Thrill a minute!

 Well things are going just as exciting around here as usual.  My wife and I are both bothering doctors or should I say they are bothering us?  Her primary care doctor keeps writing up orders for weird tests.  My wife's foot surgeon just seems so 'sometime' in the future.  He seems like a really nice guy but he keeps going somewhere else.  The April surgery is now more like a June surgery but that isn't even set up so it could be August if things keep sliding away.

Back in April my doctor asked for a blood test and found my platelets were low:  they should be around 150K and were measured as 11K.  But no one around here wanted to do anything about it.  Then a week or so ago they thought about it again and sent me back to the ER.  The ER decided they didn't have any specialist who could look at me so they sent me to Las Vegas.  They kept me for about 24 hours, took at least 15 or 20 blood samples and told me I could go home.  Grrr!  At least I got a couple prescriptions this time.  We'll see how all this works out.  The screwy thing is that I feel just fine.  But the doctors keep saying I could die at any moment.  

Other than all the medical crap it's being a typical spring.  One day 4 mph (6 kph) breeze and the next a 24 mph (38 kph) breeze.  Fun in the desert doesn't always mean wearing shorts!  Our house is turning 20 years old this year and when we get those 45 mph (72 kph) gusts it really shakes the windows!  But, no, we aren't buying new windows!

The new cable internet system is supposed to be installed tomorrow.  I have to admit to looking forward to that if only for the less 'twitchy' system.  Well, let's hope it's an improvement!  When some idiot takes out a telephone pole we might be out for a couple of days. 

That's all the news fit to print.  My latest photos are just dull so I won't inflict them on you.  Take care and stay away from all those sick people!

Wow, 27 April!

 This growing old is hard!  I mean there are so many things that keep going wrong.  Yesterday I went to one of the two grocery stores in town and the old guy in front of me at the self checkout left the stuff he just bought and but at least he noticed he didn't have anything and had to come back for it!  Then I went to the other store and another old guy comes out with a cart full of stuff, stops by our car and says 'Oh, that isn't my car'!  And off he went wandering around the parking lot.  I'm also not talking about the stupid, lying crap that we get from our President and his ancient supporters in the House and the Senate.  Invading Greenland; what shit!

Since we got home from our cruise we've mostly been going to doctors and we all know that isn't fun.  To start with there is my wife's ankle.  She broke it almost 2 years ago by slipping in the shower.  She was airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital and had her ankle operated on to put it back together.  Well, that was screwed up and she still cannot walk more than a couple hundred yards.  So, of course, we've been talking to another surgeon about the ankle and he wants to freeze it.  That should cut down on her ankle pain however she also has pain in her toes and no one is coming up with anything about that.  But she is getting tested every way they can think of to make the surgery safe.  Of course the surgeon is busy and can't do it this month and is going somewhere in May so we are looking at surgery in June and then a couple months of wheelchair before she can walk again!

Then there is me.  I've noticed my eyesight is changing.  When we are out driving in the day it is very bright; when I drive into the garage and close the door I can't see much of anything for at least a minute.  That transition never used to be a problem; now days it's dangerous to get out of the car.  You could step on all kinds of dangerous stuff!  Clean up the garage?  Oh, hell no!  We donate to the VFW Food Pantry; when you have to go into the building it has no windows so you can't see a darned thing.  And lots of those folks are as old as me!

We changed insurance companies at the first of the year and my old doctor doesn't take the new insurance so I've had to change doctors.  Of course they want tests so I've gotten a bunch of tests as well.  One of the tests said my blood platelet count was so low that the nurse called and said I should go to the emergency room and have a blood transfusion!  So, off to the emergency room.  They wanted to do their own tests so after FIVE HOURS of testing they proclaimed that the original test was wrong and I didn't need a transfusion.  Well, that's good news but five hours???  And how many tests?  I've had so many x-rays that I might be in danger of radiation poisoning (just kidding, I think).

So that's life in the fast lane around here.  One day is overcast and 50 F (10 C) and the next is sunny and 90 F (32 C).  Get up; feed the dog and the birds; pick a few weeds; have breakfast; then the fun stuff!  Visit the doctor or whatever; sometimes we get visitors.  Lately our electric co-op is trying to bring 5G internet to the town.  A few months ago they ran lines along with the power lines that already hang behind the house.  Now they are trying to connect the houses to those lines and that takes quite a few visits!  One person to identify the electric entry to the house, a guy to spray paint showing where the power line runs and a couple of guys to dig a trench and bury a cable from their line to our house.  We are told that there will be someone else to connect the line to the house then another to attach the line to our modem but they are in the future somewhere.  It should be installed in a month or six at the rate they are going!  

It is also true that there isn't much going on around here.  There are some houses being built; that is VERY different from a few years ago but, still, it's not really affecting us.  We do drive around and check out the new stuff but it's just concrete and plywood and shingles.  The sunsets are still pretty good though.

Out in the world we've got Mr. Trump, AKA the Idiot in Chief, who just keeps doing stupid things.  I have to admit that he isn't as stupid as the people he's appointed to be in his cabinet but, well, that would be a stretch.  One of the really minor things Mr. Trump did just recently was to pardon a local politician who was appointed a judge and then found guilty of fraud.  She was in Las Vegas and started a support group to build a statue of a local policeman who was killed in the line of duty.  Then she used the money people donated to pay her rent, pay for her daughter's wedding and some plastic surgery.  She was found guilty of a felony of conspiracy and wire fraud.  So our felon of a president chose to remove the felony from this sorry ass judge.  Actually, on a scale of 1 to 10, it's way down there but it's still just so wrong!  The reporting is on the pvtimes.com website and her name is Michele Fiore.  

