This, that and another thing.

 UGH! Got up a 5:30 thinking I might get a short walk in. HA!  Already 89 degrees out. 

It is 9:30 now and 99 already. Not cooling down at night at all. Going to be a stay inside kind of day. I miss my walking. One of the ladies I walked with says she goes to the gym and walks there three days a week. I need to check to see if my health insurance covers Silver Sneakers program. Kind of nice sunrise this morning. And a very small chance of rain today. 

We did get the hummingbird feeders taken down and refilled while we could still stand the heat outside. And I made a call to the alarm company for them to come out tomorrow to fix a small glitch with the back up battery. Getting through to them is a nightmare. Takes about 1/2 hour. I called and was on hold then went on line to do the "chat" thing and was 8th in line for help. But got through there while still on hold for phone. 

Not much going on here, too hot to go out and gas is still too expensive ($5.40) to just go out and drive around without an errand to do. 

We were thinking about taking a short close by trip in RV but went to cardiologist end of last week and Bill needs another test. Which of course couldn't be done right away. So need to stay here for that. You take what you get for appointments. When we scheduled the follow up after the testing I wasn't paying attention, When we got home saw the date - IT WAS FOR ONE MONTH after the testing. No way! Finally got a hold of the doctor's assistant and he also thought that was way too long to wait for results. So I'm to call him four days after the test to get the results, if there is a problem he will get Bill into the doctor right away. I also got a call from scheduling who was able to move the appointment one week sooner - still too long to wait for results. Very hard to get into see specialists here in Vegas. 

I have gained back 1 1/2 pounds... Bought raisin bread and ate the whole loaf with of course butter and a teeny bit of sugar on it. Then Bill made the crepes and of course I ate a bunch of them. Then I thought - why not - and started snacking at night again - Milky Ways! No more...will behave from now on. [the bread and crepes are gone, not getting any more.]

Finished another puzzle, kind of a fun and pretty one. Only one more puzzle in the box, so need to find another multi box set. The only one I saw at WalMart the other day was $40 for 8 puzzles...Not sure I'm that desperate for something to do.

Then went looking on line for free patterns for quilt wall hangings. So think I might try this one. Lots of work in it so should take a while. I have lots and lots of Christmas material.

I made paella from scratch the other night, turned out really good. Even managed, for the first time ever, to get the edges of the dish/rice caramelized the right way.Not much else to say. 

The road less traveled

Wednesday was an interesting walk for us. And an interesting weather day for here. As you can see lots of dark clouds in the sky. And the humidity was higher than usual. 6:15 a.m. just starting to go through gate into Wetlands. 

Another new sign about the plants growing out there. They are all part of the water filtering system. Before the water from the city gets back to Lake Mead. 

A little jack rabbit. The bunnies just stop and sit very still, the jacks hop away from us. 

We were following a dirt path through the very high cattails, almost like being in a maze when we came to this fork in the road. We turned to the right. And started walking, and walking, and walking...

Some ones home. 

And we are still walking. Seemed to be a maintenance road of some sort. 

I was starting to wonder where this would lead as we were heading away from the main part of the Wetlands. When I saw the football stadium I really got worried. Not worried lost - worried about it was going to be a LONG walk back.  But finally the road turned and head towards home.

We were surprised to discover three big new ponds. Didn't even know they were there. One of our group has an app on his phone that showed us exactly where we were. Phew! Glad to know that we were now headed the right direction. It was beginning to get hotter and no shade along this path.

This must be an intake pipe of some sort. Looks like every where around here the water is very low. 

Back on the path. The mountain is a landmark we use. It is the mountain we can see from our back yard. But it looks far away. 

So discovered this sign finally. We took the red path. The ponds we didn't know were there. Been there, done that, won't do it again! 

We did four miles and by the time we were back in the area we knew I was more than ready to go home. Also it was up in the high 80's by then. ICK.

Change of pace - Bill cooked some crepes the other day. A lot of crepes - guess we have to eat them. 

The can is dulce de leche - basically cooked condensed milk - it thickens into a delicious caramel spread.  Put it on the crepe and then roll the crepe and enjoy. So much for my losing any weight for a few days. 

Later in the afternoon the wind really picked up and the clouds darkened and we got 17 drops of rain on our patio. Bill clocked some gusts of over 60mph in the yard. 

Turn on your sound to hear the wind. There is a humming bird feeding, I don't know how something so little can fly in that strong wind.

We did have kind of a pretty sunset that night. 

Went to walk this morning but my friends over slept and it was already in the low 80's so just got in a mile when I came on home. I think that is the end of morning walks, unless I get out there before five!

Sights and thoughts

 Monday turned out to be a good walking morning so we got in 3.87 miles in The Wetlands before it got too hot. We saw this coyote. He stopped looked at us then moved on. 

The beavers have built another dam across the outlet of this pond. They had one there before but the park maintenance crews took it down. Looks like they will remove this one too as it restricts the flow of the water. Still haven't managed to catch sight of a beaver. Was told need to be out there around 5 a.m. or earlier to see them. 

