Did I mention it's kind of quiet?

 Yep!  It's quiet.  Hell, we don't even have as many airplanes flying over as we used to have!  I used to take the dog out at night and see at least 3 or 4 airplanes taking folks to or from California.  Now if I see 1 it is unusual.  What a change.  We are still going out to lunch quite often.  Yesterday the waitress had to ask two guys to go find masks because they thought they didn't need to wear them.  Today we saw a woman who pulled her shirt up to use as a mask.  People are just so dumb.  The place we visited today was closed for a couple weeks.  It turns out that the owner, who is also the chef, came down with the virus and had to be hospitalized.  Of course the whole staff had to be tested and all that stuff took a couple weeks.  Happily the owner is doing better but he is still using a walker to get around and, of course, hasn't returned to work.

My birthday is coming up and my drivers license expires on that day.  Since I'm so ancient I have to have as optometrist testify as to my eye sight and a doctor testify that I don't have any medical conditions that would make it unsafe for me to drive.  What a pain in the ass!  But, what the heck, it might keep one of two idiots off the road.  Anyway, the doctor has a new assistant and she had a greeting for me.

I thought it was cute even if it's a little strange. 

We like to take our walk early when it is so warm.  It's about 2:30 in the afternoon and it is 102F (39C) now.  Believe me, walking at 06:00 when it is only 75F (24C) or so is a lot more pleasant!  And you get to see the sunrise!

One of the advantages of living here in the valley is that we get to see the sun move as the seasons progress.  On June 21 the sun would be nearly to the far left in the photo above.  By December 21 it will be fairly close to the right edge.  We've never lived anywhere before where the changes were so visible to us.  It's pretty cool!

Well, that's it for today.  Have a good one and be safe.

Quiet Days

 Things are pretty quiet out here in rural Nevada.  Like most of the Southwest US we've been under a heat warning which, around here, means temps around 115F (46C) though Death Valley which is 50 miles away got up to 130F(54C) the other day.  

I went into town to get gas the other day and looked over at this group of birds sheltering under the plant trying to keep out of the sun.  They even have their mouths open trying for a little more 'cool' air.

We also are getting a lot of smoke from the fires over in California.  It doesn't smell like smoke but there is a haze and you can't see the mountains like normal.  Heaven knows how many thousands of acres are destroyed and how many more will be!  

 

This was our sunrise this morning.  You could actually look at it with your bare eyes!  I haven't done anything to that photo except reduce the size.  As I said, you can't really smell the smoke but it is certainly there.  There were a couple balloons flying but they were too far away to photograph.

Bars are closed by the coronavirus pandemic.  Some, in the really really rural areas, are being allowed to open but none in our town.  We are going out to lunch as usual.  Well, except for wearing masks and tipping quite a bit more than usual!    California had rolling blackouts recently and we were warned that we might have some but so far not.  Of course I'm happy enough about that!  Gee, I might have to sit here in the dark with my wife and a candle.  Horrible!

Our daughter, who is unmarried, is always asking my wife what we find to talk about.  I guess it must feel strange to her but for us, there's always something.  A couple weeks ago my wife took the car to a doctor's appointment.  She didn't make it a mile before she saw something that she just had to tell me about and she called me.  The same thing happens to me:  if she isn't along I just see so many things I want to share with her.  Weird, I know, but at least I'm pretty sure that sitting in the dark with her would be ok.

The election is getting closer and closer and I'm worried.  All this crap about the postal service not being able to deliver ballots; removing sorting equipment; allowing things to sit around spoiling (and in the case of baby chicks, dying) because it's been de-funded is so stupid.  I swear I've moved to some 3rd world country where they just can't afford modern convienences like mail service.   Of course having Steve Bannon arrested was interesting.  I wonder if Mr. Trump will try to pardon him before his trial just in case Biden wins the election.  It fits in with lots of other things he's done.

Gotta go.  Keep washing those hands, wearing those masks and, if you are eligible, VOTE!!!

What a slow poke!

 I've been wanting to add a list of SOME of the blogs I read for quite a while but was too lazy to work on it.  So today I attacked Blogger to try and add that list.  Oh shit!  Sorry about the language but I'll bet it took me an hour to get that little list added.  And it's not nearly as long as it should be!  I'm going to work on making it longer now that I have the secret but OMG it took a while to figure out that seemingly simple thing.  Ok, I can breath again.  

