a 2 day trip.

Good afternoon.
We've just returned from a 2 day trip down to Laughlin NV.
 It's about a 2 hour drive south of Vegas, right on the Colorado River across from Arizona. On the way down, Craig wanted to do a section of Route 66 So that took us first to Kingman Arizona, and then through Oatman AZ before we made it to Laughlin. Here's some of the scenery we saw between  Oatman and back to the highway...

It was a pretty drive. Below is a couple of pics of Oatman.....

It was an old mining town that now is a smelly tourist trap full of shops that sell jewelry, t-shirts, and other tourist stuff, thanks to being on Route 66 and wild burro's that roam the streets and crap everywhere.

They even did a lame wild west shoot-out for the tourists. And there were plenty of them there that day.
So with that behind us, we made it to Laughlin and the Aquarius Hotel/Casino.

We had driven to Laughlin for a day trip  back in the late summer after moving out here. We hit all 8 casinos and got their players cards. We were told by a neighbor we needed to get every players card in town so they'll mail us promotions. Well, Aquarius did just that. I got a flyer for $20 for the first night and the second night free. We thought that would be a nice little getaway for a couple of nights. So we did a little of route 66 the first day, and the second day drove another 1 1/2 hours south to see Lake Havasu Arizona. It's a nice little resort town on the Colorado river with an island. They even brought over the Original London Bridge and rebuilt it over to the island. Here's a pic....

It's a pretty cool bridge and they have a nice area along the water front with shops and restaurants.  Here's a fountain in front of the bridges information center.

It was another nice drive.
So we had a nice cheap room, even did a little gambling each evening after we got back to the hotel. As what seems to be our usual routine, one of us wins and the other loses. But we spent a couple hours each evening in the casino and ended up down only about $15. So quite a bit of fun but not a lot of cost.
Got up this morning and made it back home safe and sound. Another good trip.   :-)

lovely day in the valley.

Good morning.
We've had some very nice weather. Been able to sit out on the patio. Here's a pic from one of my daily walks....

Some low clouds hanging over the sheep mountains.
Got together with a few neighbors yesterday over at the Salted Lime inside the Aliante Casino. They have Taco Tuesdays with $1.50 taco's and $4 Margaritas. Always nice to get together and chat. One neighbor is doing a redo on their landscaping. They are tearing out the concrete driveway and putting in pavers. Although pavers look very nice on some of the homes I've seen done, I just can't justify the expense to tear out a perfectly good driveway and redo it. But they obviously have a whole lot more available money than us.   :-)     I am anxious to see it when it's all done.
 I've gotten a few more updates on my hospital stay. Apparently all the x-rays, MRI's and eeg's are done in hospital by an outside company, so they are being billed separately by Desert Radiology. So my Blue Cross statement now has 5 more listings, and I'm still waiting for the doctor's bills.
I did get a little good news. I received a call from Health Partners. That's where I went to see a new doctor for a primary care provider and found out later that they weren't in my network. So I was looking at another $216 bill for that office visit. Well, Samantha, the office manager called to say they were erasing the bill. 4 different departments should have caught the fact that they didn't accept my insurance. So that's one less bill to pay.   :-)
And it's going to be another beautiful day with temps around 70 before a cold front goes through late today and takes us back into the low 60 for the rest of the week.

Rainy days

 Good morning.
It's been a cool wet couple of days as rain moved through the valley. We had nearly an inch over the 2 days. That's a lot for Vegas. This is one of many concrete culverts that snake through the valley to funnel the rain out of the neighborhoods and toward Lake Mead.

This one way on the northern part of the valley had quite a bit of water flowing through it. I can't imagine how full they were in the southern part of the valley as all the rain that comes down heads toward the southeast valley to Lake Mead.
So we spent most of it inside as I cleaned the house, and repaired the kitchen faucet.

