Still poking along

This seems to be the quiet before the holiday storm so I don't have much to report.  It is Veteran's Day so 'thank you' to all who served and those family members whose support is so important to the service member.

When we lived in Europe flowers seemed very inexpensive and easy to find.  Not so here; I'm sure that is partially because this is a desert.  But one of the stores had some flowers on sale last week so we perked the place up with a couple bundles. 

The vase is one that we bought in Delft.  We went through the factory where people were making all different plates, vases, etc. then into the sales room.  We walked around the whole place individually and both chose this as our favorite.  Strange but it works for us. 

We did have a little visitor this week:  the burrowing owl decided to make the culvert under our driveway his or her temporary home.  The first I knew was when I was driving out the drive and there was our visitor giving us the eye.  I've read they are not afraid of cars and this guy was just standing there checking us out.  That can't be good for their survival rate!

The next day a group of people were driving past and all of a sudden backed up and started taking photos of the owl.  Again, it was just standing there.  Blends in with the rock and dirt pretty well doesn't it. 

That's about it from me.  Happy Veteran's Day to all. 

The curse!

I mean, of course, the curse of saying something is going well!  I was bragging about our great weather and now it's a good bit cooler and I get to share a 'first ice on the birdbath' photo.

It fairly thick but not well attached to the sides of the bath.  Exciting stuff, huh.  It is a hint that I need to get the rv drained for the winter.  That should be later this week. 

My big plan for today is to go into Vegas to have the truck serviced.  There are places here that could do it but I like having the dealer do it.  No real reason; it's just what I've always done.  Someone has to keep them in business and I certainly don't want to buy a new one.

We have an appointment with a lawyer for Thursday to discuss our living trust.  It is primarily used to avoid probate where a judge has to settle one's estate.  Ours was made in Florida and we want to be certain it is valid in Nevada and make a few modifications.  It should be a pretty painless thing but one never knows!  I chose this lawyer for two reasons:  the person is a woman and that will make my wife happy AND she has never shown up in the newspaper saying stupid things.  Most of the attorneys around here are either ambulance chasers or spend their time defending meth-dealers.  I just don't like either catagory. 

As I said before, quiet times.  Have a good one!

Staying home....

My wife and daughter went off to California to spend some quality time at the beach.  I drove them to the airport; stopped on the way home at the grocery store and haven't left home since.  Talk about a dull guy!  Here's my excitement:  taking care of the tomato plants; making salsa and watching old movies.  Wow!  Anyway, I'm doing ok with the tomatoes.

They are about an inch across so they have a ways to go but I haven't killed them!  That's a big deal for me.  I tried getting bugs off some basil and managed to kill it deader than dead!  All we have left is dried sticks that used to have leaves.  Oh well, unlucky in gardening but lucky in love I guess.  Anyway, I'm looking forward to my wife coming home so that's a good thing. 

I'm not looking forward to her coming home because I'm starving or anything!  Here was dinner last night.

One huge cheeseburger, fresh salsa and sauted brocolli.  Yes, I really do enjoy the green stuff!  The salsa is my wife's recipe but I found some new red peppers to put in it; it's hot but won't take your face off. 

How's that for dull:  a post full of photos of food and plants!  I didn't even use the new camera for the photos; the point and shoot is just so easy.  Besides; do you really need a $500 camera to take a photo of a $3 dinner?  Naw! 

But I thought I'd say 'hi'.  Gotta go.  The laundry is calling me now.  Have a good one!

The Las Vegas Springs Preserve

We went over to visit the Springs Preserve yesterday and I took a few photos that I wanted to share.  First a little background.  For the last few thousand years people have lived in the Las Vegas valley because there were some natural springs out here in the middle of the Mojave Desert.  Makes sense, doesn't it.  It started out as not too many people; now it is way too many but that's what people seem to be good at.  Anyway the Springs Preserve has some really interesting interactive displays in the Origen Museum (that's how they spell it!) about how this all came about geologically and about the people who first moved here.  They also have the Nevada State Museum on the grounds; unfortunately, no one mentioned to us that it is closed Tuesday and Wednesday each week!  So I guess we'll have to go back.  There are lots of conference rooms around; lots of displays for kids even a little cafe that was pretty good.  For residents it is pretty affordable:  $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and $5 for kids.  Unfortunately for visitors it is almost twice that. 

A huge majority of the Preserve is devoted to gardening.  They have many, many different styles shown all of which work here.  Some are pretty drought tolerant; others not so much.  They also point out that a yard can contain different area:  an herb garden; a flower garden; an outdoor living space.  They do a good job illustrating these different areas.  We spent 4 hours wandering around in the garden and the Origen Museum.

One of the parts of the gardens that surprised me most was the sculpture interspersed here and there.  A man named David Thompson did some animals from 'found objects' that I really liked.  I thought the roadrunner was pretty cool!

He also did a ram that I liked.  Wouldn't it be cool to have something like that in your yard!

In the early days a derrick would be built to drill a well in the valley.  There are four of them on the Preserve property. 

Most of the trees and plants are nicely named; not this guy!  We were puzzled and there was no one to ask.  The small fruit had sort of a skin on it. 

It is getting to be Halloween and they have special decorations for the holiday.  This is only one of the MANY decorations.

