Here's a long one.....

Good morning.
I'm getting so bad at regular posting...so this is a long one.  So here's goes....
One of my neighbors was gone for a couple of days, so I took care of their dog, Luna.

She stayed at their house, and I went over to feed, walk, and play with her several times a day.

Unfortunately, She didn't want to walk..... I'd take her out, and she would just sit there and look at me. I've walked her before when they were gone, so I don't know why she wouldn't this time. But both days, I'd take her out, and she would just sit there. So, I didn't walk her. She is an odd doggy. Her food dish is near the front door. Usually, she will only eat when no one is around. I don't think she like's being watched. If she does eat, she'll pick the food out of the bowl, take it over to the rug in front of the door, and eat it there. Crazy little doggie!
Here's a couple of puzzles I've done....

Another neighbor left for a few weeks and gave me an Amaryllis bulb she started, to take care of while she was gone. I set it next to a Bromeliad plant I was taking care of for my neighbor Barbie, who didn't want it when she came back.

It was a gift from another neighbor to Barbie after her husband Harry passed away. But she's not a plant person, so I think it's mine for good. It is a pretty plant, and so far has been easy to care for. Can you believe the bloom has been on it for over 3 months now?
And the Amaryllis grew, bloomed, and is done now. The neighbor will be back next week to a flowerless plant.   At least I got to enjoy it.  :-/
And here's me working on another puzzle a neighbor lent me....

It's a caricature puzzle of the Washington Nationals Ballpark.

It was fun. You also had to find all these things in the puzzle.
Last Tuesday, a group of neighbors went to Taco Tuesday over at the Salted Lime inside our Aliante Casino. We had about 15 people there. The staff always treats us real good. Everyone seems to like doing this. It's so very close to home. We all could walk there if we wanted. It's just about one mile from my house. The drinks are good, the food is good, and some of the people stay and gamble.
We didn't, and usually don't. We gamble maybe once every month or so.
I've also been busy helping Barbie get ready to move back to Illinois for good. She's sold her house here, and is systematically getting rid of everything she's not taking back. I've told her to have me come over when people come to pick up their purchases. I don't like the idea of her being there by herself. You never know what kind of people are going to show up. And I'm amazed how many people come to pick up stuff they've bought, but don't bring anyone to help to load it in the vehicles. So I've been getting a workout there too!
I also took her to the surgery center yesterday for her Colonoscopy. She was suppose to have it last Sept. but she was going through a lot with her husband Harry. He passed in early Nov.
So, to thank me for everything I've been doing, she has taken us to lunch many times. We're even going today to a Mexican restaurant. She says she feels like a few Margarita's. She wants us to Uber there so we can drink. I don't think I'll drink that much, but it'll be good so we don't drink and drive.
I've also trimmed everything back in the yard, and fertilized and put grub-x on everything.
My Geraniums made it through the winter and look really good. Big and full of flowers. I'll try to remember to take a pic. We had a pretty cold winter, but the low's weren't bad. I only had to cover them up a few nights. But spring is springing! There are some trees starting to flower, and trees starting to leaf.
That's the news for now....

winter in Vegas

Good afternoon.
Here's a pic taken from the top deck of the Aliante Casino Parking garage, next to our community.

The white caped mountains are the Spring Mountains, and near the middle left, is the snow capped Mt Charleston. And fortunately, the only snow we've seen this year, is up on the mountains.
But spring is on the way! The trees are budding up, and should bve in full bloom by the end of the month.
Finished trimming the bushes in the back yard, and fertilizing them and spreading grub-x. I'm ready for spring!

Puzzles, pies, and Bobcats?

Good afternoon.
We have had a number of Bobcat sightings in our community. Here's a couple pics I took off our neighborhood site.....

The top pic was by a resident over on the 8th fairway. The bobcat was resting under a bush near his patio.

And I've been baking the last couple of weeks. First, an Apple/Cranberry pie with a pecan crumb topping

And a Blueberry/Cranberry pie with a pecan crumb topping.
Craig really likes the cranberries in the pies. They give them a little tanginess.
And he likes the pecans on top.
And, some more puzzles.....

Just booked a trip to Palm Springs, CA for later this month. Haven't been there in years! Even though it's only about a 4 1/2 hour drive.
Been doing a little yard work, getting bushes trimmed back, and putting on fertilizer and grub-ex.
Didn't have any problems with grubs last year.
That's it for today!

Kauai

Good evening. Our next day was suppose to be Kona, on the other side of the big Island, but as we arrived, the captain came on and said that we would skip this port as high swells were expected, and at this port, we had to tender into port.
Tendering means the port doesn't have a dock large enough, or a port deep enough to accommodate our ship, so we anchor in the bay, and use our life boats to ferry people to and from the dock.  It normally works well, but the life boats wouldn't work well in rough seas, and people might get injured. Especially since a large number of passengers were older folks. And yes, even older than us!   :-)
So instead, we got the treat of seeing more islands on our way to Kauai.

The islands sure are ruggedly beautiful!
The next morning, we docked in Kauai and we did a day in port, and a day excursion to Wiamea Canyon. So, the first day we wandered off the ship and around the port.

At the expansive Marriott resort, we saw this cute 'weather' station....

The next day, we hopped on a bus to Wiamea Canyon National Park.
This is what we should have seen..........

But this is what we actually saw........

Heavy low clouds completely blocked the view. Fortunately, we saw this Canyon many years ago on one of our 4 trips to Hawaii, so not terribly disappointed.
And one more pic of us on our balcony....

We got back to Honolulu the next morning, and spent one more day in Waikiki, before flying back to Vegas. It was another good trip!   :-)

Volcano's!

Good morning,
The next day, we arrived in Hilo.

Our excursion today was Volcano's National Park.
We got on out bus, and took the 1 1/2 hour drive to the crater. You can see the steam vents all around the outer edge of the caldera.

We watched a video of the last eruption, which actually didn't happen in the crater, but came out of fissures farther down the coast. But the crater swelled up, and after the eruptions, collapsed in on itself.

We didn't do it, but there was even a trail that went down and across the collapsed crater.
We didn't have time for all that. And yes, way up here near the top of this volcano, it was very chilly, so I got myself a new hoodie.   :-)

It was quite the sight to see. Almost as cool as when we saw Mt St Helen's after it blew.
Back on the ship, we sailed that evening to the other side of the big Island to the port of Kona.

Whale watching.

Good morning,
We sailed overnight, and arrived in Maui the next morning.

I believe we saw rainbows nearly every day, in every port!

As with most ports, the town isn't near here. The dock is usually in an industrial area.

But we got on our bus and headed across the island to our whale watching excursion. This was the tiny little boat they were going to take us out to see whales????
I thought we should have a bigger boat! Here's was one of the 2 people manning the boat.

And sure enough, there is a baby whale!

He/she came right up near the boat! We could have almost touched it!

It swam under the front of the bow and over to the other side, and then the mother came up and escorted the baby away. It was very cool!

Here we are back at the dock. The smaller boat turned out to be a much better choice that the other larger boats we saw out whale watching. We were able to be much closer.
Back on the ship, we relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We had another day here in Maui, but decided to stay on the boat and enjoy all it had to offer. We sailed that evening to the big Island and the port of Hilo.