Day 2864

 I woke up at 7:30, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was 50 degrees this morning, so after that I surfed for a while until it warmed up a little.

The Langoliers were out destroying the pumpkins.  We took Abby over to watch.  Then we continued walking around the course.  By then it was a pretty nice day.  We also stopped by the club and said goodbye to Dave.

When we got back Ellen put a coat of black paint on the cup holder plastic.  It essentially turned the panels black.  I shouldn't have wasted any time on the gold paint.  Then we threw some retrieves for Abby.  She was a much calmer dog after that.

At that point there wasn't anything to do until later in the day.  I did hook up my Surface Pro to the StarLink and update it.  That took a long time.  Lunch was sandwiches followed by videos and a nap.

Ellen fixed steak for dinner.  After dinner we took the StarLink down.  It took a little time to do it, but we'll get faster at it with practice.  I put the cup holders together, put the swimming pool in the shed, and brought in the coat hangers.  That finishes everything about the shed except putting in the hoses.

The rest of the evening was surfing and videos.

Day 2863

 I woke up about 7:30, played games for a while, an then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went outside to continue preparing to leave.

I took all of the garbage out of the trailer and put it in the current large garbage sack in the carport.  Then I took the sack and the bottle sack and put them in the back of the truck.  I also put the gun cart and cat box in the truck and the step stool into the shed. 

I checked the battery charger.  It's display was off.  I had Ellen come out and we half removed the cover so I could open the hood.  Everything seemed to be OK.  I "cycled power" on the charger and the display came back on.  I guess it's OK.  We put the cover back on.

Then I went to the shed.  I put another coat of paint on the plastic for the Bronco II cup holders.  Then I moved most of the remaining stuff to the trailer.  The pressure washer went into the basement.  The BBX and remaining parts went into the bedroom.  The last things to be moved will be the coat hangers, StarLink box, and the dog holder.

Ellen's drugs were supposed to be ready at 11:00.  We left for Woodburn about 11:30.  We stopped at Wally World first to get DEF and orange juice.  We also got a couple of dog toys.  Abby had destroyed several of hers and we need replacements.  When we got to Walgreen's they told us to come back at 3.  I was pissed.  We ate at Mickey D's and filled up at the Shell by Red Robin - 29 gallons for $153.  Then we went home.

Ellen's asshole was giving her problems.  She sat on the can and I took Abby out for retrieves.  A little later Ellen came out and helped with the retrieves.  Abby had a great time.  After that we put Abby in the truck and went back to Walgreen's.  

At least this time they had the drugs.  Ellen got them while I cleaned up the dog vomit.  Yes, Abby got car sick again.  Then we went home.  I lined up the truck so that it will be easy to hook up.  I don't plan on driving tomorrow.

I added another coat of paint to the cup holder plastic and then went inside the trailer.  The rest of the afternoon and evening was videos.  Dinner was leftovers.

Day 2862

 I woke up a little after 7, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was a little chilly (55) and windy, but I went outside to wash the car.

After getting out all of the stuff we'd need I started by washing the inside of the windows.  Ellen came out and started on the vacuuming.  I switched to seats while she changed to doors and dash.

I got done first.  I decided to wash the inside of the truck windows.  That turned into washing the dash and the front seat surfaces also.  It will make the trip a little better.  

When Ellen finished with the interior I backed the car out and we started to wash it.  Just like the truck I sprayed with the pressure washer and Ellen soaped things up.  The whole thing went much faster than the truck.  Ellen dried the car while I put everything away.  Then she went over the car with some ceramic wax when we were done.

The final step was putting the car back in the car port and putting the cover on.  That went easily.

By then it was a little after noon.  It had warmed up some and the wind had died.  We went inside for lunch and a little surfing.  When we'd recovered some we took Abby for a walk around the course (actually half way and back).  She had a great time.  When we got back it was a little surfing.  

I went out to the shed and cut a couple of panels to enclose the bottom of the cup holders I bought for the Bronco II.  I drilled mounting holes in them and then painted them.  I'll need to do at least two more coats of paint.  Time is getting short.

Returning to the trailer it was videos, which turned into a nap.

Ellen fixed chicken and rice for dinner.  After that was videos until I got bored and went back to surfing.

Day 2861

 We woke up a little before 8 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little bit of surfing we put Abby and the car and left for Beaverton.

It turned out that all of the places that we wanted to go to didn't open until 10.  That meant we had some free time in the schedule.  Ellen called the vet from the road and got a 10:30 appointment to look at the bump we'd discovered on Abby's head.

Our first stop was the dog wash.  It was the only destination that was open.  After that we stopped at Mud Bay to buy cat food.  The traffic gods were on our side and we got to the vet 10 minutes early.  The vet said she thought that the bump was a cyst.  We're having her do a biopsy on it.  We had her weighed - 30 to 31 lbs.  I hope she never gets any bigger.

