Ok, another month....

 But at least I have an excuse this time:  we've been traveling!  Back on 20 February we took Gus to the dog kennel and headed for Las Vegas.  The next morning we flew off to Miami (crappy seats & a fat 3rd person!) then on to Barcelona, Spain!  Yep, another Viking cruise in the Med.  I know, it's a tough life!

Of course one of my excuses for not posting is that my new HP computer is FAR from friendly with the camera.  Damn, it took 3 or 4 tries and reading stuff online to figure out how to upload any photos.  I mean that's just stupid.  And the photos from my phone are just crap.  Grrr!

The cruise was really quite nice but it was definitely a one-day-at-a-port cruise.  We got to visit a few places we've been before and a few new ones.  First on the list was Corsica.  We've been there before but this time we found a weird back road tour.  It was pretty enough but the driver often had to make a partial turn then back up and turn more; the road was that jack-knifed and narrow.   If we averaged 10 mph I'd be surprised.

 Because of my wife's broken ankle that still isn't fixed correctly we kept to the bus tours.  We took her wheelchair along but mostly it got used in the airports.  She got around on the ship ok as long as we took regular pauses for rest.  It's funny but many of those rest areas served wine.  Thank goodness!  

Our next port was Civitavecchia, Italy.  There is no way we were going to take a bus tour of Rome (it's at least an hour and a half each way) so we just stayed on the ship.  I'm sure the town is nice but there wasn't any tour that called to us:  too much walking for one thing.  It is a pretty port though.

 Our next port was the town of Valleta on the island of Malta.  We did manage to find a bus tour that took us around with the guide pointing out various buildings, etc.  It wasn't our favorite tour for sure and part of the problem was the roads:  tiny isn't a small enough word to describe them!

 

Because of my wife's difficulty walking we usually got the front bus seats so we were right behind either the driver or the guide.  It sure gives you a better view of oncoming traffic!  Shit-oh-dear!  Happily the driver of that truck had room to back up and off the road.  What a great guy!

Next stop was La Goulette, Tunisia.  We took another bus tour but they forgot to mention that we'd be walking for about an hour.  Nope!  We just stayed on the bus.  One of the things that surprised me was how the local drivers were totally unafraid of accidents.  I mean red lights are a suggestion; lanes don't mean a thing.  It's just amazing and as we got farther into Africa, it got worse!  I got a few photos from the parking lot but, well, that's not to exciting.  There was this guy snoozing next to a window.

 

Our next port was Algiers, Algeria.  It was kind of an interesting collection of old places and very new modern places.

 

We took a bus tour again.  In one area we actually got out and I got to push my wife around in her chair!  Happily it was only a couple of blocks but those paving stones can be pretty tough on both the rider and the pusher.

Our next point of interest was the Strait of Gibraltar - we've been through it a couple of times but it's usually at night!  So this time it was supposed to be earlier; around sunset.  Unfortunately it was foggy so all we could see were a few lights!  Maybe in out next lifetime we'll see it.

The next port was Casablanca, Morocco!  We got to visit a church we weren't able to enter and one that we could.  Who knows how that crap is worked out!  The one we got to visit had some pretty fantastic windows!

 

 

We also got to wander through a small shopping area.  Our guide on this tour was blind.  He had an assistant who told him where we were and helped him move around.  Amazing but it was actually ok.

One of the reasons we aren't taking lots of tours is shown in the following photo.

 

It is well over half a mile off the ship and down the pier to get to the road and the bus!  That is definitely a wheelchair trip.  Of course all those containers are beautiful as well.  LOL.

So it was time to leave Africa and head back to Europe.  Our first stop would be Cadiz, Spain.  We've been there so we just stayed on the ship.  They do have some fine architecture.

 

Next came Malaga, Spain.  Again, we've been in the area before so just stayed on the ship.  The crew did have some fun trying out a couple of the lifeboats.  

And while I was walking around on deck I got to see this guy splashing around.

 Yeah, I know, life in the slow lane.  Anyway, that's what took up the end of February and the first part of March.  We got off the ship in Barcelona  at about 08:00 a.m. and headed for the airport.  It was a couple hours until we got on our flight to London; then more waiting in London.  Do I have to say there was lots of wheelchair time in both airports?  Then, finally, a non-stop to Las Vegas!  I got some sleep on that trip;  no dinner but a nice sleep.  And we got home about 8 p.m. local time.  Well, it took us each about three days to get back to regular hours; that 8 hour difference between Europe and the West Coast of the USA is quite a lot.  

