Just a touch chilly!

Here in the desert it does get chilly.  It mostly looks the same outside whether it's 20F or 110F (-7C or 43C)  so you have to look elsewhere for hints.  The birdbath is a great example.

When the water doesn't drain maybe it's chilly out.  After a while it looks a little different.

The melting begins to loosen the grip the ice has on the sides of the bath and the ice starts floating and it just slides out onto the ground.  Pretty cool!

We weren't in Vegas for the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau but we were only a couple days late.  This year doesn't seem to be the best but it's always good.  It's so young and fresh!

Happy Thanksgiving all you locals!  Hope the rest of you have a good day too!

Interesting days....

Tuesday was the day when the carpets were to be cleaned.  It actually come to be but not in the normal way.  First we have to get up early and pull/carry all the furniture off the rug and onto the tile.  We can kind of squirm around to get from here to there.  The guy who does the cleaning showed up about 09:45.  He has kids to get off to school before starting.  That works for us though because of all the funiture moving!  So he starts work.  He is just going to town:  done with the master bedroom, living room and has started the dining room when things get quiet.  He explains that the machine he is using runs on gasoline and it has just run out.  Not only that, he left his debit card at home so he has to go home, get the card then go buy gas.  Sounds like he's having a good day already.  This is about 11:30.

We had a little lunch then decided I'd go into town.  I'm wandering around in the grocery store when my phone rings.  It's my wife.  She wondered what happened to carpet guy so called him.  She got his wife who said he had been home, got the debit card but now was on the side of the road having been pulled over by the state highway patrol.  Hmmm.  The wife actually used the words 'he is being harrassed' by the officer.  I go on with shopping and come home; still no carpet guy.  It was 15:15 by the time he got back to our place and finished the job.  That's almost 4 hours!  I don't know what he was doing but I really can't see the highway patrol officer keeping this guy on the side of the road for more than 15-20 minutes.  Anyway, I hope had fun.  He only had about 20 minutes more work to do the two small bedrooms. 

Wednesday we went into Las Vegas so my wife could go to a movie with our daughter.  They insist on going to this theatre that serves alcohol so I get to do the chauffeur bit.  Good thing I did, my wife slept most of the way home.  While they were at the movie, I got to hit the liquor store and Sam's Club.  Exciting times, huh. 

Then we had to make our annual trip to buy stuff for Toys for Tots.  We usually go for the little kid stuff since we feel the presents are more important for them.  Then Saturday was the Christmas food drive.  We have lots of homeless around here so did two carts:  one for vets and one for familes.  The one for the vets is all single serving stuff with pop-tops if we can get it so a guy doesn't even need a can opener.  Some of them live in tents out on the BLM land and who knows what kind of cooking facilities they might have. 

We have a couple tomato plants that we've been raising in buckets.  It is getting pretty chilly in the night so I carry them out in the morning & bring them in at night.  Believe it or not but the darn things are finally coming up with ripe tomatoes.  Who would have expected tomatoes at Christmas?  We were thinking like maybe a month ago!

It is getting chilly; ice on the birdbath almost every day.  Here I was breaking the ice this morning & having a little fun with it.  I've poked several holes in the ice then when I tap the center I get a fountain.  Doesn't take much for me sometimes!  LOL

So the house is clean; the charities taken care of and the Christmas tree set up.  Sounds like we are in good shape.  Please have a happy and safe holiday.  Take care.

Home work

I'm taking some time lately to get a few things done around the house.  We've lived here two years already and the garage is still a mess!  We have a three car garage and only two vehicles; you'd think there would be lots of room.  NOT!!  But I am slowly making progress.  Went to Home Depot the other day to pick up a couple of things.  I saw this guy just waiting patiently for his boss to return.

 

This guy finally got tired of standing and just lay down in the bed of the truck. 

It's still pretty chilly here; 28F (-2C) this a.m. and we may get to 60F (15C)today but I'm not really counting on it.  We had some rain the other day; it was snow just a bit above the valley floor.  These are part of the Nopah Range to the south and west of the valley.  It was obviously pretty gray as well.

More rain is expected next weekend.  Just like it used to be when I was working in Seattle; nice mid-week and lousy on the weekend.  It's good to know there are some things you can depend on.  We have visitors from the Pacific Northwest passing through Pahrump; they will be here Saturday & Sunday just in time for the rotten weather.  I'll have to remember to thank them for bringing it with them. 

Have a good one!

Snow's gone of course

It was sure popular with the media.  Front page pictures on the papers and all the talking heads could talk about on tv.  It's better then hearing about a new war we've started though.  It's still cold; only getting up to 50F or so (10C) during the day so the snow on the north side of things is still lingering.  You would have laughed if you'd been in the car with me the first time I backed out of the garage and the tires hit the frozen snow.  I jammed on the brakes thinking I'd hit something.  What an idiot!  Guess that's what I get for living in warm climates for so long.

I occasionally visit Braja at Lost & Found in India.  Usually she is pretty solemn about things but her last couple of posts have been just funny.  First I read about New Years and Cow's Bums which wasn't all that funny until you get to the actual photo of the cow's bum!  Then she told the really sad story of a guy who was doing some plastering work who literally drank himself to death; the funny part was where she pointed out that the plasterer got plastered.  LOL  Sorry but I still think it's clever writing.

Off to the hardware store to buy some shelving.  We want to update the pantry a bit.  Life in the fast lane!  Take care.