There was another sculptor whose work I rather liked.  His name is Mark White.  The day was absolutely still so these didn't move but they are designed to do so. 

So that was our day at the Springs Preserve.  This is a great time to be in the Las Vegas area:  sunny, warm days and cool nights.  Hope you had as good a day!

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.

Along with the camera.....

I got my Medicare card:  I'm officially 65 years old.  Whew!  Takes a while to get here but the view is fine.  Please believe me; it's got to be better than the dirt nap.  Having said that, we decided to go over to Vegas and spend an evening.  We got a room at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club just off the Las Vegas Strip for the night.  We dined at Mon Ami Gabi in the Paris.  It was a really nice get-away.  The room was on the 25th floor; the hotel goes up to 55 or so.  It was a nice room with a mini-kitchen, a jetted tub, etc.  Very nice.  It did take us a couple minutes to find the electric switch that controled the electric drape! 

Mon Ami has an outside area right on the strip.  There were 6 or 8 lanes of traffic between us and the Bellagio but it wasn't bad; only annoying when you didn't get to see the fountains!  We all three (including Number One Daughter) had steak frites.  Very thin steak but tender, well cooked and tasty; frites turned out to be a cross between potato chips (American version) and fries.  They were about an inch & a half long (4cm), 1/4th of an inch wide (6mm) and only 1/16th of an inch thick (2mm).  Different.  I liked them; wife and daughter didn't. 

In the afternoon we went over to the Bellagio and checked out the scene set in the conservatory.  It is fall so there were trees with falling leaves.  The leaves were glass.  The trees rather amazing.

The eyeballs in this tree trunk would move from side to side.  Some woman almost fell over when she saw the eye moving! 

This guy was weird from the other side; didn't look like a tree or face at all but from this side he actually looks kind of friendly.

 This is a huge glass display in the lobby of the hotel. 

I had to try my luck with getting a photo in the night.  I admit to resting the camera on the arm of the sofa but didn't use the timer to reduce camera shake.  You can see the Gucci and Fendi stores on the strip.  You can exit the hotel lobby directly into the Mircle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood.  You can spend some serious money in this town! 

We came home the next morning and are back in the quiet country mode!  Gotta go.  Have a good one!

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!

Photos - bah!

I've been trying to organize the photos we took on our trip and it is still baffling me after being at home for a month.  Grrr!  Anyway, let me start with a traditional one:  Old Faithful. 

I must say I have many more photos of Old Faithful just spurting a bit here and there.  We were hanging around looking at the displays the park service has put up but finally were afraid we'd miss the eruption so went outside.  It took it's own sweet time but it was pretty spectacular; in fact I was too much in telephoto mode so didn't get the top of the geyser but I like this photo anyway.  I like the way the spray, the residue and the wisps of cloud in the sky are all pretty much the same color. 

After the big news we went wandering around in the park for a couple days just looking at 'named' places.  I don't remember where we took this photo but it really was amazing to see steam just rising out of the ground!  It's a simple thing but really weird.

Of course being in Yellowstone in August; there were crowds.  We completely missed seeing the Tower Roosevelt area because they were ripping up the parking lot.  If you can't stop you can't stop; get over it!  I guess we could have gone back at 07:00 or something but that's not us.  The park rangers keep telling people not to stop on the road if they see something but to pull off.  Do people listen?  Hell, no!  We actually saw very little wildlife.  We have several excellent photos of buffalo butts but I won't inflict them on you.  The elk were loving the Fort Yellowstone area wandering around like so many sheep loving the grass and leaving presents. 

Still, that's not very 'wild' wildlife.  (Did you know that Yellowstone was created before there was a park service?  The army ran it and the buildings are still there and in use:  General's row, enlisted barracks, etc.; anyone who has spent time on a post in the U.S. will recognize the layout.) 

The geysers aren't all dramatic.  Some just spurt out something all day but in the end have quite a display.

The park service came up with a name for this thing which I don't remember but it looks pretty phallic to me.  It is near this cascade; which is still steaming, still growing, still proving our earth is alive.

These are both from the Mammoth Hot Springs area.  Very impressive stuff, especially if you can get a parking place so you can walk around and see it.


We did see some wild wildlife when exiting the park one day.  This herd of elk decided to bed down in this big field next to the road.  We thought it was hilarious. 

That is the end of the photos I currently have from our trip.  There is more, mostly Salt Lake City, but I haven't pried them out of my wife's little grub hooks.  I'll get them though and share them as I can. 

Have a good one.

It takes me a while....

I finally got up the guts to go into the registry and fix my id.  I can't tell you how much I dithered back and forth about doing it but finally made it.  One of the things I read about fixing the problem was that you ought to have more than one id with administrative priveliges on your machine.  Gee, that would have been nice to have known several years ago when I bought the darned thing!  Anyway, I'm back.  I'll be fooling around with photos from our travels now that I can access them again.  We did have a great trip but felt a little rushed.  Don't know how we managed that but we were.  Drove a bit over 3,300 miles (5,300 km) in about three weeks.  Tow miles were probably 2,400 (3,800 km) but I'm guessing there. 

The Ford dealer has been calling asking if we would like to trade in the truck.  It's an '08 but has only about 35,000 miles (56,000 km) and pretty much does what we ask of it.  We talked about it a while because we like bells and whistles and this truck doesn't have them but in the end decided we'd rather not have a truck payment.  As a trade-in it is probably worth about $25K but we'd end up owing at least $15K and who needs that?  Especially as our travels may be more about flying overseas than in the past. 

