Day 3137

 I woke up at 8 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing Gerry showed up.  We loaded up the stuff in his rig and went to shoot.

The morning was cloudy and cool, but it warmed up during the morning.  I shot the best that I've shot in quite a while.  I shot and 88.  I would have shot in the 90's except for brain malfunctions on two stations.

We finished about noon.  We stopped at the flatbed trailer on the way back.  It looks like Gerry can use it, but I needed to find the key to the hitch lock.  Then we went to the trailer and unloaded everything.  I got the bag of unknown keys and we went back to the flatbed trailer.  We took Abby.  The first unknown key that I tried fit the lock.

We went to the clubhouse, gave Gerry the key, and had lunch.  I had a Polish chili dog.  It was a lot better than yesterday's hamburger.  We ate with Gerry and then sat for a while and talked.

When we got back to the trailer I took the key bag to the shed to look for a key for a lock that was there.  I found it, but this time it was absolutely the last candidate key in the bag.

I started looking at videos when that was done.  The videos rapidly turned into a long nap.

Ellen fixed stirfry for dinner.  After that was more videos.  I also set up seeing John and Patty on Tuesday when Abby get fixed.

I'm going to Costco tomorrow for hearing aids.  I'm also going to try to find a place that can fix my shell bag.  If I'm luck they may be able to fix my gun cast, too.

Day 3136

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  There was no reason to get up immediately because we didn't shoot until 2:30.  Eventually it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.

After breakfast I got out the 20 ga guns.  Then I went outside I drained the tanks and put the ammo in the cart.  While I was in the shed I decided to do a little work on the Grom.  I installed the receive and connected up all of the wires to both the receiver and ESC.  I also installed a small fan on the motor heatsink.  All that's left to do now is confirm that the body still fits, bind the receiver, and program the ESC.  I'll probably do that sometime next week.

When that was done I went inside for some surfing.  A little after noon we took Abby to the club to have lunch.  I had a hamburger.  It sucked.  Abby got a lot of it.  She also got a chance to socialize some.  Then we went back to the trailer for a little more surfing before going to shoot.

The weather was great.  My shooting wasn't.  I missed a lot of easy shots in the first half of the course.  I only missed one target in the second half.  Of course that wasn't enough to make a good score.

When we got back to the trailer I loaded up the cart again for tomorrow.  It was 4:40, so I just started watching videos.

Dinner was frozen pizza.  After dinner was more videos.

Day 3135

 I woke up about 5:30 with severe stomach cramps.  Basically I needed to take a shit.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to.  I played games until 7:30 when my bowels finally decided to move.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.

After breakfast I did a short surfing stint.  Then we decided to go shooting.  I got everything set up while Ellen got the dog ready.  We started shooting at station 2.  Unfortunately Ellen left her brain with Scooter and didn't bring the whistle.  Fortunately it was a short walk to get it.  We continued to station 5 where Abby took off for parts unknown.  That's when I found out Ellen had left the dog zapper controller in the trailer, too.  That was it.  I figured she was too scatter brained to shoot today and called it off.  We went home and I put everything away.

I did a little more surfing and then took the dog for a walk to the far end of the course.  I had to keep a close reign on her because there were a lot of people shooting.  At least she had a little fun.  When I got back it was videos, I just didn't feel like working on the Grom today.

After lunch we gave Abby a bath.  She was getting both greasy and smelly.  Afterwards she was clean, soft, and smelled like a French whore.  I also took the AC filers outside and washed them.  They were VERY dirty.

That was the end of activities for the day.  The rest of the day was videos and a nap.  Dinner was tempera shrimp and rice.  It was really good.

Day 3134

 I woke up at 8:15 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing I went out to the shed to work on the Grom.

I started by installing the fan on the ESC.  Because the new fan is shorter than the old I had to grind down the 4 mounting screws.  The result just barely fits below the body.  SUCCESS.  Then I measured out the motor wires and cut them.  The colors on the ESC motor wires don't match those on the motor.  Luckily it doesn't matter on an unsensored motor.  I soldered connectors onto the ends of the wires.  That turned out to be surprisingly easy.

Finally I installed the ESC and its capacitors.  The next step is to connect the motor wires and install the receiver.  I didn't feel like doing that, so I just went inside and surfed for a while.  Eventually we left to go to the McMinnville farmer's market. I took the truck because it hadn't been driven in a while.

The drive to McMinnville was nice.  It's the first time we've been on the ferry.  It was very busy.  There were a lot of people at the market.  We bought cherries, strawberries, and some morning buns.  Then we walked through downtown.  Abby wasn't as good at heeling as she should have been.  In her defense there was a lot of distractions.

We stopped at a grocery store on the way home for some much needed groceries.  When we got home it was videos.  They turned into a nap.

I told Ellen that she had to started cooking.  Both the freezer and the pantry are full of food.  Tonight she fixed shrimp and noodles.

After dinner was more videos until bedtime.

Day 3133

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing went out to the shed to work on the Grom.

