Memorial Weekend

 It is amazing how quickly time passes and how little I get done in that time. I have continued to walk three times a week. Getting in around 10,000 steps those days. But I think tomorrow will be the last time to walk with the walkers. We are going to start walking at 7:30 tomorrow, but I think that will already be too late. The sun comes up around 5:30 and by 7 it is already hot - for me any way. We'll see tomorrow. I even carry an umbrella now to shade myself. But find I have to quit sooner and I want to take a nap. Not like me.

The next week's weather. Notice the lows - never really cools down. 

Got the house decorated for Memorial Day and Fourth of July. Forgot I had so many things to put out. Not the rooster - the towel. 

Dish towels. 

Stained glass for the kitchen window

Place mats and flowers. 

And a window hanging. 

We had a spectacular sunset the other night. 

Lately there haven't been any clouds, so no pretty colors. This was an exception. 

I continue to work on my baby girl quilt. Bought some material for the sashing and for a set of the squares. Washed it , dried it, sprinkled it and put it in the refrigerator for the night to prepare it for ironing. Bill wanted to know why there was a dish towel in there. Sure makes the ironing easier and nicer when done this way. Memories from my childhood when I did the ironing because my Mom worked. 

I have the front of the quilt done. Now I'm going to patch together a bunch of leftover pieces of batting then put it together with the backing before quilting it. It is prettier than the picture makes it look. 

A closer look at the blocks. Three different blocks of daisy type material. I am finally using the flower material - I've had it for a long time but never had anything to use it for. Except for the darker blue and pink sashing everything is from "my stash."

Also started a new project. I have stacks of CDs and DVDs of trips. So I'm trying to sort them out. Also checking to see if they are still openable (?). Some are made using very old programs like Flip Album. I eventually want to put them all on an external hard drive. Lots from Mexico. The tall stack all from RV trips we've taken. The smaller ones trips to China, Italy, London, Paris, Hawaii, Alaska, and some I don't have any idea where from. Yesterday afternoon we were watching some disks from our trip in the RV in 2004 to Alaska. Already the colors on the photos are getting darker. Didn't think that would happen when they were on DVD. I can't believe I took so many pictures. We just watched 1 1/2 of five disks. Going to take forever. 

Lots of good memories though.

This morning Bill and I walked at 5:30 through a small part of the Wetlands. So nice out at that time. Some pictures to share. Hard to believe it is just a few yards behind our home. The sun just coming up.

Saw lots of little bunnies.

The sun lighting up the top of a tree. 

A rest area. Our shadows. 

Still pond. 

A little creek bubbling through. 

Some one was having fun with chalk in the play ground. 

And then home by 6:15. Sun was already getting hot. Did 4900 steps. Better than nothing. Going to either quilt or work on photo disks until time for the NASCAR race. While I watch it Bill will be watching our hockey team  - they made it out of the first set of games. 

How I've been amusing myself for a week.

No, Google didn't take me down, just been busy, or not, doing other things.

Bill has been keeping busy updating all the soft and firmware on his drones. This one looks like it didn't appreciate his efforts.  He is glaring at me with his tongue sticking out. [actually that is a red piece of ribbon on the camera cover to remind Bill to take the cover off the camera before flying it.]

I continue to walk three days a week. Have managed to get in a couple over 10,000 step days. But we will have to walk earlier as it is already hot by 8:30. I got an umbrella to try to keep the sun off me, but it doesn't help too much.We have been having some wild weather. Highs in high 90's then a couple of low 70 as high days. With lots and lots of wind. Bill clocked a couple 56-60 mph gusts in the back yard the end of last week. 

By Thursday we might reach 100!

The wind was so intense and long lasting it stripped all the flowers off of our Palo Verde tree. A couple of years it has bloomed a second time, hope it does this year too. So pretty with its flowers. I took this picture just before the strongest winds, now there are no flowers on it. 

I've been working on the quilt. Here are some of the fabrics I was considering using. Ended up not using the blue and the piece between the the green and the yellow pieces. Sticking with the daisy type flower patterns. 

Here is one of the squares - 16 pieces to each square. Getting ready to sew it. 

I have this set of five squares sewed together. 

It is a good thing we don't use this room to much. I pretty much use all of it when sewing. Especially when I put the ironing board down.

I still have to get some fabric for one set of squares and the borders and binding. Went to JoAnn's the other day and looked around but wasn't sure what fabric I was going to use. Now I have specific colors in mind so will have to make another trip there. 

Also been amusing myself with a couple of really easy puzzles. I work on them while listening to the Golden Knights hockey games on TV. Sure hope they can pull out a win tonight. If they do it will be on the the next set of games.  These were both super easy. 

Now I have started a hard one. Just have the border together and it took me a while. 

Got our rugs we sent out to be cleaned back. The living room looked empty with out the rug. 

