Crazy puzzles

Good afternoon.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
 Neighbors have been bringing around little gifts, including, too many cookies, but one neighbor brought us a couple of puzzles....

They were unusual, as they didn't have a regular border, and a lot of the pieces didn't 'hook' together, so you had to be very careful not to mess it all up. And the pieces were quite small.

And many shaped like animals....

The entire puzzle wasn't much bigger than my hand.

Craig did the grumpy cat, which had even tinier pieces, and a lot shaped like cats.

But despite their small size, they were challenging, and entertaining.

Craig cooked a bone in ham for Christmas, and we're having a leftover ham dinner today.

Hope you all had a nice holiday, and best wishes for a better 2021.

Fall and Food

Good afternoon.

It's fall in Vegas......

Pics from my walk this week. I like that the leaves change here in mid December, instead of mid October back in Mi. Makes our 'winter' so much shorter.  :-)

And here's a new pie I made....

 A Pineapple pie! With my pecan crumb topping.

Never made one before, but it sure was tasty! I used chunked pineapple, and should have used crushed, which I will for the next one.

And all of a sudden, neighbors are bring us food. And it's not because we look like we're wasting away either! But this past week, we've gotten tortilla soup, cookies, chili, and tamales. And everything delicious! Of course, everything tastes better when someone else makes it.   :-)

Craig bought a shank ham for Christmas, and Christmas Eve we'll have pizza.

Hope you all have a nice Christmas. Stay safe!

Christmas decorations.

Good morning. My mom has been scolding me for not showing my Christmas decorations, so here they are......

The last 2 pics are of our Crystal Forest campground. We started this last year, and expanded it again this year. Look close, and you'll see a little camper trailer amongst the 'trees'. The trees are actually plastic, or acrylic, and they all light up. A little work turning each one on every day.   :-)

Wish they had a remote like the candles on the wall. I can turn them all on and off with just a click.

So, we're all 'ready' for Christmas. I know I haven't been posting much, but there is nothing much of interest we've been doing.

A neighbor did let us use her Netflix account. Apparently, you can have a certain number of people on your account. She had room, so added us. She's says it's a thank you for watching her house every summer while she's back in Minnesota. 

Still walking every morning. Usually around 45 minutes, depending on if I walk with a neighbor, or by myself. About the only exercise I get, since I won't go to our fitness center right now.

 With vaccines on the way, it's not looking like I'll be able to get one until some time in March-April, according to the CDC recommendations. But, that might not be a bad thing, as other vaccines will become available, and there will be more time to see what possible side effects might show up that they haven't seen in their shortened trials.

Anyway, we wear our mask when we go out, and don't go out a lot. We've survived this long, what's a few more months. Take care.

a no pic post

 Good morning.

No pics today. Haven't been taking any. And haven't been anywhere to take them. So, we had a nice Thanksgiving. Dialed it down a bit. We just can't eat like we used to. Probably because we're not as active as we use to be, and maybe age has a little to do with it.  :-)

But we did cook a larger turkey than normal. 18 lbs. We usually get around 12 lbs. But we decided to just buy 2 turkeys this year instead of 3. So larger will still give us a lot of leftovers. And no mashed potatoes this year. Just White Castle Stuffing, and Scalloped Corn. And it was plenty! Had a leftover dinner Friday, and de-boned the turkey and froze the rest. Craig will make a big pot of broth today from the juice's and carcass. Then we'll freeze the broth in quart containers, and use it for steaming veggies, making mashed potatoes, and boiling rice, among other things.

I'm currently walking a neighbor's dog. They both have Covid and can't go outside. So I put on my mask, grab a bottle of sanitizer, and stand 10ft from the house, and they let the dog out the door. I've been doing this for about a week now. Fortunately, they only had a mild fever, loss of taste and smell, so they didn't need to go to the hospital. They did both test positive. So in a few days, they'll get retested. 

