Day 2924

 I woke up a little after 8 and played games for a while before getting up.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  It was in the 60's, so I took out some garbage before the truck came.  Then I made an appointment at CVS to get flu shots in the afternoon.  It took a while to fill out all of the forms for both of us.

After a little surfing I decided to work on the Power Wagon.  I took a little time to figure out what had to be done.  It turned out that the chassis mounts that I'd built wouldn't work at all.  That meant some more time to figure out what to do.  After that it was out to the garage to do the work.

Of course the first operation was a little Dremel work.  Then I went on a long search for pieces that I could use to build new mounts.  I finally collected what I needed.  I built and installed the two back mounts.  I also got part of the front mounts done.

By then it was 2 and the shot appointment was at 3.  We went to the Wendy's across from Walgreen's for lunch.  After that I filled up the car and went to CVS.  We were about 10 minutes early and sat until they were ready.

After the shots we did some shopping.  We both had 30% off coupons and I had a $5 coupon.  We ended up buying an odd collection - vitamins, paper towels, serial, and some other stuff.  The coupons saved us $21 and we got more off because a couple of items were on sale.

We got home about 4.  The parts for the SCX24 were there, but I didn't feel like working anymore.  I surfed instead.

Dinner was frozen pizza.  After that it was videos and then football.

Day 2923

 I woke up bout 8, played games for quite a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I really didn't feel ambitious today, so I just surfed most of the morning away.  It was cold out, so that didn't help.

Ellen left for a shooting lesson and teaching the kids a little after noon.  I surfed some more and then had lunch.  After lunch I finally felt like doing something, so I got out the TRX4.

The only thing I had left to do was attach the mounting magnets onto the body.  That turned out to be more work than it sounds like.  I had to modify the back mount twice.  The first mod didn't work, so I had to think of something else.  Of course both mods involved trips to the garage and the Dremel.  The end result worked great though.  Fortunately the front mount was much easier.  In then end the body looks great.  I may add a couple of backup lights before calling it done though.

It was almost time to feed the cats so I did a little surfing and then walked out to the mailbox to pick up a package.  It was a bunch of miscellaneous stuff from Amain.  After that i watched videos for the rest of the evening.  

Dinner was leftovers.

At least I got a little bit of work done today.

Day 2922

 I woke up a little before 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I called the CPAP people to ask where my supplies were.  They said that the supplies had been delivered last Friday.

That got me thinking about mailing Christmas presents.  I got out all of the presents.  Ellen wrapped them while I went to the apartment and got three boxes to put them in.  We finished just in time for Ellen to take them with her when she went to archery.

While she was gone I put up the lights at the gate.  I also did a little cleanup in the garage.  Then I took the TRX4 chassis to the house so I could put the Chevy body on it.  I did a little work on the body, but got sidetracked trying to find tail lights for the Power Wagon.  It took quite a while because there were few round lights to choose from.  I had lunch during the search.

When Ellen got home she said that there wasn't any package at the post office.  It turns ouot that they sent it to Oregon.  I called them and they are sending out more.

I put together a car stand I bought a while back to work on the TRX4.  Eventually I got back to the Chevy body.  It turns out I had only modified 1 of the two new body mounts.  I went out to the garage to modify the second one.  Fortunately it didn't take long because the mosquitos started attacking me immediately.  By then I decided to finish mounting the body tomorrow and put everything away.

I surfed and watched videos until after 6.  Ellen didn't fix dinner so I had a frozen meal.  After that I watched videos for the rest of the evening.

All in all it was a pretty productive day.

Day 2921

 I woke up a little after 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I didn't really have something to do today and it was in the 40's outside, so I surfed.

I spent some time shopping the Cyber Monday sales, but didn't find anything that I wanted to buy.  Then I took the Christmas decorations to the apartment and got out the old Christmas tree.  We loaded it into the car and took it to Goodwill.  Then we stopped at Randal's for a few groceries.  Their prices are really high - much higher than in Woodburn.  The only things we bought were their cyber discounts.

The next stops were Tomlinson's for cat food and Wells Cargo to get cash to replace the cash I used to pay for my abortive Perazzi repair.  The last stop was Torchy's for lunch.

When we got back I did a little more surfing.  It was still cold out.  Eventually I wanted to do something constructive so I got out the EB48 body I'd ordered and cut it out.  Ellen left for the club while I was doing that.  When I was finished with the body I watched videos until she got home.  She fixed chili burgers for dinner.

After dinner was videos until bedtime.

Day 2920

 I woke up at 8:30, chiefly because I stayed up late last night playing games.  I played more games when I woke up.  I finally got up a little before 10 for pet stuff and breakfast.

After breakfast I unpacked the new Christmas tree and assembled it.  It's big (7 ft) and heavy (over 60 lbs).  It looks nice though.  Ellen helped move the furniture out of the way and I placed the tree in the usual spot.  Then I brought in all of the decorations from the apartment.

