Yet more life in the SLOW lane!

 Yep, things are moving along but pretty much at a snail's pace.  My wife is still in her wheelchair; hopefully she'll get out of it in a couple weeks but who knows.  In the mean time she is trying out the walker for 20-30 feet at a time.  Honestly, for her that's pretty good.  I'm just happy that I can help her!  I mean otherwise we'd be in some kind of care home.

In other exciting news we have had the usual 6-8 doctor visits each month (not counting the physical therapist who is checking on my wife).  It's a good excuse for driving into Vegas so I can visit the Total Wine store.  Otherwise we just wander around our 'little' town.  I checked it on Google Maps and it worked out to be something like 11 miles east to west and 19 miles north to south!  As you might suspect, one of the most common places for us to go these days in the Intermountain Healthcare building.  They have a pretty large parking area on two sides of the building.  As I was leaving the other day I had to take a couple of photos.  

 

Yep, two wild horses!  There are a fair number around here but I've never seen them by the doctor's office.  Usually they prefer a little park over by the county office where there is lots of nice green grass and shade trees.  They even get into our local paper:  https://pvtimes.com/news/no-touching-or-feeding-the-horses-152526/.  There was at least one more horse in the area but it was hiding behind a cafe and I couldn't get a photo of it.  We have wild burros around as well but they are more likely to be hiding out in the desert areas.  BTW, those mountains in the background are in California.  

Anyway, that's all the news from around here.  Exciting stuff, huh.  Have a good one and try to keep out of trouble! 

Just creeping along

 Ok, it's been way too long but we are just having too much fun visiting doctors and other shit.  It is also true that there isn't much going on around here.  There are some houses being built; that is VERY different from a few years ago but, still, it's not really affecting us.  One of these days I'm sure it will and we'll get new neighbors.  The weather is being weird.  One day it is 50F and the next it is 85F and the next 105F.  One day it is quiet and the next we have 20 mph wind.  Again, what do I do?  I drive the car to the store and buy some stuff for dinner then drive home.  

Out in the world we've got Mr. Trump, AKA the Idiot in Chief, who just keeps doing stupid things.  I have to admit that he isn't as stupid as the people he's appointed to be in his cabinet but, well, that would be a stretch.  One of the really minor things Mr. Trump did just recently was to pardon a local politician who was appointed a judge and then found guilty of fraud.  She was in Las Vegas and started a support group to build a statue of a local policeman who was killed in the line of duty.  Then she used the money people donated to pay her rent, pay for her daughter's wedding and some plastic surgery.  She was found guilty of a felony of conspiracy and wire fraud.  So our felon of a president chose to remove the felony from this sorry ass judge.  Actually, on a scale of 1 to 10, it's way down there but it's still just so wrong!

OMG!  Here it is the 10th of August and I'm finding a post I started almost two weeks ago!  Well, to be honest there isn't much going on around here.  My wife's ankle is still causing her pain and she's still in the wheelchair.  Helping her around is my new exercise routine.  She has an appointment with her surgeon next week but I'm thinking she will have to be pretty careful for quite a while yet.  I'm going to the grocery store a couple of times a week and going to our favorite restaurants for take-out a couple more but that's about it.  A couple days of the week I don't even get to leave the house.  And an exercise routine, forget about it!

There are plenty of fires out here in the West.  They are pretty unlikely in this part of Nevada but it sure isn't impossible.  There are fire bans all over.  What they can't ban is the smoke from  the fires!  Most of the fires are in California but there are some fairly large ones on government land that used to be part of the Nuclear Test Site.  We have mountains to the east and west of us so the smoke tends to come down the valley areas.  Bottom line is that we can barely see mountains that are only 6 or 8 miles away.  Happily neither my wife or myself is bothered by the smoke but some folks do have problems with it.

So that's the story from here in Pahrump.  Oh, one funny story about the president.  We were driving out of a parking lot and a speed limit sign was blocking part of a sign naming the business in the building.  All I could see of the 2nd one was 'RUMP' and of course I was shocked that someone had opened an office for the president.  Turns out it was really something like 'JOHN'S PHARMACY PAHRUMP' and I could only see the last little part of it.  Whew!  That was a relief!  Take care.  Keep washing those hands and stay away from the sickies.

