Aging is such fun! Ha!

 I've been reading a few blogs daily for some time; one being thebayfieldbunch.com.  It is some information about a couple, Kelly and Al, who did quite a lot of rv travel and finally retired to a place in Canada.  The lady, Kelly, passed away yesterday after a severe bout of liver disease.  It is terrible to hear of her passing but not being ill every single day; not being in pain every single day; it's a relief in some ways.  

My wife broke her ankle 2 years ago and still isn't walking well.  Her doctors aren't managing to do anything right!  But she's not ill.  Having her taking every sort of pain medication and just having it knock her out; that's a hell on earth!  I feel so sorry for Al but at least Kelly's awful illness is over. 

 I'm lucky; there isn't much wrong with me but there is always tomorrow!  And in the mean time I read about Mr. Trump and the bunch of rich assholes he is going to inflict on us.  And that's worse than most illness!  There aren't any words strong enough to say what I feel about those idiots.  The one redeeming feature is that the folks who voted for Trump will know soon enough how they screwed up when they voted him into office.  

If you've bought anything electronic lately; that price will go up.  If you've bought a vehicle; that price will go up.  If you've bought lunch; that price will go up.  Oh, and your Medicare coverage will go down.  And your GI retirement will go down.  And your social security income will go down.  And finding someone to fill jobs at your business will be even more difficult.  And finding someone to repair things around your house will be more difficult. 

Don't worry, voting for a draft dodger, felon and molestor of women will come back to bite those folks.  Oh, and then there is the total unknown he chose as Vice President.  When Mr. Trump is declared incompetent, which might be pretty soon from the way he talks in interviews and on stage; then we are going to get more surprises.  I can't even guess what will happen then!  

Life goes on.  Keep away from those sick folks and keep washing your hands!

Well, it's gone Thanksgiving!

 Yes, I know it's been a while since I posted but I've got a great excuse:  travel!  Yep, we've been off to see the family.  Our daughter is stop one in Oklahoma; our son is stop two in Arkansas and my wife's uncle is stop three in Florida.  No, we don't party for days and days with them.  We stop for a couple of days then head on.  It's still a 3 week trip!  OMG!  Our 16 year old truck is getting close to 100,000 miles!  In addition, my wife was on one of the DNA sites and discovered she has two half brothers who are living in Florida!  So we got to meet them and their wives; they are all very nice people.  One of the half brothers is a couple years younger than my wife (early 70's); the other is about the same as our son (early 50's).  Talk about different lives!

We have been talking about moving back to Florida; this right-wing rural Nevada gets kind of old.  We'd been talking about St. Petersburg, FL.  Well, that's a wash!  I was looking at places on Zillow and the prices were just crazy; not to mention nasty looking.  And the traffic was on the other side of awful.  Ok, maybe we'll be looking elsewhere or even staying around here.  Who knows? 

My wife was talking about going down the Texas coast and checking out Brownsville.  I just couldn't do it.  We'd just been in too many motel rooms and the thought of adding three or four more to the list was just more than I could do.  5,600 miles in 3 weeks is a lot for this old geezer.  And, of course, there are the rest of the world's problems going on.

I'm confident that all those Trump supporters are going to figure out what a bad decision they made.  And those idiots who didn't vote; what can you say about them?  I mean I already started with the word 'idiot'!  It's got to go downhill from there.  Already one of Mr. Trump's cabinet possibles has dropped out:  I mean Mr. Trump knows how to molest women, does he need instruction on molesting underage women?  Gaetz could do the job, of course, but, well, who thinks Mr. Trump need instruction in that area?  But, really, putting a tariff on imported goods will just raise prices:  Walmart has already suggested that prices will rise with the tariffs.  Don't worry, it will be Biden's fault!  And listen to Mr. Vance about women and children! 

I cannot understand a lot of the people who are supposed to have voted for Mr. Trump.  I mean why would Latino people vote for someone who wants to eject immigrants?  Why would ANY woman vote for a molester?  Or someone who supports a ban on abortion?  Why would any law abiding person vote for a felon?  I guess I could go on but you get the idea:  WTF is with the American public?  I'm an Army vet.  One of my First Sergeants was of Mexican extraction:  he was great!  My wife was molested by her stepfather as a child; why would anyone vote for a molester?  I'm thinking using a gun on them would be too easy.  Using a whip or just a stick would be lots better especially if it was more painful and took longer.  No, I'm not threatening Mr. Trump but if someone else were do do so.....

I have one final excuse for not posting anything lately:  I bought a new computer and getting the thing to work is driving me crazy!  First of all it's got all kinds of new software that I've never even heard of.  Then it's got Windows 11.  Between all the weird software and the new operating system; well, I may as well be using a machine using Chinese!  Maybe one of these days I'll get some new photos loaded but don't hold your breath!  Take care & keep washing those hands.

Getting close to no daylight savings time!

We are close to the end of daylight savings time.  I don't really care about it but my wife hates it!  She wants her hour back!  I'm not sure why she's so against it but she'll be happier in a couple of days.  I guess we could move to Arizona where the whole state doesn't want it but, yeah, not worth it!  Anyway, we are doing our usual fumbling around trying not to screw things up too much.  I had fun going to the grocery this afternoon and spending $100 on mostly candy, ice cream, wine and beer.  Hey, that's what happens when an old guy who's had 2 glasses of wine gets to go to the store on his own.

Actually the temps are getting better around here; like 80 F (26C) as a high.  That is a very nice situation!   It is a bit chilly at night too so we are happy campers.  Well, not campers; we gave that to the American Legion.  I still think they were ripped off by the company who was 'helping' them but at least they got something.  

I know I've talked before about my family's military history and my wife's family's history but I just can't get over having a convicted felon and draft dodger running for President!  Jeez!  And we live in a very Republican area with lots of Trump signs.  What are those people thinking???  We actually joined the Republican party when we moved here because it's not unusual for there to be 4 Republicans running for an office and 1 other person either Democrat or no party.  If you want to have any choice you have to be in the party.  Of course, being from Iowa, I started out as a Republican.  I don't think I've ever joined another party but I've never been a big supporter of either party.  I've got better things to do with my time:  like pet the dog or the cat back when we had one!  Do I need to say that my wife and I both mailed in our ballots a few days ago voting for Harris?  Duh!