The next stops were Freddies for beer and dessert and the liquor store for whiskey.  Then it was Tammies for some decal solutions.  The final shopping stop was Costco.  I bought tooth brushes, probiotic pills, and Flonase.  The bill was $152.

We stopped at a roach coach for lunch and then finally got to John and Patty's.

It was great to spend the afternoon and evening talking with them.  They kept their dogs in the living room while Abby was with us in the family room.  That was a good thing.  I think all of them together would have been a continual riot.  Abby behaved great the whole time we were there.

Patty fixed a great dinner for us.  We left a little before 7:30.  

When we got home Ellen discovered that the cats had killed a mouse in the bedroom.  I have no idea how it got in.  I'll have to check the place where the Starlink cable comes in.

Day 2860

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games for a while.  Then  it was up for pet stuff and breakfast it was raining and very windy.  Ellen left to do the wash.  I stayed to do some small activities.

I went out to the shed and started charging the rest of the DeWalt batteries and draining the tanks.  Then I wrote out a "punch list" of things that I want done to the Bronco II.  I needed to think about the contents and I wanted it to be ready when we get to Richland.

The weather still sucked when Ellen got back.  I finished the list and went to the next task.  The cabinet doors under the sink were sticking.  I suspect that the reason was because Ellen has been leaning on them and bent the hinges.  I hadn't noticed because the garbage had been moved out of under the sink so I never used them.  I got a hammer and bent the hinges back into place.

After lunch the weather had cleared up.  We took Abby outside and did some recall training.  It didn't last long because she got bored.  We moved to retrieves.  That went south when Vandy let Potter out.  Ellen let go of Abby's rope and there was quite a cluster fuck untangling the two dogs.  After that we did a few more retrieves.  Abby has no conception of searching for the bumper if she loses track of where it fell.

We went back inside for some videos.  The weather started getting bad again. 

Lee called.  There wasn't anything wrong with the house, so we had a good talk.  He says that the apartment AC appears to have problems.

Dinner was a sandwich.  Ellen decided to refuse to cook.  After dinner was videos and surfing.

Day 2859

 I got up a little before 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was raining pretty hard, so I just surfed.

After a couple of hours the rain stopped.  I immediately went out and set up to wash the truck.  Then Ellen and I washed it.  I ran the pressure washer and she did the scrub brush.  We cheated a little by using a wash and wax product.  It still took quite a while to finish the job.  It was after 1 by the time we were through.

The pressure washer burns batteries.  I only had the 5 AH that came with the washer and two other 15 AH batteries.  Lowe's was having a sale on DeWalt batteries, so we went there and bought a package.  Then we went to Hops and Drops.  We waited in the car for 5 minutes until it was happy hour.

We stopped by Roths when we were done and then went home.  By then it was raining again.  It rained the rest of the day except for a short period at 4:30.  We took Abby out and ran retrieves.  She is really bored and in need of exercise.

Ellen fixed salmon and rice for dinner.  It was good.  After dinner was some videos.  I tried to watch a movie, but it was boring so I turned it off and went back to surfing.

While charging batteries I looked at the BBX body.  The paint job sucks.  It's blotchy and has a lot of crazed spots.  I'm going to put some stickers on it and call it good anyway.

Day 2858

 I woke up at 7:30 again and played games.  It was another cold morning and there was no reason to get up.  Eventually it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast it was surfing.  We were eventually killing time until the factory stores opened.  Shooting was out - it was raining.  It essentially rained all day.

We left for the stores about noon.  When we got there the place was packed.  We were lucky to find a parking space.  We walked through the whole place.  We were both looking for footwear.  Ellen bought shoes and slippers.  I bought shower sandals.

When we were finished we went to See's for more candy.  The stuff we purchased a few weeks ago was really good, and hey - we're rich.  We stopped at Arby's for lunch and then Safeway for groceries.

The last stop was Bi-Mart for a new rope toy for Abby.  Last night she completed the destruction of the two she's had for a while.  I found a nice one.

When we got home I gave the toy to Abby.  She got to work on it immediately.  She was well on her way to destroying it in the first half hour she had it.

We didn't have dinner.  Ellen didn't want to eat anything and I wasn't very hungry.  After dinner was videos.

Day 2857

 I woke up a 7:30, played games for write a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was a cloudy day and the temperature was in the 50's.  It didn't get up to 70 all day.  I decided to work on the BBX.

I went out to the shed and got the tools, car, and parts.  Then I started to work on the car.  I finished the roll cage and put on the wheels.  That doesn't sound like much, but what with looking for parts and dealing with a couple of errors in the instructions t took a while.

When I was done I went through all of the parts that were left and separated out the ones that were duplicates.  I bagged those and will put them away some place when we get home.  Then I took everything back to the shed.  By then it was 2.