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!

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!

 

Small Town Fun

 Our town is really pretty unusual.  There are about 40,000 people but they are spread across a valley that is almost 300 square miles.  That makes for lots of open space as I'm sure you've seen in some of the photos I've posted.  The 'downtown' is five or six blocks long with little bits here and there that are kind of on their own.  The people are predominantly pretty right wing.  My wife and I registered as Republicans so we could have a vote on our local lawmakers; the Democratic (or Independent) candidate doesn't stand much of a chance.  Open carry of firearms is legal in Nevada and you will usually see two or three people carrying firearms if you visit the grocery store.  Officially it is an unincorporated town and the town board was dissolved a few years ago so we only have a county government.  The county seat is in another, much smaller, unincorporated town that is about 170 miles north of us.  Much of the county is taken up by the Nevada National Security Site where a lot of nuclear tests were conducted.

One of the attractions here is ballooning.  Las Vegas used to have a company offering balloon rides but running balloon rides in an urban environment wasn't working out so they moved here.  There is also a locally owned ballooning company.  Once a year we even have a Balloon Festival and that was just last weekend.  Unfortunately it was quite windy this year so even though there were lots of balloons around they weren't flying!  However, yesterday was nice and quiet and I saw this guy.

If you think it sounds cool here; you're wrong!

That was on April 30 and 99F is 37C.  Oh my, it might just be getting to shorts and tee shirt weather. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and wearing those masks.

Quiet times again!

 Here it is almost March and I just really don't have anything to report!  Well, a few things but they are remarkably dull.  Like we got our first corona virus shot a couple weeks ago but that was just as dull as you would want it to be.  We signed up to get it at Walgreen's because they were offering them and no one else was saying boo about it.  We went in and stood around for a few minutes until some guy came and gave my wife her shot then me mine.  It was totally painless at the time.  My arm was kind of sore the next day but after that nothing.  We got the Moderna vaccine but I haven't really heard that one is better than another.  We are scheduled for the second shot in about two weeks. NOW our county seems to have awakened and the VA is offering shots, both our doctor's offices have offered shots, even the county government has a program.  Where were they a month ago?  Bah, humbug!

Unlike Texas (and much of the US) we have been having pretty nice weather:  50ish in the day and 25ish at night.  We have to pull in the hummingbird feeders every night but that's nothing like having to shovel snow!  Of course we had an entire summer and fall without rain but who's counting?  Actually, that is a scary thing around here.  People are pumping water out of the aquifer like it will be never-ending.  It's not unusual to find houses with 50-60 full grown trees on an acre lot.  But, you know, all good things come to an end.  My wife and I talk about it sometimes; will our house suddenly become worthless?  Certainly it would be tough trying to find buyers if wells started going dry!  We don't have cable tv in our particular neighborhood because there isn't the population to make it worth doing.  Imagine if we wanted a public water supply; even IF they could find a supply.  You've got to dig a lot of trenches to pipe water around.  Our street is about 1 3/4 miles long and there are 17 houses.  There are more lots, of course, but empty lots would probably be dumped by their owners if the town came along and wanted maybe $15K per lot for providing water service.  

So on a lighter note, I saw this truck drive by the other day and wondered what the devil it was carrying.

Then the driver parked and I got to see the other side.

Of course, slot machines!  It is Nevada after all.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and wearing those masks!

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!!!

Happy 5th of July!

Well, apparently I missed posting on the 4th but, well, it is such an odd year maybe that just fits in properly.  Happy 244th Birthday USA!  I was reading a couple blogs this a.m. and one that I often enjoy is Sightings Over Sixty and yesterday's post was no exception.  The post, entitled "More Stuff I Don't Understand" was about the strange, strange times we are living through.  It's true:  horribly high unemployment but the stock market is fully recovered from the Covid-19 scare; there are more people with the virus but no one seems to care; the President seems totally unaware of the rest of the world; people still think he is doing a good job.  WTF??? 

Another blogger quoted this line:  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  So what the hell happened to that idea?  Equal??  Rights??  Liberty??  Why does it seem that black people not included in that sentence?  They seem much more likely to be arrested than white people.  I was checking out a fact sheet from the NAACP web site.  It has some really amazing statistics!  For example, African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites.  As of 2015 African American and Hispanic people comprise about 32% of the population but comprise 56% of the prison population. 