I started out by reattaching the center support.  I'd removed it to the change the motor, but that's been done.  Then I cleaned up everything on the table.  That's because the mechanics are over for a while and it was time to do soldering.  I put connectors on both the front and rear light wires.  That was all that I could do because I didn't have the fan or ESC connectors.  They were at the post office, but I couldn't pick them up because it was sewer day.

I went back inside for some surfing, lunch, and some videos.  The sewer guy came at 2:00.  He drained the tank.  Then I drained the grey tanks and put everything away.

Ellen needed to get some drugs.  I rode with her to the dumpster to take out the garbage.  Then Abby and I walked back.

When Ellen got back I took the connectors to the shed.  I replaced the fan connector.  It was a little weird because the wire colors on the connectors I'd purchased didn't match those on the ESC.  I had to test it all out.  The ESC power connector was a pain.  The ESC wire gauge was too big for it.  I had to reduce it diameter at the end a little to make it fit.  Eventually it did.  At that point I didn't feel like doing anything else.

I went back inside and watched videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed pork chops.  They were really good.

After dinner was more videos.

Day 3132

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games until 8.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  When that was done I loaded the laundry stuff into the car and Ellen left for the laundromat.  I went to the shed to work on the Grom.

I started by constructing the mounting pace for the ESC.  That involved cutting pieces of some foam like material and fitting them into the bottom of the car.  I had to cut three pieces.  They were all irregular and pretty small.  Fitting them involved a lot of trial and error.  The Dremel worked well though.  After I cut them I glued them to the car.

I test fit the original motor heat sink on the new motor.  The new motor is much smaller in diameter.  I carefully crushed it in the vice.  Again it was a lot of trial and error.  The next step is to cut the ESC motor lead and solder on connectors.  I didn't feel like doing that, so I quit.

I went back to the trailer and got Abby for a walk.  We walked all of the way around the course.  She had a great time and acted perfectly.

Ellen was home when we got back.  I started watching videos and promptly took a fairly long nap.  I woke up about 2 and had a sandwich.  Then it was more videos until I got bored and switched to surfing.  Ellen started watching chick flicks.

Dinner was a frozen thing.  After dinner was more surfing.  Abby got some energy back and we went out for some retrieves.  She did well, but I stopped her when she started to get bored.

Day 3131

 I woke up at 8 and played games until a little after 9.  Ellen handled the pet food, so I just had breakfast.  After breakfast it was surfing.

I dumped the tanks and installed the solar lights.  That was easier than I thought it would be.  The mounting stakes pounded into the ground without a lot of trouble.  While I was doing that Dave came out with his dogs and Ellen took Abby to play with them.

When Ellen came back we left for the post office and the grocery store.  There were a couple of small packages from Amazon.  We got hamburgers on the way home, but ate them at home.  There was no reason to buy fries or drinks.

After lunch I watched videos for a while.  Then I went to the shed to work on the Grom.  After some experimenting I figured out how to mount everything so that it would fit.  In the process I removed the ESC, cut it's legs off and reinstalled them to mount the servo, removed the fan (there's no room for it), installed the new motor, and removed some plastic so that the ESC will fit.  That took until after 5.

The next step is to install the ESC and the motor connectors.  That will involve some more "kitbashing" style modifications.  I'll probably do that tomorrow instead of going to the laundromat.

I fixed Ramen with BBQ pork for dinner.  The pork was from the Japanese store and it's really good.  After dinner was videos until bedtime.

Day 3130

 I woke up at 8 and played games until almost 10.  Then it was up or pet stuff and breakfast.  After some surfing I went out to the shed to work on the Grom.

Before I went to the shed I ordered some connectors for the new ESC.  That's $15 worth of connectors I wouldn't have had to order if I'd just brought my parts case from Texas.  I started by testing the color of the LEDs because they weren't marked on the packaging.  That's when i found out that both set were white instead of one white and one red.  Fucking Chinese.

Attaching the rear lights wasn't hard.  I just attached them to the underside of the wing and drilled a small hole to feed the wires into the body.  The front lights were a little more problematic.  There wasn't really any good place to attach them to.  I finally ended up attaching them to the front piece mounting screw.  I hope that they will be protected enough by the front bumper. That's all the work I can do until the connectors come.  I'll have to wait until then to complete wiring up the lights.

After that I went back inside and surfed some more.  After that it was videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed BLT's.  After dinner we took Abby for a walk.  She did a really good job staying with us and responding to the whistle.

After that it was videos until bedtime.

Day 3129

I woke up at 8 and played games for a little while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Today was the "member's appreciation day" at the club.  About 9:30 we went over to see what was going on.

We didn't plan on shooting, but Gerry was there so we got our 100 free targets and went out to shoot with him.  It was a warm sunny day and we had fun.  I actually shot pretty well except for one station.  I had some trouble with floaters though.

After shooting there was a lunch (hamburgers) and a raffle.  I brought Abby.  Ellen bout $100 in raffle tickets.  We won two things - a flat of shells (worth $90) and a shell bag that we donated back. I guess we almost broke even.  Abby got some hamburger and a chance to play with some new friends.

When we got home I started to work on the Grom.  It turns out that I don't have the connector to install the new fan on the ESC.  I found some on Amazon and ordered them.  They're $9 on Amazon and $4 on AliExpress, but I didn't want to wait.

