And I thought I was dull before!

 Wow, it's been an entire month since I updated the blog and, honestly, it has been pretty dull.  We've had a few doctor visits but the only thing we did that was really interesting was that we went to San Diego for a quick trip to the zoo.  And I have zero photos of it!  

We really wanted to have Gus get to spend a couple days in the local kennel and going to San Diego seemed like a great opportunity.  I guess he did ok in the kennel and he was ok with us when we got him back so maybe that will work out.  We hope to travel without him once in a while so getting him comfortable in a kennel is a requirement.  So far it looks like this will work out.

San Diego is about a 5 hour drive from here so, what with our not-early start, Tuesday was mostly about getting to the city.  We did have one weird thing happen.  We got in the HOV lane when we were going along on I-215 and the GPS told us we had to get off the highway.  We did that then the GPS was telling us to get back onto the highway!  Apparently it thought the HOV lane was some other road entirely.  That's certainly never happened before.  We also weren't too taken with the signage on the highway having the Interstate being subordinate to other roads.  We had to get off the highway several times to remain on I-215.  It just seemed weird to us.

We stayed in a motel we've used before, the Old Town Inn.  It is walking distance to the Old Town area so we got to walk around there a bit and found a Mexican seafood restaurant for dinner.  It was really very nice.  We ate outside and it was quite comfortable.  Wednesday we spent at the zoo.  These days the zoo is $120 for two senior one day passes.  Hmmm, it is certainly not for the poor people.  

We had a nice lunch with a bottle of wine then promptly got lost looking for various exhibits.  It was fun though.  We'd parked our car under some solar panels that are joined up to charge electric vehicles.  It takes quite a few panels to charge a car so some of us old gas guzzlers can park in the shade too.  We'd had a late lunch so dinner just turned into snacks.  

The next day we headed back home.  We took I-15 rather than I-215 this time and it worked much better!  Then before we hit the California border we came across a lane closure to fix one lane of a two lane bridge.  Somehow that turned into a 40 minute delay!  Grrr!  We finally made it to Baker, CA where we had a late lunch at The Mad Greek.  It has been a favorite stop on the trip for years but it closed for at least a year over the Covid problem.  Anyway, it's back now.

Other that that little trip it's been quiet times here.  There is a 'monsoon' season over in Las Vegas and they have had flooding and all kinds of stuff.  We had a couple little showers but nothing special.  My wife did find a puddle outside one morning and we had to record that.

Otherwise we've had some nice sun rises but not much going on.

So that's all the news that's fit to print from this end of the world.  I hope things are good where you are.  Take care & keep washing those hands.

Travel? Me?

Well, yes!  My wife and I just returned from a quick trip to San Diego.  She was born there and really does love the city but the big draw is that Number 1 Son and his SO live just outside the city.  So we like to go down every now and then to torture them.  We spent the weekend doing just that then added on a couple days so we could do some tourist stuff.

Driving down there was absolutely the worst trip we've ever made down there.  First we got stuck in a traffic jam out in the middle of nowhere thanks to a traffic accident.  Then we got slowed down for no apparent reason at all.  Granted there are plenty of cars on those roads but usually they just kind of carry on with it.  Anyway we left here at 09:30 and didn't get there until 17:00 which was at least 2 hours later than we should have been.  We had fun with the family finding a couple new places to eat and just generally catching up.  By Monday they had to go back to work so we got out fairly early.  My wife is the travel planner and she had found us a place called the Old Town Inn.  It is within walking distance of Old Town and was quite nice.

The first day on our own we spent shopping then wandering around Old Town.  We escaped buying a small scuplture by the skin of our teeth but we both know we'll be back in town again.  If it is still calling to us we might have figured out a place for it by then.  The second day we went to the zoo.  We love to visit the zoo and it really is quite the place.  This time it was a little warm, well a lot warm, but otherwise pretty great.

There were quite a few babies born this year so we got to see some of the young animals.  Giraffes are pretty tall even when young!

There are even wild animals living at the zoo.  Wild as in not official residents!  I'm pretty sure the bunny doesn't have a keeper.

Of course the flamingos are amazing even when sleeping!  There was another one walking up and down the fence line demanding attention from the visitors.  Nope, no one had anything to feed him.

We had fun checking out the baby monkeys.  These two were having a great time playing hide-and-seek.

As I said, it was warm and everyone (and everything) was liking the shade.

Of course the zoo is really pretty large and we only got to see about half of it.  If this was the only time we could visit we would have stayed but having seen about half of the acreage we decided to  head back to the motel.  We walked over to a restaurant in Old Town and had dinner then back to the room for an early night.  The next morning we were at breakfast at 06:00 when they open it up and were out of town soon after.  This time we only had one slowdown so made it home by noon.  Much better!

Thanks for stopping by.  Take care.

