Day 2955

 I woke up early again, but went back to sleep until after 8.  Then it was games for a while before getting up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Tony called me while I was brushing my teeth.  I told him I'd call him back.

I didn't call him until I'd finished breakfast and looked at the copy of the bank statement from Yo.  It covers Aug, Sept, and Oct.  That will have to do.

When I called Tony back.  The discussion got heated on both sides.  Part was my fault.  I'd misread part of the statement.  Tony kept wanting to talk about his "fraud".  I kept telling him I didn't care and to quit wasting my time.  I'm getting very tired of dealing with his crap.  After a couple of hang ups and a lot of shouting on both sides I think I understand what's been going on.  I'll construct an email tomorrow.

After that hassle I needed small things to do.  I took out the garbage along with some stuff for the garage.  Then I took out a load for the trailer.  I put away most of the stuff rather than just piling it on the table.  After that I felt more human.

I got out the Jeep and tried it some more on the obstacle I couldn't climb yesterday.  I made it after a few attempts.  It takes some very particular driving.  I also took the Jeep out to the garage and drilled holes in the tires.  That made them a lot softer.

I rounded out the morning by shopping on Amazon.  I was really just killing time.

Lunch was leftovers.  After that I started watching videos.  That morphed into watching football.  They were actually good games.  Of course I surfed during them and watched videos during halftime.

Somewhere in the football watching I had dinner - more leftovers.  I think that we're pretty much done with them now.

Day 2954

 I woke up at 7 and went back to sleep until a little after 8.  Then it was games followed by pet stuff, breakfast and some surfing.

After the surfing I installed a servo and brass servo mount on the FCX24.  The mount went in easily.  The servo was a little harder because I had to change the connector on the servo.  I hope that's the last soldering that I have to do for a while.

By then it was a little after noon.  The sky was clear and the temp was 70.  We decided to eat somewhere outside in the sunshine.  We drove about 15 miles to a place south of Dripping Springs.  It's a large place, but apparently a lot of people had had the same idea.  There was a 45 minute wait.  We turned around and went back north.

I stopped at another place on 150 on the way back.  It was crowded, too.  It also had a sign saying they were closing for a party in 45 minutes.  Screw that.

We finally ended up in Dripping Springs at the pizza place by HEB.  It was nice.  I had my cheap margarita and a really good Italian sandwich.  Then we went home.

I started to install the brass bumper and brass servo mount on the Jeep.  That sucked.  The bumper didn't have any way to secure the LEDs.  I had to glue them in.  I fought forever to get the suspension links attached to the new mount.  I finally figured out that I needed a new approach.  Then they went in relatively easily.  Also the new mount caused the servo to interfere with the frame.  I had to take the Jeep to the garage and use the Dremel to grind down the mount.

I tried the Jeep on the obstacle it was having trouble with.  After all the time and money in mods it still can't climb it easily.  By then I was tired and disgusted.  I turned on videos.

I watched videos until 9 and then started to look for tires for the Bronco.  Les Schwab doesn't have the size Falken tires I like.  Their house brand tires are $60/tire more than the Falkens.  It looks like I'll have to drive to Nampa for tires.  That's a 300 mile round trip.

Yo sent me another copy of Tony's bank statement.  I'll look at it tomorrow.

Day 2953

 I woke up at 6 and went back to sleep for a while.  When i woke up again I played a few games and then got up for pet stuff.  Tony called about 8 (6 his time).

Apparently they wanted to give him a sponge bath.  He hasn't had a bath in two weeks or more.  He said that Yo could come and shower with him.  Apparently they put a camera at the end of his bed.  He also wanted to read some sort of manifesto to me.  I started to criticize it and he hung up.

I felt really good.  Obviously the hospital has realized that he is fucking nuts and not getting out of there.  I tried to get a hold of the hospital finance lady.  They wouldn't connect me.  All the gatekeeper phone person would do is give me a general email address to send the bank statements to.    

I had breakfast and then we went to Costco to get my glasses.  After Costco we stopped at Whole Paycheck to look for bargains.  We found a couple.

As we were leaving a shrink from the hospital called.  She spent a long time interviewing me on Tony's history and mental stuff.  I sat outside Whole Paycheck and answered as best I could.  It was a long conversation.  When it was done we went to the pizza place and had pizza.  It was just ham and pineapple because my gut was giving me problems all day.

When we got home I looked at the bank statement that Yo sent me.  It was too low a resolution for me to read.  He tried again, but his phone camera is too low res.  He's going to get them scanned.

The final Tony thing of the night was a half hour call where he told me of all the work he's doing draining his lymph system.  Apparently there's been some progress.  He also sounded remarkably sane.  I was saved by his dinner coming.

I'd been watching videos and trying not to go to sleep.  I got a lot of car parts today, but I'm too tired to install them.  It's supposed to be fun.  I did finish the backup lights on the Chevy.  It really looks nice with all of it's lights on.  I think that really does finish off the build.

After the phone call ended at 8 I watched videos for a while and then went to bed.

Day 2952

 I woke up at 7:30, turned over and went to sleep until 9.  Then I played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I started work on putting the backup lights on the Chevy.

It's hard to describe today's drama.  Tony called me to say that he was pissed off how they injected his blood thinner and was going to leave the hospital.  I spent a long time telling him that wasn't a good idea.  I thought I convinced him.  That started a series of 12 phone call that took a major part of the day.  Most of them were arguments.  

The kicker was a call about 5 (3 his time).  Apparently there was a group of people in the room that wanted to take him out of the hospital.  He had recanted wanting to leave, but that hadn't gotten to the appropriate people.  I can understand this, he's probably been very rude to almost everyone he's interacted with.

I got him to request that someone from the hospital talk to me.  That resulted in conference call with Tony and some hospital official.  I managed to get the guy to leave the room to talk to me privately.  That's when the hospital learned that Tony is bipolar and off his meds.  They also didn't know that he doesn't do online banking.

