Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Miracle!

 Well miracles do happen once in a while. Heard noise out in the street and two of the managements gardeners were out there...They came to fill the holes that the flood caused under the back and front of our home. (We'd already filled the one out front.) Then they told me they would be back on Friday with rocks to cover the dirt. I hope they have rocks for the front too as most of them washed away with the water and then the street sweeper cleaned them up before we could shovel them back on the yard. Maybe they will eventually send someone to crawl under the house to check for erosion too. Not holding my breath.

And the best laid plans...I plan and fate laughs. Had an appointment to get my taxes done this afternoon. Also got a message from the management that the water would be turned off this morning from 9:30 to ??? - supposed to be only a couple of hours...We shall see.  Why does any of that make a difference? Well last night I flushed the potty and bubble bubble up in my sink. NUTS. So need a plumber, Bill tried plunging and no luck. Plumber was supposed to come this morning, had to call and tell them we wouldn't have any water this morning so - changed appointment to some time between 12 and 4. Hope it is closer to 4, because  who knows for sure when water will be back on. Changed my tax appointment to tomorrow. 

For other news - we walked the last two days in a row. Got in 4 miles one day and 3 1/2 yesterday. Legs are complaining today. A picture of some of the snow on the mountains. It will mostly be gone soon as temperatures are warming way up, high 70's to low 80's.


This is the Wetlands without much greenery. Some of the trees and bushes are starting to get a few buds on them. Now out there it is mostly brown and tan and dark gray. 
A big dark cloud over the mountains. Luckily it wasn't headed towards us. 
Lots of water in the river, guess from  the recent rains. Hard to believe this is right behind our home in the desert. 
My walking friends, all bundled up. I had on shorts and a long sleeve shirt and was warm. 
Just because I like the look of the trunk of this bush. 
I was taking a picture o9f the river from the bridge. Didn't realize there were peopled in it until I looked at it on the computer. Looks like they were taking pictures of a celebration. 

Another picture I just liked. 
Well the water is off now. Hope it is a minor repair for the management. 

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Just a post

 Another March day here in Vegas. The wind is roaring again and it is cold out. Winds gusts up to 60. Our awnings are making noises, banging around. Hope they hold this time.  Supposed to be some rain and snow in mountains during day and winds until tomorrow morning. Ugh. Did have one kind of pretty sunset a couple of days ago.

Got to visit with our son who lives in Florida, he was here a couple of days for business so we got in a nice visit. Been several years since we've seen him. And this morning I got a phone call from son who lives here. He asked if we were going to be home as he had a couple of cleaning ladies who were in the area and did I want them to come over.  I sure did. I've been sewing and there were threads all over the house. Also Bill had cooked bacon this morning so stove needed a good grease mop up. Always nice to have some one come and do that. 

I am working on a very colorful small quilt. No idea what I will do with it when it is done, but I saw the pattern on line and really liked it. Just laid it out on the rug to see how many more squares I need and what I want to rearrange before sewing it. 

A closer look, Just six inch squares cut in half the green piece sewed between them and then squared up to six inches. Very simple. Good way to use up bits and pieces of flower material. Not going to be bed sized, just a throw size

Took a walk yesterday, got in 2 3/4  miles. Felt good, need to get back in a routine. Watched a good soccer game last night, Miami won. Racing at Bristol this weekend. Hope some of the cars are better than they were last week. And that is about it for us. 

Saturday, March 9, 2024

March roared in like a lion!

 Won't forget the beginning of this month for a while. We had a WIND STORM! An all day event. There are mountains back there behind the dust and clouds. 