Our son brought them over to us on Saturday. The cleaner did a great job on them. I hang out on the couch to the right while watching TV so keep a throw down so I don't spill any thing on the cushions. My M&M's throw. 

Speaking of M&M's - watched the NASCAR road race in the rain Sunday. Strange how the race was cut short just before the fan/NASCAR "Favorite Driver" who was leading was getting ready to make a pit stop. If they are going to race in the rain, run the whole race, don't cut it short because of rain. My favorite driver won one race on Saturday and had a chance to win the Sunday race. Oh well.

Went in this morning for all our medical tests. Got there at nine and out by 11:00 A couple of long tests. I had to walk on the dreaded tread mill. Did pretty good. Both of us had a Nuclear stress test. And I had an ecocardiogram too. Get results June 9th. Hope no problems.

And that is about all that has been going on here. 

Observations not complaints

I started this post the other day when I was upset, but think I'll post it any way. 

Just thinking about the week. Sunday would have been our son John's 56th birthday. Sure miss him. 

First observation. Bill had an appointment at a different doctor's office then we usually go to. First we couldn't figure out how to get in to the office - no handles on doors - we assumed - I know - they were employee exits or entrances. [Maybe some of it is our age] Anyway a nurse walking down the hall told us we had to "push the button" on the wall for the doors to open.  Okay pushed button, doors opened. Big waiting room, about 50 chairs every other one "do not sit here."  No one was in waiting room except for two attendants who were moving chairs around. Receptionist was behind four foot tall Plexiglas - no speaking holes - wearing a mask. Attendant asks who is the patient, Bill points to himself. Attendant looks at me and says you can't be in here, only patient. We are only two people not working there in the whole big room. I look around room and say "No one is here." Attendants confer. Okay you can stay in here. Meanwhile Bill has gone to receptionist to check in. Attendant is telling him something - neither of us can understand her. Finally figure out she is asking for co-payment - we don't have co-payments!! She is insistent - it is $2.14?? So Bill pulls out a five dollar bill. She of course won't take it. They don't accept cash only cards. Still having problems understanding her. Finally figure it out and pay. What a weird experience. Go to sit down. Attendant says to Bill if you want you can sit next to her in one of the chairs with the Do Not Sit Here signs. Well thanks. Other than that the rest of the appointment was great. Appointment time 5:30 we were out of there by 5:50. 

Second observation. About masks. I have mixed feelings about the new - no mask for fully vaccinated people thing. Here in Vegas the casinos are all into it. No masks required for fully vaccinated. Honor system for those not vaccinated. Yah, that is going to work. Was surprised which big box stores went with it right away. WalMart no masks, Albertsons and Vons need masks to enter. Some smaller businesses need masks, other don't. We were in the restaurant yesterday before the CDC announcement. So wore masks - until we got our food to eat. Kind of silly. Germs by front door but not at tables. I think we will still use them in crowded places like WalMart etc. Read that 9 New York Yankees who were vaccinated with the Johnson and Johnson just tested positive for covid. None are ill but... I wonder how things will be here in about two weeks. Today's update - we went to WalMart, both of us wearing masks. I'd say 95 percent of the people in there shopping and working were still wearing masks.

Third observation - my blog and Google. Did they shut me down because I mentioned the high price of gas and the gas lines?  Here is what they sent me. "As you may know, our Community Guidelines describe the boundaries for what we allow - and don't allow - on Blogger. Your post titled "Ate lunch at a restaurant today" was flagged to us for review. We have determined that it violates our guidelines and deleted the post. Why was you blog post deleted? We encourage you to review the full content of your blog posts to make sure they are in line with our standards as additional violations could result in termination of your blog."        However I did finally manage to get it posted - how I don't know - and it had more or less same content as two deleted.                                          This morning I find another message from Google "Hello we have re-evaluated the post titled "Ate lunch at a restaurant today" against Community Guidelines. Upon review, the post has been reinstated. You may access the post at... Sincerely The blogger Team."

So this post might really tick them off. I might never be able to post again. If they take this post down check my Facebook page for updated information about me posting. Unless they take it down too. 

Took our California King bedspread quilt that I made in to get it cleaned. Should be ready Monday.  They told me it would only cost $29.90...That is a lot less then I expected.  Got it back this morning, looks brand new. And it really did cost only $29.90.

Also yesterday Bill took the kitchen mats outside and hit them with his power washer. What a difference - they look almost new. Note to self - do this every few months. Still waiting for our big wool area rug to come back from cleaning. This seems to be rug cleaning month. Son called me and said he will bring them back Wed. or Thurs. And he took care of the cost. Gotta love him. 

We got hit with a bad storm out of no where on Sunday. It was pretty windy all day, but all of a sudden it was like a hurricane. Here is a short video and some pictures. Turn up your sound. Got a few drops of rain but mostly WIND.

Stopped as fast as it started. But we are supposed to get another storm tomorrow with winds up to 50 mph.

