Day 3341

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast followed by some surfing.

I didn't surf long before I got to work on the BBX.  I set the steering trim and the end points.  I also went through the ESC parameters.  There were at least 20 of them.  I basically turned down the throttle response.  It was way too aggressive.  With that done I put everything away.

I got out the steampunk contraption and started work on it.  It has over 500 pieces ranging from screws and washers to gears, LEDs, a motor, and a lot of odd pieces.  Working on it is an odd combination of Lego and RC cars.  It takes a fair amount of time to locate the parts for a step.  At least they are all in labelled plastic sacks - a LOT of plastic sacks.  The instructions are pretty good, but some of the construction is a little clumsy to do.

Jerry called about noon.  We talked finances for about an hour.  He made a big case for selling the Intel stock.  Of course he wants us to buy securities under his management with the money.  

After that I went back to working on the contraption.  I spent until 5 on it.  Ellen has finished hers.  I think that she wants to work on this one, too.

Lunch was leftovers and dinner was a salad.  After dinner was videos.

It was 70 degrees today.  We should have gone for a walk.  I'm feeling guilty.  The next three days are 70's into the low 80's.  We will be walking.

Day 3340

 I woke up at 7, played games until 8, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that it was a little surfing before I got out the Rubicon.  I glued the magnets onto the body posts and then had to wait until the glue dried. 

I got out the BBX to make sure that it had been programmed.  It was acting weird.  The steering would work, but the throttle wouldn't.  Getting to the electronics in that car requires partially disassembling it.  When I did the light on the ESC was blinking.  I went to the computer and called up the manual.  It said the blinking light meant "low voltage".  Clearly that wasn't true.  Then I had an idea.  I looked up the voltage for the ESC.  It's only 2S.  I was using a 3S battery.

I put a 2S battery on the charger.  After that there wasn't anything I could do except wait for the battery to charge and the glue to dry.  I decided to surf some more and have lunch.

After lunch we went to HEB.  We needed several things and it's better to go on Thursday rather than Friday or the weekend.  When we got home the glue was dry, but the 2S battery was still charging.

I put the Rubicon body back on the car.   The front lights worked fine, but the back ones didn't.  After some checking of the wires I noticed that light from the LED's showed out the back of the enclosures.  I removed one of the enclosures and found that I hadn't punched a hole through the body so that the light could be seen from outside the car.  I'd been in a real hurry to finish the Rubicon before we left last year.

I removed the other enclosure, punched holes in the body, and reinstalled the enclosures.  The lights now look fine.  Then I put everything involved with the Rubicon away.  The 2S battery still wasn't charged, so I watched videos until it was.

I hooked the 2S battery to the BBX.  Everything worked fine.  I didn't feel like checking its programming though, so I just rearranged everything for tomorrow.  From looking at the transmitter I think that the BBX has already been programmed.

When we got back from HEB the steam punk thing had arrived.  Ellen immediately started work on one part of it.  She's really enjoying herself.  She spent the whole rest of the afternoon and the evening working on it.  It's quite detailed and will take a lot of work to get done.

Ellen fixed hot dogs for dinner.  After dinner I watched videos and surfed for the evening.

Day 3339

 I woke up a little after 7 and played games for quite a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that was a little surfing before I started work on the Subaru. 

I hooked up the battery and bound the receiver to the second FlySky transmitter.  When I tested the steering I found that the servo arm was connected in the wrong place.  I had to take the front partially apart to remove the servo and reposition the arm.  Fortunately that wasn't particularly hard, just time consuming.

With that done I calibrated the throttle, trimmed the steering, and set the steering limits.  It took me a while to remember how to do all of it.

The last stop was programming the ESC.  I updated the firmware, but the new programmer wouldn't recognize the ESC.  Fortunately I could use the phone app to do the programming.

The final step was to test the lights.  They didn't work.  A little debugging showed that I'd connected the body side of the magnets wrong.  I removed them and corrected the problem.  After that the car is officially DONE.  A side note- it's really fast.

After that there was a lot of cleanup to do.  I stopped for lunch first and to watch the Ukraine video.  Then I took everything to the bedroom.  I had to rearrange the bedroom to make room for the new car.  I also went through the documentation and threw away the duplicates.

I got on line and I think I know how to update the programmer.  I'll try it tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'll program the Jeep and the BBX.  It should go pretty quickly since I just did the drill.

The rest of the day was videos and surfing.

It was really warm today, 67 with a little rain.  It's supposed to thunderstorm tonight and tomorrow morning. That's fine with me, we need the rain.