Anyway, that's it for today.  Have a good one and stay away from those sick people!

Ok, another month....

 But at least I have an excuse this time:  we've been traveling!  Back on 20 February we took Gus to the dog kennel and headed for Las Vegas.  The next morning we flew off to Miami (crappy seats & a fat 3rd person!) then on to Barcelona, Spain!  Yep, another Viking cruise in the Med.  I know, it's a tough life!

Of course one of my excuses for not posting is that my new HP computer is FAR from friendly with the camera.  Damn, it took 3 or 4 tries and reading stuff online to figure out how to upload any photos.  I mean that's just stupid.  And the photos from my phone are just crap.  Grrr!

The cruise was really quite nice but it was definitely a one-day-at-a-port cruise.  We got to visit a few places we've been before and a few new ones.  First on the list was Corsica.  We've been there before but this time we found a weird back road tour.  It was pretty enough but the driver often had to make a partial turn then back up and turn more; the road was that jack-knifed and narrow.   If we averaged 10 mph I'd be surprised.

 Because of my wife's broken ankle that still isn't fixed correctly we kept to the bus tours.  We took her wheelchair along but mostly it got used in the airports.  She got around on the ship ok as long as we took regular pauses for rest.  It's funny but many of those rest areas served wine.  Thank goodness!  

Our next port was Civitavecchia, Italy.  There is no way we were going to take a bus tour of Rome (it's at least an hour and a half each way) so we just stayed on the ship.  I'm sure the town is nice but there wasn't any tour that called to us:  too much walking for one thing.  It is a pretty port though.

 Our next port was the town of Valleta on the island of Malta.  We did manage to find a bus tour that took us around with the guide pointing out various buildings, etc.  It wasn't our favorite tour for sure and part of the problem was the roads:  tiny isn't a small enough word to describe them!

 

Because of my wife's difficulty walking we usually got the front bus seats so we were right behind either the driver or the guide.  It sure gives you a better view of oncoming traffic!  Shit-oh-dear!  Happily the driver of that truck had room to back up and off the road.  What a great guy!

Next stop was La Goulette, Tunisia.  We took another bus tour but they forgot to mention that we'd be walking for about an hour.  Nope!  We just stayed on the bus.  One of the things that surprised me was how the local drivers were totally unafraid of accidents.  I mean red lights are a suggestion; lanes don't mean a thing.  It's just amazing and as we got farther into Africa, it got worse!  I got a few photos from the parking lot but, well, that's not to exciting.  There was this guy snoozing next to a window.

 

Our next port was Algiers, Algeria.  It was kind of an interesting collection of old places and very new modern places.

 

We took a bus tour again.  In one area we actually got out and I got to push my wife around in her chair!  Happily it was only a couple of blocks but those paving stones can be pretty tough on both the rider and the pusher.

Our next point of interest was the Strait of Gibraltar - we've been through it a couple of times but it's usually at night!  So this time it was supposed to be earlier; around sunset.  Unfortunately it was foggy so all we could see were a few lights!  Maybe in out next lifetime we'll see it.

The next port was Casablanca, Morocco!  We got to visit a church we weren't able to enter and one that we could.  Who knows how that crap is worked out!  The one we got to visit had some pretty fantastic windows!

 

 

We also got to wander through a small shopping area.  Our guide on this tour was blind.  He had an assistant who told him where we were and helped him move around.  Amazing but it was actually ok.

One of the reasons we aren't taking lots of tours is shown in the following photo.

 

It is well over half a mile off the ship and down the pier to get to the road and the bus!  That is definitely a wheelchair trip.  Of course all those containers are beautiful as well.  LOL.

So it was time to leave Africa and head back to Europe.  Our first stop would be Cadiz, Spain.  We've been there so we just stayed on the ship.  They do have some fine architecture.

 

Next came Malaga, Spain.  Again, we've been in the area before so just stayed on the ship.  The crew did have some fun trying out a couple of the lifeboats.  

And while I was walking around on deck I got to see this guy splashing around.

 Yeah, I know, life in the slow lane.  Anyway, that's what took up the end of February and the first part of March.  We got off the ship in Barcelona  at about 08:00 a.m. and headed for the airport.  It was a couple hours until we got on our flight to London; then more waiting in London.  Do I have to say there was lots of wheelchair time in both airports?  Then, finally, a non-stop to Las Vegas!  I got some sleep on that trip;  no dinner but a nice sleep.  And we got home about 8 p.m. local time.  Well, it took us each about three days to get back to regular hours; that 8 hour difference between Europe and the West Coast of the USA is quite a lot.  

So we are back to our usual stuff:  lunch at our favorite places; doctor appointments and fooling with our new computers.  I'll post again when anything exciting happens.  Don't hold your breath!

 

Geez, it's been almost a month!

 Well, as usual, things are pretty quiet around here.  Some guys came and placed a 40 foot container on the lot across the road from our house but nothing else has happened over there.  And a digging machine came to a lot a couple of lots down but the didn't do much except scrape the ground.  Weird, weird stuff.  It's obvious I don't know anything about the construction business!

It's been typically winter around here except the mountains haven't had much snow.  We have some now but it's been dry most of the winter.  That bothers us because our water comes from an aquifer that is filled with melted snow water.  We really like it here but are worried that the water will run out.  What do you do then except leave?  We have 20 F (6.6 C)  nights and 45 F (7.2C) days mostly and then we'll get a 60 F (15.5C) day.  Who knows!  

