Happy Halloween

Good morning.
Happy Halloween!
Our beautiful weather continues. Cool mornings followed by warm afternoons.
Yesterday was haircut day and we cut each others hair out on the patio. The lighting out there is much better than the kitchen and it's easier to clean up the hair, and it kinda sticks to the concrete instead of blowing around on the tile.   :-)
We booked a 7 day Mexican Riviera Cruise for this winter on the Carnival Splendor. Carries 3000 passengers and 1100 crew. 

Haven't been on a cruise since our little weekend cruise about 30 years ago. Will hopefully be fun.   :-)
Then starting tomorrow, I get to go online and look for new insurance.  My current company, Anthem Blue Cross, is pulling out of the health care marketplace.  There looks to be 2 companies I will be able to chose from. Will be interesting to see what kind of plans are available and what my costs will be after Trump ended the cost sharing payments. Some things I've read says it won't affect the subsidies.  I'll find out! Either way, just one more year to Medicare!
And for those that partake,....Happy Halloween!

 

week in review

Good morning.
Another beautiful week here in the valley.    :-)
I think we've finally found our new Reno's.....
Back in Lansing, we had this bar/restaurant not far from our Salon and home where we would go maybe once a week or once every other week. They had a nice big outdoor patio and pretty good food. It was a nice place to eat, drink, and enjoy the weather and people watch. Well, we went down to Fremont street again this past Monday,  and while sitting at the outdoor patio of the 4 Queens Casino, watching all the people, I said to Craig, "I think we've found our new Reno's!"

We get to sit outside. There are a ton of people to watch, and there's food everywhere including a White Castle 2 blocks down the street. It's a bit expensive, so we probably won't go a lot.
If you look closely, you'll see skeletons hang on the speaker ring between the 4 Queens and The D. There's a stage there where they have live music on the weekends I think. Anyway, I think we'll go down maybe once a month.

Also, I baked another apple pie.

I'm getting pretty good as we both thought this one tasted the best of all that I've made.
 Craig had a dentist appointment on Wed. and while he was gone I power cleaned the house. We got a new type of air filter for the cold air return to see if we can cut down on the dust. I have to dust at least once a week.
So, that was our week so far. As I've said, retirement is good.   :-)

some garden pics.

Good morning.
The weather here has been perfect! Lows in the low 60's and highs in the low 80's.
It's going to get up into the low 90's this week, but that's okay too.  :-)
here's some current back yard pics..... 

The cactus besides the fountain are twice the height they were last year at this time.

As the plants get bigger, the yard is really starting to look like a comfy courtyard.

And here's my pot of fingerling cactus. They are doing well also. Hopefully next spring they will be covered in purple flowers.

Our Bougainvillea vine is also doing very well.

I've been walking very morning, and the mornings I don't walk, I've gone to the fitness center. Then after Craig gets up, we both go for a walk with our coffee.
Not much else going on. Just enjoying our relaxing retirement.   :-)

a weekday update.

Good morning.
Our beautiful fall weather continues! Low 80's during the day and low 60's at night. It's been nice weather for walking and it's nice to be able to open windows.  But, in anticipation of cooler weather coming this winter, we got us a little fire pit and tried it out....

We filled it with fire glass and it gives off quite a bit of heat, especially once the glass gets hot. So this will add a nice bit of ambiance on the cold winter evenings.   :-)
Tuesday we got our flu shots. I'm always a little nervous about getting them every since a friend of ours who's always gotten one ended up with a severe reaction and landed in the hospital. Fortunately, he recovered, although it took a long time. But 2 days after my shot, we are both fine.    :-)
Went Wed. for our weekly slot tournament, and as usual, didn't make the threshold.  Maybe next week.
Well, I guess that's all I have to say for now.

Age of Chivalry

Good morning.
Yesterday we went to the Age of Chivalry Festival.

It was in Sunset Park on the south side of the valley.

It's a huge Renaissance festival. Much larger than the ones we've been to back in Michigan.

It wrapped around this entire lake!

It took nearly the entire day to walk around the lake once and see everything.
The weather was perfect! highs in the upper 70's. We've had a cooler than normal October, but still very nice. I'm walking every morning, and again with Craig and our coffee when he gets up.
Craig is cooking a big batch of chili today. We got 93% lean ground beef for only $3.47 a lb.
Yesterday was also the communities bi-annual yard sale. So we took in some of that on our morning walk before heading to the festival. Craig picked up a brand new copper skillet. He's been wanting to try it our after seen so much advertising about it. But they were nearly $30 in the stores and he got this one for $10. He also picked up a brand new sun shade for his Hyundai.
And that's all I've got for now....

CAUTION>>>>An almost x-rated pic near the end of this post!

