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.

We did it!

 It is totally amazing to me but last Thursday we had a group of four technicians from our local power coop start climbing around on our roof and yesterday we actually started producing our own electricity!  Amazing stuff.  Also I haven't had to write a check that large in some time!  But this is this morning.

It's kind of hard to see but somewhere around 06:00 the cells started generating electricity.  It should be doing it's all by now. 

We have plenty of south-facing roof so that's where the solar array is mounted.

The original design was a bit different but the foreman of the installation crew could see where we would get a lot of shadow from the chimney so got permission to place the array as you see it.  It will be interesting to see our electric bills this year compared to last year.  

I couldn't find a food bank who wanted/needed our old refrigerator so I put it on the Marketplace on Facebook.  Sure enough, we had a person who was happy to come get it the next day.  So that's another bother removed.  Gee, I'm going to have to get to work on finding more projects.

Nevada is slowly abandoning the mask mandate as more people have received their COVID shots.  The 'Mask Required' signs are coming down and more people are not wearing masks.  I'm hopeful that things might return to normal here one day.  Whether it is too soon or the vaccine isn't good enough or whatever; we'll just have to see what happens.

I read an article this morning talking about the large number of Republican's who agree with at least some of the Qanon stories.  The article mentioned Satan-worshiping pedophiles who the Qanon folks believe are running our country.  Really?  OMG!  What kind of idiots are coming up with this crap?  I'm just amazed.

In more amazing news, some people in Eastern Oregon are talking about their area should withdraw from Oregon and unite politically with Idaho to create a Greater Idaho state.  I do understand, a little, what they are on about.  The northwestern portion of Oregon, around Portland, is much more urban and liberal than the eastern portion of the state.  Of course urban equals lots of votes and rural equals not so many votes.  So whenever a vote is taken on a law where urban and rural needs are different, the people in the rural areas don't get their choice.  That's the reason each state has two Senators; so that rural states would have a voice equal to more populous states in the Federal government.  I don't imagine that Greater Idaho will come to be but maybe Oregon can make some changes for it's rural citizens.

I guess that's all the news this morning.  Thanks for stopping by.  And keep washing those hands; at least that is simple hygiene!

Slowly coming along

 Kind of like the rest of the country things are slowly coming along here in Nevada.  People are gradually going out more and some places have given up on requiring masks.  Tables are even being brought back into restaurants!  What a thrill.

For us the big thing that is going on is that we are getting solar panels placed on our roof.  This house is all electric and some of the things are pretty hungry for power.  We run the a/c a LOT in the summer and heat in the winter.  The bill can be in the $300 range but that's not the real problem.  My wife and I both feel that we are in a prime area for solar power so why aren't we using it???  So we ordered a setup back at the beginning of April and just today the crew showed up to install things.  They are thinking they will be done on Monday or Tuesday of next week but that simply means we'll be ready to be inspected by two or three different interested parties.  We should be good to go by early June if everything goes according to plan.

For excitement we are enjoying watching our cactus as they flower.  We have 2 plants in the entire yard:  both cactus.  There is a short one.

And a tall one.

I'm pretty sure that the shorter one isn't getting enough water especially during the winter.  It turns red in the winter then turns green when I'm watering it.  A hint, maybe.  Sorry but I don't know the botanical names of either of them.  

We've also purchased a new refrigerator.

Yes, they are almost identical on the outside.  The old one is in front with the white magnetic dry erase board that we bought to cover a couple of scratches.  Now we couldn't live without it!  The old one is 11 years old but the real reason it is being replaced is because the ice maker/water dispenser leaks.  We are hoping to find some charity kitchen that might like it since the rest works just fine.  

Obviously it's pretty quiet around here so we are making our own excitement.  Too bad it costs so much money but if we can't take a trip to Europe we may as well fix things up around home.  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and keeping away from sick people!

Small Town Fun

 Our town is really pretty unusual.  There are about 40,000 people but they are spread across a valley that is almost 300 square miles.  That makes for lots of open space as I'm sure you've seen in some of the photos I've posted.  The 'downtown' is five or six blocks long with little bits here and there that are kind of on their own.  The people are predominantly pretty right wing.  My wife and I registered as Republicans so we could have a vote on our local lawmakers; the Democratic (or Independent) candidate doesn't stand much of a chance.  Open carry of firearms is legal in Nevada and you will usually see two or three people carrying firearms if you visit the grocery store.  Officially it is an unincorporated town and the town board was dissolved a few years ago so we only have a county government.  The county seat is in another, much smaller, unincorporated town that is about 170 miles north of us.  Much of the county is taken up by the Nevada National Security Site where a lot of nuclear tests were conducted.

One of the attractions here is ballooning.  Las Vegas used to have a company offering balloon rides but running balloon rides in an urban environment wasn't working out so they moved here.  There is also a locally owned ballooning company.  Once a year we even have a Balloon Festival and that was just last weekend.  Unfortunately it was quite windy this year so even though there were lots of balloons around they weren't flying!  However, yesterday was nice and quiet and I saw this guy.

If you think it sounds cool here; you're wrong!

That was on April 30 and 99F is 37C.  Oh my, it might just be getting to shorts and tee shirt weather. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and wearing those masks.

Exciting stuff!

 Well, not really all that hot.  It happens every month or so:  I mean the full moon, of course!  But this time I was out to see it.

It's only from my cell phone camera but I still liked that I went out and took it.  Maybe one of these days I'll get my real camera out and take a few.  

I had a surprise on Monday.  We'd been out to lunch then took our short walk which is only about a mile.  Half way through the walk I started feeling woozy.  I've had vertigo before but not for a long while.  I barely made it home and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in my recliner waiting for the meclizine to kick in.  Then I managed to get to bed without assistance.  In the morning I was fine again.  Believe me, it is times like that when you want a friend.  Happily I've been married to my best friend for darn near 40 years.  

