Things around here

Another week gone by. And a new month tomorrow. Time flies. I've been doing some cooking lately. Brownies YUM. These are parmesan cheese chips for Bill. Decided it was cheaper to buy them ready made than to make them. 

Last night I made chicken tetrazzini. Turned out pretty good. When we got home from Mexico we discovered we'd both lost about 8 pounds. How did we do that when we were eating out so much. Well because we were eating meals every day and not picking on snacks at all. So am trying to cook dinner at least every other night. Kind of enjoying it. 

I got new kitchen rugs. Love them roosters and sunflowers. 

Also started on a new quilt. This is the picture I saw and thought "that looks fun." So gathered up a bunch of material I've had for years and started cutting it. 

Needed 110 squares of two colors each. So had to cut 55 squares of each color and the white. Sew them together then cut them in half. 

It was a time consuming job getting each square in the right place. Finally got it right then sewed the squares into rows. 

Had to add him. It is weird. 

Construction on the new sewer line behind us continues. They say it will take another year to finish it all the way.  At least now they are not right behind us. But today they were dumping truck loads of big rocks behind us. 

Some pictures from The Wetlands. There used to be a palm tree here. 

Some of the fun things in the playground. A beaver and a big frog. Walking now we can hear the big bullfrogs calling out for a mate. 

Just a pretty sight. 

This tree grew sideways before it started to grow up. 

I asked AI and it said a Female Ruddy Duck. 

There were four Canadian Geese in the river. Two pair. One pair was having a domestic dispute. Lots of nasty sounding honking going on. 

And a little bit of abuse. 

Then this one left its mate and took after the other pair. Guess it was having a bad day. 

Lots of road runners and bunnies around now. Its been so hot we have been walking at 7:30. 

The geese flew to another pond and looks like they are getting along. 

I had to really zoom on him. Was told it is a green heron. 

So we've been walking between 2.5 and 3.5 miles a time. The 3.5 really wears me out. Don't want to do anything the rest of the day. Got one of our cars registered and need a new battery to get my car started to register it. Also go an estimate from a contractor to fix the roof. UGH. Expensive month next month. 

Returning to Mazatlan on our last full day there. We went to the Centro Historico and spent a lot of time just walking around. Love the area and so many more old buildings are being restored. We stood on this corner for a while just watching life go by. Saw a lot. This pick up truck had it bed full of cement. The white building across the street was having construction done on it. Men with white 5 gallon buckets came out of it and went to truck. You can see the cement in the shovel of the guy in the truck. The guy in the truck filled the bucket with the cement. And the worker carried it back into the building. The lady with the hat is a street cleaner. She goes up and down the street sweeping and picking up trash. 

The cement is all gone. The truck bed is being swept and cleaned out and the truck left. 

And off she goes to continue her cleaning. 

While we were still standing there he peddled by. I like the chicken under his chin. I wonder why they don't just fly away. Unless he just takes them for a ride daily. And they are not for sale. 

This little dog was running up and down the street. A man walking down the sidewalk chased him out of the street a couple of times. When the dog ran up to this door the guy opened the door and the dog went in. The man was picked up by a car and he left. The dog just stood there and looked out the door.

Looked like she was bewildered as to why she was in the building. No one was inside as she was also barking a lot. 

Continuing our walk. One of the restored buildings.

This building was under restoration for several years. Looks like they are finally done and it is being used. 

A plaque on the building. Interesting. Glad it was restored and now housing office space.

Don't remember what was here. But guess it wasn't in good enough to restore. Hope the building going up remains true to the old style.

So much detail on the older buildings. 

There is no building behind this door. It is now a parking lot. 

Another one of my favorites. Was originally a German owned store. 

Some one when by with a spray can. 
The top of the building. It is empty and really needs some TLC

Across the street. Art Deco 1920 30's maybe. Looks out of place. 

Changing the street lights. Downtown is really being kept up now. 

Another view of the German Store. 

The plaque on it. Built in 1845. 