Day 3338

 I woke up at 8, played games,and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After some surfing  I called the HVAC repair people.  They said that they would have someone out before 12 and 2.  That gave me just enough time to go to the post office.

I had to wait over 15 minutes at the door.  Eventually someone came to help me.  Showing the website to them was magic.  It only took a minute or two for them t o show up with my package.  The HVAC guy called while we were going home.  I got back with 15 minutes to spare.

I showed the HVAC guy the apartment.  While he was working I put the parts from Amain in the Reflex.  It wasn't too hard and the result worked perfectly.  The HVAC guy knocked ad said it would be about $1,000 to fix both the heater and the AC.  Both had bad motor capacitors.  The AC capacitor was $600 and the heater was $300.  Woof.  I also had him check the house heater and AC.  The heater was fine, but the AC capacitor was down to 10%.  I had him replace it, too.  I guess this is the year the capacitors fail.

After working on the Reflex I didn't feel like working on the Subaru.  I went back to surfing instead.  Ellen started watching videos and later I joined her.

Lunch was leftover pizza and dinner was a salad.

After dinner was more videos.

As a side note I really don't miss the bracelet I lost.  I really never connected with it.  I'm still sure I won't replace it, but maybe I will if I see one someday that I really like.

Day 3337

 I got up about 7:30, played games, and got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing I went to work on the Subaru.

I started by installing the front lights.  This took a while because they are attached with double sided tape.  The tape I was using was really difficult to get off.  Also the tape had to be cut in irregular pieces.  With that done I cut some wire pieces and attached them to the back lights.  I stopped therebecause I didn't feel like soldering.

I checked the web and the Amain package had been delivered.  I surfed for a while because Ellen's asshole was giving her problems and then we left to pick it up.  We stopped at Costco first for water, the pet place for cat food, an Dave's for pizza.  

When we got to the post office there was no package in the box.  I tried to get someone to help, but they wouldn't without the tracking number.  Assholes.

We went home.  I unloaded the car and went to the can.  That's when I discovered that I'd lost my bracelet.  FUCK.  I'm not going to get another one.  I really don't care if I have one or not any more.

I went back to the Subaru and finished soldering al of the wires.  The last step is to program it.  That's going to take a while because I've got to figure out how to use the new programmer, too.

When I was finished I turned on videos.

Ellen fixed chicken and rice for dinner.  The chicken was a new type and pretty good.  After dinner was more videos

Day 3336

 I woke up a little before 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I surfed a while as usual and then got to work on the Subaru.

"All" I accomplished today was mounting the body on the body posts.  It turned out to be quite and operation.  First I had to set the height of both the back and front posts.  Then I had to redo the back magnets on the body.  I also made up some wires to connect to the front body magnets.  Finally I had to position the front body magnets and attach them with the wires.

The next step will be to attach the rear lights and solder everything together.  I just couldn't face doing any soldering after mounting the body, so I quit and went back to surfing.

I surfed until the early afternoon.  Then I switched to videos.  When football came on I changed to that.  I didn't really care who won, but both the teams I had mild liking for lost.  Oh well.

That was it for today.  It's getting colder again.  Hopefully I won't need to turn on the heaters.

Day 3335

 I woke up a little after 7, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that was some surfing.  Apparently all mornings start out about the same.

It's going to be warm for the next few days, so I went out and turned off the heaters in the well house, pump shelter, apartment, and trailer.  According to the weather people I'll be using them again in 10 days or so.

After that I started on the Subaru.  I ground off the heads of the rear body supports.  Then I attached the magnets to them.  I didn't feel like fitting the body, so I installed the headlights in the body.  That turned out to be somewhat of a pain in the ass.  They are attached with sticky tape.  The tape supplied is Very hard to work with.

I ran out of ambition when I got the headlights done.  I did a little bit of surfing and then decided to do Aliexpress shopping.  Trump says he'll start applying tariffs next month, so I wanted to buy anything I might need now.  I bought a couple of new receivers, an ESC for Ellen's mini-b, and some things to add lights to new RC's.  The total was about 60.

The shopping took almost all of the rest of the day.  The Aliexpress website is a bitch to use.

I had froze stuff for dinner and then spent the evening on videos.

The Amain package is still somewhere in an Austin warehouse.  I'd be surprised if it gets to the box by Monday.  It might get there by Tuesday.

Day 3334

 I woke up a little before 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that was some surfing.

I collected some garbage and took it out.  On the way back I stopped at the apartment and turned off one of the heaters.  It's much warmer now (over 60 today), but it's still getting down to about freezing in the night.  I'll probably turn off all of the heaters tomorrow though.