Getting the Christmas decorations out this weekend. Feeling the need for some holiday cheeriness. With cases spiking here in Nevada, will probably not be eating out for a while. Just some takeout. Hoping the vaccine is here sooner than later.

But, we really enjoy our house, and happy we're retired and not trying to work doing all this. 

Take care, and wear your mask!

not so normal.

Good afternoon.

Here's some pics from my morning walks.....
 

By the pond with the Sheep mountains in the back....

Me, by one of the entrances......

 I enjoy my morning walks. We live in  a beautiful community. 

I haven't been posting much, since with Covid, we haven't done much. But everything is fine. We love our house, love retirement, and we're both healthy......at the moment!

We're eating and drinking tooo much, but Craig is such a good cook, and what else do we have to do?   

Anyway, we bought more Christmas lights for our outside decorating. Will try and give the neighborhood some extra cheer this year. Have had lunch a couple of times at the 3100 grill at our golf course. They have a nice outdoor patio, so we feel fairly safe eating there. We've eaten there with a couple of different friends. The tables are quite long, so we sit at one end, and they at the other. So even with friends, we social distance, but still enjoy each other's company. Better to be safe, then possibly very sick. 

Been baking pies, and cleaning the house. Just regular stuff. All my neighbors are back for the winter, so not getting anyone's mail but mine right now. 

So, that's about it for now.

End of October post.

Good afternoon.

It's the end of the month....so probably time to post something..   :-)

Here's a pic Gloria took of my little birthday party she threw for me....

They are such nice neighbors. Always bringing me food.   :-)

And our little rose we planted this past spring is in bloom again.....

Here in the desert, we have two blooming seasons for roses. Early summer, and early fall. They stop blooming when it get too hot, and start again as it cools.

Below, the Bells of Fire blooms all spring, summer, and fall, except when the temps get above 110.

And below, is some type of fungus....

You an see two of them growing here. They are in the front yard. I get one to two every year around the same area. They look very odd, and if you break them, a smoke like stuff comes out. Craig thinks someone is probably buried under there.........

And I made another pie!.....

The weather here is just perfect now. Cool mornings in the low 50's and highs in the mid 70's. I'm even getting Craig to walk in the afternoon!

Went online and looked at new Medicare prescription plans for next year. Found both of us one that will save us nearly $300 compared to what we have this year. I had Clear Springs, and Craig had WellCare, but we will switch to SilverScripts Jan 1st. It literally does pay to do your research every year. And, we can use the same Pharmacy we were using. We decided to keep our current Medicare Supplement plan, as they all were pretty much the same price this year for the coverage we like.
And that's it for now....

Mid October post.

Good morning,

I know, a long time since my last post. Seems like I'm only doing 2 a month.
 Guess I'm just getting real lazy!

Anyway, here's a pic of the back yard......

And more pics of my morning walks, which I'm still doing every day.

I also made another Apple Cranberry pie. Craig's favorite.

And our community center addition is finally complete. I haven't been inside yet, but the few pics I've seen look really nice.

And the veterans monument they had between the buildings, before they hooked them together, has been relocated to the front.

The front entrance is just to the right of the monument.

Had a real nice birthday. Had lunch that Friday at the casino, and we gambled for a while.

Another day, had lunch at the 3100 grill at our golf course. The first time since February. and also had lunch at the Phoenix Bar. Then, our neighbor Gloria and Dave had us over for In and Out Hamburgers.

Hadn't had those since we moved out here. They were very good. And then she had cake. Sooo, I ate my way through my birthday! So I've been doing extra long walks this week!   :-)

The weather has cooled a bit with highs in the upper 80's to low 90's. Low humidity and just perfect!

Tore out my summer Vinca and planted the fall geraniums. It's so nice having flowers year round!

And, that's about it!

new furniture.

Good evening. Again, a very late post. I'm really getting lazy!

So here is a couple of pics from my morning walks.....

Our community is so beautiful! I love walking and seeing the golf course and mountains!