Today we made a trip into Las Vegas.  The last time we were there we bought a couple shirts for me but the changing rooms were closed.  When we get home and I can try them on; they didn't fit.  Grrr!  But it's a great excuse for another trip to the big city.  We go fairly regularly anyway; I always tell people that I can save enough buying 1 bottle of scotch to pay for the trip and it's true.  The difference between buying the scotch here in town vs buying it at Total Wine in Las Vegas is about $17 and the round trip is around 120 miles.  For old retired folks it's a no-brainer.  Besides, we can look at clothes somewhere other than Walmart; food at somewhere other than Kroger or Albertsons; and electronics somewhere other than Walmart.  Talk about life in the fast lane!

Gotta go be nice to the dog.  Funny how he likes to go out every now and then.  Take care and keep washing those hands.

A quiet week here in the country

 Last week I wrote a bit about gun violence so today I thought I'd see what has happened in the last week.  Here is what the gun violence website has to say.  

April 24, New Orleans, LA,  5 injured

April 22, San Diego, CA, 1 killed, 5 injured

April 19, Houston, TX, 2 killed, 2 injured

April 19, Atlanta, GA, 5 injured

April 18, Mongomery, AL, 1 killed, 4 injured

April 18, Detroit, MI, 1 killed, 5 injured

April 18, Shreveport, LA, 6 injured

April 18 Kenosha, WI, 3 killed, 3 injured

Well, jeez, I guess I'm glad to live out here in the boonies.  That is 35 injured and 8 killed in one week.  Of course, there was alcohol involved in at least some of the incidents and most likely various illegal drugs.  No, I don't know what the answer is to these problem.  I don't believe for a moment that laws trying to ban guns would work.  Not to mention the political impossibility of enacting such laws!  Maybe the human race will just have to get clopped on the head by an alien.  (We are pretty close to Area 51 so that sort of possiblility is perhaps more real to us who live here than to regular people!) 

I did read an interesting article on CNN about VP Kamala Harris.  They talked about the relationship between the President and the Vice President as growing closer as they work together.  I think that is a great thing.  I think that one of the President's strong points is his many years of work in the Federal government.  If he can bring the Vice President even some of that knowledge it will make her a much more effective leader.  And Vice Presidents have certainly been known to want the big job when it is vacated.

I'm reading a lot about the tremendous amount that President Biden is trying to spend on infrastructure and I have to say I'm pretty much sold.  A LOT of our traditional infrastructure (roads, bridges, dams, etc) is in pretty sad condition.  Anyone who has driven on the interstate highway system knows it needs help!  But it is also true that those are not the drivers of the future.  Climate change would get money; immigration reform including speeding up naturalization cases; and electric vehicles for appropiate governmental uses.  Those are things that need doing that have been getting ignored for the past few years.  

Finally, just to show you that all the news isn't bad, here's an article about someone doing something nice for some kids.  Enjoy and keep washing those hands!

How can it not be about gun violence?

 Jeez, I came across a site that tracks gun violence and it's hard to imagine that this is normal for anyone.  I liked the site because they aren't preaching anything; they are just tracking the story.  We here in Nevada have our flags at half-mast because of the latest Indianapolis FedEx shootings.  Those people, just like George Floyd and Daunte Wright, were killed just because they were there.  Or was it because half of them were members of the local Sikh community?  I honestly do not know and since the killer (in Indianapolis) is dead I'm pretty sure we'll never really KNOW.  Floyd's killer, in my opinion, knew he was being too violent but I'm not sure he intended to kill.  Wright's killer really seems to have made a mistake in my opinion.  It's hard to believe that a cop with 20+ years experience would do that but it is so stupid a killing that I vote for mistake.  That is not to say that both cops shouldn't be punished for it!  I mean if I let my car drift over and I hit a pedestrian; I should be punished.  It was a mistake but that's not a get-out-of-jail-free card.

My brother-in-law dropped his NRA life membership a few years ago when they started supporting people having just any type of firearm. He'd been a hunter for many years but never needed a fully automatic weapon to kill a deer.  I liked him for that.  

I have a gun that was given to me by my parents when I was 11.  That's over 60 years ago.  (OMG!)  But I haven't killed anyone or anything with it.  I've bought a few more over the years but nothing crazy.  On the other hand, if you break into my home and threaten my wife and myself, I doubt seriously if you will leave here alive before the police show up to save your ass.  (An aside:  my wife's first husband joined the police; it did their relationship no good when she repeatedly shot better with his service weapon than he did.)  

All of this is really close to my heart right now.  My wife and I are very fortunate to be comfortably retired; reasonably healthy and happy together.  On the other hand, those other things:  pandemic, the markets, the general state of the United States; those things are bothering me.  The last is bothering me most of all.  There seems to be some sort of stupid thing happening every day!  There are plenty of shootings:  both by citizens and by police.  The former President who STILL maintains that he won re-election; and there are actually people who believe him!  Cryptocurrency is going crazy.  I have to say that chronic stress seems to be kind of the new normal.

I was reading about applying yourself to a hobby as a way to reduce stress.  I'd love to do that but my photographic hobby is being difficult just now.  How about I share a couple photos I took when we lived in the Netherlands something over 20 years ago?

They had balloons even way back then!

And this is what the local community college parking lot looked like.

Have a good one.  Keep washing those hands!

The heat is coming!

 We've had our winter and now we get a couple weeks that might be mistaken for spring before the heat of summer arrives.  This time of year it is really great to be outside.  It's not too warm, not too cool and it isn't humid.  Of course it isn't a long time before the heat really hits but you've gotta live in the moment.  A couple days ago I wandered around the valley looking for something new to show the world.  

Here's a balloon floating along in the spring air.  We have two balloon companies in the valley:  one run by local people and another that is run by people who came over from Las Vegas.  This is one of the local company's balloons.

Mt. Charleston kind of rules the eastern views.  It's kind of funny because it is really hard to spot from Las Vegas but over here it's right there!  You can see that the snow cover is going fast.  The photo was take from the local Chief Tecopa Cemetery.  It's kind of a funny combination of rockery and greenery with lots of military thrown in. 

 

This next photo reminds us that we aren't in Kansas anymore!  We have wild horses and burros roaming the desert and especially at night when it is cooler.  But at night they can be hard to spot.  Some nice people have put a few signs up to remind drivers to be careful.