As you can see, we have a one handle faucet. When I turned the water on or off, the entire unit wobbled. Obviously, something was loose. I crawled under the sink and couldn't see any bracket to tighten. So, I went online to see if I could find what kind of faucet it was. I found a real good match at Home Depot. And better yet, it had installation instructions online! From those I found that a small nut that I thought was tight, wasn't tight enough and after adjusting it the faucet didn't wobble any more.   :-)
Also on Friday, we picked up the Jeep. It ended up being a bigger job than expected as they had to replace the door. But fortunately, the insurance covered everything.   :-)
And here's a pic of the massive meat counter at one of our Smith's Grocery stores....

It seems to go on forever! And they have about every cut of meat you can think of including numerous pre seasoned / marinated meat. I guess people out here don't know how to season they're own.   :-)
Now the weather should be better today as the rain has moved out and sun returns.
And that's it for today.

spring

Good morning.
We've had some very nice weather, and spring has arrived here in Vegas....

These pics were taken in the shopping center across the highway from our home. I believe they are called Flowering Pear. The little spreading shrubs we have along our sidewalk Weeping Rosemary have had little blue flowers all winter. Attracts bees and hummingbirds which appear to have stayed all winter. Also, our frost free date was the 16th. I like short mild winters.  :-)
Wed. we joined a few neighbors for lunch at the Rampart Casino Buffet. Had a coupon from our book for buy one get one, so it only cost us $5 apiece. It was a very nice buffet with good selections. The main problem with buffets is I tend to eat to much.  :-)
Yesterday Craig had an appointment with an Orthopedic surgeon to see what was recommended for his finger that has slowly but steadily been bending in. The fancy name for this condition is Dupuytren’s contracture. His is quite severe with his finger now bent 50%. So surgery is recommended. It will be outpatient, and he'll need physical therapy after that. You can read more about the condition here...
I also got a call from the body shop and the Jeep should be ready to pick up this afternoon.
I've also been dealing with insurance. OMG! What a hassle!
First......
I got a statement from my insurance company declining coverage for my new family doctor. They say he's out of network. So I called the doctors office to find, no, they don't accept my insurance. I complained that I asked that when I made my appointment and when I gave them my insurance card, why didn't they say something. Long story short, I'm waiting for the manager to call me back. The office visit was $261 and I paid a $50 office co-pay. So I may be stuck with $211.
Then.....
I keep getting bills from Blue Cross of Michigan for insurance that I changed when we moved out here. I went online to Healthcare.gov and got new insurance for Nov and Dec. But Blue Cross of Michigan is also billing me for Nov and Dec. So I called them and since I bought it through the market place we had to do a conference call to them. There I found out that I was suppose to call and cancel my Michigan coverage when I got Nevada coverage. I said why would the market place allow me to have 2 insurance policies and get 2 tax credits? I just assumed when I got Nevada insurance, they would automatically cancel my Michigan coverage. Apparently I was wrong. So that has been escalated to a case worker and I'm waiting for their response.  That might end up biting me for another $505.
Some apparently good news.....
I got a statement from my insurance company for my overnight stay in the hospital The hospital submitted a bill of $40,700.00. Can you believe it? no surgery, just a bed for one night with a bunch of tests. And the food wasn't that good! But, thanks to the hospital being in network, they accepted a bill of just $3,120.00. So I'll end up paying that since I have a $5000.00 deductible, but that's better than I thought. Now that's just the hospital bill. I was told the doctors bill separately. I saw 3 doctors while I was there. Why 3 I have no idea. But one doctor had me admitted, then another doctor saw me before I went to my room, and the third doctor gave me the test results the next morning and released me. So I wait for those bills.
But I've rambled on long enough for now.

turkey day

Good morning.

Yesterday we cooked turkey number 3.

Craig stuffed it with oranges and pineapple. Gave the meat a nice sweet taste.
Glad we got that small chest freezer. Still have turkey #4 to eat, probably in March. It's nice to be able to stock up on meat during sales.
Got our walk in even though it was cloudy, breezy and only 65.   :-)
I've been getting texts from the repair shop on the Jeeps status every day. Kinda funny. It's currently in the body shop and expected to be ready on Friday.
That's all for now.