Today is another fast day. I went out in the back and spent the majority of the morning cutting down the Oak tree leaning and hanging over the back yard. Unfortunately the tree came down in the Azalea patch. We had a few broken branches of Azalea and Camelia but nothing too serious. The pollen today is terrible but it's supposed to rain tonight. The tree was pretty big and wore me out. I went to Lowes to get a replacement fence post but did not install it because I was too tired. I'm leaving it for tomorrow. Dinner was panko catfish with baked potato and beets. The potato and beets were baked with olive oil in a pan. Nice. The Panko breading was the worst I ever had. Libbie said she used egg on the fish to hold the coating. This was awful and I don't know why. the breading had a creamy texture and I thought I could taste the egg. this was terrible since I'm trying to reduce calories not add them. After a few bites I gave the rest of my fish to Libbie.

Weight was not so good today. We went to the Farmers Market and also to Wyatt Quarles. Looked at several packs of bedding plants. I'm afraid we're a little late with our planting. We planted seeds anyway today. We'll see what happens. Went to dancing at 3:15 for our 3:30 lesson. We learned some fine points of cha cha progressive and tried mastering the waltz with right and left turns. Dinner was chicken with potatoes and beets as well one glass of Shiraz each.

Very Nice!!!! Weighed in at 229 this morning. This Fast Diet thing seems to be working pretty well. I went to Kroger for normal Tuesday groceries and picked up turkey and cheddar cheese as well as slaw and macaroni salad for lunch for the violet club. Sylvia gave an excellent presentation about trailers. I was pretty tired after the meeting. Dinner was lobster ravioli from Trader Joe.

This is another fast day. It seems to be easy although I'm tempted by fruit. In order to keep the calories off I'll stay away. Weight was 231 this morning. Not bad starting out at the beginning of a fast day. In the PM Lib and I went to BB&T and got the AVSA 2014 Convention checking set up. It wasn't bad and I even got online banking setup and tried it at home. For fun I tried SMS messaging which worked since I got an alert. Dinner was tilapia with panko and slap your mama. Served with a side of salad. Yumm. Watched Dancing with the stars after dinner but beforehand JoAnn Hoover called with her tales of woe. She's in the early stages of a divorce. It sounds like a similar situation with Sue a few years ago.

Reviewed the taxes and submitted the Federal. Printed off the state ones because they wanted $20 to eFile. I'll use a stamp. Had to write a $175 check to the state. Took a walk around the back - Seagrove Park - today. Lovely day. Libbie made her wonderful pizza for dinner from a scratch made dough. Credit card bill closed yesterday at a recird $7200. Wow, it had the LA trip and plane tickets for Austin.

Finished up the taxes but did not file yet. I want to look them over. Spoke with Mary Corondan about an ad. She thought we needed to run one in the Austin Souvenir book. Listened to Rheingold from the Met this afternoon. I believe it's the part of their ring cycle. The Wagner Tubas were very prominent. I believe we were listening to artifacts from the satellite transmission that messed up the horns. Dinner was Salmon with Chutney sauce, brown rice and mixed veggies accompanied by a bottle of Shiraz. Yum!

I weighed myself this morning after the fast yesterday. Weight is 231 which is pretty good. I don't have a weight before the fast. I downloaded the Credit Card totals for March and broke out the wedding then added back in the opera tickets and the airfare. The bottom line for the week was $3661.35. Wow, this was an expensive vacation but a lot of fun.
Libbie was a little under the weather today. I went over to HH Gregg and picked up our new dishwasher. It took the rest of the day to hook it up. Wow, is it quiet. This was a good deal. $699 list, $636 on sale but with the Easter 15% promo code I got $95 off. Delivery charge was $79 but by hooking up the trailer I went over and picked it up for no delivery charge. Now to figure out what to do with the old one.
Dinner was two kinds of pasta with Turkey sausage and Parmesan and mozzarella cheese on top. Very Yummy. We went to the group lesson at 7:15 where we learned a little more rumba and cha cha with forward/reverse travel. Erica was our teacher. She's pretty darn cute and good.

It's a crummy rainy day. I finished the book today "The coincidence of Callie and Kayden". I really enjoyed it but the ending was so sad and there is no resolution. Ii spent some of the day downloading some new free ebooks and organizing the wedding pictures. This was a fast day. I'm going to fast on Monday and Thursday which means a 600 calorie regimen. Dinner was a nice salad covered with chicken fingers. I estimated the salad to be 300 caloories. Combined with 100 calories for soup and a 200 calorie breakfast it was a good 600 calorie day. The opera this evening was the premiere of Julius Ceasar. I didn't like it. HH Gregg finally sent me an eMail saying that the dishwasher was no available for pickup. I ordered it on Easter Sunday this past Sunday (today is Thursday) using an Easter 15% off promo code.