I'm sure I've complained about how my phone isn't connecting to either my new laptop or the old one.  It's still happening so I've got no new photos so share.  Of course there aren't many anyway because it's kind of dull out here but still!  Maybe next lifetime!  Take care and keep up with the vaccinations. 

The middle of October already!

This growing older is weird.  There are some things you kind of expect:  slower walking, pains here and there, memory lapses.  But there are weird things too:  I used to have hair on my legs; no more!  I have a few hairs on my forearm that are 3-4 inches long!  I have unexplainable bad moments; the other day I suddenly wanted to vomit.  It's not like I'd been drinking or I'd had bad food or anything else.  Actually I was brushing my teeth getting ready for bed and suddenly I was ready to vomit.  The next morning everything was normal.  Weird stuff!

Aside from that weirdness things are going along ok.  We have finally gotten out of the 100+ degree days and we actually took a drive this morning with the car windows down.  OMG!  We had a bunch of stuff from a case sale at the local grocery that I'd purchased for the local VFW food bank.  Then we drove around the area a bit checking out a few places we'd never seen.  Our 'town' is about 10 miles long (north to south) and about 4 miles wide (east to west).  We come pretty close to the California border but no one wants to live out in the middle of nowhere (our town) and have to pay California taxes!  Our 'town' used to have a town council and employees.  Then 6 or 8 years ago they decided that being a town was expensive so they canceled all that and we became an unincorporated town.  I suspect all the town employees just became county employees but who knows.  Anyway, things seem to be looking up for the 'town'.  There is quite a lot of building going on.  We have five new houses being built within 6 or 8 blocks of our house.  We are talking about maybe 3 new houses built in the previous 10 years so it's quite a rush.  I'm talking about regular houses; probably 50% of our town is manufactured housing but it looks like that percentage is going down.

 

I was talking about the local government.  Here's something you don't see every day.  Zoom zoom!

I'm spending WAY too much time worrying about the election.  I can't stand some of the things Mr. Trump is saying.  I mean immigrants eating cats and dogs!  Not being able to pronounce words like 'Midwestern' and 'evangelical'.  And he keeps claiming 100,000's of people at his rallies.  Jeez!  What an asshole!  And did I forget he's a felon, draft-dodging womanizer?  

Have a good one and for God's sake vote for Harris.  Take care!

Hot and cool!

Well, we are having high temps in the 105 F (40C) range and the lows in the 50 F (10C).  Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but that's where we live!  Crazyville!  Just to prove it we are expected to overwhelmingly want to re-elect Donald Trump for President!  Oh shit, I sure hope the rest of the country is smarter.  I mean we are talking about a draft dodger, woman assulting, self-aggrandizing felon.  Hmmm, do you get what I think of the man?  

We haven't had heat like this so late in the year that we can remember.  It's usually like 80F (26C) for a high and that's pretty nice.  Oh well, we didn't get torn apart like North Carolina.  That was awful!  Looking at people's houses just torn apart, their vehicles crushed, it's just awful.  I feel for them.  We have so many memories in our houses:  family members, things from them, pieces from places we've been, people we've known.  Losing all that has to be just crushing; not to mention the loss of the buildings!  And having to clean all that loss.  

Meanwhile in Nevada we are just crying about the heat.  Yeah, it's nasty but shit oh dear!  It makes me feel pretty petty for sure.  Anyway, I recently got to the great old age of 76.  Nothing earthshaking but it's another year.  So I bought a new PC.  My current one is getting old so I guess it's time for Windows 11.  Unfortunately nothing works the way it used to!  I can't get the notebook app to work properly; there are a couple of internet apps that are just crazy; transfering data from the old machine to the new one is just a joke.  Grrrr!  No photos for my blog because I can't upload them!  Grrrr!  Yeah, I know I'm older but only a few days ago I could do this stuff!  Just another day in paradise.  Take care & keep away from those sick folk.

Life in the slow lane

Things are just perking along here about 20 mph under the speed limit; well, unless the limit is 20!  I got a message the other day from a guy I've known since I was about 4; his wife of 56 years just passed away from cancer.  Damn, I'm such an idiot.  I can't figure out how to tell him how sorry I am for him.  But it's got to have been a year and a half of hell watching the woman he loved going down hill.  Actually, he invited me to be in their wedding; it's the only church wedding I've ever even seen much less being a part of!  She was a lovely woman who loved her husband, her community, her country.  You just can't say enough good things about her.  

In other news, our town is having a fall festival this weekend.  They have a parade planned for this morning; we are going to be hiding in our house!  The street department started putting out signs a couple of days ago and I'm sure visitors were wondering why there were detour signs all over the place beside the road but not IN the road.  Well, they will be IN the road in a couple of hours.  We got .03 inches of rain yesterday afternoon; I'm sure everyone is hoping it won't happen again this afternoon!  Who wants to go to a rodeo or a carnival or just a parade in the rain.  But, after all, it is Nevada; they'll be safe from the rain.

These days the news is totally full of the election.  We have quite a number of people around here with Trump flags and signs.  I cannot imagine why any normal, somewhat conservative, person could support that lying draft dodger/felon for president of the United States.  But what really scares me is that he is even older than me and I think my mental faculties are declining; his have to be even worse from the way he acts and what he says.  I mean he thinks there was an audience at the debate with Kamala?  And that leads me to his vice presidental choice; really?  OMG, what a weirdo.  And if Mr. Trump were president and his doctors declared him incompetent we'd have this Vance guy in his place!  Well, heaven help us.

I got a kick out of Kamala Harris talking with Oprah Winfrey and saying that if someone broke into her house she would shoot them.  In our house it would be a race to see if my wife shot the idiot first or if I beat her to it.  I got my first pistol from my dad when I think I was 16.  We had a store and sold almost anything except food and one time dad ordered this pistol and I thought it was so cool!  And then it disappeared from the counter, apparently sold.  And then it showed up as a birthday gift!  Wow, and I've still got it and I still know how to use it.

To end all this rambling I've got a photo of the full moon disappearing into the mountains west of us the other day.  Take care & be careful with all those sick folks out there!

 

Have I mentioned it's still warm?