I left Ellen to decorate the tree while I installed the new light for the back porch.  The biggest problem was determining which circuit breaker to turn off.  I did it using a meter and trial and error.  The guy that labelled the circuits was an idiot.  One circuit is labelled "Darrell".  I did find the right breaker.  Taking the old light down was easy.  Installing the new one was more effort because the instructions weren't clear in places.  Eventually I had a working light.  

One nice thing.  everything seemed to go right.  Whenever something could have gone wrong it went my well instead.  That not all that common.

After that I did a little surfing followed by lunch.  Then I sat down to read and fell asleep.  I woke up about 3.  I decided to fix the suspension on the SCX24.  The new screws I bought were too short.  I went out to the garage and found I couple that I could make do what I wanted.  Like the light install, everything seemed to go my way.  The rig looks nice now and I'll install the hop up parts when they arrive.

Ellen was watching chick flicks when I was done.  I surfed until it was time to feed the cats.  Devon had been hiding all day behind the washer and dryer.  At one point we'd thought he had gotten out and I spent some time outside searching for him.  He didn't come out for snacks and acted weird and wouldn't eat at dinner.

I had leftovers for dinner.  While I was eating Devon came out acting really paranoid.  I finally figured it out.  He was scared of the new tree.

After dinner I watched videos until I got bored and went back to surfing.  Devon got better during the evening and is pretty much back to normal now.

Day 2919

 I woke up about 8 and played games for an hour.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing we left to do errands.  I took the truck because it hasn't been run in a while.

The first stop was to put 10 gallons in the truck.  I don't fill it up while we're here because the fuel would get too old.  After that we stopped at Whole Paycheck to turn in an Amazon thing that was used, not new.  We got a couple of on sale bakery items also.

From there we walked over to Costco.  I wanted to buy an outdoor light and some eye drops.  We got those, as well as a new Christmas tree, some cookies, and some candy.  Oh well.

The last stop was HEB for the usual - bananas, bread, milk, cereal, OJ, and a couple of other things.

When we got home it was time for lunch - turkey surprise, surprise.  Then I did a lot of surfing as well as a little shopping.  When that got old I switched to videos.

Dinner was frozen pizza followed by more videos.

Day 2918

 I woke up alittlebefore8 and played games until almost 10.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I decided to finish the wiring on the BBX.

Most of the work wasn't hard, but it was tedious.  I soldered another 3 resistors and stripped the 9 negative wires.  I twisted them together and then tested every thing to make sure all of the individual LEDs were working.  They were.  I partially soldered the negative wires together and twisted the resistor leads together.  That's when things went south.  Suddenly the lights didn't work.  They flashed briefly and then wouldn't work again.  I thought I'd blown everything.

I untwisted the resistors and started testing each one.  At first nothing worked.  Then I moved the connection to the negative wire.  Things started to work.  The partial solder job wasn't good enough.  I completely soldered it and things started working.  I learned that twisting that many wires together didn't make a good connection.  I twisted all of the resistors back together and soldered them.  Everything still worked.  Finally I connected the receiver and plugged in a battery.  That worked, too.  SUCCESS.

I put everything away.  I still felt like messing around, so I got out the SCX24.  I'd run across some axle extensions for it while I was getting stuff together for the BBX.  I figured out how they worked (no instructions) and installed them.  While I was doing that I noticed that a screw had fallen out of the suspension.  Of course a search through everything found that I didn't have a replacement.  I had to order some from Amazon.

While I was doing that Amain sent me a email with some discounts on a SCX24 parts.  I decided to buy a few upgrade parts to make it more competitive with the FX24.  They should be here in a few days.

After that I was finished with RC for the day.  I spent the rest of the day with a little surfing and a lot of videos.  There might have been a nap in there, too.  Of course both lunch and dinner were leftovers.

Day 2917

 I woke up about 8 and got up to feed the cats.  Ellen was putting the turkey in the Traeger.  Then I went back to bed and played games for over an hour.  After that I finally got up for breakfast.

After breakfast and a little surfing I started to work on the BBX lights.  I routed all 9 wires through the frame.  When I finished i decided there was a better way and rerouted them.  Fishing all the wires through the frame was kind of finicky.  Then I cut all of the wires to length.  Finally I stripped all of the positive wires.  I soldered resistors on 5 of the wires before I just got tired of working on it.

By then it was after 2.  I quit working, turned on football, and fixed myself a Thanksgiving drink.  Then I surfed on the phone while the game played.

Ellen had dinner ready in about an hour.  She worked very hard on it and it was very good - turkey, Caesar salad, mashed potatoes, rolls, sweet potatoes, and dressing.  We had cupcakes for dessert.  The cats got a little turkey, too.  I'm glad Abby doesn't know what she missed.

After dinner I bagged videos and started watching videos.  I found some interesting travel ones.  Ellen even got interested and watched them.

The only other thing I got accomplished today was taking out two loads of garbage.

Day 2916

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was cold outside, low 40's.  I'd planned on going to San Marcos today, but it looked like it would be too cold.  Instead I answered another email from the Bronco mechanics.