Lately I've been beating my head against the wall thinking about old age problems.  I'm cruising on for 77 and my wife will be 75 here pretty soon.  I still want to do younger guy stuff like driving around with an RV or going off-roading or traveling overseas but it's obviously getting more difficult.  My wife breaking her ankle a couple years ago certainly slowed us down but now days simple stuff like climbing the ladder to replace an air filter is even getting difficult.  Our kids are both well over 1,000 miles away so it's not like they are going to be helping us out.  We will have to find a local 'handman' to do all that crap.  Fun and games in old age!

However, it is still a pretty place!  Especially in the morning or the evening; daytime is just pretty bright.  Here is a recent sunset.

 

 And here is a photo someone posted that I really liked:  sitting on the dock by the bay!

Have a good time.  Enjoy life and keep away from those sick people!

We got rain!

We get a reasonable number of storm warnings around here.  They are usually nothing.  But this time we got rain!  AND the mountains got snow!  That is really important because the snow will melt and end up in our aquifer meaning that we have water to drink!  I know lots of local folks grow trees and have lawns full of grass but my wife and I are pretty aware of living in the desert.  We have TWO cactus plants and that's it on our 1 acre home site.  We and our dog drink water and we (people!) shower every couple of days and that's our water usage.  We still worry about the aquifer.  What can I say?  Old farts worry about everything.

We managed to visit our dermatologist last week.  My wife just basically has dry skin that bothers her.  I had one episode of skin cancer that ended up in a Mohs operation.  They just basically scrape off the skin until they don't see any cancer there any more.  Fun?  No.  Effective?  Yes.  And I've got a nice little dent in the skin on my head to prove it.  This time the dermatologist found some spots on my skin that he didn't like so he pulled out the freezing spray and knocked out 13 spots!  They will go away but for now I've got nasty little spots all over my body.

Of course when I open up my phone or computer I immediately find some stupid thing our new President or his incompetent staff has done.  I mean the "Gulf of America"?  What an asshole!  Now "Gulf of the Americas" would at least make a little sense but it's been what it is for hundreds of years.  Taking over Greenland?  I mean I'm sure there are valuable minerals in those mountains; and it makes flying over Russia a much shorter trip; but you don't just go take what you want in this world.  I like my neighbor's car but I'm not going to go steal it!  I like the waitress in the casino but I don't just get to jump on her!  No, asshole is too mild a term for Mr. Trump and his cronies.  I can only hope that we and the rest of the world will manage to remain calm and peaceful for the next four years.  

I read several blogs where people are visiting Mexico and South America.  I see trucks full of bananas and wood and meat.  I know a certain amount of those things are headed for the USA.  Don't worry, those tariffs the idiot wants to impose will only make everything you buy more expensive!  Look at the fish in your grocery store:  product of Chile.  Look at almost anything you buy from Amazon:  product of China.  Don't worry; another 20% tariff will only be passed on to you by every retailer.

Life in the fun lane, huh?  Well, the good news is that it is warming up and we are going out to lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant.  They haven't raised their prices in a year or so.  Next year will probably see the $10 lunch be $13 but we are here now.  It was 23 F ( -5C) this morning and now we are up to 45 F (7 C) so that's a good thing.  Gas and diesel are in the low $3 range; who knows what will happen there?  Nevada fuel taxes are kinda nasty.  We've been talking about an electric vehicle because it's only at most a 150 mile round trip to Las Vegas.  We could charge the thing here at home basically for free because of our solar panels.  But driving to Oklahoma City to visit our daughter would cost a bit - both money and time!  It's over 1,100 miles so that would be 4 days of full charge on most of them.  We'll see.

So take care & try to stay away from the sick folks.

Quiet times!

 We've been just having some quiet days.  Our daughter has a convention in Las Vegas this week so she came to check in on us last weekend but that's pretty much all that is going on.  

 I saw part of the inauguration on tv; what an asshole we have now for president!  Oh yeah, let's take the canal from Panama.  I kind of think it's a tie for most stupid idea between taking the canal back or invading Greenland.  Of course renaming the Gulf of Mexico is pretty painless but damn dumb too.  And I'm pretty sure the Canadian's aren't going to be looking forward to becoming the 51st state!  LOL  I mean, really, who can make up shit like this?  And he's just been elected President of the USA?  Well, J**** F****** C*****.  I just hope every idiot who voted for that asshole gets something really special in return!  And I mean something that really hurts!

I was reading a blog this morning and the writer was talking about enjoying taking photos on their travels.  It reminded me that I used to enjoy that too so I started looking for my camera and my wife's camera.  I found the cameras but finding the chargers for their batteries; well, that's a different story!  Maybe in a couple more days I'll find them.  Happily we aren't going anywhere soon so there is time.  Still, it's annoying that I managed to hide them away so completely.  What an idiot!  (Not the vote for Trump kind but still pretty dumb!)  It's also funny the weird things I'm finding that I've bought over the years:  weird little flash lights, various chargers, old phones.  Oh, what a past life I've had!

We've been having morning temps in the 15 F (-10 C) range plus some wind so 's been pretty chilly.  Still, it's winter so I should be used to it!  A few days ago a couple of guys came and dropped a 40 foot container on the lot across from us.  No one has been back to do anything but I'm expecting a crew will show up pretty soon and start building a new house over there.  We've had 4 or 5 new houses go up in the area in the last year so another one sounds reasonable.  Other than that I don't have much to report.  

Take care & keep away from those sick folks!

 

Wow, almost a month without a word!

Well, actually that's not too unusual for me!  Unfortunately!  But then again things aren't changing a bunch around here.  It's still in the 20 F  (5 C) area at night; 50-60 F (20-25C) in the daytime; and fairly sunny.  We did have a couple days of 20 mph wind but that too is gone.   

