San Diego sadness

We did have a very nice time visiting San Diego; did lots of tourist stuff, had a great parking spot, looked at water a lot since we can't do that here at home but there was one very large downside:  no dog.  We had stayed in this same park once before and taking the same walk we took last time only with no dog was pretty sad.  There is an excellent place for walking, complete with little doggie bags so you can pick up after Rover, but we had no dog.  We still have the cat and he is an annoying little sh!t but it's not the same.  Well, we'll just have to get over it.

We have an appointment to have the trailer axles lubed next Wednesday over in Las Vegas.  We are taking the trailer back to the people who sold it to us.  They want us to get there early so they can get us out the same day.  It shouldn't be too tough but who knows.  We had Camping World lube the axles on our old trailer and that was the start of a number of problems.  They didn't bother to use the right size dust caps so they came off, spread grease all over & just generally made a mess.  Of course, without grease, the bearings went south.  It was bad.  I don't think I've been back to a Camping World since.  After getting the maintenance done, we'll put the trailer away until our trip next summer.

It's funny how the human mind works; or at least how mine works!  I was reading a guy's blog and he discovered that his car is without an oil dipstick.  We've had the Toyota for three years and I don't remember ever looking under the hood so of course I had to rush out to the garage and look to see if it has a dipstick.  Sure enough; in fact it has one for the engine and one for the transmission.  I don't really care but if I hadn't gone to check, it would have bothered me until I did.  I'm so easy!  The car is coming up on 29,000 miles so I'll be taking it off to the dealer one of these days to have it serviced.  This driving to Vegas is getting habit forming.

I've been trying to figure out if I should take the truck over for an oil change.  The thing is that it was due 'by time' in January but we really haven't used it much so we are about 3,000 miles short of needing to change it 'by mileage'.  Seems kind of silly to change it but I would like that engine to keep going for a long time.  I imagine I'll split the difference and take it to get fresh oil just before our summer trip.

Well, that's all the wheeled news that's fit to print.  Have a good one! 

A few more photos

Here are a few more photos I took during our week in San Diego; in no particular order! 

We visited Pacific Beach.  There is a pier that you can use to get out over the water.  Actually, there is a hotel with little cabins all along the pier.  You can 'sleep over the ocean' if you want.  For me the pier seemed a little creaky so when a car came along the boards definitely moved.  It is one of those 'you want a small car' places.  Anyway, there were some guys trying to surf even though there wasn't much of a wave.  This guy did better than most but fell soon after this photo.

Some years ago a guy did a statue of the famous photo of a sailor kissing a woman in New York on VJ Day.  A statue has been made of the kiss; it's entitled "Unconditional Surrender".  It was displayed in Sarasota and now it has been in San Diego for five years.  They may be losing it soon though; it is getting weathered and having a bronze version would cost a bunch.  Anyway, it was there last week!

Finally I've got a photo of our trailer in it's spot at the park.  We have a picture window in the back of the trailer so being backed in is ideal for watching the birds and all.  You can barely make out a light post right near the rear of the rig.  It was extremely bright!  Happily our sleeping quarters are in the front so were quite dark but it was llight in the living room even with the blinds closed.  There is a small walkway between the rigs and the bay but few people used it and they didn't bother us at all.

Of course we have more photos but I've been unable to pry my wife's photo out of her grasp.  Maybe I'll get them next week!  Until then, have a good one!

Back home...

Our quick trip to San Diego is over and we are back home.  It was really a great trip.  We spent more on the site than we would usually do but it was great watching the water.  We also did more touristy things than usual. 

One thing we did was to visit the aircraft carrier Midway which is docked almost downtown.  One of the docents estimated that about 25% of the ship is available for visiting.  You are given a audio player to provide information about the various displays.  The flight deck has a display of aircraft some of which were flown from the carrier and others that were not carrier based.  They also had quite a few helicopters on display; between the Navy and the Marine Corps. there are lots of uses for them.  The Midway was a working carrier for 47 years; longer than any other ship.  It was commissioned just after WWII ended and was still out there during Operation Desert Storm.  Quite an accomplishment.  Did I take any photos, aw, you've got me there - not a photo.  The hanger deck was mostly open as well and it mostly had WWII era aircraft.  Down below you got to visit some enlisted quarters, the mess hall, officer country and the dispensary.  The audio for the dispensary pointed out that they had lots of head injuries because the overheads (ceilings) were pretty low in places.  The headphones kept me from hitting my head at least twice!

