Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Breaking news

 The rest of the pictures from my last good walk in Wetlands. Another pond where there are beavers. But haven't seen them. 

They are starting to make a dam. Soon the maintenance people will clear it out. 
There is a lady who feeds these abandoned ducks, so when they hear someone coming they swim right over. When it's not her they turn around and leave. 
Like the sun on the light colored branches of this big tree.
I took this dirt path and ended up getting turned around, went a completely different direction than I thought it did. One reason I got in three miles that day. 
Just like the scenery and wispy clouds.
The tall building is a closed casino on Boulder Highway. Closed during Covid and never reopened. All the snow is gone off the mountain. 
A sign about the desert mistletoe. Lots of it around in the trees.
It is a parasite and guess eventually killed this tree. It is full of it. 
Another one of the serene ponds. This one has a lot of turtles in it. 
Just noticed this. Guess they came to trim our palm tree one day that we weren't home. It looks so ugly now!
Some good news, Bill is able to read on this Nook e-reader again. We had to enlarge the letters quite a bit, but at least he can see good enough to read again. And my blood pressure has returned to normal. Hopefully most of the stress with the bank is over. Got up 6:15 thought about walking it was already over 70. Too hot for me. 

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

Long walk in Wetlands.

 Guess summer is really on its way. Come Saturday we are in for lots of heat. And the end of my walking - unless it cools down at night to very low 70's it is too hot for me to walk even at 6 a.m. Need to go up to the club house and investigate the treadmills there. 

Doing laundry this morning. Pretty much did nothing over the weekend except jigsaw puzzles and watching NASCAR and soccer on TV. Not sure if my blood pressure went down a little or not. Hopefully it did. Yes, I can check, just don't want to. And watering and moving those darn plants on the patio. 
The community is on a real SAVE WATER campaign, No new house can have grass yard, has to be stone and desert landscaping. Also They are removing all the not essential grass in the center mediums of the main road. Replacing with rocks. However around both club houses there is a lot of nice grass - mainly for walking dogs. Well they water the heck out of it. The lawn is two blocks away from this area and this puddle is here every morning. Lots of complaints about it. There is only one water bill for the entire community - both clubhouses, common areas and all homes. They pay a certain percentage then the rest is divided by however many home are occupied. And of course all the leaks of old lines is included in bills. Residents complain a lot. (That is the gate into the Wetlands.)
These pictures are from the day I got in three miles out there. Started at 6:10. Don't know what they are but they were sure making a lot of noise. 
Bunnies all over the place. So cute. They mostly just sit still and watch me go by. 
This area is still blocked off due to maintenance, Now the sign says it is unsafe. Sure wish they would get it open again. A very pretty area. 
A couple more bunnies. I think I mentioned that someone released over 100 bunnies meant to be pets out here a month or so. Lots have been killed by the coyotes and many were captured by the staff. This guy so far has evaded both. Looks like he has made friends with a local. Hope he survives.
Interesting about the "desert snow". From a distance it really does look like a dusting of snow. 
Lots of it on this trail. 

And along side another trail. 

I was out early so took a detour to the "Hidden Pond" - people have mentioned seeing beavers there. And by golly I did see a beaver. He heard me and was taking off. All I could get were pictures of his head as he swam by.
Coming back towards me. Then he disappeared. 
It made my day. There are supposed to be over 80 beavers scattered throughout all the ponds. Only way to see them out and about is to get out very early. I was so excited about seeing one.  Will save rest of pictures till next blog. 
I'm trying to figure out a new project to start. Too hot in garage to work on the stained glass lamp shade. 
We now have all of our medical lab work and heart testing done. Just waiting to see the cardiologist in a couple of weeks. Then the eye doctor again in August. Our calendar this month looked like it had a bad case of chicken pox with every thing written down on it.

Sunday, June 25, 2023

Two adults one Mayonnaise jar - guess who won...

Didn't get this posted yesterday. I got out this a.m but by 6:30 it was already too hot to get in a very long walk. Did make 1.6 miles before deciding it was time to go home. Yesterday I ended up with 10,688 steps. Spent most of afternoon sitting on couch watching NASCAR.

Saturday morning quarter to 11 and I have in 9,722 steps already. I got up early and it was nice and cool out so went for walk in Wetlands. It was an interesting walk. Did three miles before I got home. Pictures later. Then we went to to gas up car and to grocery store. So guess I'll make the magic 10,000 even if I don't do much more.  I am taking this weekend to unwind. Last week was so stressful - more of the mind than anything else. Imagine new computer problems. Then appointment with testing at heart doctor for both of us. My goal this weekend is to lower BP. By doing only things I enjoy. 

So on to the mayonnaise jar. It is a squeeze bottle. Here it sits in all its glory. How could we possibly have a problem getting the mayonnaise to come out.

Well the first problem was getting the seal off. Pulled up the tab and yanked on it. Nope wouldn't pull the seal off. Yanked several times more. Bill tried. Nope. So he got pliers to pull it off. Nope all the pliers did was tear pieces off the tab. Well cr** - so we got a knife poked a hole in it and pulled it off. SO THERE! We finally won. See the top next to it on the counter. It goes back on the bottle and has the hole the mayonnaise comes out of. 
Back on the jar. Now to open it. Looks like it should open here. There are lines dashed in the upper part above the bowtie looking thing. Nope it doesn't break break off or open. Hum.....
After more inspecting saw this little semi circle thing. Pushed and poked at it and by golly it opened the lid. 
Success! Finally we can get mayonnaise out, but what were we going to use the mayo for? Not hungry any longer. Both of us felt pretty dumb after this. 
After having to get rid of our pretty artificial flowers and buying lots of living geraniums...we are not doing so good.  This is all that is left of one plant, don't know if it will make it or not. It is trying. I think we will have to pull them back further onto the patio to keep them out of all the sun. Especially now that it will be in the 100's daily.
This one not looking too good either. Will keep talking to them and telling them I'll be good to them, see if it works. 
These next ones are more or less okay. But...

Been doing puzzles again. Just finished this 300 piece one. They aren't as easy as I thought they would be. That's good though, takes me longer to finish them. 
So that is it for today. Washed the bedding and went for gas and to the market.