Bill and his toys

Now is when it is delightful to live in Vegas. The weather is PERFECT! Low 80's during the day and high 60's at night,. Humidity is in the teens. Only two low 90 days in the future forecast. 
One of the sunrises over the wetlands this past week. 

 Walking out around the back yard. Our landscaping is doing great. So much pretty color in the flowers. And lots of butterflies. And yesterday I had to make more hummingbird nectar. They are going through it fast.  

 The jasmine by the garage door is growing like crazy.

 I continue to work on my window. Except now I'm at a standstill. Have as much done as I can do without the border glass. It is on order for me. I took this picture before I did any soldering. 

 Now that I don't have any work on the window and my sewing machine is still in for repair I'm not sure what to do. Maybe drag Bill around town trying to find interesting things to see. 
He is filling his spare time with his drones. Think he has enough of them? 

 Don't think he realized he was taking a picture of himself taking a picture.  He is reflected in the double mirror doors. 
This video has no picture, taken at night, but turn up your sound. The coyotes yipping and howling out in the Wetlands. They sounded pretty close. 

Logic and Luau

Been enjoying the cool weather. Highs in the high 70's lows in the 60's. Love it. Though I found Bill all wrapped up in his blanket earlier today. 
I saw this sign and thought OH YAH! I know a lot of people who need to shop here. 

Lets see...I have my computer back and it is running great. And the new modem for the Internet is working great. Two out of three isn't bad. Probably won't get my sewing machine back for a couple of weeks. 
So with nothing else to do and the cooler weather I've been busy in the garage with my window. Here it is with all the pieces ground, fitted and taped together waiting for solder. 

Caught a picture of Bill personalizing one of his drones. He bought a face for it. eyes and mouth. Toys, toys. 

And payback he got a picture of me in the garage soldering on the window,. See our matching haircuts!

Today was a good day for me, my hands were hardly shaking so I finished everything I needed to do before I start making the background. 

Yesterday the community had a Luau for everyone. Lots of food and entertainment. Male dancers for the ladies. 

And hula girls for the men. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. 

Even a whole little pig. Only the face was left when I took this. 

Today we went out early to breakfast and to the market. Then cooled a roast, potatoes and carrots for early dinner. Finally cool enough to use the oven. 
Then I watched my favorite NASCAR driver #18 M&Ms car, Kyle Busch win the race in New Hampshire. YES!!!

Day of repairs.

Check out this wonderful weather. High of 79! My kind of weather. It might be cool enough to cook a roast this weekend,

Up early again, a lot of time to work in the garage on my window. Got almost half of the glass pieces ground and shaped. 
Spent the rest of the morning on errands. My sewing machine is on its way to be repaired. Needs a new "card" for all it's buttons. More money.
Then to Best Buy to drop of my PC. Will get it back on Saturday. Hope all the little Gremlins are caught and eliminated. So will be using the laptop for a few days.
Then waited at home for the Cox Internet technician. He was right on time. Needed a new modem. And of course they don't carry the kind we had, so had to get a new "upgraded" one. Of course, at $5 more a month. It better not give us any trouble. 
While waiting for him I worked on finishing my Christmas place mats. When I get the sewing machined back I'll do some kind of quilting on them. 

Been watching the news from Mexico and Puerto Rico. What disasters. Over 400 dead in Mexico City already. 

Electronic gremlins are having fun with us.

After watching the news this afternoon our electronic problems are nothing. Another powerful earthquake in Mexico, this one near Mexico City. 7.1. Many, many people dead already. 44 multi story buildings have collapsed. One 4 story school is now only 1 story high. People are forming bucket brigades to remove the rubble from collapsed buildings. 
But back to us...Been cool enough out in the garage to work on the second window. I've got all the foreground glass [flowers, stem and leaves] rough cut. Next is grinding and fitting. That takes a while. 

Also started another sewing project. The fall place mats are finished, even have Scotch Guard on them. Just found out one of our grand sons got married over the weekend. Wedding present!
So starting a set of Christmas place mats.What I'm trying to do, besides keeping busy, is use up bits and pieces of material I have. 

Here are the centers of them. Today I put the borders on, cut the batting and backing and put the binding on with the sewing machine. Still have to hand finish the binding on two of them. Turned out kind of pretty. 

A few days ago our youngest son, who lives here in Vegas, called us wondering when his Dad was going to make more milanesa - he was craving some. I told him we had some in the freezer but to get it he had to help us ;) hook the DVD and surround sound up to our living room TV. He said okay and was here yesterday afternoon with the whole family. Wife and son. It turned out to be quite a project. The TV had to come off the wall. Glad he was here to do it. Now we have too much sound and can watch movies in the living room. 