I had to do some research on both the power windows and the power door locks.  I'd screwed up on the door lock email and the result was confusing.  It was a good thing though.  It caused me to look at everything again and I found a better part to use than my original one.

I'd had a question about the switches for the power windows.  I spent some time and finally dug up the answer.  After that I sent off the email.

By then it was about 11 and it was warming up nicely.  We got in the car and drove to San Marcos.  I was a little worried about the traffic on the day before Thanksgiving, but it wasn't a problem.  We got there about noon and spent the next 4 hours shopping.  By then it was warm enough that we didn't need sweat shirts.  It wasn't all that crowded either.

Almost all of the stores had their Black Friday prices all ready.  We bought several Christmas presents.  I got a new pair of sandals for the ones the dog chewed up.  Ellen go a new purse.  We had several bags of stuff by the time we were finished.

I35 was a little backed up through San Marcos on the way back, but it wasn't all that bad.  We stopped for a very late lunch at Kyle.  The place is named Abby's Crab Shack.  I'd always wanted to stop there, but we've always had the 5th wheel.  It was good food.

We also stopped at HEB for a few last minute items.  It was pretty crowded.  Who knew?

We didn't get home until almost 6.  When we got home I plopped down in the recliner and turned on videos.  I spent the rest of the evening there.

Day 2915

 I woke up at 8 and played games for about an hour.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I was planning on going to San Marcos today, but Ellen announced that she was going to archery.  I surfed until she left about 11.  Then I decided to put the tail lights and marker lights on the Chevy.

The project went well, but it took a lot of time.  Each of the 4 lights required me to punch 3 holes in the body.  Then I had to attach each light with two incredibly tiny screws.  Finally I had to wire the whole thing together.

The process was further delayed by a couple of side projects.  I had to go get the Dewalt trimmer attachment from the gate.  The box had damage, so I ended up unpacking it and the pole saw to inspect them.  They were OK, so I took the big boxes and packing material to the recycle.  I also tried to fix one of the spinners, but broke it instead.

Along the way I also had lunch. Ellen came home just as I was finishing up the lights.  The result looks really good.  The whole thing will be complete once I put on the body mounts.

After I put everything away I fell into the Black Friday sales trap again.  I didn't find anything I really needed, but looking was fun. 

Eventually I switched to videos.  Ellen fixed sausages and hash browns for dinner.  After dinner was more videos and some surfing.

Day 2914

 I woke up at 7 and played games for about an hour.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  The Amain Black Friday ad was in my mailbox.  That set off a several hour effort to look at everything that was on sale.  I ended up buying about $100 worth of stuff - paint, electronics for the nextbuild, and a couple of things for my existing vehicles.  The 10% off everything was too good to pass up.

I didn't finish that effort until after lunch.  Just after that the ARFCOM thread came through.  Tha was good for a lot more shopping.  Ellen got into the act, too.  She found a sale at REI that had stuff she wanted.  Those effort lasted until it was time for her to go to the club.

I went to the garage to finish the wiring for the EB48.  The mosquitoes attacked me within about 15 minutes.  I decided finish the wiring and then get out.

I went back inside and surfed until dinner - leftover chili.  Ellen came home a little after I was done.

I spent the rest of the evening watching videos.

Day 2913

 I woke up at 8:30.  That's what happens when you don't get to sleep until after 12.  Then it was games followed by pet stuff and breakfast.  It was raining,so that left out doing anything outside today.  Instead i spent some time surfing.  Then I read the latest email from the Bronco repair place.  It had a comment on the car alarm I'd suggested.

I looked at the alarm description again.  It's good I did.  The reviews said the instructions sucked and that the alarm makes noises for no good reason.  That sent me on a long search fora better one.  I also spent a lot of time identifying the parts needed for door locks and a set of installation instructions and videos.  Eventually I sent it all off to the repair place.  That whole effort took until after 2 in the afternoon.

Ellen went off to archery at noon and didn't get back until about 3.  I had lunch and then decided to bag doing anything useful for the rest of the day.  I surfed instead.

Ellen fixed chili for dinner and my surfing evolved into watching football (while surfing).  The game got boring, so I switched to videos for the rest of the evening.

Day 2912

 I woke up at 7, turned over and went to sleep until 8:30.  Then I surfed a while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went outside to deal with the Ranger.  I figured I might as well do it early or I'd just worry about it all day.

I unplugged the Ranger and started it up.  It started fine, but ran a bit rough.  Wile it was warming up I noticed that a tree branch was partially clogging the ditch by the carport.  It's important that that drains, so I cut the branch.  Then I took the Ranger on a 2 mile trip around the neighborhood.  By the time I got back it was running really well.

I parked the Ranger by the well house, disconnected the battery, and put the cover back on.  Then I went to the garage to work on the RC car lighting.

I started with the Chevy.  It was relatively easy to attach them with the supplied screws.  The new lights look really nice.  Then I got to work on the rear lights for the EB48.  I fabricated a light mount from an old piece of scrap metal that was in one of the RC car boxes.  It took a little hole drilling and metal cutting.  The result looks pretty good when I got done.