I don't pretend to know what is going on there; certainly discrimination by the police is part of the problem but I'm sure that poverty is a much larger factor.  26% of African American families live in poverty compared to 11% of white families.  And that isn't counting single parent families where the rate is much higher.  It is a shame that in this wonderful land that such discrimination exists.  Education, or the lack of it, is certainly a critical factor.  The same article suggests that a family headed by a college graduate makes nearly two times as much as a family headed by someone whose education stopped at high school.

I hope I haven't been too dismal here but these days are not 'our finest hour'.  The government isn't totally to blame but there sure are things that could be done differently.  The way everyday people interact is nothing to do with government but it doesn't make me proud.  Here in Nevada we've been ordered to wear masks while in public areas so, of course, we had a demonstration against wearing masks.  A large number of the people demonstrating were wearing firearms because that is legal here.  Inspections suggest that only about half of businesses are complying.  What the heck, the mask may keep you from getting ill but one's right to not wear one is oh so important.  What a place!  Take care & keep washing those hands.

Balloon Fest

Every year our small town (if you call 40,000 people a small town) has a Balloon Festival.  This year it is combined with a high school rodeo so that's extra fun.  It is part rodeo part carnival and balloon stuff.  Lots of excitement for us (I really like the photo the newspaper used!)  My wife and I have hit the rodeo before but didn't go this year.  However, we do get to see balloons from our house!

That balloon in the second photo is up north with part of the 'Last Chance' range of mountains in the background.  Of course, today it rained, so there aren't any balloons to be seen.  That photo was taken using a small Celestron C90 Spotting Scope that has an attachment for my camera.  I've had this thing since the mid-1990's.  OMG, I just looked it up and it is still sold on Amazon! 
 
I talk about this being a small town because those 40,000 people are spread over a large area.  Call up Pahrump on Google Maps and you get the outline of a roughly triangular area that is about 35 miles north/south and 15 miles east west at it's widest part.  It isn't all built up for sure!  Those mountains are actually included in what Google calls Pahrump.    It's kind of fun to pick a street in town and call up the photos of that spot.  Often there is nothing to be seen except desert.  If you see a tree you know that it is being watered!

That is something that bothers me a lot.  When you buy a home that isn't in one of the subdivision communities you get water rights.  You drill a well and there is your water.  People seem to think that means you can use as much water as you wish and it will never end.  That is just really unlikely BUT no one has ever done the research to figure out the size of our aquifer.  This area started out with people growning cotton in the valley.  Then people started growing feed for cattle.  Both of these activities take a lot of water.  But now we have lots of people and lots of trees.  It's not unusual for an acre lot to be completely surrounded by trees and every one of those things is being watered.  One of these days Pahrump will have a nasty awakening. 

Sorry about the rant.  Thanks for stopping by.

Puzzling stuff

Our son and his wife visited us last week and the talk turned to home technical stuff since he runs a computer support group at work.  He highly recommended the Google wifi router so I ordered a two pack for our home.  When it arrived we installed it which was quite easy and internet speeds to my office which is way across the house from the base router increased nicely.  Then we figured out that it doesn't like our Wyze security cameras!  They are 2.4ghz and the Google really only likes 5ghz speeds.  It claims to do both but we sure haven't figured out how to make it so.  It's not a big deal, we only use the cameras to keep an eye on our dog when we are gone, but it's a pain in the......  Maybe we'll get them to work together or maybe we'll just pitch the cameras.  We'll see.

In other exciting news, Nevada and Pahrump got mentioned in a Yahoo Lifestyle article.  Of course, it was pretty screwed up but heck we'll take what we can get!  It highlighted a drive from Las Vegas through Pahrump to Death Valley and up through Beatty, Nevada and back down to Vegas.  It would be a really long day's drive but do-able if you didn't stop too long to admire what you were seeing.   Amazingly they didn't bother to mention that Death Valley is in California or that you pass by Yucca Mountain and the Test Site where all the atomic testing was done from the 50's to the 90's.  Of course you can't visit the latter two without LOTS of pre-planning.