I convinced the guy to keep Tony in the hospital.  I also got the name of the person who is working on setting up his finances.  I'll call her tomorrow.  The problem seems to be that they need 3 months of bank statements showing his income.  I'll need to confirm that.

By then it was 6.  I called Hooch to get his ideas on how to proceed.  He had a couple.

I then talked to Yo about getting the bank statements.  He has about half of what we need and can maybe get more tomorrow.  There was also another rant/argument call with Tony.

The last call ended at 9 at night.  I'm exhausted and I'm not looking forward to tomorrow.

Oh, and I didn't finish the backup light install.  I got close though.

Day 2951

 I woke up a little after 7, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast it was surfing for a while.  I also used some silver paint that I found in the garage to paint some LED mounts.  I'd like to use them for backup lights on the Chevy if it works.

About 10 we left to go to the Domain.  We stopped at Wally World first for bananas, chips, and cereal.  They are all significantly cheaper there than HEB.  Wally World was having a 50% off sale on Christmas stuff.  We bought small amounts of candy and cookies.

On the way to the Domain Tony called.  He was blabbing about leaving the hospital and going back to Yo's place rather than a recovery place.  I told him we were on the road and I'd talk to him late in the afternoon.

The first place we stopped at when we got to the Domain was Swarovski.  They had a cool new baby Yoda in his basket.  I bought it.  We also stopped at the Apple store.  That's where I learned that the only way to transfer date to/from the iPAD was via the internet and the cloud.  Typical Apple stupidity.

Then we went to to the jewelry store.  Ellen used her $500 gift certificate to buy some earrings.  By then it was lunch time, so we went to the Ramen place.  It was great as usual.  After that was a stop at the French bakery for dessert.

It was a great day - sunny and warm enough that only a light sweatshirt was needed.  We went over to the play area and sat in the sun.  It was kind of fun surfing and watching the kids play.  They sure have a lot of energy.

We left about 3 to avoid the traffic.  That was successful.  It was clear sailing all the way.  We stopped at the post office and then Walgreen's for Ellen's drugs.  Walgreen's was also having a sale.  I picked up some Bailey's Irish Cream candies.

I called Tony when we got home.  By then he'd decided to stay in the hospital until they can place him.  I still had to talk to him for a long time trying to reduce his paranoia about how long things were taking.

After that I sprayed the LED holders with another coat.  I think they are going to work out well.  I also did a little Amazon shopping for RC and some dress-up for the Bronco.  Then it was leftovers for dinner.

After dinner was videos.

Day 2950

 I woke up at 6:30 and turned over and went back to sleep.  I woke up again after 8.  That was better.  It was cold out, about 40.  I played games for a while and finally got up for pet stuff and breakfast about 10.

It was really too cold to go outside or go anywhere, so I decided to shop.  Amain was having a big after Christmas sale with 20% off.  I spent hours looking at stuff and finally bought a motor/esc/transmission upgrade for the Jeep.  I also had a $10 credit, so I really couldn't pass up the deal.

I thought I was over shopping when Ellen got a $20 off $100 coupon from Amain.  I tried it and found that I could use it.  Back to shopping.  The trouble was I'd just got everything I wanted.  I enlisted Ellen to get to $100.  She found some painting stuff she wanted.  I bought a 1/24 scale car trailer.  I'll be able to use the Jeep to haul the FCX24.

During the search we got into a long text discussion with John and Patty.  It was fun.  They were drinking so I got myself one, too.  It was fun.

When that was done I was tired of shopping.  I sat down and watched videos until dinner.  Both lunch and dinner were leftovers today.  After dinner I went back to videos, while shopping at the same time.  Eventually I made an order for $100.22.  Yeah.

That was pretty much it for the day.

Day 2949

 I woke up a little after 8.  I'd gotten 8 hours of sleep, but it hadn't been restful so I was still tired.  I played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  A little after breakfast and some surfing Tony called.

The call started out well.  He wished us merry Christmas and we exchanged pleasantries.  Then he started to describe his self defined treatment regime.  The turned into a rant about how the hospital treats stroke patients.  Then I asked him if he could use a tablet (he can't).  That turned into a rant about having to write all of his ideas down on paper because if he puts them in a computer people on the internet will steal them.  Somehow that turned into a rant about the head of the Seattle Catholic cathedral not helping him reform the Catholic church.

It was noon by then and we'd endured 45 minutes of this crap.  I told him that we had lunch reservations and needed to go.

I called Hooch to warn him, but it was only 10 his time.  Hooch called back later and I debriefed him.  He said he'd call Tony.  After that we had lunch and then opened presents.  I got the stuff on my lists to Hooch and Melissa.  John and Patty sent me a wireless camera for keeping track of the dog.  Ellen got some cool stuff also, probably from her lists.

After that I sat down and watched football.  Hooch sent me a text about his phone call with Tony.  Apparently he talked to Yo, too.  That turned into a long text session discussion.  After some more football Hooch called to ask how to operate the battery charger I gave him.  I told him how and we talked about some other things, nothing important.

Ellen fixed steak and baked potatoes for dinner.  She smoked the steaks on the Traeger and they were really good.

The rest of the evening was football.

It wasn't as fun a Christmas as when John and Melissa are here, but it was OK.

Day 2948

 l woke up about 9 and played games for quite a while.  I didn't get out of bed until 10.  After that we had to hurry because we wanted to be at the Christmas market in Dripping Springs at 11.  We dressed and fed the cats, then left.  We got to the front door of the market at exactly 11.

The "market" consisted of an empty room with one table of nick-knacks on it.  There was no one at the table.

Luckily when we left the building was saw a sign that said "archery" with an arrow pointing down a road.  It was a nice day, warm and partly sunny.  We decided to walk down the road.  

The road went about half a mile.  On one side was typical hill country forest.  On the other was a horse exercise area and a barrel racing course.  We didn't see any archery.  It was a nice walk though and the scenery was good.  There's also a trail through the forest part that we could take Abby on if we ever get her back from the trainer.