Our city/county government building is situated in a kind of park area.  There is a small pool, trees and grass.  This attracted 3 wild horses that you can see in this photo.  Unfortunately some local idiots started coming over and trying to pet them, etc.  Then they had to be removed to a less comfortable area for their safety and that of the idiots who thought these wild animals were just like pets.

There are a few photos of this corner of Nevada.  It's different but we call it home.  BTW, if you would like to see more of my photos you can follow this link to Flickr to check them out.  Please don't mis-use anything you see there but do enjoy.  I sure enjoyed taking them. 

Take care and keep washing those hands!

Not exactly quiet....

 We've been staying home mostly after all the excitement of Zion but we have been doing one thing that is pretty exciting:  we are investigating adding solar power to our house.  We live in the desert probably 25 miles from Death Valley.  If you aren't going to use solar here, where the heck would you?  So we've been talking with a couple companies about it.  

To my surprise, there are limits to the amount you can install.  I guess the local utility doesn't want to be paying everyone in the valley to generate power; they would rather sell power to us.  Hmmm.  Well, I guess they have to make money too.  They do have a tremendous amount of infrastructure to support and I'm not really talking about our house being off the grid.  Still, we are talking about $25-40K depending on whether we install it on the roof or in the back yard.  At the end of the day I think we'll be going for roof mounted because there is nothing to stop our neighbors from planting a bunch of trees that would block the sun to a ground mounted array.  (I know trees in the desert sounds dumb but there are lots of people with small forests on their property around us.)

I've been following the blog of a fellow who is thinking of living in a slide-in pickup camper.  Now, I've got to say it would be better than nothing but, whew, I think I'm too old for that sort of thing.  Of course, I'm married so it isn't like a single person doing it alone!  Still, I don't think I could manage it just because of the size of the camper.  We are happy traveling in our trailer but we have comfortable chairs, a sofa, a shower.  I sure wish him all the luck in the world and I hope to read how happy he is in his new rig.

It's time to get moving.  We donate to our local VFW's Food Bank and since Easter is coming up they have some extra needs.  Time to go hit the grocery stores!  Take care & keep being careful.

What's happening? We had MORE of a good time!

 My wife and I decided that we needed a little time out; this hanging around home all the time is so exhausting!  So we decided to check out the area around St. George, Utah.  St. George is slightly under 200 miles away so it's not a tremendous journey.  We've driven through St. George many times since it is on the I-15 but we had never stayed there.  It is also of interest because it is fairly close to Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park and even the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  So, off we went!

We took the dog mostly because we haven't found a kennel for him yet.  He spent some nasty time in the local animal shelter and we don't want to make him think those days are returning.  So we had to find a pet friendly motel and, because he is a nitwit and barks when he is left alone, we got to eat more take-out food.  Hmmm, sounds a lot like home!  Anyway, we drove up on Tuesday being careful to stop in Las Vegas at a restaurant that has some outdoor seating where we could eat with the dog by our side.  Driving up through Nevada is a lot like home except that the elevations are higher.  

Then I-15 cuts through a corner of Arizona.  This is stolen from Google Maps.  It gives you a hint of the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona.

It is a short part of the journey but very nice.  Unfortunately there are few places to stop along side the road.  There is actually a Virgin River that is running next to the highway; down maybe 100 feet but it's there.  

So we got to St. George and spent a quiet night having Thai takeout for dinner.  Tuesday we wanted to make a loop through Zion and on to Kanab, UT which we were hoping to use sometime in the future as a place to park the trailer while visiting the North Rim.  Zion was crowded!  I wasn't expecting crowds in the middle of the week; maybe they were Spring Break people but it was busy.  The roads were clean but there was snow on the mountain sides.

We just drove through the park.  We aren't really back country hikers and the dog certainly isn't!  Anyway, we got to see a bit of that beautiful park then went on to Kanab which wasn't quite as wonderful as we'd hoped but it will probably do for a couple nights.  We ended up back in St. George in time for some takeout Mexican food from a nearby restaurant.  

Thursday we found our way back home; amazingly enough timing it so we got lunch in Las Vegas again.  That night I noticed that our heatpump was cycling on and off a lot.  So Friday we got to have a visit from a local repair person.  He spent a LOT of time checking things then, hoping he found the problem, he recharged the system and we'll just see how that works.  So far it is working but if there is a very small leak I'm sure we'll find it given a bit of time!

I can certainly recommend spending some time in Zion even if it is full of people.  St. George seemed like a nice little town.  So we had fun.  I hope you did as well.  Take care and keep washing those hands!

We had a good time!

 After the fun with our uninvited porch guest we were actually looking forward to some invited guests:  our son and his wife visiting from San Diego.  We often go down there about this time of year to celebrate their birthdays; they are about 2 weeks apart.  Unfortunately, right now you can only go quarantine yourself for 2 weeks if you are on a non-business trip to California.  That just wasn't going to work!  We might stay with them but they live in a two-story house and there was no way our dog could manage the stairs.  So, even though they are busy, they managed to get a few days off to spend with the old folks in Pahrump.

We had a good time.  We ate out quite a bit and they managed to go check out our local casinos.  She likes to gamble so it worked out well.  We could take them to various local sights but actually this area (and the drive to get here) are quite well known to them.  So it was lots of talk and eating.  What's wrong with that?  Our son is an IT guy so he was able to help my wife with her computer which has been slowing down.  That was a good deal!

They left on Sunday then on Tuesday our daughter came to visit.  Well, actually she was in Las Vegas but we managed to get over and have lunch with her.  We just saw her when we visited her in Texas so it hasn't been a long time but it was fun.  She had lived in Las Vegas for something over 12 years so Texas is quite a change.  Of course, Texas in the pandemic is nothing like it will be in normal times so we are hoping she will get to start enjoying her new town and state.  It is funny.  When she lived in Las Vegas we would just go into town to buy a few things and we never thought to stop and see her.  Now that she has moved my wife cannot go into the city without remarking on how strange it feels now that she isn't around any more.   