You notice Bill and I aren't doing any work. 

Both of us were up early enough this morning to see the sunrise. Kind of pretty. 

Bill is feeling fine again. Hope he never gets another kidney stone - WOW.  
Since I got my sewing machine back from repair it has been giving me fits. Several things that I've never had problems with are now not working at all or causing problems when they do work. Finally had enough and will take it back to repair tomorrow. Wouldn't you know my 90 day warranty was up 3 days ago. 
Also made an appointment to take my PC into the Geek Squad. It is doing some really strange things. When it sits for a while it disconnects itself from the Internet and I have to restart computer to get it to work. It has also been making some really loud fan noises. Like it was trying to take off. 
After making the appointment with the Geek Squad I called Cox Internet to complain to them about the Internet cutting in and out.
Come to find out we need a new modem - the tech will be here tomorrow afternoon to replace it. Hum...maybe that what was wrong with my PC...Still going to take it in. 
And that has been our last couple of days. 

I spoke too soon, Bill still in pain.

I've been up since 2:00a.m. Bill got up then and I got up with him. Spoke too soon when I said the kidney stone had passed. It for sure hasn't. We went to emergency on Friday night,. Where he was diagnosed and given pain pills. Had a bad night. Saturday morning he felt fine. Thought it was over with. We went out and ran errands even. But by Saturday late afternoon he could barely move it hurt so much. Of course he'd quit taking the pain pills earlier in the day, cause they upset his stomach. Bad move. So as I write this Sunday evening he is laying down trying to get some relief. Also back on the pills, but only has a few left as the hospital doctor thought it would pass by now. Nope! So tomorrow will try to get into see our regular doctor - or back to emergency. 
We got three meals again this week. This was one of them. Duck with a good sauce, asparagus with tomatoes and fingerling potatoes. Very, very good. 

 We've had tow more since that one. Also very good. Tonight we had chicken breasts with mushroom, sour cream gravy on Couscous and salad. Last night steak and mixed green salad with braised nectarine and pecans. Just the right amount of food and a good variety. Pleased with it. But am skipping next week. Have to use stuff out of freezer. 
This morning's sunrise. I meant to go out later to see how it turned out but got busy sewing and forgot. 

 I finished my fall place mats. Now who to give them to? See the pumpkin quilting on the larger part of the mat. That was fun. 

 Also did a little work on the new window today. Mostly just trying to find the glass I needed. Think I'm going to have to buy a couple of pieces. I already bought the blue background and the border is on order. But I ran out of the brown I use for the flower centers. And might not have enough green for the leaves. 

 This is kind of what it will look like when done. The colors are not true but close enough to get the idea. This is just the pattern with close to the colors added. 

Ordered some Scotch Guard spray for the place mats and the new RV quilt. Hope it works to keep them clean. I couldn't find any in WalMart so ordered it from Amazon, also ordered a ceiling fan duster. Looked up the other day - UGH!
At least the weather has cooled down some. No more 100+ days I hope. And the nights are getting cooler too. 
I think I'm going to have to take this PC in to the Geek Squad this week. It is doing some really weird things. It made a really noise yesterday. Thought it was trying to take off. And it keeps disconnecting itself from the Internet. Just lots of little annoying things. 
That's All Folks!

Busy day yesterday

Didn't realize it had been so long since I'd posted till I went to take the photos off the camera and found Monday morning sunrise. I actually put my FitBit on Monday morning and went for a walk. Did around 6000 steps. 

 The weather is finally cooling down enough to get out in the morning. Went out today but not for long. 
We've had a really quiet week, not doing much of anything until yesterday. Yesterday I started two new projects. I'm making table place mats for autumn. I had the material so thought I'd use it up. Will probably give the placemats away as we usually aren't home in autumn. And I already have some for me. All I need to do is add the binding and quilting and they will be done. There are four of them. 

 Also measured window and printed out the pattern for the second window. Probably today I'll go out in the garage and choose some of the glass for it. 

And last evening we had an eventful time. Bill had not been feeling well all day. Said his back was aching. Well by late afternoon it was way beyond aching. It was into "I have to see a doctor." And when he says that I know something is wrong. So we jumped into the car and went to the new hospital that just opened not far from us in Henderson. We both figured he'd be sitting in the emergency room for hours. But we were pleasantly surprised. They brought a wheel chair out to the car and took him inside. Within 15 minutes he was checked in and in a cubicle. Saw two or three different nurses who did their things. A doctor and a PA. After some discussion they had him heading down the hall for a CAT scan. Not long after that they came back and told him he had a kidney stone - guess he is lucky he'd never had one before. Any way. Got three prescriptions and information on what to expect and we were on our way home. About three hours total time there. Very pleased with the way things were handled.
So today he is not so good. Still waiting for things to pass. He will take it easy and I'll sew and watch NASCAR.
Tonight I'm fixing one of our this week's meal in a box. We are having duck breast. Can't wait to taste it. 

