This morning I worked on the convention booklet for MAAVS and made very good headway laying out the schedule and the membership directory. We left at 12:15 for Otello live from the Met and playing in Crossroads. Libbie made tuna sandwiches for intermission. The performance was just OK, I'm not much of an Otello fan. The singing was adequate, the staging was something I didn't care for and the Opera didn't leave you singing with any hit tunes. Dinner was pork chops, homemade apple sauce, baked yam and Shiraz. It was very nice. After dinner I went up to the computer and worked another hour on the booklet. I certainly don't want to do this next year but am not sure how to get out of it.

I cut the mouth out of the second Pac Man half and painted both of them, this time with the roller which doesn't leave brush marks. Went to Lowes and the place was deserted. I asked why and the cashier said everyone is at the State Fair. Bought some threaded rods and washers and nuts to hold the thing together. I picked up some ingredients for Ham, cheese and basil Paninis which we made on the stove. Meanwhile Libbie made the PacMan Ghost costumes. There is so much to do. Tomorrow we go to Othello and in the meantime the MAAVS booklet is due as well as the Memory Lane slide show.

I thought it was going to be another day working the Internet problems since it wasn't working this morning. It turned out to be a bad connection of the cable connector. Got that fixed and the connection was solid. Resumed working on PacMan by cutting the plywood into circles and cutting a mouth and painting one of them before we went to dance at 4:15. It was a good lesson, we used the other ballroom to see if we would fit and learned a few things about spacing ourselves across the room real estate. Dinner tonight was Pork chops and fresh apple that we picked up in Kroger on our way home from dance.

I was working in the garage on the pacman when Libbie came home from the dentist and informed me the Internet was broken. I powered down several times and got nowhere. Ended up going to Best Buy and bought a cable modem with their 2 year warranty for an extra $10. This thing has gone bad so many times I decided the warranty may be worth it, especially considering the modem was on sale for $10 off. This got the Internet going again but derailed my efforts on Pacman. Dinner tonight was spaghetti with cheese over the top.

I was groggy yesterday from the trip but today I'm back in gear. I mounted the socket under the house for the fan and tied up the first fan with twine so it did not rotate while hanging onn the chains. It now aims straight ahead. I also used the 2 inch PVC pipe I installed in the floor to run the cable. This makes things easier. Next step is to knock a hole in the foundation and mount the fan which arrived. Dinner tonight was the rest of the hamburgers. We resumed our dance lessons today at 4:30. We tried the entire routine and got many pointers on our performance which were very useful.

We got up at 4:15 with a 4:45 takeoff time. Picked up gas at a 24 hour station next to the rental car return place. There was an attendant at the returns line for Enterprise, he was able to get our numbers and print a receipt and we were off to the terminal and TSA screening. We had to get our boarding passes printed by Southwest, fortunately we were TSA Pre which was excellent. We sailed thorugh and stopped at Dunkin Donuts for coffee and a blueberry donut. The lfights were on time and smooth, the shuttle was waiting for us at the airport. We were able to get home by 11:30. Of course the house stunk from the crawl space which still needs help. I need to get back to working on the downstairs. No mail today since it's Columbus Day. For dinner tonight I picked up premade hamburgers from Kroger which we put into wheat hamburger buns and had with baked beans.

This morning we had coffee and a bagel in the Ramada restaurant then went to Bill and Barbs for a breakfast brunch which they had catered. It was very nice and fun to see everyone. We went over to the nursing home and had lunch with George and Mary which was cod fish, baked potato and corn followed by an awful blueberry pie dessert. We had a glass of Merlot before lunch. While George and Mary did their bathroom break we were able to get the scrapbooks back into their place on the shelf. We also arranged for the pizza from Famous Pizza about a mile from the place. We ordered 2 plain, one mushroom and pepperoni, one veggie, one mushroom and one pepperoni. They were passable but not exactly NY Pizza. Bill and Mary supplied the beer, we paid $81 for 6 pizzas with tip. We got home in the evening around 7:30 with plenty of time to pack for our return trip tomorrow. It was a nice day in RI, the temps were cooperative around 70 degrees and clear skies.

