What is he so interested in?

I saw the cat sitting by the back door, very intent on something.

Hmmm,, guess this would be it!

Don't know if it is the birds or the bunny but there has to be some breakfast out there somehow!

We haven't done much in the last couple of days; just working on the every longer 'honey-do' list.  I work out in the garage but by 09:00 it's way too warm to keep going.  Don't you just hate it when you sweat on something you just painted?

Thanks for stopping by.  Take care.

Just a photo...

I don't have much to say this morning but I wanted to share this photo.  We had a little bunny visiting this morning at the base of the bird feeder helping to clean up seed that has been spilled on the ground.  He was pretty cute and seemed to get along fine with the doves who are our more usual visitors.  Notice how everyone kind of blends in with the rocks.

We have a cloudy day today.  It's kind of nice for a change but it doesn't smell like rain so I'm thinking we won't get any.  As 'The Weather Channel" says "Dry conditions will continue."

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one!

Jeez, 10 days! Really?

Ok my mind has been on other things but now I've got to remember what I've been up to lately.  Not too much actually.  We are getting out by 06:00 so we can walk in the morning.  If I wake in the night I open the windows to let in a bit of fresh air.  It gets down to about 70F (21C) about 02:00 in the morning.  By 09:00 we have closed up the house because it will be 85F (29C) headed for 102F (39C) or so by late afternoon.  Next day we go through the whole thing again.

My wife has been complaining about the dinette seats in the RV; the foam is too soft and the cloth is wearing in places.  There is an upholstry shop in town so we took the seats over to the guy.  He is in his 70's and is letting his business kind of wind down but we were able to find some fabric that we liked so had him replace the foam and then cover them using the new fabric.  It took him a couple days but he did a really nice job and from just trying them out we think it's a great improvement.  We'll get to test them out later this summer when we go for a little trip.  I'd take a picture but they just look like they belong.

Last Thursday we drove over to Death Valley Natl. Park just for something different.  We didn't actually go to the valley though, we took a side road to a point called Dante's View.  You are on a cliff overlooking the park.  The cliff is at elevation 5,475 ft (1,668 m) and you are looking down into the valley which is, of course, below sea level at -280 (-85m) right below you.  It's really a pretty cool view.  Didn't bother to go down into the valley since it was already warm!

Then on Saturday my wife and I went into Las Vegas for some general shopping.  There are just plenty of things you can't get in our small town so if you want, for example, some nice cheese, you've got to travel.  Likewise if you want clothing that doesn't come from Walmart, you've got to travel.  We wanted both.

I also needed to find my way to Harbor Freight.  I did something fairly dumb a few days ago and decided I really need a little mobile tool cart.  What was the dumb thing I know you want to know....  I'm embarrassed but I was checking the fluid in the battery in the truck.  I used a screwdriver to pry the caps off - then left the screwdriver in the engine compartment!  Next day I took the truck into town for something or other and was fortunate that screwdriver didn't find it's way into the fan or even short out the battery and cause a fire.  Now I've got a cart that I can put stuff on rather than balance things on top of things in the engine compartment.  Well, I will have a cart when I get the thing put together. 

Sunday was a fairly do-nothing day.  When we went to China it was to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.  Sunday was the actual day.  So we talked, had a special meal and watched a couple of old movies.  Very quiet but after all, we'd gone to China to celebrate already! 

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one.

Flag Day

Happy Flag Day!  Kinda breezy around here.

Have a good one!

Piggn' out!

No, I'm not talking about that lovely pizza we got the other night.  I'm not even talking about the two huge steaks we got at Sam's Club yesterday.  No, this is something different.

I was driving into town when what should I see but a couple of pot-belly pigs.  Apparently they had decided to go 'walkabout'.  I wasn't doing much so I stopped and they came to me!  They were still kind of damp with mud so I figured they must live in one of the houses along the street.  No answer at the first house.  The guy at the second house denied all knowledge of pigs.  No answer at the third house.  About this time I decided I needed Animal Control.  Here are my two little buddies.