I started to connect up the EB48 lights.  I got the back lights connected.  The fronts are harder to deal with.  I just got tired of working on it and went inside.  It will be there tomorrow.  I ate lunch and then fell down a deep rabbit hole.

I started looking for Black Friday RC deals.  A main had a truck I liked.  I decided to buy it and list the needed equipment (motor, ESC, etc) on a Christmas list.  That burned a lot of time as I looked for additional parts and different vendors.  I did get $30 off the order using my credit and a coupon.

By then it was dinner time.  Ellen fixed baked potatoes.  After dinner I watched videos.  I ended up looking at videos that listed things I might want to buy.

Day 2911

 I woke up about 7 and played games for a while. Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was a little over 60 by then, so I went outside to work.

I started out by finishing the deck stair project.  I measured out the chicken wire and cut it.  Then I attached it using a stapler.  Finally I weighted down the wire with a couple of concrete blocks.  I think the result will take care of the digging problem.

When I got through with that I did a couple of small things.  I took out a big load of garbage and returned the grocery sacks to both the truck and the car.  Then I took the cover off the Ranger and hooked up a battery charger.  In the process of doing that I cut my head on the siding.  It wasn't the first time.  I got some pipe insulation foam out of the well house and attached it to the bottom of the siding.  Problem solved.

The only things left to do are move the Ranger and wash the front of the trailer.  I needed to wait for the anger to charge and I didn't want to do the trailer until I moved the truck.  I just went back inside.  I looked on the web to see if there were any Black Friday sales for the Dewalt hedge trimmer I wanted.  Amazon had a small sale.  I spent some time verifying that that was the best price and ordered it.

Somehow that evolved into looking for a new computer and tablet.  I couldn't find a computer I liked (I don't really need one) and they don't make a tablet that has the same size and capabilities as my current one.

Lunch happened during all those activities.  I did a little surfing and then decided to work on RC cars.  I still didn't feel like working with a soldering iron, so I took the LEDs I' purchased out to the garage along with the Chevy truck body.  I drilled holes for the headlights and disassembled the one that I couldn't get apart yesterday.  I needed the Dremel for both activities.  The headlight enclosures don't work right, so I had to glue the LEDs into the reflectors.

I couldn't finish that work until the glue dried, so I started to install the headlights on the EB48.  I had to construct some headlight mounts to make the happen.  Eventually I got them installed.  By that time the mosquitoes were out.  I got bit twice and went back inside.

I did a little surfing and then satin the recliner to watch videos for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Day 2910

 I woke up at 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was 53 degrees and very foggy.  I took out some garbage and then looked on the web for some heat shrink and a door stop.  Home Depot had both.

Ellen wanted to do the Thanksgiving food shopping, so we left.  The first stop was to drop off a box of stuff at Goodwill. Then it was Home Depot for the stuff I needed.  We dropped by the post office and got the mail.  By then it was after 1, so we stopped at the Oak Hill sub shop.  They were having a 15% off sale.  We bought two large sandwiches so that we'd have dinner, too.

After lunch we stopped at Wells Cargo for money and Goodwill just because.  The last stop was the HEB for the groceries.

I didn't feel like doing anything when we got home, so I didn't.  Instead it was surfing and videos.  Later I watched half of the football game.  Of course I surfed during all of it.

After that it was bed.  It wasn't a very productive day, but I enjoyed it.

Day 2909

 I woke up at 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for breakfast and pet stuff.  It was almost 70 by then and sunny.

I decided to do a bunch of little things today.  I started by removing the front door stop. That made the new shoe box fit better.  Then I took the old one out to the garage.  I cut off its legs and installed two shelf brackets that I had laying around.  Then I installed it in place of the metal shelf I put up a couple of weeks ago.  I took that shelf and installed it farther up the wall.  This gave a good bit of much needed shelf space.

I took the "Double Dare" RC truck out to the garage and put it on the metal shelf.  It's more or less a display piece anyway.  Then I took out some garbage.  The gate keypad failed, so I replaced its batteries.  

All of that took until after 1.  I went back inside and had lunch.  After that I didn't feel like working outside because it was getting hot.  I decided to work on the BBX instead.  I routed all of the wires for the lights.  The ones for the top lights required punching a hole in the roof.  I also disassembled the insides a little to attach the power cable that I made to the receiver. All that's left is cutting the wires to length and soldering.  I really didn't feel like soldering, so I messed a little with the light I bought for the Chevy truck.  Unfortunately I put two pieces together that aren't made to come apart.  I'll have to use a Dremel to get them apart with minimal damage.

After that I decided to surf for a while.When Ellen went to the club I gathered up some tools and started to fix the dog digging problem at the bottom of the deck stairs.  I got the old hole filled in and the chicken wire unwrapped.  I also got two mosquito bites.  I went back inside.  The rest can wait until tomorrow.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was surfing and videos.