Our walk took a little over half an hour.  On our way back to RR12 we drove through a large neighborhood of yuppie castles.  All of them were huge and on 1 acre lots.  I suspect that they go for close to $1M a piece.

We wanted to stop at one of the bar/restaurants on RR12, but they were all closed.  So was the pizza place next to HEB.  Apparently everyone took Christmas Eve off.  HEB didn't, so we bought a few things, got gas, and then went home.

I didn't feel like doing anything constructive today, so I sat down and watched the Cowboys lose.  Yeah.  Then it was videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed sausage.

After dinner it was more videos until I got sick of them.  Then I went back to surfing.

Day 2947

 I woke up a little after 7.  I'm not sure why I woke up that early, but I couldn't get back to sleep.  I played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went out to the garage to work on the Chevy.

Putting the second door handle and the windshield wipers on the Chevy took a lot of tie.  It was a matter of making small changes to the mounting holes, trying the fit, and then making another small change.  Positioning the holes for the wipers was a bit of a challenge also.  Eventually I got everything mounted.  The result looks really nice.

I took the Chevy back to the house and started testing the FMS.  I rigged up s test rig that would reverse the polarity of the connector.  When I used it to plug into the truck the lights work.  Once that happened I had a vague recollection of running into the problem before.  After that it was back out to the garage to reverse the polarity of the light connector.  That also worked when plugged into the truck.  Yeah.

I've got an idea for adding backup lights to the Chevy cheaply.  I'll need Ellen to do some painting though.  I might look into it tomorrow.  I also found a gas cap on Ebay.  I may order it.

That was about it for accomplishing anything today.  I'm pretty happy though.  Getting the Chevy and FMS done is something I've wanted to do since we got here.  It was raining, so outdoor activities were out.  We may go to a Christmas thing tomorrow at Dripping Springs.

The rest of the day was surfing and videos, a lot of videos.  Dinner was leftovers.

Day 2946

 I got up around 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went out to the garage to work on RC stuff.

I removed the light wiring from the FMS.  I spent quite a while trying to debug it.  It's got an intermittent somewhere.  The only way to get rid of it was to take it apart and rebuild it.  I decided to build a new one instead.  That took quite a while.  When I was done it wouldn't work in the vehicle.  I think that the ESC/receiver plug is bad.  I'll test it tomorrow.

I started work on putting the door handles and wiper blades on the Chevy.  It's hard to do because all of the parts require precise irregular holes.  I have to carefully ring them out with the Dremel.  It too over half an hour just to mount one door handle.  The handle looks really nice though.

By then it was 2, so we went to Waterloo for lunch.  After that was a brief stop at HEB.  When we got home there were three packages - my FMS parts, my replacement stylus, and presents from Hooch.  The stylus is marked SAMSUNG even though it was supposed to be a copy.  I'll have to see how it works.

I put the steering knuckles on the FMS instead of going out to work on the Chevy.  I wanted to get all of the RC work stuff off the kitchen table.  They look really nice.  When buying all of this brass I almost specified black.  I'm glad I didn't.  The brass provides some bling.

Grant had sent me a link to sign up for a website we can use to transfer documents to him securely.  I got the login set up and sent it to Ellen so that she can add the documents.

After that it was videos for the rest of the day and evening.  I found one on adding an electronic engine control system to the Bronco II.  I might have the guys in Baker do that for me.  It will probably cost about $2K installed.

Dinner was leftovers.

One other note.  I spent a lot of time last evening agonizing about Tony.  It seems that Yo might actually be serious about cutting him loose.  I was thinking about warning Tony.  After sleeping on it I realized this morning that doing so has a very low probability of doing any good.  I keep forgetting that Tony is mentally ill.  On the other hand doing so has a high probability of creating a large amount of difficulty for me.  Therefore I'm not going to do anything.

A second consideration is we think that Tony is in a lot worse shape than he says.  If so, he's likely to be in rehab for a long time.  If it's really bad he'll spend the rest of his life in a nursing home.  That might actually be the best case scenario.  At least the government will be paying for it all.

Day 2945

 Tony woke me up at 7:15.  He was all excited about his phone not working the way it should.  According to him "he'd logged onto the internet and someone had hacked his phone and removed the buttons he uses".  Apparently he had called me because he'd called Yo who had refused to take the day off work to buy him a new phone.

I listened to him rant for 10 minutes and then told him to call back when he wanted to listen to me.  I figured it was operator error, but couldn't get a word in edgewise.  A little later I called him back and told him I'd hang up unless he shut up and listened.  He agreed.

After a while I determined that he had an Android phone and had somehow moved the buttons that he usually uses.  At this point I handed him to Ellen.  I know that you can move the buttons, but I don't know how.  I never do that.  It took some some time, but managed to get his buttons back where he wanted them.

A little later he called me back because Yo wouldn't answer his phone.  I promised to try it.  That was a real mistake.  When I called Yo he said he needed to wait until his break and would call me back.  His return call was 43 minutes long.  It was sort of a replay of a call from several years ago.  Tony s a real pain in the ass to live with and Yo is thinking of throwing him out.  I tried to calm him down and give him some advice on how to handle Tony.  I don't know how serious he was or if he was just venting.

Ellen was listening.  We both think Yo would benefit from a support group.  Ellen found a Seattle based support group for queers with bi-polar partners.  This doesn't surprise me.

Between and during the phone calls I was working on the Jeep and the FMS.  I put brass suspension links on both.  The task weren't really hard, but the lack of instructions led to me having to redo a couple of steps.  The results are nice.  The suspensions look nice and there's a good weight addition down low.  The last part for the FMS is due late tonight.

When the work was done it was after 3 and I hadn't had lunch.  I got a sandwich and then surfed.  I also set up an appointment with Grant over the web.  It will be Jan 4.

The surfing turned into videos, which turned into football.  Somewhere in that time Ellen fixed salmon and rice for dinner.  It was really good.

Day 2944

 I woke up about 7:30, played games for a little while, and then got up for pet stuff.  After that it was a little surfing before leaving to take Ellen to the eye doctor.  