A guy came along and I flagged him down hoping he might have an idea.  He did.  He knew of a family that had quite a few animals and volunteered to go ask if they were missing pigs.  He returned in a few minutes with the news that they weren't missing any animals.  About this time my phone rings, it is Animal Control saying their truck should be at my location in five minutes or so. 

Just about then a car pulled up to the house across the street.  A boy jumped out and started running over to me and the pigs.  Happily I was able to tell Animal Control that the mystery was solved and they needn't respond.  I think the Animal Control lady was as happy as I was.  Pigs might have been a little different for them but sometimes you don't need different. 

The boy got a little food and the pigs decided they had a new best friend.  I found them cute and pretty friendly but let's just say I was sure glad to see that kid! 

My big errand that had me out on the street this morning was to buy some stuff for the VFW Food Bank.  We have plenty of vets out here who need help.  Some live up on the side of the mountain in old trailers, vans and even tents.  They may be a little crazy but they need to eat.  We like dropping some food off every now and then.  The Food Bank requests things that don't require a can opener; even things that don't require cooking!  What can you say besides heartbreaking?

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one.

Not a lot going on!

It's smmer in the desert so outside activities aren't as popular as on the shoulder seasons.  If we haven't taken our walk by 07:00 it's going to be pretty sweaty.  The extra attraction is that we see more wildlife; not that there is a lot.  We see bunnies and jack rabbits mostly.  Aside from finches we mostly see doves, quail and the ocassional hawk.  If we walk in the desert, away from any of the houses, we might see a coyote.  Of course walking on the roads we get to check up on what the neighbors are doing to their houses and all but that .  I think we prefer the wildlife.  So we are staying inside a lot.  The tv is interesting to all of us. 

It's really odd what gets the cat's interest.  He spends a lot of evenings either on my lap or my wife's.  (Yes we watch tv most evenings at least before the sunset.)  Every now and then there will be some sort of animal segment on and he is ON IT!  He's almost 19 and doesn't hear very well and I'm not sure about his vision but he does know what he likes.  One time he even went around behind the tv to see where the animal went when he disappeared. 

Here's my excuse for sitting at the computer so much these days.

This was day before yesterday about 6 p.m. - the one on the left says 105F the one on the right says 101F.  That's 40C & 38C for the rest of the world.  One remote is on the north side of the house and the other on the south.  We usually have a difference like this.  Happily the interior temp is 78F (25C).  Makes you feel for the folks who lived here before the invention of air conditioning.  Our local museum has one of the houses built by an early pioneer.  They managed to find some spare railroad timbers and built the house from that.  Those huge chunks of wood actually did a pretty good job of insulating the place.

That's all I've got for today.  Have a good one!

Sheriff Election continued!

Ok so last time I told you about how the guy I really thought would be the best candidate managed to screw things up by ripping up signs that were rude about him.  That's stupid and, of course, illegal.  However it's only the start of the story.  The guy who put the signs up was watching them being pulled out of the ground.  He even filmed the candidate pull the darn thing up!  Jeez.  Then he called a detective that he apparently knows and likes.  This detective and FIVE other deputies show up and ARREST their fellow cop.  Apparently it wasn't a calm arrest, there is some discussion about guns being drawn!

Did I  mention that the current sheriff was out of the country on vacation so the guy being arrested is in charge during his absence?  Honestly, you can't dream this stuff up!  So the next week, those six deputies and one other apply for paid 'Stress Leave'.  Apparently arresting your boss then having to go to work with him the next day is stressful.  Hmmm, maybe they should have thought about all that before the made the arrest so showy. 

So now we have seven deputies out on stress leave.  What do you think they are doing?  Resting?  Talking with a doctor?  Maybe a shrink?  Naw, at least three of them are out CAMPAIGNING against the guy they arrested.  Really?  I'm basically at a loss for words.  What a bunch of idiots. 

Other than all THAT it's being pretty quiet around here.  We are into the low 100's (39C) which is pretty normal for this time of year.  We are walking early in the morning, like 06:30, to avoid the heat.  By 09:00 I'd be pretty sweaty after the first half mile.  The bbq gets plenty of use as well because heating up the house just seems wrong.  Besides, who doesn't like bbq? 

Here's hoping that things aren't quite as crazy where you are!