 Jeez!  This warm weather thing is getting old but what ya gonna do?  Yeah, not much!  And it's only gotten up to 105F here (40.5C) so that's not an unheard of temp.  Of course the a/c in our car has decided to take a break.  That's unpleasant!  Especially since we had it repaired to the tune of $2,400 in April.  Needless to say the garage is going to be helping us with that. 

I've just gotten a new PC.  It's an HP with an i7 core and a couple of TB of storage.  It's been a long while since I've had to deal with a new PC and boy is it a giant pain in the ass!  I'm used to various pieces of software and now I'm learning I was using antiques.  I was using this office software that was last updated in 2011 for heaven's sake.  Well, that's dead.  And I go to copy my photographs to a flash drive and it turns out 128GB isn't enough room.  I've got nearly 45,000 photos on the darn computer.  Well, that's why I wanted the 2 TB hard drive on the new one.  

On the health front we are all screwed up.  My wife's two broken toes have mended but now they are cramping when she walks.  My sciatica is still a pain in the butt (sorry, I should have resisted that).  And our dog's right front paw is still growing cysts between the toes.  This growing old does have disadvantages.  I had to go to the DMV yesterday to get my driver's license renewed.  They have an online method for doing that but it wouldn't work for me so I asked the clerk about it.  She just smiled.  "You're over 70 and we want people that age to come in and be tested."  Shit!  But I can't blame them either.  You want to be sure they are still breathing and all that.

One of the things we really like is the mountains that surround us.  Here is a sunrise from last month.  It's fun watching the sun move from one end of the mountains to the other.

And we do feed the local birds.  Here I haven't filled the feeder but the thistle is still pretty popular!

It's ok.  I'll get the other one filled too!  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and staying away from the sick folks.

Well, it's still warm.

Yep, summer in the great desert is still warm.  But that's not to say it can't be pretty.  Especially in the early morning when it's not too hot!

I'm always saying that looking at those mountains is one of the reasons we like living here and it's certainly true.  Driving around and seeing people with Trump 2024 flags is certainly NOT one of the good things but I guess they get to have their opinions too.  

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of our front door with tons of dead crickets on the floor.  A few days later I saw this series of photos posted from northern Nevada.

At least we aren't the only ones with the problem!  I'm hearing one of our neighbors using a blower almost every day going around his house blowing the darned things away.  However the bug population at our house has dropped to almost zero so I'm hoping that the problem is going/has gone away.  

Our outside temps are dropping a bit but I'm sure that's just a momentary thing.  Still, there is quite a difference between 104F and 112F (40C and 44.4C).  It will be another month or so before the drop is to the point where you want to be outside!  

A couple of years ago we contacted our local electricity company (Valley Electric aka VEA) and asked about solar panels for generating electricity.  They have a subsidiary that they want you to use (gee!) so we ended up spending about $25,000 on solar panels.  Our house faces north so the panels, mounted on the south side, aren't visible when you look at the house.  And, do they work, you ask.  Yep.  Here's the usage info from the bill covering 6/23 to 7/23 of this year.  It's stupid I think but the power from the panels is sent to the company and then the company sends out power to our house.  It turns out that the panels are almost covering our electric needs even when the a/c is on 24/7 (actually our house is all electric; no gas at all).  In fact, over the year we end up with about 3 months of extra energy created vs energy used.  Of course they take that and sell it to others but that's the way things work when there is no competition.

I'm being obsessed the the Presidential election.  I'm not sure why; I never had any idea that Kamala Harris was alive until she became President Biden's VP.  Never heard of Tim Walz or JD Vance either.  Still a couple of those people are going to be running our country in something under 6 months.  I was worried that President Biden was getting a little old to be running the country but Mr. Trump isn't any spring chicken either!  Actually, him having Vance as his VP makes me a little afraid because there is at least say a 20% chance that some illness might happen to Mr. Trump.  And then Mr. Vance would be acting President/the next President.  Yeah, that does worry me.  I've been following a blog that is pretty anti-Trump and it makes some really good points quoting printed articles and sharing cartoons from all over the place.  For sure it's not a pro-Trump site but I like it!

Well, that's the news from this corner of the desert.  Have a great day and keep washing those hands and staying away from the sick people!

Summer, what fun!

No, not really!  Not in southern Nevada anyway.  Our dog has been limiting himself to one run out to do his bathroom duties; first thing in the morning.  Well, I kind of knew what was going on but this?!?!

Yeah, that's the temp of those rocks that fill the back yard.  That's 160F or 71C.  Well, hell, I wouldn't want to walk on that in my bare feet either!  I was expecting something warm but that is just way warmer than I was expecting.  Good dog!

I got my shot last Thursday which was supposed to help my spinal nerve problems and I have to say it did change things but that's not to say fixed them!  It just kind of moved the pain around a bit.  We'll see what they have to say when I can get in to talk with them again.  

The Presidential election is about all that's on the news these days and I have to say I'm pretty happy about how it is moving along.  I should say I'm originally from Iowa, a Republican state, and even today my wife and I are registered Republicans.  Actually that is simply so we can have some voice here.  There will be 4 people running for a position in the county government, all Republican, so whoever wins the primary will automatically get the position.  There just won't be a Democratic or Independent candidate.  It says something about the number of Democrats in the county for sure!  ANYWAY, we will certainly be voting for Kamala Harris for President and are, so far, pretty happy with the choice of Tim Walz for VP.  

One of my HUGE problems with Mr. Trump is the whole Project 2025 thing.  There is some serious crap in that.  Things like purging civil servants, pardon everyone in the Jan. 6 invasion of the capital, enact an abortion ban, reverse student debt forgiveness, cut social security, cut Medicare, abolish the Dept. of Education, ban books, attack LGBTQ+ people, end climate protections, deregulate corporations and the oil industry, put immigrants in detention camps and more!  OMG!  It makes me think that living in another country might be better!  Well, I guess that is one way to reduce the number of people who want to move to this country.  Shit!

We do have some fun in our lives though.  We were going to a supermarket for something the other day and saw this official vehicle.

Can't you just see it in a speeding chase?  LOL  Well, actually, it was being driven by a couple of the sheriff's civilian helpers.  They were apparently helping the supermarket folks with something or maybe just buying donuts for the real cops.  

Anyway, that's all the news that's fit to type from around here.  Hope you are having as much fun.  Keep washing those hands and staying away from the sick folks.