We also did the two hour harbor tour.  It was kind of fun.  The first half was the northern part of the bay.  It was kind of fun going past the airport, all the pleasure boats and the Navy base on Coronado Island.  There were about 20 of us on this ship intended for several hundred passengers.  Then we stopped back at the dock to take on more people before doing the southern part of the bay.  OMG, there were probably 200 people trooping on for the second half of the trip!  Most were Asian with some kind of tour group.  Looked like they were having fun though.  The southern bay has shipyards where many Navy ships were being worked on.  They had a fence around the yard so you couldn't get too close and a security boat came out to watch the harbor tour boat! 

There is more but I've got to go do things.  Have a good one!

Bad Don!

Ok, been AWOL again.  My only excuse is that I'm on vacation.  (How do I go on vacation from no job?)  We are visiting San Diego.  It's not really that great of weather (high 64F - 18C & breezy) but the views are pretty good.  This is from the picture window at the back of our trailer.

This park is on Mission Bay so we are fairly close to downtown and the ocean beaches.  We've stayed here one other time.  It's expensive but quiet for a park so close to everything in a big city.  It has Wifi but it isn't terribly reliable; this morning (07:00 on Sunday) it's fine.  My wife grew up in San Diego so we have fun visiting some of her old haunts.  And we get to see Number One Son & his SO.  I must say we won't be losing any weight on this trip!

One of the old time scenic stops is Mt. Soledad.  There are nice views of the surrounding area - this is of the beaches to the north.

The monument itself is a giant cross intended to honor veterans of the U.S. military forces.  There were some legal actions some years ago in connection with having a religious symbol on public land.  This has been addressed; there are now several plaques mentioning that this is now private property!  It is a nice thought but sometimes I fear we take political correctness too far.

 

The cross is surrounded by low walls displaying plaques honoring various members of the military.  It is kind of strange; all crammed together with no apparent organization.  WWI is next to Vietnam which is next to Korea; there are plaques to the famous and to the unknown; there are quite a number of couples where both served.  Very interesting; I don't even know if they are all from this area!

We'll continue visiting.  Hopefully I'll continue to use the camera!


The traffic in San Diego is pretty awful.  They have plenty of stopages and the roads themselves were built with a special something that sets up a rocking motion for our truck.  I would estimate that approximately 20% of drivers on the freeways (including myself) go the speed limit of 65 mph (100 kph).  The remainder are from 10mph to 20 mph faster.  Needless to say there is absolutely NO lane discipline; fast cars are slaloming between lanes like a skier in the Olympics.  Most people flip on their signal light and change lanes without checking to see if there is anyone there; some omit the signal light.  It sucks during the day and is quite a bit worse at night.  I'm hardly surprised a the stopages; the accident rate must be impressive.  Last night the police found a drunk waving the U.S. flag in the middle of one of the freeways.

Anyway we are planning on being here until next Wednesday when we will return home.  Gotta go for now; have a good one.

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.

Exciting stuff - well, not THAT exciting...

I actually have something to blog about!  I don't know what to do with myself.  How does this work?  I guess I'll just plunge in somewhere and hope it makes sense.  We got a new internet service.  This one is talking about speeds in megabytes rather then kilobytes so that is a good thing.  The two guys who installed our new antenna were just on a whole different planet from me when it comes to heights.  They were zooming up that ladder like they were walking down the street.  It made my hands sweat just to watch them.  Here's one of the guys programming the receiver.

Just another day at the office for him. 

I did something that put my back out.  I've no idea what it is but while sitting doesn't hurt getting into a chair or out of it sure does.  Go buy some stock in ibuprofen because use is skyrocketing.  To manage my computer addiction during this time I've installed a new desk.

Yep, I'm in the closet.  I know all those celebrities are coming out of the closet, I just had to be different.  I can't stand here for long periods of time but for ten minutes at a shot it works really well.  The view sucks but.....  (Comments about the crap stored in the closet will not be accepted unless they are accompanied by a photo of your own neat and tidy closet!)

Anyway, aside from all that excitement, things are pretty normal.  We are having some nice 60's (17C) high temps and not too much wind so being outside is nice.  We are doing our walk mid-day rather than at 06:00 as we do in the summer.  We walk around the neighborhood and check out what the neighbors have done with their yards and houses.  We figure we have some very strange neighbors!  I'll talk about them another time.  Right now it's getting time to go find another position.  Standing in my closet is getting painful.

Have a good one!