We got our second COVID vaccination yesterday (the Moderna variety).  Our local Walgreen's was doing us old folks so my wife got us in line.  It was quite easy and painless (in spite of the really long needle they used).  We both have a sore arm today but it really isn't bad so we are just perking along.  We won't be abandoning our masks any time soon but we want everything on our side that we can get!  We've noticed that some restaurant staff have a pretty poor track record with using masks correctly but we have continued to patronize the restaurants.  In our town there isn't much work except hospitality so those folks need customers if they aren't going to be on the poverty rolls.

I came across something amazing the other day.  A nurse in England had been caring for her husband who had Parkinson's Disease.  She noticed he had an odd odor on his body but then she noticed the same odor on another person with the disease.  She got in touch with some university people and talked with them about the possibility of a 'sniff test' for the disease.  And now it looks like that may happen!  Isn't that amazing!  A woman with a really good sense of smell may have discovered something that will help millions of people with a horrible disease.  Now that is good news indeed!  

My mother had dementia for nine years before she died in 2005.  It got to the point where she was unable to move around on her own and was wheelchair bound.  At that point a new doctor was assigned to her and he put her on medication for Parkinson's.  I never learned his reasoning however suddenly she was able to walk again!  It didn't last long, only 5 or 6 months, but it certainly made an improvement in the quality of her life.  It makes me wonder if there might be some similar hint for people with dementia.  Wouldn't that be wonderful.  

Gotta go.  It's my day to cook and I'm doing Shepard's Pie.  It's easy but we both like it so why not?  Have a good one and keep washing those hands and wearing those masks!

Well, that was different.

I started this post on Tuesday 2 March but got interrupted and here we are days later but the facts are the same!

*****************

Today I can't complain about how things are so dull; at least not this morning!  My wife and I had a quiet night as usual and I got up about 06:30.  I was wandering around in my robe and decided to open the blinds in my office which is right next to the front door.  I didn't see anything but after a few minutes there was a loud thud!  I looked and someone was trying to get up.  He'd fallen against the house.  Apparently he'd spent at least part of the night sheltering there.

Soon after he was wandering down the path towards the road but decided to relax in our driveway.  He just lay there once in a while looking for something in his backpack.  This guy was clearly under the influence of something so I called the Sheriff making it clear that this was no emergency.

 

After a while an officer showed up.  Our visitor was still just taking it easy in the drive.  I should say it was about 25F out there.  After quite a bit of discussion, we had another officer show up and then another and then some EMTs.  Apparently the guy was just under the influence because the EMTs had a look at him then left.

That photo was taken as a screen shot from a Ring video.  After a whole bunch of checking him and his possessions, the original deputy took our visitor off.  And that was that.  For us the mystery is what the heck was he doing here?  You can see from that photo of the four emergency vehicles that this isn't actually downtown!  I mean it is at least 2 or 3 miles from the nearest place you could buy a beer and he had several in his pack.  We aren't on the way to anywhere except more isolated homes.  There aren't any places out here where the homeless have their camps.  It is just strange but I guess we'll never know the answer.

 

However I was curious and had to go back and check the Ring history and, sure enough, there was our visitor at 02:42 a.m. coming stumbling up the walk to the front door.  Yes, that is a beer in his hand.  

So that's the excitement for today.  Well, not all.  Our son and daughter-in-law are coming to visit us on Thursday and staying the weekend.  Getting the place ready for visitors is work!  Take care & thanks for stopping by.

Quiet times again!

 Here it is almost March and I just really don't have anything to report!  Well, a few things but they are remarkably dull.  Like we got our first corona virus shot a couple weeks ago but that was just as dull as you would want it to be.  We signed up to get it at Walgreen's because they were offering them and no one else was saying boo about it.  We went in and stood around for a few minutes until some guy came and gave my wife her shot then me mine.  It was totally painless at the time.  My arm was kind of sore the next day but after that nothing.  We got the Moderna vaccine but I haven't really heard that one is better than another.  We are scheduled for the second shot in about two weeks. NOW our county seems to have awakened and the VA is offering shots, both our doctor's offices have offered shots, even the county government has a program.  Where were they a month ago?  Bah, humbug!

Unlike Texas (and much of the US) we have been having pretty nice weather:  50ish in the day and 25ish at night.  We have to pull in the hummingbird feeders every night but that's nothing like having to shovel snow!  Of course we had an entire summer and fall without rain but who's counting?  Actually, that is a scary thing around here.  People are pumping water out of the aquifer like it will be never-ending.  It's not unusual to find houses with 50-60 full grown trees on an acre lot.  But, you know, all good things come to an end.  My wife and I talk about it sometimes; will our house suddenly become worthless?  Certainly it would be tough trying to find buyers if wells started going dry!  We don't have cable tv in our particular neighborhood because there isn't the population to make it worth doing.  Imagine if we wanted a public water supply; even IF they could find a supply.  You've got to dig a lot of trenches to pipe water around.  Our street is about 1 3/4 miles long and there are 17 houses.  There are more lots, of course, but empty lots would probably be dumped by their owners if the town came along and wanted maybe $15K per lot for providing water service.  

So on a lighter note, I saw this truck drive by the other day and wondered what the devil it was carrying.

Then the driver parked and I got to see the other side.

Of course, slot machines!  It is Nevada after all.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and wearing those masks!

Not bad!

All that traveling last month and I come home to sunsets like this:

 maybe I should just stay here and take my camera out more often!

I read a very interesting post over at another boomer's site that talked about the idea that things are getting worse for the poor in this country.  He quoted someone else who suggested that things had gone downhill during the Obama years and then continued to go down during the Trump years.  That person suggested that it was the fault of "Wall Street".  Hmmm, I'm not sure I go along with that but I certainly agree with the boomer that there is plenty of fault to go around.  I'm not a socialist but I do feel that people ought to be able to support a family without having three jobs.  

I just read where Target is paying a minimum wage of $15 an hour.  That means that a new person is making $600 a week if they are working full time.  In Las Vegas, our closest city, a three bedroom apartment can cost $1,600 a month.  So a guy with a wife and small child can be working for over two weeks to pay for the apartment.  That leaves only $800 for everything else.  He's got to be hoping that his wife will be able to get a job at Target as well but then we are talking about child care expenses.  Not good.  Minimum wage in Nevada is $9.75 which is higher than the Federal  minimum of $7.25 BUT it hasn't been changed since 2008.  I'm thinking prices have risen more than a bit in 12 years.  