We have had several homes built in our area in the last 6 or 8 months and the other day a couple guys dropped a container in the lot across the street from us so I'm expecting a new home to be built there during the next few months.  We'll see what happens.  Otherwise it's the old retired fart usual stuff:  visit the doctor, go buy groceries, go buy booze, dah dah dah.

Of course we are getting a new President and he is managing to make an ass of himself in a different way almost every day.  I mean 'The Gulf of America' - take over the Panama Canal - the 51st state of Canada - the 52nd state of Greenland - WTF???  The guy's just bat-shit crazy!  And some of the people who are going to be running the various departments; I'm afraid they are probably worse!  I've said it before but all those people who voted for Mr. Trump are going to be sorry about their votes and probably sooner than later!  It does make one think of moving out of the country but, well, 1) where would one go, and 2) what's going to stop Trump from taking that place over next?  I mean the 53rd state of Portugal?  Who knows?

Well, as an older white guy with a pension (small, believe me!) and Social Security and some savings; I should be ok.  It's the lady who cleans our house (very Mexican); the people at one of our favorite restaurants (Japanese); the guy at the garage (pretty Mexican); they are the people who might not be here in a year.  Oh, but we will have lots of new computer designers from where-ever to design the new Tesla.  Grrr!  

As you can tell I'm kind of obsessed with political thoughts these days.  I read blogs about people who are just having fun trying to catch some fish or traveling in Mexico or trying to take good photos of birds.  I need to follow their lead.  My blood pressure will thank me!  And I can't remember the last time I used a real camera; all I do these days is use the phone.  Damn,  I'm lazy & it's easy.  Now I just have to learn how to connect the phone/camera with this new computer.  That's a problem but I'll get there.  

Take care & keep away from all those sickies out there.

Aging is such fun! Ha!

 I've been reading a few blogs daily for some time; one being thebayfieldbunch.com.  It is some information about a couple, Kelly and Al, who did quite a lot of rv travel and finally retired to a place in Canada.  The lady, Kelly, passed away yesterday after a severe bout of liver disease.  It is terrible to hear of her passing but not being ill every single day; not being in pain every single day; it's a relief in some ways.  

My wife broke her ankle 2 years ago and still isn't walking well.  Her doctors aren't managing to do anything right!  But she's not ill.  Having her taking every sort of pain medication and just having it knock her out; that's a hell on earth!  I feel so sorry for Al but at least Kelly's awful illness is over. 

 I'm lucky; there isn't much wrong with me but there is always tomorrow!  And in the mean time I read about Mr. Trump and the bunch of rich assholes he is going to inflict on us.  And that's worse than most illness!  There aren't any words strong enough to say what I feel about those idiots.  The one redeeming feature is that the folks who voted for Trump will know soon enough how they screwed up when they voted him into office.  

If you've bought anything electronic lately; that price will go up.  If you've bought a vehicle; that price will go up.  If you've bought lunch; that price will go up.  Oh, and your Medicare coverage will go down.  And your GI retirement will go down.  And your social security income will go down.  And finding someone to fill jobs at your business will be even more difficult.  And finding someone to repair things around your house will be more difficult. 

Don't worry, voting for a draft dodger, felon and molestor of women will come back to bite those folks.  Oh, and then there is the total unknown he chose as Vice President.  When Mr. Trump is declared incompetent, which might be pretty soon from the way he talks in interviews and on stage; then we are going to get more surprises.  I can't even guess what will happen then!  

Life goes on.  Keep away from those sick folks and keep washing your hands!

Well, it's gone Thanksgiving!

 Yes, I know it's been a while since I posted but I've got a great excuse:  travel!  Yep, we've been off to see the family.  Our daughter is stop one in Oklahoma; our son is stop two in Arkansas and my wife's uncle is stop three in Florida.  No, we don't party for days and days with them.  We stop for a couple of days then head on.  It's still a 3 week trip!  OMG!  Our 16 year old truck is getting close to 100,000 miles!  In addition, my wife was on one of the DNA sites and discovered she has two half brothers who are living in Florida!  So we got to meet them and their wives; they are all very nice people.  One of the half brothers is a couple years younger than my wife (early 70's); the other is about the same as our son (early 50's).  Talk about different lives!

We have been talking about moving back to Florida; this right-wing rural Nevada gets kind of old.  We'd been talking about St. Petersburg, FL.  Well, that's a wash!  I was looking at places on Zillow and the prices were just crazy; not to mention nasty looking.  And the traffic was on the other side of awful.  Ok, maybe we'll be looking elsewhere or even staying around here.  Who knows? 

My wife was talking about going down the Texas coast and checking out Brownsville.  I just couldn't do it.  We'd just been in too many motel rooms and the thought of adding three or four more to the list was just more than I could do.  5,600 miles in 3 weeks is a lot for this old geezer.  And, of course, there are the rest of the world's problems going on.

I'm confident that all those Trump supporters are going to figure out what a bad decision they made.  And those idiots who didn't vote; what can you say about them?  I mean I already started with the word 'idiot'!  It's got to go downhill from there.  Already one of Mr. Trump's cabinet possibles has dropped out:  I mean Mr. Trump knows how to molest women, does he need instruction on molesting underage women?  Gaetz could do the job, of course, but, well, who thinks Mr. Trump need instruction in that area?  But, really, putting a tariff on imported goods will just raise prices:  Walmart has already suggested that prices will rise with the tariffs.  Don't worry, it will be Biden's fault!  And listen to Mr. Vance about women and children! 