Rain?

Yep, in common with most of the Southwestern part of the U.S. we have been getting some rain.  We are supposed to average 4" (10 cm) a year and we've probably had around .5" (1 cm) in the last four days.  It doesn't sound like a lot but it turns the desert into a giant mud-hole.  So we've been walking on the local streets.  We don't have sidewalks but fortunately we don't have much in the way of traffic either.  Walking two miles we will probably see two or three cars.  That works for us; the only downside is that it is a bit tougher on the feet to walk on the asphalt.  Our daily highs have been in the 60F (15C) area so we can’t complain about that. 

 I took the above while driving into town.  That is just where the mountain is supposed to be!  We just don't get views like this very often.  As you can see, I was a bad driver and pulled over into the turn lane to take this photo.  Of course, there wasn't a lot of competition for the lane so I didn't feel too bad.

Here is a cloud bank that is covering the valley.  This particular mountain isn't one of the taller ones but it was big enough to peer out over the clouds.  And, yes, that is blue sky over the mountain.

I’ve been working on building a bat house to encourage bats to stay around here and munch down some insects.  We don’t have a lot of insects but generally I think fewer is better!  I’m making the house from some rough cedar fencing.  The little guys need some way to hang while they sleep and I’m hoping the rough surface will be just the ticket.  I haven’t decided how high to suspend the house; the instructions say to put it  really high but they may have to compromise some on that since I don’t like ladders all that much.  We’ll see.  I’m trying to keep the thing as ‘natural’ as possible so there won’t be any weird smells, etc. to scare the bats off.  Next summer should tell the tail.

I spoke of building a little bed in the back of the pickup so we could spend an occasional night off in Death Valley or somewhere.  I’m still working on a design so haven’t gotten anywhere with the idea.  Right now I’m thinking of a bed that will fold in half lengthwise so we won’t lose too much cargo space.  When we want bed we just unfold it, blow up an air mattress and toss out the sleeping bags.  There should be plenty of room under the bed for camping supplies, a stove, etc.  I’m not sure about a porta-potty; we’ll cross that problem when we come to it.  Of course the design isn’t wife-approved yet so if I end up building something completely different; that’s what happened.

It is now two weeks since we had to take the dog to be put down.  Things are getting back to a new normal.  We went in to Las Vegas the other day and were a bit late getting home.  No worries now!  The cat just sleeps most of the time anyway and if he gets beyond eating cat food and hitting the litter box; well, that’s another problem.  He does get frightened in the night a few times almost every night.  He will start howling as loud as he can then quits after four or five howls only to repeat the performance a couple hours later.  We are actually getting used to it.  It’s like living next to the train tracks; eventually you sleep right through the passing train sounds.

Well, gotta go.  Have a good one.

Getting on...

We are still getting used to the new normal of no dog.  It will be a long while before one of the other of us goes a week without thinking we see or hear her but it will happen.  In the mean time we just need to get over it.  We got her almost twelve years ago and were separated from her for a total of 16 days in that time.  When we had her put down there was absolutely nothing wrong with her aside from the mess that was her cancer.  However.....

I was reading RandomRoger (famous financial blogger) a few weeks ago and he pointed out that there are a LOT of funds and ETFs that mimic the SPY ETF; which is supposed to mimic the S&P 500.  Since I read that I've been trying to find funds that will give us diversification while keeping charges low.  The problem is the HUGE universe of products almost generates an inability to make a choice.  I've read of this condition but now it's got me.  In the end, I know what I'll do.  I'll go for large products and just go along for the ride.  We certainly won't get famous or particularly rich but we'll do ok.

We have decided on a new way to spend money; well, new to us!  Viking River Cruises have been sending my wife their brochures for some time.  Right now they are giving 'special' rates if you book a 2014 cruise now.  We just couldn't say 'no'.  It is weak of us I know but what are you going to do?  Take it with you?  We have signed up for a China river cruise that includes flying around to some sites that aren't on the river.  It is one of those drag you around by the hand things where you are either on one of their ships, one of their planes or in one of their buses.  It is going to be really weird but we are both intimidated by not knowing the language or even the script.  We don't go for over a year but are already getting excited.  It will be the first time we've been out of the country since 2000.  Amazing!

