Memorial Day 2021

 Happy Memorial Day 2021!

We are planning a quiet day but you never know.  There are a few clouds over in the east but we aren't likely to get either rain or cold!  Our cactus is still pretty happy.

I said the local utility had installed our solar array.  What I didn't show was the additional electronics that was needed.  The stuff in the (rather lousy) line is all new.

And the round dial to the right was replaced as well.  Now it goes backwards if it must!  

Of course there is a reason for all this.  It's warm here!

Yes, over 100F  (37.7C) in May!  It makes a/c a real friend.  

And to celebrate all this, we are leaving!  Well, for a bit.  That should give me the opportunity to take a couple of photos.  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands & keeping safe.

Hmmm, not a lot to report these days.

 I hope everyone had at least an acceptable Thanksgiving; or acceptable Thursday if you don't live in the states.  We did ok.  We couldn't find a small turkey so we had a chicken.  We decided to go all crazy and get an organic chicken; it was fine but I'm not so sure it was $14 fine.  We tried a recipe my wife found where you wrap brussels sprouts in bacon and paint them with maple syrup.  We cooked it for less time than recommended but they were still burned to the point of tasting of nothing else.  We may try it again at a lower temp and without the syrup but it was not a pleasant side.  My wife did do a key lime pie which was excellent so that is the important memory.  We aren't football fans or particular fans of the Macy's Parade so we watched a movie or two.  Like I said, not a lot to report!

It has been cold lately, like 24F (4C) in the morning and 60F (15C) at mid-day.  We desert dwellers find that kind of chilly so I did what all good Americans do:  I ordered a warm shirt and another pair of jeans from Amazon!  I'm not even complaining about wearing long pants.  

My computer is doing weird things lately so it is probably headed for some time in the shop.  My microphone doesn't work at all.  My calculator app disappeared and every time I start the machine it give me a message about trying to download it then I get a message that the download failed.  The same thing happens for a mahjong game that apparently came with the machine.  It makes me feel REALLY OLD when I can't fix things like that; I mean I did earn my living programming computers but I guess that was quite a while ago.  

It wasn't quite that long ago!  The photo is supposed to be from 1956 but 20 years later the computers I was programming were about that size!

Our area was totally behind Mr. Trump so there are a lot of mad people around here.  We've had people on the main corner in town with signs about Biden cheated and other pro-Trump banners.  We can only hope that the sane Republicans manage to get that idiot to just leave the way he is supposed to do.  Actually I'm currently a registered Republican; if you aren't you just don't have a vote in the preliminary elections around here.  I heard an advertisement on our local radio station for  One America News Network where you can hear all the important stuff from Mr. Rudy Giuliani and others of that sort.  Jeez.  Just what we need:  billionaires telling people what they should be thinking. 

I've talked about balloons flying around before and the other day one landed just across the street.  That's our gate at the bottom of the photo.

The land where it landed is just empty; I think it is part of a 40 acre section that is open for retail development but it could be just residential lots.  Anyway there is a rough road over there and the cars used to transport the balloon crew and their passengers can be seen waiting for the landing.  Some people have been bothered by the balloons landing either on their land or very near by so the county is talking about a balloon ordinance.  Personally I think the balloon people are idiots if they can't stay away from people's yards.  I mean, another two minutes flight and you'll be far away from houses in our valley.  And, of course, if it is an emergency no normal person is going to bitch about them landing anywhere.  (Hmmm, there I go assuming we have normal people in town!)  

So there is all the news from Nowhere, NV.  Keep on washing those hands and wearing that mask.  It might come in handy if you want to rob a bank.  Good luck!

Happy Holidays!

Well, Christmas is almost here and other holidays seem to be sprinkled around this time of year:  Chanukah and Kwanzaa spring to mind.  So I guess all religions are causing their believers stress.  Happy days indeed!

Yes, I am a grouch.  Yes, I am a non-believer.  Please don't bother to tell me how wrong I am; plenty of people have done that already.  I was probably rude to them in return.