LIke I said, I don't know the answers but I sure see the problem.  Maybe the Biden years will be golden.  I sure hope so.  Take care & keep washing those hands.

Back home again

 I've been AWOL for a bit but this time I've got a really good excuse.  My wife has an aunt who is ill with dementia and we wanted to visit her before it was too late.  The only thing is that the aunt lives in Florida; so we headed off to Florida.  We wanted to take the trailer for a trip so, of course, here are a few thousand more tow miles.  It was a very weird trip.  

Let's start with the first night when we hooked up the water and the toilet started leaking.  Hmmm.  Maybe we should have taken it as a hint and changed the trip to a plane trip!  The second day we didn't really have a problem except that the left front stabilizer didn't work quite right.  I lubed it but it is still only working with lots of effort.  Our daughter moved to a suburb of Austin, TX a few months ago.  Since we were making the trip on I-10, it was pretty much a no-brainer that we would stop and see her on both sides of the trip.  In Texas we were seeing dead deer on the side of the road at least 3 or 4 times a day.  Sometimes there would be two together.  We got off I-10 at Junction, TX so we could check out some of the famous Texas Hill Country.  Unfortunately, it was about that time that we got an error message on the dash:  Engine output reduced.  We were running in the hills and going uphill we were lucky to be doing 45 mph.  There didn't seem to be anything wrong; the engine temp was just fine; the transmission temp was fine; we just didn't know what was going on.  I was thinking that there must be a computer chip in the system that had died.  However, we made it to our daughter's.  We had a couple days with her and the truck ran just perfectly!  So we headed on East.  That didn't work long!  A 100 miles or so away and the problem started all over again.  We got the same Engine output reduced message and we also got one that said there was a problem with the trailer lights.  Grrr!  This time we stopped in East Houston, it was Sunday so I knew I'd be headed for the Ford dealer the next morning.  

I got to the Ford dealer by 07:15.  I went in to talk to a service advisor.  The guy came out and plugged his code reader in:  in a couple minutes he said "You need antifreeze".  Huh?  So I went over to the parts counter and bought 2 gallons of Ford's wonderful antifreeze.  (I say wonderful because it was $20 a gallon.)  I went out to the truck and the service advisor had already opened the cap where you add fluid to the cooling system.  I poured a gallon of antifreeze in and he said it should be mixed with distilled water!  So he went and got a gallon of Ford distilled water!  (For free!)  And he gave it to me to pour in with the antifreeze!  OMG, the cooling system was 2 gallons low?  How the devil does that happen and the truck doesn't overheat or anything?  However, that was the problem because it's been fine ever since!  

So we wandered off the next morning.  We got the trailer light message again but since we do a light check when we hook up the trailer we knew it was in error.  (That night I sprayed the trailer light plug with silicone spray.)  But the big news was that the truck ran like a top all day - no Engine output problem.  So we finally made it to Florida.  

We pulled up and my wife's uncle was standing there in the driveway waiting for us!  He has room on his property to park the rv so we stayed with him.  He is a great host and we had a great time visiting with him.  We visited my wife's aunt at the nursing home; he is going over there every other day but cannot visit her because of covid-19 so he goes to the window of her room and talks on the phone with her.  Unfortunately, her phone went missing so all we could do was wave and yell 'Hello'.  As it turns out, our visit was too late.  She showed no response at all to any of us.  It has to be just killing him to see the woman he loves turn into a non-person.  

However, we had visited her so now it was time to head back home.  This time I noticed that in Alabama and Mississippi there were parts of cars on the side of the road.  One time I saw the front bumper of a car with the license plate still attached on the side of the road.  We drove rather steadily and got back to the Austin area without really any trouble.  Again we had a good visit and headed out west.  We were nearing Deming, NM when the wind started hitting us hard.  It turns out there was a storm earlier today that was still with us with gusts up to 50 mph!  Let's just say we were really happy to make it to our rv park!

Our next night was to be in Phoenix.  As we got to Phoenix the rain started and, of course, the traffic became awful.  The rain was nasty and the fact that 4 cars were involved in a fender-bender made traffic just creep along.  We finally got past all that and were almost up to speed when something else happened.  I didn't see it along the side of the road but it must have been there because we had another long slowdown.  Finally we found our rv park about an hour later than we'd been expecting.  It is a huge park with mostly park model homes but they had 15 or 20 spaces for travelers.  It was ok but had no internet connection at all.  Well, we won't be stopping there again!  However the weather forecasts were scary.  They were talking about snow and a lot of it where we were headed.

In the morning the news was full of I-40 accidents and views of other roads that were simply covered with snow.  I started talking about going on I-10 to California then working our way north to Nevada.  In the end, that's pretty much what we did.  It wasn't the route I'd have chosen but it worked out just fine.  We got home Tuesday afternoon having not seen a single snow flake.  There was snow on the ground and it made the mountains even more beautiful than usual but no flying snow flakes.  Now that was just luck but I'll take it.  Now we have to adjust to living in a house again.  It's amazing but in less than a month I've forgotten where to find things.  I actually have to think about where the cutting board lives or where the coffee grinder stays.  Oh well, if that's the worse thing in my life it's ok.

Happily we have a new President who seems to be reversing many of the orders that Mr. Trump had made over the last four years.  I'm unsure about the legality of all these Presidential Orders but since they have been allowed to function as laws I guess it is just my ignorance.  I would just as soon that there was no more impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump but that is just part of my desire for him to disappear from the headlines.  Let him just be the lying golfer that he's always been and not the headline grabbing right wing idiot that we've had for the last four years.  

Well, that's the story of the last month in my life.  I hope everyone had a great January.  We'll be working on February soon enough.  Take care & keep washing those hands.

I guess I'm in shock

 Actually, aren't we all in shock about the attack on our Congress?  I mean, really, I've always considered them o be a bunch of self-serving idiots but that doesn't really make a physical attack acceptable!  Term limits would be great!  An IQ test might even be a good idea (though there are plenty of smart ass**les around).  Anyway, I'm certainly glad that some of those rioters are being identified and arrested.  And cheers to the companies who are firing employees that took part in that travesty.