Otherwise things are pretty quiet around here.  The dog is growing hair in VERY select places and not growing hair on most of his body.  We'll see.  My wife is already worrying about him getting sunburn next summer.  We are still getting freezing temps at night but 60-something during the day is pretty nice.

We do need to get some work done around the house.  We have a concrete block wall that needs some repair.  The people who built it didn't provide a sufficient base so it shifted and cracked.  We'll just see if someone can 'do it right'.  Anyway, it should be 'fun'

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one.

Getting warm!

Well, the unusually temperate weather has pretty much left and now we have been looking at 105F (40C) or so daily.  That means having the air conditioning on 24/7.  The forecast is for that to go back down to 95F (35C) but we'll see!  We are getting out to walk as soon as we wake up since it's already 70F (21C) and the sun is warm.  Our usual walk takes in about 2.5 miles (4km).  It is flat as a pancake and paved but it's better than sitting inside and losing our ability to walk anywhere!  Usually we make a game of counting the rabbits; we have both regular bunnies and jack rabbits.  We will often see a small hawk but that isn't a sure thing.  There are a few neighbors who keep horses and we have to check on them.  The past week or so we've seen balloons.  Please forgive the quality of these photos; they are taken with my phone then enlarged a lot!

Usually we see 1 to 3 balloons.  We are only having very gentle breezes so it makes for a nice flight.  We do have a balloon festival in the early part of the year.  We have quite a few balloons flying then and, of course, there are all the other parts to a festival. 

We do check out the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings.  Personally I feel it is mis-named because most of the people there are some sort of craft person.  You can buy art glass, leather work, wood work; all kinds of craft work and I was happily surprised at the high quality of the work.  Fruits and vegetables are in pretty short supply though. 

We are planning another trip or three but they are down the road a bit.  As usual I'll report on them when we are back.  Until then, thanks for stopping by.  Take care!

We are just hanging around home.

We were all tired out when we came home from our Panama Canal cruise so have planned for this year to be fairly quiet.  Lately, as I've been whining, we've had a full-time job spraying weeds but that is over for a moment or two.  This is a pretty good time of year in Southern Nevada and our daytime temps are squeezing into the 70's (22C) so wandering around is fun.  There are a few things we need to do around the house and this is the time to start in on them.  I'll whine about them when they get underway.

My wife and I are of an age when aches and pains are a regular part of life; therefore ibuprofen.  Unfortunately there are things the miracle drug cannot cure and one of those things has taken a woman whom I only met once but via her husband's blog felt I knew her.  Croft is a guy who liked to write about their travels and his wife Norma was always there keeping him 'in line'.  Lots of us guys need a woman like that and Croft was lucky enough to have found his.  I wish him the best adjusting to the loss of his friend, lover, wife and so much more.

Life here is going on with the usual panache.  The headline on our newspaper this a.m. was that we now have a Starbuck's store!  We had a Starbuck's counter in one of the local grocery stores but I guess that wasn't enough.  I'd put up a link but they haven't updated the website with that burning news.  In other local news, our county, Nye, has been involved in a reality tv show:  Live PD. The sad news is that our local sheriff's officers will not be followed by their film crews from now on.  I'm not sure why we are getting the boot but I expect it is because we don't have a lot of 'action'.  Let's face it, there aren't that many people living here (and most of them are old) so we can only have so many drug busts. There goes our moment of fame.

I manage our investments and I've been fascinated by the marijuana industry that seems to be growing by leaps and bounds.  Part of the reason I find it interesting is that it is legal to possess small amounts in Nevada.  We have a local dispensary for legal recreational and medicinal weed.  We also have a couple other places offering CBD, a non-psychoactive form, that is supposed to have considerable medical uses.  Of course every sleezy salesperson (sorry, financial advisor) is pushing one company or another.  Believe me, I have no special insight and haven't bought anything yet!  There is a lot of interest in Canadian companies since they have legalized marijuana nationally.  There are also the brands that are associated with alcohol distributors but that is also primarily a Canadian connection.  I'll probably buy into some of the Canadian interests only because President Nutbag (I mean Trump) and his idiot Cabinet could turn on marijuana in an instant and amp up the pressure on the states to resind legalization. 