I went out to the shed and worked on the lights.  It took me quite a while to figure out their assembly (no instructions).  After I did it went pretty smoothly.  Attaching them to the car will take some doing though.  I'll probably work on that tomorrow.

When that was done I went back inside and fed the pets.  Then I watched videos.  Ellen fixed stirfry for dinner.  After dinner it was more videos.

Day 3128

 I woke up a little before 8 and played games for quite a while.  Eventually it was up for pet stuff and breakfast, followed by a few chores around the trailer.  After some surfing we decided to do some shopping.

We put Abby in the car with us because the first stop was the pet store.  After that we went to Freddie's for some groceries and fuel.  We also stopped at Wally World for asswipe.  The last stop was DQ for lunch.  It was hot today, so at all the stops except the pet store one of us stayed in the car with the dog.  We also went to the post office to pick up stuff from AliExpress.

The AliExpress stuff had come in a surprisingly short time.  Unfortunately one of the orders was screwed up.  I'd ordered some metal rulers.  The ruler packaging showed up, but it was empty.  I can't apply for a refund until mid July.

When we got home we started watching videos.  That turned into a nap for me.  We fed the animals at 5.  At 6 we took Abby for a walk.  Dave's dogs were out at the clubhouse so we let them play together on the walk home.  They got a long pretty well, but didn't seemed to want to play chase so Abby got bored.

When we got home I had frozen pizza for dinner.  After that was more videos.

Day 3127

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games until I got up at 8.  Then it was pet stuff and breakfast before leaving for Beaverton.  We left at 8:45 because traffic looked dicey (the dental appointments were at 10).

Google was right about the traffic.  I5 was a parking lot just past the Aurora exit.  I got off there and got back on at the Canby entrance.  Traffic was still really slow, so I took the Camping World route.  That turned oout to be a mistake because the traffic cleared up immediately after Wilsonville.  We continued up to 217 with traffic normal.  It slowed to stop and go at Tigard.  I put up with it until Scholl's Ferry.  I got off there and went up to Beaverton on Hall.

We still managed to get to the Dentist in an hour.  We waited until 10 and then had simultaneous appointments.  They took about an hour.  I passed, no problems.  When we were done we went to Bevel's.

We looked at the replacement stones for Ellen's ring.  They're great.  We also looked at the meteorite earrings and decided to buy them.  Ellen saw another pair that she liked.  The design was intricate and the workmanship was fantastic, so we bought them, too.  I think the whole bill was just short of $5K.

After that we went to the Japanese store across the street and bought a couple of items.  Then we met Hooch at Breakside for lunch.  We had lunch and talked until about 3.  I figured that we might have stayed a little too late.  I was right.  217 and I5 were parking lots all the way down to Wilsonville.  We decidee to go through Newberg.

There was a lot of traffic all the way from Beaverton to Sherwood.  99 was OK until we got near Newberg.  Then it was a 3/4 mile traffic jam at the first light.  Ellen found a back way to the St. Paul highway and we took that.

Eventually we got to French Prairie.  We stopped at the farm store and bought some strawberries.  There was still more traffic, but lighter, all the way to Concomly.  The trip back took an hour, maybe a little more, including the stop.

We started watching videos.  I ended up napping.  Dinner was part of lunch's sandwich followed by more videos until bedtime.

Day 3126

 I woke up at 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I surfed for a while.

I got feeling guilty for not accomplishing much the last few days.  I decided to clean up the desktop because it was getting covered with junk papers.  Then I organized the whole bunch of RC bookmarks that I'd accumulated.  I found a couple that I'd forgotten about and needed to watch.  Finally I decided the dog needed a bath.  She was greasy and beginning to smell.

I got out the dog wash and set it up.  It worked great.  Abby didn't seem to mind it much, but of course she really didn't like being bathed.

When that was done it was a little more surfing followed by lunch.  Eventually that turned into videos.

I managed to spend almost the entire afternoon watching videos.

Ellen fixed bacon burgers for dinner.  After dinner we took the dog for a walk.  She really needed one as she was getting obnoxious.  When we got back it was videos for the rest of the night.

Day 3125

 I woke up a little after 8 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was load up the car and got to the laundromat.

Doing the laundry was totally uneventful.  Afterwards we just went home.  We couldn't think of anything to do.

It was 62 degrees and sunny when we got home.  We decided to run the dog while it was still relatively cool (later it got to high 70's).  I wired her up again.  This time I set the speed measurement correctly.  We had a nice walk around the whole club.  When we got back Abby had gone 3.75 miles and reached a top speed of 24 mph.  According to the web the top speed for a GSP is 26.  I think that she can do it.

We ate lunch and then I surfed while Ellen watched chick flicks.  In mid afternoon we decided Abby needed her nails done.  We took her out to the shed and did them.  We also used the hair remover on her.  Surprisingly she wasn't shedding much.

After that we both started watching videos.  

Ellen fixed BLT's for dinner.  After dinner was more videos.

I'm getting a little bored.  I'm going to have to come up with things to do.