I'm doing well - 1 post a month!

Hi there.  I hate to admit it but I have exactly no excuse for not blogging this year.  We've mostly been home, haven't been sick or anything, don't have a new job.  Nothing.  I guess the best I can come up with is that I'm just lazy.  And that is certainly not a new condition for me! 

January and February were really pretty nice around here; we even flirted with 70F (21C) on the odd day.  I feel for all those folks in the midwest and east where they are having such a lousy winter.  It was so nice that all the weeds started growing in our yard and I had to go after them with the Roundup.  Our daughter and her new boyfriend (40ish) have been out from Vegas a couple times.  He can't get over how quiet it is out here.  We were doing pretty good taking our daily walk but then we got a cold spell with consistant 15 mph (24 kph) breezes and that keeps us off the walk. 

No one has been doing any building in the valley for several years.  I remember 3 or 4 years back where there were 17 new construction permits issued all year for the entire county.  Now people are building again and entire neighborhoods are under construction.  There have been three new houses built in our vicinity and now someone is building one right in our neighborhood.  We walk past it every day.  Hopefully they will be able to sell it.  One new problem is that the state is requiring that the purchaser of a piece of land buy 'water rights'.  Up until now it was possible to just buy a piece of land and dig a well on it.  Now you have to pay the state quite a lot of money (I've read somewhere about $10,000) to dig that well.  Needless to say there is quite a backlash from the "Don't Tread on Me" crowd and I must say the state has been rather heavy-handed about the whole thing.  The problem is that people build places out here then pretend they are living in Georgia and think they can have trees and grass and flowers just like people who live in rainy climes.  We just don't have unlimited water.

We did take a trip down to visit parts of Southern California.  We visited Joshua Tree National Monument where we got in a little hiking.  We went down to San Diego, of course, to see Number One Son & his girlfriend of 23 years.  And on the way home we stopped in Palm Springs for a couple of days.  That was kind of interesting.  There is so much 'history of the stars' sort of thing.  I guess it would be appealing to some folks but the town is changing a lot so I'm not sure where it is going now. 

A few photos:  we'll start with hiking in Joshua Tree.  Turns out we didn't take a single photo of a Joshua Tree!  But there were plenty of boulders!

Farther on there was a cholla walk.  This was a short trail through an area where there are an abnormal concentration of cholla cactus.  Some were nearly 10 feet tall!

Driving down those backroads in California is a totally different experience from the freeways of LA.  You didn't meet many cars and the speed limit was mostly 55 mph (88kph).  We also saw several signs warning that there were no services for 80-100 miles (125-160 km). 


Next we spent time in the foothills northeast of San Diego where our son lives.  There are several wineries in the area and we visited one that had a huge sculpture garden:  the Salerno Winery.

It was quite nice and totally free.  We were somewhat put off by the fact they seemed to want to serve food rather than wine tasting so toured the garden and left.  I cannot say anything at all about their wine.  (That's a first!)

Coming back through Palm Springs was interesting.  Of course the first thing we wanted to check out was the Tramway up to Mt. San Jacinto State Park.  There are two cars on the opposite ends of a line so when one goes up the other goes down.  They move people through the place pretty efficiently and you get a timed ticket.  Ours were for 13:00.  Here's the view from the waiting area.  I didn't get a photo of it but one of the cars came down with two maintenance workers hitching a ride on top!  Clearly it's the easiest and cheapest way to get folks up there but you've gotta like heights.

The cars are round and they rotate so you get to see lots.  Once you get to the top they mostly want to sell you food or beverages.  My wife and I split a $15 beer - a large beer and good but $15? 

From the top of the tramway you can actually go hike in the state park but most of us just ohh and ahh and head back inside.  Especially when it was 16F (-9C) and spitting snow.  The view of the city is pretty spectacular.  What I found more interesting was the HUGE wind farm.  The photo shows possibly a third of it; it was massive.  While waiting to go down you can see some of the mechanical parts that make the tram go up and down.  Coming down you can see the sights again.  I spent more time looking at the actual tramway.  Here is a car that we are helping pull up by the weight of our car.

There is a recorded story while in the tram that talks about how the thing was built by having everything brought up via helicopter.  You can see one of the landing stages that is probably still in use for maintenance work.  There are a few trails as well. 

 So that was our visit to the Palm Springs Tramway. 

The other big deal that we checked out was the  Living Desert Zoo and Gardens.  The zoo is divided into two parts:  Africa and North America.  The animal exhibits were nice.  They put compatible species together in the same area quite often.

Some of the exhibits were totally child oriented but most were for children of all ages.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)  There was a lot of information about various desert plants as well which we, as desert residents, appreciated.  I could see where it might get kind of boring for someone from Ohio.  One thing that they don't talk a lot about is the model train exhibit.  They claim it is the largest G-size exhibit in the world.  It was spectacular.  This photo is about a huge canyon.  It made up 15-20% of the total area of the exhibit. 