A note on Cooper's behavior:  He's back to trying to get outside.  A few days ago he got out when I was letting the dog in.  It was raining, so he didn't leave the deck.  Tonight he got out when I threw away a empty bottle.  I had to chase him over to the big gate.  Fortunately he didn't know he could just walk through.  He hasn't tried to get out in a long time and I'm not used to watching for him.  Obviously that will have to change.

Day 2908

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.  When I was finished with breakfast I got Abby's leather collar from the trailer and put it on her.  Then I sat down and wrote out a set of notes for the trainer.  They covered what training she's had, what we've taught her, what we feed her, and what we'd like to get out of the training.  It took quite a while to get it all down.

When that was done I took Abby out to the yard and threw the bumper for her.  Unfortunately she didn't seem to interested and only did a few retrieves.

When we went back inside I did some surfing.  Apparently Abby regretted coming in.  She brought me her current toy and I threw inside retrieves for her.  She even got a little time on my lap, but she's really too big for that.

I decided to do a little work on the BBX.  I attached all 8 lights to the car.  I stopped at that point because I wanted to take the dog to Circle C.  When we got there I got out the bumper and did some more retrieves.  She did a lot more than in the yard and I was careful to stop when she began to get bored.  Then we put the spike collar on her and walked around the park or a little while.  I sure wish I could let her go off lead.

The next stop was Tomlinson's for doggy treats.  The Italian place was closed, so we ate lunch at Torchy's.  We had tacos and Abby had a doggy biscuit.  After a quick stop at HEB we went home.

I did some more surfing when we got home.  Eventually that turned into videos.  Dinner was leftover pizza.  When I went back to the recliner Abby sat on my lap and slept.  Cooper was not amused.  After treat time he made sure he was sitting on my lap.

The rest of the night was videos.

Day 2907

 I woke up a little after 7 and played games before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was raining.  That's great since we were going to COTA for the electric car expo.  We surfed for a while and then left for the expo.

It was sill raining when we got to the expo, but at least we got to park in the closest lot (at the far end though).  We walked to the entrance.  They wouldn't let me in because I had a pocket knife.  I had to make a round trip in the rain to put it in the car.

It continued to rain for house while we were there.  It was sort of like going to anything outdoors in the winter time in Portland.  We actually got used to it.  We looked at lots of electric cars, some cool and some not so cool.  We also looked at electric bikes.  Ellen found a couple that she could ride.  

We signed up to test drive an electric BMW.  It's a nice car and isn't really expensive.  We got phone battery packs for doing so, too.  We had to wait for a while in line to drive the car, but the phones made it an OK wait.  The line was inside a building, so no rain.

I was hoping we'd drive on the track, some demos were.  Unfortunately the BMW drives were on service roads and a little on an arterial.  The car is freakishly fast.  It's sprung pretty stiff though,, even in the "comfort" setting.  All in all it was a great ride.

Apparently taking old carsand putting electric drivetrains in them is a thing.  The rain had almost stopped so we spent some time looking at them.  There must have been a couple of dozen.  All of them were heavily customized.  Unfortunately some of them were covered because of the rain.

It was after 3 when we decided to leave.  We hadn't eaten since breakfast, but $9 for a slice of microwave pizza didn't appeal to us.  Instead we ordered a pizza at Dave's instead.  We bought some cat food next door and they were just bringing the pizza out as we walked in.  Great timing.

Of course all the pets were glad to see us.  I spent sometime with Abby throwing fetches indoors (it was still raining).  I am going to miss her.

The evening was videos and football.  Football is so boring that the only way I can watch it is to be reading or surfing at the same time.

Day 2906

 I woke up a little after 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was cold, about 51 degrees.  I surfed for a while and then decided to work on the BBX.

The BBX is basically complete.  The only things left to do are install the lights and the body panels.  There are 8 lights, two head lights, 3 roof lights, two side lights, and a tail light.  The tail light is red, the rest are white.

I went out to the well house and retrieved LEDs and resistors from the train stuff.  Then I got out all of the tools I needed to do the work.  I started by cutting out the lenses for the lights.  This took a lot of time and hand fitting.  When that was done I started soldering wires to the LEDs.  The final step was assembling the lights with the LEDs inside.

The effort took the whole day.  That's because there were 8 lights to do.  It didn't help that I ended up making several trips to the well house and the garage to look for stuff like heat shrink.  I still have to wire the lights to dropping resistors and install them.  That won't happen for a few days because tomorrow we're going to an electric car/bicycle exhibition.  We went last year and it was fun.

Abby continues to ingratiate herself.  She kept bringing toys for me to play with as I worked  She also tried to sit on my lap.  At 33 pounds she's a little too big for that.  She'll be going to the trainer in3 days and I'm already missing her.  She does have a new annoying behavior.  She gets shoes from the rack by the door and tries to play keep away with them.

Day 2905

 I woke up at 7 and went back to sleep until 8.  Then I played games for a while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was a little surfing before going out for errands.

The first stop was Wally World.  I wanted to get some mango pop there.  Their website said that they had it. They didn't.  We bought a couple of other food items and then left for the post office.  The last stop was HEB.  We wanted to get some things that Wally World didn't have.