I went back inside and had lunch.  Then we took Abby out for a training session on retrieves.  She's doing well, but any little distraction causes her to lose focus.  Yesterday's training on recall and retrieves really showed.

When the training was done I put another coat of paint on the BBX body.  Hopefully that completes it's painting.  I also drained the tanks.

The rest of the afternoon was videos and a nap.  Abby kept jumping on me.

Ellen fixed sausage and eggs for dinner.  After dinner was more videos until I got tired of them.  I surfed for a while and then went to bed early.

Day 2856

 I woke up at 7 and went back to sleep until 8.  Then it was game playing for a while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was low 50's, so I just surfed for a while.

I didn't really have much to do today, so the surfing session turned into a long one.  I did go out and rearrange some of the stuff in the basement.  I thought about it, but didn't feel like working on the BBX.

Lunch was a sandwich.  After that we decided to go to a Halloween store in Keizer to look for dog costumes.  They had a few, but nothing we liked.  We just went back home.

When we got home Ellen gave me a much needed haircut.  Then it was back to surfing.  That turned into videos.

Ellen fixed steak for dinner.  After dinner was some more videos and a streaming TV series.  I liked the first one and will probably watch some of the others.

Just before bed we looked for dog costumes on Amazon.  We ended up getting a bat one.

Day 2855

 I woke up about 7:30 and payed games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was cold, 47 degrees.  I decided to surf for a while.

Eventually it warmed up a little, but not enough to spend a lot of time outside.  I decided to work on the BBX.  I got it and the tools out of the shed and took them to the trailer.

I started out by having Ellen come out to inspect the painting of the body parts.  She said it was time to spray the silver backing, so I did.  Then I completed 4 assembly steps.  I installed the front shocks, the rear suspension, and some more of the roll cage.  The rear suspension was a real pain in the ass to install.  The whole thing took until almost 1.

I put the BBX back in the shed and we took Abby to the dog park.  She had a great time running around.  Unfortunately there weren't many dogs for her to play with.  She had a good time though and tired herself out.

We stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch and picked up some peaches at Jones Farm.  When we ot home I did some more surfing until dinner time.  It was a frozen dinner.

After dinner was videos.

Day 2854

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games for quite a while.  then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast it was out to the shed to continue the packing.

I put the last few items from the shed in the trailer.  The only thing left is the BBX.  I'm still planning to work on it, at least until next week.  Then I loaded the ammo into the truck.  Moving the boxes is getting harder every year.  The real problem was getting them into plastic bags.  I don't have the strength to horse the boxes around much anymore.

Eventually I got everything into the truck.  I was tired and my back was killing me.  I went back inside and surfed for a while to recover.  I switched to videos and had lunch.

When lunch was over I took Abby out to do retrieves.  I decided to start teaching her to stay until I release her.  She's smart.  After about ten tries she was doing it.  I went back to just throwing the bumper until she got bored.  Then we walked her over to station 15.  Ellen held the check cord because my back was killing me again because of the stooping when doing retrieves.  We might have gone farther, but the sewer man was due.

The sewer man showed up about 3:30.  That's the earliest I can remember him being.  Draining and flushing the tank took 5 to 10 minutes and he was off.  Of course it took me much longer to continue with some more tank flushing and draining.  When that was done i ran water through the long garden hose and coiled it up.  I won't need it until next year.

I had Ellen look at the BBX body parts I'd painted. She did some touch ups.  Hopefully we can put on the silver tomorrow.  I also need that haircut.  That was it for the day.  Late afternoon and evening was all videos.

Day 2853

 I woke up about 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Then I loaded up the car and we went to the laundromat.

I went to Coastal while the wash was  going and bought some more Casoron.  When it was done we went to Safeway for bananas and Bauman's for corn.  After that we ended up going back to Woodburn to cash a check and go to Dutch Bros.  The final stop was the post office.

All that messing around meant that it was after noon when we got home.  I went out to the shed to start packing.  I got together some of the ammo for the truck.  Then I got sidetracked by loading the trailer.

I spent until 4:30 loading the basement for the trailer.  By the time I was finished all of the stuff from the shed was in the basement.  It's very crowded, but access to the stuff we'll need while on the road is fairly easy.

After that I was sore and tired. Getting old sucks.  I shouldn't feel so beat up considering the work I did.  I planned on getting all of the packing done.  I failed.  I still have to load up the truck.  I also wanted to get a haircut.  Those are tomorrow's activities.

I went inside and surfed and watched videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed spaghetti.  After dinner the rest of the evening was videos.  Poor Abby.  She didn't get much exercise today.

Day 2852

 I woke up at 5.  Cooper came back to bed with hit on his feet.  We had to get up and get cleaning stuff to clean the cat and the sheets.  Then it was back to bed. I managed to get back to sleep until after 7.  Then it was a little game playing before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.