And here is our new living room furniture....

 Our 'old' couch and chairs had really started to peel after only 4 years! I did some research, and found bonded leather only lasts 3-4 years. Why would they even sell that crap! So, this stuff is 100% total polyester. It's suppose to last 10-20 years depending on use and care....We'll see.   I would have gotten leather, but they just don't have the style selection.

Anyway, we love the new stuff! Very comfortable!

The weather has been perfect! Highs around 100, and lows in the 70's. Should only be in the 80's this time of year, but we've been on a warm trend. Not complaining. Ate out again yesterday at TGI Friday's. Had a real nice meal. Felt very safe as everyone is wearing masks. The governor here is loosening more restrictions this week, so we'll see how things go.

Stay safe. Wear your mask.

mid Sept. update.

Good afternoon. 

I believe it's past time for another post. 

So here goes....

We went back to Flagstaff the first week of September. Enjoyed it so much the first time, so had to go back. The weather was very cool. Highs only around 70, but it felt good compared to the heat of Vegas.

We stayed at the same hotel, the Residence Inn, which is right on the edge of downtown. Great room, and a great location. We ate out every day again, and this is what you get at most restaurants, instead of a menu....

These are attached to the middle of the table, and you scan it with your Smart phone to get the menu. One less thing to touch. Works real well too. One day, we ate at altitudes, home of the shot train.

It's a ski with holes drilled so far apart, and shot glasses inserted in the holes. You line up and supposedly all drink the shots at once. The ladies at this table did pretty good.

And of course, Route 66 goes through Flagstaff....

And here's some pics of my back yard....

The pink and blue Mexican Petunia's are blooming very well this year.

My little cactus a neighbor gave me is blooming again.

The yard is finally starting to look more established. Now if I can just quit tearing out and replanting stuff. What a learning curve I've gone through!   :-)

Now it's mid September, and our great weather is finally here. Highs in the 90's and low's in the 70's. Spring and fall is the best here!

finally catching up.

Good morning. I know. It's been nearly 3 weeks without a post. 

So here we go.....

Two weeks ago, My ex neighbor, Barbie, (whose husband died last Nov. and she sold the house and moved back to Illinois) came out for a visit. She was originally coming out for the first concert in our new stadium, but of course, with Covid, that was cancelled. But she came out anyway, and we got to spend a few days with her. 

She spent two nights out here at the Aliante casino hotel, so we were able to walk together each morning. We also had lunch with her at TGI Friday's one day, and at the Draft House the second day. Then we drove her downtown to Fremont street, where she spent a couple more nights at the Golden Nugget. We met her one day there at Pizza Rock for lunch. It was really nice seeing her again, and she said she'll be back in February.

Of course, now we have another week yet to see if we got the Covid from going to all these places. We were as careful as we could be, except we were with Barbie a lot, and who knows what she might have been exposed to.

And here's a couple of  pics from one of my morning walks...

This time of year, when it's even in the 80's in the morning, I like to walk the golf course, where the temps could be 10-20 degrees cooler. Just need to be off before the golfers come on around 6:30. I love having a golf course weave through our community. It's like we live near all these parks! All the green is a nice change from all our stones.

And here's a pic of the Bromeliad that was given to Barbie after Harry died. I somehow inherited it, and have been watching it grow!

It's sent out 3 babies, and they are doing very well. I had read that the parent plant would die, but it looks just fine, so we'll see.
 Craig loves his new 10 inch Galaxy Tab tablet. I finally talked him into getting new ones since our 7 inch Nexus 7's were getting pretty old.  I think he spends more time on that then his puter. He's currently addicted to this water color paint by number app. 

We broke a weather record. We had the warmest August on Record! We were headed toward another record. The longest stretch of above 100 degree days. That ended at 45 days yesterday, which only hit 98. The record, from 1944, was 66 days. We've also gone 137 days with no rain. Our monsoonal season was a complete bust!

Well, that's it from Sunny Las Vegas!