I dropped her off at the doctor and then went to Costco.  Unfortunately Costco didn't open for another hour.  I went to Whole Paycheck, bought coffee and a bagel, and sat there for an hour playing games.  I also called Perazzi.  I tried three different mailboxes on the phone tree.  They were all full.  I wonder what the hell is going on.  Then I went to Costco.

I bought two more pairs of glasses, some trail mix, and two cases of water.  Then I drove back to the doctor's office and waited for Ellen.  Unfortunately I dropped my tablet while I was in the bathroom and lost the stylus.  I didn't notice until we got home much later.

When Ellen was done we went to the Armadillo Christmas.  We had fun looking at everything, but only bought two small items - a road runner coaster and an armadillo planter.  Then we went across the street to Black's for lunch.  It was great as usual.  I even scored a couple of burnt ends.  They were fantastic.

After that we stopped at HEB for milk and then went home. Ellen's asshole was giving her lots of trouble.  There were car parts waiting for me when we got home.  Before working with then I checked the FMS's lights.  They are indeed broken.  I didn't want to deal with wiring, so I turned my attention to the parts.

One package was dress up parts for the Chevy.  They included a tailgate handle.  Ellen and I went down a rathole determining whether or not 63-66 model C10's had a tailgate handle.  They didn't.  The wipers and door handles are good though.  The only think is they will take Dremel work to install.  I did a little preliminary work on the door handles and then went on to the other parts.

The parts were two sets of suspension links, one for the Jeep and one for the FMS.  Each set had 8 links.  Each link had two rod ends made up of a bushing and two O rings.  It took me quite a while to install all of the ends.

Tony called and I spent over an hour talking with him.  Of course he's dissatisfied with the treatment he's getting because after all he knows more than the doctors.  I did get him calmed down.  I also think he needed someone to talk to.  He seems to be sicker than he let on in the first call.  He can't walk and has trouble with his arms and hands.  I hope he does recover.

With the phone call it was almost 8 before dinner.  I was tired by then so I put the RC stuff away and watched videos.  I also order a new stylus - $40.

Day 2943

 I woke up about 7:30, played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was cold outside and I just decided to surf for a while.

Eventually I got bored with surfing and got out the Jeep.  I set up some of my obstacles and tried out the changes that I'd made.  They made a noticeable improvement.  I was able to get up an obstacle that I couldn't before.  I'm hoping the last parts that I've ordered will improve it more.

After that I got out the FMS.  I was going to see if I could convert it to magnets.  Its clip mounting is both hard to get on and harder to get off.  One of the reasons is the extra wires I added for front lights.  I decided to take it out to the garage to fix the wiring.

The fix involved removing the lights and totally rewiring them.  It took quite a while to do it.  I was really paranoid and tested each step.  The only step that I couldn't test was the final assembly.  That's because the vehicle won't turn on if it doesn't have a signal from the transmitter.

I had a really late lunch when I finished.  Then I charged up the FMS battery and tested it out.  The lights didn't work.  I was really disappointed.  I was also not interested in fixing it today.  I went back to surfing.

Some parts showed up.  I gave the Power Ranger wipers to Ellen to make up.  I put the brass steering knuckles on the Jeep. They went on really easily and they look like they will work well.  They definitely add weight to the front.

After some more surfing we made the bed and then Ellen sent the ordering information for the iPad to Eric.  She made sure he knew to wait until 2024 to order it.  That's only 12 days away.  The years just go by so fast as I get older.

Dinner was leftovers.  After dinner was videos.

Day 2942

 I woke up a little after 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was Amazon.

Overnight I'd decided that I wasn't going to buy the Axial Power Wagon.  After all, I already have one from FMS that I built a wooden back end for.  I decided to spend less than half the money on hop up parts for both it and the SCX24 Jeep. Of course that meant hours of looking at options on Amazon.

The Jeep was relatively easy because I'd been looking at options for it for days.  I'm going to add weight to it by getting brass suspension links and steering knuckles.  The FMS was harder because I'd never looked at parts for it.  There were a lot of options.  Eventually I decided on brass links and steering knuckles for it, too.  The idea in both cases is to add unsprung weight down low without adding weight that spins (wheel weights or driveshafts).  There are additional things I can do to the FMS if it needs it.  The Jeep should be fine.

After placing the order I started work on the two vehicles.  I redid the wiring on the FMS.  It was really sloppy and cleaning it up made putting the body on much easier.  It's still a pain though and I'm going to see if I can use magnets.  It won't be easy though due to the body design.

When that work was done I installed the parts that came yesterday onto the Jeep.  Ironically I'll have to remove them to install the new suspension links.  That's OK though.  It's only two screws on each side and installing them let me know how they fit and look.  They fit and look good.  When I finished I cleaned up and put everything away.  I even sorted out the plastic bags in both the bedroom and the garage.

Ellen fixed grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch.  After lunch I surfed.  That turned to videos about the time she went to the club.

Dinner was a HEB quick cooking spaghetti and meatball dinner.  It was pretty good.

After dinner was football.  It was a good game.  The Seahawks trailed most of the game, going 90 yards to score the go ahead touchdown with 45 seconds left in the game.  Then they made a spectacular interception to end the game.

During the game Eric texted me.  I'd mention to Pat in an email today that I was thinking about getting an iPad and could Eric get me a discount.  News travels fast.  He texted me a couple of hours later.  After a couple of texts we'll send him the money and he'll order it after the first of the year at a 25% discount.  I'll probably have him send it to Hooch to avoid the $75 in sales tax.

Day 2941

 I woke up at 8:30, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was relatively warm, 60.

It was nice out so I went to the garage to finish something I started a couple of days ago.  I was doing a major rearranging of the parts containers that I store my RC parts in.  This involves 6 compartmentalized plastic containers.  They hold hundreds of screw, wires, grease, and a multitude of other things.  It took quite a while, but when I was done I had a much more organized space.  I even had a few compartments empty now.  Oh goody, more stuff.

