Got our second shot this a.m.

More days of not doing much. We did get our 2nd Phizer (sp?) shot this morning. In and out of Walgreens in 20 minutes. So that is done. 

We had a couple of nice days, for both of us, he was warm enough and I wasn't cooking. Today it is cold again, with a strong cold wind. By Thursday it will start warming up again. Might hit 90 by end of week. Not looking forward to that. 

Yesterday I spent most of the day watching the stupid dirt NASCAR races at Bristol. What a fiasco. Half the time the drivers couldn't see out of their windshields, either because if mud on them or so much dust and the setting sun. 

I made a small window hanging for Easter. Didn't notice one of the squares was upside down until I hung it. Oh well. Adds some holiday color anyway. 

Also got some beads out to make another chain to use with the masks. I made two last fall before we left for Mexico and promptly lost one in Arizona. Just want a spare in case one breaks. This is the one I made last year. 

Starting the new one. Lots and lots of tiny beads. 

It is finished. Now I just have to put it some where that I can remember. I prefer to have it hanging around my neck rather then take one off and try to remember to put it on before I reach the doors of a store or office. 

Now that I have some beads out I am going to try to replicate a pair of earrings I bought in Mexico. I like their style and I should be able to figure out how to make them. And as soon as it warms up in the garage I'll go back to work on my stained glass piece. 

All our plants are leafing out nicely and the ocotillo is getting a bloom. Other than that not much going on.

Easter is coming.

 We've had a few unusual days. Some good some not so good. 

The new header is looking out into the desert behind us.

The weather at least has been warming up a little. Now if the wind would just quit blowing. This afternoon is supposed to be warmer low 70's with no wind. Then a couple of days around the 80's before more wind and cooler weather. 

Must to my dismay we discovered another place the mice had nested. Should have looked there earlier but just didn't think they would be there. On the shelving up in our closet! And they loved it there. Especially in a container containing Bill's really nice sweaters. Basically all lost. Holes chewed in them. And they also got in some bedding and a bunch of Bill's jeans. So many loads of laundry later...I hope that is the last of it.  One good thing have not found any new poops in about two weeks. So hopefully they are GONE!

I finished my Irish window hanging, but not until after Saint Patrick's day was gone. And I already had my Easter decorations out. 

Table decorations. 

And stained glass for the window. 

We also put some artificial greenery and flowers outside in the window boxes. Hopefully the powers that be don't notice them and make us take them down. 

This is the part of the house that faces the street. One room is the sewing room the other has our computer desks in it. 

My ocotillo has one leaf at the very top, so guess it isn't dead. Will wait and see if it gets anything else. 

This weekend is the NASCAR dirt races at Bristol Speedway. Watched practice yesterday. Every one seemed to do okay, but not many trucks or cars on the track at the same time. Today is qualifying and the truck race. Tomorrow the Cup car race. So should be fun to watch. 

Our mail got all screwed up again. Seems regular postman was out ill and the replacement either misplaced our mail or forwarded it to where we have it sent when we travel. Regular postman is trying to get things straightened out. Took another call to their Customer Service people and a return call from someone at our post office. And luckily Bill saw the postman yesterday so we'll see what happens now. One package got forwarded and has disappeared into never never land. 

Tuesday we get our 2nd shot. 

Something for every one in Vegas

It was just one month ago that we crossed back into the US. Seems much longer than that.  Guess that is because we've had so much going on since we've been home. Mostly the mouse problem. I am happy to say that we have not seen any new signs of mice for about a week. Thank goodness. Either they found another place or ate some of the poison and expired. As long as they stay away I'm happy.  We've also had our first vaccine shot, second one next week. Met our new doctor and had lab work done - goody goody. Broke and repaired my sewing machine. Had a screw removed from Mustangs tire and fixed. Got a new router for our Internet. And a few other things that are not worth mentioning. But been busy. Also having problems with our mail again. Somehow it started to get forwarded to where it goes when we are gone again. More calls to PO. Supposed to be taken care of today. Hope so. 

So between the doctor and the sewing machine we've been on the other side of town a couple of times. 
Forgot what Vegas looks like ...There are a lot more tourists on the Strip then the last time we went by it. 

Heading west crossing the strip. New York skyline. Lady Liberty is wearing a mask. 

The hockey stadium. It looks like a giant copper kettle to me. The team however is great. Leading their division. 

Love the mural on this buildings mural. It goes around all four sides. The building itself well...it is an adult toy store. 

As you can see as this blog goes on there is something for everyone in Vegas. And a lot of the pictures were taken on one street. 

So driving down Industrial St on our way to the sewing machine repair place. Interesting drive. 

COME EXPERIENCE THE ULTIMATE SHOOTING RANGE IN LAS VEGAS!