This is a really nice street to walk down. So many interesting buildings. 

Bill watching them change the street light. The utility box says"Never expect a positive result with a negative attitude."

Just some detail work. 

The exterior of the building that is now a parking lot. 

Love the old stained glass and wrought iron light. 

And that is only part of our walk that day. But will stop here. 

We've had some interesting days the past week or so. Dealing with contractors and insurance company and plumbers. My appointment with the dermatologist to get the rest of the mole removed is the 7th. That week we have 4 medical appointments. Two in one day. So fun. At least by then it will be cooler again. We've had and will continue to have days in the high 90's Breaking every record for heat in March. So that's it for now. 

The Wetlands and stuff

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all. I'm getting ready to prepare Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner.  Cut up the carrots, potatoes and onion. Put them in crock pot add the corned beef some water and a can of beer. Eight hours later it will be ready. So delicious. 

This will be a little different blog. I've been walking in the mornings again. Last Saturday we did 3.5 miles and yesterday 3 miles. Saturday was a little longer than we are used to. I ended up sitting around and doing nothing most of Sunday. Body was saying, "What were you thinking?" It was kind of an accident but The Wetlands has a lot of interesting art exhibits which are in the Nature Center. Well with all the pipeline construction through the Wetlands several of the trials can't be used so to get to the Nature Center and back home we have to go the wrong way then find a trail clear back across the area to get to the NC - then to get home we have to go clear back to where we started from. Can't wait until they finish and open the closer trails again. A week ago we went to the Nature Center to pick up our Wetlands Walkers button for this year for our first five walks of the year. So. The current art exhibit. About every two months they change the exhibits. This one was watercolor painting on wood and batik? There were several paintings but I'm just posting a few. This one is called Neil and Connie. I guess the artist named the animals. So cute.

This one is called Bait and Switch. Aptly named. And unfortunately kind of true. Why do people throw trash all over in a protected area?

This one is Above and Below. And the set is selling for $5000.00.

Just a few photos from the walk. One of the views I love. 

See the river in picture? It is about a third of the way up the picture. You can see the white water as it goes over the rocks. 

A better picture of it. If we walk about a hundred yards we can see The Strip and Downtown Vegas. 

And the snowy mountains. In a day or two the snow will be gone as we are headed towards 90 degree weather. Today it will be low 90's by end of week it might hit 100. NO NO NO. Not already. But then should cool down into low 80's for a while again. 

Last Saturday we set out for the Nature Center again to see a new outdoor exhibit. There is an outdoor one by several different artists every year in March and April. Saturday was the first day. It usually takes a week or so to get all the art set up and labeled. This year the exhibit is called "Sound" Well some of them we could figure out some...not so much. This one we decided the sound would be the water and the dragonfly's wings. The whole thing. See the dragonflies, butterfly and bird?

One of the dragonflies. 

Closer look at the water -glass bubbles - flowers and butterfly. This is one of the prettier ones.

Okay not sure about this. Hope they label it.

This one is great. Bumble bees - their buzzing - (no there is no sound just imagination) 

Closer look, check out the wings and eyes. 

Okay, flapping wings and honking sound when flying. Right?

This surprised us, in a good, funny way. Understand the Sound here. 

These are ceramic and appear to be the like the sticks the Native Americans use in dances that produce a rattling sound. A lot of work on this one.

Absolutely no idea!

No idea there either. Might be sounds waves? 

Last year there were a lot more pieces, maybe by the end of this week there will be labels, and more pieces of art. Not sure. So we continued walking and just some flowers bloomint. 

Walked through the area where the big fire was last year. Kind of eerie looking. 

Bill wanted a haircut. His lovely curls before cutting them all off. If I had those curls I'd let my hair grown. My hair is as straight as a stick. So I got a haircut too.

Tomorrow the home insurance adjuster is coming. We have a major problem with our nine year old roof. It is rotting and cracking. Sure hope it is covered. Times like this I wish we were renting.