It was a little cold this morning, 60 degrees.  I went out to the shed and started to get ready to do the spraying.  It started raining a little though, so I did a little cleanup first.  Then I got out the sprayer and pumped up its front tire.  That's when i fond out that the tire pump attachment in the trailer was broken.  Luckily I had one in the shed.

I spent until noon spraying the gravel pad.  It was unpleasant, but at least the weather was good.  It was cloudy, about 70, and there was a light breeze so I could always spray down wind.  When I was done i put the sprayer away and went in for lunch.

After lunch I rested a little and then went back out to put on the Casoron.  That was less pleasant than spraying.  The dust got all over me.  There was no avoiding it.  Fortunately it only took about 45 minutes to do the spreading.  When it was done I went back inside for a much needed shower.  I was tired and sore.

After the shower I surfed for about an hour.  Then we went to Harbor Freight to get another tire pump attachment.  I have to have one in the trailer.  We came right back hoe because Ellen's asshole was giving her problems.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent surfing.  I'd planned on going out to the shed to clean things up, but it just didn't happen.

Day 2851

 Abby woke s up whining a little after 7.  I couldn't get back to sleep, so I played games instead.  When I got up I had to repair the CPAP.  The strap had broken in the night.  I had to replace the strap.  I also replaced the hose and nose piece with the extras they send me.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.

After breakfast I went to the shed and connected the battery charger to the sprayer.  I plan on spraying tomorrow.  Then I went back inside and texted Hooch asking when we should come.  He replied "any time" and asked that we stop at the grocery store for a few things.

We stopped at Mud bay on the way up to get cat food and a harness for Abby.  The old one was too small now and Lucy's harness is too big.  We got the groceries at the expensive grocery store next door.

When we got to Hooch's place he suggested we take the dogs to the park, so we went there in his truck.  The dogs had a great time.  There were two other GSP's there to play with.  When those dogs left they played with other high energy dogs.  It took a long time before Rico and Abby ran down.  We took them home when they did.

We went out to the deck to have snacks, talk, and watch the dogs play.  They weren't as tired as we thought that they were.  They chased each other around the deck for hours.

About 6:30 Hooch suggested going out to dinner.  I was just too tired.  I didn't want another evening where we got home after 9.  We said our good byes and left.

We stopped at Arby's on the way home.  The counter lady made a mistake and we ended up with two free sandwiches that we didn't order.

When we got home we ate and watched videos.  Abby was VERY tired.  She laid down an went to sleep.  She didn't even react when Cooper jumped off the chair in front of her.

Day 2850

 I woke up about 7:30, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I surfed for a while and then went over to the club to rent a cart.  Gerry was already there.  I rented a cart and then took him over to pick up his cart.  Then we went back to wait for his friend from Microsoft.

I rented a cart so that we could introduce Abby to carts.  She really wasn't sure she wanted to ride in one.  She did enjoy the wind in her face though.  I always parked a little ways away from the stand to save her ears.

Gerry's friend is a really good shot.  Ellen was shooting well also.  Gerry's friend had also brought along a beginning shooter.  I think he was a little intimidated as all four of us were shooting the hardest targets on the course.  The course was really crowded though and we had to do a lot of jumping around.  All in all it was a very enjoyable time.  We shot about 300 rounds.

We parted ways when we were done shooting.  Abby had sort of resisted getting in the cart all day.  As we were going back to the trailer to unload I had Ellen let the dog run beside us.  I went slow.  She only ran 100 yds or so before deciding riding was better.

I needed bananas, so we went to Safeway.  My original plan was to stop for pizza.  We ended up buying one at Safeway instead.  

When we got home we had the pizza for lunch.  Then I sat down in the recliner and promptly fell asleep until after 5.

We really didn't have any dinner because of the really late lunch.  Instead we ate some snacks.

The rest of the evening was videos.

Day 2849

 I woke up about 7:30, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing it was time to wash the trailer.

I went outside and set things up - ladder, hose, wash brush, bucket of soapy water, and the pressure washer.  Then I had Ellen come to help.  It took quite a while to wash the trailer, it's a big vehicle.  Ellen was a help.  She did much of the scrubbing with the wash brush while I used the pressure washer to spray down the trailer before the scrubbing and again after to rinse it.  The result wasn't perfect, but it was pretty good.  The main thing was to get the wax on the trailer.

I put everything away when we were done.  Then I went inside for surfing and lunch.  I'd planned to go out, but didn't have the energy.

Ellen had done a little training before we started washing.  She did more another couple of times today.  Abby is being pretty good.  She also has the "bed' command down better than when she went to school.  We had her tied with the check cord while we were washing.  She chewed through the cord and went over to the the workers loading pipe.  She came back when we called.  It was great.

