Well, this is different....

 We've been home for almost a month and have been doing the usual stuff:  visiting our favorite restaurants, visiting doctors, talking about our next trip.  My wife tripped and broke 3 ribs back in December.  She is still having cramps when she makes certain movements so she is going to start physical therapy to see if that helps.  I've been having fun with the dermotologist cutting things off my body.  It's all part of that aging thing.  

On a more fun note, we got snow on the mountains!

It is actually quite unusual for the snow to come down that far.  The elevation in the valley here is at about 2,600 feet and that snow is pretty close to that.  It's funny but the snow can excentuate the cliffs in the mountains and make them look taller.  Then a few days later we had this happen.

Snow in our back yard!  Of course it didn't stick but it was fun to see.  That hummingbird trying to have a meal probably wasn't as thrilled but at least he was getting some food.  We did manage a trip into Las Vegas to pick up a few things.  There was snow on the sides of the road and a few flurys but that was it.  

When I went to see my doctor I happened to see this in the park across the road from his office.  These geese decided to pause for a bite to eat.

That same afternoon this was the sunset.

Then the other day my wife and I were wandering around town and found these wild horses having a bite.

There was even a foal with them but it was napping just past that little rise so you can't see it.  That area is part of an abandoned golf course but I guess it is good horse food.  You can see that the snow has melted from the lower parts of the mountain.  It's back to dirt for us soon enough!

Well, that's about all the news from this part of the world.  Take care and keep washing those hands!

And now...

When we arrived home we were intending a trip up to Washington state to visit my wife's brother.  He is alone since his wife passed away and was going to have knee surgery which would require that someone be available 24 hours a day.  However, on the 10th he called to say the surgery was going to be delayed until later in the year.  Since we were going to leave on the 11th we were glad to hear from him.  I have to admit it was rather a relief because we were both wanting some 'at home' time.  

So, what to do?  Of course we went out to lunch.  What else does one do to celebrate?  And, at the end of the lunch my wife asked "How about going over to the dog shelter and see if there is anything there?"  Do I have to say more?  We went to the shelter and were shown two animals.  The first was a young German Shepherd; about two years old and full of steam!  She was way too fast for us old folks.  The second was a Shar-Pei, four years old and a little calmer.  Hmmm.  The little guy had just had surgery to remove his testicles and had a cone around his neck to keep him from licking the injury.  He was found by animal control on Christmas Day.  He didn't have a microchip; no one had called to ask about a missing Shar-Pei so he was up for adoption.  In the end we asked that they keep him a couple more days until he could be without the cone then we would take him home.

The pound uses some sort of computer name-game thing to come up with names for stray animals and this poor little guy got named 'Goose'.  There is no way we were going to let that remain his name but we thought that 'Gus' might work.  He'd been called with that G word for a month or so and we hoped that the hard G would help him with his new name.  Anyway, now we have a new dog!

We have no idea whether or not he is actually a Shar-Pei or just partially but he does pretty much look the part.  That first photo was of him while still in the pound.  Here he is in our living room.

Of course now he is chipped and filled with shots and all that so there is no way he can get lost.  He is pretty stubborn and doesn't know any of the 'necessary' dog things.  We are working on his name, the commands for come, sit, down, heel, stay and whatever else.  He is smart enough but really wants to do what he wants to do; not so much what you are suggesting!

So this morning we woke to a surprise:  snow!  This is like the third snow we've had in the thirteen years we've been here so we are all excited.  It is only about an inch and a half and will be gone before long but, hey, it's snow!  

So that's all the news that is fit to print from here.  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and stay safe!

Update:  10:00 and the snow was all gone.  The mountains still look nice and white but in the valley it is dusty as usual.

Nice weather finally!

 We are finally out of triple digit territory (40C to most of the world) and I'm really glad!  It's been a long hot summer.  We had a few nasty days but the last few have been fine.  I opened the window a couple days ago and found a new neighbor;  a balloon!

Apparently I caught them before takeoff because a bit later they were up and away.

I finally managed to get physical therapy for my neck (which hasn't worked very well since my surgery).  Anyway I was coming home this morning and got to look at snow on the mountains!

That area between where I was and the actual mountains is called the alluvial fan.  It is dirt that has drifted down off the mountains way in the past.  Our town was started by farmers working the flat lands in the center of the basin and no one has ever built on the fan.  In cities that would be prime territory just for the views.  Now we have people living in their RVs out on the fan.  No electricity except for solar and they have to carry water back to their RV but it is free and they do have a pretty good view from up there. 

So, anyway, at the moment it's pretty nice around here.  Wait a couple days though and I'm sure I'll find something to whine about.  Take care & keep washing those hands.