Just cruising along

 Don't have much to talk about because life is being pretty dull and no photos for the same reason.  That's going to change next week but that's because of doctor visits and stuff like that.  Nothing really big until Thursday when I'm supposed to get some sort of spinal injection for my spinal stinosis.  We'll see how that goes.  I saw this doctor on June 20 and August 1 is the first day he could "fit me in".  What a crap medical system we have in this country!

Yesterday we couldn't see the mountains in any direction.  That's amazing for us because usually we've got them around us about 300 of the 360 degrees(there aren't any directly east of us).  My wife suggested someone had said it was because of the Chico, CA fire but that's over 400 miles away so I'm kind of doubtful.  Anyway, it did clear up by the afternoon and this morning is quite nice.  Heck, it's only 76F (24C) outside so that's great!  No fear, we'll still get over 100F (38C) before the day is over.

I said it was nice and clear in the morning but then about 10:00 the mountains started to disappear into cloud or dust or whatever.  That only lasted for a couple hours though and now, at about 3 pm it's nice and clear again.  Weirdness for sure!   

My wife's toes are getting better and she is able to walk about a bit now.  It's obviouly not comfortable but she doesn't need the wheelchair any more so that's good!  We are still spending a lot of time in our recliners.  It's not very good for your health but it isn't painful!  We like to give to the local VFW Food Bank so we bought some stuff via Smith's Food and Drug's pickup service the other day and this morning she went out to inventory what we received.  We think it's all there but we had trouble finding 2 small packets of tuna.  But, really, if the picker was that hungry, well, maybe it would have gone to them anyway.  While she was having that fun, I was working on cleaning the front porch again.  Talk about life in the fast lane!  We've still got zillions of bugs out there.  We keep killing them but they seem to still re-produce.  Who knows?  We got a UPS delivery the other day and the guy said our porch wasn't the worst he's seen.  Now that's hard to believe but I'd like to!  

I don't like to talk about politics here but I have to admit that I'm happy that President Biden has taken himself out of the race for another term.  And I admire him for the graceful way he is doing it.  It's not because I don't like what he's done or that I'm worried about his abilities but I just don't see 75-85 year old people as appropriate leaders.  I'm 75 and I have to say I have trouble remembering words sometimes; my balance isn't what it was 20 years ago; making an even 20 minute speech WITH a teleprompter would be problematic.  Of course, I've got those same worries about Mr. Trump because he too is even older than me.  But with him I've got other problems:  draft dodger; convicted felon; molestor of women; and those are the easy to remember/prove things.  Our daughter was here a few days ago and I had to tell her I'd much rather be choosing to vote for someone her age (50's) than someone my age.  It's time for a new generation to take over.

Anyway, have a good one and try to stay away from those sick people!

Just some quiet time...

We aren't doing anything much these days.  It is usually in the 104-110F temp range (40-43C) so staying inside in the a/c is pretty tempting.  We have some new houses being built in our neighborhood for first time in at least 5 or 6 years.  This isn't a 'development' where you see a builder doing 8 or 10 at a time.  These are 1 acre lots (something over 4,000 sq. m.) so it's not like your back fence is right in your face.  There is plenty of that in other parts of town.  Of course we don't have a golf course and we have to have our own well for water.

I had a doctor's appointment the other day and when that was over I called my wife to see if there was something I should be picking up.  She didn't answer.  Well, that is kind of worrying.  When I got home I discovered she'd fallen and twisted her toes!  We decided to check with her doctor and they suggested an x-ray and darned if she hadn't broken two of her toes!  So now she is back in her wheelchair for a bit.  It does slow you down when you cannot walk.  And it gives me a lot more to do.  LOL 

We've been having a nasty infiltration of bugs lately.  They are mostly extra small cricket like critters.  For some reason they really like our front door area.  It is on the north side of the house and covered so I imagine it is cooler there than other places but it is really just nasty.  I've been sweeping it every day and they just keep coming.  Here's from a couple days ago where I'd swept them away from the door but not off the concrete quite yet.

We did have a nice sunrise the other day.

Then yesterday I had to go to the store in the mid-afternoon.  I pulled the car out of the garage and it was raining!  I was so shocked I had to go back into the house and tell my wife.  Of course this is Nevada and rain on our house doesn't mean rain a quarter of a mile away.  Sure enough it was dry as a bone by the time I got off our street.  There was this rather nice rainbow though complete with the moon peeking out from under the cloud.

I guess that's all the news from this corner.  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and stay away from the sick people!

July is moving along!

Jeez, I know I'm getting older and older but this speeding up of time is just crazy!  It was only a couple days ago that I took this on the 4th.

Yeah, I didn't even go outside to take the photo.  I wonder why I was such an idiot?  Hmmm, maybe this?

Those are dead and dying bugs in front of our front door!  I've been cleaning it every day or two.  That's just wrong but it's been going on for the last 10 days or so.  The only thing I can think of is that the porch is shaded on the North side of the house so it has to be quite a bit cooler than being out in the sunshine.  And when we are talking 115 F (46C); well, it's nasty out there in the sun! 

Of course those bugs like the ceiling too.

Needless to say I've been spraying around the doors.  We are still getting bugs into the house.  Actually, the population is nothing like outside but finding a dozen every day is kind of depressing.  

We have finally tried leaving Gus, the dog, alone for an hour or so while we go out to lunch.  He tends to find a place where he can see the front door, the garage door and the back door; and that's where he stays!  It's a big improvement over last year where he would be barking and running around.  

And just to prove that I'm not the only one with a camera on my phone, here's a photo my wife took of the sunrise this morning.

That cloud cover made for a nice morning.  Not cool but under 80F (27C).  Well, that's all the news from out here in nowhere.  Have a good one and keep washing those hands!

No, I did not watch the debate!

Ok, I started watching it but after about 10 minutes of listening to Mr. Trump lie I just couldn't take it any more.  Wow!  And to think that there are people who actually admire him!  What can they be thinking?  And poor old Joe Biden looked so, well, old.  It was just nasty.

The 4th of July is coming up pretty quickly and that's a big deal around here.  We have at least 3 huge fireworks stores in our little town.  Of course you are only allowed to use fireworks at a public area well out of town; not in your back yard or anywhere like that.  And people in Las Vegas can't use fireworks; people in California can't use fireworks; but somehow the stores stay in business.  Hmmmm.  Do you think some folks are breaking the law or maybe just storing fireworks for a day when they will be made legal? 

