Good-bye 2008 12-31-08

Last night was spent getting my email address changed on all those places that I like to get notices and updates from...what a process. It wouldn't be so bad if every place had the same system for changes, but they don't. Some are like trying to enter Fort Knox to find where you go to for changes and some just tell you to cancel and then re-sign up. Some are wonderful with an obvious place you click to change your email address...what a novel idea!

I finished the scarf I was making and it turned out flashy and fun, it is the first picture.

Today Larry got one of our propane bottles filled and made arrangements with the office to get our electric meter read so we can leave early on Friday morning...tomorrow being a holiday no one will be in the office.

We spent much of today plinking along on the computer, still updating and answering the responses I received from people. Larry was still figuring out all the different aspects of the way he likes our email to be configured...nothing can be simple with us. Then he loaded Mozilla Firefox on both computers and we are liking that. We heard a lot of really great things about it and it is supposed to have more security features on it than Microsofts Internet Explorer...Larry isn't a big fan of Microsoft products.

We heard an ad on the radio for a local restaurants angus hamburgers and we were getting hungry so off we went. Larry loves a good hamburger and he hadn't had one in several months. I had their beer battered fish and chips...very good.

Now I am doing my last load of laundry for the year and my last posting here on my blog for the year...I never even thought about all that until a lady in the laundry room asked me if I was done with laundry for the year...ha ha.

Here are a couple pictures of Ian who turned six on Monday...now that his Mother FINALLY emailed me a
few pictures.....LOL, that dig was for her...I'll hear about it.







The last pictures are of the projects I knit for holiday gifts and now that everyone has received them I can share. That is a large afghan on the floor not a rug...I had it laid out there to block.


Good-bye 2008! It was an interesting year.

Sunny, busy day 12-30-08

Good Morning Uncle Gene!

Today started out cold...31 but it was clear and sunny. It eventually got up to 55 and with no wind it was practically balmy compared to what the last few weeks have been here.

Larry spent the morning hammering away on the computer...it seems his email address disappeared into cyberhell and he is figuring out a new address. While he was doing that I did my morning workout...cardio, weights, and abs. Later we had our toast and peanut butter for breakfast.

Larry took the truck over to the car washing station that they have here in the park. It is very nice...a concrete pad, hose and water of course, and then an assortment of brushes, bucket, nozzles, etc. Larry just had to bring his soap and towels. They also have an air compressor there so he could air up the tires again for hauling the trailer.

While Larry was doing that I was scouring, disinfecting and polishing the bathroom floor, toilet, shower and sink. The problem with working out sometimes is that I then have an abundance of energy, so I cleaned a few screens, washed down the fronts of the kitchen cabinets, vacuumed, swept the floor, dusted the mini-blinds and tidied up.

Then Larry was on the phone and computer all afternoon putting together an order for the new communications trailer that he is helping with. In between phone calls we had home made butternut squash soup that I had thawed out earlier with crescent rolls...the refrigerator variety. After that I took a walk in the sunshine while it was still there...Larry was back on the phone and the computer.

Now the sun is setting and I am ready for a nap! To early to go to bed though so I'll work on the scarf I started knitting last night and have ripped out three times trying to decide on what I want. First I thought the needles were to big, then I went to smaller needles and I had too many stitches, then after ripping that out I went with less stitches, but that wasn't working for me either, so I went back to the big needles I started with, which I feel is the best for what I want so I'll probably finish that tonight while watching mindless drivel on T.V. I'll read a few pages of my book here and there to give my hands a rest, I'll take a shower and put on my jammies and do more of the same until we go to bed.

So, Uncle...how exciting was that? Tee hee! I'll have to get better and remember to take pictures...so be warned!

Back to Pahrump 12-29-08

Today we headed back to Pahrump from Mesquite. We left just after noon. It was a gorgeous day and finally warming up a bit. When we came through Las Vegas on Friday it had the clearest air we had ever seen...today when we crested the hill above Las Vegas its smoggy haze was back. Las Vegas doesn't have a lot of freeway interchanges, but it has a LOT of traffic. It was before two o'clock in the afternoon and it was bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic from one end of the city to the other. The metering lights were on on the on-ramps too! Crazy, I guess Las Vegas is just commute traffic from dawn until ......? It was just traffic as usual, no accidents...too many cars, we were glad we didn't have the trailer this time. It took us twenty five minutes to go five miles.

The mountains are the Spring Mountains between Pahrump and Las Vegas and the last shot is Pahrump all spread out in its basin as seen from the south.

Today is our Grandson Ian's 6th birthday! He is growing up really fast! I would post a current picture but his mother hasn't emailed me any from Christmas yet!

Las Vegas 12-28-08

We have been in Mesquite, NV since Friday. We are visiting Larry's Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Gene and will be heading back to Pahrump on Monday. We took our walk yesterday morning and I thought me ears and face were going to fall off it was soooo cold, just not what you would expect down here. The sprinkler overspray on sidewalks and the water in the gutters was all frozen and very slick. The people in Mesquite apparently aren't fined for that like they are in Las Vegas.