That concludes our travel for the year.  So far.  By car.  Travelling by car is kind of different for us and it's got it's own challenges.  Motels can be weird.  Finding meals likewise.  Neither of us is ready to give up on the RV but this is a new interest.  We'll see what happens.

We got home and Pahrump had it's annual Balloon Fest.  It is a three day weekend thing that usually works well.  This year, unfortunately, the balloons were only in the air on the Saturday as Friday and Sunday were both too windy. 

I guess that's all the news that's fit to print from around here.  Thanks for stoping by.

Life in the fast lane - NOT!

I haven't been blogging because the hightlight of my days has been our annual fight with weeds in the yard.  Exciting stuff, huh.  We usually buy at least one new sprayer every year; they just get clogged up or stop holding pressure or whatever.  Then we go over the lawn.  This year we used about 10 gallons (38 l) of spray on the first go-round then another 5 gallons (19 l) when the tiny weeds had grown a bit.  I'm thinking there are another 2 gallons (8 l)  in my future since there are yet more of the tiny guys popping out. The weather has been quite mild so the weed population has been enjoying life. 

Otherwise we did manage a trailer trip to San Diego.  Our son and his girlfriend live there and we like to check up on them from time to time.  The trip over was uneventful.  We normally stay in the same park since we love the view of the water.  They keep raising the rates but we just have to do it.  Their wifi is almost non-existant so that is the bad news.  Still, being without the internet for a week is probably good for the soul. 

Our trailer has a picture window in the back so when we back into our space we get a great view.  Sunsets can be great.

There are always people to watch.  In this case rowing crews out practicing.

The traffic is always awful and this time we seemed to hit rush hour more than usual.  Of course driving this huge truck doesn't help any.  It also doesn't help that the city has taken roads designed for two lanes in each direction and changed them to three lanes in each direction without actually widening the street.  Those lanes are narrow!  The streets are also very poorly maintained.  I think they do a lousy job here at home but they are superstars compared to the work done in San Diego. 

We did spend a day at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  We did really enjoy the day but I have to admit to thinking it's pretty expensive.  Adult tickets are $52 and if you want to go on some of the tours the prices go up fast.  I could see a family of four dropping $500 quite easily.  At some point we got thirsty and discovered that a bottle of water is nearly $5. 

Still, it's fun to watch the animals.  These elephants had some hay in a bin up above them but there was more hay hidden in that round toy.  Only one trunk would fit at a time so the big guy was hogging it.

I also liked this shot of the giraffe drinking.  He must have been doing good because he was there for quite a while.

Of course none of us had a camera; my wife's camera battery was dead, our son doesn't own one and I left mine at home.  Grrr!  At least we got a few cellphone photos. 

So, that's my  life these days.  A little weed killing and a little animal watching - as I said, life in the fast lane.  Thanks for stopping by!

Jeez!

My previous post about the tragic fire has taken yet another turn.  Apparently one of the children who died in the fire had already set several fires inside the house that were not reported to either the fire service or the sheriff.  The mother has been arrested for manslaughter, child abuse and neglect.  Her lighter was not found in her purse where it should have been.  What a total waste.

To turn to a more positive thought; here are a couple photos from the San Diego zoo.  It's an amazing place.  We've been three or four times and I still haven't seen more that about a third of it.  This first character was definitely interested is staying on the nest!

The second seemed like a lonely and bored character; a lone wombat having a nap.

I think I'll go for a hike.  Have a good one!

Back at the ranch!

We got home yesterday from our little trip.  We had a good time and got home safely but it wasn't exactly without event.  The trip started badly when my wife looked into the shower compartment and found that one of the faucet handles had come off.  Hmmm, a little investigation and it became obvious that the faucet was dead.  So our first stop was at a local rv dealer where we bought a new faucet. 

The stop slowed us a bit and it was somewhat windy so we decided to stop at Kingman, AZ. for the night; we had wanted to continue on to Congress, AZ.  It was early enough so we could install the faucet in the daylight.  Tried it and it seemed to work though the hose leading to the showerhead was leaking.  It was cold though, down to about 26F (-3C).  The next morning we towed the rig down to the Escapee's park in Congress, AZ.  Again we were battling the wind but the rig handles wind reasonably well and it wasn't uncomfortable, just slow.  We left the rig there and drove down to Sun City, AZ to visit family.  We had a great visit and even got an invitation to their 60th wedding party to take place next June in western Nebraska.  Hmmmm.  Well, maybe.

Back to the rig; it was supposed to be 22F (-5.5C) this time so we tried something new and left the slide in.  With the slide out it's a lot more comfortable but with it in we reduce the area that is being heated by something close to 25%.  It worked and we spent a comfortable night in Congress.  Finally it was time to head for California. 