Here is a shot from Yellowstone showing the Gibbon River just  downstream from Gibbon Falls.  Note the haze from the fires farther west. 

I'll manage more photos later.  Have a good one!

Sorry!

I've managed to screw up my computer - when I log in I get a message about my profile isn't recognized.  Apparently I have to screw around with the registry and my operating system.  Sorry but I'm not up for commenting on my travels.  More later.  Hope everyone is having a great time.  Take care. 

Photos!

As I said, I forgot my camera!  Grrr!!  However my faithful wife did bring hers and we have been using it.  I'll start with one from Craters of the Moon from way back on the 12th. 

This is some of the hard lava.  There must be square miles like this.  All the walks are paved because it lava is actually quite fragile. 

We finally made it to Glacier.  Apgar Village is just a disaster.  Way too many tourists, little parking & not much except trash and trinkets to be seen but I guess you have to check these places out.  On the Friday we took a horseback ride!  I haven't been on a horse in probably 50 years and haven't really wanted to try it again but my wife loves horses.  We were pretty disappointed not to be doing it in the park but their rides were all full.  Happily our horses were pretty calm and the route through the forest fairly level.  It did kick our asses though and we were feeling it the next day as well.

We checked out the park a bit on our own but the highlight was really taking the Red Bus tour across the Going to the Sun Road.  I don't like driving on roads with no guard rail or shoulder so taking the tour was a no-brainer.  Here would be a few photos starting with our bus.

These buses were built by White Motor Co.  for all the parks.  Most of the other parks got rid of theirs but Glacier managed to get Ford Motor Co. to fix theirs.  They took the body off the running gear and put it back on a modern Ford truck chassis.  So you have a propane powered Ford truck with the old, restored body on it.  This was done in 1999 and our driver said Ford ponied up about $250K per vehicle to do the update.  I must admit to being pretty happy about having big disk brakes under us when coming down the mountain. 

The fun part is that the roof is canvas and can be rolled back.  The driver stopped at the hotel so we could check that out and he could roll the roof back.  It made it pretty chilly riding along in the cool morning but there were benefits!

We rode in the last row of the bus.  The seat was really close to the floor but we had more leg room.  Since we weren't full, my wife and I got the last row to ourselves.  That was fun.  It was also cool because we couldn't see the road at all, only the mountains.  The other rows had three people per row; intended to be four if the trip was full.  There are only doors on the passenger side so you have to slide across the seat to enter & exit.  Because of wildfires over in Idaho we had quite a lot of haze.  Most of our mountain photos are pretty crappy because of haze.

This is a photo of a bus that was ahead of us going up the hill.  This west side road was built in 1928 and it is really just carved out of the side of the mountain.  The east side was done a couple years later.  Some places, like this, they had to just build a place for the road.  You go through two tunnels on the trip.  We were told that one had to be dug by hand without using dynamite because they were afraid of taking the whole section of the mountain down. 


At $80 (plus tip) each for the all day tour we thought it was a pretty good value.  Lunch at the hotel at Many Glaciers, a bit farther north in the park, wasn't such a great deal.  $14 overcooked hamburgers just aren't that wonderful.  The view was pretty spectacular. 

The hotel was built on the side of a beautiful lake with a great view of this fan-like mountain ridge on the other side. 

My internet connection is pretty crappy here so I'm stopping now.  There will be a few more photos of Glacier and on later.  Have a good one!

Still motoring...

We left Twin Falls, ID headed for the small town of Arco, about 100 miles (160km) away.  Arco has two things going for it I guess:  it was the first city (pop. 995 LOL) who's electric power was created using an atomic reactor; and Craters of the Moon National Monument.  The first is because there was an expermental reactor (EBR-1) built nearby.  The second is why we stopped here.  The rv park, Valley View RV Park was really quite nice with grassy sites, gravel roads and some nice trees.

Since it was only a trip of 100 miles, we unhooked the trailer and headed back to the Natl. Monument.  There is a 52 mile (80km) rift in the earth's crust under the park.  As recently as 2,000 years ago there was an eruption here and scientists expect there to be more at some time.  There is a 7 mile (11km) loop trail that you can drive with stops along the way to take little hikes.  You need to stay on the drive or the hiking trails because the lava is actually quite fragile.  It is really amazing how this material is rough in places, smooth in others, and almost sand-like in others.  Interesting stuff.  And there is a lot of it!  We took a couple of the shorter hikes but it was really a bit too warm for comfort.  In the winter they have snow sking and snowshoeing along the drive!  They have a small campground:  first-come, first served; with water, restrooms, charcoal grills and picnic tables but is mostly for very small rigs or tents. 

After checking out the park we went back to Arco for dinner.  It was so bad it was funny.  It is the first time in quite a while that we were over-charged and the place was covered in flys.  I've got to say, if you stay in Arco bring your own food!

You might wonder about the lack of photos in this travel blog.  Well, we were a little out of sorts or something while getting ready for this trip.  Your correspondent left his damn camera at home!  My wife has hers but hasn't downloaded any photos.  Maybe later!  We also left a few other things we usually carry; it was just too exciting I guess.