We are having a Christmas eve luncheon with our daughter today.  She is all excited about going on a trip after Christmas so we'll get to hear lots about that later today.  Then on Friday we will have friends coming to visit for a couple of days.  It's been a long time since we've been together and we are looking forward to catching up with them.  Of course having guests means extra cleaning, planning special meals, etc.  Lots of fun!

Every day when I drive into town (we live in a sort-of subdivision a couple miles from the center of town) I see three or four flags or banners calling for re-electing President Trump in 2020.  It makes me feel like I don't belong here at all.  The President is just so foolish, so self-centered, so bad at being the representative of our country.  Of course, I have trouble liking any of the Democratic candidates but Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence are just disgusting.  I remember hearing in 2016 how happy the people of Indiana were that Mr. Pence was being taken off their hands.  It is the only argument I can imagine that makes not-impeaching President Trump a good thing. 

Speaking of the Democratic candidates, wow, what a bunch of losers!  And the front runners are mostly old.  Don't get me wrong, old isn't automatically bad but Bernie Sanders is 78!  I mean the average life expectancy of men in this country is only 76.  Let's be darned careful about Bernie's running mate because we're probably going to inherit him or her.  Then again the Democrats all sound like they think socialism is what our country needs.  I can't think of a better way to lose the election.  I do like Tom Steyer and Pete Buttigieg but neither has any federal governmental experience.  Elizabeth Warren has experience but she is 70.  Oh well, the Russians will probably give the election to Trump anyway!

So, have a Merry Christmas, happy Chanukah or joyous Kwanzaa!  On to 2020.  Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Memorial Day!

We don't have a flag pole.  We have a simple bracket on the house for the few days a year that we display the flag.  Our street is a mile long and we are the only ones flying the flag today.  There are a fair number of people in this area who do fly the flag every day.  There are very few of those who light it as they should at night but I guess that is too much like work.  I used to read a column in our local paper written by a guy who must have been some sort of libertarian because he argued that the flag should only be flown in front of government buildings as a sort of identification.  I fly it as a sign of respect for men and women who are serving and who have served.  Of course I respect them every day (!) but save the flag for special days.

Following the news these days is quite strange.  Every day the popular media finds something weird about President Trump.  Some days it is as earth-shaking as whether or not he holds his wife's hand; some days it's a bit more.  His trip to the Middle East and Europe was actually kind of scary.  The guy doesn't seem to know what he is doing and being 'political' doesn't seem to be in his makeup either.   Of course we were living in Europe when Bill Clinton was doing his best to get close to Monica Lewinski so we are used to being embarrassed by the President.  Then there is the whole Russian secret communications channel thing with Kushner.  It is to the point that I looked up some conservative news sources (like Fox News) to see what they are saying.  Well, at least they aren't laying bets on when Mr. Trump will be impeached.  I found an article discussing British and Irish bookies taking bets that he will either be impeached or voluntarily leave office before the end of his term.  My crystal ball is cloudy (hell, it never has worked!) so I guess I'll just keep on keeping on.

We have transitioned into home-bodies quite nicely.  Up about 06:00 to walk, keeping up with the internet in the morning, lunch out at one of the local resturants, some sort of work around the house in the afternoon and a quiet evening.  The bbq gets quite a workout around here.  We both enjoy the grilled taste so I've bbq'd almost anything we drag home from the store.  We have a library of a couple hundred movies so if there isn't anything on television we still have lots to choose from.  If television and movies don't call, then there are the books.  TONS of books.  My wife likes science fiction and fantasy while I prefer mysteries.  I'm sure there would be no objection if I wanted to read one of her books or she read one of mine but in 35 years I don't think it has happened.  LOL

I'll try to keep you all updated with all this excitement but it's going to be tough.  Right now the biggest thing going is a root canal I'm having done next Thursday.  That's life in the fast lane folks.  Take care and thanks for stopping by.