Day 3124

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games for quite a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  It was cold and windy outside, so I just started surfing.

Surfing got old after a while and we need to do some errands, so we left.  The first stop was the post office to pick up some packages.  Then it was Dutch Bros. to get coffee (it was still cold).  Finally we went to Wally World.

One of the nose pieces had come off my glasses, so I had the optical shop there replace it.  Then we picked up badly needed orange juice and milk.  We also got a couple of other food items.  After that it was back home for lunch.

Lunch was leftovers.  After lunch I went to the shed.  I laid out the new floor covering and installed the new tires on the Grom.  The tires are a big improvement over the existing ones.  After that it was surfing and videos due to the weather.  About 3 the weather had turned cool, but pleasant.  I wired up the dog and we took her for a walk around the park.  She did pretty well, but she's beginning to go a long way away and not check back reliably.  She had to be zapped a couple of times.   I screwed up the speed measurement device, so we didn't get any stats on her.

Dinner was some frozen stuff followed by videos.  When Ellen took Abby out for her evening piss Abby disappeared.  She didn't come when called or mildly zapped.  Eventually Ellen zapped her with level 50 (half of full power).  Then she showed up.  All in all it wasn't one of Abby's best days.

Day 3123

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff, breakfast, and some surfing.  I didn't have any at all on the menu for today and it was cold - the low 50's.

Eventually the surfing turned into videos.  That lasted for a while, but Abby was driving us crazy.  She was jumping all over us and whining.  Finally we gave in and took her for a walk.

There were a lot of people shooting today because it was Father's Day.  That meant that we had to keep Abby off the fields.  I did that by walking over to the trailer area and walking all around there.  She was really good at obeying every whistle command, and there were a lot of them.

On the way back Abby got her first bird.  She was running through the tall grass between the club and our trailer.  She come up on something in the bushes and went on point.  She just held on point.  When I whistled her to tell her to break she went in, grabbed something, and brought it out.  It was a juvenile black bird that must have been in a nest.  She brought it alive to Ellen when Ellen called.  It didn't seem to be injured, but I had to kill it because it just would have starved.

The weather varied for the rest of the day.  There were short periods of sunshine when the weather would warm up, but most of the day was cold and windy.  It even rained a little.  We stayed and watched videos.  I got tired of that and tried to watch two movies.  I only got through about half of each one.

Ellen fixed hamburgers for dinner.

After dinner I reordered the stuff that AliExpress had sent to Texas.  I think that I screwed up the order.  This one is right.  I also went back to surfing for the rest of the evening.

Day 3122

 I woke up at 5:30.  I just couldn't go back to sleep.  I dozed for a little over an hour and then gave up.  I got out the pad and played games until almost 8.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast it was surfing.

After an hour or so we put Abby in the car and drove up to Cabela's.  We walked around the store for a while and then bought the binoculars.  Abby did a good job when we first went into the store.  Her behavior downgraded a little bit over the time we were there.

When we left we drove across the street to Freddies to do some grocery shopping.  We got the ingredients for several meals.  Then we went home.  Thee was a slowdown between Tualatin and the Stafford exit, but it was clear after that.

When we got home I had lunch and unpacked the binoculars and tried them out.  They are great.  Then I did a little surfing.  That turned into videos which quickly became a nap.  I guess I was making up for the early wakeup.

When I woke up it was videos until dinner.  Ellen fixed stir fry.  After dinner was videos.  I got interested in song parodies of liberals and Biden.  There's a lot of them.

We stayed inside because it rained on and off all day.  At time it rained really hard.

Day 3121

 I woke up about 8, played games for an hour, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I really didn't have anything to do today, so I just surfed.

After a while I wired up the dog and took her to the club.  I wanted to talk to Dave, but he wasn't there.  I continued on to the trailers.  I let Abby run as much as possible, but I had to keep her off the fields.  She did one great thing.  The Heitlofs, their dog, and some other people were at their trailer.  Abby took off in that direction.  She got within 10 feet of their dog.  I blew the whistle twice and she turned around and came back.  That was great.

When I got back to the trailer I just watched videos until lunch time.  Ellen ordered a pizza from Abby's and we drove to get it.  We also stopped at the post office to pick up two packages.  The pizza was good and on sale for $10 off.  We had a lot left to take home when we finished.

We stopped at Bauman's on the way home to get the last of the strawberries.  We also bought a mini rose plane.  We also stopped at the club on the way back and talked to Dave about a shotgun for Lee.  He gave me several alternatives.  Then we went home.

I did some shopping.  I ordered watering things for the plants.  I also ordered tires for the Grom.  The stock ones suck because they don't have foams.  I also got a small handheld fan to blow dirt off of it.

After that it was videos and pizza for dinner.  After dinner we took Abby out.  Dave's dogs were out and we let them play together.  Some serious running around was done by all of them.  After that it was more videos until bedtime.

Day 3120

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games for quite a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I surfed until Costco opened at 10.

While I was surfing I finally remembered where I'd packed the RC speed device.  It was in the pouch in the dog zapper case.  I got it out and charged it up.  I'm really glad that I finally remembered.