This is our first day home in almost two weeks. Libbie did a lot of packaging of orders that have accumulated. We had a pretty good dance class today. We did cha cha traveling to and fro as well as sideways. We also tried the waltz with turning right and left. Had a little trouble getting there because the Cary Parkway is closed and we got lost in Kildaire Farms. Dinner tonight was the rest of the rotisserie chicken with beans and potato salad.

We got up at 4:30 for our 8:20 am flight. Christa and Joe were up, Joe even moved our rental car from across the street back into the driveway. Left his place at 5:05, arrived at LAX Enterprise Car lot at 5:45 which was good. The fuel gauge still said full so we cheated and didn't buy gas. We went smoothly through the rental shuttle, baggage check and TSA. I unfortunately bought two Muffin breakfasts at Sammys in the airport for $18 for the two. Ugggh. American Air was having a promo of the inaugural flight and we got Krispy Kreme donuts and coffee and then a gift bag and finally cupcakes when we landed. This was too funny. It was great that the direct flight only took 4 hours and 8 minutes. After the Park and Ride shuttle we got our car washed at the free car wash which was excellent. We stopped at Kroger for groceries and picked up a rotisserie chicken for dinner . It was nice to be home. Everything looks great.

We enjoyed the Google Nose April fools joke. In the morning Libbie and I took advantage of our last day of nice weather and parked downtown near the Post Office and walked Main Street to the Pier and back. The scenery was very nice including a lady parking her car in a very skimpy bikini which showed of her butt cheeks. I worked with Joe today in his garage and we finished the garage wiring including a patch panel which has the light, the switch, the outdoor lights and some hot lines coming in. They bought a new motion sensor light for the front entrance which is set for dusk to dawn lighting. Dinner was restaurant lasagna and salad which christa picked up from a local restaurant. Yummy.

Easter Sunday. This morning HH Gregg had a 15% off promo code which I used to purchase the Bosch dishwasher. Did not have the HH Gregg credit card so I used the Visa card. Not too bad since we get 2% more off with the card. Joe made a wonderful ham and egg breakfast. After breakfast we did a little bit of exploratory work in the garage on the wiring. I didn't want to get dirty for the trip this afternoon.
We went to the electric boat place for our 2 PM boat party where we met Craig, Debbie, Granny and Uncle as well as Corry, Darshele and their kids. With the food and wine we had a nice boating party on Newport harbor. When we got home I was too full for any more food but Joe was making do it yourself Calzones. I split one with Libbie which was quite bland since she only put spinach and cheese in it.

Today after breakfast we studied Joe's garage wiring. Replaced the switches in the front foyer with white ones and correctly wired the switch to the front door. Next we cut the conduit and fittings to hook up the garage wiring into the power box outside. This went amazingly well. We stopped at this point for the day. For lunch we had slices off an Easter ham on Hawaiian Buns with tomato and Avocado.
For dinner the 4 of us (Joe, Christa, Libbie and I) went to La Capilla for dinner. We each had a Margarita and I had the Camarones Rancheros which was shrimp in a tomato and onion sauce. Yummy.

This morning we made our way to Hollywood. We were very lucky and found on street parking near Madame Tusseauds Wax Museum. We used our Coastal credit card points for two admission vouchers. Normal price is $27 and probably not worth it. We really liked the place. The statues were high quality and well sculpted. The museum had 3 floors worth of very nice exhibits. I enjoyed the final room which was a how to of how they did each of the displays. There was also a counter where you can have your hand molded. We watched a young girl have a hand cast made in the ice water and hot wax. Didn't stay too long in the "education" room since nature was calling. Took care of business then walked down Hollywood Blvd a little wondering about the weird people. Stopped in front of Grummans and admired a few hand prints before cutting through the Highlands center which was a pretty nice shopping mall on the Blvd. Started back in stop and go traffic on the 101 till we cleared downtown then slowed down again before the 605. Talked to Joe and he informed us that the 605 had many accidents so we got to the 710 and had clear sailing the rest of the way to Joe's place. Had lunch at Rubys on the end of the pier. It was very cold and windy but despite that there were many girls in tiny bikinis. Brrr. I had a turkey Chipotle burger with onion rings. For dinner we had lobster ravioli and leftover pizza.