After lunch i went back to the shed.  I put the correct connectors on the two new batteries I'd purchased.  Then I painted the BBX body.  I asked Ellen which color paint to use.  Unfortunately she told me the wrong one.  I'm ending up with a dark blue car instead of a light blue one.

After that it was back in the trailer for surfing and videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed stir fry.  After that it was more videos until about 7.  Then we took Abby for a walk to the end of the oourse and back.  That seemed to tire her out.  

The rest of the evening was videos.

Day 2848

 We got up at 7:45, got dressed and packed up, and then went down to have breakfast.  The hotel has a really nice breakfast spread and I got my waffle.  After breakfast we waited until near 9 and then left for the trainer's.

We got there a little before 9 and met the trainer's assistant.  He showed us how Abby is doing well at heal and stay.  She also seems to be a little improved on birds.  She knows about recall, but he warns not to do it without a shock collar.  He spent a lot of time training us.  We learned how to continue reinforcing everything Abby's learned.

A little later the trainer showed up.  We talked with him a while.  He seemed fine with us having Abby trained at Texas, too.  Then he took us on a tour of the areas the fire hit.  The only damage near his place was the house across the street.  The fire did burn up to the edge of his property, but he and his friends stopped it there.

The trainer drove us all around the area.  There were many burned homes.  It reminded me of Bastrop.  It was incredible how the fire traveled so far and changed directions so often.  In places one house would be destroyed while the one next door was intact.  In others a house on a treed property would be fine, while down the street one in a field was burned down.  The side trip took some time and we didn't leave until almost 11, but the delay was well worth it.

The trip home was the reverse of the one up.  Again I ignored the speed limit.  We had bad luck in Richland.  We stopped at 4 of the 6 lights.  Twice we had to wait for a full cycle of the light.  We stopped at Boardman for lunch.  They were slow.

Traffic in Portland sucked.  There was a delay getting on to 205 from 84, and another just after we got on.  It got better for a short while and then there was another backup.  Traffic finally cleared up after about 5 miles.

There was an accident at I5 and 205.  That meant that we had to get off 205 at Oregon City.  We went down past Canby and turned back to I5 at Aurora.  The delay wasn't too bad and we stopped at the cheapest gas around to fill up.

Abby had barfed while we were driving.  Fortunately she hadn't eaten much.  I cleaned up the bin and the car.  Then I unpacked everything.  Ellen sat on the can and fed the cats.

I cleaned up my emails and then watched some videos.  Dinner was leftover pizza.  Then it was more videos.

Abby is still wild, but she's better behaved than when she left.  She is bigger though.  Ellen needs to weigh her.  Abby had a great time with her toys and spent a lot of time on our laps.  We are going to need to work on her leaving the cats alone.  Cooper is PISSED.  So is Devon.  He's hissing at everything and refusing to eat.

Day 2847

We got up at 7:45, did the pet stuff, and had breakfast.  Then we left to go to Spokane.  There was a little problem with a leaking garbage sack that we took to the dumpster first, but we were on the road by 8:13.

We ran into two traffic problems getting out of town.  The first was on I5 at the river.  It didn't really delay us too much.  The second was on 205 near Clackamas town center.  That took a little longer, but was really just an aggravation.  We got to Troutdale about 45 minutes after leaving the club.

From there the rest of the trip was pretty smooth.  I basically ignored the speed limit, going 80 most of the way.  Sometimes I had a rabbit and sometimes I didn't.  Many people were going 5 to 10 over the speed limit.  We got 34 mpg, which was nice since gas was $5/gal.

We got to Spokane a little before 3 and checked into the hotel.  I was pfretty tired, so I just sat in the room and surfed.  

We walked over and had dinner at the Denney's near the hotel.  Then it was back to the hotel for a little surfing and an early bedtime.  We're set to pick up Abby at 9 tomorrow.

Day 2846

 I woke up at 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I got out the BBX to work on it and Ellen went to the laundry.

Up until this point the BBX has been pretty easy to assemble.  Not today.  I had a lot of problems figuring out how the electronics fit in the chassis.  I'm really glad I spent extra money for a small ESC.  A normal sized one wouldn't have fit.  Eventually I got the setup figured out, but it was a struggle.

Then it was out to the garage to do the wiring.  I had to wire the motor and the battery leads.  I messed up the battery connector and had to do it twice.  The first motor connection gave me fits.  The other two worked pretty well.  By then it was past time for lunch, so I went in to eat.

After lunch and a little surfing I went back to the shed.  I bound the receiver to the transmitter.  Then I tried to calibrate the transmitter and the ESC.  At first nothing worked - I'd forgotten to take off the binding plug.  Then the ESC kept giving me an error.  I finally figured out that it was complaining because the battery voltage was low.  The whole thing was a time wasting pain in the ass.