Vegas again???

Yep, had to make another trip.  I could almost get a job over there for as much as I'm burning up the road.  Anyway, our excuse this time was twofold:  booze and paint.  The booze thing; well it's just a hell of a lot cheaper in Sin City.  The paint is trickier.  When we bought the house there were some Dunn Edwards paint cans in the garage.  The paint in the house is really standing up well so we thought we'd check into that brand.  We found the store and while they will sell to individuals it's not user friendly.  They are more into selling 5 or 50 gallons than 1.  It's also about twice what other stores ask for paint.  Maybe it is worth it but I'm having trouble thinking that.  Anyway, all we came home with was the booze. 

The pass between Vegas & Pahrump is 5,600 feet (1,700m); there was snow on the sides of the road and it was coming down but not sticking to the roadway.  It was not dangerous but did call for caution.  First snow of the season folks!  This is the view from our house today; kind of a gray day.  I love the snow on the mountain with the clouds below it.

Later in the afternoon we went over to our local Home Depot and picked up some Glidden.  We want to paint the closet before we install the new system.  Bought the paint & all the crap you need to clean & prep the wall.  Fun!  Today we unpacked all the stuff from the closet and took the old stuff down.  Let me tell you, whoever invented the pneumatic nailer has a lot to answer for!  One piece of wood, a foot long, had 7 nails!  Here is a photo of the closet as it was.  It's about 10 x 10 feet (3m) almost square. 

It just had a simple bar going all the way around the room with a shelf on top.  I must say though; I was surprised by the material used to support the shelf. 

100% recovered and recycled fiber.  What the heck is that?   It did the job though and was rather tough to take down!  Something to do with all those nails I guess.  Anyway, now we have all that removed and lots of holes to fill.  The closet set isn't supposed to be delivered until Tuesday but we are sure going to be ready for it. 

Gotta go.  Have a good one & thanks for checking in.

Jeez, almost a week later!

Yeah, I'm a crappy blogger.  Even when what I write makes sense I still don't do it regularly.  Sorry! 

Well the front page of the LV Review Journal said it for me "Government Reopens".  What a bunch of idiots!  We may as well have the third grade class from our local school running things except that then the laws they pass wouldn't be 5,000 pages long!  I'm thinking we need term limits on all senators and representatives; re-do their pay and benefit package and ban lawyers from serving at all.  Hmmm.  What do you think that would do for the lobby industry?  LOL  I know where all the lawyers would go.

Happily I've been taking my mind off the dumbshit government by driving back and forth to Vegas.  I made one of our regular runs for booze and stuff we can't get here a week ago Wednesday.  (Just as an example, a bottle of scotch that is $27 in Vegas is $42 here.  I like to support local business but really!)  Then last Tuesday we went back so my wife and daughter could go see 'Gravity' in 3D.  I got to run around town a bit.  They gave the movie a C+ and were totally underwhelmed by the 3D.  My wife said that aside from the occasional bolt floating by the 3D was pretty much wasted and using the glasses drove her nuts.  Granted it may be a short trip but I'm pretty certain there won't be any more 3D experiments for some time. 

While I was in Sin City I made another visit to Harbor Freight; how exciting is that!  Well, I also went to an "Adult Store".  I bought a little thing for my wife and the clerk offered me a free 'cock ring'.  I said 'sure' because I figured why not.  Free is good.  Not the kind of thing I usually share on the blog but this thing is amazing!  Amazingly funny that is!  Don't worry, I'm not wearing it but I do have to share a photo of it.  Needless to say this is going into the drawer reserved for weird crap - aka the trash.  My wife almost fell over laughing when I showed it to her.  She promised me that if I DID wear it she would run the other way.  Well, anyway I'm pretty sure why it was free!

Did I mention it is supposed to glow in the dark?  I've been afraid to look!

Otherwise it is cooling down nicely.  We had some snow on Mt. Charleston.  Highs are in the 70's (23C) and lows in the 40's (5C).  After a long hot summer it is kind of nice to be wearing long pants again.  Our fall tomato plants have blossems but I'm not counting on them actually growing a tomato before the frost kills them.  Perhaps I should build them a little shelter.  There are several farms in the valley providing custom produce for restaurants in Las Vegas but they are using greenhouses.  Some are hydroponic farms; some not. 

Gotta go.  I'm being threatened with a good breakfast!  Take care.