I cannot understand a lot of the people who are supposed to have voted for Mr. Trump.  I mean why would Latino people vote for someone who wants to eject immigrants?  Why would ANY woman vote for a molester?  Or someone who supports a ban on abortion?  Why would any law abiding person vote for a felon?  I guess I could go on but you get the idea:  WTF is with the American public?  I'm an Army vet.  One of my First Sergeants was of Mexican extraction:  he was great!  My wife was molested by her stepfather as a child; why would anyone vote for a molester?  I'm thinking using a gun on them would be too easy.  Using a whip or just a stick would be lots better especially if it was more painful and took longer.  No, I'm not threatening Mr. Trump but if someone else were do do so.....

I have one final excuse for not posting anything lately:  I bought a new computer and getting the thing to work is driving me crazy!  First of all it's got all kinds of new software that I've never even heard of.  Then it's got Windows 11.  Between all the weird software and the new operating system; well, I may as well be using a machine using Chinese!  Maybe one of these days I'll get some new photos loaded but don't hold your breath!  Take care & keep washing those hands.

Getting close to no daylight savings time!

We are close to the end of daylight savings time.  I don't really care about it but my wife hates it!  She wants her hour back!  I'm not sure why she's so against it but she'll be happier in a couple of days.  I guess we could move to Arizona where the whole state doesn't want it but, yeah, not worth it!  Anyway, we are doing our usual fumbling around trying not to screw things up too much.  I had fun going to the grocery this afternoon and spending $100 on mostly candy, ice cream, wine and beer.  Hey, that's what happens when an old guy who's had 2 glasses of wine gets to go to the store on his own.

Actually the temps are getting better around here; like 80 F (26C) as a high.  That is a very nice situation!   It is a bit chilly at night too so we are happy campers.  Well, not campers; we gave that to the American Legion.  I still think they were ripped off by the company who was 'helping' them but at least they got something.  

I know I've talked before about my family's military history and my wife's family's history but I just can't get over having a convicted felon and draft dodger running for President!  Jeez!  And we live in a very Republican area with lots of Trump signs.  What are those people thinking???  We actually joined the Republican party when we moved here because it's not unusual for there to be 4 Republicans running for an office and 1 other person either Democrat or no party.  If you want to have any choice you have to be in the party.  Of course, being from Iowa, I started out as a Republican.  I don't think I've ever joined another party but I've never been a big supporter of either party.  I've got better things to do with my time:  like pet the dog or the cat back when we had one!  Do I need to say that my wife and I both mailed in our ballots a few days ago voting for Harris?  Duh!

I'm sure I've complained about how my phone isn't connecting to either my new laptop or the old one.  It's still happening so I've got no new photos so share.  Of course there aren't many anyway because it's kind of dull out here but still!  Maybe next lifetime!  Take care and keep up with the vaccinations. 

The middle of October already!

This growing older is weird.  There are some things you kind of expect:  slower walking, pains here and there, memory lapses.  But there are weird things too:  I used to have hair on my legs; no more!  I have a few hairs on my forearm that are 3-4 inches long!  I have unexplainable bad moments; the other day I suddenly wanted to vomit.  It's not like I'd been drinking or I'd had bad food or anything else.  Actually I was brushing my teeth getting ready for bed and suddenly I was ready to vomit.  The next morning everything was normal.  Weird stuff!

Aside from that weirdness things are going along ok.  We have finally gotten out of the 100+ degree days and we actually took a drive this morning with the car windows down.  OMG!  We had a bunch of stuff from a case sale at the local grocery that I'd purchased for the local VFW food bank.  Then we drove around the area a bit checking out a few places we'd never seen.  Our 'town' is about 10 miles long (north to south) and about 4 miles wide (east to west).  We come pretty close to the California border but no one wants to live out in the middle of nowhere (our town) and have to pay California taxes!  Our 'town' used to have a town council and employees.  Then 6 or 8 years ago they decided that being a town was expensive so they canceled all that and we became an unincorporated town.  I suspect all the town employees just became county employees but who knows.  Anyway, things seem to be looking up for the 'town'.  There is quite a lot of building going on.  We have five new houses being built within 6 or 8 blocks of our house.  We are talking about maybe 3 new houses built in the previous 10 years so it's quite a rush.  I'm talking about regular houses; probably 50% of our town is manufactured housing but it looks like that percentage is going down.

 

I was talking about the local government.  Here's something you don't see every day.  Zoom zoom!

I'm spending WAY too much time worrying about the election.  I can't stand some of the things Mr. Trump is saying.  I mean immigrants eating cats and dogs!  Not being able to pronounce words like 'Midwestern' and 'evangelical'.  And he keeps claiming 100,000's of people at his rallies.  Jeez!  What an asshole!  And did I forget he's a felon, draft-dodging womanizer?  

Have a good one and for God's sake vote for Harris.  Take care!

Hot and cool!

Well, we are having high temps in the 105 F (40C) range and the lows in the 50 F (10C).  Yeah, I know it sounds crazy but that's where we live!  Crazyville!  Just to prove it we are expected to overwhelmingly want to re-elect Donald Trump for President!  Oh shit, I sure hope the rest of the country is smarter.  I mean we are talking about a draft dodger, woman assulting, self-aggrandizing felon.  Hmmm, do you get what I think of the man?  

We haven't had heat like this so late in the year that we can remember.  It's usually like 80F (26C) for a high and that's pretty nice.  Oh well, we didn't get torn apart like North Carolina.  That was awful!  Looking at people's houses just torn apart, their vehicles crushed, it's just awful.  I feel for them.  We have so many memories in our houses:  family members, things from them, pieces from places we've been, people we've known.  Losing all that has to be just crushing; not to mention the loss of the buildings!  And having to clean all that loss.  