When I got back inside I started to do some work on the Subaru.  I chose the magnets I'll use for the body.  They are smaller than a dime, but very strong.  Then I used two of the brackets I got a few days ago to make brackets for the back magnets.  That involved some careful bending.  I also mounted the back magnets on the body and the other magnets to the brackets.  

After that it was back to the garage to do a little cleanup and modify the front mounts so that I could mount magnets on them.  I also made up the wires to mount to the front magnets.  Finally I mounted the magnets and wires on the front mounts and put them back on the car.  

The last thing to do is to mount the brackets on the back mounts.  I just ran out of motivation and left it for tomorrow.

The Amain package has left Dallas.  Perhaps it will be in the post office box tomorrow.

I went back to surfing until it was time for lunch.  We went to Chik-a-filet for lunch.  They still have the robots.  Then we went next door to out bank appointment.  We renewed the CD for a year.

We went back home and I switched to videos.  That last for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Ellen fixed chili dogs for dinner.  They were pretty good.

Day 3333

 I woke up a little after 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  Ellen had told me that we had a bank meeting at 10.  While I was eating she said it was really at 1.  After she called it was tomorrow at 2.  Oh well.

I did a little surfing and checked the status of the Amain package.  Apparently it's finally left Dallas.  If I'm lucky it will be delivered tomorrow.  We'll see.

I just didn't feel like working on RC today.  Instead I surfed.  That took up the rest of the morning.  A little after noon we left to go shopping.  I decided to use the truck.  It barely started.  The batteries have had it.  I went to the Dripping Springs HEB to allow them to charge a little.  I'm still going to need to get them replaced.

When we got back I did a little more surfing and the switched to videos (for the rest of the day).  I'll have to look into batteries tomorrow.

I was just really unmotivated to accomplish much today.  At least it's getting warmer.  Maybe that will change my attitude.

Day 3332

 I woke up a little before 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  The temperature was still below freezing and a of the snow left from yesterday was still on the ground.

I surfed for a while and then started to determine what I was going to do with the Subaru body.  I shaved a little bit off the front side of the front wheel wells.  Then I carefully marked the positions where the rear magnets should go.  The result isn't perfect, but it will be acceptable.

The parts that I ordered hadn't come yet, so I took out the garbage and recycle.  On the way back I checked the apartment.  It was fine.  I left the heaters on because it's supposed to get cod again tonight.  Then I went back to surfing.  Ellen started watching a chick flick.  When it was over she switched to videos.  I got lunch and joined her.

Eventually the parts showed up.  They were just what I wanted.  I may use them to mount the magnets tomorrow.  We have a bank meeting and shopping to do, so that might not happen.

I didn't feel like doing anymore RC work, so it was back to videos for the rest of the day.  Ellen fixed a frozen pizza for dinner.

Day 3331

 I woke up a little after 8 and played games for quite a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.

It snowed about 1.5 inches last night.  It was just enough to cover everything in white.  I went outside and took a picture of the house just like I did the last time it snowed.  Then I went to the apartment and checked it out.  The temperature inside was 56.  The little heater really worked.  I got out the bigger one and turned it on, too.  It's supposed to get colder tonight.

I went back inside and did a little surfing.  Then it was time for RC.  I started by putting the new tires on the Subaru.  Then I soldered the connectors onto the ESC motor leads.  I was going to fit the body.  Unfortunately it doesn't fit even though it came in the kit.  The body's wheelbase is too short.  I'm going to have to do some trimming.  I didn't feel like that, so I installed the ESC, connected it up, and tied a of the wires up.  It actually looks pretty good.

After that it was a lot of surfing while Ellen watched chick flicks.  It got all the way to 35 degrees, which melted most of the snow.  It's a hard freeze tonight, so tomorrow morning will be risky driving.  Of course today closed Austin.  It was worse SE of here.  They had 5 inches of snow in Louisiana.  

Ellen fixed chili for dinner.  It was good.  After dinner was videos for the rest of the evening.  It will be interesting to see if Amazon delivers my packages tomorrow.  The post office still has the Amaon package somewhere in North Texas.

Day 3330

 I woke up a little before 8 and played games for a while.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  The temperature was in the 20's.  It's supposed to get that cold or colder for the next two days.

I did a little surfing and then decided to get the minimum RC stuff done that I could.  I got out the Reflex ESC and soldered my last good XT60 connector on it.  Then I went back to surfing.  After lunch the parts I ordered came.

