Bill's Kingdom

Well we are back into hot weather and wind. Will be between 106 cool to 111 high all week. Ugh. And we are getting a lot of smoke from the fires in California. Can't even see the mountains behind us.  Have the air purifier running all the time.  Have got this far on my latest quilt.  I now have the batting and backing on it. This is just the front. It is bigger than I thought it would be. Oh well. 

Bill has been letting his hair grow, it is full of curls. If mine had curls I'd let it grow. Mine is straight as a stick and thread thin. 

Since Bill has been having the problems with his eyes and we aren't traveling or going much of any where he has set up his space around his computer. Some days he calls it his Kingdom some days his Jail depending on his mood. He really misses traveling and being able to work on hobbies. The sight in his left eye is just peripheral vision due to untreated macular degeneration. His right eye is stabilized so he can see, but not close sume what better for distance. Prednisone is keeping his eyelid open for now. He can only take a low dose or it upsets his stomach. With the help of glasses he can read his e-reader with the letters on it magnified too.  He gets shots in it every 12 weeks. We are looking into a Low Vision clinic but his eye doctor has to refer him. 

So little by little he has set up the area around his computer to be as comfortable and functional as possible. A panoramic view of the area. He made some changes after I took this picture. 

He has a very large screen for his computer. In fact it is a Roku TV that he uses for computer screen and to watch Dish TV.  Watching TV in the living room makes him dizzy as he can not see it as clearly as the one on his desk. On the left side of the screen/monitor he has a few pairs of glasses to help with his close vision. In the middle is his clock and date and thermometer. On the right he has his magnifying glass for when he is on the computer. His keyboard is yellow with black letters, easier to see. He also had a light strip above it. Under the clock he has made small shelving to hold the dish and roku remotes. Also a small flashlight.

 Under  the drawer is the computer PC and a thermos. 

After I took this picture he moved his snacks, he also has a " bread box" 

To his immediate right he has shelving - mainly to hold his snacks. All the containers have labels as he can't see well enough to distinguish the contents in the jars. The flower decorations he got when he made the boxes a few months back. He painted them. The pictures are his mother, father and our kids. 

The red box is a mini refrigerator for his soda. 
In the closet he has a microwave.  On the right hand side of this picture is a charging station for the drones, his phone and nook. He also has the table with a bright light above it so he can work on smaller items when his eye is behaving. 

He also has a thermos for his coffee and a thing that will keep his cup of coffee hot. It is on his desk. I'm sure I missed a few things. And for the first time in a long time he is feeling really good and would be more active if he could see and it wasn't so hot out. And if I would be willing to drive somewhere. 

The county is putting in new sewer pipe behind us in the Wetlands. Will take about 2 months. They put the rocks down to keep down the dust and to clean the dirt off the tires on the trucks that go in and out all day, The rocks end right behind our house.

This poor guy will be out there the whole project with a sign that says SLOW/STOP. He is at the bike/walking path. Because they will be putting in new sewer out in the Wetlands park too. And trucks are crossing the bike path. Feel for him, it is going to be 110 this week. 

So far they have been pretty quiet. But most of the actual digging will be starting about three houses down from us and in the park. 

I'm starting to QUILT the quilt. Wish I hadn't. forgot how much energy it took to move all that material around.  Doing it slowly.

Made some brownies yesterday, but other than that no cooking, too hot. 

Wetlands - finally a little cooler in the morning

About the last six days it has been cooling down into the mid 70's at night. In fact the coolest part of the day is just after sunrise. So my walking friend and I have been getting out early and walking in the Wetlands again. Between days of walking with her Bill and I have managed to get out and get in some shorter walks too. Our first walk wore us both out and we only did 2 1/2 miles. But once the sun gets up a ways it gets hot quick. Been up around 101 to 105 during the day. Warming up again this coming week. UGH. This pond has beavers. See all the mud next to the wood - they keep trying to build a dam there. 

But the park maintenance guys keep taking all the reeds and tree limbs away. Poor beavers they work so hard for nothing. There are over 80 beavers throughout the park. I've only seen one once several years ago when I was out just after sunrise. 

Such a pretty view. You can still see the burned trees. But a lot of reeds have grown back and a lot of new trees were planted. Hopefully they live and thrive. 

The two palm trees are completely dead. 

Same area just turned around and looked towards the Strip. Hard to believe both places are in Vegas. 

Very few birds around now.  This old blue heron is here year round. He was way up the river so picture isn't too good. 

Lots and lots of flowers growing by the water,

I heard a noise and there was Bill flying one of his drones in the house. 

Our second walk two days later was 2.75 miles. Had to take a nap that day. A serene pond. Didn't see any fish or turtles there that day. 

A couple of mallard hens. Surprised to see them here this late in the year. 

The bridge I take a lot of the pictures from. Not much regrowth here. The plastic cones have trees in them. 

More burned trees and some white flowers.

Where it looks like rocks in the river - it is rocks but the water is rushing over them so forming a small rapids. Helps to clean the water before it gets to Lake Mead. 

Can hardly see them but there are a bunch of baby Quail there. Boy can they run fast. 

Saw a few bunnies too but they are too quick to get a picture of. 

I'm starting on a new quilt; I saw this picture on line so printed it out and trying to figure out how to make it. Mostly 3 inch squares. Lots and lots of 3 inch squares. 

My version - the first six rows. So far so good. All the squares are cut and waiting to be sewn together. 