When I was through I went back inside to eat lunch.  Then I set out to put the windshield wipers on the Power Wagon.  They were just too big.  That led Ellen and I to search Amazon for an alternative.  Ellen found one.  I also found an accessory pack for the Chevy with wipers, door handles, and a tailgate handle.  I ordered both.  I also ordered a dog toy for Rico for Christmas.

I'd been thinking about doing another SCX124.  I decided to price out what it would take to get the vehicle and enough options to make it run well.  I wouldn't make it 4 wheel steering and I'd use the supplied radio.  That would keep costs down.  

Axial has a new vehicle, a Power Wagon.  It has significant improvements over my original one.  It has really good tires, a bigger motor, and oil shocks.  These are all things that would need to be upgraded on Axial's other vehicles.  It does cost $40 more, but that's more than offset by the cost of the unnecessary upgrades.  That inspired me to do a complete cost work up.

I spent a long time bouncing back and forth between the Amain and Amazon websites.  Building up a vehicle using parts from both Amain and Amazon would cost $186.  That's with a $10 Amain coupon.  I was about to order the vehicle from Amain when I decided to check HobbyTown.  They have the vehicle and a $25 coupon.  That brings the cost to $171.  I'll go to HobbyTown tomorrow, they have one in stock.

The additional parts for the SCX24 Jeep arrived today, but I put them aside to work up the costing for the new vehicle.

Ellen fixed chicken and rice for dinner.  After dinner was some videos and football.  The games wasn't a laugh-er this time, but I turned it off in the 3rd quarter when it was clear which team was going to lose.

Day 2940

 I woke up at 8:30, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I did a little surfing while Ellen got up and had breakfast, too.  Then we left for errands.

The first stop was Lowe's.  We got a new light for the kitchen and filters for the house and apartment furnaces.  We also got a dog puzzle for Abby.  You put food in it and she has to figure out how to get it out. 

We really didn't have anything else to do except get the mail.  I wanted to do something else before going home.  We made a short trip to Verizon to look at the iPad.  Ellen was being a pain, so I just left without getting my questions answered.  PetSmart was having an adoption thing.  They had a coll Siamese I might have gotten except they paired it with another cat.  Four cats are too many.

We stopped at the Thai place for lunch (and leftovers for dinner).  We also stopped for a smoothy after the post office stop.  

When we got home I started to replace the light.  Getting the old one down was easy.  It was made of lightweight materials.  It took some time to prepare the new light.  It's assembly is a little complicated and the instructions are mainly pictures.  It uses some wire connectors that beat the hell out of wire nuts.  Attaching the light to the ceiling was a big pain.  I had to have Ellen get up on a stool and hold one side while I attached the other.  She fell off the stool.  Luckily she didn't hurt herself.

The new light looks nice.  It had 5 selectable color temperatures.  We chose "warm white".  The light is definitely brighter than the old one.  I wonder if the old one was slowly deteriorating.

After several trips to the garage and garbage I was done with the light and tired.  I surfed for quite a while and then switched to videos.  Dinner was the leftover Thai.  After dinner was videos.

Day 2939

 I woke up at 8:30, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I went to work on the Power Wagon.

I had to go to the garage to modify the gas can mounts.  Then I went back to the house and mounted the gas can.  Then it was back out to the garage to get screws to mount the winch anchor.

Unfortunately I couldn't mount the windshield wipers.  They were too long.  I had to cut the blades and glue the ends.  The one Ellen broke making it also needed regluing.

After that it was time for errands.  We went over to Belterra and got the safety certification for the Audi.  Then we stopped at HEB for bananas and orange juice.  Then it was back home.  It was raining pretty good when we drove home. 

Ellen fixed grilled cheese sandwiches for a really late lunch.  While she was getting ready to the kitchen light quit working.   Ellen found a new one that she likes at Lowes.  We'll pick it up tomorrow.

There wasn't anything more to do on the Power Wagon, so I worked on the SCX24.  I removed the front body mount and replaced it with another.  Then I glued magnets onto the mount and the body.  I'm tired of messing with the cotter pin.

I tested out a motor I had to build a winch for the SCX24.  It worked fine, so I started looking on Amazon for additional parts.  I had it all spec'ed out and was about to order stuff.  Then I looked at where I'd mount it on the car.  Because I put in rear steering there just isn't anywhere for it to go.  Crap.  I'm getting really fond of modifying the thing.

Once again no word from Perazzi.  I'm at a loss for what to do.

I was really depressed about my gun barrel and sat down to watch videos for the rest of the day.  I didn't even want to eat anything for dinner.

Day 2938

I woke up at 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After some surfing I decided to go out to the garage and finish the work I was doing on the crawler obstacles.  When I was done I went back inside to try it out.

I learned two things.  First, the "tower" obstacle I built is non-trivial.  Second, the bridge needed to be tightened up.  Doing that job took quite a bit of time.  I really needed three hands to do the job, and I only had 1.5.  The result is nice though. 

When that was done I decided to redo the wiring on the SCX24.  It really wasn't done cleanly at all.  I unhooked everything and rerouted it.  The result looks a lot better, balances the rig better, and allows me to disconnect the body lights really easily.

I was going to try to go to Godzilla again today.  Unfortunately Ellen spent the whole day on the can.  I decided to look for more SCX24 enhancements.  I wanted more weight on the frame.  I was also looking for a winch (I saw one on YouTube).  I enjoyed looking, but didn't buy anything.

About three I went out to look for the SCX24 parts.  They were there.  That set of a wave of work for both of us.  Ellen built the wipers.  She did a great job and they look great.  I went to work on the SCX24.  I swapped the 4 shock springs for stiffer ones.  I also swapped the diff covers and wheel extensions for brass ones.

That took until almost dinner time and I didn't feel like messing with it any more after that.  I called Perazzi again.  I got the accountant this time.  She took a message and promised that the manager would call me tomorrow.  Sound familiar?