Leaving Arco behind we continued up US 93.  This is farming country thanks to irrigation on a large scale. They are growing corn, hay and oats that I could identify.  Haven't seen a potato yet and I think I'd know one.  Along much of the way we followed the Salmon River.  What a beautiful area!  The valleys are not as wide as farther south but very beautiful.  The stream is absolutely lovely.  My wife is the fisher-person in our family and I could see coming back here to spend some time just for the fishing.  Finally we left the Salmon and headed into Montana stopping for the night at the small town of Hamilton.  We stopped at a park called the Black Rabbit RV Park.  Foolishly I didn't ask about the name but I'm sure there is a story.  It was a nice little park but was all gravel, roads and sites.  Like most of the RV parks we've seen on this trip there is a large proportion of permenant residents.  We didn't stop there for any real reason; just because it was a moderate drive.  Again, this is farming country but on every side there is a little brown Natl. Park Service sign pointing to a fishing area or camping area. 

Wednesday morning we left Hamilton and headed for Colombia Falls, MT.  This will be our base for visiting Glacier NP.  The park we are staying at is Colombia Falls RV Park; a rather conventional name after the Black Rabbit.  It is rack-and-stack kind of place with long but rather narrow spaces and lots of them.  Not cheap and they have lots of rules.  But their high season is short and demand is high so you get what they give you.  Today we will make our first visit to the park and plan out the next few days visiting.  Until you are really on the ground it's tough to make detailed plans. 

Well, that's our travels for today.  Have a good one!

On the road, really!

We finally got stuff fixed up at home and started our summer vacation.  Whew!  It was a while getting here.  The plan is to drive over to Las Vegas, pick up US 93 and head north.  US 93 is also known as the Great Basin Highway.  In about 1,000 miles we should be near Glacier National Park.  Neither of us has ever been so we are looking forward to it.  Also we are hoping, if not really expecting, cooler temps.

We left Friday and after some discussion, ended up the day in Ely, NV.  Driving up 93 is very pleasant.  It is a two lane road but there is very little traffic.  The tone of the road changed every 50 miles (80km) or so.  Sometimes you have a slow vehicle lane, sometimes you have a center lane that switches from northbound to southbound; sometimes neither.  Sometimes you get a great shoulder; other times the shoulder is about a foot wide.  I sure wish they would put shoulders on that thing all the way!  You are driving up a valley between two mountain ranges.  The mountains are amazing; they change every mile.  Just before Ely you have a 7,800 foot pass (2,375m); not real high but you do go up 5,000 feet (1,500m) in the day.  We stayed in Valley View RV Park just north of Ely.  It is about 75% residential with only the first couple rows used for visitors.  It was ok at $25 a night water & electric only.

Saturday we went over to visit Great Basin Natl. Park.  It was a bit of backtracking but the closest town of Baker, NV is a wide spot in the road.  We thought that Ely would be a much better base of operations.  The park had a lot of interesting information about the "Great Basin".  It stretches from mid-Eastern Oregon; to the Rockies in the middle of Utah and south to Vegas and California.  The reason it is called a basin is because water from the area never reaches the ocean.  It either fills a local lake or fills the aquafer.   Well, that is the way it was before so many millions of people moved into the area; and so many farmers planted so many crops. 

We were too late to visit the major attraction, Lehman Caves.  The rangers take tours through the caves but only 20 people at a time so we wouldn't be able to go until rather late.  I don't like high narrow roads so we skipped most of the park viewpoints and came home.  On the way we passed one of the largest wind farms I've ever seen.  My wife thought there were at least 60 of the monster windmills planted in rows like so much corn.  Back in Ely, we tried to visit the Northern Nevada Railroad Museum but either there isn't anything there or it was locked up.  There were three or four volunteers around but they were too busy with themselves to help visitors.  Can't say I was impressed!  Their brochure claims that you can hire a locomotive to drive.  Either steam or oil; for an hour or a day.  Bring lots of money though if you are interested.

Today we got going again and ended up just outside Twin Falls, ID.  Another quiet day of driving without much traffic.  Each day we've driven we've passed signs saying 'No Services for XXX miles' where XXX is around 120 (> 190km).  Pretty lonesome country up here.  Here we are staying at the Twin Falls 93 RV Park.  Nice enough with some grass for each site, young trees, gravel roads and sites but $35 with a Good Sam discount.  Hell to find from the South too; it is hiding behind a storage facility and the directions are poor to say the best.

Onward tomorrow but even less distance than the last couple of days.  Thanks for checking in.  Hope you have a good one.

Jeez, it's been a while!

No I didn't get run over by my own truck or anything.  We did have to buy two new batteries for the trailer; the old ones wouldn't hold a charge.  I was stupid and let them get discharged down to nothing one too many times.  Then after cleaning the posts & charging the truck batteries I had to go buy new batteries for it because they wouldn't hold a charge either.  I can't really complain; it is a 2008 truck so five years service isn't bad.  The guy at the store claimed the average life of a battery out here in the desert is only about 27 months.  It sounds really short to me but what do I know. So now I'm just waiting for the Toyota to need a new battery.  I mean it's the only one left!

My wife was on jury duty last week and the trial has been extended until tomorrow.  We are hopeful that they will be able to finish but not really optomistic.  It is a civil case, not criminal, so there is lots to quibble about.  She can't talk about it of course but it sounds like it is both boring and facinating at the same time.  I'm looking forward to the end so I can hear all about it.