Not much going on around here but we are having fun anyway.  We have almost always had a dog but our last dog passed away late in 2013.  Before she died we had purchased tickets for a Viking cruise in China and that was the start of six years of heavy travel.  But we missed having a dog so we decide to adopt one from our local animal shelter.  This is Ollie (Oliver) when we got him at the end of November last year.

They said he was a year and a half old.  Well, that's obviously wrong.  They said he had stickers so deep in his fur that they had to shave him.  They said they did that in September when he was taken in 2 months before that photo was taken.  Our vet said they had shaved him too closely and his hair follicles might be damaged and the hair might not grow back!  Well, after two months there wasn't much there. 

 Anyway, we kept on feeding him and giving him medications and now we've got this.

He  has grown hair differently in different places:  his neck hair has guard hair but not fur; his shoulders haven't grown much at all; his butt is totally regrown; his back is spotty but coming along.  What you don't see is his limp.  He simply cannot walk normally and after trying three different kinds of pain medication we are kind of giving up.  He also cannot walk long distances.  Going down to the mailbox has him ready for a nap.  Of course we've over fed him; he's gained 20lb!  

He is also definitely MY dog.  He will put up with my wife but she certainly isn't his favorite.  We come home and he will walk right past her to come up to me.  It is embarrassing!  Of course it annoys her too.  But we are getting along.  

We don't expect much time with Ollie.  He is clearly more of a 10 year old dog than a year and a half.  If we have him for another 2 years we will both be amazed.  In the mean time, we'll try to show him some of the western United States in our truck and trailer.  I've build a little staircase so he can get into the backseat of the truck.  I was worried about hurting him lifting him in and out and he certainly couldn't jump!  

I'll keep updating you on Ollie as we go on.  In the mean time, this is his usual position.

He sleeps a LOT!  Take care and keep washing those hands!

Wow! It's been a while!

I'm not sure why it's been so long since I updated this; I guess the general dullness is setting in.  Anyway I don't really have much to report.  It is quiet around here.  Our county has a population of only about 40,000 but we have managed to become a 'yellow' county in terms of the coronavirus.  That meant that the bars all got shut down again.  It is too bad but realistically if they weren't closed they would probably be filled with people from Vegas which is in a 'red' county. 

We still have a few people who are convinced that it is their right to not wear a mask even though the govenor has made it a rule.  It seems simple to me:  wear one and maybe not get sick or skip it and have a much better chance of catching this crap.  It is inconvenient and uncomfortable but I really do not want to catch something nasty like coronavirus.  In fact I heard that mask wearing might very well reduce the number of flu cases this winter since it too is a virus.  Who knows!

My wife and I usually get up and get on our walk before the sun rises; or about 05:50.  It is a pain to get up so early but it is a lot nicer walking when it is 65-70F(18-20C) than 105F (40C).  We also get to see the sun gradually light up the mountains in the west.  They absolutely glow golden starting at the very top and slowly moving down the mountain side.  We also get to see the local balloons if it is calm enough.  Usually they get slowly blown north but once in a while they land near us. 

This guy was landing but he must have been coming down too fast because you can see the flame from his burner slowing his descent. 

We have been getting quite a bit of smoke from the Apple fire over near Los Angeles.  You can kind of see it just above the mountains in the photo of the balloon.  They say it is 30% contained so there are still 20,000 acres burning.  We could have this stuff with us for quite a while yet.  It is only about 150 miles (240km) from here as the crow flies. 

We here in the US have just under 3 months until we get to vote.  I'm hoping that Mr. Biden can manage not to screw this up.  This is Trumpland around here.  We pass at least 8 or 10 Trump banners when we take our morning walk.  Of course there are more whenever we go other places.  I just cannot understand how people can support that idiot.  Of course I keep reading all kinds of things about how if Mr. Biden wins the economy will collapse and we'll all be living in a socialist society.  Bah humbug!  Yes, there might be some movement towards more social programs but I can't see any of them being very revolutionary.  Yes, rich people might have to pay more tax.  They can afford it!  Companies might have to pay more tax; hell, some have been getting away with paying NO tax.  That isn't right either.  Illegal immigration bothers a lot of people and I can understand that.  I think we should make the path to citizenship easier; then compelling people to do it makes more sense. 

Well, I'm going to quit whining.  Thanks for stopping by & keep washing those hands!