After that I started watching videos.

Ellen fixed stir fry for dinner.  After dinner I watched half the football game.  It was a laugh-er - 42 to 0 at the half.

The rest of the evening was more videos.

Day 2937

 I woke up a little after 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was a little cold, but the first chore was to take out the recycle and the garbage.  Only the way back I stopped to pick up the radiator cap that I'd made and painted yesterday.

When I put the cap on the Power Wagon it didn't quit look right.  I went back to the garage and used the Dremel to grind down the "cap" that had been molded into the body.  When I was done the cap I'd made fit and looked a lot better.  I'm happy with the result.  I put the rear view mirrors on the body and it's officially complete, at least until the additional parts show up. The truck looks really nice.

I'd planned on going to see the new Godzilla movie at the IMAX in Belterra, but Ellen's asshole was giving her trouble.  I decided to play with the SCX24 instead.  I got the obstacles I'm mad last summer out of the garage.  When I turned on the SCX24 it wouldn't work.

After messing around with it some I determined that the back end was locked up.  I removed a tire and the steering linkage so that I could remove the diff cover.  It was definitely locked up, but I couldn't see why.  I ended up removing the gears and reinstalling them.  That freed things up.  I carefully tested each part of the reassembly to make sure the rear end still worked.  After that the rig worked really well.  I'll probably never know what went wrong.

The funny thing is I'll be doing exactly the same thing tomorrow when I install the new diff covers and extensions.  

I started running the rig on the obstacles.  It runs really well.  In fact most of the obstacles are too easy for it.  I couldn't do the bridge though because the two ends kept sliding together.  I went out to the garage to fabricate a brace.  I got about halfway through that before Ellen came out to say that it was time to go to the Hog Heaven Christmas party.

We had fun at the party.  There was lots of pizza, beer, and sweets.  I managed to have fun talking to several people even though I didn't know any one.  It's an open air place and it was in the low 50's, so we left a little early.

It was videos until bed time when we got back.

Day 2936

I woke up a little after 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was another cold morning.  The next stop in completing the Power Wagon is touching up the paint that I scratched while I was fitting the body and putting on all o the accessories.

I went outside and got the paints from the apartment.  Then I surfed while Ellen did the painting.  Unfortunately she didn't get done before she went to archery.  I decided to look for something I could make into a radiator cap while she was gone.  I searched both online and in the garage.  I didn't some up with any good ideas.  However, I did find a couple of accessories that I wanted to add to the Power Wagon and the SCX24.

With the search done I ate lunch and surfed until Ellen got back.  She completed the painting and also suggested a solution for the radiator cap.  She said to cut off the head of a nail.  I think that will work well, but I didn't feel like doing it that afternoon.  Therefore everything stays set out on the table for another day.

I did a little surfing and then switched to videos.

Unfortunately Perazzi didn't call today either.  I'll call them tomorrow.

Dinner was pizza that Ellen had brought home for lunch.  I didn't have any then because I'd already eaten.

The evening was more videos.  I'm getting into 4 wheeling videos.

Day 2935

I woke up about 8, played games and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was cold again today and I only had a few things on the todo list.

The first was to put the emblems and other parts on the Power Wagon.  I made sure that I had screws to attach the mirrors to the mounts.  I did.  Then I made the 6 holes in the body that I needed - 2 for the door handles and 4 for the mirror mounts.  It wasn't easy to get them in exactly the right places, but I did a good job if I do say so myself.

While I was doing that Ellen was getting the paperwork together for the vehicles.  The truck license expired in October.  The car and flatbed trailer expire in December.  Unfortunately we still need to get inspections for the car and truck.

Before we left I glued the door handles and the front emblem to the Power Ranger body.  Then I called Perazzi.  I got the receptionist/office manager.  She explained that the manager was out and the gunsmith was sick.  She said that she'd have the manager call me today with a target for my barrel.  I hung up happy.

After that we left in the truck for the inspection place in Dripping Springs.  They were really busy, but we didn't wait all that long.  Then we went to the county office in Dripping Springs for the tabs.  That wait was longer, but they didn't charge us for being late on the truck.

After that we stopped at the pizza place in Dripping for lunch.  I had a mango margarita.  We both had lunch specials.  They were less than we would have spent at a fast food place.  The last stop was HEB for orange juice and stuff so Ellen could make cookies for the neighborhood cookie swap.

I didn't work on the Power Wagon when we got home because I wanted to make sure that the glue was dry.  I surfed instead.  Ellen went to the club.

I had leftovers for dinner and then watched football - sort of.  At halftime I glued the emblems on the Power Wagon.  Tomorrow I'll attach the mirrors and I'll be FINISHED.

Unfortunately no one at Perazzi called me today.

Day 2934

 I woke up a little after 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was cold this morning and I surfed for a while.  Then I decided to complete wiring the headlights on the Power Wagon.

The process was a little time consuming because I had to wire resistors to each LED.  I also had to wire a connector to the LED wiring.  When I go done everything worked perfectly.  The only thing I have to do to finish the Power Wagon is put on the details - door handles, mirrors, and emblems.

I wanted to finish with all of the soldering today, so I switched to the SCX4.  I assembled the 4 lights for the roof rack and attached them. Then I made the hole for the wires.  I had to make the hole in the roof with the reamer and then go outside to make the interior hole with the drill.  It all worked out well.  Then I made the mounting holes with the reamer and attached the rack to the body.

Finishing up the wiring required me to replace the current light connection to the receiver with a double one.  Fortunately I had just the right part.  Ten I had to wire a short extension on the stock wire along with the connector that I cut off so I could fit the wire inside the body.  I didn't bother to check everything when I was done.  I'm sure it works.

After that I called it quits for working today.  I put everything away and had a late lunch.  Then I turned on football and "watched" while I surfed.  Eventually that turned into videos.

Dinner was frozen pizza.  After dinner was more videos.

Day 2933

 I woke up at 8 and played games for a short time.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I asked Ellen if she wanted to go to the tournament.  She said she didn't, so I went out to the garage to work on the Power Wagon tail lights.