As you can see, it's still pretty warm around here.  This display is for Las Vegas but it's pretty close to our weather.  Walking is definitely done in the morning or not at all.  The folks behind us are having some work done to their yard.  I sure feel sorry for those poor guys working in the mid-day heat.

Obviously there isn't a whole lot going on around here these days.  Hopefully I'll have more to say another time.  Till then, thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one.

Another interesting day...

And you know about the ancient curse of 'May you live in interesting times'. 

The day started with a grumble when I went out and tried to start the truck.  No go.  That truck has so much crap stuffed under the hood that I really try NOT to look under there.  Apparently that isn't such a good idea.  Because it is a diesel it needs lots of starting power but for some reason Ford didn't want to put a regular extra large battery under there so they put in two regular sized batteries.  You've gotta wonder where they get these ideas.  Anyway the negative posts on each battery was extremely corroded.  That was bad but the connector on the battery cable is the dumbest thing I've ever seen.  It is part steel with maybe a copper coating and has all kinds of nooks and crannies for corrosion to hide.  Cleaning the (*%%$( things took me at least an hour.  An hour we didn't have because we had stuff to do. 

My wife had her mamogram this morning and I drove her because we wanted to squeeze in some breakfast before a meeting with the Senior Dimensions people scheduled for 10:00.  They managed to convince me that I ought to sign with them so I'm looking into all kinds of fun with them.  So we made it home in time for lunch.  After lunch I got the charger out and charged the batteries for a while.  I ASSUMED that if I unhooked the negative lead from the battery it would be isolated and could be charged.  Turns out that was wrong; when I hooked the charged to the second battery it was already fully charged.  Grrrr!  I'm an idiot.  I managed to start the truck though and apparently no harm was done.  All the same, I should have checked either in the owner's manual or online or somewhere!  It was a fine case of idiocy.

Happily I've sat in my chair and fooled with the computer the rest of the day so I have been saved from further embarrassment.  We keep talking about travelling in our trailer and one of the things I do not like is some of the high passes and narrow roads you find in the mountains.  We saw a mention of a book that specifies several hundred passes:  how high they are, how steep the grades are, etc.  They have one version for the eastern states & one for the west.  It sounded like something we would really like as a reference.  It is called the Mountain Directory and that link will take you to their site.  It is $17 for the paper version and $18 for the Windows version - no version for mobile devices, iPads, Kindles, etc.  I downloaded the electronic version and I think it's pretty neat.  Not perfect but pretty good.  The big problem is that it was published in 2006 so it's slightly out of date.  The funny thing is that I went out to Amazon looking for it and they want $250 for it!!!!  I've no idea what the deal is but they were even offering used versions for $40?  Weird!  Heck, the electronic version will be more convenient for most people anyway. 

I promised a couple photos of the sunrise we enjoy while walking early in the morning.  So here we go:  The first one is looking towards the east; just before the sun climbs over the mountain.

 The second is the mountains in the west that are gradually being lit up by the sun.  You will notice that the valley floor is pretty flat and uninteresting.  Even the houses aren't always too cool looking but the mountains fill your soul.  Or at least my soul.

So that was my interesting day.  Hope you had a good one too.  Thanks for looking in.

Medicare???

Yep, it is almost time for me to make all those Medicare decisions.  Ugh!  Oddly thinking of Medicare is making me feel older than thinking about the actual birthday.  Maybe it is because I've had so much experience having birthdays!  To be truthful, the Medicare part isn't so bad but figuring out the add-ons is a giant pain in the you know where.  Of course it is made worse by the fact that we live 'over the hump'.  In a city like Las Vegas there are lots of choices.  Here, not so much. 

Here we get to choose between Humana and something called Senior Dimensions.  (Why they would name their company something so close to Senior Dementia is beyond me!)  Humana is called a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO); Senior Dimensions (SD) calls itself an HMO-POS.  In the HMO you go to doctors in their company; the POS is supposed to let you visit doctors outside the plan at additional cost.

Humana is a bit more expensive than SD but they are accepted by the doctors I've been seeing for the five years we've lived here.  With SD I'd be saving some money but would be seeing new people.  I seldom visit the doctor so maybe it's no big deal.  We also need to figure out what goes on when we travel; either in the U.S. or overseas.  Reading all the fine print is just else something to get aggravated about.  Glad I don't have blood pressure problems!

Aside from all that, we are continuing on our nice warm summer.  Most days it is around 105F (40C) and doesn't cool off enough to open the house at night.  We take our daily walk at 06:00 to avoid most of the heat.  The mountains are pretty then; all gold from the rising sun.  I thought I'd taken photos of the sunrise but apparently not!  Maybe tomorrow. 

I signed up for this free site, Duolingo, which attempts to teach English speakers various European languages and vice versa.  It was invented by the guy who came up with those little squiggly words you have to type for leaving comments, etc.  The site is kind of fun but between my atrocious typing and my spelling (which isn't good in English!) it's going to be slow going!  I'd love to be able to speak and understand a couple other languages even at the level of a three year old. 

That's all the whining you'll hear from me today.  Thanks for checking in.  Hope you have a good one.