It rained all of the time we were out.  It also rained on and off for the rest of the day.  I spent the rest of the day reading, watching videos, and playing with the dog.  She was being very affectionate today.  She would try to jump up on my lap while I was at the computer or bring me a toy so we could play catch in the kitchen.  She also laid on my lap and went to sleep when I sat in the recliner.  This pissed Cooper off.  They ended up switching who was sitting on my lap off and on.

Abby devised a new game.  She'd find something we didn't want her to have like a cat toy or a stick from outside.  Then she'd run around the house playing keep away.  It's going to be hard to leave Abby at the trainer.  She's finally beginning to be a likeable dog.

Day 2904

 I woke up about 8, played games fora while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I didn't have anything planned for today and I was still a little tired from yesterday. I took out the garbage and installed the baby gate on the bedroom door.  

I toyed with the idea of either going shooting or to the Domain.  It was going to rain though,so they were both out.  I surfed for a while and then decided to work on RC cars.  I have work pending on several.  I chose to do lighting.  I've got four cars that need it.

I needed some specialized lighting for the Chevy pickup body for the TRX4.  Ellen did a perfect job on that body and I wanted perfect lighting.  I spent a long time on Amazon finding the perfect size head lights and tail lights.  I also found some tail lights for the EB48 (I already have suitable head lights).  I ordered them.  I have all the lights for the BBX, but the wiring harness for it will be complicated (8 lights).

I just wasn't ready to build an eight light wiring harness.  I wouldn't be fun, and this RC stuff is supposed to be fun.  There was a break in the rain, so I did get the googly eyed pink flamingo we'd bought installed.  After that it was surfing and videos for the rest of the day.

Abby did pretty good today.  She didn't bother the cats much.  In fact she and Devon actually spent some quality time together.  She has a real respect for Cooper.  She climbed up on my lap in the recliner inn the afternoon.  Cooper came over, jumped up, and ran her off.  She also gives him a wide berth if he's walking by.

We're taking Abby for training in 5 days.  I'm going to miss her.

Day 2903

 I woke up a little after 7 and played games until 8.  Then it was up for pet stuff.  There really wasn't enough time for breakfast because I had a doctor's appointment.  We left for it about 9.  We took Abby with us because I wanted her to get used to going everywhere with us.

The appointment was with the piss doctor.  My PSA is up to 8.1.  That's over a point more than It was last time.  He's not concerned and neither am I.  The level tends to vary.  I'll get another test in April.  We made three stops afterwards - the post office, Target (for a dog water bottle), and WalGreen's (for Ellen's drugs).

When we got home I went out to mow the lawn.  It was a little easier then normal because the grass wasn't as thick.  I did get eaten alive by mosquitos when I filled up the mower in the garage.  They were thick.  I finished just after 1 and went inside for lunch.

I spent an hour at lunch and then went back outside to do the edging.  The Dewalt edger sure is convenient.  It was 82 with 78% humidity.  I was hot and sweaty when I was done and my back ached.

I went back inside, drank most of a can of mango juice, and then took a shower.  Ellen left for the club while I was in the shower.

I spent the rest of the evening surfing and watching videos.  Dinner was sausages that Ellen had left for me.

Ellen sent me an email saying that I won an award for finishing 5th in B class in 20 ga at the nationals.  I don't know why I'd want something commemorating that. 

Abby note: she's been doing well with the cats,so I let her go outside the kitchen.  She kept going into the bedroom and stealing cat toys.  The earned her a couple of trips to the bin.  I'm going to put the gate up on the bedroom door tomorrow and we'll see how that goes.

Day 2902

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  After that it was up for pet stuff, breakfast, and starting the laundry.  With the single slow washer it takes a long time to finish the wash.

A little after breakfast Ellen left for what I thought was a doctor's appointment.  I had her take a gas can so I could fuel up the mower and start mowing.  She was actually going for a haircut.  She wasn't back until after noon.

I spent the time surfing and running the dog.  It was war, in the high 70's.  I'd planned on making a barrier out of chicken wire to keep Abby from digging under the deck steps.  Unfortunately I was wrong when I thought that I had some remaining.

Ellen wanted to go out for lunch when she got home.  She made a 2 o'clock appointment to wash the dog at Tomlinson's.  We put Abby in the car and went to Belterra.  We ate at the restaurant there.  It was expensive, but good.  While we were waiting for the check I went to ACE and bought chicken wire.  We finished just in time to go to the dog wash.  Abby behaved well there and she came out soft and smelling like a French whore.

The last stop was HEB.  It was over 80 and Ellen waited in the car while I bought bananas and OJ.  I also got vanilla pudding.  They had a special where I got free bananas and pudding if I bought cookies.  OK

We didn't get home until after 3.  I decided to bag mowing and spent the afternoon on a few videos and a long nap.  I woke up about 6, but wasn't hungry so I watched more videos.  I ended up eating some leftovers about 7:30.

The rest of the evening was videos.