We left home at 7 and parked in the Park and Relax which got us to the airport on time as scheduled. Our plane left at 9 and was a smooth ride into Baltimore where we had a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit in the terminal before our PVD flight. It was a clear day but a little turbulent as we looked down at NYC. The flight was a little early but we didn't have baggage so we were off in good time and over to the rental car kiosk. We got a white Dodge Avenger which I didn't like but it did us well. We stopped into George And Mary's at the nursing home before going back to the Ramada and change into our wedding clothes. The wedding was at the Glen and was very elegant with all the West Point cadets. There were many choices of hand passed hors-d'œuvres as well as plenty of wine. We had a delicious dinner of Salmon and Risotto and then did quite a bit of dancing of Rumba, cha cha and swing. We're getting good at that. I danced with Laura and Freddie doing a 2 step swing which was fun. We stayed until the end which was nice.

I went outside and put the y fitting into the spetic line. Filled the hole with dirt and tamped it down, put the cap on the new cleanout pipe sticking out of the ground. I fired up the chain saw and cleared the 3 trees that were down n the path and then popped th lid on the distro box at the top of the hill. Turned the power onto the pump and waited. No joy! The water was shooting out of the cap but not making it to the top of the hill. Too bad. For lunch we had the leftover chicken from last night which was the last of the 3 filets. Earlier today I went out and deposited the DD check from Jessie and stopped by Walgreens and got a flu shot. It took longer than necessary but I got it done. We are going to Esquires tonight which will be the first of the new season. Woo Hoo.
At Esquires the crowd was smaller than usual. The band was excellent, it was a great ballroom mix of music. I ate too much food, the carving station with the good horseradish was back. Janet and Gary were nice and chose to give up their table to come sit with us. That was nice. We left at 10 to get ready for our trip tomorrow.

Built the new septic lid this morning then dug out the rest of the 2 inch septic line. Cut it open with the Sawzall and found the blockage is in the upper section of the pipe, sewage flows OK from the pump to this point which is about 50 feet up from the pump. Poured some draino down the pipe to try to clear it and then Libbie and I carried 2 pails of water up the hill and poured it down the line as well. I think it trickles out, she thinks differently. Did not put the y fitting in tonight. For dinner I made chicken filets with pesto and slices of Roma covered with Mozzarella. We had a bottle of Shiraz to complement the meal. Late in the afternoon we picked up the check from Annes real estate office and signed a form. Tonight was the season opener of Tanhauser. I love that opera. Hopefully I got it recorded in my office on the small multimedia computer.

Dug in the back yard and located the sewer pipe underground. I also made the repairs to the broken pipe sewer pipe. Tomorrow I'll make a new lid. Unfortunately the water level is not going down when I turn the pump on. It seems to be clogged somewhere in the septic line. I hooked a pipe to the pump outlet and tested that it pumps very well into the creek. It just won't pump up the hill probably because it's clogged somewhere. We had a good foxtrot lesson with Robert. We went over and over the opening until we got it right. He suggested we alternate days next week. We changed the schedule to Tuesday and Thursday. For dinner I made chicken fillets covered with pesto, roma tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. We had a bottle of Shiraz to complement the meal.

Went to Nothern Tool looking for a fan and ended up at AgriSupply where i picked up another fan, some chain and screw in hooks for under the house. Went under the house and hung this fan and used the existing outlet which is on a timer. The fan hangs so it blows straight up. I need to fix this so it is more horizontal

The sun is out today which means some outdoor activities. I hung the fan under the house. This was a big deal. I want to get a second fan and mount it on the other side then run both of them off the timer. Dinner tonight was Rigatoni with tomato and pork sausage, the imported bottled stuff from Kroger. We negotiated the land today. The buyer started with $300k. We countered at $340 and settled for $320. Not what we were expecting but at least it's sold. Now we have to clean out the shed and the property.