An open letter to President Obama:

 

Dear Mr. President:

Someone famously said if you want to tell a story you should start at the beginning, carry on until the end and then stop.  I guess the beginning of my story about you is when you made that magnificent speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention.  It was obvious then that we the people would be hearing a lot more from you.  That was indeed a magical moment.  I'm sure everyone who heard it was impressed.  In 2008 I voted for you hoping that you would bring us some relief from the crazy cowboy foreign policies of George W. Bush.  You started off really well but you must admit we still aren't minding our own business very well.  How many thousands of dead and wounded military personnel have we suffered since you took office?  It's a big number.  In 2012 I voted for you again; unfortunately this time it was because I was voting against the other idiot; yes the OTHER idiot.  Your Presidency was already a disappointment.

That is really the theme of my letter:  disappointment.  You have so many gifts:  you can deliver a speech as from the Gods; you are obviously extremely intelligent; I shouldn't even bother to mention your physical good looks, your beautiful family and all that.  I do wish you had bothered to serve in our military forces.  It isn't so much the 'patriotism'; it is that one learns so much from giving to your country in that manner.  It's not easy to explain to one who hasn't served but offering to go and do whatever you are told whenever you are told is both complete freedom and the most complete servitude one can imagine.  I served during the Vietnam era but did not go to Vietnam.  Frankly I think you would be a better President had you served earlier in your life.  You would find that the oath of office is quite similiar. 

You have only three more years to 'make your mark'.  I would suggest giving up on perfection and settling for 'good enough'.  The end of your story is not here yet.  There is actually a chance to change the tax code.  Some sort of immigration reform is possible.  There is a chance to keep at least parts of 'Obamacare'.  There is a chance to get MOST of our troops home.  You can do these things.  Your country needs these things.  Give it a shot!  Don't be a pedantic supercilious professor of law.  The President of the United States is a politician.  Give some; get some; and make your Presidency a success.  LBJ is the guy who got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed; not JFK.  And if you don't think LBJ was a politician and a pretty good President; well, maybe I'm writing to the wrong guy.

Good luck Mr. President.  It would be really wonderful to remember you as a great President rather than just a great speaker.

Goodbye Fire!

It looks like the Carpenter Canyon Fire is much under control.  The folks on this side of the mountain have been allowed to go back to their homes.  The other side is where the action is right now but the firefighters are confident of success.   Thank goodness!  And I don't believe anyone was seriously injured fighting it.

My wife and I went out to dinner the other night.  As we were leaving the parking lot we saw a bunch of tents and trailers over in the park.  I pulled the car over to see what was happening; it usually means some sort of circus or rodeo is in town.  Well, a deputy sheriff pulled in right behind us!  WTF, well, turns out all that stuff was for the fire crews and the park was off-limits for the rest of us.  LOL  I haven't been parking with a woman and questioned by the cops in centuries!  Made me glad I'd only had one beer with dinner too!

Since we haven't done any traveling yet this summer and won't be leaving this country,  I've been getting my Europe fix by watching Le Tour de France.  The scenery is simply fantastic - and the cycling!  Those guys are at a level of fitness that I really can't believe.  Riding 100 miles or more a day for three weeks?  Amazing.   The Tour is the only cycling event that I follow; sports aren't really an interest but this stuff is pretty impressive.

The birds are still hanging around waiting to be fed.  The only birds that show up in the birdbath are pigeons but I guess they are birds too.  The hummer keeps his ownership of the feeder chasing anyone else off.

We've been doing a lot of cooking on the bbq but I seem unable to take photos of the event.  It is warm to be out there but it's better than heating up the house.  I've done chicken twice, steak, salmon twice and that is just in the last week.  The meat and a salad is our usual fare.  It's pretty low on carbs for my wife and if I'm famished I can always nuke a baking potato.

After dinner we often go out and enjoy the sunset.    You know I don't have any trouble remembering the camera for a sunset!

Well, gotta go do something even if it is wrong.  Have a good one!

Duh, more fire news

The fire on Mt. Charleston is still the big deal for us.  Now we are talking about 25,000 acres (10,000+ ha) burned and 1,100 firefighters on the job.  Big numbers; but here is what it looks like from Las Vegas. 

This photo was taken near the Red Rock Canyon just west of Las Vegas.  From our side it doesn't look like a big fire because the smoke is going north and east.  This makes it more real for me.  There have been a few comercial buildings burned down but no homes so far.  Lots of people have been evacuated from their homes of course.

The weather isn't doing much to help the firefighters but there might be some moisture in the next few days.  I sure hope they get lots of rain & no more lightning!  Having the temp go from 107F to 96F (41+C to 35+C) will probably help the firefighters too.

 While in Las Vegas we looked at range hoods at Lowes.  We have a microwave/range hood now but it has problems:  1) the fan isn't strong enough and 2) it gets really dirty and is a giant pain to clean.  You need a screwdriver to take it apart and still can't get into all the little nooks and crannies.  We wanted to look at something other than what our local Home Depot has in stock.  Lowes didn't do a lot for us; nothing in stock but a nice $700 (!) one in their catalog.  Jeez!  I'm not sure I'm up for all that!

Meanwhile, rather than actually exercising, I'm watching the Tour de France.  Those guys are really amazing.  Of course it doesn't hurt that I'm watching the stage that ends at Mont St. Michel!  What a fantastic site for the race.  I've got to say I'd like to be watching it in person.  Maybe next year.... 