After the wait I called the Costco hearing aid dept.  They didn't answer.  That meant that I'd have to drive the almost 20 miles to/from Costco just to set up appointments.  When I got there it only took a little while to set up the appointments.  The first one isn't for almost 3 weeks.

We decided to walk around Costco.  We bought water and some foodstuffs.  They had halibut on sale for $20/lb, so we bought some.  Then we bought fuel and went back towards home.  We stopped at the pet store on the way and got cat food and cat treats.  We bought Abby an "indestructible" toy and some cookies.

I moved everything into the trailer and then went in to surf.  I'd planned on making a social visit at the club, but Ellen's asshole was giving her problems.  She spent hours on the can.  I finally gave up on the idea, washed the windows in the trailer, and then started watching videos.

Abby had the "indestructible" toy partially disassembled by the end of the day.

Day 3119

 I woke up at 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was surfing.  Today is a sewer day, so we can't leave the trailer.

I surfed for a couple of hours and then got out the Grom.  I charged it up and took it outside.  It's not worth anything in grass - it's too small.  It's really fun on the dirt though.  I took it to the irrigation pipe area and had a great time driving it around.  I know it's not fast in absolute terms, but it's fast enough to provide a lot of fun.  I think that I need a little bigger tires for it though.  It kind of lacks traction.  I was disappointed when the battery ran out.

I went back inside for a little more surfing and lunch.  Ellen got out the dog wash sprayer she'd ordered.  We put it together and I hooked it up to the trailer.  It doesn't have the right connector on it's hose, so I had to connect it to the existing hose.  That made for a clumsy 12 foot hose.  We both went back inside to look for adapters.

It turns out the the trailer quick connect is a special one used only in trailer water connections.  Valterra is the only one that makes an adapter.  It was $16, but I bought one anyway.

After that it was watching videos until the sewer guy came at 4.  The dump went well and was really quick.  Afterwards I dumped the grey tanks.

We fed the animals.  An hour later we took Abby for a walk around the club.  She ran a long way.  She also obeyed really well.

Dinner was a frozen thing.  After dinner was videos until bedtime.

Day 3118

 I woke up about 8 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I helped Ellen put the laundry into the car.  I stayed home while she went to the laundromat.  I took Abby outside with me so that she could watch while I worked in the shed.

I started by unloading the wood from the truck.  Then I cut two of the pieces to fit the shelves.  I had to cut their width as well as there length.  I installed the shelves and then started moving things onto them.  I filled the bottom shelf with 12 ga.  That gave me enough room in the other bottom shelf to hold the rest of the skeet stuff.

I was going to caulk the last floor patch, but I decided not to.  I did cut a piece of thin shelving board and screwed it onto the older patch to reinforce it.  That worked really well and didn't harm usability because it's covered with a pad.  I swept out the whole shed and then put the coverings over the last patch.

I spent some time reorganizing where everything was.  Then I put all of the scrap away.  That involved some reorganizing, too.  Finally I vacuumed off the workbench.  It was covered in sawdust.  The end result is a shed that's clean and better organized than it's been in years.

Ellen got home about the time I finished.  I went back inside and surfed for a while, followed by lunch.  After lunch I decided to get out the RC speed measurement device and play with the Grom.  That's when I had the biggest attack of old age that I've every had.  I couldn't find the speed device or the Grom battery charger.  I looked high and low for both.  I searched everywhere.  I finally gave up and started to watch videos.

That turned into a nap.  When I was finished I revisited a couple of places that I'd looked before.  I found the battery charger, but not the speed device.  I also couldn't find the Grom controller.  I gave up again.  A little later I looked under the bed for the controller.  I'd looked for the battery charger there (it wasn't) and had to move the controller to look for it.  I never did find the speed device.  I was so sure that I'd packed the speed device, but it's probably in Texas.

This whole episode makes me very fearful for the future.  My brain is turning into mush.

After all of that I just didn't feel like doing anything.  I did a little more surfing and then videos.  Ellen cut my hair and then fixed steak for dinner.  It was good.  Abby got a couple of scraps, too.

Day 3117

 I woke up at 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast it was out to the shed to work.

I needed to go to Lowe's before I could continue work on the shelves.  I wanted to wait on that, so I started work on the dog wash instead.  I started by installing the drain in the plastic tub.  Then I cut the mat to go inside it.  After that I cut the entrance in the tub.  The jigsaw made all off this a pretty quick job.  I'm not sure I could have cut the mat without it.

By then it was time to go to Lowe's.  I made up a shopping list and we left.  I got some of the things that I needed at Lowe's, but the simple hardware wasn't there.  I was disgusted.  At least they could cut the 4x8 sheet for me.  We stopped at In-n-Out and then went back to the HW store in Brooks.  They had what I needed.  The final stops were the post off, gas station, and Baumann's.  Apparently this is the last week that they will have strawberries.

When we got back I decided to finish the dog wash and leave the shelves for tomorrow.  I fabricated a brace to go over the top of the entrance.  That stabilizes things, but is easy to move out of the way.  Finally I attached the tub to the stand.  It's ready for use, but Abby doesn't need a bath right now.