These folks usually have a flag flying but when it comes to a special holiday they do kind of add to the display.  And, yes, the business is named "Area 51 Fireworks"; a nod to the well known extraterrestrial area just over the mountains from us.  It's maybe 50 miles 'as the crow flies'.  Actually I was on a civilian board advising the government on communicating with the public about the Nevada Test Site.  We got to visit much of the Test Site and even got a long distance view of Area 51.  We were no way close enough to actually see anything aside from dusty desert.

We had an interesting morning a couple days ago.  I really liked the cloud layer.  And it was fairly cool since the sun wasn't baking your body.

Still, that was unusual.  It is usually 'not a cloud in the sky' and something over 100F (38C).  You can tell it's warm when the birds are hiding in the shade wherever they can find it.

Well, that's all that's fit to print this morning.  Keep washing those hands and keep away from the sick people!

Nothing very exciting here.

 Well, it's been right around 3 weeks since I've updated the old blog.  I have an excuse though; my laptop just spent 4 days in the repair shop!  I'm not really sure what it's problem was; things just weren't working right but they did figure out that the battery was deader than anything so I imagine that was it.  It was a $40 part and a $50 install but let me tell you being without a computer for that long was a terrible experience!  I wasn't aware how much of my life is tied to this little thing.  Well, now things are back to normal and I can even update the blog.

The news is all about the election and I've got to admit that I'm spending way too much time reading about it.  There isn't a thing I can do about it until I vote on Election Day and reading all the guesses about what the various courts are going to say about Mr. Trump and his legal problems are just a waste of time.  I have been looking at https://jobsanger.blogspot.com/.  He posts a lot of very insightful comments about Mr. Trump.  I try to find other things to read but, darn it, there doesn't seem to be a lot of other news except the stupid crimes (including bad driving) that people are committing.  I'll tell you, I wish people could suddenly start being nicer to one another!  And not just in this country; those wars going on in other countries are not making my days any brighter either.

I did get a nice sunset photo a few days ago.

And here is a shot of the moon going down behind the mountains.

We have transitioned into summer around here.  Our days are in the 104F - 107F range (40C - 42C); the nights getting down to 65F - 75F (18C - 24C).  Humidity is in the 10-15% range.  Going outside and remaining in the shade is possible but I cannot imagine how the people who have to work out in the sun manage it.  I'd be sweating buckets.  I am thinking about those folks because for the first time in a very long time we are having houses built in our neighborhood.  There is one that has roofing on it already and the wallboard is up.  There is one that only just has it's foundation and there are two that are just holes in the ground.  Around here you dig a hole about 3 feet deep then fill that with gravel or something similiar for the foundation to sit upon.  We have areas in the valley where if you don't do that your foundation will be breaking up in a couple of years.  And that would be nasty for the builder, the realtor, the plumber, the purchaser and anyone else involved in the thing.  Houses in our area also have to have a well dug (ours is 200 feet deep per our well guy - around 60M) and a septic tank/field installed.  It's all very nice but far from cheap.  Houses that are on the re-sale market are in the $450-600 thousand area.  Of course there are some that go way higher!  Needless to say, when we bought this house 16 years ago things were a lot cheaper.

I've been having a lot of trouble standing up and walking is pretty nasty as well.  After all kinds of medical fooling around I finally got an MRI of the lumbar region of my spine.  There are 7 bones down in that area and the doctor looking at the results found something wrong with almost every one.  Now I'm scheduled for some sort of spinal injection to ease the impact of my spinal stenosis.  If that doesn't work then we'll be looking at more surgery and I'd sure love to avoid that.  I've got to admit that while the doctors have all been pretty nice, they sure take their time about scheduling you for care.  That injection is scheduled for August 1st!  I wonder how many patients that doctor has waiting for care.

That's probably all the news that's fit to print.  Take care and try avoiding all the sick people out there.

Mr. Trump and his 34 felonies....

Wow!  What a news flash!  I mean it's not like he shot 34 people or even beat them up but 34 felonies!  That isn't something that normal people should accept.  Of course we've all seen quotes from 15 or 20 Republican members of Congress (or Fox News) talking about how very wrong the verdict was. Of course several of those people are hoping to be the next Vice President under Trump.  Doesn't everyone cover up for the person who might be their next boss?

I was reading a guy's blog today (jobsanger.blogspot.com) where he pointed out that the Republican party used to be known as the party of law and order.  He's pretty sure that isn't the case any more and I can't say I disagree.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure the Democratic party has that honor either.  

I must say that I'm not really thrilled with either party.  My first, and simplest, complait is that both candidates are going to be older than I am!  I mean where are the 50 year old candidates?  Oh yeah, they are more busy trying to get laws passed to make money or slash taxes for their supporters. One of the things I've always liked about Joe Biden is that he seems to be someone who can work with members of both parties. Maybe there are some members of Congress who are doing that work these days but they sure aren't getting the credit/newscoverage they deserve.

At the end of the day I'm just thrilled that Mr. Trump was found guilty. I really cannot find anything good in the man. He started out being a draft dodger during the Vietnam War era. In business he clearly has lied and cheated others as well as the government. I heard, and I know many others heard, a tape recording made while he was being interviewed for some reason in which he claimed he really liked fondling women's genitalia even if he didn't know them. And lately his speechs have become totally confused babble.

One of the things that surprised me was the list of things that he will no longer be able to do as a convicted felon. There are apparently 40 countries that do not allow felons to visit. Of course the various states have their own rules that include things like voting, the right to own guns and various social benefits.

It's an interesting world and this is certainly not clearing things up! Let's see what tomorrow brings. Take care and keep washing those hands!

Memorial Day

Just another day but no, Memorial Day, a day to think about people who have given their all for our country.  I had to look up my post from last year where I explained our families service.  That's what I usually think about on Memorial Day.  This year let me not be so self-centered.