Well, that's what is wandering around in my head today.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day.

Quiet times

Things are pretty quiet around here these days.  It is getting cooler and the crazy neighbors are getting their Xmas lights out but, you know, nothing exceptional.  I'm sure they think we are crazy for NOT having lights all over the place.  We'll get there but it will be a while yet; like after Thanksgiving at least and that is only a week away.

As expected our deceased Republican candidate for the state legislature won so now the local Republicans get to argue over who to send in his stead.  Our local paper had a column suggesting that it might be better that the guy died because he was pretty divisive and might have been a poor representative for the area.  Personally I think the whole area is pretty weird so having a weird representative might actually have been in character.  Oh well, no one is asking my opinion.

Speaking of our local population, there is a new reality cop show called Live-PD.  They have camera crews following police around on calls in various places in the US.  Of course, Nye County (where we live) is one of the places in the spotlight.  You can see some of the clips on YouTube if you would like a taste of what they are doing.  One of my favorites was where some guy got his phone numbers mixed up and was calling a sheriff's deputy asking to buy some marijuana.  That was pretty weird.  Then there was the time some deputies went to arrest a guy in a local hotel and ended up letting him escape from the hotel.  They eventually chased him all the way into Las Vegas before they got his car stopped.  See, even the cops around here are kinda different. 

Just to end on a high note.  Here's a photo I took the other morning.   It was cold and windy.  So windy that there is a wave frozen in the birdbath.  (No there is no rock or anything else in the ice.)

Oh, if you have a better idea about what might have happened to that water I'd love to hear it!  Until then, thanks for stopping by.

Going along normally

We are having a quiet time and enjoying the hell out of not doing much!  The other day we took the pickup into Las Vegas to buy some fake lumber (this stuff) to replace the warped real lumber we've had in our back yard for at least 5 or 6 years.  Jeez!  It is really amazing to think we moved into this house on January 3, 2009 and in a couple months that will be 10 years!  We've never lived anywhere for that long since we were children (wifie in San Diego and me in Iowa).  OMG.  We attended the 50th Anniversary party a few weeks ago; those folks have been in that house for like 40 years.  Different strokes, etc. 

This time of year is 'open window' time for us.  It gets cool in the night but the days are about 70F - 80F (21-27C) so we kind of leave the windows open all the time.  I want to rebuild the seating area in the back yard (thus the fake lumber) and this is the time of year to do stuff like that.  We also need to check out the wiring in the attic to find a suspected fault in the tv-internet wiring but that's another story.  Again, this stuff is really life in the fast lane.

In Nevada we have early voting and we did vote the other day and have the sticker to prove it.

It is really difficult since we basically think all the candidates are, at best, idiots!  Don't ask me what they are 'at worst'.  We re-registered as Republicans because then we at least get a vote on which idiot will be on the ballot.  There are quite a few positions where there isn't even a Democrat on the ballot.  Life in rural Nevada!  At least we don't get total racists like that guy in Iowa.  God knows how that dirt bag has managed to hang around for so long.  I don't recall the state being that stupid when I was a kid. 

Of course we are the town who has the local whorehouse owner running for our state legislature.  Happily he turned 72 a few days ago and had such a great party that he died that night!  Yep, it must have been one hell of a party but he was found dead in his bed (by Ron Jeremy, remember him?) then next morning.  Hmmm, maybe I should appreciate the quiet life more.  In Nevada you can't take the guy off the ballot even though he is dead so every prediction is that he will win the seat then the Republican locals will get to name the person who actually gets the job.  Isn't it just great?

I did see a car in the supermarket parking lot with a bumpersticker that I liked.

And we are damned proud of it!  Have a good one and thanks for stopping by.

Life is life and sometimes death

I'm not going to turn this into a medical blog but I do want to report on my MRI results.  Well, I would except I don't have any.  Last Tuesday we were zooming over to Vegas and were about 30 miles into the trip when we find a Highway Patrol car parked across the road.  There had been a fatal accident just up the road and the road would be closed for four hours (!) to investigate it.  Well, we were planning on having lunch then going to my appointment so we could still make it by going around to Vegas the 'long way'.  We zoom back to Pahrump and are cruising through town when my phone rings. 