It was 4 by the time I was finished.  I went inside to surf and ended up napping in the kitchen chair.  I woke up after 5 and moved to the recliner.  I read a magazine while Ellen watched a chick flick.  It seemed even dumber than most of them.

Dinner was leftovers.  For some reason I was really hungry tonight.  I ended up eating a lot of grapes and strawberries.

After dinner was videos.  I got interested in music videos and watched a lot of them.

Day 3116

 I woke up about 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff an breakfast.  After that it was outside to work on the shed.

I started by setting up things so that Ellen could paint the floor reinforcement for the second set of shelves.  Then I started repairing the destroyed flooring in front of the work bench.  Yesterday was the first time that I'd sat in the chair there since we got home.  When I did a chair leg went through the floor.  I decided to use the 2'x2' piece of flooring that I had left from the previous repair since it had FlexSeal on one side.

I had to cut out the damaged flooring just like before.  Once I did that I cut new pieces out of the remnant.  Then I removed a little dirt and put in most of a sack of rock in to support the patches.  Finally I installed the patches and screwed them down.

When that was done I went to work on the new shelves.  I installed the end caps for the legs.  Then I installed the top two shelves.  They're light and I don't anticipate putting anything heavy there.  I left the bottom two empty because I'll need to get heavier boards for them.

Then  I moved the ammo out of the way.  I also moved some stuff that was hanging on the wall out of the way.  At that point Gerry arrived and we went shooting with Garret and him.  It was a nice sunny day and we had fun shooting.  I had the usual moment of glory followed by moments of stupidity.  Garret had a release trigger gun that I shot.  It was weird.

When we got back I put everything away and went back to work on the shed.  The paint was dry on the floor reinforcement, so I put it in place and screwed it down.  Then I put the new shelves on top of it.  I also put some of the stuff I'd moved early in their new places.

I finished up by putting everything away and moving the new stand I'd made a few days ago into the car port.  I took the old one over next to the shed and put FlexSeal on the top of it.  After that it was inside for videos and a much needed nap.

Dinner was leftover pizza.  After dinner was a walk to the trailers with the dog.  She did an amazing amount of running and was a little tired when we got back.  Then it was videos until bedtime.

Day 3115

 We woke up at 8 and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  then I loaded up the car and we went to TCGC.

We were running a little late, but we still got there in plenty of time.  Unfortunately I'd forgotten to put in any ammo.  We bought some at the store there.

The weather was partly cloudy, but nice.  The targets were really good.  I didn't shoot particularly well.  I'm getting to the point that I just expect to do badly at every shoot.

We ate sandwiches at the club after the shoot.  Then we headed back south.  We stopped at ACE on Lancaster to get some more shelves for the shed.  There was a Safeway next door, so we went there to do some much needed grocery shopping.  Our bill was $90.  That was after a $30+ discount.  Fuck Biden.  Also, how can people afford food without having a shoppers card?

When we got home I went out to the shed.  That began a 2 hour fight with the new shelves constructing them.  Some steps were just awkward, especially because I didn't have a good place to do the assemble.  Other steps were a pain due to Cheap Chinese Shit.  I was hot and sweaty by the time it was done.

It was after 6 when I got done.  I went back inside, started watching videos, and ended up taking a nap instead.  Ellen woke me up with pizza for dinner.

After dinner was videos for most of the time until bedtime.

I checked the status of the AliExpress order that i put in 2 weeks ago.  The assholes sent it all to Austin.  I'll never see any of it.

Abby sat on my lap for a long time in the evening.  After treat time Cooper joined us.

Day 3114

 I woke up at 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I went outside to work in the shed.

The first thing I did was put screws in the areas where the flooring covered the metal joists.  I broke 2 or 3 drill bits in the process.  When that was done I continued putting things in the shelves.  I put away the rest of the miscellaneous stuff and then started on the ammunition.  There was a lot of it.  It filled the bottom two shelves and made a stack next to the shelves.  The reinforced floor seemed to take it all well.

I finished that just in time to take the truck to Joe.  He wasn't there when we got there, so I left a message and we ate lunch at the burger place.  He called us there, so when we were finished we went back.

We talked for quite a while and he showed us a couple of his projected cars.  One is a beautiful 57 Ford that's had a really great restoration.  The other is an El Camino that he's putting a lot of engine land dashboard mods in.

Replacing the taillight didn't take long.  There were two bolts and then it lifted out.  Joe had to get on the internet to see how to lift it out.

When we were done we went home.  I loaded up the 2x4's to take back to Lowe's.  That turned into a comedy of errors.  I made 2 trips back home to get the shaver blades and to see what we might want to get to build a dog wash like the one John showed s yesterday.  Then we had to drive in on River Road because the normal mile long backup on 99 in Brooks was in full swing.

We turned in the blades at Staples and the lumber at Lowe's.  We also got $60 worth of stuff to build the dog wash.  By the time we are done it will cost at least $100.  We also stopped ad Hops 'n Drops for Happy Hour.  I had a quesadilla and a Long Island Ice Tea.  That was an early (4) dinner.