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a good one.

Just two things....

First the fire was reported at over 22 square miles this a.m. - that's a lotta cotton!  We are getting firefighters from all over but the area being burned is extremely difficult terrain; way beyond anything that can be reached by road.  If they get enough aircraft in that might help.  Otherwise, who knows! 

Second, I've heard a lot about people being injured or even dying from the excessive heat.  It's true, many of us don't drink enough water.  We never drive 'off-road' but we carry water in both our vehicles.  When we were in Death Valley last I found this really neat chart in the men's room.

It's not the greatest photo, sorry cellphone alert, but when it's mounted over the urinal; well, it gets your immediate attention.  You don't have that much else to be doing.  This heat is pretty intense; I'm starting to think nicely about fall!  Yeah, I know, I'm fickle. 

Anyway, hope you have a good one.

Short blog

Just a couple of things I need to report.  One is that I mis-stated the distance to the fire; my photos were when the fire was on this side of the mountains and it was only about 15 miles (24km) away rather than the 30 I stated.  The other BIG thing is that the paper is now saying the fire has covered 9.000 acres(3,600ha)!  OMG, that's a big chunk of land. The fire is now on the eastern side of the mountains so no longer visible to us.  It is also the more populated side so will probably get put out more quickly; there is lots more political pull over there! LOL A photo from our morning walk (sorry about the finger in the upper left hand corner).

I had a mild episode of vertigo this a.m. but since I have my magic pills from our trip to Florida it wasn't really a problem.  It is weird though.  I'm sitting here looking at my email and suddenly can't read anything.  Then it is all I can do to crawl over to the couch and lie down.  Being stationary does the trick and now I can see again.  Weird shit!

Gotta go.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a good one.  Take care.

Fire!

The fire that started out as a lightning strike on Monday night has now burned about 2,000 acres (800 ha) and is zero percent contained.  NOT a good situation.  Here is a link to the Vegas Review Journal.  There is talk of moving it up to a Type I fire which means the firefighters have more equipment, personnel, etc.  So far there hasn't been any loss of life or any homes destroyed but there are people who live up there so something needs to be done soon.  So far all that has been done is to tell the people to leave their homes.  Here's hoping the new fire teams can put this thing out.

Last night the fire was even more visible from out house than before.  Apparently the fire was moving up a ridge and got to a place visible to us.

We had a quiet day yesterday.  About 21:00 I was listening to some music and started hearing this irregular beat so had to go investigate.  Turns out, of course, it was the town fireworks display for the Fourth of July.  Wow, my head was so far away from that!  We viewed the display from our front porch; it was quite nice.  We were having a lightning storm with a tiny amount of rain at the same time so standing out in the yard didn't sound all that great!  The rain wasn't enough to even leave a puddle so it's not likely to wash us away. 

Here's to having a quiet weekend and much less wildfire! 

Almost over....

The forecast is for the heatwave to subside somewhat here in the next couple of days.  We will then be back to a more normal 105F (40C) or so.  On the other hand we have that visitor no one wants:  fire.  There is a lightning started fire burning up in Carpenter Canyon on Mt. Charleston.  Carpenter Canyon is a bit south of Pahrump but we can see the fire from our house.  It is south and west of the peak of Mt. Charleston.  Here is a photo I took last night; remember this is probably 30 miles away!

I really feel for the poor guys fighting the fire; it's got to be pretty close to 100F (37C) even at that altitude and they are wearing all that gear.  Just wearing all that stuff in heat like that has to be a challange and then to be clearing brush or trying to pump water from a truck!  That's a lot like tough work.

Here is another photo showing the smoke from the fire though it does look much like a cloud.  This was taken on our walk this a.m. with my cell phone. 

We wre in one of our local stores yesterday buying a gift for our daughter's birthday and the owner wished us a Happy 4th of July and mentioned it was the 237th birthday of our nation.  Ok, I love my country but who the hell keeps track of stuff like that?  Not me!  I prefer taking my regular bags of groceries over to the VFW food bank for vets who are having a tough time.  It seems more important to me somehow. 

We don't have much planned for today.  We bought a couple steaks to throw on the barbie tonight and we'll find a bottle of cabernet to go with them.  Maybe we'll be awake for the fireworks at the city park and maybe not.  Anyway, hope all you U.S. citizens are having a good holiday and all the rest of you are having a good day.  Take care!

Hot!

I know it's not really news about the heat wave that is covering the Southwest U.S. but I've got to say it is warm.  Staying inside and running the a/c is our way of coping.  It's not very unique, or cheap(!) but it works. 

Here our indoor-outdoor thermometer shows 100F (38C) at 20:37 in the evening last Friday night.  That would be about half an hour after sunset.  The 77F (25C) is inside, of course.  I question the 10% humidity outside and the 2% inside.  It is undoubtedly dry but that's pretty extreme. 


Lately we've noticed a jack rabbit hanging out in our back yard.  He (or she) is fairly young but is growing up fast.  It's a good place for a rabbit to live; the coyotes aren't likely to get in and if the did the rabbit would probably be able to get out quicker than they could.  A couple nights ago he came up close to the house and I got a good photo of him.

Here is another photo of the guy having a bit of breakfast that I put out - a few carrots.  

