fence
Sunday, April 28, 2013, 06:00 PM
It was a rainy day but in spite of the rain Libbie and I went to Lowes and purchased $300 worth of fencing to repel rabbits around the new bed along the walkway. I'm still not sure if this is going to be stable enough with the DIY pound in the ground sleeves they provide. The posts then go into the sleeve. To me it doesn't look deep enough. I laid out a mason string to get a straight line and lined up the first fence which still may need more adjusting to account for the slope of the ground. Dinner was a Libbie pizza which she made from scratch because the dough in the freezer was frozen and she didn't remember to take it out earlier.
Perfect
Saturday, April 27, 2013, 06:00 PM
It's a perfect day outside. Blue sky and mild temperatures. I smoothed out the last of the sand, then cut some tarpaper and placed the remainder of the brick sidewalk. Libbie helped. She and I then went to Lowes to look at fencing to thwart the rabbit. There is a nice short fence which will block the critter and is attractive. We bought a 4 foot section with posts for $20. It looks like it will do the job so we will go back to get more. Next task was to shovel several wheel barrows of compost onto the new bed next to the sidewalk and till it in. this was where I left the job for the day. We had a nice dinner at 6:30 at Tony's Oyster Bar in McGregor Village. Libbie was paying ($251 with tip). The dinner party consisted of Coleman and Nancy, Joy and Rick, Jack and Barbara and us. Eight people, all volunteers in some way or another at Bluebird. I had blackened Tilapia which was topped with Oysters. Accompanying the meal was mashed potatoes and veggies. 
Exhausting
Friday, April 26, 2013, 06:00 PM
This was a tiring day. I laid down the rest of the bricks then got out the rototiller and finished the path to the garden gate. Next I dug a trench next to the gate for two drainage pipes. The four inch pipes will drain rain water as well as serve as a conduit to carry power and water for the garden. I was extremely tired. We did a trip to the Farmers Market for tomatoes and strawberries. We also picked up some perennials for the garden which included Begonias. The perennial garden is looking great. Libbie planted the purchases while I took a nap. I needed the rest since I was having trouble catching my breath. I woke up refreshed. Today's blood pressure reading was 102 over 73 using the new device sent by Aetna. I was concerned by low blood pressure but the systolic number has to be less than 90 to be considered HypoTension which is low blood pressure. Dinner was leftover lemon chicken. We went to dance today. the group lesson was very basic essentials and was taught by Atlanta. We stayed for the dance party which was fun but pretty tiring. I think we're improving but compared to others in the room, not so good.
bricks
Thursday, April 25, 2013, 06:00 PM
Moved the remaining bricks from under the house onto the sidewalk and put them down. Next I got out the chainsaw and moved a lot of logs and cut down saplings to clear a path to the brick pile in the woods. Libbie filled my cart and I moved it to the sidewalk and dumped it. We took two cart loads of bricks out of the woods. This was a fast day so dinner was a salad with a chicken breast split between the two bowls. I surprisingly was OK with the fast although a tiny bit hungry. 
Dance Again
Wednesday, April 24, 2013, 06:00 PM
I spread the sand today, leveled it nicely and with Libbie's help cut a piece of tarpaper which went over the sand. I moved about 50 bricks from under the house to hold the tarpaper down. We had a very good lesson with Robert today. We missed last week because he had to pick up his daughter. We met his daughter Atlanta who is a very nice High School girl. Today we added embellishments to our Foxtrot including a box step and various right/left turns. This is the last Wednesday of the month so it's Mariachi night at La Cosina. We enjoyed dinner around 6:30 at the restaurant. The Mariachi band included a female vocalist and was dressed in white with gold bullets down the side. We both ordered the Quesadilla La Cosina. I had two Yuengling drafts with mine. It was a very nice satisfying day.
229
Tuesday, April 23, 2013, 06:00 PM
My weight happily this morning was a good solid 229. This was in spite of missing the fast last Thursday and then consuming 3 bottles of wine with dinner on three consecutive nights. Need to cut that out. Did the groceries including a trip to Trader Joes. I saw the repair job on the Cary Parkway culvert fire. All 4 lanes are now open. Got the rototiller working and tilled a path from the existing brick walk to the fence gate. After raking and leveling I went to Home Depot and got 8 bags of sand. It won't be enough but that's all I could get in the car without stressing the springs too much. I'll spread this tomorrow and see how much more I need. Dinner was lemon chicken which is Angel Hair pasta, chicken, spices, lemon and spinach. Yummy. We had this with a single glass of Shiraz. 
fast again
Monday, April 22, 2013, 06:00 PM
This was a do nothing day. I worked on the MAAVS website and got the New Bern convention added. The task was to re-learn Drupal. I also fixed the Bluebird website. The inventory was updated and some of the outdated text was reworked, especially the Jessie Road address on the orders page. This was a fast day again so we ate light. Dinner was a salad and beets and potatoes broiled in olive oil. They are sure excellent. 