We had a leisurely morning. I bought wax museum tickets using our credit card points. At 9:30 we went over to the Disney and took the free audio tour. Spectacular building and facility. We parked under the Disney for $9 and had a very nice lunch there. I had a portobello sandwich Panini. After lunch we drove down Wilshire to LACMA. Found a parking meter that took Visa cards. Enjoyed an installation of light poles and photographed a pretty girl posing with them. Visited the Tar Pits then back to the car to get to the hotel to clean u p for Cinderella tonight. We chose to eat on the plaza this time. Had a nice fountain side seat where we enjoyed wine and a Portabello sandwich. The bill was $75 with tip. Wow. Cinderella was delightful. It was silly and whimsical. They had 6 mice who really added to the opera since they were such good actors. Our seats were in the balcony row c towards the center. The trip out at the end was pretty good - we are getting to know our way around.

After breakfast we drove to Barkers Dam in the park. We enjoyed the mile walk around looking at plants and shrubs and rock formations. Saw some Petroglyphs which had been vandalized. too bad. We drove out of the park approximately at noon heading down 29 palms highway. Stopped for lunch at McDonalds in Yucca Valley then looked for binoculars in Walmart but no luck. Found a Sports Authority on the way into LA and bought binoculars there. Made it to the Comfort Inn on sunset Blvd at 3 PM. We had a little rest before having Chicken Pad Thai at a Vegan Thai restaurant at 6 PM. Left for the Opera and took the 10 minute drive. The parking garage was almost full, we parked on level 8. The Flying Dutchman was good, the scenery was awesome. I had a bothersome kid behind me talking and with a cell phone that went off several times. What a moron.

Inn the morning we met Mary and John at the visitor center and walked around the Oasis Mara which used to have water running out of the ground but not since 1947. Next we drove to skull rock and hiked the trail to the campground. This was quite nice, lots of native plants and beautiful rocks. Mary and John left us around noon. We all went to 29 palms and ate lunch at the Hamburger Carousel. I had a burger on a bun with thousand island sauce and fries. This was a unique restaurant. Good local diner food. We went back into the park and drove to the South end which was the cotton springs end. Due to road construction we had a 20 minute delay. Enjoyed the desert at the stop. Went down to a wash below the visitors center and enjoyed the wildflowers. I also discovered quite a bit of gold in the stream. We collected a baggy of rocks and took lots of pictures. For dinner we went to Rocky's NY Pizza in downtown. You order at a window and the lady brings the food to your table. We had some Red Trolly Ale with a large mushroom pizza.

We went downtown to McDonalds for breakfast. Came over to Mary and Johns room for coffee and doughnuts and said goodby to those traveling. David and Noah are going to Utah for hiking. Sue and Bruce are hanging out in California for a while. Laura and Bob are going to stay over at LAX, Bill and Barb are going to Death Valley, and Holly and Darryl are staying in Palm Springs. Around 11 we checked out and made our way across the desert. Our first stop was Desert Springs where hot water is pumped out of the ground for Spa resorts. We got some good maps and info then headed to 29 Palms. We had lunch in Yucca Valley before going to the Joshua Tree visitors center to watch an intro movie. We met Mary and John in the visitors center then went into the park together and drove to Keys View making many stops along the way. It was an enjoyable afternoon. The 29 Palms Thai place was closed on Monday so we went to Joshua Tree for Thai. It was an enjoyable meal with Mary and John celebrating our anniversary. John brought a bottle of champagne along which made the occasion more festive. It was a great night. Our Holiday Inn Express in 29 Palms is brand new and quite nice.

We went out early and photographed the sunrise on the mountains and palms which was beautiful. Went to McDonalds for breakfast before driving downtown for some sight seeing. Came back an hour or two later and toured the resort before meeting everyone in the lobby for breakfast. The family brunch was at 10 which was very nice. I had some french toast with bacon and fruit and a sweet roll. The coffee service was a little delayed but all went well anyway. This was our lunch for today. Did a peek at the pool and enjoyed the many many bikinis laying around. This was a girl watchers dream. Wow. At noon we headed over to the Tram. Joe called us from the Tram and said it was 54 degrees at the top. I brought my Hoodie but didn't need it since I was OK in the sun. I loaned it to Katy, Peters friend since she only had a skimpy sun dress on. Katy is a lovely girl, very smart and with a can do anything demeanor. Got home and cleaned up for the wedding which I thought was at 5:30 but was at 6:00. It was outdoor in their wedding garden. We enjoyed the ceremony and were quite surprised at how religious it was. The party after was great. We had rime rib from the carving station and a second plate of the turkey with cranberry sauce. I had too much wine. We did lots of dancing even though it wasn't a ballroom crowd. The rap music served at times for Foxtrot and Salsa. One of the bridesmaids came over to us and said we were amazing. We had a good time and helped close the place at midnight.