When we got home I spent a couple of hours building the dog wash base out of 2x4's, a 1x4, and a scrap pieces of OMB.  Then I painted it with Flex Seal.  When that was done I went inside for videos and a nap.

I ended up watching videos until almost 10.  Then it was a little surfing before bedtime.

Day 3113

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games for an hour.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was outside to drain the tanks and work in the shed.

I started by spreading out the rock under the flooring.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but it wasn't easy.  Then I got Ellen and we moved the new flooring in and dropped it down.  Unfortunately it didn't quite fit.  We took it back outside and I cut a small slice off one side.  When we took it back it in fit OK, but was a little loose.  

I put a few screws down and then caulked the gaps.  Ellen helped clean up the messes I made.  Then I put in the rest of the screws that go into the 2x4 spacers.  I'll put in the ones for metal tomorrow.  They require pilot holes, so it's slower to do.  At that point Ellen went back inside.  The final work was putting the second flooring section over the place where the shelf will sit.

I cleared off the few things on the shelves and replaced the shelving with the new stuff that I'd cut.  Then I moved the self into position.  My final actions was to put some of the stuff back on the shelving and take all of the scrap to the burn pile.

By then it was 11:30 and time to go north.  The first stop was Bevell's to leave off Ellen's ring to be fixed. She lost a stone a while back.  Then we had lunch at Chik-fil-a and waited there until it was time to go to the vet.

The vet pronounced Abby ready for surgery, but said we had to wait a month for her to recover from her heat.  Oh well.  After that we went to John and Patty's.

We had a typical visit.  We talked, had a good dinner (hamburgers), and drank some.  Abby wwas a pretty good visitor.  We left kind of late, 9:30.

When we got home we fed the cats and went to bed.

Day 3112

 I woke up a little after 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Gerry called and said that he wanted to meet at 11:30 in Tualatin.  We went outside to work on the shed floor.

Fortunately it was a nice sunny day.  We got the flooring out of the car port.  I rechecked the measurements and then cut it to the right dimensions.  Then Ellen started painting.  While she was painting I cut one of the scrap flooring pieces into the size needed to provide more support under the shelf.

Then I put all of the scrap pieces away.  Some went to the burn pile.  I also moved one of the bags of rock into the shed.  They are VERY heavy.

When Ellen was finished painting we drove to Tualatin.  We had some problem finding the restaurant, but we got there just on time.  We had a good lunch and did a lot of socializing and some money talk.  We came away with a couple of possible moves.  I even got a dumb question or two answered.  It looks like between them and our accountant we'll have RMDs covered.  We also decided to shoot with them at TCGC on Saturday.

After that we went to Cabela's.  We found out that we could go to the membership desk and get a one day card.  Also they were running a 10% off a gift card promo.  We bought a $1,000 for $900.  There's a wait, but then we can buy the binoculars with it.

On the way home we decided to go to the factory stores.  It was a fabulous day and there weren't many people.  I bought a pair of shoes because the ones that I'm wearing are starting to wear out.  Then it was home.

 When we got home Ellen put a second coat of paint on the flooring.  I had to clean bird shit off it first.  Then it was inside for some videos and a nap.

Dinner was a frozen thing.  After dinner was a walk with the dog out to the trailers and more videos.

Day 3111

 I woke up about 8, played games for a little while (it was raining again), and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that we loaded up the car and went to the laundromat.

I left Ellen at the laundromat and went to get a hand shovel for working on the shed.  I also got a set of jigsaw blades.  Then it was back to the laundromat to wait until the clothes were done.

We stopped at the mailbox on the way home.  There were two packages.  One had CPAP supplies and the other had my new Dremel tool and a set of shaver blades.  When we got home I went out to the shed.

I started by setting one of the 2x4 pieces (there were 12 total).  It took a little time, but it turned out well.  I also learned how to best do it, so the others were a little easier.  Then I removed all of the shim pieces.  It was depressing throwing away all of that work.  I kept working on the pieces until I had all but 3 done.  Then I went inside for lunch and some rest.

After about an hour I went back outside and removed all of the extra dirt that setting the pieces had produced.  Then I installed the last 3 pieces.  I didn't have the energy to spread out the rock.  Instead I unpackaged the jigsaw blades, sorted them, and put them away.  The packaging was ridiculously hard to get into.  Then I consolidated all of the new Dremel's accessories into the old Dremel's box.  The old box is bigger and better.  I threw the new box away.

By then it was about 4.  I went inside to watch videos.  That turned into a nap.  I think that there's a pattern there.  When I woke up I put the CPAP stuff away and tried to install the shaver blades.  It turns out that they weren't the right ones for my shaver even though Amazon said that they were.  I set up a return for the blades and ordered the right ones.

Dinner was something frozen.  After dinner I took Abby on a walk around the club.  Ellen stayed at home on the toilet.  When I came back Cooper got out.  I had to spend a few minutes slowly chasing him around the yard.

The rest of the evening was videos.

Tomorrow is supposed to be good weather.  Hopefully Ellen will be able to paint the flooring.  I'll spread out the gravel.  With luck I'll be able to finish the shed on Friday.

