I am plumb tuckered out!

Well the yard sale is over. What didn't sell is either thrown out, packed to take to Goodwill or put back in the shed for another day. We got up early and set everything up. The gates opened at 8:00 and closed at 3:00 By 2:00 though we'd had enough and packed up. We really priced things to sell and got rid of a bunch of small appliances. I put my FitBit on this morning and have got almost 8000 steps as I write this. Just going in and out of the house and back and forth in the garage. 
Luckily the wind was kind of quiet and when it picked up it came from the north east - which is behind us. I was afraid it would sweep through the garage aggravating everyone's allergies. With this new dose of meds Bill seems to be feeling better, his eyes aren't running quite so much.
We found out today that our community has another new manager. The one we've been dealing with for our roof is gone - poof! Hopefully he left notes for the new one - or even better finished the inspection and sent in the report before he left. Guess we'll find out next week. 
Tomorrow the gardeners are supposed to come and put a sprinkler system in our side and back yards. Then it will be time to decide on plants.  The Southern Nevada Water Authority has a wonderful web page about plants for this area. Some they list as bullet proof - they should grow anywhere with very little care. My kind of plant.
Forgot to mention we got the Jeep back the next day - Wednesday. Less than $500. New radiator, new hoses and new fluids and a hazard waste fee. The Jeep has 111,664 miles on it - driven miles and at least 60,000 towed miles. Guess he has the right to get a few things replaced now and again. 
Tomorrow there is not supposed to be wind in the a.m. so Bill will go flying. I plan on doing nothing, except to watch the race later.  - 
Maybe work on my window as it is back out in the garage face down waiting for me...

A little of this a little of that!

Another very windy day here in Las Vegas, but at least the temperatures are only in mid 70s. Which is good because we are trying to keep the doors closed. Bills allergies are attacking hinm in force. The ONLY thing GOOD is they aren't affecting his breathing like in Indiana. But his eyes, nose and sneezing is full on. In fact he went back to the doctor this morning because the medication she prescribed for his eyes was not working at all. They've been getting worse. So now he has two different eye drops, one for viral allergy infection and one for dry (?) eye. Even though the eyes are running constantly he is to use the drops for dry eyes to give them relief. Also prescription Allegra.
About an hour after we picked up the new meds he was feeling better. Hope they continue to work. And am glad the wind is supposed to let up by Sunday for at least a week. Except then the temps will get up into the 90s - oh well, can't have everything I guess. 
I took a short walk this morning, but forgot to take my water with me, got it out of the refrigerator, set it down to put my shoes on and never picked it back up. But did get in about 1 1/2 miles. 
I just wanted to share this picture of a stained glass window Bill and I collaborated on several years ago. It was for a 4 x 4 window above our front door. Another one we left when we moved. I'd forgotten how pretty it was. The angle of the picture is weird because it was so high up on the wall. 

After we got home from the pharmacy the gardeners came over to find out where we wanted to have sprinklers put in. We'll have them on the back side part of the actual front of the house - where we had the dead tree cut down. And then out back, around the patio and in a semi-circle at the back corner. Then I'll be able to go pick out some plants. They suggested roses - but I want some desert plants. Will decide after the sprinklers are in. 
They also delivered a big table for us as tomorrow is the big spring community yard sale. We've drug a bunch of stuff out of the shed and hope to get rid of some of it. Piled up on and under our new table in the garage. Community table is still outside. Will sort everything out in the morning. The gates don't open till 8. Also went to bank to get some change. And still need to price some things. Maybe later.

Yes we're using the table where the glass window was. This morning I finished soldering the front and put the zinc strips on the sides. Now we can carefully pick it up. It is now back in the sewing room. Will put it back out on the table Sunday or Monday - face down so I can solder the back of it. There is still a lot to do to finish it. 

 After taking that 3-D sewing class I went hunting through my unfinished sewing projects drawer and found my Chinese lady that I started years ago. The print is on a neutral background. And piece by piece I am adding embroidered silk to make her kimono. I got stuck on one sleeve but now think I know how to do it.  The original print came as a set of three women, so if this turns out okay maybe I'll do the other two and use them and some embroidered squares for a quilt. 

Finally got my travel in Mexico web page up and running again. And looking over it I see a lot of pages that need some work. I guess different browsers format the pages differently.  