I took these photo's going through Las Vegas, there is still an amazing amount of building through there in spite of the current economic situation and it is REALLY amazing how much has changed just in the years since we were last through. They are building all these shiny sky scrapers that lack the character of the previous hotels...the themes made the strip interesting I think, now they are just multi-storied mirrors. They are beautiful buildings, but they really change the look and feel of the city. They seem to be changing their focus to the high end tourist.

Merry Christmas 12-25-08

Christmas at Bellagio 12-23-08

Today we drove over to Las Vegas, Larry wanted to see if they decorated for Christmas. It was only an hour from here in Pahrump and the mountains between here and there are pretty.

The Las Vegas Blvd and the outside of the casinos didn't look any different, but inside the Bellagio their garden courtyard was very Christmasy. People were taking lots of pictures all over the place in front of the many pretty scenes and flowers.

I love the large blown glass "flowers" in the Bellagio lobby and I was able to get some good pictures this time. The blue arrangement was really large and was in a foyer in the casino. The artist is Dale Chihuly a world renowned glass blower based in the Seattle area of Washington, if you Google him or go to his site you can see more of his phenomenal works!

The casino's slots and tables seemed awfully quiet to us...not much was going on. We wandered through the Bellagio, Ceasar's Palace and the Venetian. It has been six years since we were last in Las Vegas and much has changed. We had stayed at the Monte Carlo and from our room we were able to see the dancing waters in front of the Bellagio, but no longer! Now there are 5 very tall towers being built in between, we didn't see what they were to become and we couldn't remember what it was they are replacing, but the new buildings are always a surprise.

Last time we really enjoyed the Venetian shops, it was like walking through a Venetian street complete with canals and "sky" above. All the fun and quirky shops are gone and have been replaced with all high end designer shops...Tiffany, Dior, Cartier, Louis Vitton, Gucci and all the rest that I can't remember right now. Not much shopping was going on, even with it being two days before Christmas. The layout isn't as enjoyable either.

We did find the Cheesecake Factory at Caesar's and gorged ourselves on fantastic cheesecake, then we wandered around some more to settle the cake. We decided to head back to Pahrump after only about four hours in Vegas. We don't gamble, the shows are too expensive, we aren't drinkers and we aren't high end shoppers, so we had enough and both agreed that we don't need to return to Las Vegas. We had heard that they were turning their focus on more exclusive hoity-toity atmospheres and we can see that this town isn't for us! It used to be fun to just walk around, but not so much anymore.

Snow in Pahrump & Death Valley 12-22-08

This first picture was taken last Tuesday as the sun was setting, as it was just sinking below the western horizon it lit up the snowy peaks to the east. It was a very fleeting fiery show, less than a minute.

It snowed here most of Wednesday afternoon and night, a supposedly rare occurrence…as we have traveled we seem to come upon a lot of those “rare” weather situations…makes us feel like Pigpen from Charlie Brown with our little “rare weather” cloud floating over our heads!

After having lived in the Northern Sierra Mountains for fourteen years we are not impressed with snow. The day I took these pictures of the snow in the RV Park we went to the north end of Pahrump to visit Larry’s Uncle Robert (one of his father’s younger brothers) and Aunt Annie. These crazy people moved to Pahrump two years ago from Hawaii, but we can understand why…they want to travel and see the country and that is hard to do from an Island! I had to mention all this because at 3 a.m. when Uncle Robert realized it was snowing he was out in his front yard in his winter long johns taking pictures and making snow angels!!! I’ll have to see if I can get the evidence…they have pictures!! LOL!

We had lunch with Uncle Robert and Auntie Annie and spent the afternoon and evening catching up. We haven’t seen them in about twenty years.

On Saturday we drove to and through Death Valley. I don’t know why but I was very surprised by how mountainous it was all around the valley. The mountains were pretty with their dressing of snow. It was about 55 degrees in the valley and the breeze was cold. It is harsh desolate country, but pretty this time of the year…I don’t think we would have enjoyed it as much in the heat!

We took the time to walk out at the lowest place on North America; 282 feet below sea level! I don’t figure we’ll ever stand at the highest point so it was fun to stand at the lowest!! It’s hard to see, but about midway up the rock face behind the cars in the parking lot is a sign that marks sea level…I will try to remember to go back and edit the picture so you can see it easily! Larry kept saying we were walking under the whales and the fishes.

There is an area called Artist drive that is a very narrow road cut through the hills and there are some very colorful slopes due to different mineral deposits.

We only drove through the south part of Death Valley and at Furnace Creek we took the road back to Pahrump. These last two pictures show Pahrump all spread out in the basin…it was getting a little of Las Vegas’ smog that day.

Happy, Happy 25th Birthday Michelle! 12-16-08

A quarter century on the planet! We used to tease Michelle that we all came from another planet and someday we would be going back to the "homeworld"! Sometimes I think she may have had her doubts about us and wondered if we may have been serious!

Most of these pictures she is about 2 years old. Such a cutie...I'm going to hear about this from her, but....hey, I cropped out the naked butt so she should be thankful for that at least!! tee hee!

This last picture is Michelle this month all grown up and with her cute son Seth!

Happy Birthday!!!! We Love You!