Happy Holidays!

Here's wishing best wishes to every single person in the world.  It's Christmas AND Hannukah so that's pretty unusual.  We celebrate because of the love that is supposed to be filling our hearts and minds.  As athiests that's about as good as it gets.  Of course we have a tree.

It has been an odd few days around here. We started with some mist then we had the 'rain' continue for over 24 hours!  That's just totally unexpected.  Then we had fog.  Real, can't see the neighbor's house fog.  No photos of that because I was just loving it.  Of course I don't have to go anywhere in the fog.  That's when it becomes less fun really fast.  And because we had rain, there is snow in the mountains.

Not exactly cloudy around these parts is it? 

Sorry that I've been AWOL since Thanksgiving but actually there hasn't been a lot going on.  I managed to get some kind of cold that has kept me pretty close to home.  A smarter guy might have gone to the doctor but, well, it's me.  We did manage to do the usual food drive stuff and Toys for Tots but those are pretty low impact.  Today we are having our daughter over for dinner but that's about it.  We gave up gift giving years ago.  We are all adults so buying each other shirts or jewelry that isn't quite right - why bother? 

I'll try to do better with blogging.  I'm pretty good at reading them; it's this writing thing that is harder.  Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

I wrote this just before Christmas but things have been happening (more about that later).  I still wanted to share with you why I celebrate this time of year.  I hope your Christmas was great and that 2016 brings you wonderful things.

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Sometimes I'm all in favor of political correctness and sometimes it just seems like a pain in the ass.  I mean I entitle this missive 'Happy Holidays' on the off chance that someone reading this celebrates something else.  From Wikipedia: "By the late 20th century, the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the African American cultural holiday of Kwanzaa began to be considered in the U.S. as being part of the "holiday season"  Well, my wife and I are agnostic so we don't really give a damn what you call it.  But we do celebrate it.  Gotta ask yourself why.  (BTW, this time of year Wikipedia is asking for donations.  If you can afford it for heaven's sake give them some money.  There isn't a better source of information anywhere on the web so cough up!  We do every year because we sure use the site and I personally admire the people who put it together.)

The reason we celebrate is only marginally complex.  It starts, of course, with our parents.  Both sets of our parents considered themselves to be Christian though none of them attended church regularly.  So we started off with some parts of a Christian upbringing.  Then we started thinking for ourselves and kind of got over it.  (Our favorite, if rude, comment came from some movie or tv show refering to one's belief in God as having an "imaginary friend".  Sorry but I had to say it!)

So now we are in our mid-60's; haven't had any religious feelings in probably 50 years and yet we have our Christmas tree in the living room.  What's with that?  I wish people "Merry Christmas" all over town.  Huh?  Am I just full of crap?  I would argue not - but who wants to say they are full of it?

First of all, I don't believe in all the religious stuff but one of the most important founding principles of this country is freedom of religion.  That's one of the reasons I'm so proud of being a vet, I support your right to practice whatever religion you like even though I don't agree.  And if you wish me "Merry Christmas" all I do when I respond in kind is to basically say "I hope you have things to celebrate in this holiday season".  It's verbal shorthand.  Well, who doesn't like a party?

Now our tree.  Now our tree has become the story of our family.  The tree itself is a 4 foot (bit over a meter for your world dwellers) guy that we bought our first Christmas in the Netherlands.  So, just looking at it reminds us of one of the great experiences of our lifes.  So then we dress it up.  The lights do absolutely nothing for us except make it prettier.  The pointed ornement on top is simple and not religious.  (It also reminds us of the time many years ago when my brother-in-law made a star out of aluminum foil for our tree but that's another story.)