I decided to mount them on the back bumper instead of the body.  That meant that I had to combine the tail light wires with the backup light wires.  I also had to add resistors to the tail lights.  This all took a bunch of time with a total of 7 or 8 soldered connections.  Eventually it all worked though.

I finished a little after 12.  The radio said that there's a cold front moving in and that we will be freezing our asses by tomorrow.  We decided to go to the paddle ball/mini golf place in Dripping Springs.

We should have eaten somewhere first.  The food was limited (cheese burgers or pepperoni pizza).  The beer was served with this weird mechanism where you had a card that enable beer taps and you paid by the ounce.  It was expensive.

The weather was nice though, so we played mini golf after lunch.  They have three courses and they are fun.  There was an amazing number of paddle ball players there.  I think that they have at lease16 or more courts.

When we were finished golfing we stopped at HEB for milk, bread, etc.  Then we went home.  I sat down for videos, which changed into a nap.

Ellen fixed fried ham for dinner.  After dinner it was more videos until I got bored and switched to surfing.

Day 2932

 The alarm went off at 8.  We got up, did the pet stuff, and left for my eye appointment.  Traffic was surprisingly light and we got there in a little over 20 minutes.  That made us 20 minutes early.

I sat in the waiting room for half an hour.  The appointment itself was routine.  The only distressing part was that my right eye was fuzzy.  I don't know if that was temporary or permanent.  I got my prescription and we left about 10:30.

We were hungry, so we drove to iHOP.  It's tits up.  We went to the mall instead.  It was too early for the food places to be open, so we just walked around the mall.  Eventually we walked by the food court.  It was open and we ate at a teriyaki place there.  It was pretty good and there was enough left for me to have dinner.

After lunch we continued to walk around the rest of the mall.  There was a fair number of people and more than a few had shopping bags.  We finally got all the way around the mall and left.  We only bought a couple of trinkets.  There's not really anything we need.  I did stop at the Apple store to look at iPADs.  I might get one.

We stopped at the post office.  We also stopped at the Circle-C smoothy place because Ellen wanted one.  When we got home I got out the soldering stuff and started working on the tail lights for the Power Wagon (the parts were in the mailbox).

I kind of made a mess out of the first light, but it worked.  I really screwed up the second.  That's when I realized that I was using the wrong resistors.  I ended up soldering two new LED's and putting them in the lights.  That's as far as I got before I was tired of messing with it.

I spent some time surfing and then switched to videos.  That lasted for the rest of the night.

Day 2931

I woke up a little after 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was cloudy and colder today, so walking outside at the Domain was out.  I just surfed for a while instead.

The surfing session extended until I got bored with it.  Then I decided to go to the garage and work on the RC cars.  I'd purchased debris barriers for both the Kraton and the Fireteam.  They needed mounting holes drilled though.  I did one and then decided it was time for lunch.  After lunch I went back out and did the other.

The Bronco guy sent me a message saying that they couldn't find the control module to repair the windshield washer.  I put Ellen on it.  She came up with a couple of links that I sent to him.  Earlier he'd said that electric window kits weren't available.  I found one or two while I was looking for the control module.  I'm pretty sure he's either not good at web searches or he just doesn't have the time to do a thorough one.

I really didn't have anything else to do, so I went back to surfing.  Later I called Perazzi.  Of course I had to leave a message.  Hopefully they will return the call soon.

Did I mention that I had nothing else to do?  I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening surfing and watching videos.

Ellen fixed mac and cheese with ham for dinner.  It was the highlight of the day.

Day 2930

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  Tenn it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was relatively warm and we could see that it was going to be a really nice day.  We decided to go shooting.

Before shooting I reviewed the invoice from the Bronco guy and had Ellen send off checks.  The bill is near $10,000 which was kind of my upper limit on spending.  It will cost a little more than that, but shouldn't top $11,000.

Going shooting would also allow us to take the two old bikes from the village garbage day to the donation site.  It turns out that going to that site is just a slight detour on the way to the club.  I loaded the bikes and the shooting stuff into the truck and we took off.

Dropping off the bikes went well and getting from there to the club was easy.  We got to the club, renewed our membership, and got a cart.  We didn't need targets.  We have two cards with a total of about 4,500 targets.  Then we set off shooting.

The courses have been rearranged, so it took some time to locate the challenging targets.  They weren't super hard, but they made you pay attention.  I think we spent more time talking to people than we did shooting.  

A guy stopped and asked us about how to shoot a target.  We agreed to help him.  That turned into a fairly long coaching session.  I let Ellen do the coaching, she's much more experienced.

We went back to shooting and ended up talking to the course worker.  She and her husband live in a trailer and travel to different contracting jobs.  That gave us a lot to talk about.  We mentioned that Ellen teaches and she asked if Ellen would give her lessons.  They exchanged names and numbers.  We'll see how it goes.

The only fly in the day was that the cart died.  It had run like shit all day and finally quit.  I don't think we would have shot more than a couple of more stations anyway.

On the way home we stopped at a small grocery store near the fairgrounds.  It turned out to be a Mexican market.  It had LOTS of the mango pop that I like.  I bought 6 bottles.

We stopped at Doc's on the way home.  It was good as always.

When we got home I put everything away, fed the cats, and tried to read the mail.  For some reason I was logged off.  I knew the password, but it wouldn't send the validation number to my phone.  Instead it sent it to Ellen's email.  It took me a while to work it all out.  After that I sank into the recliner and watched videos.  There was also a little nap.

I didn't get up until it was time to go to bed.

Day 2929

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I didn't want to do anything today after everything I did yesterday, so I just surfed until it was time to take Ellen to archery.

I drove her to archery and then went to the post office.  I had 90 minutes to kill, so I went to the At Home place to look for Christmas lights.  Thy didn't have any programmable ones.  Then I stopped at Target, same result.