Meanwhile in Nevada we are just crying about the heat.  Yeah, it's nasty but shit oh dear!  It makes me feel pretty petty for sure.  Anyway, I recently got to the great old age of 76.  Nothing earthshaking but it's another year.  So I bought a new PC.  My current one is getting old so I guess it's time for Windows 11.  Unfortunately nothing works the way it used to!  I can't get the notebook app to work properly; there are a couple of internet apps that are just crazy; transfering data from the old machine to the new one is just a joke.  Grrrr!  No photos for my blog because I can't upload them!  Grrrr!  Yeah, I know I'm older but only a few days ago I could do this stuff!  Just another day in paradise.  Take care & keep away from those sick folk.

Life in the slow lane

Things are just perking along here about 20 mph under the speed limit; well, unless the limit is 20!  I got a message the other day from a guy I've known since I was about 4; his wife of 56 years just passed away from cancer.  Damn, I'm such an idiot.  I can't figure out how to tell him how sorry I am for him.  But it's got to have been a year and a half of hell watching the woman he loved going down hill.  Actually, he invited me to be in their wedding; it's the only church wedding I've ever even seen much less being a part of!  She was a lovely woman who loved her husband, her community, her country.  You just can't say enough good things about her.  

In other news, our town is having a fall festival this weekend.  They have a parade planned for this morning; we are going to be hiding in our house!  The street department started putting out signs a couple of days ago and I'm sure visitors were wondering why there were detour signs all over the place beside the road but not IN the road.  Well, they will be IN the road in a couple of hours.  We got .03 inches of rain yesterday afternoon; I'm sure everyone is hoping it won't happen again this afternoon!  Who wants to go to a rodeo or a carnival or just a parade in the rain.  But, after all, it is Nevada; they'll be safe from the rain.

These days the news is totally full of the election.  We have quite a number of people around here with Trump flags and signs.  I cannot imagine why any normal, somewhat conservative, person could support that lying draft dodger/felon for president of the United States.  But what really scares me is that he is even older than me and I think my mental faculties are declining; his have to be even worse from the way he acts and what he says.  I mean he thinks there was an audience at the debate with Kamala?  And that leads me to his vice presidental choice; really?  OMG, what a weirdo.  And if Mr. Trump were president and his doctors declared him incompetent we'd have this Vance guy in his place!  Well, heaven help us.

I got a kick out of Kamala Harris talking with Oprah Winfrey and saying that if someone broke into her house she would shoot them.  In our house it would be a race to see if my wife shot the idiot first or if I beat her to it.  I got my first pistol from my dad when I think I was 16.  We had a store and sold almost anything except food and one time dad ordered this pistol and I thought it was so cool!  And then it disappeared from the counter, apparently sold.  And then it showed up as a birthday gift!  Wow, and I've still got it and I still know how to use it.

To end all this rambling I've got a photo of the full moon disappearing into the mountains west of us the other day.  Take care & be careful with all those sick folks out there!

 

Have I mentioned it's still warm?

 Jeez!  This warm weather thing is getting old but what ya gonna do?  Yeah, not much!  And it's only gotten up to 105F here (40.5C) so that's not an unheard of temp.  Of course the a/c in our car has decided to take a break.  That's unpleasant!  Especially since we had it repaired to the tune of $2,400 in April.  Needless to say the garage is going to be helping us with that. 

I've just gotten a new PC.  It's an HP with an i7 core and a couple of TB of storage.  It's been a long while since I've had to deal with a new PC and boy is it a giant pain in the ass!  I'm used to various pieces of software and now I'm learning I was using antiques.  I was using this office software that was last updated in 2011 for heaven's sake.  Well, that's dead.  And I go to copy my photographs to a flash drive and it turns out 128GB isn't enough room.  I've got nearly 45,000 photos on the darn computer.  Well, that's why I wanted the 2 TB hard drive on the new one.  

On the health front we are all screwed up.  My wife's two broken toes have mended but now they are cramping when she walks.  My sciatica is still a pain in the butt (sorry, I should have resisted that).  And our dog's right front paw is still growing cysts between the toes.  This growing old does have disadvantages.  I had to go to the DMV yesterday to get my driver's license renewed.  They have an online method for doing that but it wouldn't work for me so I asked the clerk about it.  She just smiled.  "You're over 70 and we want people that age to come in and be tested."  Shit!  But I can't blame them either.  You want to be sure they are still breathing and all that.

One of the things we really like is the mountains that surround us.  Here is a sunrise from last month.  It's fun watching the sun move from one end of the mountains to the other.

And we do feed the local birds.  Here I haven't filled the feeder but the thistle is still pretty popular!

It's ok.  I'll get the other one filled too!  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and staying away from the sick folks.

Well, it's still warm.

Yep, summer in the great desert is still warm.  But that's not to say it can't be pretty.  Especially in the early morning when it's not too hot!

I'm always saying that looking at those mountains is one of the reasons we like living here and it's certainly true.  Driving around and seeing people with Trump 2024 flags is certainly NOT one of the good things but I guess they get to have their opinions too.  

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of our front door with tons of dead crickets on the floor.  A few days later I saw this series of photos posted from northern Nevada.

At least we aren't the only ones with the problem!  I'm hearing one of our neighbors using a blower almost every day going around his house blowing the darned things away.  However the bug population at our house has dropped to almost zero so I'm hoping that the problem is going/has gone away.  

