Abby.  We stood apart, called to her, and had her run between us.  We each gave her a piece of dog food when she came.  This seemed to tire her out a little, but not much.

After lunch we opened the packages.  The first one was a Martingale collar for Abby.  It works pretty good on her.  The second was the new chains for Abby.  The third was something for Ellen.

I took the chains to the shed and cut off the clasps at each end.  Then I used a screw and nut to join them together.  I took the result back inside and we measured how much needed to be cut off.  I shortened the chain and put the ends from the old chain on it.

Abby does not like the new chain.  Apparently a 1 cm steel chain isn't fun to chew on.

I went back outside and finished prepping the RC car body for painting.  Then I got out the electronics and fit them in the car.  They are going to fit fine.  By then it was getting warm so I went back inside and watched videos until dinner time.

Ellen fixed pork chops and corn for dinner.  After dinner I set up the flush hose for tomorrows sewer dump and drained the tanks.  Then it was more videos.

Day 2783

 I woke up about 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was a cold morning, under 60.

I surfed for a while waiting for it to warm up.  It didn't.  I went out to get ready to repair the roof.  When I did it started raining.  Oh well.  Ellen came out with me to paint Baby Yoda in the shed.  I took the RC car parts and tools back to the trailer with me.

I spent the whole day working on the car.  I built the shocks and installed them.  Then I added the rest of the chassis components.  That's when I discovered that I didn't have the right sized battery for the car.  That meant a login to Amazon to select and order one.  Finally I installed the servo and hooked it up.  It was after 7 when I was done.

I had BBQ pork for lunch.  After lunch I did retrieves with Abby before going back to work on the car.

Dinner was a frozen dinner.  After that I watched videos.

The dog is getting bigger.  She's gained 5 lbs since we took her to the vet a couple of weeks ago.  That's a 25% increase.  I sure hope she quits growing soon.  She's much stronger.  She's now chewed through the plastic chain at least three times.  Today she pulled Ellen over.

Day 2782

 I woke up at 8, got up and did the pet stuff and had breakfast.  Then I got the stuff ready and we went to the club.

We got the start station and walked out to it.  At least it was a fairly "good" station form the walking point of view.  The weather was a little cool and cloudy at the start.  It got sunny and warmer by the end.  Gerry shot with us.

I shot so-so and Ellen shot badly.  It wasn't that the course was hard either.  I had fun though.

Wen we were finished we had lunch at the trailer.  After that we went to Safeway.  We needed cold cuts and orange juice.  For some reason their deli was closed, so we had to buy packaged cheese.  Then we went back home.

I could have done something in the afternoon, but I just didn't feel like it.  I surfed for a while and then watched videos for the rest of the day.

Ellen fixed stir fry for dinner.  It was good. 

I think it's going to be cool tomorrow morning.  If it is I'll try to patch the roof.

Day 2781

 I woke up about 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was very cool today, in the 60's.  When breakfast was done I took the RC car kit out to the shed along with the tools.  

I completed two more of the construction steps.  Most of the pieces have now been attached to the frame.  The next step is constructing the shocks.  It's not something I'm fond of doing, so I decided to delay it to another day.

The dog needs her toenails clipped.  One of the videos we watched showed that this is best done on a bench.  I spent some time turning a metal rod into something we could attach her to.  Then I attached it to some of the bench work in the shed and cleaned off the area around it. 

Abby doesn't like having her nails clipped any more than Lucy did.  The bench helps though.  I got her to behave better by feeding her a cup of dog food while Ellen did the nails.  I think things will go better next time.

I did some retrieves with Abby.  She did better on the short check cord and I made sure to quit before she was tired.  Then I went back to the trailer and had lunch.  Then I surfed.  I had lost all ambition.

Ellen had to pick up some packages at the club.  We took Abby over there as well as a sack of garbage.  Then we walked back.  Abby was on the check cord, so she got to do a little exploring around the pond.

I watched videos until dinner (frozen pizza).  After dinner was videos and a nap.

Day 2780

 I woke up about 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Then I surfed until Jerry showed up to shoot.

We shot the whole course.  It was pretty challenging.  Apparently they have a competition on  Sunday.  I shot about average.  Unfortunately there's a bunch of rust on my 20 ga.  I think it was cause by water sprayed on it when deterring a cat.