Our small town has a city park/playground/resting area named Ian Deutch Memorial Park.  Ian Deutch was a young man who became a sheriff's deputy.  He got married and fathered two children.  He also joined the US National Guard.  Well, his unit got called up and got sent to Afganistan.  Yeah, not a very safe place.  Yet, he returned and had a couple of weeks to recover from all that before he resumed his job as a deputy sheriff.  On his first night on duty back in 2010 he was one of two officers called out on a domestic problem at one of the local casinos and in the midst of all that crap he was shot and killed.  His first night back on his admittedly dangerous job but, really, after surviving time in a war zone?  He was only 27 years old.

Today is the day to remember and honor those people who have given so much.  There is a saying about how "all gave some, some gave all".  That's what today is about.

People who are helping others are hardly rare:  doctors and nurses spring to mind along with teachers but even servers in restaurants are there to help you. Usually we concentrate on the folks who are more immediately helping:  the EMS folks and the police but it's still true that there are plenty of people working to make life easier for others.  I hate to tell you this but as you age you'll probably notice those 'unusual' helpers more!  

Enough of all that!  Personally it's probably going to be a pretty quiet day.  I've already promised my wife a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast.  If she can't get meat she'll go for cheese!  It is forecast to be in the low 90's today (32C) so we won't be running around outside too much.  Maybe a quick grocery store run but that will probably be it.  The week is full of fun:  a couple of Physical Therapy visits, a visit with the doctor who ordered my MRI, a visit with the vet  to see how the dog is getting along.  Nothing but fun! 

 

 So, hava a good one and try to keep safe - without help! 

What the heck?

I follow quite a few bloggers who publish every day or so. I just cannot imagine how they manage it.  I guess I could take a photo of our dog and post him every day but, well, how dull!  Earlier in the year I could have taken photos of the weeds flowering across the road but, again, not actually exciting.  

Now yesterday I got all excited looking at cruise line ideas.  We do love cruising.  We went on a Caribbean cruise way back in the day (1997) but that was really because the old SS France had been renamed as the SS Norway and was clearly on it's last legs.  I don't know but she was somehow important to me so I talked my wife into taking this little cruise.  I don't know if we were just being cheap or if we were just slow but we got a cabin way up in the bow of the ship.  The sides of the cabin were, yeah, curved up just like the bow on the outside!  The ship was a deep water vessel so couldn't go into many of the ports and had to anchor out.  Of course being in the bow we got to hear the anchor chain quite well!  This was back in the day when you had to dress for dinner; I don't even own a suit any more!  

In 2002  we cruised to Mexico on the Statendam to celebrate my wife's parents wedding anniversary; I'm thinking it was 40 years but don't quote me on that!  It was a family cruise so the ship was kind of secondary.  

Then we kind of stopped sailing.  We had a trailer and starting checking out the United States.  Eventually we traded that trailer in for another one but between the two of them we think we towed them about 80,000 miles - all in the U.S.  One of the reasons we were land-bound was that we'd adopted a dog from the local pound.  I don't know why but having a dog and leaving it in a shelter while we cruise is just tough.  (We've had five dogs over the years & they were all shelter dogs.  I cannot imagine spending money on some dumb purebred!  Actually, our current dog is 100% Shar Pai (our daughter had his DNA tested) but he was abandoned out in the desert and we got him from the shelter.)  However, our dog died in 2014 and we went on a binge!

We discovered Viking.  The Viking Imperial Jewels of China cruise to be specific.  It's no longer offered and it was less of a cruise but it was a hell of a trip!  We landed in Shanghai the flew to Wuhan.  Then we cruised up the Yangtze through Jingzhou, the Three Gorges Dam, Shibaozhai and Chongquing.  Then you fly to Xian and finally to Beijing.  I've no idea why they aren't doing that tour any more.  Maybe it became too expensive to visit all those fantastic, iconic places.  Since then we've done many Viking cruises.  We are just taken.  No dressing up; no children; no casinos; just comfortable rooms, good staff and great places.  

Ok, I'm going to shut up.  Nothing to say and all day to be boring.  Take care & try to be safe!

Well, it's summertime!

Our friends over in Las Vegas have had their first 100F degree day.  (Almost 38 C.)  We are about 500 feet higher in altitude so we haven't quite made it yet.  We've only gotten to 95F or 35C.  Don't worry, we'll get there!  

We've had an AcuRite weather station for quite a while.  Then 4 or 5 months ago the foldable post I used to support it folded in a breeze and it broke the sender unit.  Ok, it was a few years old so we ordered a whole new sender and display.  We started this in late February and finally got the station around the end of March. With our physical problems we've only recently installed the new sender unit and darned if it doesn't work!  So now we are testing it prior to the AcuRite people accepting it as no good.  

The photo shows the top of the sending unit (where it collects water if it is raining) and the receiver which is normally in the house.  AcuRite wants them within 3 feet of one another for testing so we took the receiver out to be near the sender.  Of course they still aren't communicating but it's what we have to do for warranty service!  Well, we'll see if those idiots cough up another sending unit or what.  Hmmm, I was just out on their website and they don't even advertise this unit any more.  Maybe that's why they aren't too happy about dealing with us.  LOL  We'll see what happens.

While we were out playing with the weather station I took a little video of our view around the place.  Unfortunately I can't upload it; I guess 80 MB is a bit large.  I'd intended it to be more about the sky, absolutely no cloud anywhere, but it also shows the flat valley floor and the mountains in the distance that have been seen in most of the photos I post.  It's really quite a nice place to live but it is warm.  Why do I think it's going to be even warmer than usual this year?  That's what I get from reading the news.  

We have a church in town who has a sort of Goodwill kind of thing they do two days a week.  We got a new bed a while ago and the church actually said they would come and collect the old bed!  What a deal!  So, of course, we managed to get them to also take our two bicycles that we bought in Holland 25 years ago, the two folding bikes we took on some of our RV travels about 10 years ago, a filing cabinet that has been replaced by bytes and bytes of storage and an old lamp.  What a deal!  Now I have to go reorganize the garage since we've got so much more space.  

I guess that's all the news from this corner of the world.  Take care and keep being safe.

Flip flopping

We are just going back and forth around here.  One day it's 85F (29C) and the next it's 65F (18C).  What the heck?   Well, soon enough it will be just HOT so I guess this is ok.  We did have a hot day a couple of weeks ago and discovered that the a/c in the car was dead.  We took it to someone last year and they tried 3 times to fix it; well, I'm done with them and took it to another shop this time.  We'll see if they have managed to fix it.  They charged us an arm-and-a-leg so it had better be good for a long time!  

