First step

Today we took a first step towards checking out the recreational marijuana situation here in Nevada.  As of July 1 it has been legal to buy recreational marijuana.  You buy it at the same dispensaries set up for medical marijuana and we (my wife and I) found the whole thing really odd.  Of course we remember when you would buy from a friend or acquaintance.  You'd get a partially full baggie of dried leaves for $10 or so.  It's different now.   Boy is it different!

We have a dispensary here in our town so we stopped by after lunch.  You are admitted to a waiting room where you have to turn your driver's license over to a young woman who is safely behind what I expect is bullet proof glass.  I don't believe you have to be a resident of Nevada but you do need to be 21.  They had a couple informational handouts that talked about two different strains of cannabis and what effect you might expect from them.  Sativa is said to produce positive emotional effects; increased energy and enhanced creativity.  Indica is said to produce a relaxing effect; relieving pain and giving a feeling of well-being.  There is also a hybrid that does both in some degree or another. 

After a short wait a young man came out and called our names, introduced himself as our 'butdtender' and took us into the showroom.  The room had display cases along one side and the end.  They had all kinds of product you could buy.  My wife is a former smoker and wanted nothing to do with smoking so we bypassed the actual marijuana.  The first product the young man showed us was a liquid that came with a dropper, like an eyedropper.  Our budtender told us that you would simply put a drop under your tongue and you are on your way.  Then we came to the edible products.

This is more what I'd been thinking of trying.  Back in the day adding marijuana to brownie mix was a fun thing to do.  The problem was measuring the correct amount.  Now you can buy candy bars, gummy bears, cookies, even drinks.  Each product has a measured amount of the compounds that cause the effect you are desiring.  We ended up buying some chocolate mint bites and some orange zest mints. 

The chocolate bites are round and about an inch in diameter.  According to the package they are a cookie covered with chocolate and mint.  The cannabis oil, approx. 20 mg, is contained in the cookie.  The package of 5 cookies was $30. 

The mints are called 'Awakening Mints' so I guess are supposed to make one feel more alert.  You are instructed to place one mint under your tongue and enjoy it.  They contain 5 mg of THC oil each.  The package of 16 mints cost $25. 

We paid our 'budtender' his $55 and off we went.  One thing is that this is a cash only purchase.  The federal laws against marijuana keep them from accepting credit cards.  How's that for dumb? 

That was enough excitement for one day.  We'll try our new treats another day but today we had places to go and things to do.  Thanks for stopping by.

Getting up to walk

I've been whining about getting before sunrise to walk.  There are some compensations!

A little later:

And later still:

Have a good one.  Thanks for stopping by.

I'm HOT!

And not in a good way!  This waking up at 05:00 so we can walk in some comfort is silly.  It's worse when you wake up at 05:00 and it's 87F (30.5C) outside.  The forecast is calling for a high of 97F (36C) so that's not too bad but this not cooling off just stinks.  I was outside doing dinner on the bbq the other night.  My instant read thermometer thought it was warm without the grill and, no, that's not in the sun and it is about 6 p.m.

Yes, that's reading 106F (41C) just waiting around to check on the temperature of dinner.  But using the bbq does keep a lot of heat out of the kitchen!

I bought a new weather station recently and finally got it installed.  My wife had this uncomfortable thought that she should be able to change the batteries in the thing on her own without my help.  (What the heck does she think is going to happen to me???)  So we decided to place the station on a hinged pole.  Well, turns out that when you put a hinge on a 2x4 it doesn't like to remain in line.  In fact it wobbled quite badly.  So we ended up putting a turnbuckle on it to keep it stable.  What with her painting the pole, my questionable ability with tools in general, about 4 trips to the hardware store and the heat, it took about two weeks to get the darned thing erected!  However, now I can look over at the display and tell that we have an 8 mph breeze from the North.  Gotta admit though that I'm NOT looking forward to changing that battery!  The only other complaint I have is that the display is REALLY bright.  No need for a nightlight or even a flashlight with that thing around.

I keep reading about our President and his seeming inability to keep his foot out of his mouth.  It puzzles me that he can be so naive and be successful in business.  Perhaps it is simply that he hires people (and perhaps bribes people?) who do his bidding.  He certainly seems to have trouble keeping people around him as President.  I've lost track of all the people he's fired and he's only been in office for six months.  Of course he's managed to piss off almost every other head of state except for Putin.  We'll just have to see what happens. My wife and I have in the last few years visited several Presidential museums.  The last time we were in Texas we got to visit LBJ's in Austin and George Bush (Sr)'s in College Station.  It is kind of fun seeing what is emphasized and what is downplayed.  God knows what Trump's will look like!