CBS Sunday morning was not run today due to NFL football which was a bummer. I hate NFL crap. I used the extra time to go to Home Depot and get the LED. This is a nice light bulb. I hooked it up to a 12 VAC transformer and it's pretty bright. It will work well. I went under the house and hung the fan on chains and plugged it into an extension cord. I'll let it run for a while. I would like it to go intermittently possibly 5 minutes every 30 minutes. This would be 48 times per day. This may be a job for a Raspberry Pi running open sprinkler. The projector work continues. I removed the heat shield and permanently mounted the 12 VAC transformer for the LED. I also wired in the LED and took the lens apart, removing the glass and keeping the housing.
Libbie made her excellent pizza for dinner tonight. I had to make a Kroger run today to get my blood pressure medicine. It auto renews on the first of the month.

The projector came yesterday, the box was in bad shape. I opened it this morning and found the bulb was broken and a wheel had broke off it's shaft. The drive mechanism however is in good shape and works. I will be able to convert it to an 8mm digitizer better known as a telecine converter. I talked with both Arlene and Vicki today. Arlene about Rich's retirement. She was on the way to a Broadway play. I talked to Vicki about Bob's back surgery. He isn't doing so well with leg numbness and walking issues. We went to Trovatore today at 1 in Crossroads. There was no wind so we were OK with the HD recpetion. The Opera was fantastic. Netrebko, Delora and Hvorstovsky were the stars of the show. It was so great to hear and wonderfully sung. What a dleightful afternoon. At home we had ribs with butternut squash along with a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Dessert was yogurt. I researched white LEDs. I don't have any but Home Depot sells them as Halogen bulb replacements. I'll pick it up tomorrow in HD.

It's a rainy day outside but no wind. We ended up with 2 inches. Libbie and I went to Wyatt Quarles to get potting soil. We stopped in at AgriSupply and picked up a 20 inch fan for under the house which I'm going to hang. On the way back the rain intensified so we decided not to do the Farmers market and took Tryon Rd home instead. The rain was pretty intense but it was a relief going slower instead of being on I-40. I made a pot of chili which we had for dinner before the dance party. Attendance was light tonight in the heavy rain but we had fun practicing our Foxtrot routine and also did some cha cha. Anne told me the name of the cha cha with the parallel turn is a paseo. Earlier in the evening Anne sent our new listing over to be signed. We had to sign again at the studio since I signed in too many places online. After dance we went out to Brewsters Tavern where we ordered a Quesadilla and 1.5 beers.

The new month is bringing a possible hurricane this weekend, Juaquin. It's lightly raining now but is supposed to intensify. We took the old media cabinet to Goodwill as well as a luggage scale and a wine bottle holder. It's great to clean the house and get rid of some of these items. I have so much more upstairs to dispose of. We brought this stuff to Goodwill before the rain started. I cleaned off the table top in my office, putting the wallbox into a plastic tub for work later. I'm getting ready for the projector I ordered that will need work. Dinner tonight was a tuna sandwich, then we went out to the Elks where the Tune Swingers were playing. They are a 21 piece big band. The room was small so they were loud but it was enjoyable, we did some more Foxtrot stuff. Attendance was light. it was pretty rainy on the way back.

I went back to the second of Libbie's albums and finished scanning it. Now I need to label the people in the pictures. Next I started reviewing our Foxtrot routine for the showcase we're doing on Halloween. We went early to dance and practiced for 25 minutes in the studio before our lesson. We had a great lesson, roughly outlining what we are going to be doing. It's hard dancing with Libbie, she doesn't follow well. I probably am not a great dancer either. After our lesson we met with Anne Cain about renewing our listing for the land. We left there and went home for a while before going out at 6:30 for dinner at La Cocina. We thought the last Wednesday was a Mariachi band but there wasn't any band. I ordered a Bell and Howell Projector from Florida today. I'm going to convert it into a telecine machine which converts 8mm films to digital. At La Cocina I had a Yuengling and the Queasadilla La Cocina which was very good.

I wanted to keep scanning albums today but a Facebook posting from several people on AV Nerds complained about the updates crashing in the Android program. I fired up the debug mode in B4A and found that mine crashed once in a while as well. The problem was not closing a cursor, it kept creating new ones in a for next loop. The result was an out of memory error after several hundred cursors were created. I closed the cursor and put the new version which is 2.14 onto Google Play. All people who had trouble reported that the update was successful. Dinner was rigatoni with the imported pork sausage, wine and tomato sauce which is very good.