I was supposed to get an MRI to check out my spine but it turns out my insurance isn't approved by the MRI folks.  Well, I guess I should have just offered to pay for it myself but I didn't think of that.  So now my wife has been on the phone all morning trying to get the thing re-scheduled but between the MRI place and the doctor's office she'd been on hold for two hours!  Jeez, what a bunch of idiots!  And they are supposed to be keeping us healthy?  Can't they afford one or two more clerks to keep things moving?  Bah, humbug!

A couple of days ago I did get to meet the guy who bought the house kinda across from us.  He's from California and is hoping to retire here later this year.  He was pretty happy about not having any state income tax here.  Just checking the internet suggests he could be paying 8-9% so I can see where 0% in Nevada sounds pretty good!  Right now he is coming over for a day every couple of weeks; I hope he grows to enjoy being out here in nowhereland.  

We just went out to lunch in one of our casino restaurants.  I just don't understand people who sit there in the casino playing what are really just video games.  This a pretty small casino but there were maybe 20 people sitting there glued to their machines and another 10 who were holding down chairs in the bar with a beer for companionship.  I mean, I'm retired and don't have a job to go to but why on earth would I be spending my days in that dark room with a video game?  Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm not the person those casino's are wanting but they do work ok for lunch.

We did manage a nice sunset the other day.  I liked the clouds so much I took two photos!

That's all the news that's fit to print.  Take care & keep washing those hands!

Just a couple of photos

We live in the Mohave Desert.  You know that means not a lot of rain; it's not like Seattle for example. But sometimes we get, yeah, a little rain.  On Friday it rained here for an hour or so.  We don't have gutters and downspouts; after all we get 3-4 inches a year.  But Friday was special.  We got 1/3rd of an inch!  This is where a west facing roof and a north facing roof are joined and the water comes tumbling down.

 And, yes, it does get blown onto the window through which I am filming it!  It's only 5 or 6 feet but that was quite a gust.  

And then there was last night.  I take Gus, the dog, outside for a last look around about 21:00 (9 pm to you civilians).  The eastern sky is pretty much overwhelmed by the lights from Vegas over on the other side of the mountains.  The western sky is a LOT darker and we can see some good stuff.  We had stars in the west that night so I had to try and take a photo of Orion's Belt.  I think it came out ok; especially coming from a cell phone camera!

That's all the news from around here.  I can not imagine how people blog every day.  It is just totally beyond me but then again I'm not inflicting my boring life on others so that's good!  Take care and keep washing those hands!

Just warming up....

 My wife came home a week or so ago and told me that the a/c in the car isn't working.  Well, it's had a whole winter to sit around and leak but, no, that's not acceptable.  Then yesterday I went somewhere and, yep, she sure was right.  So I'll be communing with a local mechanic to see what we can do about that.  Of course we are in that time of year when one day the high temp is 71 F (21 C) and then a day or two later it's 92 F (33 C).  You've got to choose the day to have the a/c worked on so they can test it properly.  I'll manage it but I sure wish someone could  fix that thing so it would just work.

Other than whining I don't have much to say today.  My wife and I were both going to Physical Training (PT) and I'm thinking I will be joining her again pretty soon.  Getting isurance approval is always a pain in the ass.  I did get a "Juror Qualification Questionnaire" in the mail.  If you are over 70 years old you can just request an exemption.  I'm going to do that mostly because I imagine I'll be doing PT a couple days a week and you can't be two places at once.

I've only taken a couple of photos worth sharing lately.  This one is via my phone about 02:30 in the morning out the bathroom window.  I really liked the setting moon.

The other one I just took this morning using my Nikon with it's 200 mm lens.  I talk about the balloons that we see flying about.  Well, these two are coming close to landing.  That mountain is about 20 miles north of here.

Can't see much?  I don't blame you!  But here's a hint.  Just above the tree line about an inch from each side.  The balloon on the left is orange; the one on the right is green.  

That's enough BS for today.  Gotta go do something even if it is wrong.

It's a funny old world!

One week I can't imagine what to post here; the next week there is a total diversity of things to share.  I don't know; maybe I just can't see things sometimes.  Anyway, here's what's going on out here in Nevada.  I ordered a chair mat, a plastic thing that will smooth out the bumps under something you want to move.  In our case it is a refrigerator that can't be moved over our tile floor.  It came with instructions.

You've got to assume it wasn't written by a person for whom English was not his first language.  The other side had drawings showing how you roll out the mat and put weights on it to get it totally flat before using.

The next thing I wanted to share was a photo my wife took of the foothills just north of Mt. Charleston.  This was taken on the last day of March at about sunset.

 I've got to tell you those hills and mountains surrounding us are a large part of the reason we've been living here for over 15 years!  

The final thing is a little surprise I got just this morning.  We have a couple bird feeders and have a fair number of birdies that show up to dine.  This morning I found a little gift from one of them.

Yep, it's a egg!  We are thinking it is a pigeon egg but, trust me, we aren't experts!  Here is another photo with a tea spoon next to it to show it's size.

What a deal!  Of course my wife wanted to know if I wanted breakfast as soon as I showed it to her.  No, not this time!  Anyway, that's our excitement around here lately.  I hope you are having as much or more fun.  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands!

OK!

I found this quote from Dan Rather this morning regarding Mr. Trump.

“A few people have asked why I vehemently oppose Trump,” Rather wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday. “Let me make this perfectly clear. It’s not about politics. I’ve voted for both parties.”

“It’s about me, as a patriot, rejecting a cheating, lying, racist, treasonous, fascist and vile man who attacks the free press, and wants to lead the country I love,” he continued. “It’s really that simple.”

I couldn't have said it better!  

Jeez! It's been almost a month!

No, I don't know how I managed to not update this for a month.  I mean things take more time when you are getting old but this is just silly.  Of course, there isn't much going on around here.  My wife and I are both going to PT to try and gain some more mobility.  And, no, it isn't doing much for either of us.  We do manage to go out to have lunch most days.  I mean cooking at home is SO DIFFICULT!

The weather is mostly warming up but every now and then California shares some of their rain and snow with us.  Nice of them, huh?  Last Saturday we actually got .69 inches so considering we usually get about 4 inches a year; that's a lot!  In February we had 2.6 inches so this summer is probably going to be pretty dry.