Somehow I managed to watch much of President Obama's inauguration.  I thought it was ok as such things go; the poem that was written for the occasion seemed longer than the President's speech!  It will be interesting to see what he does with a second term.  His first seems to have polarized the country even more than it was before.  I'm afraid he isn't a man who learns cooperation easily and the Republican party seems pretty divided so I'm not so sure anything much is going to happen.  I hope he doesn't take the back door approach to things and start proclaiming Presidential Privilege all over the place.  That crap will stick us in the ass.  The Constitution did a great job of defining three parts of our government; having some fool try to jimmy the definitions on the fly for his own ends is not good for any of us. 

Have a good one.  I'm going to work on it too!

Getting used to the new normal

No, I'm not talking about some idiots view of the economy but rather life without our companion of the last, almost, 12 years.  Well, it won't be easy but we'll get there.  My wife thinks she hears the dog every now and then.  I'm not quite there but I am looking for her in all her old places.  I keep forgetting to feed the cat too because the dog isn't here going 'where is my food!'.  Happily the cat self-feeds so if I stock him up a bit it will keep him going for several days. We took our first walk out in the desert without the dog.  It was a little weird but....  We saw two jack rabbits; I was tempted to chase them for the dog but gave up on that thought.

We are getting our travel planning going for the next year.  We'll be in San Diego late next month then in the summer head north for Yellowstone and Glacier.  We are really looking forward to the summer trip.  There are some quiet, hopefully little used, roads heading up there & that will suit us just fine.  I love the Interstate system as much as anyone but when you aren't in a hurry it's fun to visit the backroads.  We haven't gotten so far in our planning that we have any idea of the time we'll be gone; could be three weeks or it could be six.  We'll cross that bridge later!

Short post today.  Maybe I'll have an actual idea tomorrow.  Take care!

RIP Sammie

Yesterday a.m. we woke as usual and I took Sammie out to do her thing.  When we returned my wife noted a small spot on her tee shirt.  By the time she lay down for her first treat of the day, it was bleeding.  When she got up, there was a puddle of blood a foot across.  Oh shit!  We bandaged her up as best we could but the emergency vet was in Las Vegas.  We went in to Vegas and had her put to sleep.  It was bad for us all but was the only solution. 

I'll be back later but until then RIP Samantha - D - Dog.  We love you!

Quiet before the literal storm

We are having some quiet days but the forecast for the next few is cold with precip. possible and gusts to 50 mph (80 kph).  It makes staying home a lot more reasonable. 

Yesterday we put a bunch of fiberglass insulation up in the attic.  There are places were we had very little and didn't realize it.  I believe the house is warmer; we'll see what happens to the electric bill.  We have these two small openings to the attic, maybe 2 ft x 3 ft (.6m x .9m), and we have 10 foot (3m) ceilings.  You would have laughed at me trying to get up the ladder with a roll of insulation that would only just go through the opening.  For some reason the builder managed to put the ceiling openings right next to a doorway so it isn't possible to get the ladder in a good position.  I was crawling up the ladder holding on with one hand with my stomach right against it carrying the roll of insulation off to the side in my free hand.  It was pretty funny.  My wife rolled the stuff out while I fed it to her.  By the time we were done with just four rolls, we were both soaked with sweat and definitely in need of a shower!

We did take the dog to the local vet for some blood work.  The oncologist wanted to be sure she was accepting the pain meds. without any problem.  The blood work came back fine so her only problem is that she has this huge cancer on her chest that we can't do anything about.  Here is her photo from 12/28.

And the following is what it looked like yesterday.

The cancer is just growing like crazy.  She has been pretty good about leaving it alone but this morning we caught her licking at it.  NOT good, so now she is wearing an old tee shirt to keep her tongue off it.  This is not a good news story.

I've been trying to adjust some of our investments to keep my mind off the dog.  It is embarrassing how long it's been since I've done this.  Some investments are doing fine but too many of our mutual funds are in Morningstar's 2 Star category.  Gotta change them out or put up with below average yields.  There are just way too many choices but I'll get there.  Happily there are only half a dozen positions that are really crap.

Speaking of crap, the charger for my DROID phone died; how tough is it to make something that will last a couple years without breaking?  Especially since this isn't a terribly complex article.  Guess I should be thanking my lucky stars that it is the charger and not the phone.  Nah, I'm still torqued; not that anyone is going to care. 

Anyway, have a good one.  If you keep putting one foot in front of the other, you'll get there.  Good luck!

Spam???

After quite a while with no spam, all of a sudden I'm getting spam comments.  Grrr!  Oh well, if that's my biggest problem!  Like that's true. 

