While Libbie painted the window frames I mowed the lawn by the street. It was in bad shape - very high and wet. I had to open the side shoot up to let the grass clippings out instead of mulching. After that I moved the giant ladder to the front of the house and washed the windows. Noticed that the flashing over the porch had pulled away from the brick. will repair before i put the ladder away. Dinner was pork chops with broccoli and sweet potato. For some reason i wasn't very hungry. Did a wlk in the back today, this is getting to be regular which is good.

Saw on TV that the Southwest airfare sale ends Aug 24. Got online and bought our tickets for the Jan 1 Rose Bowl trip. We will leave Dec 24 and get home Jan 4. Price was right around $1,000 round trip for us both. Dinner tonight was a Kroger rotisserie chicken with potato salad and baked beans (from a can).

Click n ship finally released my cart at noon today. The USPS is pretty slow. Did a gocery run and also did my walk around in the back. Saw a few ladies in bikinis in the pool in the back. Not bad. Dinner was BBQ on a bun.

It's rainy and chilly out this morning. Hard to believe it's August. started working on the Hot Tub. Found the Pressure switch is closed. The motor won't run in this position. It needs to be open, then close when the pump starts. Ordered a new switch from a Spa vendor in California that i found on eBay. Next, it cleared a little so I tried sanding our bedroom door. the sander quit after only a few minutes. Went to Home Depot and bought a Black and Decker Sander for $59. The Harbor Freight one I bought Saturday was a piece of junk. Thank goodness it was only $29. Click N ship doesn't seem to be working. Called support and they said it would be 2 business days. Wow, bad news. Installed a print driver on Libbie's computer and she seems to be having better luck.

Rain this morning. There was a tornado alert for Roanoke Rapids which caused the TV to quit doing CBS This Morning as they switched to the tornado maps. It was eventually canceled and they resumed CBS This Morning but I missed the piece I wanted to see on weeds. I got a count of outlets, door knobs and misc and went to Home Depot in a light rain. When I got out of the store it was pouring like all get out. I got totally soaked emptying my shopping cart into the trunk. Came home and started replacing switches and Replaced all the outlets in the bedroom as well as 3 of the switches. First thing I did this morning was AVSA related. I had to make the web pages for the new intros which I then posted for the Nicholas's to narrate. This was one of the reasons I came home. I also successfully got the Eclipse IDE working with the Android SDK so that I could develop Android Apps. I also stumbled upon a nice App maker toolkit hosted by MIT. It looks great except it doesn't handle large program sizes. This is still in beta. Libbie made a fantastic pizza today - very thin white crust with homegrown basil and tomatoes. Wow, I didn't know it could be this good. Signed up online for Apex utility bill app. They now have it so you can view and pay for your utility bill online.

Woke a little after 5, drove out of Stoneybrook at 6:09 in thunder and lightning. The rain was pretty light although it got a little more intense East of Orlando on I-4. I toasted a bagel which I put Cream Cheese onto before I left, it served as a nice mid morning coffee brake somewhere around Daytona. Stopped at a rest area 7 miles from JAX I-295 for a bathroom break then stopped for gas at exit 3 in GA. Another bathroom break at the SC Visitors Center and then gas at exit 174 which a little past Florence. Filled up for 3.39 per gallon. It was a Hess with a Wendys but I got out my last plum. Got off again at exit 190 in Dillon for Harbor Freight tools where I bought a belt sander and an 80 grit sanding belt. Got home around 5 PM. Went out to the Chinese place for takeout and picked up a bottle of Barefoot Cellars Merlot in Kroger. I was tired and hungry but it was a good trip overall. Looked at the bedroom paint that Libbie had done while I was gone. I need to buy new door knobs and duplex outlets in pure white to replace the bedroom stuff.

Woke to another morning of coastal rain. I decided to install the Android SDK but spent 4 hours downloading over a crummy 3G connection and it's still not up to date. I will start over again but from home on a good connection. I oiled the bike seat and took a ride around the neighborhood. the squeak is gone - much improved. Now, if it will only last. I also got my watercolors out and started painting a landscape. As usual, I was dissatisfied. Finished reading "Dress Not required" which was a cute 50 page sexy ebook. I enjoyed it. For dinner I warmed the leftover ribs and baked potato from last night which I had with a bottle of Yuengling. Wow, it was very good. the Tero ant killer is working well. Hundreds of ants are gathered around a drop of the stuff I put on the kitchen counter. Started gathering my things and running the washing machine for my trip home tomorrow. I can be productive at home so I'll drive Saturday. When I get home I want to try installing the Android SDK and also fix Libbie's hot tub.

