I've been gone; sorry!

Well, I've been quiet for a long while haven't I. There are a variety of reasons but today I want to blog.... First of all, for those in the US, Happy Thanksgiving! For the rest of the world, Happy Thursday! Second, it's been raining in the desert! Las Vegas got between a quarter and a half inch (1 cm maybe) yesterday and are getting more today. Of course the drivers forget that water on the oily film on the road equals danger. There were lots of people slipping off the roads. Then when I got up this morning there was a beautiful fog. It was just lovely; I'm crazy about fog as long as I'm not driving in it. Finally, we did find a house, put in an offer and it was accepted yesterday. So our lives are about to change again.

This will be very different from any place I've lived before for a lot of reasons. The house has it's own well and a septic system. Pahrump is built on top of a large aquifer but I get the idea that the water is of variable quality. Lots of people have reverse osmosis systems to purify their water. Hope we don't need that! The septic system is also going to be interesting. I take it there isn't a lot of maintenance but you need a professional cleaning every few years.

The whole idea of living in the desert is new as well. Anyone know anything about decorating the yard with rocks? LOL Happily there are nurseries in the area that can help us with plants that won't need much water. The houses in this area are almost all built of wood with a cement stucco exterior. It seems odd to me; I was expecting cement block. There are a few homes built from adobe brick but not many! Adobe is probably too labor intensive; not to mention the difficulty of finding people who know about it. Of course a wood house can burn down and there isn't much water out here; I'm told that the volunteer fire department brings a truck full of water with them!

Internet should be interesting too. There aren't enough poeple for cable companies to run cable so everyone uses a satellite television connection. Unfortunately they don't do a real good job with the net. One company does offer it; that is one possibility. The phone companies MAY have DSL in our neighborhood; we'll have to check that out as well. I may be driving around town looking for hotspots for a while!

When we sold the house in Florida, we sold and donated almost all our furniture, clothes, kitchen stuff, etc. We are certainly going to be helping the local economy! My wife is already talking about measuring spaces and what we want to buy first. We've not bought furniture for a specific house since 1982; I think our dishes were from then as well. The house has built-in ovens, a dishwasher and a microwave but no refrigerator; no washer or dryer. Hmmm, this could get expensive!

(This post was to have been made yesterday but the internet connection in our park is always questionable. Yesterday it was dead. Today it is fine so Happy Belated Thanksgiving or, internationally, Happy Friday. Have a good one!)

Pahrump Nights

One of the things I'm enjoying about Pahrump is that there is relatively little light pollution. I was raised out in the country miles from the nearest town so there were lots of stars to be seen. I've lived my entire adult life in cities except for the odd vacation week. Coming here, the stars are back!

It isn't like it was when I was a kid, there is pollution and, of course, my eyes aren't what they were! But it's a tremendous improvement on, say, Seattle where there was both light pollution and lots of clouds. In Florida the Tampa Bay area is totally populated so it is never really dark. I feel sorry for people who haven't had the experience of star watching. (No, Brittany Spears doesn't count.)

My point and shoot camera probably isn't up to recording stars, this is the best I can do. When we land somewhere, maybe I'll get the old Nikon and the telescope out and see what I can get. Do they still sell film? Have a good one.

Whew!

Well, we have a new President elected. Let's hope he can make at least some of his promises come true. I was worried that there might be a silent majority who would not vote for a black man. Thankfully, that did not happen.

Unfortunately, in at least two states (California and Florida) there were votes outlawing gay marriage. I think that violates the separation of church and state. Marriage is a religious ceremony; having a partner is a civil matter; I think it's that simple.

We are still hanging around in Pahrump; in fact we'll be staying here until the middle of December. We are looking at homes in the area as well as in the Las Vegas metro area. The problem in Vegas is that the homes are built on tiny lots: a 2,500 sq ft house on a 3,500 sq ft lot!!!

Gotta go. Have a good one.