It was just above freezing when I took the garbage out and picked up the parts.  On the way back I stopped to check on the apartment.  Apparently the furnace no longer works.  It was 48 degrees in there.  I hope it doesn't get much colder.  I put the electric heater from the trailer in there. Maybe it will help.

I went back inside.  I glued the tires that came to their rims.  I could have soldered the connectors on the motor wires, but I just didn't feel like it.  I did a little shopping on Amazon.  I bought a new gas cap for the Audi and some L brackets that I can use as light mounts for the Reflex.  I finally ended up reading a little and then watching videos.

Dinner was leftovers.  I went back to videos and Three Dollar Bill called.  We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes and then he said that he'd call back shortly.  He never did.

I should be able to make some real progress on the Subaru tomorrow.  I've got the motor wire connectors and tires that fit it.  I won't be going anywhere.  There's ice on the deck and apparently there's more to come.  I don't know when I'll get the stuff from Amain.

Day 3329

 I woke up at 7:15 (by choice) and played games for a while.  then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  That was followed by some surfing.

Since I'm waiting for the new tires to arrive I decided to do some soldering on the Subaru.  I found a XT60 connector (my last).  I went looking for plugs for the motor connectors and couldn't find any.  I had some marked 4mm, but they were really 3mm.  After a lot of searching and three trips to the garage (it only got to 40 today) I ended up ordering both the connectors and plugs from Amazon.  They'll be here tomorrow weather permitting.

All the searching left me a little tired.  I started soldering the XT60, but got distracted by a football game.  I watched it until it got boring and then went back and finished the connector.  That's al the progress I made today.

I went back to videos, but that turned into a nap that took the rest of the afternoon.  I fed the cats and then went back to videos for the rest of the night.

Ellen fixed coconut shrimp and noodles for dinner.  It was good, but for some reason I couldn't eat a lot.

Hopefully something will show up tomorrow early enough for me to use it.  It's supposed to be in the 20's tomorrow, but no precipitation.

Day 3328

 I woke up at 6 and couldn't get back to sleep.  I played games for a long while instead.  Eventually I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.

After a little surfing I got out the Subaru body and frame.  I immediately ran into a problem.  The tires that I'd put on the car were too big.  The Amazon ad said that they were 65mm.  They were actually 73mm.  

I went out to the garage to look at my stack of tires.  Unfortunately none of them were the right size.  I went back into the house and ordered some.  It will be next week until they're here.  They will probably be delayed by the weather, too.

Speaking of the weather the Amain package finally got to Fort Worth.  It took 5 days to get there from SC.  I expect it will be delayed more by the weather, too.  They are still forecasting light snow and/or freezing rain, probably on Tuesday.

I felt like going somewhere because today is the last sunny and warm day for a while.  We went to the post office and then to Cheddar's for lunch.  We stopped at HEB on the way home.

When we got home I did a little more surfing before turning on a football game.  I surfed and watched the game.  Eventually I got bored with that and switched to videos.  There was a nap somewhere in there.

The rest of the evening was videos.

Day 3327

 I woke up about 7:30 and played games for quite a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  As usual that was followed by some surfing.

The stuff I ordered yesterday showed up about 9:30.  I brought it inside and installed one of the new adapters in the power supply.  It worked perfectly.  Even better so did all of the LEDs that I soldered yesterday.  After testing I installed al 15 into the body parts.  That took a while to accomplish.  Finally I stripped all of the wires and twisted them together.  The lights are now ready to install.

I decided to stop at that point.  The next step is to mount the body.  After that I can finish connecting all of the wires and install the lights on the body.

The trainer called to ask if we wanted to bring Abby home during next week's cold snap.  We decided not to.  Taking her back might be problematical if there is really a lot of cold related problems.  Also she'd just be locked up in the house making us crazy.

Walgreen's called saying Ellen's drugs were ready.  We drove there and picked them up.  We just drove home afterward.

When we got back I did some more surfing.  Eventually I started watching videos.  That quickly turned into a nap.  When I woke up I went back to videos.

Ellen fixed waffles and sausage for dinner.  The PAM we got for the waffle maker was as big success.  After dinner was more videos.

It was in the mid 50's today.  It's supposed to be the same tomorrow with the cold hitting tomorrow night.  I'll turn on the well house heat before i go to bed.

Day 3326

 I got up a little before 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I surfed for a little while and then went back to soldering LEDs.