Continuous thunder and lightning from 7 am until about 4. Didn't go out except for a trip to 7-11 on Lockwood and Clark. got a fillup at 3.62. This was a place that has the same price cash or credit which is why I go there. Stopped at Sears and got 3 pairs of shorts and a polo shirt for $35. The shorts were 7.99 each and the polo was 15. I also got a $5 discount for multiple purchases. Ride my bike alll the way round Stoneybrook at 4:30. the sky is clear blue again. I had the salad from dinner last night for lunch today but at 4 PM. I was hungry. Worked some more on the main slide show. will finish it up tonight after dinner. Lots of ants in the kitchen. I've been fighting them with 409 cleaner. May have to see if they still sell Taro in the stores.
Ordered a rack of ribs from the clubhouse. Ate half the rack and put the salad away for tomorrow. The cranberry walnut roll was to die for. I had this with 2 bottles of Yuengling Black & white. Yummy. On the way to the ribs I stopped in Lowes and picked up some Taro and put a few drops on the counter to get ants. Let' see how this works. It's not supposed to be uised around food prep areas. My new shorts and shirt fit perfectly. I may want a few more of the shirts from Sears, they're that good. List price says $50 which is crap. I paid $14.99. It's already broken in with rib sauce down the front.

Hooked the analog up to the living room TV. Channel 17 hAS a beautiful blonde weather babe with an hour glass figure, Shay. I did the hookup to watch GMA this morning. No milk for cereal. Did a Publix trip at 9 and got milk, fresh pineapple slices and more broccoli salad. It turned out I wasn't too hungry and dumped half the cereal bowl into the disposal. Wonder what's up with that? Anyway, it's a good start to a diet. Got to work on the AVSA photos. Selected and processed the extra photos then started adding them to a slide show with audio and captions. It's going well. Got the bicycle out and pumped up the tires then rode to Oscar Scherer when it started rumbling towards the West. HHeaded home, I was tired anyways. Total mileage is 8 today. Oscar is 897, Central Sarasota is 894 for 6 miles roundtrip plus one mile to the trail and back for 8 miles. I'm glad I have energy since this was long but not too bad.

Left for Sarasota this morning at 6:48. Because I have so much to do at home I really don't want to go. The Nicholas's sent the MP3 files late last night and I saved them all onto my laptop. Need to spend time and assemble them. The trip almost went well until Daytona where I hit heavy rain as I turned onto I-4. The thunder and lightning stayed with me off and on until Tampa. I lost over half an hour due to 100 miles of rain. Got to Sarasota at 6:12 PM. Everything looks good except they turned the wrong water faucet off as expected. Did not stop except for gas at Florence for 3.39 and St Mary for 3.57. Traffic was not bad except for a car fire near Disneyworld wich caused us to creep and crawl even slower than the rain.
Went out on a shopping trip to Walmart. Picked up salad ingredients and detergents, both dishwasher and laundry. I probably should keep our laundry detergent in the lockup. The salad was not great. I had too much vinegar and it wasn't nearly as good as Cami's.

This is a busy day. The A/C controller went through the night without error. this was a nice accomplishment. Lib also tested it by turning it on manually. A little while later it managed to turn the A/C back off. It samples the power every half hour. If it gets a synch error, it samples it several times then changes the synch status. This causes the temperature routine to notice and correct the A/C power state. Lots of different processes here. Built the people picture section of the AVSA DVD this morning then went outside and finished putting the hot tub back together. Everything seems to be working again. Filled the tub with water and set up a temperature monitor. It doesn't seem to be warming very fast.

Made a few more changes and corrected some errors today for the Mozart controller. I think I have it performing reliably. Did a Lowes trip to get a shelf for my closet and light tubes for the towers. Researched foggers and ended up buying one from Amazon which was highly rated. We shall see. I think I will try for Florida on Tuesday. Today the mosquitoes were pretty bad so I mixed up some Malathion and sprayed the garden at dusk in order to not kill butterflies and bees. Libbie made her pizza with fresh basil and it was super yummy. the fresh basil flavor made it delicious.

Worked quite a bit on wewriting the state machines for Mozart inot something simpler and less kludgy. It still is failing. Reprogrammed Wolfie to more reliably report power. Dinner was leftover eggplant lasagna.

The A/C controller is getting to be a pain in the rear. It was on again today when it shouldn't have been. We got some more rain this evening. The bugs are getting bad. Still able to get my 2 mile walk in around seagroves pond. Worked all day on AVSA pics. I want to finish up the orticulture, actually the whole DVD. Dinner was eggplant freshly picked form the garden. We had a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc whihc was left over in the refrigerator.

The photos got finished this morning. Still have the rest of the DVD to put together. Glenda of Austin sent a CD of her photos. While all this was going on, Kitty sent a boatload of stuff for the website for the MAAVS convention which I promptly posted. Dinner was 3 bean salad with watermelon and ice cream for desert.

