At Last

My life has settled down to something that resembles a normal routine. All the news this week about Hurricane Dean made me go back and read what I had written two years ago about Hurricane Rita. I am so glad I moved away from the Gulf Coast and do not have to think about a possible evacuation. Dallas is not free of severe weather hazards, but I seriously doubt that I will ever hear the words, mandatory evacuation, for the entire area.

 

The final warranty repairs on my house have been completed. I had a second visit from a locksmith yesterday. This time they sent a man who has been a locksmith for 44 years. He knew what he was doing. The wrong strike plate had been installed on the front door. The first guy just shot WD-40 in the lock and said it was fixed. The experienced man analyzed the problem and found why the lock was hanging.

 

The outside swimming pool opened two weeks ago. I have gone there a few times. The twice weekly water walking class has a fairly large turnout. Otherwise just a few people seem to be taking their grandchildren to the pool. I have gone there a couple of times by myself and managed to stay for an hour each time. After I have cooled off in the water, I listen to podcasts on my iPod.

 

My computer's good behavior has ended. It has been having the same old problem which is hanging during shutdown. I have exhausted every possible theory. I don't have a clue what causes the problem.

 

I got the invitations for the September Red Hat luncheon sent out. It is going to be the day after Labor Day. I thought the date being so close to the holiday might cause a problem, but there are already a large number who have RSVP'ed that they will attend. The red Grasshopper shoes with the appliqued red hats came last week. I will wear them for the first time at the next luncheon.

 

The camera club meeting is Thursday night. The chairman of the group wants me to get the field trip committee jump started. We have only.)had a couple of field trips so far. I am pretty good at getting things organized. (That means I am a good nagger)

 

I am still working Sudoku puzzles. I tired to solve the very hard puzzle that is at the bottom of the blog today. I got to a point where I just could not fill in the next number. I went back to the website and asked for a hint. I got one number. That one missing number was the key to the whole puzzle. Once I had it, the rest of the numbers fell into place.

Yesterday we went to Louis Tussard's House of Wax and Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum in Grand Prairie, TX. This is a link to my pictures: House of Wax

It Is Hot

The 100+ degree days have finally arrived in Dallas. I am staying inside as much as possible. Pulte sent the workmen to my house on Wednesday to complete repairs on my final new-house bug list. One of the items I had was that the front bedroom runs two to three degrees warmer or cooler than the rest of the house. The technician found that the air coming out of the register was much warmer than it should be. He checked every possible thing. The problem is that there is a long run of duct work to the front bedroom. The study and hall bathroom receive air from the same duct. There is insufficient flow when the air finally reached the front bedroom. There is no obvious solution. It is something I will just have to live with. The technician suggested a ceiling fan might help. I will think about that.

 

On Monday I went back for another water walking session. I enjoyed it and was looking forward to the Friday class. Thursday afternoon I read a notice on the website that said that a contract worker had turned the heater up on the indoor pool and the water temperature was 95. Friday's water walking class was canceled. By Friday afternoon the water temperature was down to 89. They consider 86 normal. The outdoor pool was opened for the first time yesterday morning. I did not go to the pool, but I was able to observe the people at the pool from the second floor of the Village Center while I was walking around the indoor track.

 

On Tuesday we had the Red Hat luncheon at Isabella's restaurant in Frisco. They gave us a private room which was very nice. Next month we are going to La Hacienda Ranch which is also in Frisco. I have been wanting Mexican food for some time. I hope this will be good. I ordered a purple purse with a beaded red hat on it late Tuesday afternoon from costumejewelrywholesale.com. They shipped it out immediately, and I received it on Wednesday. It will add a touch of pizazz to my outfit.

 

Tuesday night the National Night Out was held in the Village Center ballroom. It was originally supposed to have been at the outside pool which did not open in time. Then they sent out emails saying the event would be in the Village Center parking lot and to bring your own lawn chair. That did not go over well with me since I do not own a lawn chair. Then they phoned and said the event would be inside. In spite of all the confusion about 250 people showed up. A young man from the Frisco Fire Department answered a few questions. The best part of the evening was the line dance performance by ten of our residents. They have been attending a class and were really quite good.

 

Thursday morning I went to the dentist for my six-month checkup. I was able to say, "Look, Mom, no new cavities." I go back again in February.

 

I played canasta on Monday and bridge on Friday. My bridge game is not improving. I am somewhat discouraged.

 

On Tuesday I am going to the House of Wax and Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum in Grand Prairie. I heard on the new that a man was killed there Friday night in a robbery attempt. He fired at the police and they shot back. I hope there is no more of that excitement when I am there.

 

The rest of the week will be rather routine. I think tomorrow's water walking will be held in the outside pool. It is not until ten o'clock. With the extremely high temperatures I think I would rather be inside.

 

 

Something New

On Friday I went to the water walking session in the Village Center indoor pool. It was fun, and I felt like I had a good workout. The best part was no joints hurt afterwards. The water walking is now being held on Fridays and Mondays so I am going back tomorrow. It is to be moved to the outside pool as soon as it opens. I have not heard the official date, but the pool is filled and the surrounding area looks complete. All it needs is the furniture.

 

I had my eleven month walk through of my house with a customer service manager. I had been keeping a list of the things that need to be corrected. He has lined up the service people to come on Wednesday. I will be glad when that is over. I am dreading it like a trip to the dentist. Speaking of the dentist I have an appointment on Thursday. It is just my six-month checkup and cleaning. I am aware of no problems so hopefully I will be able to go another six months.

 

The computer has been doing fairly well. iTunes sent another update. It installed without problem. I have no idea what improvements it delivered. One of the bloatware programs that Sony installed on the pc was Napster. I uninstalled it and went a whole week before the computer hung on shutdown, but it did it again on Friday. This morning when the computer booted the little computer WiFi icon did not load. I was afraid I was not connected, but my WiFi connection seems to be fine without the icon. I read an article that Microsoft intends to sent a number of hotfixes for Vista on this month's patch Tuesday. Maybe this time they will fix my problem.

 

Our Red Hat luncheon is on Tuesday. Again I ended up making the arrangements with the restaurant. We are going to Isabella's. I sent out the invitations through evite.com. Some of the ladies do not check their email and do not respond to the invitations. I am just going to add two to the total I give the restaurant and hope for the best.

 

I had an unbelievable experience with my Senseo coffee machine. It was not making a full mug of coffee. The manual said when that happens to descale the machine. I bought a bottle of descaler. I followed the directions in the manual. When I was in the final rinse procedure, the machine stopped running water through. I could not open the top. The trouble shooting part of the manual said that a vacuum had been pulled and to wait 24 hours for the top to open. Twenty-four hours went buy and the top still would not open. I started looking for a good deal on a new Senseo. I called Senseo customer service. The woman I talked to said to give the machine another 24 hours. She told be to be patient that it would eventually open. I told her I was thinking about buying a new one. She asked if I would like a rebate form. I said yes. She emailed the form to me. It is good until the end of 2007. After 48 hours the machine was still locked tight. At 51 hours I tried again. It made a loud popping sound and opened. I finished rinsing the machine. I made a mug of coffee. It filled the mug and has been working perfectly since. I thought this was a really strange experience. Whoever heard of being locked out of a coffee pot? I am glad I did not rush out and buy another one.