Oh where to begin!

Yesterday and today have been really busy. Busy good and busy bad. But first off someone asked me where my stained glass window would go. So here is where it will end up. This little window which for the life of me I can't open - and it faces the wetlands so I don't really want it open. It is not a louvered window the slats are a shadow of the awning over the outside of the window. We will not remove the window simply place the new one in front of the old one. Then frame it with quarter round to hold it in place. I have about 3/4 of the front of the window soldered. Then the zinc frame has to be put on and then the window turned so I can solder the backside. After that it gets turned front up again and I correct all the ugly soldering on the front, clean it really good and then put a patina solution on it that will turn all the solder black to give it a stained glass finished look. So lots to do still.

 Yesterday I went to the dimensional sewing class. So much fun. It was two hours long and learned a lot. Here are a couple of samples the teacher has done. We learned how to do the tree trunks and make rock material look 3 dimensional. 

 While I was in the sewing class Bill was at the RC hobby shop. Should never have let him be there for two hours. Good grief. More new toys. After leaving there were went to the glass shop where I bought the zinc strips to frame my window. The Jeep started to over heat while on the way there. Thought it was the weather, quite warm and the heavy traffic. Thought it would cool down while in glass shop. Well it did but started heating up really bad as we went down the road. Pulled into the first gas station we could find. Of course they didn't have water but they did have a convenience store. When Bill took the cap off we had a water volcano. So he went inside and bought bottled water. Poured it in. Waited. and waited until Willie cooled down enough to start. Only we another two blocks before it was too hot again. So pulled into a parking lot, called triple A and waited - only about 10 minutes. Had him tow us home as it was late by then and Bills planes and my sewing machine were in the car. So here goes Willie wheels up on the tow truck. 

Had him put the Jeep in the driveway across from us as we can't leave a car on the street overnight. 

So this morning we called triple A again and had Willie towed to the mechanic, just down the street. He is there now, mechanic just called a cracked radiator. At least it's not a blown engine.  We were going to put the Jeep back in the backyard and use my car yesterday and until we decided to go somewhere with the RV [which is still at the dealers.] Good thing we didn't or we'd have had a lousy first day of a trip. At least we're home and have a second car. 
But back to the sewing. We learned about making tree trunks and making rock material look like a pile of rocks. So I've been playing today. The tree I made in class and started the rock pile.
The background was just some material I was practicing on with the rocks so ignore it. My tree with a broken branch and no leaves, my rock pile.

 A closer look at the rocks. Next time I try they will look better. This is a learning project. I should have used black thread and a smaller stitch length. Also she taught us to do them by hand, but I used the sewing machine today. 

 The tree trunk. Fabric folded around batting.

 Also fooling with a small creek and some bushes. The bushes need work. I can see having experimenting with this. 

The lady bug is a button I had. 
So that is it so far today. I'm also having trouble getting into my web page www.movingon1.com and making some changes. So far had to download a newer version of the program and needed a new password. Still not working. grrrrr...Working with the hosting company to solve problem. 
Almost forgot - the park has inspected our roof and tomorrow the regional manager is supposed to be here at the park and he will do the final inspection and hopefully we will all get our money. Eventually. 

Walking and working and watching.

Didn't realize it had been so long since I've posted. Seems like the days just fly by even when we really aren't doing much.
I've managed to get in a couple of walks and done some work on my window. Here it is on the new table in the garage. All blocked out and squared up. Took a while to accomplish that - had to recut and refoil about four pieces as it was pretty much out of square. UGH. I hate that. serves me right for not taking the time to make sure it was right the first time. So many things I forgot to do right on this window. Rookie mistakes. 

 We spent some time in front of the TV this weekend. Watched the soccer game from Spain. Our favorite team managed to win. So now they are tied for first place. Excellent game.Leo Messi even managed to get a goal after getting one of his front teeth knocked out. Played a while with a pad of gauze in his mouth. Moral of game don't get Messi mad.
And I watched NASCAR - actually the race ended up being on Monday due to rain. The #18 blew his front tire twice. The second time destroyed the car - end of day for him. 
We have finally finished the Easter ham. Made scalloped potatoes with ham and then froze the bone and last scrapes to make lentil soup one of these days. Oink, oink!
Took a long walk this morning. Going to be a cooler day today. Last couple of days have been quite warm already. This is one of the bushes I want to plant here if and when we plant any. It blooms all summer. 