I started scanning the second of Libbie's albums. This one is in worse shape but it's easier to scan because it has screws that allow the book to be disassembled and the pages to be individually removed for scanning. This eases the scanning process. I also hooked up the older scanner because it is flatter and has no control panel edges that are higher than the glass. Dinner was my homemade chili. I made it this time with corn and the beans. I really liked it. Libbie made some corn bread to go along with it. I had to buy more corn bread flour because the other stuff was hard as a rock. Libbie took apart the pantry closet and is cleaning it totally with borax. She is also going to put polyurethane on the doors.

After the CBS this Morning Show I started working on the TV again. Had to make a run out to Lowes and then Home Depot for speaker wire to make the leads longer. I also picked up an Air Conditioner heavy duty extension cord to run power up to the shelf. Moved the amplified and DVR to the shelf then mounted the TV using bolts and nuts on the 2x12 instead of the self tapping screws they provided. The TV is supported quite well up there, I am surprised at how stable it is. I'm thinking now that maybe I should have mounted it higher. Also, the DVR is peaking out above the TV. I like it this way since I can see the lights on the box. The center speaker however is visible above the TV. I may move this down to behind the TV below the shelf. I also want to install a lower shelf for the IR WiFi bridge and IR repeater. This also will need a power strip. While I worked on the TV Libbie took the pantry apart and cleaned it out, discarding unused things and scrubbing mold. I removed the folding doors for her which will probably get a coat of poly urethane. Dinner was the Libbie traditional pizza from scratch. Yum!

Made ribs in the Smoker today out in the rain. We got almost 2 inches yesterday and almost one inch today. All went well with the smoker. Started rubbing them at 10, turned the smoker on at noon then put the ribs in at 12:15. Loaded wood chips into it hourly and also mopped down the ribs hourly until it was time to wrap them in foil for 2 hours. The last hour they cooked with a glaze over them.
The ribs were delicious, moist and tender and meaty. We had Butternut squash and chateau St Michelle Cabernet with the wine topped off by a Key Lime yogurt. It was all good. I drilled the hole in the TV shelf today and painted it. Will try to move the amplifier and the DVR up to the shelf. Don't think they will fit together but it's worth a shot.

Mounted the shelf today. It went very well and is quite solid. We practiced our holiday routine of Foxtrot then went to Big Lots and got some sheets for less than $10 for the ghost costumes. We had the leftover chicken basil each having a small piece. My Mother's scrapbook has been scanned freeing up the scanner but I don't have Libbie's book she wants scanned. We left for dance tonight. It was a small crowd and Robert's birthday. It was fun seeing most of the folks again. We went out to the pub after dinner to celebrate Robert's birthday and came home around 11:30 PM. We had chicken Wings and 1.5 beers while at the pub.

Screwed the bracket down in the morning then cut a sheet of plywood for the shelf. Painted it with the wall white paint and let it dry in the garage overnight. Dinner was chicken Basil with Mozarella that I made. It's such a simple and delicious meal.

Spent the morning making a template for the corner TV bracket then cutting the 2x12 and sanding it to fit. It took several tries to get it to fit properly. Tacked it in place then used the drill and 3 inch deck screws to permanently fix it to the wall brackets. Unfortunately I was short by 3 screws. Will do a Lowes trip after dinner.
We had an excellent dance lesson with Robert. We taped the whole choreography, it's pretty cool, especially the grapevine where we both dance in parallel. It's going to be fun!!! Stopped into Kroger on the way home to get Libbie's prescription as well as some carrots. She wanted baby carrots for snacking, I tried them but like the long ones better since they're easier to handle. Tonight Turandot was live with James Morris. I enjoyed it but missed the first part since we went to Lowes and picked up the screws for the TV corner support. We also made our bulb selections for Fall planting and bought around $100 worth of daffodils and crocus bulbs. Dinner was spaghetti with the leftover chicken from yesterday.