Our outside temps are dropping a bit but I'm sure that's just a momentary thing.  Still, there is quite a difference between 104F and 112F (40C and 44.4C).  It will be another month or so before the drop is to the point where you want to be outside!  

A couple of years ago we contacted our local electricity company (Valley Electric aka VEA) and asked about solar panels for generating electricity.  They have a subsidiary that they want you to use (gee!) so we ended up spending about $25,000 on solar panels.  Our house faces north so the panels, mounted on the south side, aren't visible when you look at the house.  And, do they work, you ask.  Yep.  Here's the usage info from the bill covering 6/23 to 7/23 of this year.  It's stupid I think but the power from the panels is sent to the company and then the company sends out power to our house.  It turns out that the panels are almost covering our electric needs even when the a/c is on 24/7 (actually our house is all electric; no gas at all).  In fact, over the year we end up with about 3 months of extra energy created vs energy used.  Of course they take that and sell it to others but that's the way things work when there is no competition.

I'm being obsessed the the Presidential election.  I'm not sure why; I never had any idea that Kamala Harris was alive until she became President Biden's VP.  Never heard of Tim Walz or JD Vance either.  Still a couple of those people are going to be running our country in something under 6 months.  I was worried that President Biden was getting a little old to be running the country but Mr. Trump isn't any spring chicken either!  Actually, him having Vance as his VP makes me a little afraid because there is at least say a 20% chance that some illness might happen to Mr. Trump.  And then Mr. Vance would be acting President/the next President.  Yeah, that does worry me.  I've been following a blog that is pretty anti-Trump and it makes some really good points quoting printed articles and sharing cartoons from all over the place.  For sure it's not a pro-Trump site but I like it!

Well, that's the news from this corner of the desert.  Have a great day and keep washing those hands and staying away from the sick people!

Summer, what fun!

No, not really!  Not in southern Nevada anyway.  Our dog has been limiting himself to one run out to do his bathroom duties; first thing in the morning.  Well, I kind of knew what was going on but this?!?!

Yeah, that's the temp of those rocks that fill the back yard.  That's 160F or 71C.  Well, hell, I wouldn't want to walk on that in my bare feet either!  I was expecting something warm but that is just way warmer than I was expecting.  Good dog!

I got my shot last Thursday which was supposed to help my spinal nerve problems and I have to say it did change things but that's not to say fixed them!  It just kind of moved the pain around a bit.  We'll see what they have to say when I can get in to talk with them again.  

The Presidential election is about all that's on the news these days and I have to say I'm pretty happy about how it is moving along.  I should say I'm originally from Iowa, a Republican state, and even today my wife and I are registered Republicans.  Actually that is simply so we can have some voice here.  There will be 4 people running for a position in the county government, all Republican, so whoever wins the primary will automatically get the position.  There just won't be a Democratic or Independent candidate.  It says something about the number of Democrats in the county for sure!  ANYWAY, we will certainly be voting for Kamala Harris for President and are, so far, pretty happy with the choice of Tim Walz for VP.  

One of my HUGE problems with Mr. Trump is the whole Project 2025 thing.  There is some serious crap in that.  Things like purging civil servants, pardon everyone in the Jan. 6 invasion of the capital, enact an abortion ban, reverse student debt forgiveness, cut social security, cut Medicare, abolish the Dept. of Education, ban books, attack LGBTQ+ people, end climate protections, deregulate corporations and the oil industry, put immigrants in detention camps and more!  OMG!  It makes me think that living in another country might be better!  Well, I guess that is one way to reduce the number of people who want to move to this country.  Shit!

We do have some fun in our lives though.  We were going to a supermarket for something the other day and saw this official vehicle.

Can't you just see it in a speeding chase?  LOL  Well, actually, it was being driven by a couple of the sheriff's civilian helpers.  They were apparently helping the supermarket folks with something or maybe just buying donuts for the real cops.  

Anyway, that's all the news that's fit to type from around here.  Hope you are having as much fun.  Keep washing those hands and staying away from the sick folks.

Just cruising along

 Don't have much to talk about because life is being pretty dull and no photos for the same reason.  That's going to change next week but that's because of doctor visits and stuff like that.  Nothing really big until Thursday when I'm supposed to get some sort of spinal injection for my spinal stinosis.  We'll see how that goes.  I saw this doctor on June 20 and August 1 is the first day he could "fit me in".  What a crap medical system we have in this country!

Yesterday we couldn't see the mountains in any direction.  That's amazing for us because usually we've got them around us about 300 of the 360 degrees(there aren't any directly east of us).  My wife suggested someone had said it was because of the Chico, CA fire but that's over 400 miles away so I'm kind of doubtful.  Anyway, it did clear up by the afternoon and this morning is quite nice.  Heck, it's only 76F (24C) outside so that's great!  No fear, we'll still get over 100F (38C) before the day is over.

I said it was nice and clear in the morning but then about 10:00 the mountains started to disappear into cloud or dust or whatever.  That only lasted for a couple hours though and now, at about 3 pm it's nice and clear again.  Weirdness for sure!   

My wife's toes are getting better and she is able to walk about a bit now.  It's obviouly not comfortable but she doesn't need the wheelchair any more so that's good!  We are still spending a lot of time in our recliners.  It's not very good for your health but it isn't painful!  We like to give to the local VFW Food Bank so we bought some stuff via Smith's Food and Drug's pickup service the other day and this morning she went out to inventory what we received.  We think it's all there but we had trouble finding 2 small packets of tuna.  But, really, if the picker was that hungry, well, maybe it would have gone to them anyway.  While she was having that fun, I was working on cleaning the front porch again.  Talk about life in the fast lane!  We've still got zillions of bugs out there.  We keep killing them but they seem to still re-produce.  Who knows?  We got a UPS delivery the other day and the guy said our porch wasn't the worst he's seen.  Now that's hard to believe but I'd like to!  