So we are back to our usual stuff:  lunch at our favorite places; doctor appointments and fooling with our new computers.  I'll post again when anything exciting happens.  Don't hold your breath!

 

Geez, it's been almost a month!

 Well, as usual, things are pretty quiet around here.  Some guys came and placed a 40 foot container on the lot across the road from our house but nothing else has happened over there.  And a digging machine came to a lot a couple of lots down but the didn't do much except scrape the ground.  Weird, weird stuff.  It's obvious I don't know anything about the construction business!

It's been typically winter around here except the mountains haven't had much snow.  We have some now but it's been dry most of the winter.  That bothers us because our water comes from an aquifer that is filled with melted snow water.  We really like it here but are worried that the water will run out.  What do you do then except leave?  We have 20 F (6.6 C)  nights and 45 F (7.2C) days mostly and then we'll get a 60 F (15.5C) day.  Who knows!  

Lately I've been beating my head against the wall thinking about old age problems.  I'm cruising on for 77 and my wife will be 75 here pretty soon.  I still want to do younger guy stuff like driving around with an RV or going off-roading or traveling overseas but it's obviously getting more difficult.  My wife breaking her ankle a couple years ago certainly slowed us down but now days simple stuff like climbing the ladder to replace an air filter is even getting difficult.  Our kids are both well over 1,000 miles away so it's not like they are going to be helping us out.  We will have to find a local 'handman' to do all that crap.  Fun and games in old age!

However, it is still a pretty place!  Especially in the morning or the evening; daytime is just pretty bright.  Here is a recent sunset.

 

 And here is a photo someone posted that I really liked:  sitting on the dock by the bay!

Have a good time.  Enjoy life and keep away from those sick people!

We got rain!

We get a reasonable number of storm warnings around here.  They are usually nothing.  But this time we got rain!  AND the mountains got snow!  That is really important because the snow will melt and end up in our aquifer meaning that we have water to drink!  I know lots of local folks grow trees and have lawns full of grass but my wife and I are pretty aware of living in the desert.  We have TWO cactus plants and that's it on our 1 acre home site.  We and our dog drink water and we (people!) shower every couple of days and that's our water usage.  We still worry about the aquifer.  What can I say?  Old farts worry about everything.

We managed to visit our dermatologist last week.  My wife just basically has dry skin that bothers her.  I had one episode of skin cancer that ended up in a Mohs operation.  They just basically scrape off the skin until they don't see any cancer there any more.  Fun?  No.  Effective?  Yes.  And I've got a nice little dent in the skin on my head to prove it.  This time the dermatologist found some spots on my skin that he didn't like so he pulled out the freezing spray and knocked out 13 spots!  They will go away but for now I've got nasty little spots all over my body.

Of course when I open up my phone or computer I immediately find some stupid thing our new President or his incompetent staff has done.  I mean the "Gulf of America"?  What an asshole!  Now "Gulf of the Americas" would at least make a little sense but it's been what it is for hundreds of years.  Taking over Greenland?  I mean I'm sure there are valuable minerals in those mountains; and it makes flying over Russia a much shorter trip; but you don't just go take what you want in this world.  I like my neighbor's car but I'm not going to go steal it!  I like the waitress in the casino but I don't just get to jump on her!  No, asshole is too mild a term for Mr. Trump and his cronies.  I can only hope that we and the rest of the world will manage to remain calm and peaceful for the next four years.  

I read several blogs where people are visiting Mexico and South America.  I see trucks full of bananas and wood and meat.  I know a certain amount of those things are headed for the USA.  Don't worry, those tariffs the idiot wants to impose will only make everything you buy more expensive!  Look at the fish in your grocery store:  product of Chile.  Look at almost anything you buy from Amazon:  product of China.  Don't worry; another 20% tariff will only be passed on to you by every retailer.