I haven't really heard from friends/relatives who support the outgoing President (boy, doesn't that sound great!) but thinking that invading the halls of Congress is a good idea is just way too far on the other side of reality. The people who are pointing out that law enforcement responded rather differently to this than they did to Black Lives Matter protests are absolutely right. The DC mayor had called out the National Guard but where were they? Were they all clustered around the White House to protect the President from his own supporters? I doubt if anything much will come of the different response but it is definitely there.

The part of this whole thing that is the most fun is that the Pres is actually in trouble because he basically incited a riot. LOL Actually, I don't think he should be called to account for that; I"m sure he's done much worse things that he could be prosecuted for doing. Charging him for this is simply something that his supporters could call politically motivated. Why let them continue to support him when he could easily be jailed for income tax evasion or some other non-political crime? Heck, how about cheating at golf? That would work for me.

I did read that the Secret Service was around in Scotland near a golf course owned by Mr. T and that there was some thought that he might be there on Inauguration Day. He has said that he won't attend the ceremony. First Pres to do that since 1869 or something like that. It just shows his concern for the office and the country. Ass**le!

Thanks for listening to my rant.  I hope to be back talking about nothing much before long.  I hope you have a good day and a great 2021! Keep washing those hands and wearing those masks.

Wow!

 First time in a very long time!

Happy New Year world!

Happy New Year!!!

 Don't have much to say, like I ever do, but wanted to post the world a Happy New Year message.  It's been quite a 2020 and we are all looking forward to 2021 being better.  I can't tell the future so I can only hope!  

For us personally it has been fine.  We are retired so there are no jobs to be lost and our income is from pensions and investments.  We are healthy in general and have been working hard to protect ourselves from the pandemic.  At the same time we are going out to lunch quite often:  we enjoy it and the restaurants sure need the custom.  Our kids are both doing well:  one is in the pre-cast concrete industry and the other is in the IT department of a builder who does governmental and commercial properties.  Neither of those industries are having difficulties. 

So tonight we'll be raising a glass to a better 2021.  A year when we'll have a President who actually thinks before speaking; a year when we'll have vaccine that may help prevent covid; a year when maybe even travel will become possible again.  Talk about sounding hopeful!  

Happy New Year everyone.  And may 2021 be great for you and for us all!  Keep washing those hands and wearing those masks.

Just an early Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Obviously I've been kind of slow with the blogging lately and I don't really see that improving.  I'm blaming it on all the covid-19 crap even though I'm spending more time lately at the computer.  I'm not doing anything really earthshaking, just getting records ready for the new year.  

Like many people we were out trying to see the Super Star created when Jupiter and Saturn came into line.  Our telescope is more of a spotting scope so the view wasn't the greatest but it was kind of interesting once we managed to aim the scope properly!  That took way too much time.  I have to admit seeing the rings around Saturn is pretty cool.

We had been planning on a visit over Christmas from our daughter however a co-worker of hers has come down with the covid virus so she decided to do the responsible thing and stay home.  My wife and I were both happy with that decision.  Our daughter has been one of the doubters about the illness and I guess now she has decided that it is a real thing.  Honest, she didn't vote for Trump!

Just to keep things 'normal' here in our little town, there was a story in the paper about some bags of marijuana that were found dumped off one of the roads out in the desert.  Apparently it wasn't very high grade stuff but, still, if nothing else dumping it like that is littering.

This is still Trump country.  Every weekend there are 20-30 people on the main corner here in town waving flags, Trump banners and No Biden signs.  It is really amazing to me that these people are still all worked up.  I mean 4 years ago Mrs. Clinton got more popular votes than Mr. Trump but because of the electorial college he won the election.  There weren't any people demonstrating then.  Maybe it just happened in another state and I missed it.  Well, in 4 weeks and a day we should have a new President.  I know Mr. Trump is still going to get plenty of headlines but at least he will only be a private citizen.  

Gotta go.  Once again, have a very Merry Christmas!

Jeez!

 So I wake up this morning to read yet more crap about the President refusing to acknowledge his loss to Joe Biden.  OMG What is this idiot going to do next?  But more importantly, what kind of people are supporting him?  In state after state the courts are being asked to overthrow the election results and in state after state the courts are saying 'it was a valid election, you lost'.  STILL people are supporting Trump and even wandering around with guns trying to intimidate election officials!  What the hell is going on?

I read an article some years ago that suggested the two party system was being run by groups that kept each party on a ideological track and that any diversion was not allowed.  It seems to me that now the Republican party IS on such a track; I'm not so sure about the Democrats.  They seem to have disagreements with some wanting light social support for people and some wanting something close to socialism.  My concern with the Republicans is that they are coming close to, well, I don't know what, some kind of martial law maybe.  People are supporting Trump like he is above the law.  Well, I sure don't believe that.  What is this country coming to?

On a lighter note, we ordinarily have pretty clear skies around here where the sun comes up lighting the mountains gold then it gets busy raising the temperature.  The other day we had something different:  clouds!  So I needed to take a picture of that.

And I promise there was NO manipulation of that photo.  Actually, in about 5 minutes the clouds had just become a gray overcast with no drama whatsoever.  

This is 'Decorate for Christmas' week so we'll be dragging all that stuff out.  Our tree is one we bought when we lived in the Netherlands in 1998 so it's old enough to vote.  Much of the other decorations are equally old if not older.  A few of the tree decorations were made by the kids when they were little; and they are on either side of 50 now.  Other decorations are momentos from our travel or of places we lived.  For a couple of atheists we rather enjoy the celebration. 

Well, 43 days and we'll see.  Here's hoping that there won't be violence on the day!  Take care, keep wearing those masks & social distancing.

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!

Learning things...

 We got Ollie, our dog, almost a year ago.  In March we took him to Las Vegas with us in the trailer just for a couple of days.  In fact, the govenor declared a shut-down during the three days we were there!  So, he hasn't been in the trailer much; hell, neither have we!  So we decided we wanted to take him on a trailer trip just to see how he would act.  