Eventually I got back to the trailer.  I finished 3 or 4 more steps, completing the roll cage and the front suspension.  Then I quit.  I've completed 36 of the 53 steps and I'm at a good stopping place. Besides Ellen had fixed pizza for dinner.  I'm not sure when I will get back to working on it.

After dinner I moved the BBX stuff to the shed and unpacked the doggy stuff that we'd piled up on Abby's bed.  From now on the bed will be on the couch.  She'll be expected to stay there when we tell her to.  Then I made the bed and packed for tomorrow.  Ellen's been watching chick flicks non-stop since she got back from the laundry.  Apparently there's some exciting series.  I bet they all live happily ever after.

The evening was spent surfing.

Day 2845

 I woke up a little before 8 and played games.  There wasn't any reason to get up early.  Eventually I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.

Ellen went out to the shed to paint the man for the BBX.  I followed her and used steel wool on the inside of the body parts.  I also unpacked the power washer and put the battery on the charger.  That didn't take a lot of time, so I went back to the trailer.  I got my keys and wallet and went to the post office.

I picked up the slipper clutch and a case for the dog trainer.  When I got back I put the trainer in the case.  It was a perfect fit.  Then I started to work on the BBX.  I assembled the gear box.  I watched the video while I was doing it.  It helped in a couple of places.

It was almost two when I got finished with the gearbox.  I ate lunch and then attached the gearbox to the frame.  I also assembled the driver it looks pretty good.  Then I put everything away.

I sat down and started watching videos.  That turned into a nap.  When I woke up it was more videos until dinner time.

After dinner I was sick of videos and started surfing.  Ellen started watching chick flicks.

I'm hoping to do some more work on the BBX tomorrow while Ellen does the wash.  I'll probably wash the trailer also.

Day 2844

 We got up at 8, did the pet stuff, and had breakfast.  Then we got ready to shoot.  After that I went to the club and picked up the cart that Gerry had rented.  Then we met Gerry at the club and loaded up his stuff.

The weather was perfect again today.  Gerry didn't shoot very well.  I shot mediocre again, chiefly because I have to get used to the backup gun.  It's got 32 inch barrels and doesn't shoot to the same point of aim as my Perazzi. Ellen shot pretty well and ended up punching into C class.  She's very happy about that.

Gerry was shooting in the afternoon, so we went to Hops and Drops for lunch alone.  It was really pleasant to sit outside and have a nice lunch.  After lunch we bought some cat food at Petco and then went home.

I was feeling a little tired and distinctly unmotivated, so it was videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed chicken and rice.

After dinner I wanted to do something, so I started sorting parts for the BBX.  The parts are scattered about half a dozen or more small unlabelled bags.  Typically I spent more time finding parts for a step than I do completing the step.  I spent about 3 hours sorting parts for almost all of the steps left to complete.  That should speed up assembly significantly.

When that was done I surfed until bedtime while Ellen watched chick flicks.

Day 2843

 We got up at 8, did the pet stuff, and had breakfast.  Then we got ready to shoot.  After that we waited for Gerry to show up.  When he did we loaded everything into his cart and went off to shoot.

It was a day of equipment failures.  Gerry's cart went dead after about three stations.  He went to the club and rented one.  A few stations later my gun doubled twice in a row.  When combined with the failures the other day I decided to go get my backup gun.

Gerry shot pretty well.  I shot mediocre, and Ellen shot lousy.  We had a beginner with us and he shot really bad.  I don't think he hit 25.  The weather was great though.  It was sunny and not hot at all.

When we were done shooting we put everything away and took Gerry to lunch at the German place replacement.  They were having brunch, but we lucked out and got in relatively quickly.  It was really good.  After lunch we took Gerry back to the club and we went to the post office.  The slipper clutch may be there, but the packages are in the back so I couldn't get them.

I was a little tired and unmotivated when we got back.  After dumping the tanks I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening surfing and watching videos.

Day 2842

 I woke up at 8:30 and got up to do the pet stuff and have breakfast.  After that it was get ready to shoot.  When everything was loaded up we went to the club.

They put us on a starting station that we thought was directly opposite the clubhouse.  We walked out to it and found out that our starting station was by the tower.  They changed the station numbering and didn't bother to tell anyone, or supply a map.  To make it worse they mislabeled the stations.  The last station on the course was directly opposite the first.  That meant we had to walk around half the course to get to it.

The guy we shot with had a cart.  He offered me a ride to station 1.  When I got on he started going really fast.  The tire came off the cart.  I called for him to stop.  He didn't, he just slowed down, so I yelled at him again.  I put the tire on and decided to give it a second go.  The guy started off while I was still getting on the back.  I decided to walk.

All in all I walked almost two times around the course.  I was not happy.  I didn't shoot very well either.