I'd wanted to go to Sam's Club, but when I got there I didn't have my card.  I went inside, said I'd lost it, and they gave me another one.  I walked all around the store, but didn't find anything I wanted to buy.

The last stop was Best Buy.  I was still trying to remember the thing I'd wanted to buy there.  I walked around and actually found it.  It was a web camera/security light combo, on sale for half off.  Unfortunately it's a Google thing so I didn't get it.  I have no need for them watching us enter and leave the house

By then it was almost time to pick up Ellen.  I drove over an parked near the archery place.  I picked her up when she texted.

We stopped at the sandwich place on the way home.  We ordered one half sandwich and that was enough for lunch.  The last stop was HEB for some groceries.

When we got home I did a little surfing and then sat down for videos.  That quickly lead to a nap.  When I woke up I just watched more videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed Chinese chicken.  After that it was videos for the rest of the evening.

Day 2928

 I woke up about 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was going to be a nice day.  It was over 60 when I got up.  I decided today should be a chore day.

I started by adding a connection for the body lights on the Power Wagon.  This turned out to be a simple job.  I went out to the garage, got the connection wire, and installed it.

When that was done I went back out to the garage and broke down the box the Christmas tree came in.  This was a heavy duty container.  It consisted of a large outside box with another reinforced box inside it.  I had to cut down both boxes in order to fit them in the recycle.  They took up at least 3/4 of it.  I finished up by taking some old wood scraps to the garbage.  They've been sitting in a corner of the garage for years.

After that I got out the new Dremel hedge trimmer and got to work.  I started by cutting back the bush on the deck.  I also cleaned up all of the leaves on the deck.  That ended up being two loads of stuff.  Then I started on the trees in front.  I cut away the branches from the house.  After that I started cutting all of the trees that were encroaching on the driveway.  I don't want to tear the trailer roof again.

I got about 3/4 of the way done when I had to stop for lunch.  Also I was too tired to continue.  I went inside and had a sandwich.  Then I surfed for a little while.  I really needed to sit in the recliner, so I switched to videos.  That turned into a nap.

I went outside to finish up when Ellen left for the club.  The rest and nap really helped.  I got the rest of the pruning done without too much difficulty.  The end result will make for a much better journey when we leave in the Spring.

I went back inside and surfed until Ellen came home.  Dinner was a frozen thing.  After dinner was a football game.  It was actually a really good game.  I just didn't care who won.

All in all I'm proud of myself.  I got a lot of work done today.  At least it was a lot of work for an old man.  I'm really beginning to feel my age.

Day 2927

 I woke up at 8,played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was a beautiful day, in the low 70's.  However, I couldn't get Ellen to go anywhere.  I decided to work on the Power Wagon instead.

It took some work, but I got the headlights installed.  They look really good.  Then I got out the dress up parts.  After cutting off the sprues they needed painting.  Ellen decided to do that.

That left me needed another project.  I took the SCX24 out to the garage and used the Dremel to grind away plastic in several places where it interfered with the steering servos.  It's something I knew needed to be done, but that I'd never done.

At that point I lost interest and started watching football and eating lunch.  Eventually the game was over and I switched to videos.  I got tired of that and went back to the SCX24.  The shock springs have always been too weak.  They didn't fully hold up the body.  I got out the spare springs and tried the next stronger springs.  It took some trial and error, but I came up with a good set up.

The SCX24 is now a transformed truck.  The suspension seems to be much improved and it looks a lot better with the body not sagging.  I'm going to have to run it on the obstacles I built last summer.

I put everything away, had dinner, and watched videos and football.

Day 2926

 I woke up a little after 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I really wanted to get the Power Wagon body mounted to day, so after breakfast I went to the garage.

I closed the door behind me because I was running an experiment.  I'd left the mosquito trap on all night long.  As I started work at least one mosquito bit me.  I know because I killed it before it was done.  There was nothing in the trap.  I call it a bust.

It took several hours to get the body mounted.  I had to redo part of the rear mounts that I'd done yesterday.  Then I had to position the front mounts.  It took me a while to get them the right height.  Positioning the magnets on the body took a really long time.  Because of the body shape it wasn't easy to get them right.  With a lot of care I got them perfect.  The last step was to reposition the front and rear bumpers.  I had to mod the front bumper mounts to get it right.

The truck looks really good.  I put everything away and took it to the house.  The next steps will be to add the headlights and the mirrors.  The tail lights won't be here for a couple of weeks.

It was after 1 when I finished.  I wanted to go somewhere, but Ellen is sick today.  I decided to price out how much it would cost to build another 4WS SCX24.  I priced out at $275.  I'd like to build one from scratch, but that's a lot.  A 2WS build wouldn't be much cheaper.  The problem is more than half of an OEM vehicle has to be replaced with aftermarket parts.

That effort shot most of the afternoon and part of the evening.  Ellen fixed pork chops for dinner.  I switched to videos after eating.

Day 2925

 I woke up a little after 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I really wanted to finish the SCX24, so I got to work on it right after breakfast.

It didn't take a lot of time to put the last two suspension links on the SCX24.  Just messing with it a little when I was done showed that they really helped the suspension action.  When I was done with that I went to the garage and got the 4 magnets that go on the Power Ranger body.  I took them back to the house and put two sided tape on them.  

By then Ellen was finally up.  I asked her about shooting at Hog Heaven.  Apparently they are dreaming.  They wanted some sort of membership fee and charge $.60 a target.  Fuck them.  I didn't want to go to Capitol because we'd have to fight Friday traffic on the way back.  I was hoping to go shooting today.

Instead we went to Belterra for errands.  We stopped at ACE and got some parts for the Traeger.  Then we went to SPEC's just to look around.  I bought some ready made eggnog.  After lunch at Mighty Fine we did some grocery shopping at HEB and then went home.

I didn't really feel like working on the Power Wagon, so I surfed instead.  Eventually that turned into videos.  I ended up switching to Netflix where I watched a movie and an episode of one of their TV series.  I'll probably watched more of the series, but it's likely I'l get bored with it.