Walking yesterday morning - got in 8800 steps - there were a lot of roof shingles in the streets. And stuff from the palm trees. 

Today it is a calm before the storm and also a very warm day. 

Went out to eat today.

Went walking this morning - started at 7:30 while it was still kind of cool. Got in 7500 steps in a little over an hour. It ended up close to 100 today. Guess summer is here early. 

I was looking at this lantana in the backyard this morning. It is one plant with four different colored flowers on it. Yellow, orange, red and some multicolored ones. Nature is amazing.

I continue to waste spend time working puzzles. Just finished this one. It was fairly easy.

There is a certain kind of sandwich Bill really likes. It is an Argentine food and can only be found in Argentine restaurants. The other day when we stopped at the Argentine restaurant over on the other side of town to buy the empanadas they didn't have any of the sandwiches. So this morning Bill called them to find out if they were making any today. Yes, they were but they wouldn't be ready until about 1:00. So just after noon we hopped in the car and drove across town.  The outside of the restaurant. They have a small patio out front but it was way too hot to eat outside. [This sentence is for our son - it is located at 5190 Valley View - open from 9 a.m. till 5 p.m.]

We went inside to pick up the sandwiches. They have an extensive Argentine and Mediterranean menu - both eat in and take out. 

They were in the process of making the sandwiches so we decided to have lunch there. The decor is mostly Argentine soccer.

We sat way in the back by ourselves. The tables are separated and masks still required to enter the restaurant. A few other people were in there.

Ordered our meals. I had beef milanesa with a garden salad and Italian dressing and ice tea. It was very, very good. Lots and lots of food, in fact it is what I'll be eating for dinner tonight too. 

Bill had Milanesa a caballo - chicken milanesa topped with two eggs. He likes his eggs VERY hard. He also requested his salad be just lettuce and tomato and his dressing oil and vinegar. By the way caballo means horse. I asked him why it was called that, best he could explain the eggs are the person and the meat is the horse?!?!?! Okay. Said it was the best he's had since Argentina! Will also be eating it for dinner tonight. 

So the sandwiches we went over there to get. Here they are. Why are they so special? Well they are made with very, very thin bread that has had the crust removed. Triple decker. Inside is mayo, very thin slices of ham, cheese, tomato, and lettuce. He had one the minute we got home, says they are like mama used to make. 

We also brought home more empanadas. Guess we will be going there again.

On the way home we needed gas. On the west side of town all the stations were showing $3.69 a gallon. WHAT?  I remembered we'd be passing a Sam's Club so why not stop there. Good idea - $3.05 a gallon. No wonder there were long lines. In front of us. 

Next to and behind us. People are weird. There is no shortage here. Why did the prices go up so quickly? 

So this is the fourth time I've written this same blog. Every time I've tried to post it Google tells me there is a problem. I've been fooling around with it and hope it works this time. If not - well tomorrow is another day. 

Walking even more.

Monday morning I went with the walking group. We started walking at 8:30 and walked around our community till 9:30 - well over 7200 steps. I ended up the day with 8500 steps. I was wiped out by the time I got home. It is just too hot and I don't do well in the heat. Ended up taking a two hour nap later in the day. Then of course I was up until almost 1:00. If we are going to continue walking we are going to have to get started earlier. Or I'm going to have to just walk alone. 

The temperatures here are going to be in the VERY high 90's later this week. Might even hit our first 100 of the year. 

Yesterday morning I asked Bill if he wanted to go for a walk - thinking he would say no. Much to my surprise he said yes, so we took a short walk in the Wetlands. It was already 8:30 and getting hot. At least there was a nice breeze. We got in 3,345 steps.Better than nothing. Just one of the very old trees out there. (Ended up with 8000 by end of day.)

Serene pond. Just turtles in it this morning. Then my camera battery died, forgot to put in new one. 

Finished another pair of earrings. For me again. Kind of the original design but using pale pink and silver beads. They are kind of ruffly cause the silver beads are a different size.  

Also finished another puzzle - this one was easy and the pieces were bigger. 

Watched the Golden Knights lose to Colorado last night, just out skated and scored. Still ahead in points though. One more game for them before playoffs, so still might end up leading the division. NASCAR Sunday was fun to watch. My driver even finally led some laps. One more lap and his total laps led in the Cup series will be 18,000. Most of active drivers. He blew a tire just before the 18,000 lap! Ended up finishing 3rd. Today Barcelona soccer team plays, they are only 2 points from leading the league and the championship. Hope they do good. Edit - they tied a game they should have won! Didn't deserve to win. 

Got a call from doctors office - change in  one of Bill's appointments. Instead of Friday in the morning on the south east side of town. It was 5:30 yesterday afternoon on the north west side of town. We said okay and managed to get there on time. So one test done. 

Going to be a hot one today - think our walking, for me any way, will be cut short.