Day 3110

 I woke up at 7:30 and played games for an hour.  It was raining hard, so there wasn't anything else to do.  When the rain stopped it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  When that was over I went outside.  The first thing that I saw was a large branch that had fallen from the Walnut tree.  It's that rotten.  I hope they have it cut down.

I started with some chores - take out the garbage and recycle, put bags in the car, get cat food and drinks from the basement, and drain the tanks.  Then I went to the shed to work.

I started by cleaning the walnut shells in the "foundation".  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but there were lots of them.  I ended up dumping a bucket and a half of shells in the treed area.  Then I set up the saw horses in the carport and started cutting 2x4's into the lengths I needed.  I put in a new saw blade first.  It worked great.  I also cut some additional shims.  When I got through cutting the 12 lengths and shims I went inside for lunch and a rest.

Eventually I returned to the shed.  I started attaching shims to the 2x4 lengths.  I attached 5.  Two of them were a pain.  I tried to connect them when I shouldn't have bothered.  I dug out the position for one of them.  It was a pain because I didn't have a small shovel.  I'll buy one tomorrow.

I began to question the shims.  I decided to cut a small demo piece of the scrap from the first sheet.  When I fit it I discovered that I didn't need shims.  I'm not sure why my earlier measurements were wrong.  I was tired and disgusted with doing a lot of unnecessary work, so I quit for the day.

I went back and watched videos.  That quickly turned into a nap.  

Ellen fixed BLT's for dinner.  After dinner was more videos until bed time.

Depending on how much time the laundry takes I should be able to get a lot accomplished tomorrow.  I can't finish until we have a couple of dry days so the floor can be painted.

Day 3109

 I woke up at 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet food.  I didn't have breakfast because I'd played games too long and it was time to go to Alicia's graduation.  We left Abby at home in the box.

The drive up to Portland State was quick because I was running a little late.  The speed limit may have been exceeded at times.  It turns out we got there just a little after Hooch did.  All of us got to stand in the rain for almost 30 minutes.  That was due to them putting everyone through an airport like security screen and bag check.  The idiots even made leave their umbrellas outside.  I'm glad Ellen had reminded me to leave my knives in the car.

Fortunately Martha had gotten in early and saved seats.  They were way up at the top.  We sat down and waited for the start.  Of course it started late due to the security crap.

The ceremony was a long drawn out affair.  There were speeches by faculty and administrators as well as some by several honored students.  It was at least 90 minutes before they started handing out the 300 diplomas.  We arrived there a little after 10 and didn't leave until after 2.

Of course it was raining when we left.  Oregonians seem to have forgotten how to drive in the rain.  We managed to take back roads to the freeway which avoided the departing traffic.  However there was a short backup on I5.  Traffic on 405 was backed up from the 26 exit to the lend of the bridge.  We ended up taking Cornell Road.  Again we got to Hooch's place just as they did.

They had a party with Hooch's family, Alicia's god parents, and Martha's sister and boyfriend.  Martha put out a great spread of finger food of all sorts.  I was hungry.  We stayed there for about an hour before going home because we were worried about Abby.  We weren't sure that she was over being sick.

We stopped at Freddies in Wilsonville on the way home.  We got home at 5, just in time to feed everyone.  I sat down to watch videos and fell asleep for an hour.  When I woke up both Abby and Cooper were sleeping on me.

At treat time (8) Ellen took over the TV and I surfed before going to bed early.

As a side note - welcome to Oregon.  It rained continually all day and was still raining when we went to bed.

Day 3108

 I woke up about 8 and played games until 9.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I went out to the shed to remove the floor.

I started by moving the shelf out of the way along with a few things that were on the floor.  Then I started removing the screws.  Unfortunately most of them were filled with dirt.  I managed to clean out and remove about half of them.  I got out the hammer and crowbar and started prying up one of the patches.

The patch came up in pieces, but it gave me a start on the rest.  I used the jigsaw to cut convenient pieces and then pried them up.   I even had to use the Dremel to cut the places the sat on the metal joists.  At one point the Dremel died and I had to get the one in the trailer.

All of the cutting with the jigsaw ruined the blade because it would run into rocks and walnut shells below the flooring.  There are A LOT of walnut shells.  It took over two hours to remove just the one 4x8 piece of flooring.  I was hot and tired when it was done, so I had Ellen haul the debris to the burn pile.

I sat in front of the fan for 10 minutes to recover and cool off.  Then I measured out the 8 2x4 sections that I'll need.  There's slight differences in length for many of them.  I bought way more 2x4's than I needed.  I also measured the difference in thickness between the old floor and the new.  The new is 1/8 inch thinner.  That means I need shims to go on top of the metal joists.

I went inside to rest and have lunch.  After that we went to Lowe's for the shims, caulk, and paint for the top side of the flooring.  Then we stopped at DQ for a Bizzard.  It's Saturday.  The final stop was Safeway for groceries.

When we got home I cut the plywood sheet that I'd bought into strips for the shims.  By then it was almost 5 and I quit.

I watched videos until dinner - a frozen one.  Then we gave Abby a bath.  She really stank.  After that was more videos until bed time.