 The WIND continues to blow. I even saw a stores sign that said "Wind Go Away!". Up to 30 mph today. Quite a head and tail wind when walking

 Isn't this beautiful? Wouldn't it make a beautiful stained glass window. 

 All kinds of bushes and flowers blooming now. I know the bottle brush causes a lot of allergies to kick up but it is a pretty plant. 

Got back from my walk and worked on the window a little. it is about 1/2 soldered on the front side. Then it has to be turned over and the back soldered. So still a lot of work to be done. 

This afternoon I have the dimensional sewing class. That should be fun. While I'm there Bill will go to his RC hobby shop which is in the same complex. One of his planes needed a new receiver - it was faulty. 
Nothing exciting going on. Still waiting for the park manager to come and inspect the roof. Noticed today that two of the homes at the end of our block are in the process of getting new roofs. And another is getting their porch roof replaced. 

Flowers, tables and pans.

Well CRAP - I was just checking my FitBit and I had a little over 6000 steps on it already today, it is now only 1:30 and somehow I pressed the button and zip everything went back to zeros! Grrr
Took this last night looking over The Wetlands. I love seeing all the mountains behind us. It was kind of a strange time of night with the sun just going down. 

 There were actually three jets up there but I couldn't see the last one through the camera lens - thought I had it. It was coming across the other two. 

 So anyway I did take a walk this morning. Lots of pretty flowers in bloom. Lots of different colors. 

 And I saw him sitting way up on top of a tree. Tried to get a better picture but my camera battery died. Is he a desert bird? Or is he lost?

 I mentioned that I've got my window done up to the point where I have to solder it all together. I didn't want to do that inside a room and for sure not on my sewing table. So every wonderfully helpful Bill built me a table out in the garage. Luckily I'd taken a walk this morning and still had my tennis shoes on as between us we managed to drop one of the side on my big toe. I thought he was holding it and he thought I was holding it. And it had a mind of its own. OUCH.

My car in the driveway and Willie across the street in the empty lot driveway. And I bet our neighbors loved the sound of the saw. And I was grinding glass too. But the house in the middle back of photo was getting a new roof so they were making noise too. 

 Still need to get something to put on the top to smooth it out and finish the edges. Trip to Home Depot coming up. I need to go to the glass shop too to get some zinc strips to frame the window and some flux, my old flux is more like gunk now. 

In the last few months we've been getting rid of some of our old scratched up pans and replacing them with Copper Chef and Red Copper pans. LOVE THEM. Well worth the price. Will never use anything else. Going to make scalloped potatoes with ham for dinner tonight. Going to use one of the square ones (depending on how much I make) and cook in oven. Scalloped potatoes always stick to the sides of what ever I've used. And Bill likes them crispy. Should be interesting to see how it turns out. 

 Was planning on going up to the office and asking about our roof invoice but got a text message that the office is closed as they are in the area of the park that has no power - And part of the park has no water due to a main line break. Neither affecting us. 

Some things getting done other not so much.

I have at least been getting in over 6000 steps a day lately,. Between walking around the neighborhood and working on my window.  A lot of them are from all the  back and forth from where the window is [in my sewing room] to the garage - each piece of glass takes several trips to get it shaped with grinding so it fits just right. After the grinding all the pieces have to be washed to get the marking pen and the grinding dust off.  Then the next step is putting the copper foil around each piece. After the foil is on the glass it has to be press hard oi the glass to make sure it sticks. Now that that is all done it is time to solder it. I don't want to do that in the house- to many fumes from the flux and solder. Also I don't want to do it on my sewing table. So here it is waiting until I figure out where to put it to finish it. 

The other day while Bill was at the hobby shop I went to the quilting store and signed up for a class 
to learn how to do 3 dimensional quilting. specialty pieces - not whole quilts. More wall hanging type stuff. Stuff like this.