My wife found a park she liked in Morro Bay, CA and called to ask about a reservation.  She was told that making a reservation a year in advance would be normal.  Well, that isn't our style for sure!  So we decided we'd just go over to the Las Vegas RV Resort, our go-to place in Sin City, and spend a few days.  It is a nice park and we had some nice sunsets.

 

 Hmmm.  Well, we did learn one thing.  When we are gone the dog howls!

We went out to breakfast at Blueberry Hill, our go-to breakfast restaurant, and about 3/4ths of the way through our meal my wife's phone rang.  Yep, someone had complained to the management that our dog was howling.  I can't blame them.  The park is an adult-only place and all those old folks seem to have dogs.  Actually the dog area is GREAT.  There are four separate fenced areas and one that is unfenced plus another unfenced area on the far side of the park.  It is really unusual to have so many places for the 4 legged ones.  

The park is basically paved with little graveled areas for the trees.  This was our site.

It was kind of funny.  It was a triangle with roads on all three sides.  There was noise from rigs going to and fro but the view out our windows was clear of other rigs.  We were at least 50 feet from any other rig and that is unusual!  Anyway, we really liked it. 

So, our dreams of wandering around and seeing some sights in Las Vegas were cancelled:  we'd be either at home with the dog or taking him with us.  So, we drove around Vegas seeing some new things & some old with the dog.  Hmm, a new definition of life in the fast lane!  Anyway, we ended up driving 145 miles around in the town.  We did stop a couple times and leave him alone in the truck & he seemed ok with that.  I'm not sure why but maybe it is just someplace he is more comfortable.  Or, there isn't anyone to complain about a howling dog in a store parking lot.  

Then, just to make our visit more memorable, there was a spike in corona virus cases and the govenor asked that everyone stay home as much as possible for the next couple of weeks.  Is there a curse about us visiting Las Vegas?  We did manage another breakfast out but mostly stayed in the rig and Saturday we came home.  

Since then my wife, who has had some minor lung issues, has stayed home while I do the shopping, etc.  The local VFW has a food bank that we like to contribute to so yesterday I went out and bought a few turkeys & stuff for them to distribute.  I even managed a couple of hams for those who can't manage a turkey.  We ordinarily get there when the distribution is almost over so we don't see many people; yesterday there were easily 7 or 8 times as many people there as I've ever seen.  I guess there are more people in need that I'd been thinking.  

So that's what is going on around here.  Staying home and washing hands a lot; now that is exciting!  Take care!

We are breathing again....

 It looks like Mr. Biden will be our President for the next four years and my wife and I are slowly relaxing.  The vote count was a lot closer than we would have liked but, hopefully, most of the drama is over.  I'm certainly hoping for four years of relative normal behavior from our newly elected leader.  He seems like a much more normal person than the idiot we've had for the last four!  (Big sigh of relief!)

So otherwise, in one week our high temps have gone from the 90's to the 60's (30 to 15C).  We did have a drop of rain, the first since April.  Now we even have snow on Mt. Charleston; it's been bare rock all summer.  The cooler weather also means we are using the oven so we had a baked pork tenderloin for dinner last night rather than one cooked on the barbecue.  My wife found a recipe for baking those tiny potatoes (1 inch diameter) after soaking in an egg white & herb mix that was really quite nice as an addition to the tenderloin.  It was a lovely dinner.  

One of the amazing things about where we live is that we are in a valley with mountains on the east side and the west.  Ok, sounds fairly ordinary, right?  But it isn't!  Everyone knows that the Tropic of Cancer is the northermost area on earth where the sun can be directly overhead and the Tropic of Capricorn is the southernmost area.  Well, that is great in a book but HERE we can count the change by mountain tops.  I've been looking through my photos and I just haven't got  the right photos but you look at the sunrise and at one point it is way north of Mt. Charleston and then it is way south of the mountain.  It is AMAZING!  Of course the same is true of the sunset but the same idiot is unable to get those photos either!

Our son gave us an Echo 5 Show last year for Christmas.  Well, I guess I'm a sucker for those things because I bought a 10 for the kitchen and another 5 for the bedroom.  It isn't that I use them much but they are interesting.  The 10 was mostly so that we could talk with him and his wife more easily.  The larger screen just makes it easier.  The 5 in the bedroom is basically a glorified alarm clock.  Once in a while we use it to play soft music but so far that's about it.  Isn't that all about life in the fast lane?

 Today, as usual, we'll go out to lunch then come home to a quiet dinner.  What the hell.  Best wishes to you all!  Keep washing those hands!

Oops!

 There are a couple things I forgot to mention.  First of all, we were taking our walk the other day and saw this poor witch.

I was hoping that the bottle next to her had contained vodka!

Then we visited Vegas a couple days ago.  I saw this vehicle with a life story pasted on the back window.  I liked it though I suppose it is a little off-color.

Well, pretty realistic anyway.  Take care!

Just a beautiful day....

 Daylight Savings Time ended this a.m. so everything is kind of weird BUT the sun is shining on the mountains and making them look so good!  That makes everything ok.  

Well, I sure wish the election was over and way beyond anything close.  I'm tired of being represented at the 'world level' by a pussy grabbing a**hole!  Where we live there are SO MANY Trump flags; I cannot understand how anyone can support such a fool.  But, I guess I don't understand a lot of things:  chemistry for example.  Anyway, I sure hope we get a new President.

I imagine I've said it before but I sure wish that we weren't choosing between two guys in their 70's.  I'm 72 and I think I'm slowing down.  I think the "Leader of the Free World" should be younger.  Not like really young but maybe in the 50's.  And I'd like them to have some experience in government at the national level; like Congress.  I believe that being in the government is different from being in the corporate world or anywhere else.  Knowing how to talk with the people you are working with; or who are working for you, is important.  Having someone from 'millionaire row' being President means that he or she doesn't have a clue about what really happens in the government (have you noticed that lately?).  It would be like me becoming the mayor of our town; I don't have a clue about how much the Roads department needs or the Police or the Parks.  