Feeling Better

My back problem seems to have gone away - it was a long week but I'm doing much better.  Just in time too because yesterday we went in to Las Vegas to visit the World of Concrete.  Number One Daughter works in the concrete industry so gets us into their annual show.  It is always fascinating.  The show is huge and this year we didn't really have time to check much of it out.  I doubt if we saw 5% of all the exhibits and didn't see any of the fun stuff.   They have contests to build the best brick wall, drive some machine around a course, stuff like that.  We just had a bunch of errands we wanted to get done as well so had to miss out on the excitement.  We ended up walking three or four miles all the same!  I didn’t get any photos; the small stuff isn’t very exciting and the large stuff is too big to photograph.

We got home about 16:00 yesterday then discovered there is a Dark Sky Program over in Death Valley on yesterday and Saturday evenings.  We just didn’t have the get up and go to make the trip yesterday but we are hoping to get over there this evening.  The drive takes a bit more than an hour; the road is a bit twisty in places but it is basically fine.  The park wants to be designated an International Dark Sky Park; I’m expecting the star viewing to be excellent.  I’ll try to report tomorrow.

We got snow in the mountains last night.  We are at an altitude of about 2,600 ft (790m) here in the valley; I’m guessing the snow came down to 3,000 ft (910m).  I know it’s only a couple of inches deep if that much but it makes it feel a lot more like winter and it adds to the aquifer.  Plus all those wild horses, burros and big horn sheep up there need every break they can get - photo courtesy of the Nevada State Parks website.

Gotta go.  Have a good one.

OOPS

I went into town yesterday morning and saw something I've never seen before.  This 18-wheeler had just rounded a corner (at one of our three stop lights) and his trailer came off!  This is him trying to crank the support legs up enough to get it back on the truck.  Can't imagine he was enjoying life about the time I took the photo but since we are at least 60 miles from the nearest place he could come from, I'm thinking he was pretty darn lucky that it happened when he was doing 10 or 15 mph rather than 70!

I'm always kind of fond of CRST trucks since my hometown is just down the road from Cedar Rapids (Iowa).  This isn't the kind of advertising they want though I'm sure!

I went on to Las Vegas for a little shopping - especially booze, it just seems to evaporate in this desert climate.  It's been cloudy all day here but in Vegas there were moments of some spitting rain.  Coming up over the pass there were some really high winds and the rain got heavier then turned to snow.  Brrr.  It reminded me that it's winter.  It made for tiring driving as well having to fight the wind all day but at least I wasn't towing the trailer.  I saw more than a couple people with trailers and they were all going pretty slowly.

Have a good one!

Concrete Guys

We've been talking for months about buying a hot tub.  We've talked to almost every company in Las Vegas; we still don't know what we want but know we need to get a proper pad for it so it's time to talk to the concrete guys.  There are still several companies in the valley who will do concrete.  That's the good news.  Which one to choose is the tough part! 

We took some yellow string and outlined the area.  Then, since we are having concrete guys out, we outlined a new seating area.  We looked at it and looked at it.  The string is becoming hard to see it is so faded!  We changed it several times; finally, just yesterday, we started calling the concrete guys.  Business isn't to pressing these days so we've gotten 4 bids in two days.  The tough part is that even with them coming out and measuring things our estimates vary from $1800 to $3500.  Hmmmm.  One time I read that when selecting a bottle of wine from a wine list you shouldn't buy the cheapest but the third cheapest would be a 'best buy'.  Using that theory I imagine one of the two guys in the middle will get the job but we'll see.  Next we have to get the electrician out to run a 240V line to the hot tub pad.  We are discussing a 120V to the seating area on the simple theory that 'as long as he is here'.

It's been kind of cool here but not bad.  We have started walking in the afternoon; not too far but 35-40 minutes.  It's good for us and good for the dog.  Haven't had any rain in a very long time but it's not that way everywhere.  My wife's family all live up in Washington state.  They are getting a snowstorm of fantastic proportions - the reporters are calling in 'Snowmageddon'.  We lived in the area for a long time.  They don't get enough snow in most years for anyone to know how to drive in the stuff.  I can't imagine how locked up the place is going to be.  It's crazy too.  Here's an article on making snow chains for your bike!  Glad that's not in my future.

I got all wild and crazy today and downloaded a new version of Firefox, a new version of Adobe Reader AND a new version of RealPlayer.  I can't see much difference actually but I'm hopeful.  I was about 5 versions back on all three softwares. 

Gotta go.  Have a good one!

Woke early...

Woke up early this a.m. - about 05:00.  Had to go outside in my robe and take this photo.

We ended up with 2-3 inches (maybe 12-15cm) of quite wet snow.  It's above freezing though so shouldn't last too long.  School is out here but not in Vegas.  The road to Vegas is closed; partially snow but there are at least 2 accidents as well.  Brrrr.