From the trenches of World War I all the way to current operations in the Middle East, we have over 1,000 different weapons systems to choose from when you arrive at our Vegas gun range. From handguns and pistols to fully automatic rifles, sub-machine guns to belt-feds and .50 calibers, we have it all here at Battlefield Vegas! Whether you want to practice your aim in the indoor shooting range or take to the outdoor shooting range for some high-adrenaline fun, your Las Vegas adventure starts here.

Most of Nevada is now open. Only night clubs, day clubs and brothels are not allowed to be open yet. 

The Chicken Ranch is a legal, licensed brothel located about 60 miles (97 km) west of Las Vegas near the town of Pahrump, in Nye County, at 10511 Homestead Road.The 17-bed brothel sits on 40 acres (16 ha) of land

The previous pictures were taken when we took the sewing machine in. 

This was on the way home. A castle and knights and jousting if your interested. 

We got home just in time to see the Saint Patrick's day golf cart parade. They also had a Pot of Gold hunt and an Irish food truck. But we missed that. 

Another day. Back to the other side of town. Mount Charleston with its snowy cap. Yesterday it got even more snow. And we got a little rain. And still cold and windy.

Driving back down Industrial on way to pick up sewing machine. Large Adirondack Chair.

Want to rent and drive an exotic car? This is the place. 

Like I said something for every one.  It is an actual legitimate museum. 

Sorry  - the bike thing is beyond my imagination. 

And this is next door. Had to crop the bottom of the sign out...

Ah! the sewing machine repair place. A lot of older machines on display. They were so pretty back then. 

And lots and lots of embroidery thread. Good thing they were industrial sized rolls or it would have cost me a whole lot more to get out of there. My machine is working great again. And it was fixed and ready to pick up in one day. 

So going home we drove down to Las Vegas Blvd. Traffic is a mess there with all the construction going on to repair pipes and building this arch. A little about it. This is where heading north on the Blvd the CITY of Las Vegas actually begins. The Strip is not in the city, it is administered by Clark County. 

Las Vegas Boulevard Gateway Arches
www.lasvegasnevada.gov/News/Blog/Detail/las...

Illuminated arches that are 80-feet-tall now form a gateway to downtown Las Vegas. They are located on Las Vegas Boulevard between St. Louis and Bob Stupak avenues at the base of The STRAT Hotel, Casino & SkyPod. Now, visitors have another #OnlyVegas experience to enjoy while visiting. 

Show Girls and an outhouse...Notice the Stratosphere has been renamed to just STRAT now. Guess it took too long to spell out the old name on twitter etc. 

A better look at the showgirls. Circus Circus in the background. 

The rather underwhelming arch. Maybe once all the construction is done it will look better. Once through the arch going south you are out of the City of Las Vegas. 

One block further we turned off The Strip on to a east heading street.  On the way home stopped and picked up a new Blue Ox tow bar for the RV. Expensive day. 

Will try to catch up on other things in another blog. 

Getting things done.

And the days go by, somehow we manage to keep kind of busy. Yesterday morning it was about 55 and overcast so I decided to take a walk around the community. In 45 minutes I did two miles. Need to pick up the pace a little. Trying to get into a routine, walk one day, exercise with TV other day. I have lost a little weight doing that. Or maybe it was not eating all the brownies in one day. 

The sunrise yesterday morning. We saw our new doctor Tuesday. Bill really likes him, I'm waiting until we see him again. One thing I like is he is going to redo all the lab work the old doctor did in October. Neither one of us liked the way the old doctor explained the results. Seemed a little dire. So will see new doc in three weeks to get some explanations. I hope. Until then - won't worry about anything. 

So Wednesday I cooked the corned beef, onions, potatoes and carrots in the slow cooker most of the day. Added a can of Miller Lite to it with the water. Cooked the cabbage last half hour. It was some of the best corned beef I've ever made. However! Bill hasn't been eating any beef for over a year and a half. Except for twice, once in restaurant when he got beef instead of chicken in his fajitas and once when he had some Italian sausage. Both times he felt terrible afterwords.  So corned BEEF - somehow neither of us thought it would bother him. Wrong! He spent an unhappy night.  So guess I get to eat the leftovers and eat the left overs and eat...

Bill got a new drone. Here he is out front calibrating it. 

The drone getting ready to take off. 

A kind of sunset video with music. 

We finally brought the RV back to the house to clean it up a little. And Bill discovered - thank goodness - the Blue Ox tow bar is broken. So have a new one on order. Glad we discovered it now, and not the day we wanted to go somewhere. So we picked up the new one today. 

Finished my puzzle yesterday morning. It was a little challenging, but fun.

Also going to pick up my repaired sewing machine today. Quickest I've ever gotten it fixed and a reasonable price too. Will finish my Irish wall hanging in next day or two. Ready for when ever we are home in March again. 

A bit of catching up to do.