It took almost two hours, but I soldered the rest of the LEDs except one.  I needed to check the length of the leads before soldering it.  When I started testing the LEDs none of them worked.  I started to suspect the power supply I was using.  Thus began a long debug process.  It turned out that the plug adapter that I needed to connect the power supply to the LEDs had gone bad.  I don't see how, it's a simple part.

I ended up ordering a new plug from Amazon.  While I was doing that I ordered some more solder and wire.  I'm running out of both.  Everything will be delivered tomorrow morning.

That was the end of RC today.  I went back to surfing.

Ellen fixed grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.  After lunch we went to HEB to stock up before the next stint of cold weather.  We got bread and milk, but no toilet paper this time.

It was nice today, up to 65 degrees.  Tomorrow is supposed to be in the high 50's.  After that we're supposed to be in for a wee of temperatures that might get below 20.  Crap.  There's a shoot at Nationals that I was thinking of going to on Sunday.  Not any more. 

Speaking of bad weather, my package from Amain has been delayed by last week's weather.  It was supposed to be here today.  Now it looks like some time next week.

When we got home I watched videos.

Dinner was a HEB salad.

After dinner was more videos.

Day 3325

 I woke up at 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I did a little surfing and then started on RC stuff.

I began by gluing the Audi tires.  I wanted to finish them up and put that kit away until after I've finished the Subaru and Reflex.  The I started on the LED's for the Subaru.  It's going to be a long, hard, job.  I got the LEDs and resistors from the well house (15 of each).  Then I started soldering the resistors onto the LEDs.  After that I cut out the lead wires for the 8 rear LEDs.  I started in soldering and finished three of them.

I spent at least two hours on the LEDs.  At that point I was sick of working on them.  Then I took the garbage out as a change of pace.  After that I went back to the Audi tires and finished gluing them.  The o-rings that I needed for the Reflex shocks showed up, so I installed them.  True to form the Reflex instructions were wrong.  They specified the wrong size rings.  Fortunately the assortment I purchased had ones that did fit.

I just couldn't face anymore work on the LEDs.  I surfed instead while Ellen watched videos.  Eventually I joined her.

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

Day 3324

 I woke up at 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I did a little surfing.  I also checked the Subaru lights.  The tracking said that it was delivered yesterday.  Unfortunately it didn't say where.

I walked out to the mailbox.  No package, just some letters.  There wasn't anything at the gate either.  I don't remember anything in the bin yesterday, but I didn't look hard.  Crap.

It was cold and Ellen was having asshole problems.  I got out the stuff to glue tires and glued one side of the 4 Reflex tires.  It worked pretty well.  It was certainly better than not having the fixture.

Ellen finally got better and we went back to CVS.  We were going to get more cereal, but they were sold out.  We used to coupons for some Christmas candy instead.  We stopped at the post office, but no package.  CRAP.  I'm not going to reorder it.  I'll make up a wiring harness instead.  We stopped at Culver's for lunch and then went home.

When we got home I finished up gluing the tires.  I just couldn't face making a wiring harness, so I watched videos instead.  That turned into watching 1.5 movies.

Ellen fixed fish again for dinner.  That makes 3 fish dinners in a row.  It's good, but I'm getting tired of it.

I stopped watching the second movie to watch Gutfeld.  Then it was bedtime.

Day 3323

 I woke up at 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After some surfing I got out the Reflex tires.

I didn't have the tire gluing fixture yet, so all I did was install the tire foams and the rims.  I was going to do the same thing for the Audi kit, but I discovered that it didn't have foams.  That put me back on Amazon looking for tire foams.  It turned out that a set of tires with foams cost as much as just foams, so I bought a set of tires.

I went back to surfing.  I got emails from Aliexpress saying that the packages had been delivered.  I also wanted to go to CVS because they had a sale on cereal.  The sale on cereal turned out well.  I bought 3 regular sized boxes.  With the sale price and the coupons I had they were free.

We stopped at the post office.  I was very glad that there was a key in the box because there were at least 5 people in line to pick up packages.  Then we went to Jack Allen's for lunch.  We felt like splurging.  The final stop was HEB for some stuff Ellen ran out of.

The tire gluing fixture was waiting at the gate when we got home.  Between that and the 4 car stands from Aliexpress I had a fair amount of assembly to do.  The fixture was a pain.  There were no instructions and it wasn't obvious how it went together.  I had to look at the picture on Amazon to figure it out.  To make it worse two of the screws were too long to fit.  Fortunately I had the right size screws in my parts collection.

By the time I got the fixture assembled and everything put away it was time for football.  It was supposed to be a close game.  It really wasn't.  One team's quarterback kept making mistakes the whole game.  In the end I turned it off when it was clear that there was no way they were going to win.