Came across this picture - it was three years ago already. Our "100 year" flood. Certainly was a surprise. It was caused by a hurricane that started in Mexico, got to here and unload its rain in the mountains. As they say it flows down hill and we are in the lowest part of the valley. The water was going under our house in the back and pouring out from under the house in the front. Our house is in left hand side with the trees. 

So that is it. I've been sewing and doing some cooking and Bill has been setting up his "office" area. Will go into that next time. This thing fascinates me. 

That's all folks!

The dog days of summer.

 Not too much going on around here, by 9 o'clock in the morning it has been over 100 for days. Today and for a couple of days it will be cool. Only in the very high 90's. Going to try to get a walk in tomorrow morning;for first time in long time it is cooling down to the high 70's during the night. If we can get out early we should be okay. One of our medium heat days last week. And this wasn't the hottest part of the day.

Bill's eyelid has been staying open. The prednisone seems to be working. So early one morning we went to Lowe's so he could pick out some wood for a project he wanted to do.  Walked around there then went to Walmart for the first time in a LONG time. Got in two miles of walking. Just in the stores. 

Went out another early morning to just walk around a couple of blocks in the community. Neat sky.

Another morning another short walk. Last few days it has been in the 90's by 7:30 and more humid than usual for here. Not even sticking nose out of house. A weird thing - I guess the medication has changed Bill's internal thermostat. He gets hot now, he always used to be cold. So have had to turn the AC cooler, of course I love it. Not looking forward to energy bill this month. We've already had about 40 days of over 100. 

I finished my quilt. Actually in this picture it wasn't completely done. Yesterday I quilted all the block centers. So now it is done. 

Can't have a blog without the Sphere. 

Now this is just WEIRD! Don't think I'd want to look out my hotel window and see it. 

It has been exceptionally windy here for about a month. Yesterday morning the neighbors flags were standing straight out. 

I've been doing more cooking than usual. Trying new recipes I find on the internet. This is cheddar cheese bread. Easy to make and tastes good. 

And last night for dinner we had Chicken in a lemon parmesan sauce with noodles. Very good. 

And a lettuce fruit salad. 

Tonight no cooking, leftovers to eat. Cutting material for a new quilt. There will be 170 3 inch squares - I might never finish it. 

And that is it for here.   

Wild weather in Las Vegas last week.

Trying to do a little better this month.  We'll see how that turns out. Had a very quiet July 4th. A few people around us shot off some fireworks, but didn't set any thing on fire, thank goodness and were done by 10:30. Watched several 4th programs on TV. My gosh the cities back east really put on shows.

The Sphere, this was actually rotating and very pretty, but couldn't get the video to upload.

Last week there was another fire in The Wetlands, went outside to take this. It looks close but was on the far side of the park. Burned about 100 acres before they got it put out. Fourth fire there this year. Again, luckily, there was no wind blowing. 

Took this from the TV, really burning at this point. 

While outside I grabbed a couple pictures from our side yard. This is my favorite plant. It blooms all summer. 

The Lantanas fascinate me that one flower and one bush can have so many different colors in the flowers and the flowers themselves.

OMG!!! We actually got rain off and on for three days. Not a whole lot where we live on the south east side of town. But some is better than nothing. 

While it was raining Bill made bunuelos (Buñuelo is a type of doughnut or fritter made from flour, effs, milk with cheese, fruit or other ingredients, and fried in oil. It is a traditional snack or dessert in Spain, Latin America, and other regions with a Spanish heritage.)  He made these with apples and bananas. YUM. Always makes enough we can freeze some for another time. With sugar on top double YUM.

I made a dutch apple pie but ate it all before I thought to take a picture of it. Yes, I ate the WHOLE pie myself. Also have tried a couple new supper recipes. One with sliced zucchini, yellow squash, chopped tomato, canned black beans and corn. Mixed together with olive oil, taco seasoning and topped with cheese then baked. Really good. 

A few days ago we got rain, not much wind or dust or destruction. But other parts of Vegas really had damage.

Again pulled this from TV. It was taken from a car dashcam. You could hear the guy driving saying, NO NO NO! One after another came down. His car got hit by one of the poles. 

Same street after the storm. Several cars damaged or just stuck there between poles and wires. If you know Vegas it was on west side by Tropicana and Jones Blvd.

Again from TV. Several parts of town had huge dust storms too. Shut down the airport for a while. 

This is about a mile and half west of us on Tropicana. Thirty poles went down. Tropicana was still closed this morning, but they got power back on for the people living around there yesterday. 

I got my great grandson's quilt mailed the other day. $28 to mail it, $0 to make it! So have kind of started on another one. No idea what I'll do with it. Not sure how I'll put it together or if I'll add more blocks in different colors. Work in progress. 

Going to be hot and dry for the next week or so. The monsoons will be around us but not over us. 

On Wednesday Bill has a eye doctor appointment for his shot in the eye. Around noon, should be nice and hot. For some reason the AC in the Jeep works great then stops working for a while, then will work again. Hope it keeps working that day.  I am still fighting with our new doorbell camera. It goes off when a car or truck drives by on the street, but not if someone walks up to the door. Well, I take that back, it eventually goes off any time from 10 minutes to an hour later. Also goes off when the wind blows the bush next to the porch. And now the doorbell itself isn't bing bonging inside. Works nice and loud if you are outside.  Oh well, something for me to do.