I've been keeping a food diary for the past week or ten days.  It's kind of interesting; well, to me anyway.  Doubt if anyone else would find it instructive.  I do find that I eat more restaurant food than I expected.  Part of this is because we seldom finish a restaurant meal so I have a leftover for the next day.  For example, if I have a buritto at our favorite Mexican joint and eat the whole thing, I'm so full that I roll out the door.  I find that if I eat half I feel full and still have the energy to do something other than take a nap.  Just for the fun of it I'm trying to estimate the number of calories; now that can get difficult!  I mean no one knows the calorie count in that buritto!  If it were a chain, like Taco Bell, you could get the information easily but not if you are going to El Jefe in Pahrump.

I heard some comment to the effect that since we don't use our checkbooks as much it should reduce the problem people have remembering the new year.  For me, it's the opposite.  Of course, I was having trouble figuring out how late in the year it was.  If you aren't accepting that it is November yet you are going to have a heck of a time with January.  Happily I don't have to remember the date too often.  Still, I want to make it a point to know the date.  When my mom was being tested for diamentia one of the questions asked was "What is the date?"  She didn't know.

I appreciate all the comments on how people organize their photos.  It sounds like there is no perfect system so I guess I'll just continue with the date and tag method.  Besides let's face the fact that most often no one in their right mind would want to see my photos.  If they are lost I won't be torturing anyone with them. Speaking of photos that could be lost, here is one of the really important ones!

You see, I could lose that and no one in the entire world would be the worse off!  G. Duboeuf of France is probably the only person who would care about this.  Beaujolais Nouveau, if you don't know, is a certain French wine that is released on November 18 of the year in which it is grown.  Almost all decent wines are stored for a while at least before release; not this guy!  And all the producers release their versions on the same day.  If anyone is interested this year's wine is pretty good but not great.  I remember a few years ago we bought a bottle on November 18 and it was so nice that I went back and bought an entire case.  I don't think we'll need to do that this year.  This is a photo I almost certainly will lose too since we didn't try the Beaujolais Nouveau until December so that's where I stored the photo. 

Well, I've blithered on long enough wasting all these electrons and the time of anyone who has gotten to this point.  Have a good one!

Happy New Year!!

Here is to a great 2013 for one an all.  I hope your celebration was fun yet something that you remember!  And, of course, that you are feeling reasonably well this morning! 

My wife and I have always had a very quiet and private New Year celebration.  As usual we spent the evening talking.  Talking about how fortunate we are; trips we have made, trips we want to make, our hopes for the kids, our hopes for the world - yes, alcohol was involved but we did both see the New Year in.  In my family we always left Christmas decorations up until the new year; in my wife's family they took everything down on the 26th.  My wife very kindly agreed to do it my way so this was the last day for the decorations. 

Now we are ready for the new year.  I wish I could say the same for the total idiots we have elected and sent to Washington.  Jeez, what a bunch of (*&%%$##s!  Oh, don't get me started! 

We are hoping to travel up into Wyoming and Montana next summer and in talking about that discovered that we would both like to be able to take the truck and 'rough camp' a bit; leaving our trailer in a park and maybe going up that dirt road and staying for a day or two.  It will take a bit of modification to the bed of the truck but should be do-able.  We have a shell on the bed so all we are talking about is a sort of platform bed that will enable us to sleep on top of some of the stuff we need to carry.  I'll try to take photos of whatever happens.  If nothing else, it should be interesting.

Since it is a new year, I celebrated by getting up just before sunrise.  We had a nice one!

Though as the saying has it "Red sky at morning, sailor take warning."  Here's hoping it doesn't bode ill for 2013.  Have a good one everyone!

Animal blog?

No, not quite, but almost.  At least we'll have an animal post.  Sammie the dog is just doing her doggie thing.  She doesn't even seem to know she is ill.  Here is a shot of her sitting, not to patiently, since she was just playing with one of her Christmas toys.

You can see the odd growth on her chest.  Here is a closer view.

That wasn't there before Thanksgiving!  In little more than a month this growth the size of a man's fist has appeared.  It seems it cannot be long before it bursts.  We'll just have to see.

I spoke of a Christmas toy; well, we got toys for the cat as well.  One was a laser pointer, I though he'd love chasing that little red dot.  Turns out, he basically doesn't care, the dog is more interested.  Now we are betting that the cat is at least partially blind.  He is 17 years old and has fits of howling in the night as if he were frightened.  We are guessing that he wakes in the night, can't really see very well, no one is in the room and he gets frightened.  So he howls.  After three or four howls, he figures he has scared off anything that would attack him so he shuts up.  If there are any cat psychologists out there who have a better idea; I'm certainly open to learning more. 