We watched Gutfeld and then went to bed.

Day 3322

 I woke up at 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I did a little surfing before getting out the stuff to work on the Reflex.

I started out by building the shocks.  It wasn't difficult once I figured out how to assemble the 8 VERY small c-clips.  That required a vice grip and a needle nose pliers.  I launched one, but fortunately found it without much problem.  The process was messy as usual though and paper towels were necessary.  They aren't really finished though.  Associated left out some o-rings that are necessary.  I looked on Amazon and found a kit of 200 different sizes that contains what I need.  It costs about the same as ordering the replacements from Amain once shipping is included.

After leftover pizza for lunch I turned on the football games for noise.  Then I got out the sway bars and assembled them.  Luckily I had found instructions for the process on the web.  I wouldn't have been able to do it without them.  After that I packed everything up.  There wasn't anything else I could do.

Form then on the rest of the day was football and surfing.  By that I mean I surfed while glancing up to the game whenever they broadcast a play.  Between commercials, timeouts, and huddles they don't do that all that often.  Two of the games were laughers.  The last went down to the wire.  Of course I cared less about who won.

Ellen fixed a great dinner - trout, rice, beans, and garlic bread.  It was really good, as good as a restaurant.

Day 3321

 I woke up at 8 and played games for a while.  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing I too the garbage out.  On the way back I stopped at the garage and brought back the tire gluing stuff.

The attempted tire gluing quickly turned into an Amazon session.  My two tubes of tire glue were completely solid.  I ended up buying glue, a gluing fixture, plastic bins (to replace the ones I'd given the nephew), and some magnets for mounting bodies.

I just didn't feel like doing shocks, so I went back to surfing.  About 2 I decided to go out to eat.  Ellen wanted to go to the post office, so we ate at the Cajun place.  After that we went to whole foods for lemons and the pet store for cat litter.  Then it was home.

There was football on when I got home.  I ended up watching football for the rest of the day.  The first was pretty good.  The second was somewhat of a laughfer.  By the time it was over it was time to go to bed.

Things were much warmer today.  It got up into the high 50's.  We even ate outside at the Cajun place.

I've made a resolution to do shocks tomorrow.  We'll see.

Day 3320

 I woke up at 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  I did a little surfing and then got on Amain.

I spent a fair amount of time making up an order to deal with the Reflex diff problem.  I started with just ordering the new parts.  Then I decided to order improved parts.  Then I decided to order some extra batteries to fill out a $50 order to use a coupon.  All along the way I was crippled by Amain's crummy search function.

Eventually I ended up ordering a complete set of metal gears for the drive train.  I also got a pinion gear that will match the shaft of the motor I have an another battery for one of the small rock crawler rigs.  Everything will be here next week.

After that we decided to go to the grocery store.  It was kind of expensive.  In addition to the food items we needed I bought $45 worth of Flonase, $20 worth of bird seed, and $15 of fresh trout.  So what.  I did get $12 off in coupons.

When we got home I read magazines while Ellen watched a movie.  When she was done I switched to videos.  I could have worked on the Reflex (tires and shocks), but I didn't feel like it.

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

Day 3319

 I got up a little before 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  The temperature was 38.  We needed  above freezing temperatures to avoid freezing rain.  Yeah.

I did a little surfing and then got out the Reflex to start work on it.  I started with the diffs.  They were a pain as usual.  It didn't help that I had to screw up an redo a couple of things.  I put the diffs in the body and that's when the trouble started.  One of the diffs wouldn't mesh correctly.  I spent a lot of time (hours) trying to isolate the problem and get it to work.  It seems that it needs a shim on the ring gear.  The kit doesn't have shims.

The temperature had dropped to 35 and it was raining (.7 inch eventually).  I didn't feel like going to the garage where the shims MIGHT be.  I gave up and put everything away.

After that it was a little more surfing and then videos.  I got bored with the videos and watched a movie.  I'd seen it before, but at least I knew it was entertaining.

That was it for the day.

Day 3318

 I woke up about 6:50 (by choice).  I just didn't feel like sleeping any more.  Instead I played games.  Eventually I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that was surfing.

I thought yesterday that I would work on the Reflex today.  For some reason I just didn't feel like it.  I ended up surfing and watching videos all day.  It was cod out, 40 degrees, so the only time that I went outside was to take out the garbage and recycle.