Grrrrrr!  More wind!  Plus going through the mountains means you get odd, unexpected bursts of wind as you round a corner or go down a grade.  We went to Blythe, CA on I-10 then took CA-78 down to Brawley and El Centro, CA.  There we met I-8 and took that in to San Diego.  Not long after getting on I-8 we saw a sign saying there was a wind advisory for 'high profile' vehicles.  Well, it was only an advisory so we went anyway.  Not a very smart idea but we managed to get through it ok. 

We stopped for gas before the last jump over the mountains to S.D. and I managed to snag both rear stabilizers on the concrete; bending both.  Looks like they will have to be replaced.  Grrr.  Anyway, we managed to find San Diego and landed at a park we've visited before.  I was hoping for warm weather but, you guessed it, it was chilly and nasty! 

We were planning on having a good time though so first thing Thursday morning I decided to try our shower.  Grrr, again!  The shower head was spraying water all over; mostly out the handle.  Happily we were close to the campground showers so used them for the duration of our stay.  After all that, we did manage to do a little shopping and see our son for a while that evening. 

Next day we toured two of the museums in Balboa Park; the automotive museum and the Timkin Museum.  Don't ask why we chose those two; there was no logic involved.  LOL  (Automotive is easy but Timkin has mostly medieval paintings.)  It was still chilly but we persevered and had fun.  It's a beautiful park with amazing buildings.  We will have to visit S.D. a hundred times to visit every place we want to see!  That evening we took our son & S.O. out to dinner at Prado, in the park.   They each have a birthday in the next couple of weeks and this was their present.  We had an excellent dinner for four with appetizers, drinks, wine, and desert for $250.  Not bad for the kind of place. 

On Saturday the kids took us to the zoo.  They have season passes and get a few tickets for friends (or relatives!).  The zoo cannot be covered in a day except by some maniac runner but we had a good time walking around enjoying what we could see.  It was a great day and we had fun looking at 1) the animals, 2) the people and 3) the plants.  (You may order the attractions as you wish.)

The trip home was pretty uneventful.  Windy, of course, but not bad.  I was getting sleepy so asked my wife to drive the last 50 or 60 miles.  I don't think she has driven this truck-trailer combination before but, of course, she had no problem with it.  She's an excellent driver and I got some relaxation but discovered that the truck seat isn't very comfortable for sleeping.  I'm buying a pillow before we go anywhere again! 

Started this post on Monday but got interrupted and didn't finish.  Tuesday has been pretty quiet.  I worked in the garage trying to organize things.  We've only lived here for two years; wouldn't you think the garage would have SOME organization?  Well, ours is coming close but.... 

Have a good one!

Travel!

Finally got to go somewhere - only San Diego, CA but it's not bad.  It was a week long trip and will end tomorrow; tonight I'm writing from an rv resort in 29 Palms, CA.

The first two nights of our trip we spent in the Jojoba Hills SKP park not far outside of San Diego.  We love the organization and thought it would be nice to visit the park.  It was ok; much larger than some of the other parks and more elaborate; for example, they have a woodshop for the residents.  It is also out in the middle of nowhere; at least they have a jojoba bush there!

Went on to San Diego.  Visited our son, his significant other (wife in all but name), and the zoo.  Guess that's what we like about San Diego.  Not really, there is a lot more to see but that's all we saw this trip.  We are just getting used to the fact that we can get there in a day; even towing the trailer.  We did enjoy the zoo.  So much so that we are talking about getting season tickets.  They are $129 for a couple not living in San Diego and a daily ticket is $35 for a single person so, why not.  Two visits a year would pay for it; especially since we'd rather be there for two hours a day two days running than four hours on a single day.  That's what we did this time and it was pretty tiring.

We did a certain amount of driving in the California hills.  It was pretty but not always pleasant.  Saturday there were a lot of motorcycles out.  One heading up a pack of perhaps twenty wasn't completely on his side of the road.  If I can keep my truck in one lane I'd like to think that dipshit could keep his bike in the other!  Today we were towing the trailer on a similar road.  I pulled over six or eight times to let people pass.  There is a law saying you must but it's only common sense to let people go; they just get crazy if you don't and that's when the accidents happen.

Also today we visited the Joshua Tree National Park.  Pretty cool!  There are lots of joshua trees (of course) and larger ones than I have seen elsewhere.  There are also just amazing rock formations.  We are ready to come back some time.  It isn't the easiest place to find but it's certainly worth it for us!

Gotta go.  Tomorrow we should make it home.  It's always good to get home.  Take care, y'all!

CYNIC n. A blackguard whose faulty vision causes him to see things as they are, not as they ought to be.  Ambrose Bierce