Day 2901

 I woke up about 8, played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I went outside to do a little building.

I removed the 4 old, broken, solar lights from the deck railing.  Then I installed the new ones.  The job was easy and satisfying.  Then I unscrewed the hinges on the deck gate, raised it, and reattached it.  I was really tired of it sticking each time I tried to open it.

After that it was out to the garage.  I started by rearranging the lower shelf in the tool cabinet.  Just like the upper shelf that involved taking everything out and identifying the things I no longer needed.  I also got out the labeller and labelled the 8 or so tool boxes that didn't have labels.  Just like the upper when I was done there was room left open and I can easily access everything.

By then it was time for lunch.  I went inside and had lunch and did a little surfing.  Then it was back out to the garage.  There was still a lot of stuff to be put away.  I put all of it away.  Ironically none of it went into the tool cabinet.  I also took the bike rack and gorilla cart to the well house.  They take up a lot of room.

My final action was to put the mower battery on the charger.

It was after 3 when I went back to the house.  I surfed until Ellen went to the club.  Apparently they are having two a week practices right now.  I switched to a movie and later videos.  I asked Ellen to bring home something for dinner, but she didn't.  I had a sandwich.

An Abby note:  She's a pain in the ass.  She's learned to push aside the fence and get into the rest of the house.  She does it regularly when we're not watching.  She also refuses to go into the kitchen when she comes back inside.  Instead she plays "chase me" around the house.  She's also digging a hole under the deck steps to get at whatever is under there.  I'll have to figure out a cure for that tomorrow.

Day 2900

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  I like not having any reason to get up early.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was out to the garage.

The first task was to install the battery shelves.  All the wood was cut already, so I did the assembly with the brad nailer.  I love that thing.  I assembled the "fence" around each shelf.  Then I attached the braces to the shelves.  Finding the right sized screws took longer that attaching the braces.  Then I attached the "fences" to the shelves.  The final step was attaching the shelves to the cabinet door.  It took tome to do everything, but the whole effort went smoothly.  The result works really well.

The next step was to rearrange the cabinet.  I removed some stuff I didn't need any more.  I set aside a corded nailer, corded drill, and cordless screwdriver for Hooch.  I set aside 3 obsolete battery chargers for Goodwill (I still have 6 or 7).  I also spent some time removing the foreign language pages from the Dewalt manuals.  That reduced their bulk by 2/3.  After some rearranging of the equipment I was able to put the power washer and the nailer in the top shelf.  Everything is much easier to access, too.

By then I wasn't feeling like doing anything with the bottom shelf.  I left it for tomorrow and went inside for a late lunch.  After lunch I surfed.  I totally wasted the extra hour the switch from DST gave me.

Dinner was leftovers - shrimp, rice, and cornbread.  It was the best leftover dinner I've had in a while.  I ate it while finishing a movie I started yesterday.  When the movie was finished it was videos.

A note on Ellen.  She's been working, too.  Yesterday she did a lot of bush trimming outside.  Today she spent hours going through the bank card slips from the trip.  There were LOTS.

Day 2899

 I woke up about 8, played games for a short while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing I went out to drain the water from the trailer.

I takes a while to blow all of the water out of the water lines.  I drained the hot water tank and hooked up the compressor to the water inlet.  Then I opened all the valves and turned on the compressor.  When those lines were empty I put a rock on the toilet lever and let the compressor run.

While the compressor was running  I started on the stuff in the garage.  I put away a few items and hung up the saying from Martha and the Baby Yoda picture.  By then The lines were drained so I closed up the trailer (after removing the rock) and put the compressor away.

I needed more room to put stuff.  I had a wire shelf I'd been meaning to put up, but there wasn't any place to put it.  All the wall space was covered.  After a lot of looking I found that if I did a semi-major rearrangement of the area by the power cords I'd have room.  It too awhile to rearrange everything and mount the new shelf.

While thinking about the shelf I realized that I'd have to arrange the cabinet with the DeWalt tools.  I decided to use a sliding shelf.  While I was looking for one on Amazon I realized that shelves attached to the doors would be more efficient.  That meant a trip to Home Depot.

It was 1, so I decided to go to the Home Depot in Dripping Springs.  We could take the dog, run her in the park, get the stuff I needed, and eat lunch at the pizza place.  We did all of that and it worked perfectly.  On the way back we stopped at Tomlinson's.  We were going to give the dog a bath but they were busy.  We got her a treat instead.

When we got back I  hauled the 4 bags of salt we'd bought to the well house.  I'm getting too old for that.  I actually had to stop midway through two of the trips to rest.  Then I went back to the garage.  I measured everything out and cut all of the pieces of wood.  By then it was after 5 and the mosquitoes were out.  I got bitten at least twice.

I sat down and started watching videos.  That turned into watching a movie.  It's a 2.5 hour movie, so I'll finish it tomorrow (maybe).

Day 2898

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games until a little after 8.  Then it was time for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was a little surfing until it was time to leave for the doctor.