Half of LA is burning.  Apparently the major reasons are homeless people starting fires in the woods, environmentalists not allowing the clearing of brush, and environmentalists blocking the storage of water resulting in dry fire hydrants.  I guess they get what they voted for.

The weather was just cold today.  Tomorrow it is supposed to rain.  Depending on the temperature it could just be cold rain, freezing rain, snow, or all of the above.  Of course the weather people can't say which.  We're fine at home, so it shouldn't affect us.  I sure hope it's not freezing rain though.

Ellen fixed meatloaf for dinner.

I am feeling kind of guilty that I spent the whole day vegetating in front of the TV.

Day 3317

 I woke up about 8, played games for a while, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I did a little surfing.  It was 28 degrees out, a little warmer than predicted.

I decided to finish the Subaru body.  It didn't really take very long.  I'm pretty happy with the result.  I put away all of the stuff and got out a new kit - the Reflex.  It will be then end of January before I get the lights for the Subaru (if I'm lucky).

I started by cutting out the body of the car.  It's 1/14 scale, so the body isn't very big.  It did have a couple of difficult to cut spots.  When that was done I got out the instructions.  They begin with building the differentials.  I just didn't feel like doing that, so I put everything away.

Ellen found a website with these neat steampunk kits.  They were running a 20% off sale, plus an additional 10% "new customer" discount.  I couldn't resist ordering a kit.  Supposedly it will be here by the end of January also.

I had lunch and went back to surfing.  About 2 we went to CVS to get my drugs.  We used coupons that CVS had mailed us to buy a couple of other things.  Then it was back home.

The rest of the day was split between surfing and videos.  It never got above 45 the whole day.  The weather guys are saying it might snow in 2 or 3 days.

Day 3316

 I woke up at 6:30 by choice (I went to bed early).  I played games for a while and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing I went back to work on the Subaru body.

I finished putting on the rest of the decals.  Just like yesterday inaccuracies in the instructions caused me some problems.  I had to go back to the internet to look at pictures, but I finally got all of the decals put on.

With  the decals on I started putting on the plastic parts.  Some of them took a little finessing, but all in all it wasn't bad.  Unfortunately I ran out of time because I needed to go to the doctor.  I stilll have to put on the mirrors and a couple of antennas.

The doctor appointment went really well.  I got all of my questions answered - my ears are clean, I've lost 15 lbs, and non colonoscopy for 3 more years.  Yeah.  They took blood, so I'll have to see how that comes off.  I also had to piss in a cup.  I don't remember doing that before.

I stopped at HEB on the way home.  I really didn't need anything, but I went anyway.  When I got home I took out the garbage and turned on the heater in the well house.  It got down to 28 last night and it will be colder for the rest of the week.  It's 26 right now at bedtime.

I never got around to finishing the Subaru body.  I just didn't feel like it.  I surfed and watched videos instead.  I also started a movie, but only got halfway through it before going back to videos.

Ellen fixed bacon and waffles for dinner.  It was good, but she had some trouble with the waffle maker.  She figured it out though.

Day 3315

 I woke up at 8, played games, and then got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After a little surfing I decided to work on the Subaru body.

I started by taking some garbage out and then stopping at the garage to get the part I painted.  Because this week is going to be below freezing I also wanted to set up the heater in the pump shed and the trailer.  It was a nice morning - 73 and sunny.  I noticed that a tree had a branch resting on the well house roof.  I got out the chainsaw on a pole and cut it down.  Then I took the part and some RC stuff back to the house.

I started putting more decals on the Subaru body.  Unfortunately the instructions for the second sheet contained a LOT of errors, both omissions and wrong numbers.  It was very frustrating.  Some of the decals were pretty hard to put on, too.  I quit in frustration after between 1 and 2 hours.

I decided to look up the light kit for the Subaru.  The body uses 15 LED's.  I quickly discovered that the instructions listed the wrong light kit.  After some searching I found the right one.  It didn't help that the manufacturer's website really sucks.  I finally managed to order one.  The kit costs $17.50, which isn't bad.  Shipping was $9 though and that sucks.

Ellen was watching videos, so I joined her.  The weather reports were dire.  It's going to be cold until at least Friday with a couple of day well below freezing.  I decided that we needed to run the truck before it got cold.  It hasn't been run since before Christmas.

We went to the post office and Costco.  Then we stopped at the pizza place for an early dinner.

When we got home I didn't feel like any more decals.  I watched football instead.  When the game was over I switched to videos and Ellen watched, too.  We watched a lot of videos on the winter storm in the midwest.  It's very nasty.

The temperature is down to 39 at bedtime with a strong North wind.