When I was done I took the 20 ga. to the shed to try to remove some of the rust caused by the cat pissing on it.  I was somewhat successful, but it will never be the beautiful gun it once was.  After that it was lunch.

After lunch I watched videos until I went to sleep.  About 3 I decided to construct the shocks for the BBX.

The effort started out like all other parts of the Tamiya build - searching for parts.  I think the necessary parts were scattered over a large bag, three bags of plastic parts, and two bags of screws.  It took at least a hour to find them all.  Putting the shocks together was OK except for two parts.  I had to put 2 very small C clamps on each of the shock shafts.  That took some time and effort.  The other part was filling the shocks with oil.  It wasn't all that hard, but it was very messy.

I worked until 9 to finish the shocks.  I did take a little time off for dinner - Ellen fixed coconut shrimp.  I've now finished 21 of the 53 steps in the manual.  I can't do anything except partial steps until the slipper clutch arrives.

I just surfed for a while after I finished with the shocks.

Day 2841

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games or a while.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing I went out to the shed.

I started by finishing up putting stickers on the EB48.  I managed to mostly cover up the fingerprints that Ellen left on the paint.  It actually looks pretty good.  Then I got out the RC oil bottle collection to move the bottles to the new case I ordered.

That took quite a while.  Most of the bottles fit well, but some of them had leaked badly.  That made quite a mess.  I had to clean the bottles before I could move them.  I used quite a bit of brake cleaner.  When the move was done it took more brake cleaner to clean the old bottle container.

My last effort was to open up the new collapsible box for the Starlink.  It looks like it's going to work well.  I won't really know until we take down the Starlink before we leave.

That finished the work I had to do in the shed.  I went inside for a little surfing and lunch.  Ellen and I worked together to finalize the trip plan.  We'll be going to Moab and Page with a fairly long stay inn Tucson.  It should be fun.  After lunch we went to Safeway.  We were out of several things like lunch meat and catsup.  

When we got back we walked to the club to sign up for the weekend tournament.  We're shooting the sub gauge tomorrow and the main on Saturday and Sunday.  I'm going to be tired.

The rest of the day was surfing and videos.  Ellen fixed stir fry for dinner.

Day 2840

 I woke up a little before 8 and played games for quite a while.  There wasn't any point in getting up because this was a sewer day.  Eventually I did get up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Hooch texted to say he was going to pick up Rico today.

After breakfast I got out the body parts for the BBX.  There are a total of 6 parts, all of them are highly irregular.  It took me hours to cut them out.  I wasn't done until 1.  I spent a while talking with Ellen on colors.  We decided what to paint the body and the driver figure.  Then I had lunch.

While we were deciding on colors I realized that I'd never finished the last step on the body of the last car.  It wasn't hard, just install 4 pieces of Velcro.  I also had to enlarge the holes for the antenna and the front mount.  Afterwards it fit well.

The body is messed up in several places because Ellen put her fingers on it while it was wet.  I decided to try to cover those spots with stickers.  While I was planning that the sewer guy showed up.  It was a little early, just after 3.  I got him going in 15 minutes, but it took me an hour total to finish up.

I went to the post office to get the packages.  The slipper clutch wasn't there.  I started investigating when I got home.  It wasn't easy.  Ebay made me reactivate my account before I could find out what happened.  It turns out the "item shipped" message the vendor sent me was bullshit.  It said the package would arrive by Tuesday.  When I looked up the item on their website it said delivery on Friday or Monday.  Assholes.

I just turned on the TV and watched videos.  Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner I was tired of videos and switched to surfing.

Day 2839

 I woke up a little before 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I called the trainer and left a message.  After that it was off to the post office and laundromat.

I went to Coastal and bought some Casoron while the laundry was being done.  When it was finished we went to CVC to pick up some drugs.  Then it was home.

We got two packages at the post office.  One was the dog trainer.  The other was a special dog comb that Ellen ordered.  There were two other packages due.  They were the ones I wanted.  Oh well.  I put together the dog trainer and looked it over.  It seems like it will be a nice unit.  Then I put it away.

By then it was lunch time.  After lunch we went out shooting.  We took Gerry's rig.  I did not feel like walking.  We had a fun time shooting.  I was really tired by the time we got finished.  My gun doubled three times on me, so my shoulder hurt.  When we got back to the trailer I took the trigger out and cleaned and oiled it.  That's when I noticed that the cat pee had totally rusted the bottom of the trigger guard.  It's completely ruined.

I had originally planned on working on the BBX a little.  Instead I sat down in the recliner and fell asleep.

Ellen fixed sausage and tater tots for dinner.  After dinner the trainer called back.  We're going to pick up the dog in a week.

The rest of the evening was videos.

Day 2838

 I woke up, played games for a while, got up to do the pet stuff, and then got back into bed to play games until 11.  Then it was up for breakfast.