When we come home from a trip we seem to start thinking about another one.  At least it seems that way sometimes.  We are now talking about a trailer trip into the mid-west.  We had hoped to go last year for my 50th high school reunion but I had neck surgery instead.  There won't be a high school reunion to visit with this year but we still have a few relatives and friends out that direction.  We hope to make it this time!

How's all that for another dull post?  Sorry but I'm just a dull guy.  Thanks for stopping by.

Good Heavens!

Is anyone else distressed at all the security BS we have these days?  I have different passwords for practically every site I visit.  It turns out I have over 300 separate passwords.  And that's just online security.  Air travel is worse!  When in Australia I lost my nail scissors to a security person.  The blades were well over 1 cm long but really?  (Not nearly an inch!)  In another place they alerted on my wife's folding umbrella!   Jeez! 

This morning I thought I'd blog something just because it's been so long.  Well, I screwed up my Blogger password and thought I'd never get in.  They sent me an email with a top secret code - when I input it I still wasn't allowed in.  Grrr!  Finally I went back to that list of passwords and figured out what I'd done wrong.  It's just silly.

One of the reasons I've been so quiet is that I've had a few medical and dental issues lately.  Every time I go to have blood drawn or visit the doctor they ask my birth date.  I constantly wonder what they do when they have someone with a memory disorder.  My mother certainly wasn't able to remember her birth date near the end of her life.  Now, she was in a nursing home so I'm sure the question didn't come up but there are plenty of older people not in homes.  Maybe they just don't get care.  Who knows.

The Republican congress seems to have taken a breather on repealing Obamacare and I am certainly happy about that.  Our daughter has an excellent job and is very well paid but it is with a smaller company and they have no health care.  Obamacare is all there is for her.  It is definitely flawed and I'd love to see it modified but not just removed.  Along the same lines, I have Medicare (over 65 years of age).  Medicare is reasonably good; so good that I wish our lawmakers had to use it.  I'll bet it would get better in a hurry!

One of the things missing from Medicare is dental care.  That one is biting me (sorry!) right now.  I went to have a tooth looked at and was told I needed a root canal.  Well, that was $1000 - discounted because I have no insurance.  Then I had another root canal that turned out to be too far gone to save - that one was only $600 since they couldn't fix the problem.  Of course, since it was dead I needed an extraction - $650.  Then I get back to the regular dentist!  All this work and my local dentist doesn't get any of it.  At least she can do fillings.  No, I'm not going to Mexico.  I see that as just another form of outsourcing.

As you may have been noticing, I really don't have much to say today.  I'm a firm believer that's a really good reason for not saying anything.  Sorry!  At least I can share a photo of our local hawk.  He always gets the bird bath all to himself/herself.  Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday U.S. of A.

It's an odd year.  I'm not sure about it being one of our oddest years but it's gotta be up there.  First of all there is the tweeter-in-chief.  I mean who would have thought we'd be there?  Mr. Obama was such a correct person and now?  Well, there is also our quiet VP:  he's hardly a superstar.  The congress seems to have the same problems it has had for years; except now it's the Republican party not managing things.  Doesn't it make you proud to be a citizen?

I have to say there are some things going on that I agree with.  We certainly need to invest in our infrastructure!  Anyone who has traveled the U.S. knows that the roads need work.  Then there would be things like our airspace, our train system, public buildings.  I know government people can manage to waste money by the ton but there is plenty that needs to be brought into the new century.

Of course it would be really most excellent to invest in our people.  Obamacare was a pretty good start but certainly it could improved upon.  Education is something that isn't even being discussed.  First, what happened to the great American institution of high school?  Here in Nevada the graduation percentage is disgusting.  Technical schools would be great but I get the impression they are dying all over.  College is a good option for some people but it's not for everyone.  Too many 'liberals' think college should be for everyone; that's just stupid.  Dumb down college so people who aren't interested in it can graduate and you end up with non-educated people.

Following along that line, the quality of the basic research we get from our colleges would certainly be improved if we were to add a bit more money to the mix.  NASA research had lots of unusual spinoffs as did the Vietnam war.  I am not calling for a new war but why exactly is Elon Musk the guy who is shooting rockets off into space?   Or why is Richard Branson the new 'inner space' cruise director?  Did the federal government lose sight of the future?   Well, yeah, I agree they have.  If they ever had it.

However, let's face it.  I think the U.S.A. is still a wonderful place to live.  I'm proud to be a citizen.  I'm proud to have served in the armed services.  I know people all over the world feel the same love for their country and isn't that appropriate.  It's a wonderful world, we should all love our little part of it.  Happy Independence Day, U.S.A.

P.S.  Nothing on the legal marijuana front yet.  Don't hold your breath!