It's a beautiful morning....

 Things might be looking up.  At least my wife is walking without her walker and that's great!  And we are having a cool spell - highs in the mid-80's for the next few days.  And then there was the sunrise.

We are certainly in the desert out here.  Annual rainfall is in the 4-5 inches range (10-12 cm).  But there is an aquifer below us that provides water for us all.  Even the farmers!

Look at all that stuff!  And there was more but I couldn't get it in the photo.  Can you imagine how much water they are pumping out onto those fields?  I can't even imagine.

Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands!

We had a balloon morning!

We often have a balloon floating around in the distance.  There is a company from Las Vegas that brings there customers out here.  I believe they were banned from doing business in Vegas because they were disrupting flights both from the airport and from Nellis Air Force Base.  I've posted photos of them where they are just little pinpoints but yesterday we got a closer view.  I took a vid.

Just another day in the desert.  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands!

More quiet times

 Like I've been saying it's been quiet times around Pahrump.  Of course all the flags are at half-mast today 22 years after 9/11.  

It is nice and dry around here again.  Some areas of the town did get more rain and therefore runoff than we did.  Odd because we are in a flood zone and are required to have flood insurance and we got almost no rain but there you are.  We were supposed to get an hours worth of rain yesterday but it was the "walk along and ocassionally feel a drip" kind of rain.  We did have cloud cover pretty much all day.  We did take the opportunity to go out to lunch at our local casino.  We always have to take the dog, Gus, because he just goes crazy in the house when he is left alone.  So he got to sit in the 82F degree car for an hour or so.  We keep the house at 78F so it's not that much of a torture.  We left the windows down a couple inches for him and there was no sign of rain entering the car.  It's the desert.

Last week the car battery just was FLAT.  Nothing would work so I charged it and hoped that it would start and it did.  Unfortunately this car has all kinds of electronic toys that require power and they are AFU.  The navigation system just disappeared.  The backup camera is dead.  We have managed to reconnect the system to our phones but gee that isn't much!  It looks like I'll be calling Ford for some assistance.  

Well, that's about it.  My wife is still doing PT on her ankle.  I may be going soon for my hip.  Getting old does have it's downside.  Take care & thanks for stopping by.

Rain, yes, but.....

Hurricane Hilary hit California and then came to visit us but by the time it got here it wasn't much of a big deal.  We got rain which is pretty unusual but nothing much else.  The local monitor says it was just over 2.1 inches (5.3cm) over three days.  The birds liked it; we had a couple trying to bathe in a puddle.

And I didn't have to fill the bird baths for a couple days.  That's something I usually need to do.  The clouds were kind of different too.

Now we are back to the usual clear skies.

This morning we made our monthly run to the store for the VFW Food Bank.  We usually spend somewhere between $150 to $200 on a variety of things - only canned and dry stuff.  They support only vets who live around here but there is quite a variety in that population.  Some are single people living out in the desert; some have families; some are just ancient like me but don't have much money.  The food bank is only open on Wednesday so my wife and I make our run on Tuesday when the food bank volunteers are getting things put together.  Our local Albertson's food store makes a donation of fresh fruit and vegetables; otherwise I think they run on cash donations from VFW members.  

While we were shopping my wife rode around in one of the electric shopping carts and I had a regular one.  It's great that she is getting out from time to time.  It is only the second time she's been out to the store since she broke her ankle back on the last day in May.  Otherwise the only times she's been out have been medical visits.  She's started Physical Therapy so maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.  We can hope anyway!

Thanks for stopping by.  Take care & keep washing those hands!

Life in the Slow Lane!

 It's been a couple weeks since I've updated the blog and I have to say that there isn't a lot to report.  It is still warm but nothing above the 110+F (43C) range so we are happy enough.  My wife's ankle continues to improve but it's still a long way from perfect.  We went to see her surgeon last Wednesday and he said she should try walking around the house without her boot but outside the home she should use the boot.  She can make it around the house using the walker with her bare foot but it is painful and tiring so the wheelchair is still getting quite a bit of use.  Especially if there is urgency involved because the walker is still pretty slow.

Our dog is showing his usual behavior.  You can actually hear him snore!

You've got to have your security toy close at hand!  

The big news was that our son and daughter both came to Las Vegas on business and managed to be here yesterday for their mother's birthday.  We haven't been together with both of them in several years so that was fun.  Business kept them in Vegas until noon yesterday then they had to leave this morning for their return flights but it was still fun to catch up with them.  Our daughter fixed dinner so that her brother and I each got to work on the bbq but it was still really good!  

BBQ'd steak & corn, potatoes and salad:  what's not to like?  And there was a birthday cake.  And my wife's foot is well enough that she could sit at the table and not have it propped up on anything.  It couldn't have been better.  I must admit, there are leftovers!  

So that's the news from Pahrump.  Take care & keep washing those hands!

Still quiet!

Between being older and it being a really hot summer there really isn't much going on around here.  Back in April I posted this photo of the empty lots across the street.  They were really green for Nevada!

At the time, I said it was way too green for this area.  Well, here's what it looks like today.

Just a bit browner isn't it.  Sorry the photos aren't a closer match but you should be able to get the idea.

Otherwise things are just perking along.  My wife's ankle injury is taking it's own sweet time getting better; she can walk in her boot but after about 50 feet the boot is irritating the remaining injuries and she has to give it up.  Her birthday is next month and the kids are coming to celebrate with her.  I'm thinking they will be pretty shocked at these two slow moving old folks.  They are in their early 50's so don't know what fun is in their future.  

Our local Smith's grocery (Kroger) has started carrying some alcoholic products from Four Freedoms.  I'd never heard of the brand and it sounded like it meant something so I had to look it up.  (Well, after I bought some of their vodka!)  It turns out that the Four Freedoms comes from a speech by FDR, his 1941 State of the Union address before we were involved in WWII, where he named four freedoms he wanted for every person in the world.

Freedom of speech.

Freedom of worship.

Freedom from want.

Freedom from fear.

He was talking about a world where Germany was trying to take over Europe; and what he thought we should be doing about that.  But isn't the idea cool?  Wouldn't it be great if everyone had those four freedoms?  Here in the U.S. we mostly have the first two and lots of us have all four.  I'm pretty sure that isn't the case in much of the world.  

Well, that's it for today.  I'm going to go push my wife around (in her wheelchair, no intimidation!).  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands!

Quiet times!

It's nice and warm these days but what do you expect of summer in the Nevada desert?  Duh!  So far it isn't being too rude.  I think it has topped out at 115F (46C) according to our instruments.  Here it was 93F (34C) but in the small print you can see it was 01:19 in the middle of the night! Isn't that a bit much?

 

 

The heat sure isn't bothering the birds and their hunger.

That photo was taken mid-afternoon and you can see the regular seed is pretty much gone.  The thistle is now under attack with a couple birds waiting for their turns.  

Like I said, it's pretty quiet around here.  Keep washing those hands and keep safe!