I don't like to talk about politics here but I have to admit that I'm happy that President Biden has taken himself out of the race for another term.  And I admire him for the graceful way he is doing it.  It's not because I don't like what he's done or that I'm worried about his abilities but I just don't see 75-85 year old people as appropriate leaders.  I'm 75 and I have to say I have trouble remembering words sometimes; my balance isn't what it was 20 years ago; making an even 20 minute speech WITH a teleprompter would be problematic.  Of course, I've got those same worries about Mr. Trump because he too is even older than me.  But with him I've got other problems:  draft dodger; convicted felon; molestor of women; and those are the easy to remember/prove things.  Our daughter was here a few days ago and I had to tell her I'd much rather be choosing to vote for someone her age (50's) than someone my age.  It's time for a new generation to take over.

Anyway, have a good one and try to stay away from those sick people!

Just some quiet time...

We aren't doing anything much these days.  It is usually in the 104-110F temp range (40-43C) so staying inside in the a/c is pretty tempting.  We have some new houses being built in our neighborhood for first time in at least 5 or 6 years.  This isn't a 'development' where you see a builder doing 8 or 10 at a time.  These are 1 acre lots (something over 4,000 sq. m.) so it's not like your back fence is right in your face.  There is plenty of that in other parts of town.  Of course we don't have a golf course and we have to have our own well for water.

I had a doctor's appointment the other day and when that was over I called my wife to see if there was something I should be picking up.  She didn't answer.  Well, that is kind of worrying.  When I got home I discovered she'd fallen and twisted her toes!  We decided to check with her doctor and they suggested an x-ray and darned if she hadn't broken two of her toes!  So now she is back in her wheelchair for a bit.  It does slow you down when you cannot walk.  And it gives me a lot more to do.  LOL 

We've been having a nasty infiltration of bugs lately.  They are mostly extra small cricket like critters.  For some reason they really like our front door area.  It is on the north side of the house and covered so I imagine it is cooler there than other places but it is really just nasty.  I've been sweeping it every day and they just keep coming.  Here's from a couple days ago where I'd swept them away from the door but not off the concrete quite yet.

We did have a nice sunrise the other day.

Then yesterday I had to go to the store in the mid-afternoon.  I pulled the car out of the garage and it was raining!  I was so shocked I had to go back into the house and tell my wife.  Of course this is Nevada and rain on our house doesn't mean rain a quarter of a mile away.  Sure enough it was dry as a bone by the time I got off our street.  There was this rather nice rainbow though complete with the moon peeking out from under the cloud.

I guess that's all the news from this corner.  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and stay away from the sick people!

July is moving along!

Jeez, I know I'm getting older and older but this speeding up of time is just crazy!  It was only a couple days ago that I took this on the 4th.

Yeah, I didn't even go outside to take the photo.  I wonder why I was such an idiot?  Hmmm, maybe this?

Those are dead and dying bugs in front of our front door!  I've been cleaning it every day or two.  That's just wrong but it's been going on for the last 10 days or so.  The only thing I can think of is that the porch is shaded on the North side of the house so it has to be quite a bit cooler than being out in the sunshine.  And when we are talking 115 F (46C); well, it's nasty out there in the sun! 

Of course those bugs like the ceiling too.

Needless to say I've been spraying around the doors.  We are still getting bugs into the house.  Actually, the population is nothing like outside but finding a dozen every day is kind of depressing.  

We have finally tried leaving Gus, the dog, alone for an hour or so while we go out to lunch.  He tends to find a place where he can see the front door, the garage door and the back door; and that's where he stays!  It's a big improvement over last year where he would be barking and running around.  

And just to prove that I'm not the only one with a camera on my phone, here's a photo my wife took of the sunrise this morning.

That cloud cover made for a nice morning.  Not cool but under 80F (27C).  Well, that's all the news from out here in nowhere.  Have a good one and keep washing those hands!

No, I did not watch the debate!

Ok, I started watching it but after about 10 minutes of listening to Mr. Trump lie I just couldn't take it any more.  Wow!  And to think that there are people who actually admire him!  What can they be thinking?  And poor old Joe Biden looked so, well, old.  It was just nasty.

The 4th of July is coming up pretty quickly and that's a big deal around here.  We have at least 3 huge fireworks stores in our little town.  Of course you are only allowed to use fireworks at a public area well out of town; not in your back yard or anywhere like that.  And people in Las Vegas can't use fireworks; people in California can't use fireworks; but somehow the stores stay in business.  Hmmmm.  Do you think some folks are breaking the law or maybe just storing fireworks for a day when they will be made legal? 

These folks usually have a flag flying but when it comes to a special holiday they do kind of add to the display.  And, yes, the business is named "Area 51 Fireworks"; a nod to the well known extraterrestrial area just over the mountains from us.  It's maybe 50 miles 'as the crow flies'.  Actually I was on a civilian board advising the government on communicating with the public about the Nevada Test Site.  We got to visit much of the Test Site and even got a long distance view of Area 51.  We were no way close enough to actually see anything aside from dusty desert.

We had an interesting morning a couple days ago.  I really liked the cloud layer.  And it was fairly cool since the sun wasn't baking your body.

Still, that was unusual.  It is usually 'not a cloud in the sky' and something over 100F (38C).  You can tell it's warm when the birds are hiding in the shade wherever they can find it.

Well, that's all that's fit to print this morning.  Keep washing those hands and keep away from the sick people!