If I may jump to a completely different subject, how do you store your photos?  I store my photos by date; my wife stores hers by subject.  I have started using 'tags' so I can search by subject but that is relatively new.  (This is all Windows PC stuff; even when I had an iMac I stayed away from that Apple proprietary crap!)  Finding specific photos is obviously a pain in the ass regardless of the system.  When looking for a specific photo I have to have an idea when it was taken; my wife has to sort through tons of photos of the same subject to find the one she is wanting.  Any advice would be appreciated. 

Have a good one!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas to all and may you and yours have a fantastic New Year!

Things are happening around here; some good and some bad.  I'll start with the bad.  Last Thursday we loaded our dog Sammie into the car for a trip to visit the nice people at the Las Vegas Veterinary Specialty Center aka the oncologist.  Just before Thanksgiving we noticed that the growth on the dog's chest was going wild.  This is the same spot where she has had three surgeries for cancer; the latest only last April.  We spent quite a long while talking with a very nice (and very pregnant!) vet who explained what kind of cancer the dog has and the various treatment options.  The options are all over the place.  The most aggressive is taking her to Los Angeles or San Diego for surgery and a month of radiation treatments.  Let's not even discuss cost!  Then there is surgery done here in Las Vegas, various radiation therapy options and finally a simple painkiller to keep her comfortable until we need to euthanize her.  The doctor helped us understand why this sort of cancer is so difficult to remove completely and that even the most aggressive treatment would probably not be successful.  The doctor took a lot of time to help us come to our decision which is, of course, the last since it is so doubtful that the cancer can be overcome.  Right now she doesn't seem to be in any particular pain.  She is slow to get up but likes her walks and is always looking forward to feeding time.  The huge growth on her chest doesn't seem to bother her at all.  So we are good to go until something causes a reduction in her quality of life.  When that happens, it will be time to say goodbye. 

The good news is that talking with the vet brought us a better understanding of what we will be facing for the next few months.  Knowing that makes facing it easier.  Our other good news is that we are actually ready for Christmas.  Part of the reason is that we are reducing the size of the celebration.  Since it is only us and Number One Daughter, we don't need four appetizers, two desserts, rolls, two vegies, etc.  We'll have a ham, mac and cheese and a vegie.  We even managed to find a slightly under six pound ham (2.6 kg) - it should be fun to find out if that will provide enough for dinner plus all the secondary uses we find for ham. 

We made a trip into Las Vegas about a week ago for shopping.  Shopping together means that there won't be too many surprises under the tree but we are confident that we'll like what we get!  Old people can do this stuff!  I think it's in the Bible somewhere; near where they say you have to go out and go into debt buying presents at Christmas.  

I did actually write (email) to President Obama and my Congressional representatives about the fiscal cliff and how they shouldn't act like school children but should keep us from going over and under.  My Representative and one Senator responded with canned responses; nothing from Mr. Obama who is so proud of his "open and responsive adminestration".  I hope they can manage something but I guess we'll just have to get along if they don't.  It wouldn't be the first screw up by those idiots we voters send to D.C.

We have been having all kinds of different weather.  Cloudy days, clear days, windy days and all the possible variations have been coming our way.  I left the hummingbird feeder out one night and discovered it frozen the next morning.  I'd forgotten that last year we brought it in every night so now that is added to the nightly chores.  I saw a hummingbird trying to drink from it the morning it was frozen; afterwards he perched on the holder and kind of looked at me.  Bet he was thinking nasty thoughts!  Here's a shot of Mt. Charleston with the desert floor in the foreground.  Have a happy holiday.  I'll be back before the new year.

What can one say?

I had a thought or two that I was going to share this morning but after the shooting in Connecticut, what else can I say but Oh My God, all those little children dead.  The photos of the parents who have found their children; the photos of the parents who have not; it is just heartbreaking.  The news that is coming out is so contradictory.  I suppose in a couple of weeks we will have a better idea of what happened and why.  Not that I expect it will help the parents of the children or the husbands and wives of the school workers.  Maybe it will help the survivors, a little.

Needless to say all the gun control people will be howling.  They seem to misunderstand that people who want to kill will manage it regardless of the laws.  Don't you have to be 21 to purchase a gun?  The kid identified as the shooter was only 20.  Laws don't protect people, they can only punish people who get caught.