No Where, Nothing, Nice

Well we've been no where so I can't write about what we've been doing or what we saw. I have nothing going win the way of projects, so no pictures of quilts or glass. And the weather is very nice so nothing to write about there. 
Been spending the last couple of days watching soccer, NASCAR and Irma. At least Barcelona soccer team won big. 
I have been doing some stained glass. Just some small pieces to mount on my bathroom wall next to my first window. Still in the process of arranging them though. 

Also did some baking. Made Bill a marble cake using the red copper brownie pan. NEVER again. I've used it three times. The first time it worked like it is supposed to. Brownies came right out. Last time and this time the cake stuck to the center dividers and it is hard to clean off. I mean really, soak it in hot watery and then use a scrubby on it. Last time I sprayed the dividers and it stuck, so this time I didn't spray the dividers. Same mess. I remember the first time I used it I left the brownies in the oven as it cooled down. Maybe that is the secret - over cook batter. Might try it one more time and lengthen cooking time. [I also made 6 cupcakes so as not to over fill the pan.]

 Then for dinner tonight I made our last box meal. Baked chicken breasts topped with grated zucchini and Parmesan cheese. Mashed potatoes and green beans. Turned out very good.  Something I would not have made otherwise. 

The weather today was wonderful. Yesterday day from noon on was nice too - no AC yesterday. For the next week it should be dry and below 100. Goody. Maybe this week we'll go out looking for the murals downtown. 

Stormy Day

Woke up this morning to thunder and rain. Lots of thunder and rain. It cleared up long enough to make an errand run. Weren't home long when the thunder started up again with more heavy rain. Even got a Flash Flood warning on the TV.  Like this all day long - when it wasn't pouring.

Again it cleared up and now almost bed time the thunder has started up again. And more rain. This reminds me of Indiana. This was around noon.

Now there is a big line of storms heading towards us.  And supposed to rain tomorrow.
Seems strange to not have a sewing project to do.  Did spend part of the day watching NASCAR.
We got another box of meals yesterday. Again easy to prepare and something I would never have fixed on my own. Marinaded chicken thighs, rice and snap peas. The chicken was marinaded in paprika, cumin, lemon, garlic and olive oil. Really good. Only thing that didn't come in the box was the olive oil. Took about 30 minutes to fix.  We both really liked it.

Also spent a lot of the day watching the weather from Florida. One of our granddaughters is in an evacuation area, but they are going to her husbands family inland.
How fast Texas has been pushed out of the news. Hope the cleanup and everything else is going okay there.
There was also a very big earthquake in Mexico - just off the southern coast. 8.2 on the Richter scale. Very destructive quake. Felt from Guatemala to Mexico City.
A quote from one of the Mexican news channels. "Buildings collapsed and thousands of people were evacuated after the powerful tremor struck off the coast of Chiapas, the country's southernmost state, on Thursday night just before midnight local time.

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said in a press conference that the earthquake was the strongest to strike the country in a century and that 50 million of his nation's 120 million citizens would have felt its force."
You can read more about it here. There is also a hurricane about to hit the eastern central coast of Mexico - category 3. 

Finishing up projects.

Wow! Look at this a few days with temperatures below 100. Bill is going to start looking for his long johns pretty soon. 

4:20 in the afternoon and just heard thunder, looked outside and it is raining. Hum...

Last night it cooled off some. We had a pretty good rain storm for a while - maybe 10 minutes - and then lots of thunder and lightening out over the desert. 
A sunrise a couple of mornings ago. One of the few lately that I've been up to see. 

 As I said starting to finish off a couple of projects. A small piece of stained glass I'm working on to go on my bathroom wall, next to the first window. It is 3-d with the butterflies wings standing up. It is not completed yet. Still needs patina and the center of the flower done. 

The last of the big project. Putting the binding on the t shirt quilt. I'd forgot how long it takes to go around a queen sized quilt. My poor finger has holes in it from pushing the needle through the material. I kept one of the sewing machine fabric pillows.  [I think I mentioned my SHORT hair cut.]

The quilt is done. Here it is laying out on our California King bed. So it should fit the queen nicely.  This is one of the most EXPENSIVE quilt I've ever made. When thinking about what all the t-shirts cost me. I know the Hard Rock ones were all between 25 and 30 dollars. I had them from London, Paris, Rome, Beijing, Acapulco, Hawaii, and  Niagara Falls.  Never got one from here in Vegas.  Nice memories in the shirts. 