After breakfast we left to go to Harbor Freight.  I bought some small drill bits so I could drill a 1mm hole in the the BBX shock caps.  Then we went the other direction to get groceries.  After that we went to the hardware store to get a pin vise.  They didn't have one, but they had a small Dremel collet.  Then we went home.

I took the new drill bits and collet to the shed along with the shock caps.  The collet worked perfectly and I ended up with nice holes in the caps.  Then I took the caps back to the trailer and put them away.  I didn't feel like making shocks.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching videos.  Ellen fixed steak and noodles for dinner.  They were really good.

After dinner I switched to surfing.  Ellen ended up watching videos.

Day 2837

 I woke up at 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was a nice day for shooting.  Unfortunately Ellen's asshole was giving her fits.  I ended up surfing for a while.

That got old, so I got out the BBX.  I just didn't feel like spending the whole day on the internet.  I started by putting together the ball diff.  I had a youtube video to help me out.  It was a little involved and tricky, but it didn't give me any problems.

After that I put together the servo saver.  It was a really pain in the ass.  There were two circular springs that fit inside each other.  It took two needle nose pliers and a lot of effort to get them to fit in the saver.  the guy in the video just put in one.

I had a sandwich for lunch and then continued.  I installed the servo in the frame and then attached the lower arms and the camber arms.  Then I installed the front bumper and it's supports.  Finally I installed some parts on the roll cage pieces.  None of these things was particularly hard, but finding the parts was a major pain in the ass.  Tamiya distributes screws, washers, etc. in small bags inside bigger ones.  None of either the small or large bags contain related parts.  In one instance I had to search three small bags located in two larger bags to find what I needed.  It took a lot linger to find the parts than it did to install them.

That's all I can do on the BBX until the slipper clutch arrives.  I need it to complete the gear box and I need to install the gear box before I can assemble anything else.  I can assemble the shocks, but I need a 1mm drill bit.  Hopefully Harbor Freight has one.

Dinner was a frozen dinner.  Ellen's asshole is still on the warpath.  After dinner was more videos.

Day 2836

 I woke up at 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I called Joe about the car and then surfed for a while waiting for a reply.

I wasn't sure how long it would take, so I got the two deck pads from the shed and put them under the kitchen table.  They fit almost perfectly.  The biggest pain was cutting hols for the chair tie downs.

Joe called back just as I was finishing up.  We went over to Mt. Angel and got the car.  We left the truck at Joe's and went to a restaurant in town.  Joe recommended it highly.  It was very good and not too expensive.

After that we went to Silverton and walked around.  At least the town was open today.  We went through the crafts thing and a few antique shops.  The weather was nice and it was pleasant to do something other than sitting in the trailer.

We stopped at Joe's and picked up the truck on the way home.  It was in the 80's when we got home, so we sat inside.  I surfed and Ellen watched chick flicks.

At dinner time Ellen fixed chicken and rice.  After dinner she went back to chick flicks.  I got out the BBX and did a few assembly steps.  The assembly process is frustrating because the parts are distributed almost at random among a bunch of unmarked bags.  It took longer to find the parts for a step than it did to do the construction.  I managed to build the back end suspension and the front steering assembly.  It took 3 or 4 hours to do it.

About 7 a thunderstorm came in.  There was a lot of thunder and a little rain.  It wasn't anything compared to Texas thunderstorms.

Day 2835

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast it was a little surfing and then we took the car to Joe.

Joe wasn't up yet, but his brother was there.  We left the car with him and went back to the trailer.  I went into the shed and shifted the boxes on the desk mats around.  I think I'll be able to install them tomorrow.

I took the work mat and the "fluids" box inside with me and set it up on the table.  Then I got out the tires, foams, and wheels for the BBX.  I decided to glue the tires because it was a fairly easy, but time consuming, task.

I had three bottles of glue.  Two were brand new from Amazon and the third was half filled from Tammies.  The two Amazon ones were completely dry even though they'd never been opened.  They were expensive and I was pissed.  Fortunately there was enough in the Tammies bottle to glue the tires.  The process took a while, but it went well.

I got an email from Cabela's advertising a 10% off sale.  After a lot of calculating I decided that even at 10% off the Amazon bundle deal with the accessories was a better deal.  I ordered the dog zapper from them.

Somewhere in there I had leftovers for lunch.  Then I got stuck going down a rabbit hole looking for stuff on Amazon.  I researched a new box for holding the Starlink, a box to hold the glue and lubricant bottles upright (to avoid leakage), and a slimmer laundry bag.  I found the first two, but not the last.

That took most of the remainder of the afternoon.  I switched to videos.

Ellen fixed sausage, hashbrowns, and corn for dinner.  After dinner was another video marathon.

Joe never called to say the car was done.  I'll have to contact him tomorrow.