Hooray!  An opportunity for us to try the bluetooth attachment between the phone and the car!  This is new technology to us so it was cool.  Unfortunately it was a young woman from the MRI place telling us that the machine broke down and we would have to reschedule.  Hmmm, well it was a opportune time to call!  So we made an appointment for next Tuesday, the 3rd, then went had lunch and went home. 

Saturday I get another call from the MRI place.  This time the machine needs maintenance so can we move the appointment to Wednesday.  Really?  The thing needs repair one week and maintenance the next?  Well, whatever.  So no MRI results.  I'm a little worried about Wednesday though!

I should mention that we are gradually getting used to the new car and all it's bells and whistles.  You only have to be carrying the key fob and when you touch the door you can either lock or unlock it.  That took me an embarrassing amount of time to learn.  The bluetooth apparently works.  The built in GPS is taking some getting used to but we've had Garmin for probably 10 years so it is a little learning curve.  One thing that I love is the backup camera.  Since I'm having neck problems it is great to just look at that monitor rather than try to turn around.  You need to be careful and not depend upon it totally but it is a real help.  In fact, I've purchased a backup camera for the truck as well.  It's really helpful.  Again you can't just ignore the world but it sure helps out.

I did notice a bumper sticker that I really like.  Amazingly it's not political.  Just real.

I sure wish I knew where they found that thing.  It fits the town so well! 

Gotta go.  We are having visitors this weekend (Number One Son & SO) so the cleaning frenzy is beginning.  Take care & thanks for dropping by.

Still quiet around here

We are slowly getting back to 'normal'.  We did finally decide we'd seen enough cars and wandered off to buy a new one.  We liked the size of the RAV4; just wanted more power and more bells and whistles.  It's a crowded market place.  We tested at least 10 different vehicles and there are at least that many more that we skipped for one reason or another.  Presenting:  our new wheels!

It is a 2016 Ford Escape.  Somehow we've become a Ford Family!  Who would have though it?  It is almost the exact same size as the RAV4 but has a ton of options that we couldn't afford to get on the RAV back in 2010 when we bought it.  It also has a LOT more horsepower thanks to turbocharging.  We'll see how it works out.  Right now we are having trouble adapting to all the new stuff.  The built-in GPS doesn't work like our Garmin; the audio system is confusing; the a/c is all via the touch screen so that's weird.  That doesn't even talk about the new key fob that unlocks the car when we near it and the 25 different checks it makes to be sure you aren't locking the fob in the car!  Suffice to say, these old dogs are having a little trouble with learning these new tricks!  (That dog reference is not about my wife needless to say!)

Otherwise this is a pretty normal spring.  There is lots of wind and varied weather but gradually we are warming up.  The pigeon population has forgiven our vacation from feeding them and are back.

I haven't counted more than seven in the birdbath at one time but it's a small bath!  They are trying.  The smaller birds are slower to return but they are showing up as well; just no photos yet. 

Pahrump got it's name up in RV blog lights when the Cheap RV Living guy visited us.  He likes the place for many of the reasons my wife and I chose to live here.  It is inexpensive, there is a fairly good infrastructure and you are close to Las Vegas which has whatever else one might require including a world class airport so you can escape all this fun.  He camped on BLM land up on the mountain fan.  There are always people up there; some are even permenent residents.  In his case a complaint was made and the Sheriff came along to enforce the 14 day camping limit on BLM land.  Usually folks around here are pretty live and let live so the Sheriff contacted him but not other folks living farther from the person who made the complaint.  How do I know this?  I've seen their vehicles out there for months!  I take the truck up there from time to time for two reasons.  First I enjoy the solitude of the desert.  It's very soothing.  Secondly, the truck is a 4x4 and there are nice gravel roads up there to exercise that option. 

So you see it's pretty quiet right now.  We are making big plans.  I have my 50th high school reunion this year and we are trying to figure out if we can make it.  The problem is that we keep adding options to the trip so it becomes a major deal.  You know how it goes:  if we are there, how can we not go another couple hundred miles and visit so-and-so.  Then we were hoping to make a trip to Europe in the fall.  We are starting the research but again it's pretty much cast in jello at this point.  (Actually we hoped to make the trip this spring but it just didn't come together.)  Thanks for stopping by.  I'll see if we can't come up with some good photos or something for next time.