I don't break speeding laws much but there are plenty who do.  Maybe we should build cars that know the speed limits and won't break them.  Surely the technology is there.  Our GPS knows the speed limits on most streets and highways; it would be trivial to tie the GPS into the car computer system and have it just say 'no' when you want to speed.  That and a car that won't start if the driver has been drinking would save thousands of lives.  Laws are only the answer if people obey them and some people just don't.

On a happier note, we got half an inch of rain (1.3 cm) yesterday and a bit more today.  For a place where four inches (10 cm) is the average, that's good news!  It means we have lots of clouds around the mountains as well.  Very pretty.  The ski resort over on the Las Vegas side of the mountain is pretty darned happy too.  Let me close with yet another photo of the mountains I look at as I sit here; this from yesterday afternoon.  Have a good one!

Rainy Day

Yep, around here, it's news!  We were getting a few drops at 07:00 when I took the dog out and it has increased to the point where we might receive a measurable amount.  Hot dog!

The big plan for today is to hit the couple places where toys are sold.  The Marines have lots of boxes out for Toys for Tots and we like to contribute.  We figure older kids should either work for their toys or go without but little kids aren't going to understand if there isn't something for them.  We are good with buying stuff for Tots.  I can see why people have trouble though.  It's really easy to blow through some serious money when the toys are $25 or $50 each.  Needless to say, we stay in the cheap seats when buying stuff for the little kids.  Number One Son made a name for himself many years ago when he played longer with the box than the toy.

Of course there will be a food drive; probably this weekend though I haven't heard of it.  It is another opportunity to help the less fortunate.  We have plenty of homeless folks and plenty who are just poor.  I suppose it is the same everywhere but with the lack of work here in our valley we notice it especially.

I read a very good commentary in The Economist about Republicans beating up Mr. Romney for losing the election.  There were lots of rocks to throw of course.  When he made the stupid 47% comment I thought he must be mad.  To say something like that in a public forum ranks right up there with sending threatening emails or leaving voicemails that should be a private one-on-one conversations.  (Yes, I've known people who have done both of those things!)  The GOOD news though is that some Republicans are saying things like we shouldn't divide the country into "our" and "their" voters.  Tom Cole, an Oklahoma congressman, talked about drawing a distinction between those who need help and those for whom state aid has become "a way of life".  Now those are thoughts, if they remember them, that will help Republican candidates in 2014 & 2016. 

No photos today but it looks like we have snow down to about 4,000 ft (1,200m).  It might be a good sign for tomorrow.  Have a good one!

It's chilly!

I went out the feed the birds this a.m. and got an interesting little lesson in hydrodynamics.  The birdbath was frozen so I took a pointed rock and knocked a small hole in the ice.  I was thinking I'd knock it all out but every time I hit the ice, water shot out of the first hole I'd made.  Interesting!  It never would have occurred to me that the pressure on the ‘body’ of the ice would have that result.  Live and learn I guess.  So I waited a couple hours until at least some of the water thawed before I gave the birds their fresh water. 

We had a little water by the base of the water heater the other day.  Today it is dry.  I’m confused; I would have thought that the darn thing would either leak or not leak.  Apparently it leaks on Fridays but not Saturdays?  Again, I’m learning new stuff here.  I’m thinking I’m going to learn how to change out a water heater though before I’m much older.  Life in the fast lane.  Now I’m spending some quality internet time checking out water heaters – looks like we’ll be spending somewhere between $300 and $1,000 on a new one.  There are some amazing heaters; even one that has a sort of heat pump attachment that makes it more energy efficient. 

We were out enjoying the sunset last night and got to see some military aircraft playing over the California desert.  All we could see were the contrails but it looked like they were having fun.  The one plane would make a tight turn and the other would follow along.  I suppose they were a couple miles apart but they looked close.  We watched them for a good half hour just carving trails in the sky. 

I’ll end with a photo of our cat.  He is getting old and doesn’t clean himself very well.  He gets mats in his fur so we get him a ‘lion cut’ a couple times a year.  My wife was playing with his tail; I thought it was kind of cute.  Sorry about the quality but I took this with my cell phone.  Have a good one!

Finances - and the cliff

This time of year I always find myself thinking about our finances.  I should probably think about it more often but the end of the year it is pretty much guaranteed.   Tax season will be upon us next quarter so that is part of the reason.  Of course everyone wants to know how they have done over the last year so that’s another reason. 