For the class we have to have material that looks like a tree trunk and material that looks like rocks. It should be fun to do. 
So the roof, well it is done but... The insurance company gave me check for roof, but it was made out to me and mortgage company. So I had to endorse it and give it to them - them being the corporate office of the mortgage company who are the owners of the community where we live.  They would put check in an escrow account and pay final bill. BUT the roofer needed a down payment for supplies to start the roof. No one from the office was here the day we had to give down payment to roofer. So I wrote him a personal check. Now roof is done. Roofer has sent the invoice to our communities corporate office. They are supposed to send it to the local manager. He hasn't heard any thing. Doesn't know about the invoice. Before it can be paid he also has to inspect our roof AND the general manager has to sign off on it. What a freaking mickey mouse company. No one knows anything. I wonder if I call the insurance company and ask them WTH? if we'll get paid back and the roofer will get paid. After all the insurance has already paid the full amount plus. I'm also trying to get a copy of the invoice for my files. I keep getting - I'll have my bookkeeper send it to you...Yah when? Eventually it will show up. 
We've had more high winds the last couple of days. Gusts up to 50mph again. Glad we got the roof done when we did. By this weekend the temperature is supposed to be up in the 90's! OH NO NOT ALREADY!
Bill has an eye infection. went to the doctor this morning and got a prescription BUT the pharmacy doesn't have it and doesn't think they will get any. The girl says it's been really hard to get that medication for eyes. The drug company won't send it. Now what. They are supposed to call around to other CVSs to see who might have it, call the supplier to see if/when they might get it and/or call the doctor to see if there is anything else Bill can use. His one eye is a mess, swollen and running gunk. Doesn't put him in a good mood. And with the winds stirring everything up - the dust and pollen...Good - CVS just called the medication will be in tomorrow. 
Well Barcelona soccer club won't be in playing for the European championship this year. They lost today. 

Nevada State Veterans Memorial

Have been slowly working on the window. Getting it all resized and adding the background. 
Stopped though and fixed a couple of dinner. One night curry chicken and rice. Turned out really good. In fact I just ate the leftovers for lunch today.
Also fixed a ham, sweet potatoes and asparagus for Easter dinner. Even used our pretty hand made Mexican dinner plates.  The smallest ham I could find, I think we'll be eating ham for a while. Need to vacuum pack and freeze some. 

This morning we had to go to the hobby shop way across town. One of Bill's RC planes wouldn't fly so he took it to them to fix. On the way home we decided to make a stop near downtown. Some more of the metal work in the center dividers. Don't know why the jeans over the little donkey. 

 Cactus, coyote and a metal frame full of big rocks saguaro. Very pretty. That's what we need for our yard. No maintenance. 

A year an a half ago our youngest grand son who lives here in Vegas marched in the Memorial Day parade. We watched it on TV - mention was made of the not yet open Nevada State Veterans Memorial. It sounded like it would be great to visit. It opened about six months later. And I've been wanting to go there ever since. It is on the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Washington - if you are ever in Vegas it is a must see.  

 A diagram of the park. There was plenty of parking, free. 

Some information about it. "The centerpiece scene at the 2-acre site stands at the foot of stone terraces with 18 metal-alloy and bronze statues backed by walls of black granite engraved with historic quotes. They represent the nation’s war eras all the way back to the Revolutionary War.
Sculptor Douwe Blumberg, who designed and produced the statues, said he feels “like a marathon runner crossing the tape. … It marks the end of a six-year journey, which was never just another cool, artistic endeavor but from Day One a passion and a labor of love for our veterans.”
“These are the heroes among us who represent something larger than all of us: a way of life, freedom for us to be what we want to be, say what we want to say and worship how we choose to worship.”
I wish the light had been better. It was overcast with a gray glare so not all pictures turned out really good. 

 50,000 Americans were wounded or died in the Revolutionary War. 

Interesting comment by Reagan. 

 750,000 troops casualties in the Civil War. 

4,068 Americans were wounded or died in the Spanish American War.

 

 World War I claimed 320,518 wounded or dead. 

 The war to end all wars -  WWII 1,076,245 dead, wounded or missing. 

 The only statue of a woman, she had a red cross patch on her arm. 

 

128,650 wounded, dead or missing in Korean War. 

Vietnam - 211,454 missing, dead or wounded. Not counting the walking wounded who came home to hate. 

US forces suffered 148 battle-related deaths  with 1 pilot listed as MIA (his remains were found and identified in August 2009). A further 145 Americans died in non-combat accidents

So far 38,614 U. S. causalities - wounded or dead. 

 

 A very sobering experience. So glad we went though. Beautiful in a somber kind of way. So not "Las Vegas."