computer
Sunday, April 21, 2013, 06:00 PM
Stayed inside and did computer work all day. I wanted to go out but it was too cold to work outside. Temperature in the 50s. Brrr. Libbie made her excellent pizza again from scratch. She added Italian turkey sausage to the mix on the pizza. 
back to normal
Saturday, April 20, 2013, 06:00 PM
Vicki and Bob left this morning around 6:30. I got up early and went downstairs, Lib joined me a little while later. I worked outside and planted the tomatoes and peppers and also got the grow boxes cleaned up so that I could plant into them. Worked a little on the Austin presentation. Dinner was leftover lemon chicken with Merlot. 
pizza
Friday, April 19, 2013, 06:00 PM
This morning we went to the Farmers market and WRAL TV gardens. Afterwards we had sandwiches then walked around Seagrove. Libbie made some yummy pizza which we had with Merlot wine and listened to the top 100 of 1969.
vicki and bob
Thursday, April 18, 2013, 06:00 PM
We cleaned the house up this morning. Libbie did most of the work and did a nice job cleaning up all the yellow pollen dust which is everywhere. I picked up chicken on sale for dinner tonight. Vicki arrived around noon. We had turkey sandwiches for dinner
sink drain
Wednesday, April 17, 2013, 06:00 PM
The kitchen sink drain started leaking today. I went to home Depot and then Lowes to get parts to rebuild the drain. While I was there I also picked up a new hose and a box of Miracle Grow sprayer refills. this stuff is expensive. It's $19 for 8 refills which is around 2.50 each. I hosed down the flower garden with Miracle Grow using the new hose. For dinner tonight we went out to La Cosina because we both worked so hard getting the house ready and we were both pretty tired. 
grow boxes
Tuesday, April 16, 2013, 06:00 PM
Did the normal groceries this morning. It's a nice day outside. The grow boxes arrived. I assembled them on the back porch but did not set them up. Today dinner was BBQ on a bun with baked beans. 
Android
Monday, April 15, 2013, 06:00 PM
Spent all day working on the Android program. I think I've learned a lot and am finally able to get the data base accessed and displaying entries on the screen. The next challenge is going to be the pictures. I'm currently looking at how to package up the picture files for installation. Libbie put together a large order for 2 violet clubs and worked most of the morning. I helped with the labels and then helped her take the packages to the Post Office. We thought it would be worse than it was because today is tax day but it went smooth. Today is a fast day so dinner was a salad with grilled chicken overlay.
Fencing
Sunday, April 14, 2013, 06:00 PM
I finished up the fence wire today and trimmed the top of the fence posts with the chain saw. Started looking at how to write programs in B4A for the first class on Android. Steep learning curve. Dinner was Libs delicious pizza. 
Judging
Saturday, April 13, 2013, 06:00 PM
We left at 6:05 which wasn't enough time for getting to Richmond at 9 AM. Libbie needed a rest area break which killed our timing. Got to the Ginter Botanical garden after 9. We stopped into the judges room for breakfast and instructions then went into the Showroom for judging of the show. I had a lot of fun. Carol Vann and Susan Barbi were on my panel which was good since I learned a lot as well. We had lunch in the Cafe where Libbie and I split a turkey and cranberry sandwich and had a cup of pepper and crab soup. Both were very very good. After judging we walked around the arboretum and thoroughly enjoyed the spring flowers and trees. It was a delightful afternoon. We left the arboretum by 3 PM and had no problem on the 3 hour drive home. I managed to round trip it on a single tank of gas in the Corolla. On the way home we stopped into Trader Joes for wine and a side for dinner. Dinner was ribs with baked beans and Trader Joe wine. I downloaded the cameras and put everything on the server. Our pictures came out pretty good.
Fence
Friday, April 12, 2013, 06:00 PM
I installed the fence posts for the electric fence today. Still need to hook up the wires and insulators. I wanted to copy a Pave article for judging tomorrow but Libbie wasn't very cooperative. I got tired of the piles of crap all over the house. We did not go to Dancing tonight, too tired and I was a little peeved. Dinner was the fish again with potato and beets and a single glass of Shiraz. Gathered up my judges handbook for Richmond for tomorrow as well as the judges ID card.
fast again
Thursday, April 11, 2013, 06:00 PM
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. 
dance
Wednesday, April 10, 2013, 06:00 PM
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.
weight
Tuesday, April 9, 2013, 06:00 PM
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.
banking
Monday, April 8, 2013, 06:00 PM
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.
taxes
Sunday, April 7, 2013, 06:00 PM
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. 
Rheingold
Saturday, April 6, 2013, 06:00 PM
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!
totals
Friday, April 5, 2013, 06:00 PM
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.

Fast day one
Thursday, April 4, 2013, 06:00 PM
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. 
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