Day 3314

 I woke up at 8 and played games for a while. Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After breakfast I decided to do RC stuff.

I started out by installing some Grom steering parts.  Actually I didn't.  The new parts are improvements, but they aren't great improvements.  I just didn't think installing them would make enough difference to justify the effort.

I decided to put decals on the Subaru instead.  I removed the protective plastic from the body and got to work.  I put on 33 decals (one of the two sheets).  It took hours.  It didn't help that the instructions left a couple of them out.  I had to go to the web to find out where they went.  Doing that took more than two hours.  I decided I'd leave the second sheet until tomorrow.

I did a little surfing and then had lunch.  After lunch I ran across a weather forecast.  It says that on Monday (it's Saturday) the temperatures will drop to between 25 and 40 for the whole week.  Today and tomorrow will be 70.  We decided to go to HEB to get some essentials - break, milk, TP, and some sandwich stuff.

When we got home it was videos.

Ellen fixed BLT's for dinner.  They were really good.  After dinner was more videos.

Day 3313

 I got up at 5:45, fed the cats, and then we left for Ellen's colonoscopy.  The only thing good about that was because it was early there wasn't any traffic.

The appointment was at 7 and we got there at 6:45.  We sat there until 7:20 and then they called Ellen back.  They said that the procedure would take 2 hours, so I went to a local coffee shop/bakery and had a mocha and a cinnamon roll.  The office sent me a text when the procedure was over and I had just enough time to get back and get ushered in to see Ellen wake up.

We waited a little longer until they decided she could leave.  The results were encouraging.  No sign of cancer and they removed a polyp.  We were out a little after 9:30.

Traffic was OK going back, too.  We stopped at the post office and then Jim's.  Ellen was really hungry.  I wasn't, but I ate also.  Then we went home because Ellen still wasn't feeling well.

I did some surfing and Ellen watched a chick flick.  When the movie was over I switched to videos.  Unsurprisingly I fell asleep.  When I woke up it was more videos for a while and then some surfing.  I returned to videos later and Ellen watched, too.

That was it.  I guess the lack of sleep removed any desire I might have had to do something useful today.

Day 3312

 I woke up at 8 and played games for awhile.  Then I got up for pet stuff and breakfast.  There really wasn't much to do today except watch Ellen got through  prep for her colonoscopy tomorrow.

I did some surfing and then decided to do online shopping.  Aliexpress had sent me a sale email.  I had a good time searching out bargains for some stuff that I marginally needed.  Most of it was RC related.  I really did get some good deals.

After that it was back to surfing.  I went out to the garage to get the Subaru body.  I had a vague notion of starting to work on it, but that didn't happen.  Instead it was more surfing followed by videos.  Ispent the rest of the day switching between the two.  I'd get bored with one, go to the other, and in a while be back at the first.

It wasn't a very productive day, but I'm OK with that.  I suspect that tomorrow will be all about Ellen's appointment.

The appointment is all the way north to loop 1 and Parmer.  We have to be there at 7.  That means getting up at 6.  Fortunately there shouldn't be much traffic that early.

Day 3311

 I woke up a little after 8 and played games for quite a while  Then it was up for pet stuff and breakfast.  After that I got the Christmas storage stuff out of the garage and started taking down the tree.

I cleaned the ornaments off the tree and eventually Ellen started to box them up.  When the tree was bear I took it apart.  That was a pain and getting it into the tree bag was a bigger pain.  Then I took the tree bag out to the apartment.  The handcart was a must.

Ellen was still boxing up ornaments.  I got out the vacuum and vacuumed the whole living room.  I figured I might as well since I had it out.  When Ellen was finished boxing everything up I took the boxes out to the apartment and the handcart to the back storage building.  The last step was putting the furniture back.

After that I was tired.  I surfed for about an hour and then started on videos.  That didn't last long until I was bored.  I tried to find a movie I liked.  I started at leas 4 or 5 movies.  I'd watch them for a few minutes and then decide that they weren't worth it.  Mainly it was because they were all the same story I'd seen in other movies of the same type.

A Little after 3 I gave up and went outside to install the new porch lights.  I took down the old one and threw it away.  Then I mounted the panels to the roof and the lights under the eaves.  The new lights came with mounting plates which made this easier.  The final steps were to pound in wired holders for the wires and seal the holes in the roof with caulk.  The whole thing took about an hour and a half.

Ellen fixed stir fry for dinner.  After dinner was videos.  I took out the garbage about 8.  The new lights work well and are really bright.  The motion detectors don't have a long range, but that's OK.