 Good afternoon.
Spent most of my birthday downtown on Fremont St. That's the old Las Vegas. Everything is close together, not spread way out like out on the 'strip'. I had 5 coupons worth $10 each for free slot play at 5 different casinos. We arrived around 1pm, parked the car and  walked a couple of blocks to Fremont street. That's the main street with most of the casinos. I think there's around 10-12 in the downtown area. All within a short walk of each other. Anyway, we got a drink and sat at the outdoor patio at the Four Queens and did some people watching.

 Then we headed to the El Cortez to use my first free play. Had no luck there, so then headed over to the Grand Hotel and checked into our room. This was the first time we've stayed at this hotel, and it was very nice! A spacious room and beautiful bath.
 here's a couple of views from our room on the 23rd floor.

Part of the downtown area and a view toward the northern edge of the valley with the Sheep Mountains in the background. We live just in front of those mountains. That's about 15 miles from our hotel.

After checking in, we headed back out and over to Binions Casino where I managed to get a few dollars profit from my $10. Then to the end of Fremont and The Plaza Hotel/Casino. I didn't do very good, but Craig won about $60. Then back down Fremont St to the 4 Queens where we both did well. After that, we headed back to the Grand, where neither of us had any luck.
So we headed back to the patio in front of the 4 Queens for drinks and people watching.
And this is where you'll see the almost x-rated pic I warned you about in the post title, so leave now if you don't wish to see this........
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I wanted to post a pic of what you might see down here on Fremont. There are all sorts of people dressed in all sorts of costumes, and as you see, sometimes not much. They work the crowds for a few bucks. You 'pay' them to have your pic taken with them. And people do!
Anyway, after drinking too much and done people watching, we headed down the street to the new White Castle Hamburger place that opened 2 weeks ago. Got us 12 burgers and headed back to our room. They were soooo good! Love those little sliders!
So, we ate, gambled, people watched, and spent the night. We even came home with about $125 extra from the gambling. That pretty much paid for the food and drinks we had.   :-)
So a very nice birthday!

full moon

Good afternoon.
Another beautiful day in the valley!
Here's some pics I took of the full moon on my morning walk yesterday......

It's amazing how big the mountains and moon look in person, but so small in pics.

It looked especially pretty with the sun lighting up the Spring Mountains to our west.
And here's a pic of little ole me with the full moon...

Finally got to the dentist. For being over a year since my last cleaning, they weren't too bad. Maybe my electric brush and regular flossing helped.    :-)
 Craig and I were impressed with the office, hygienist, and doctor. A very modern and progressive practice. We'll be going back.
Just booked a little trip for later this fall down to Oceanside CA. It's just about a 6 hour drive from Vegas. For some reason, this will be our first trip to southern California since we moved here. But probably not our last.   :-)
Not much else to say. It's nice and boring here.    :-)

Vegas Strong

Good morning.
I've just returned from my morning walk. It's a cool 61 out this morning going up to the mid 80's. The strip shooting has dominated the news here since it happened Sunday night. The communities response has been enormous! Immediately after the shooting when the hotels near the event were locked down and people were sent over to the UNLV Thomas Mack Arena, People started showing up with water and food. After the hotels were reopened people came and took what was left to the various blood drives that were set up around the city. People waited in line 6-8 hours to donate blood. They received more blood than they could use and are now asking people to make appointments for future need. While people waited to donate, other people came and gave them water, snacks, and pizza. All the hotels are offering free rooms for victims and their families. Airlines are offering free flights for families. Nearly 8.5 million has been raised so far on their GoFundMe site.

 And all up and down the strip, this was on signs and marquees.
 Vegas Strong

 As with other horrific mass murders, the people of Vegas will not let the actions of one individual define their city. I'm proud to call Vegas my home.

Letting everyone know we are fine. We were not on the strip last night. Such a sad terrible tragedy.   :-(

It was only 1pm

Good morning.
As promised, More on our visit to the Grand Bazaar shops in front of Bally's. Like I said, we found us a nice table at this little bar with patio seating.

It was right across from Wahlburgers, so a lot of foot traffic and people watching.

While we were there, we saw every kind of person imaginable. And every age possible. Who brings little kids to Vegas? Anyway, at one point, a couple of girls came along and wanted to join us. We said sure, and they both grabbed a chair. They were obviously buzzed on alcohol or drugs or both, and it was only 1pm at this point. We guessed they were in their mid to late 20's maybe. They had arrived that morning from Albuquerque NM.  They were there for a bachelorette party and the guest of honor was in her room as she was to trashed to go out.  :-/   And did I say it was only 1pm?
So they asked us where we were from and such and Craig made the mistake telling them we have been together for 40 years. At that point one of them said, "your like my grandfather!".  OUCH!
The other said, "next time say 20 years.....no, maybe 15. Ouch again!
So they shared our food, but got nothing to drink, which was probably good, and then left.
Craig could have gone  forever without someone saying grandfather.
But, this is one of the reasons we like coming down to the strip every so often. You see all kinds of things. So after a while, we left, and drove back to our nice quiet age 55 community. Where apparently, we belong.....