The doctor stop was a short one, just a blood draw.  Then we went on a search for a ball for Abby.  We stopped at Target, nada.  Then we took a detour to Central Market for some groceries.  They next stop was Academy.  nada  We finally found one at Wally World, only $2.50.

We stopped at the post office on the way home.  There was quite a bit of mail.  Then I traveled through the Y.  going West wasn't too bad.  Going East is something I don't want to have to do unless it is absolutely necessary.

The new shower hose was waiting at the gate when we got home.  I installed it immediately.  It seems to work fine.  Then it was a sandwich for lunch.  After lunch I read and surfed for a while.  Then I went outside with Ellen and she gave me a much needed haircut. 

I got an email from the Bronco repair guys.  The brakes need another $500 in work.  I emailed back to do it and Ellen sent them the money.

When that was done I was feeling guilty, so I went out to the garage to put some stuff away.  I got a little done, but not much.  I went back to the house and Ellen said that there were packages at the gate.  I grabbed some garbage and went to get them.  One was the new gun holders for the gun cart.  I installed them and threw the old ones away.

Ellen fixed baked potatoes for dinner.  They were really good.  After that I watched videos for a while and then started a movie.  I got about halfway through and got bored (a common occurrence).  I switched to videos instead.

Day 2897

 I woke up a little after 7 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.

The first order of business was to set the two light timers in the kitchen.  One controls the display box and the other controls the two art lights.  They weren't hard to set once I found the instructions.  Then I went outside and retrieved the temp sensor for the bedroom display.  I'd thought it was working, but it wasn't.  It took me several tries over the day to get things working, primarily because the instructions were wrong.

The next item on the agenda was the Medicare health plan.  I had to wrestle with the website for a while to determine that I don't want to change.  Yeah. Then it was a search for a new shower head.  The cord on the old one is leaking.  I ended up ordering an exact replacement form Home Depot.  When that was done it was warm enough to go outside.  I unboxed the wind spinner that we bought this summer, assembled it, and put it up in the back yard.  There wasn't any wind, so i don't know how it will work.

I had lunch and then did a little surfing.  Then it was time to wash the truck.  I got everything out and we started on it.  Ellen took the bugs off the front while I went to work on the wheel wells with the power washer.  The washer barely made a dent on the mud.  I sent Ellen inside while I spent the next hour or so blasting it off.  Wrestling the washer while sitting on the truck stool wasn't fun.

When the wheel wells were clean Ellen came back out.  I power washed an area of the truck, she scrubbed it with a brush, and then I rinsed it with the washer.  The final step was to spray some ceramic wax on the wet area and immediately dry it.  I took us until after 4 to finish.  It was 5 by the time I had everything put away.

I fixed myself a drink when I got back inside.  I was really sore and tired.  Ellen fixed pork chops and hash browns for dinner. It was really good.  After dinner was videos.  I also watched part of Thursday Night Football just to remind myself why it's boring.

I've got a doctor's appointment tomorrow.  Afterwards I'll probably try to put away some of the stuff in the garage.  I'm actually making good progress on all of the things that need to get done.

Day 2896

 We woke up a little after 7.  It was 32 degrees out.  We stayed in bed playing games until after 8:30.  Then it was p for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was still in the 40's outside, so I found a couple of things to do inside.  First I put the guns away.  Then I started looking at Medicare.  I verified that the drug plan that I'm on is the best one.  Also, for some reason the premium is going down from $11/mo to $0.50/mo.  Yippee.

After that it was surfing until after 11.  By then it was up to a balmy 51.  I went outside and replaced the batteries on both the front and back temperature sensors.  Thankfully they both reconnected to the inside displays with no problem.

After that I opened the truck bed and started unloading it.  I took out the ammo and put it away in the garage.  The case of Gamebore had gotten wet even though it was wrapped in plastic.  I took all of the shells out and wiped them down.  Then I reloaded the plastic ammo boxes for next Spring.  Then I took all of the other stuff out of the bed and added it to the pile of stuff in the garage that needs to be put away.  Finally I reattached the two ratchet straps that I have in place in case I need them.  I made sufre that te ends wouldn't come loose again.

By then it was after 2 and I was tired and hungry.  I went inside and fixed myself a sandwich.  Then I did a little surfing until Ellen went to the club.  I went to the trailer when she did.  I dug out all of the small stuff that I'd squirreled in some of the small cabinets.  I took some of it to the garage and the rest to the house.  All of it got put away.  The dog food and door gate came while I was doing this.  Hauling 40 lbs of dog food from the gate to the house was almost more than I could do.  Getting old sucks.

After feeding the pets.  I surfed and watched videos for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  I really didn't have dinner, instead I ate some snacks.

Another note on Abby:  She's really adapting to being put outside.  We put her out after breakfast and she entertained herself running around the yard for over an hour.  She literally pulled down all of the hanging branches of the Wisteria.  I won't have to cut them down.  She also ran around whenever we put her out to go to the can.  She's even getting good at letting us know she has to go.  She still needs to improve on not chasing the cats and not running around the house.  When she does she ignores our commands to come.