All day today and into the evening I did the AVSA horticulture photos. Wow, this is a lot of work. Still doing the 2 mile walk through vintage Grove. It is significantly cooler outside. This is unusual for august, accompanied by almost daily rain. Dinner was Ramen noodle salad. Yes! We did a Farmers market trip this afternoon and got a watermelon, fresh corn, peaches and blueberries. Had the corn for dinner.

Took Christa to the airport at 5 am today for a 6:30 flight. Came back and did the Tuesday groceries after watching some GMA and Olympic crap. Went back upstairs and did a bunch more photos. As of noon I'm up to 20. It rained on and off all day but the total was only 3/8 inch. This will do. Took my walk, cleaned up then went back to pictures. I'm now up to 56. Dinner was Ramen Noodle salad that Libbie made. It was very good. Ice Cream for desert, Blue Bell Century Sundae.

Got up early and found that the Mars lander "Curiosity" made it. Checked Christa in at 6:30 am for her flight tomorrow then got on with the day. Putting together AVSA photos then took a nice walk. For dinner we went to Skippers Fish Fry in Apex. It was pretty good but pricy. $38 for 3 of us. I had flounder and shrimp which came with fries and slaw. While being served I dumped a whole cup of water on myself. Bad news but it was OK. It started raining on the way home. There seems to be an upcoming period of cool wet weather which is unusual.

Up early, Joe was already up when I came down just before 7. Started working on the AVSA collage. This is seriously overdue. Moat years has this done in July. Took my walk up and around Seagroves pond. Met Joe and Christa on the dock in the pond of Seagroves. They were fishing turtles. Saw a nice bikini face up at the townhouses pool. After a shower, etc it was back to work on pictures. Lots of comments on the birthday party pics I posted this morning. Christa's cake was delicious. For dinner Christa made Boc Choy stir fry with onion, garlic, chicken over Brown Rice. Joe left around 3 today to resume work in Tennessee. The mars landing is 1:30 this evening. I hope it makes it!

Joe said Christa is very hot and uncomfortable. It's not even really hot outside for August. I got my software on GitHub. Now I will have backups and snapshots. I got tired of reflashing the router all the time. Found the Rosewill router I bought and flashed it with dd-wrt. Had a hard time getting to Traviata via external dyndns but finally solved the problem thanks to Google while in bed for the night. Had to add an exception to the port forward commands to allow a specific domain to a specific IP address. In the evening we took Joe & Christa and Cole and Emily out to dinner at Tonys Oyster Bar in McGregor Village. The damage total was $180. After dinner we came back and had birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday to Libbie.

Screwed up an Arduino trying to do wireless programming. ended up replacing the Arduino which took a while. The Uno needs a different bootloader to reprogram wirelessly. Did not have a good copy of Mozart code. Started learning GitHub to resolve this situation. I need backups of the software. Joe arrived from Wilmington this afternoon and started prepping his pizzas. Earlier today I bought some ingredients and Libbie started making dough for the pizzas. Josh,Kelly and their kids arrived, Cami with her two and joe, Christa and us. Josh's kids are totally out of control. I'm surprised something did not get broken. We had pizza and cupcakes which were delicious. I had one beer and went to bed stuffed.

Wired Mozart today for wireless programming and to receive and transmit over Xbee. Had lots of problems. Built a model for programming using a Mega because it has more serial ports. Used one port to monitor communications. Dinner was Tilapia with corn Mach Choux.

Submitted my story to ASSTR and read some of the other highly entertaining (and erotic) stories on ASSTR. Some of them are trash, others are quite good. There's so many it's hard to find the few good ones. Tried to get my Arduino mega going. I'm able to get it to load but not sure about the Xbee yet part. In addition, the Xbee on the end of an FTDI won't communicate with the current Monitor. Not sure what's wrong. Did a nice walk this afternoon, it's relatively cool for August. For dinner we had simmer sauce with whole wheat spaghetti and Blue Bell for dessert.

We hung out with Joe and Christa today. I was able to get my walk in while Libbie and Christa went to Rex for water aerobics. We found Joe and christa did not eat fish so we had grilled chicken with corn mach choux. Libbie and I shared a bottle of Shiraz.

Worked some more on writing a story on Google Docs, "Stay at Home Mom". Also worked on the query response software some more. I will hook up an Atmega Arduino which has extra serial ports to monitor the query and response. Not sure how to address the extra serial ports. Joe and Christa arrived in mid afternoon after spending the night in Asheville. We sat on the back porch and chatted a while before going out to the Pit in downtown Raleigh for dinner. I had a Lonestar dark beer and a half rack of ribs with beans and sweet potato fries.