The ornements are the point for us.  We have all kinds of things hanging on that tree; our tree of life.  There are things the kids made when they were kids; not 40 somethings!  There are things my wife's mother gave us.  There are swarovski crystal things we bought back when they made different things every year.  (Last time I looked they were just hanging a '2015' sign on their annual star these days.  Needless to say we stopped buying them!)  There are little straw things we bought in the Netherlands.  Every item has it's story.  It's the story of our lives; our family; our love.  Isn't that the whole point of the holiday season?  So call me a fool but don't touch my Christmas tree!

Happy Holidays, folks.  And Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa and whatever greetings of the season that you may prefer.  Thanks for stopping by.

Snowy Christmas!

Woke this a.m. to find a snowy Christmas scene.  NOT expected in southern Nevada.  Have a Happy Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone is having a great holiday season.  We are keeping it pretty low key this year:  no visitors and no gifts.  Just a lot of holiday music and a little extra care with food and drink.  Not having kids around makes a big difference!

We have lots of wind today with gusts up to 50 mph (80 kph).  We'll be going into Las Vegas to visit our daughter but it shouldn't be a big deal.  The desert is normally pretty windy if it isn't absolutely still so we've plenty of experience driving in it.  There is a little snow on the mountain but not a lot.  California has been getting the brunt of the rain only leaving a bit for us. 

We had some excitement the other day.  A hawk came in and caught a pigeon!  We didn't see the actual capture but he sat on the pigeon on our patio for a while and nibbled on it.  Finally he took it off to the far corner of the yard to complete his meal.  Wild life includes death for some.

Now that I've got that cheering news over; guess it only remains to repeat my wish that everyone have a great holiday season.  I'll try to return before New Year's Day!  Take care.

Current Day = Quiet times

Just like the rest of the U.S. we are preparing for Thanksgiving.  It's just going to be my wife and I so we found a 7 lb. (3+ kg.) turkey!  Usually they are at least twice as large.  It should be an interesting experiment.  Happily we have most of the raw ingredients we want; the grocery store will be insane until it closes on Wednesday night.  Hopefully I'll remember to get a photo of the bird before we devour it.

We've had some pretty good weather lately with highs around 70F (21C) so we sit outside in the evening watching the sun set.  The other night we had a hummingbird join us enjoying the sunset.

Here's a shot of the last full moon rising above Mount Charleston just at sunset.

This is a pretty desolate area but it sure can be pretty!  We are agreed that if it weren't for the mountains surrrounding the basin we probably wouldn't be living here. 

Last photo for the day:  we had a young hawk stop by to bath.  The other birds sure stayed away while he/she was around! 

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one.

Almost over....

The forecast is for the heatwave to subside somewhat here in the next couple of days.  We will then be back to a more normal 105F (40C) or so.  On the other hand we have that visitor no one wants:  fire.  There is a lightning started fire burning up in Carpenter Canyon on Mt. Charleston.  Carpenter Canyon is a bit south of Pahrump but we can see the fire from our house.  It is south and west of the peak of Mt. Charleston.  Here is a photo I took last night; remember this is probably 30 miles away!

I really feel for the poor guys fighting the fire; it's got to be pretty close to 100F (37C) even at that altitude and they are wearing all that gear.  Just wearing all that stuff in heat like that has to be a challange and then to be clearing brush or trying to pump water from a truck!  That's a lot like tough work.

Here is another photo showing the smoke from the fire though it does look much like a cloud.  This was taken on our walk this a.m. with my cell phone. 

We wre in one of our local stores yesterday buying a gift for our daughter's birthday and the owner wished us a Happy 4th of July and mentioned it was the 237th birthday of our nation.  Ok, I love my country but who the hell keeps track of stuff like that?  Not me!  I prefer taking my regular bags of groceries over to the VFW food bank for vets who are having a tough time.  It seems more important to me somehow. 

We don't have much planned for today.  We bought a couple steaks to throw on the barbie tonight and we'll find a bottle of cabernet to go with them.  Maybe we'll be awake for the fireworks at the city park and maybe not.  Anyway, hope all you U.S. citizens are having a good holiday and all the rest of you are having a good day.  Take care!