Lots and lots of dust. Wind gusts up over 70 miles an hour. 
Just a little of the crap that was blowing around. The rockers were rocking like crazed ghosts were siting in them. Over the city several trees down, patio roofs torn off, and power outages.
Our awning out front sounded like someone beating a loud drum. Then a strange noise caught my attention. Oh oh,looking out the window I saw that one of our awnings was really banging around and no longer hanging straight. Whoops. Came right out of its bracket and was also pulling shutters loose. 
But quick think Mom I sent a text to our son and asked if he knew of any handymen that could fix it. Sent him a picture of it too.  Got text back. No didn't know any one. About 10 minutes later got a phone call from him, he would be at house in about an hour. Thank goodness. He took one look at it and discovered what was wrong, See that little metal tab above and just to the right of the middle of the picture. That is what the awing was connected to WITH A COTTER PIN! A what? Cotter pin, went out in garage and found one and voila in a few minutes it was fixed. and the  shutters got new screws in them.  So these are the lovely awnings after one on right was fixed. Thank goodness wind has stopped for a few days. 
After all that excitement the rest of week has been quiet. This is the wall to the right of my computer desk. I have curtains to put up at the window so took down a couple of the wall hangings so I could rearrange them after curtains go up.
This is a wooden sunflower that Bill made for me a couple of years ago. He cut and stained all the wood. And I love it. It used to sit above the pictures on wall - still can see nail there. And I also want to put up the sunflower diamond art sitting on desk.  
Been in a cooking mode this week too. Pineapple upside down cake. YUM! With whipped cream, Double YUM. I have gained some weight from Mazatlan and since we've been home. Keep telling myself  I need to get rid of it, but keep baking.  Also made chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. The cake and chocolate chips cookies are gone. And I haven't been walking this week. 
Made this too. No it isn't lasagna. But it is delicious. Bill's homemade spaghetti sauce, grated mozzarella cheese and eggplant medallions instead of noodles. 
In between eating I finished my Valentine place mats. Quilted around each heart and applicated hearts in side panel. So have them for next year. 
Also got the Irish mug cut, trimmed and foiled. 
Have the colorful diamond dotz picture almost done. (see previous blog)Then will frame it. But don't know what to do with it or where to put it. 
I posted on face book about this Talavera rooster. It was in front of a shop in Mazatlan, they put it outside the door, for years. I looked at it and looked at it. Finally about three years after I first saw it we bought it. So here is where sits now. Along with the pretty hen.  On our patio.  And yes those are artificial flowers, I will probably get written up for them, but until they have another inspection and write me a letter, I'll enjoy them. 
Bill has had a quiet week so we haven't done any outings. Oh, I did buy a new Foodsaver. Our old one, 20 years old finally quite working. Haven't used it yet. And that is it for now. 

Saturday, March 2, 2024

A couple of neat things happened

On Wednesday Bill saw the retina eye doctor for his shot. Some good news. Doctor says the eye has improved some. And he doesn't get the next shot until nine weeks from now.  Lots better than every five weeks. Seems like the new drug is helping. Fingers crossed. 

And that evening we saw the first bunny in our yard since THE FLOOD. then I saw one the next morning too. (Still haven't had any one from management come to check under the house.)

Took a short walk in the wetlands and got some interesting information. When we left for Mazatlan I had logged in 127 miles of walking there. Had received my 100 mile reward and was on my way towards next reward at 200 miles. Then I found out that on the first of the year every one starts out at zero again!!! Well nuts. AND they changed the rewards...Now at 100 miles you get a journal and a pen - really? I got the really neat water bottle carrier when I got in my 100 miles. And I'm using it. So now back to square one I guess. Should get a button when I've walked out there five times. Well I'm up to seven times this year and so far no button. No walking today as it is super windy out. Gusts up to 65/70 mph. And this is NASCAR weekend. Should be interesting for the drivers. 

So here are a few pictures from that walk. No idea what kind of bird this is and not a really good picture. He was pretty far away and  my zoom was full out. 

Lots of snow on the mountains to the west of the valley. And might snow again today or tomorrow. That cold front is just north of us, but mostly we will just get wind. 

I have three projects going now, my diamond painting, a couple of stained glass suncatchers and a set of table placemats. The diamond dotz about 1/3rd done. Going to be colorful 

My Saint Patrick's Day sun catcher. The pattern on the left and the rough cut glass pieces on the right. Needs a lot of work and time to finish it. 

And my table mats will kind of look like this when done. Have just cut out the pieces, not sewn together and probably will change some before finished. 
Have had terrible winds today., One gust tore part of one of our front wooden awnings loose. Not sure how bad it is yet. too windy to get a good look, but it is banging around.