A look at my sewing room when there are no projects. Even vacuumed all the threads off the floor. 

Been watching the weather channels most of today while sewing. What a mess. Feel so sorry for all the people in the way of the storm. One nice thing about southern Nevada - very few - except for heat - natural disasters problems. 
Today we expect another delivery of three Hello Fresh meals. So guess I'll have to cook a for a few days. I can't remember what they are so will be a surprise. 

One of "Those Days"

It is only 12:30 and I feel like I've been run over by a truck. No I have not been that busy - just that dumb!
Yesterday we went to JoAnn's to buy the batting and backing material for the t-shirt quilt. Everyone and there uncles from around the area were there! I didn't realize that they were having a BIG sale. While I was looking at the yardage Bill was quick thinking enough to pull a number for the cutting table. I found some material I thought would really go on the quilt. A map of the world with kind of a light beige background. 

I'd measured before leaving home and even remembered to bring the little note with the measurements on it. I needed a little over 5 yards according to my calculations.  The material I picked didn't have very much on the bolt, but maybe there was just enough. 
So we stood for about 10 more minutes for our number to be called. There was just short of 5 yards - by a few inches. Hopefully I'd padded my calculations. It was the only material I saw that I liked so I took it. And it was on sale at 30% off plus a discount for end of bolt. Also got the batting for 60% off. 
Got it home, stitched it together and laid it out. 

It is laid out the wrong way,here on the floo the middle seam will go across the quilt, not up and down it. Didn't get enough material to lay it out that way. 

CRAP No matter how I laid it it was short.Another 8 or 10 inches and I'd of had enough. The width was fine, the length was about 7 inches too short. So I thought a while add decided to add sashing strips to the top and bottom of the backing. Same colors as on the quilt. Measured them out and put things away to watch NASCAR. #18 came in 2nd.
This morning I turned on the sewing machine, got out the strips then decided before I went any further it might be a good idea to make sure it fit the bed in the RV. So we went over there and laid it on the bed. Length of quilt was fine. Width could use a couple more inches. No problem. Got home cut strips for the width of the quilt. Sewed then on, sewed on the strips for the length. Spread out the backing on the floor. Put the quilt over it. I SCREAMED - poor Bill came running to see if I had come close to killing myself. Notice where I said "sewed the strips for  the length" on - notice I didn't say I picked up the backing. Yes, I sewed them on the quilt. NOW it was WAY too long to fit the backing...UGH! St down and ripped them off. But now I had another problem. I'd used up all my extra material for the side strips on the quilt. So what to do?  The backing material was several inches too wide - so decided to cut it off and sew it to top and bottom. It will have to work. Haven't checked it yet. Will do that later...
Here is the backing with its extra border. It now fits the quilt. 

Ane here is the quilt face - waiting to be pinned to be ready for quilting. Think I'll use basting spray as pinning it on the floor is hard. Keep getting the carpet in the pins. 

Tomorrow I'll probably start quilting it. 

Was looking out back a while ago and was surprised to notice how big some of our plants are getting. Sure looks better than when it was just rocks. 

Bill cooked dinner and is calling me to the table. Sure smells good. 

Where has the year gone?

I can't believe it is September already. Where has the year gone? End of another month time to back up your computer. 
I had Bill give me a hair cut yesterday with our clippers. OMG - I should have checked which size cutter was on it. I am almost bald. Oh well, it will be a while before I need another cut. 
Another cool morning so I went out in the garage and finished the polishing of my window. I will eventually make a companion piece for the other side of the window. We do not replace the original glass. The stained glass just goes in front of it. 
Here is Bill putting it up. 

 Here it is up. 

A little later we went to the glass store and I picked up enough blue background and red for flowers to make the new window. Also ordered the glass for the border. So when I get the urge I'll be able to start it. Glad I don';t need too much red, it is really expensive, it has gold in it to make the red really red. 
I think the world is going crazy. Just watching the news - The Clark County School District is many millions in debt so they have made a new budget. In their budge they have classified teachers as NON ESSENTIAL PERSONNEL. Excuse me? Why do they need schools if they don't have teachers. What a crock. 
Just finished making our "before winter" doctors appointments. Four different doctors. And I imagine they will all want a come back appointment. Ugh. Wouldn't go but we need our prescriptions renewed and unless we see them they wont renew them.
Worked on my quilt a little today. got the three bottom sections sewn together. Boy is it getting heavy to handle. Soon I'll have to go to a yardage store to get the backing. Don't know what I want yet. 
Racing at Darlington this weekend. Will work on quilt while watching it.