Jerry's cart had a really low tire.  When we got back I filled all 4.  All of them were really low.  I also removed the rust from the gun.  It's gone, but you can see where it was if you look closely.  I also fixed the shed latch.  It wasn't working because the door has sagged.  A little work with the Dremel fixed it.

When everything was put away we went to Wally World.  I needed new nose pieces for my glasses, the dog ate them last night.  We also bought a whole bunch of frozen dinners and some bananas.  We stopped at Walgreen's for Ellen drugs.  We also stopped at Baumann's and got several kinds of fruit and some corn.

It wasn't hot, but it was warm when we got home.  I decided I didn't want to work on the RC car.  I watched videos for a short while and then went to sleep.

Ellen fixed steak and corn for dinner.  Abby really likes steak night.  We're working hard on her staying in her bed when we tell her to.  There's been a little progress.

After dinner Ellen watched a chick flick and I surfed.

Day 2779

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was going to be another hot day, so I decided to work on the RC car.

I'd left everything for working on the car on the kitchen table, so it was easy to start.  I finished 4 more assembly steps.  When I was finished both the front and back assemblies are complete.  I had a little trouble with some of the camber road and the servo saver.  Other than that it was just a lot of pieces that had to be assembled.  The resulting assemblies are really heavy and a lot better designed than any of the other kits I've put together.

I might have done more except the next step involves attaching things to the chassis.  I didn't want to get involved with the hassles that will create until another day.

I ended up watching videos again.  Elon turned off access to Twitter for non-members a couple of days ago.  Since a lot of my info about Ukraine comes from people posting Twitter posts I had some catching up to do.  I got caught up.

Dinner was a frozen dinner.  Ellen has given up fixing regular dinners.  I'm out of frozen stuff.  I'll buy more tomorrow.

I took Abby out for retrieves today.  She did a few good ones and then got tired of it.  I'll have to keep working on it.  She also broke the plastic chain TWICE.  She chews on the links until one breaks.  She also got a hold of my glasses and ate the nose pieces.  Finally, she continues to terrorize the cats.  She's old enough to know better.  I plan on dealing with that in the near future.

After dinner was more videos.

Day 2778

 I woke up about 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was already getting hot by then.  Eventually it got to 100 today.

After breakfast Ellen went outside to paint the Baby Yoda model some more.  I surfed for a while and then got the RC building tools out of the garage.  I set up everything on the kitchen table and started to build the RC car.

I kept building the car while Ellen was painting.  Eventually it got too hot for her.  She put the paints away and came inside.  I'd only finished making a couple of differentials.  It was difficult to work on the small kitchen table.  Also I'd run into a bit of trouble with the second on.

It was a little before noon and Ellen needed to go to Walgreen's.  We went there and then stopped at Dutch Bros.  The last stop was Arby's.

When we got home Ellen stared watching chick flicks.  I went back to work on the car.  Eventually I finished 5 assembly steps.  I think that there's about 16 total.  I quit when it became work instead of fun.

Ellen kept watching chick flicks and I switched to surfing.

Dinner was frozen pizza.

After dinner was videos.

Day 2777

 I woke up about 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  When I checked for water under the sink there was none.  Hopefully the problem has been fixed.

After a little surfing we left to get a swimming pool for Abby.  I also wanted to go to a hardware store and Ellen wanted to go to Walgreen's.  Bi-Mart was open, so we got the pool.  Everything else was shut because it's the 4th of July.

When we got home I filled up the swimming pool so it could warm up in the sun.  Then I retreated to the house.  The small awning was crooked when we put it out.  I spent some time figuring out how to balance the arm lengths so that it would go out straight.

Lee called.  He is considering buying a used Audi and asked us whether it was a good idea.  I told him that I thought it would be as long as he got a Audi warranty.  He would.  After the call we did a little research on the car he's looking at (2018 S6).  It's got an OK rating as a used car.  We texted him with the results.

It just got hotter for the rest of the day.  It didn't really start cooling off until about 9.  I thought about working on the RC car, but I just didn't feel like it.  The point is doing it for enjoyment.

We took Abby out in the afternoon.  She really likes the swimming pool.  I also tried doing retrieves with the long check cord.  That was a disaster.  I couldn't control her and she just ran off.