Piggn' out!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one.

Sheriff Election continued!

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

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

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

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

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

Voting Day

We have 'early voting' here so my wife and I were able to vote in the primary election today.  This is when candidates are chosen by the major parties.  My wife and I are independents so we get to vote on a couple positions that are in theory non-political.  This includes the position of Sheriff.  We don't have a local police force so the county sheriff is the only cop we've got.  It brings out some really weird folks. I'm not going to use names but I'll just list them giving their primary experience.  First I'll list the ones I pretty much reject out of hand.

1.  A corrections officer from another state who calls himself the 'constitutional candidate'. 

2.  An investigator for the District Attorney who has previous experience as a police officer.  This candidate happens to be the only woman in the group.

3.  A detective who is currently working in the sheriff's office.

4.  A Private Investigator and former deputy.  He is alleged to have illegally siezed a woman's home.

5.  A deputy currently working in the sheriff's office.

6.  A former customs agent.

7.  A local guy who is at least 70 years old and has run for sheriff numerous times never getting more than a couple hundred votes.

Then there are these two whom I feel might actually have the training to be the sheriff.

8.  A man who retired as a Captain from the sheriff's office a couple years ago after being offered early retirement for budgetary reasons. 

9.  A man who is currently an Assistant Sheriff who was given a recommendation by the retiring sheriff.  This guy's name is Rick.

So how to chose between numbers 8 and 9?  Well, it was going to be a tough choice until Rick, number 9, went out and actually was filmed pulling political signs out of the ground!  How incredibly foolish can someone be?  Of course it is illegal.  It also shows a total lack of judgement.  It just stinks.  So how about the signs this guy thought were so  bad?

LOL!  The actual signs Rick was caught pulling up and throwing on the ground were considerably smaller than this version but it was the same sign.  I don't know what old Rick did to this guy but it sure must have been something.  And Rick reacted.  That reaction sure helped me decide who I'd rather have for sheriff. 

To make things even more interesting Rick has spent as much as the next four high spending candidates in the running.  We'll see if money can buy respectability.  Here's what our local paper reports about it.  Stay tuned!.

Announcing the arrival....

of my new camera:  a Nikon D3100.  I've been trying to avoid the DSLR route but just couldn't take it any more.  So now I've got a new toy on which I can spend yet more money equiping it with lenses, filters, all kinds of crap! 

A new camera calls for something to photograph, happily we had an event happening in our small town, our annual rodeo!  I don't believe I've ever actually attended a rodeo so it was a new and interesting experience.  First of all, this is small town stuff so there weren't 20 guys in each event.  One event had three entrants and only two showed up.  I mean these guys are risking life and limb for probably a couple hundred dollars.  But it was fun.  The announcer couldn't run the sound system very well, there were equipment glitches, some of the entrants were downright lousy but, did I say, it was fun. 

Here are a few of the photos I took.  What impressed me first about the camera was that I could get three photos of an eight second bull ride.  Of course these are all hand-held and I'm far from steady as a rock on a good day.  The distance to the bull riding was probably 100 yards (or meters, I'm guessing here folks!).  The distance to the calf roping was probably half that.  The camera has a 'sport' setting that I used.  I'm going to have to work with that a bit because I had trouble getting the autofocus on the right spot.  Still, for photos from a camera where I've taken a total of four photos before last night, I'm a happy camper. 

Here's an airborne bull and rider!

Here I got that horse doing it's thing. 

One of the bucking horses was a fairly new mother.  After she had shown the rider who was boss they let her colt out into the arena for a little intro to mom's work area.  I love the way they look so much alike.

Local girls make good with some precision riding.  One of these kids was still a pre-teen!

This bronc rider made it all the way dispite the best efforts of the horse.

I love the look on this guy's face.  He knows his ride is ending really soon.

There are plenty of hats in the way, heads and questionable composition but having never photographed a sporting event in my life (and sitting in the very crowded stands, I'm good.  For sure I'm going to keep the Canon SX210IS around as a pocket camera, it is so small, handy and good at that point and shoot thing, but the Nikon will be my new photography 'hobby horse'.

Gotta go.  Have a good one!