Someone sent me a PDF about how the Chinese are doing so much better than we in the US.  It talked about Chinese railroads, dams, bridges, roads, etc.  First of all, they do have a country that needs lots of upgrading and they can finally afford it however, it is certainly true that the infrastructure in the US needs upgrading.  Anyone who has driven I-70 in Colorado knows that!  Not to mention things like the dam in Michigan that washed away.  I'm sure there are plenty more that could use upgrading.  Then there is the whole sustainable energy problem.  Sticking our collective heads in the sand and saying global warming is a 'lie' won't work for us in the long term.  It's about as true as saying the coronavirus isn't anything to worry about.

My wife and I are planning our next trailer trip.  It's going to be a biggie - 3 or 4 nights in Las Vegas!  Yeah, well, we go to Vegas every week or ten days but we never take the time to see the sights.  There are actually some interesting places and we just never take the time to visit them; this time we will.  And it will give the dog some time in the trailer which he needs.  He won't learn about it if we don't take him.  Anyway, I should have a few Vegas photos next time.  

Gotta go.  This 1st day of November is zooming away.  Take care & keep washing those hands!

I Voted!

 Yeah, life in the fast lane and all that.  We had mail in ballots but you can also turn them in to the County Clerk's office so we did that.  We did NOT go to the early voting place because:  

That was the first day of early voting; it's been worse since then!  Besides, the volunteers who run the early voting are just not that great.  We had one a couple of elections ago who was having trouble with the alphabet!

Anyway, we are hopeful that Mr. Trump gets a nice strong message about what an idiot he is and how many people in this country wish he'd just disappear.  Besides that there are FIVE prospective ammendments to the Nevada Constitution.  I mean, does everything need to be addressed in the constitution?  Don't we have any other laws?  

Other than voting, it's been a quiet time.  The high temps are still in the 95F (35C) range but when we walk in the morning it is more like 50F (10C).  This is one of those places where the heat just keeps growing all day so our high will be between 4 and 5 in the afternoon and sunset is at 6pm.  We are still required to wear masks when in public places and most people wear them.  A certain number will wear them incorrectly so the nose isn't covered but you just have to hope that they catch something nasty.  We continue to visit our local restaurants; they are working at half capacity so they can't be doing more than hanging on.  I've upped tipping to 30-35% because the wait staff has to be hurting too.  

Eric Trump came to town to star at a meeting at one of the local winerys.  Needless to say people weren't wearing masks and weren't social distancing.  Happily our local government was paying attention and the winery was fined something over $8,000 for hosting the event.  I liked that.  Of course this is a winery who has lost their liquor license.  The business changed hands and the new owner was given something like 18 months to get the license but they just didn't bother so finally the county commissioners did their job and yanked the license.  What idiots!

I guess that's all the news from this end of the lane.  Keep trying to be careful & stay safe.

Exciting stuff!

 Today we received our mail-in ballots for the election!  Ok!  Here's hoping we can Dump Trump big time.

We have been doing our usual thing:  walking in the morning; going to one of the local restaurants for lunch; cooking dinner at home.  All very normal stuff except for extra hand washing; antiseptic in the car glove box; and wearing masks.  My wife made 5 or 6 masks way back when this stuff started but eventually I bowed to reality and bought extras for us.  Most people are pretty good about wearing their masks but there are a few who either can't manage it or wear them like over the mouth only.  Dumb shits!  

We do like to walk in the morning and sometimes we see something special.  A neighbor has a large cactus in their yard and once in a long while it flowers.  Late last month was it's time.

A few weeks ago we managed a road trip and stayed in a couple motels.  Part of the trip was just to see how our dog would manage travel; turned out he did great!  But there was this one motel that had added a little humor to their decor.  Found on the bathroom wall.

And a rather interesting shower curtain.

Yeah, some people have too much time on their hands!  Really it was interesting traveling during the pandemic.  Restaurants seemed to all have reduced menus and not a good number of employees.  (That isn't happening here in the Valley; you can order anything on the menu and it is as good as ever.)  We had no real trouble finding pet-friendly motels.  We ordinarily don't stop for lunch unless it is something like a sandwich so that was no problem.  (It was way too hot to leave the dog in the truck!)  

Anyway, that's it for me today.  I've gotta go cook dinner:  Choucroute Garni complete with some skinny little pork chops that I smoked for an hour or so the other day.  It should be good.  Take care and be careful out there!

More quiet times!

 We have been pretty quiet lately.  Not a lot to say except that while I hope the President regains his health I sure hope he loses the election!  I cannot imagine a President refusing to acknowledge that he failed to win re-election but I know what my response would be if I were in charge of the White House security team.  And, no, it wouldn't take long for that stupid fat head to be on the way out the door.  I'm pretty sure I'd order a transfer to the nearest golf course; he wouldn't complain about that.

Anyway, it's pretty quiet around here.  The highway department has decided to put a crosswalk across our main street:  they are saying it should be done by the end of the year!  Jeez!  It's not an overpass!  Oh well, it might save a life or two in the next century.  Speaking of traffic, there are people on the sides of the road who are trying to sway your vote.  There are people around saying stuff like 'Women for Trump' - but all the people at the stand are men!  Hmmm?  Then there are the ones who want to recall our Governor Sisolak; gee, he told us to wear masks.  Is that your big problem?  Hmmm? 

We are going to all our favorite restaurants regularly and unless something awful happens I'm tipping well over 30%.  Those servers are living on 50% of the usual load of customers too!  Of course we've managed our usual monthly visit to the VFW's Food Bank and are thinking we should double our donation.  We've got plenty of vets in the area.

The air has been pretty clear around here but the California fire smoke has been covering the valley at a very high altitude from time to time.  You can't smell it but it sure colors the sky.  That is such a horrible thing; losing the wilderness is bad enough but all those people losing their homes and businesses just makes it so much worse.  (On a side note, all us wine drinkers are scared about where our next bottle is coming from!)  More seriously, why the hell didn't anybody in the government think about the dead trees causing a fire hazard?  I mean trees have died from bark beetle and no one thought that might be a problem?  Hmmm, this quote is from back in May.

Anyway, it's late and I need to shut up.  Have a great day!  Take care.