Ellen fixed orange chicken for dinner.  It was OK, but not very spicy.

I really need to get motivated to do something other than just sit surfing and watching videos.  I still need to fix the roof, but it's too hot to do it now.

Day 2776

 We woke up about 8, played games for a little while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I decided to work on the water under the sink.

However, when I looked under the sink it was dry.  I couldn't do much debugging if there's no water.  I decided that this could be a sealing issue since we weren't home for most of yesterday.  I cleaned up the edge of the sink and also the base of the faucet.  Then Ellen applied new sealant.  We'll see how that goes.

After that I got the table and a chair out of the shed and set them up under the trees.  Then I put the baby Yoda kit and paints on the table.  Ellen went out and spent the next several hours painting.  I spent some of that time cutting out the body for the new RC car.

Abby was very subdued today.  After breakfast she spent the rest of the morning sleeping.  When lunch was over she went right back to bed.  She really didn't show any energy at all until about dinner time.  Even then she wasn't operating at full speed.

After lunch we went to Woodburn for groceries.  It was strictly a one stop trip.  When we got home it was over 90 degrees.  We went back inside and watched videos for the rest of the afternoon.  

Dinner was a frozen dinner.  After dinner I watched videos until I fell asleep.  I woke up in time to go to bed.

Day 2775

 We got up at 8, did the pet stuff, and had breakfast.  Hooch said that they would us to come at noon, so I had time to mount the Starlink cable box.

I got everything out and then had Ellen come out to help.  She inserted all of the bolts and I put the nuts on.  Then we worked together to tighten everything up.  That didn't take as long as I thought it would, so I decided to string the cable, too.  That job went fairly easily too.  That meant the job was officially complete.  I think it will work fine.

After that we put the dog in the car and left for Beaverton.  I wanted Ellen to get the paint that she wanted for the new RC car.  The trip up was uneventful except for Abby drooling heavily on the console between the front seats.  At least she didn't barf.

We had lunch at the bagel place and then went to Tammies.  We got the RC car paint.  We also got a baby Yoda model and the paint for it.  The model was $30 and the paint was $50.  Ellen can use the paint for other airbrush projects though.

After that we went to Hooch's house.  We sat and talked for hours while watching Abby and Rico play.  They got along well and never seemed to stop running.  Rico weighs twice as much as Abby, but she held her ground.  I hope that she doesn't get a big full grown as Rico is now.  The only fly in the ointment was both Abby and Rico continually pissing and shitting on the deck.

Hooch BBQ'd chicken for dinner.  It was great. He also got out the pellet pistol I gave him.  His whole family had fun shooting at cans in the back yard.

After dinner we talked for a lot of time.  We left about 8:30.  I made great time on the way home - a little over 40 minutes.  

We watched videos for about an hour.  I poked at something in my right ear that started bleeding.  Ellen thinks it's a zit.  We put some Neosporin on it.  I hope it goes away.

Day 2774

 I woke p about 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  When that was over I went to the shed to work on the Starlink cable box.

Ellen brought Abby out, so I did retrieves with her before starting to work.

I attached the two latches to the sides of the box.  It was a little hard to position them correctly, but I managed to get them exactly as I wanted them.  Then I made up two attachment cables to hold the hitch pins to lock the latches.

At that point I needed to acquire three things.  I needed a replacement for Abby's tie out wire inside the trailer.  She's chewed the covering off the wire.  I also needed the hitch pins and a rubber plug for the output hole on the box.  I found plastic chain for a new tie out at Lowe's, so off we went.  Abby went too, but she wasn't happy about it.

We bought the stuff I needed at Lowe's.  I also got 100' of nylon cord to make a longer check cord for Abby's retrieve training.  After a stop at Petco for kitty litter we went to Hopdoddy's for lunch.  Abby liked both Lowe's and lunch.  She was actually really well behaved - and there wasn't any barfing.

When we got home I went out to the garage.  I made up the new tie out and check cord.  I also finished up the final work on the box.  It's ready to install.  It was way too hot to do it today though.

I went back inside and read the instructions on the new CPAP cleaner.  Then I put it in the cleaner.  I surfed for a while and then drained the tanks.

Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner I made a milkshake with the last of the strawberries.  It was really good.

After dinner was videos.