We were out to lunch a week or so ago and this young lady was sitting at the next table with a couple of older women; I assumed relatives.  But she was really involved in whatever was on her headphones.

Another time we were out I saw this.  You've got to assume the owner of this car is a cat lover.

One last photo:  we had a weather station mounted on a 2x4 post out in the back yard.  A couple of the bolts gave up and it fell back hitting the ground and breaking.  We have a new one on order but I wanted to go out and see what was wrong with that 2x4 so I took a photo.  Just as I did so a gust of wind came along and shoved the hood of my coat over my eyes.  Here's looking at you.

Well, that's all the news from the back of beyond Nevada.  Thanks for stopping by.  Take care and keep washing those hands.

Just going along for the ride....

Things are just being pretty much the same as my last post; except the good news is that my wife seems quite a bit better.  Her heart rate is back to normal and her blood pressure is also normal.  She has a bunch of pills to take every day and who knows how long that will last but it's miles better than being in a hospital bed with IVs all over your arms!  And we get to visit our favorite restaurants which I'm told is a lot better than the hospital food.

My leg is still bothering me and I walk like I'm about 90.  Both of the medical people I've talked with say I'm having sciatica pain.  It is a nerve that starts in your lower spine and continues down the leg all the way to the foot.  In my case the pain stops at the knee so I guess I'm half lucky.  Both my regular doctor and the specialist took x-rays and while I have some deterioration of my spine it's nothing unusual for an old fart like me.  At any rate the first level of treatment is Physical Therapy.  I was interviewed by one of the PT doctors and my first PT appointment is next Wednesday.  Until then I've got a couple medications that are supposed to loosen things up and tyenol for the pain.  None of them are working as far as I can tell!

The storms that have been hitting California have brought some more snow to our local mountains but nothing down here.  That's ok.  Our aquifer gets it's water from those mountains and we sure need it.  Death Valley has been actually getting rain and it has formed up into a giant puddle called Lake Manly.  It is draining away now and boats are no longer allowed but I'll bet it was fun for a couple of days!  We are getting a fair amount of gusty wind which knocks the bird feeders around but we can't make it too easy for them.  Every now and then a large crow or raven decides coasting in the wind over our house is fun and sets off the RING camera.  At least they aren't trying to land on the darned thing!

No new photos to share today.  Maybe next time.  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and keep your sneezes to yourself!

29 February - who can resist posting?

 It's been quite a month.  I'm ok if we don't have another like it for a LONG time!  My back/hip pain is still with me.  The doctor prescribed some medication but it's not working.  The next thing was PT and I'm scheduled to meet with them today.  We'll see how that works!  

The other nasty news is that my wife has been slowing down a lot.  Eventually her doctor suggested going to the ER!  Well, hell!  So we go over there and they immediately put her on some drips and in a couple of hours had her airlifted over to Las Vegas!  Talk about a fun afternoon.  Here's the machine showing her 128 heartbeat while she was lying in the bed.

She's been in the hospital in Vegas for a week now.  They said she had excess fluid in her lungs and worked to drain that.  That took two or three days; then they finally got her to a place where they could address her real problem:  atrial fibrillation or AFib.  It is when your heartbeat is either racing or flashing back and forth between normal and superfast.  She has had a procedure for that and we are hoping she can come home today.  Our daughter came out to see her and is going to bring her home if she gets released.  

All that makes for a fun month.  However, I've been driving into Vegas every day to see her.  It's a lovely drive, going in through the pass over the mountains and coming down is just great going either way.  I'm kind of a close-to-the-speed-limit guy so I mostly stay in the right lane and let the speeders have the left.  There are plenty of speeders for sure.  And plenty of way-too-loud motorcycles.  I did even once get passed by a state patrol cruiser - not blue lights just wanting to get home I guess.  

Here's a photo of a slightly overcast sky.

See, it's not always sunny in Nevada!  No rain of course.  But then we also get views like this.

 Gotta go.  Can't see wifie come home to the mess I've made of the house!  Take care.  Thanks for stopping by and keep washing those hands!

We made it to February!

Well, we've been home for 3 1/2 weeks; pretty much back in the groove and then I did something that caused a pain in my left leg.  I've no idea what happened.  The only thing I did that was unusual was to clean the 4 mirrors in our bathrooms.  They are about 7 feet tall so it is a bit of a stretch to clean them.  Anyway I went to the Urgent Care place and they suggested it was either Radicular pain or Sacroliac joint pain.  I don't know but I'm sure ready for it to be gone!  Saw my doctor yesterday; he was no help at all.  Had a xray taken of my hips.  That was WAY painful; since my injury, whatever it is, my back does not like being straight.  We'll see what else we can do; the doctor suggested Physical Therapy.  That could be torture!

In the rest of our lives; we have a well to provide us with water.  It was leaking somehow before we left on our trip but I figured there would be more time to get it fixed after the trip and that turns out to have been a good decision.  The well guy came out and, yep, found a leak right away.  

 

The well has a concrete foundation that was badly cracked so the well guy put in a new pressure tank away from the foundation so it could be replaced.  It took a few days but a local concrete guy came out and replaced the foundation and now we've had the well guy come back and put the pressure tank where it used to be.  It's just all fun; $1,900 worth of fun but fun.  

California has been getting hit by some storms coming in from the ocean so, of course, we get some too.  In our case it is small amounts of rain; except that this is a desert and we don't get a lot of rain.  When we do get rain weird stuff happens.  Day before yesterday we got 1.14" of rain; yesterday we got .55".  That's about half of our yearly average.  Right here in our part of town we just have wet roads; in other parts they have small lakes on the side of the road and, of course, in the road.  It's funny; we are in a 'flood zone' so our mortgage lender requires that we have flood insurance.  Across the street isn't in the 'flood zone' so they don't need flood insurance.  I'm sure to have whined about that in the past!  When I went to the doctor the fun part was seeing the wild horses visiting our county offices across the street from the doctor.  In the photos you can also see water down at the bottom of the photo.  That's not a river, it's the road full of water in front of the office!

Oh, and we've had a few birds coming through on their migration to somewhere.  That bird feeder isn't going to do it for all those guys!

That's all that's going on here in the fast lane.  Take care & keep washing those hands!