As we were about to leave the park we caught sight of this raccoon. He was smaller than the one that was in our yard a week or so ago. 

Was surprised to see this sunflower plant growing along the road way. One of my favorite flowers. 

This was posted on Facebook. This is the recipe for formula all five of my kids were raised on (from 1958 to 1970). Only I used Carnation milk. Facebook stuck a big FACT CHECKER banner across it. I guess no one on Face book is over 30 years old. When I went looking for it today the only thing on Face book were the comments. The picture was gone. 

Was making out an order for delivery from Walmart and looking for frozen strawberries for my smoothies. I know prices are going up but ... this much? I hope it was a printing mistake. I couldn't force myself to eat anything that expensive. 

Also Smucker's Strawberry Jelly  18 oz $12.98!   Same size Grape Jelly is $3.98. Bill found four jars on line and ordered them at about $5.50 per jar with shipping. I wonder why Jelly is so hard to find. But lots of Strawberry Jam and Preserves. 

Not much else going on. Hot and humid today, but did walk. Monsoon weather is coming.

Saturday 4 mile (almost) walk.

With the weather staying cool we are taking advantage of it and getting out about 6:30 to walk. But before we got going this was the sunrise. Lots of clouds in the sky. 

Out in The Wetlands it was perfect weather for a long walk.  Just an interesting tree that had been burned in one of the many fires that start out here. 

I like the look of the sky and landscape when there are some clouds up to make the scene more interesting. 

Lots of clouds looked like they were all coming from behind one of the mountains and radiating out. 

Almost surreal look to the day.

One of the ponds had a different inhabitant - a blue heron. He flew away but I didn't catch him in flight. Just got a blur.  Need to get back in practice of being quick to press the button.

A little creek with a strange small water fall. 

No idea why it was so red. 

The clouds reflected in one of the ponds. 

More and more of them, keeping the day nice and cool.  Hum...which path should we take. I think we went to the left. 

And yet another pond with clouds reflected in the water. 

Oh boy do I like this piece of wood. Too big to drag home. Probably a good thing as I imagine it would be frowned on to take it. 

I ended up taking a nap that afternoon. The weather stayed nice the rest of the day and on into Sunday, Father's Day. Our youngest son came over for a visit. Fun to see him. And he got me back on Netflix so I can continue watching The Crown. When I was little and wanted to grow up to be a princess I sure had no idea how miserable of a life real princesses had.

Bill spent part of the day cooking up a storm. He made a big batch of breaded chicken fillets. Likes to freeze them and use them for quick dinner or in sandwiches.

Other than that a quiet weekend. 

Sorry of so many pictures of the Wetlands, but that is all I have to write about. Unless it is reading, napping or working on an awful jigsaw puzzle or cleaning. Even more boring. 

Happy Fathers Day to All

Happy Fathers Day.  Here is a picture of my father, he must have been about 21 then - white shoes and suspenders. He passed away when he was 46.

Bill when he was young, with his Father and Mother. Not sure how old her was 16 maybe. 

The weather yesterday and today was/is WONDERFUL. High today of 90 only. Yesterday only in the high 80's but the wind was blowing steady up in the 30's with gusts up to 50. Today the wind has let up. The temperature that really matters is how cool it gets at night. Lately it has been in the high 60's or low 70's so we have been able to get out and walk in the morning around 6:15. We plan on walking on Monday and Wednesday. After that either 5a.m. or not at all. On Friday I see we have a very slight chance of rain. Monsoon weather has begun, sure hope we eventually get some rain this summer. 

I am walking with another couple that lives here and likes to get out early. Nicer to have company when walking in Wetlands. Another tree is blooming out there. Kind of reminds me of an orchid. 

This tree is full of curly pods. 

We took a new dirt trail that was leading us through reeds that were way above our heads. Kind of gave us a feeling of walking through a maze. Luckily it was a straight shot to another trail. No false or dead ends to take. 

Another tree. These cotton puffs break up in the wind and float through the air. Kind of like a dandelion flower does.

Every once in a while we come to something so peaceful and pretty I feel like there should be soothing music surrounding it. 

This caught our attention, at first it looked like A REALLY BIG SNAKE!. Turns out it is an old piece of wooden pipe. 

More water in the river the last couple of weeks. Really running rough and fast. 

Another serene spot to stop and just listen. The bullfrogs were quite loud that day.

We did about three miles just walking around and enjoying the sights, sounds and weather. 

That evening we had a visitor in our back yard. So far the last couple of months we've also had  a coyote, road runner, quail, bunnies and this guy. So glad we live at the very east edge of town with wilderness behind us. 

We're still having slight issues with the new Dish TV receiver. I'm making a list so I only have to call them one time for help. Also we are trying to replenish our recorded movies and series too quickly. A couple of time we had all three TVs recording so we couldn't watch  the channel/program we wanted to at that time. Need to learn not to schedule three recordings at once. 

Other than that life is quiet and nice.