This year I’m planning on giving up some of the mutual funds we’ve held for many years and going to more index-based products.  The amazing Random Roger posted a graph a couple months ago showing the correlation between various large funds and the index they follow; it was amazing!  The correlation is really strong, as I guess you would expect, so why pay for a managed fund if you aren’t getting any extra return?  Guess I’m kind of slow to have this dawn on my after all these years but what can I say?  Better late than never? 

I’m still a fan of ownership if specific companies.  I think you can get a better overall return even if there is statistically more risk.  I don’t like to admit it but we do have one investment that is way too large a proportion of our portfolio.  It is a company I used to work for and I just let the investment grow rather than sell parts of it off during my years there.  Aside from that, most of our individual investments are 2-5% of our net worth.  Over the years we’ve lost 100% of our investment in a couple companies but when you are talking that size investment it’s hardly a bump in the road. 

This year I have an additional challenge in that Number One Daughter has asked me for some investment advice.  She has a 401k that she wants to roll over to something else.  That will be a challenge because she isn’t very patient so a 5% yearly increase isn’t going to make her happy but losing money will make her even less happy.  It will be a learning experience for us both I’m sure. 

I wish I could get the old crystal ball shined up but it is just as cloudy as ever.  About the best I can say is that I don’t think the sky is falling quite yet.  Even if we do go over the fiscal cliff, which I certainly hope those idiots in Washington manage to avoid, I imagine things will keep moving in the same general direction.  Paying more and getting less is not a new idea.  It has been happening pretty much my entire life.  Lots of us were driving when we paid $.30 a gallon for gas.  Doesn’t anyone else remember when the Post Office delivered more letters than advertising fliers?  (As an aside, I was talking to a guy who has a little local magazine.  He said it is $.14 a copy to flood the town with his magazine.  Really!  And a postage stamp costs $.44, right, that's clever.)

Speaking of the fiscal cliff, I’m going to write emails to a bunch of folks in Washington including the Pres, our state representatives and the leaders of the House & Senate.  I wish LOTS of people would drop them a line explaining what idiots they will be if they don’t get something going.  I’m going to be stressing the statesmanship aspect of their jobs rather than the partisan politics that they all seem to prefer.  It probably will just be a waste of time but I’d feel really dumb not doing anything.  So get out there & write!

And have a good one!

Holiday Weekend!

No, I haven't fallen on my head.  This is our new holiday weekend.  At least for this year!  What has happened is that Number One Son and his Significant Other (SO) have trouble getting time off on the holidays so we decided to make our own holiday.  Number One Daughter can pretty much schedule her time her way so she has no problem.  We are retired so no problem.  What we are hoping is that having a mid-December holiday will enable us to all be together for a couple days.  So far it seems to be working.  The only problem is to not become too blimp-like from eating too much three times in a month! I'm sure we can figure out something. 

This year though my wife was determined to do a Prime Rib.  (Prime is the highest quality rating that is commonly available.)  I won't say how much that damn roast cost but will tell you it was $19.99 a pound.  If you care you can figure out the price per kilo; personally I don't want to know!  I must say it was very good and remarkably easy.  We made a garlic/salt/pepper/thyme paste to put on the outside and let it sit in the fridge for a day to soak up the flavors.  Then tossed it in the oven for half an hour at 450F (230C) then reduced the heat to 350F (175C) until the internal temp. was 115F (46C).  It took about three hours.  When we tried the crust, it was AWFUL - totally salty but it also just fell off the roast.  Without the crust the roast was great.  The two end pieces were fairly well done but the interior was just medium rare; just like everyone likes it.  I had one of the ends and even it was nice and juicy and even the exterior was tasty.

Everyone who watches the various cooking shows has seen someone using a mandolin.  It is used to cut  uniform slices off potatoes, onions, etc.  I just had to buy a cheap one a couple weeks ago and yesterday we decided to use it for the first time to slice some potatoes for a dish.  I managed to slice a piece off my little finger on the second slice!  Grrr!  What a chump.  My wife did use it to slice the rest of the potatoes and you can believe she was careful.  I must say it did a great job though; uniform slices and the job didn't take more than about a minute a potato.  This is about the cheapest mandolin on the market & I can recommend one if you are careful.  Maybe it's not so great if you are a chump like me. 

Now we have three whole weeks until the next holiday.  Why don't we move Christmas to April or sometime?  I'm going to break the scale if this over-eating and over-drinking keeps up. 

Have a good one!