We aren't going  to feed him very often.  We wouldn't like him to get too used to handouts but once in a while he might get something.  I put some water out for him as well but he didn't care about it.  They must get enough liquid from the things they eat.  Their hind legs really are absurdly long compared to the rest of their body; I should try to get a video of him hopping around.  Those legs make them a LOT faster than an ordinary bunny. 

Well, you can tell how exciting things are around here.  Actually it's great!  The lack of drama really works for me.   Hope your drama level is to your liking as well.  Have a good one.

AWOL again!

Yep, I keep trying but keep going away for weeks at a time.  This time I have at least a bit of an excuse:  we flew to Florida for a week.  We had a family birthday to celebrate, relatives to meet and even old friends to visit.  Actually it was a great time. 

We started things off by taking the cat to the vet to be boarded.  He's an old guy and we thought he would be more comfortable where he knew everyone.  Well, that didn't go so well!  We walked in with him and he started hissing and spitting and carrying on like someone elses cat.  He's been there probably 10 times and he's never been  upset at all.  This was really weird but we really had no choice but to leave him.  We were a bit worried but figured he'd calm down and be more like his usual self. 

The flight out was non-stop on Southwest.  We were warned that they would only give us a couple peanuts for a snack so we brought along our own cheese & salami plate.  That worked really well!  We spent our first night in a Quality Inn in Tarpon Springs, FL.  As walk-in's we got a really good rate; it wasn't fancy but it was clean and quiet.  It was also at about 30% occupancy.  We had dinner at a restaurant called "Rusty Bellies" in Tarpon Springs.  It is kind of half bar and half restaurant.  We ate inside and it was nice; outside they had really loud music.  I couldn't have been out there!  In the morning we had the motel's free, included breakfast.  I've got to say, the breakfast alone would have cost $10 anywhere.  What's not to like?

The next day we went up to Crystal Springs, FL.  Our family had a house full of other family so we looked for another motel:  found another Quality Inn.  This one was a bit older but it was still clean and comfortable; after all, we were planning on spending all our time with family.  So  we signed up for two nights and went to visit, talk and eat.  What else do you do with family?  That night (Thursday) we all (11 of us) went to dinner at a favorite restaurant then my wife and I bailed out to our motel room.  I went out to get some ice and coming back I was kind of light-headed.  I was thinking maybe I'd drunk too much but then I got to thinking... I've felt this before.  It is called vertigo and I had it a couple of years ago.  That time it surprised me and it meant a trip to the emergency room.  This time I remembered the medication that had been prescribed and in the morning my wife was going to call our doctor here in Nevada and have her call a prescription to a local drugstore. 

Because of the time difference, it would be at least 11:00 a.m. before she could contact the doctor.  She did find time to call the vet; turns out the cat has quieted down and, while not friendly, isn't too crazed either.  Then she called the local CVS.  She mentioned the medication, meclizine, only to find that it is now available over the counter for motion sickness!  What the heck.  So she bought some and by 14:00 I was able to get up and get around.  What a deal!  As it turns out, I needed to take it morning and night for the rest of our trip.  Friday night all 11 of us went to another place, a Chinese restaurant.  Everyone thought it was the best Chinese food; I guess it was ok but I don't really remember what I had! 

Some of the family had to leave early Saturday morning so we moved into the computer room/emergency extra bedroom for Saturday night.  It was really very nice of them to keep us but I was glad to have had the privacy of the motel room when I had been really ill.  Saturday was also the big party.  These folks know everyone in the neighborhood and they all showed up for the party - this is in addition to the family members.  Jeez!  What a crowd.  They are all pretty old though so there were no fights or late nights. We did prove that if you eat all afternoon, you won't need an evening meal! 

Sunday morning we headed back south towards Palm Harbor to visit our old neighborhood.  We had been fairly close to our neighbors and it was great to see them again.  We visited with them and some other neighbors until fairly late.  We had quite a bit of catching up to do.  Monday they had an appointment we we were on our own.  We had lunch in St. Petersburg at a place called "Red Mesa".  It is sort of updated Mexican but kind of pretentious too.  Then we spent the afternoon visiting the new Salvidore Dali Museum.  Now that was great.  It is all new and very nice.  The problems would be 1) the entry fee is $40 for two of us plus $5 for parking and 2) there is only one floor of paintings in the three story building.  It should be nice at those prices!  We tried taking our friends out to dinner that evening; went to a local place that was so totally awful that I'm not going to describe it.  Just don't go there!

Finally, Tuesday, we got to fly home.  This trip had a stop in Austin but the flight was just fine.  We got home in time to go collect the cat.  Turns out he was just fine.  He even forgave us for leaving him rather quickly.  So that was our big trip.  There will be more later this summer but for now I'm glad to be home. 

Thanks for checking in.  Have a good one.

Poll, kind of....

Ok, I don't have a lot of regular readers.  Well, that's fine.  I do have a problem with the name of my blog - we no longer have anything to do with Tampa Bay.  I mean I may visit there but it certainly won't be the centerpiece.  SO, what do I do?

DI'm thinking something like Pahrumpstuff.blogspot.com might be right; or maybe Desertrat.blogspot.com or ????.  I really haven't looked to see what names are available.  What do you think?  Certainly Tampabaydtuff is gone after a few more posts.  Your input will be greatly appreciated! 

Thanks in advance.

Don