Left for the airport at 4:50 AM. Everything went smooth with the Park and Ride and our Airtran flight to Atlanta. I had a wonderful bulkhead seat. We landed in a thunderstorm in Atlanta, the terminal was closed for lightning endangering the ground crews so we had to wait on the plane on the tartmackl. Our connection to LAX was delayed an hour because of the thunderstorm. Arrived at LAX at 1:20 instead of 12:30. We got a very nice white Toyota Corolla. Driving I-10 ro Palm Springs was stop and go all the way, it took an extra hour. We finally got in at 5:30PM.
We met the family in Holly's room. She had a very nice suite poolside. We were back in Bldg 1 which was nice since it was adjacent to the lobby and convenient to everything. We took our car with the Guenthers to downtown where we parked on street. While at a light we came across Joe and Christa on the sidewalk. Libbie tried calling but they didn't answer their cell phone. Bill found a table at the Pub in town which was very nice and next to he sidewalk. I ordered a veggie portabello burger with greens instead of fries. Very very good. I had a Sam Adams beer with the meal. We paid for four meals which included Joe and Christa. Joe and Christa are staying in the Quality Inn which Joe got for his Quality points.

We had to pack during the day today to leave tomorrow and dance tonight. I updated the Bluebird website which didn't get uploaded a few days ago. We had soup and tomaot-cheese sandwich for dinner then went to ballroom at 7 PM. Erica helped us dance some waltz steps with right turns. To bed early for a 4 am wake up call.

Libbie had a full house today with Nancy and Jack helping her with Violet planting. I continued with the tax work. I'm not sure if it's looking good or bad for our wallets. I'll probably end up paying somebody something. I spent some time assembling the antenna and putting it in the attic. I need some U-bolts and a matching transformer as well as an RG-6 splice to complete the job. We took a look at dishwashers in HH Gregg and then visited the Credit Union to look into the checking account for the convention. Not much luck. Dinner tonight was panko crusted Catfish again with shiraz, peas and mushrooms.

I loaded up Turbo Tax today and started slogging my way through the taxes. My goal is completion before we leave for Palm Springs Saturday. I'm worried about how much we are going to have to pay. We left for ?Ballroom this afternoon at 3:15. Our lesson consisted of Foxtrot promenade and turns and then extensive turning in the waltz. The hardest part was the right turns. For dinner tonight we breaded the catfish with Panko crumbs and put some slap yo momma on the fish and served it with peas and shiraz. The other FM antenna came today while we were out at ballroom. I didn't mess with it today. We listened to Otello live from the Met tonight. I did a little work on pictures and posted our pansy garden to Facebook today.

After a small grocery run because we're leaving this Saturday, I worked outdoors. Got 4 more flagstones and 4 bags of pine bark mulch. Spread this stuff around and also fertilized the 3 new rose bushes from last year. For fertilizer I used the Ortho packets that came from the Pasadena rose parade post show. Finished the new fence post for the electric fence and transferred the electric wires to the post. The old post which was a landscape timber got tossed onto the brush pole. I learned a big lesson never to use landscape timbers as fence post. they don't last long in the ground. I finished up the software for the new flower timer but did not test it. Tax time is bearing down on us and we're leaving Saturday. I need to get serious about this stuff. I sent the last of the violet mobile movies to Andrea. Hopefully I'm done with this part. For dinner tonight I was going to make Panko crusted catfish but it was 6:30 and the fish needed to chill i buttermilk for 20 minutes and then bake for 30 minutes so instead Libbie made Briyani. We watched the DVR of Dancing with the Stars, first show of the new season. I didn't recognize any of the dances as ballroom.

This morning I worked some more on mounting all the components in the key case for the flower timer. I punched a hole in the case front and mounted a 20x4 LCD and made up a ribbon cable to attach to the PCB pins for the backpack. I also hooked up a ribbon cable for the TX and Rx to the Raspberry Pi. This is an involved project. I'm not sure I'm going to like 3 power supplies - 7 volts for the Boarduino, 5 volts for Raspberry Pi and 28 VAC for the solenoids.
Joe pointed out that the Palm Springs tram is available via coastal Visa points so I checked and bought 2 adult tram tickets. Good deal. They also have wax museum tickets available which I'll use once I figure out which day. I worked on the violetmobile and got 2 more routes done. Now I need othe Naples to Dolgeville route and I'm done.
Dinner was spaghetti then we listened to Traviata live from the Met. I got an eMail from Vicki that she'll be in town on April 18.