Life in the fun lane, huh?  Well, the good news is that it is warming up and we are going out to lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant.  They haven't raised their prices in a year or so.  Next year will probably see the $10 lunch be $13 but we are here now.  It was 23 F ( -5C) this morning and now we are up to 45 F (7 C) so that's a good thing.  Gas and diesel are in the low $3 range; who knows what will happen there?  Nevada fuel taxes are kinda nasty.  We've been talking about an electric vehicle because it's only at most a 150 mile round trip to Las Vegas.  We could charge the thing here at home basically for free because of our solar panels.  But driving to Oklahoma City to visit our daughter would cost a bit - both money and time!  It's over 1,100 miles so that would be 4 days of full charge on most of them.  We'll see.

So take care & try to stay away from the sick folks.

Quiet times!

 We've been just having some quiet days.  Our daughter has a convention in Las Vegas this week so she came to check in on us last weekend but that's pretty much all that is going on.  

 I saw part of the inauguration on tv; what an asshole we have now for president!  Oh yeah, let's take the canal from Panama.  I kind of think it's a tie for most stupid idea between taking the canal back or invading Greenland.  Of course renaming the Gulf of Mexico is pretty painless but damn dumb too.  And I'm pretty sure the Canadian's aren't going to be looking forward to becoming the 51st state!  LOL  I mean, really, who can make up shit like this?  And he's just been elected President of the USA?  Well, J**** F****** C*****.  I just hope every idiot who voted for that asshole gets something really special in return!  And I mean something that really hurts!

I was reading a blog this morning and the writer was talking about enjoying taking photos on their travels.  It reminded me that I used to enjoy that too so I started looking for my camera and my wife's camera.  I found the cameras but finding the chargers for their batteries; well, that's a different story!  Maybe in a couple more days I'll find them.  Happily we aren't going anywhere soon so there is time.  Still, it's annoying that I managed to hide them away so completely.  What an idiot!  (Not the vote for Trump kind but still pretty dumb!)  It's also funny the weird things I'm finding that I've bought over the years:  weird little flash lights, various chargers, old phones.  Oh, what a past life I've had!

We've been having morning temps in the 15 F (-10 C) range plus some wind so 's been pretty chilly.  Still, it's winter so I should be used to it!  A few days ago a couple of guys came and dropped a 40 foot container on the lot across from us.  No one has been back to do anything but I'm expecting a crew will show up pretty soon and start building a new house over there.  We've had 4 or 5 new houses go up in the area in the last year so another one sounds reasonable.  Other than that I don't have much to report.  

Take care & keep away from those sick folks!

 

Wow, almost a month without a word!

Well, actually that's not too unusual for me!  Unfortunately!  But then again things aren't changing a bunch around here.  It's still in the 20 F  (5 C) area at night; 50-60 F (20-25C) in the daytime; and fairly sunny.  We did have a couple days of 20 mph wind but that too is gone.   

We have had several homes built in our area in the last 6 or 8 months and the other day a couple guys dropped a container in the lot across the street from us so I'm expecting a new home to be built there during the next few months.  We'll see what happens.  Otherwise it's the old retired fart usual stuff:  visit the doctor, go buy groceries, go buy booze, dah dah dah.

Of course we are getting a new President and he is managing to make an ass of himself in a different way almost every day.  I mean 'The Gulf of America' - take over the Panama Canal - the 51st state of Canada - the 52nd state of Greenland - WTF???  The guy's just bat-shit crazy!  And some of the people who are going to be running the various departments; I'm afraid they are probably worse!  I've said it before but all those people who voted for Mr. Trump are going to be sorry about their votes and probably sooner than later!  It does make one think of moving out of the country but, well, 1) where would one go, and 2) what's going to stop Trump from taking that place over next?  I mean the 53rd state of Portugal?  Who knows?

Well, as an older white guy with a pension (small, believe me!) and Social Security and some savings; I should be ok.  It's the lady who cleans our house (very Mexican); the people at one of our favorite restaurants (Japanese); the guy at the garage (pretty Mexican); they are the people who might not be here in a year.  Oh, but we will have lots of new computer designers from where-ever to design the new Tesla.  Grrr!  

As you can tell I'm kind of obsessed with political thoughts these days.  I read blogs about people who are just having fun trying to catch some fish or traveling in Mexico or trying to take good photos of birds.  I need to follow their lead.  My blood pressure will thank me!  And I can't remember the last time I used a real camera; all I do these days is use the phone.  Damn,  I'm lazy & it's easy.  Now I just have to learn how to connect the phone/camera with this new computer.  That's a problem but I'll get there.  

Take care & keep away from all those sickies out there.