All is well and fine here, just haven't felt like sitting down and writing. Besides not much to write about. About the most exciting thing going on has been the weather. This was Saturday the 13th morning. Snow in Henderson on Black Mountain. I don't ever remember seeing that before. Had a  couple of really nasty days. Snow in most of the valley, except our area. We are the lowest elevation in the valley so it would be very unusual to get snow here. All the mountains to the north, west and south got snow. 

Have had strong winds off and on for over a week.  This was one day it was clear and quiet. Today is a rather warm day - high 60's. Tomorrow will be mid to high 70's, so Bill is finally warming up. 

I have started a new puzzle another Kincaid - they are harder than usual to do. So many shades of same color. Also awkward to work with it being so long and narrow. But I keep plugging away on it. 

Another day and another storm rolling through. High winds and hail in some parts of valley. We just got a little rain and of course the winds. Out front looking south. 

Out back looking north. Raining in the desert. Gloomy days. Had enough of them already. 

I have all the hummingbird feeders filled and out. It is amazing how something so small can get around in the high winds we've been having. 

Well I got my embroidery machine out and using it to make a Saint Patrick's Day window hanging. Found some leprechauns on my laptop in my patterns. Got these two finished. Will trim the hanging in the darker fabric I had left from the table mats. 

Some of my thread, but is is like material never the colors you want.

The printed pattern for the third leprechaun to finish the hanging. But he never got done, had everything but his hair and the outlining done when my machine ate a whole bunch of thread and broke!!! Many naughty words from me.  Bill managed to dig the thread out but something broke so it is now in a repair shop. Sure hope they can fix it - and that I don';t have to stand on a corner with a sign "need help paying for sewing machine." Guess I Won't have my hanging for this Saint Patrick's Day. Oh well. 

We still have a, I think, mouse problem. Keep finding turds here and there. Not a lot but enough to know the were on the windowsills. Nothing in the traps. So we are resorting to poison. Hope it works. Don't have to worry about kids or pets so...

I baked a loaf of bread the other day. Didn't make the dough used frozen from market. It was delicious. After it raised drizzled top with olive oil, added rosemary, garlic minced and sea salt. We ate most of it before it cooled off. Have two more frozen loaves in freezer waiting. 

Today I have corned beef, onion, potatoes and carrots in the slow cooker. Haven't fixed it this way before -- hope it turns out - especially at the price of the corned beef. Will add the cabbage later. 

Friday another cold and gray day.

Well let yesterday slip by I guess. The black clouds hanging over the Vegas valley made for a dramatic sunrise the other day.

We have had really cold weather, for Las Vegas, down into the high 30's at night and staying in high 40's low 50's during the day.  Really dark and ugly and windy. Bill is not enjoying the days at all. This was yesterday afternoon. Ominous dark clouds with one bright spot out over the desert.

Woke up to cold rain this morning. Good for the plants I guess. First measurable rain since last March. 

Off the TV 8 o'clock this morning.

And this is snow on the west edge of the valley. Actually sticking to the ground. 

We got a new Internet modem from Cox - I called them cause our Internet was sooo slooow since we've been home. So they sent us a newer updated modem. I was kind of hesitant about setting it up. But managed to do it. Even got our living room TV working with it too. Phew, wipe brow. 

Still not winning the war with the mice though. Nothing in the many traps, so we got some poison pellets to spread around where we still see poops. Hopefully if they eat them they go outside to die. Yesterday I didn't see any new poop, but found another place that had to be cleaned up that we'd missed before. Under the computer desks when we had to go under them to plug in the modem...

Some good news. I have found on YouTube some great exercise classes for my old bones. They are called Yes2Next. It is a young woman trainer working with her older mother.  Here are just some of them available. [It was just the other day I figured out how to do YouTube on the TV.] 

The trainer and her mother. I did this class this morning. Sometime she uses weights - her mother uses water bottles, I use cans of beans. Might eventually try something heavier... A lot of the exercises can be done sitting in a chair too. 

Didn't realize he caught me doing these. You need very little space, no mats - sometimes a chair or towel. 

Will try to continue to do them every morning, especially on the days it is too nasty to go walking. 

Have cooked a couple of dinners lately. One was chicken tenders breaded with chia seeds, quinoa and Italian panko. Served with stuffed eggplant. Very good. Then the next night we had salmon that had been marinated and seasoned potato wedges [both cooked in new air fryer at same time] also asparagus. Tonight probably some kind of chicken - Bill doesn't eat red meat, can't eat pork and really doesn't like fish - big sigh! And tiny red potatoes with seasoning cooked in air fryer. 

Not much else going on, too cold to work on my stained glass piece, need to solder next and that has to be done in the garage with the door open. Taped to hold it steady. 

Am going to use my embroidery machine to make some Irish window hangings, but waiting to get the stabilizer I didn't have. Supposed to come today.