Yes! A balcony!

Good afternoon.
Cold weather has settled here in the valley. We had our first freeze 2 nights ago when it got down to 30. We'll be warming up a bit from that, but still colder than usual. But it's sunny and 57 today and Craig and I went for a nice afternoon walk.
Here's the latest puzzles I've done......

I'm cranking them out a bit faster as they are all 500 pieces. The dollar store hasn't had any new 1000 piece puzzles in quite a while.
And here's a pic of the ship we'll be on when we cruise Hawaii......

The red arrow points to the approximate location of our balcony room on the 9th deck.
That's right! They accepted our bid for a balcony room!
So even with the cost of the upgrade, we saved over $1000 per person over the listed price of a balcony room, when we booked the cruise with an inside cabin.  So, instead of this room.....

We'll have THIS room! And besides a patio door and balcony, a couch too!

Or, from an in room perspective, instead of this room....

We'll have THIS room!

And even though we really aren't in the room that much, for the extra price, it sure will be nice!
We loved having a balcony room on our Panama Canal Cruise and the Mexican Riviera cruise.
So very happy about that. I then was able to print out our cruise documents, and our luggage tags. I even got a beverage exemption!
I'm suppose to avoid caffeine, and so I usually drink Caffeine free diet coke with my bourbon. Well, Carnival carries that, but Norwegian carries Pepsi products, and we discovered on the Panama Canal cruise, no caffeine free diet Pepsi. All they had was Sierra Mist. And that was nasty! So I called my agent and asked if the ship could add a case of caffeine free diet Pepsi. The person from the ship sent a nice e-mail apologizing, but they are unable to accommodate everyone's special requests. But, she did say they would add an exemption to my e-docs and I would be allowed to bring my own pop on the cruise. It just has to fit in my carry-on. So I'll take a 6 pack of Coke so I can have my Bourbon and Coke once in a while, or, maybe I'll get hooked on Mai Tais!
And I'm slowly getting the yard ready for winter. I've trimmed back the Lantana in the front yard, rolled up the hoses and put them in the garage, and put insulated covers over the faucets. Just have to blow out all the leaves that have come down, but that will have to wait until after the holidays, as all my extension cords are being used for the outside lights.
Well, I think that's enough for now....

where does the time go???

Good morning.
Where does time go????
Can't believe it's been 2 weeks since my last post.
Anyway, here's all the puzzles I've done since then........

And after I picked the Thanksgiving carcass clean, Craig made a batch of broth......

Also, with the somewhat turbulent weather we've had over the last few weeks, we got to see some unusual clouds, like the pic below.

We don't normally see a band of clouds through the middle of the Sheep mountains. Usually see the tops engulfed or above the mountains, when we see clouds at all!   :-)

I've got the house and yard decorated for Christmas, and working on Christmas cards.
Picking up the mail for just one customer right now.
Still doing my morning walks. It's been in the low to mid 40's in the morning, reaching around 60 in the afternoon. With the rainy day we had last week, our rainfall total so far this year is over 8 inches! nearly 4 inches above our normal. And Lake Mead, where Vegas gets 90 percent of it's water, is 6 ft higher than the same time back in 2014! Won't have to switch to drinking Vodka anytime soon!   :-)
Got new brakes on the Jeep a few days ago.
Can't think of anything else! Later!

winter weather

Good morning.
Winter like weather has filled the valley. Temps we normally see in January. Highs near 60. Lows in the low 40's. At least we don't have snow....in the valley anyway.  :-)
Had a little repair job to do.

The toilet in the second bath had started to squeal after it filled. It was like the shutoff  lever wasn't closing completely. I tried to oil it. I changed the water fill level. Nothing seemed to work but to remove the top and 'jiggle' the lever. I finally got tired of it and went to Home Depot, bought a new fill assembly, and swapped it out. Was actually very easy. And now.....it's quiet again.   :-)
Here's my latest puzzle.....

 A very challenging one! This one took a while. But it was also 1000 pieces.
And the cold weather has brought snow to the Spring and Sheep mountains.....

Our Sheep mountains rarely get snow, and if they do, it's in Jan, but this cold spell has brought the snow level down to about 5000 ft. Looks pretty.....up there!    :-) Will probably be gone in a few days.
Had a nice quiet Thanksgiving. Craig cooked a Turkey as usual. Watched the parade, and some of the dog show. There sure are a lot of odd looking breeds!
And for the first time in nearly a year, I think, I'm not picking up anyone's mail but my own. Feels kind of odd.
And that's about it for now.

a little late again!

Good afternoon.
Been a very busy week!
 Here's a couple more puzzles I did.....

And our neighbor and fellow morning walker, Barbie, who's husband passed away 10 days earlier, arrived in Vegas last Friday, and Craig and I picked her up.

We didn't want her first trip back to Vegas without her husband to have to Uber the 18 miles to her house all by herself.
Craig got the idea to dress up like a 'chauffeur' and stand there waiting as she came off the plane and through security. She 'loved' it! And was sooo happy we picked her up.
Another neighbor, Gloria and Dave invited us all over for dinner that evening, which was very good!
After dinner, Barbie sent me a text and asked me to come over and sit with her as she was feeling very lonely. We sat and talked until she was tired enough to go to bed.
Saturday, Barbie, Craig and I went to lunch at BJ's. She seemed in better spirits. I imagine she'll have good days and bad as different things trigger emotions. Sunday afternoon, a group of neighbors got together on her patio. Monday, we did lunch again, this time at Big Dog's Tavern.
Today a group of 10 neighbors are getting together for Taco Tuesday. Then on Thursday, She has old friends from Wisconsin coming out for a week, so I'll get a break from entertaining her.  :-)
Other than that, I've been cleaning and working on puzzles.

better late than never??/

Good afternoon.
I guess I'm overdue for a post....
Here's some of the puzzles I've done since my last post.....

And here's a visitor we saw one afternoon when we were sitting out on our patio...

This large owl took up residency in out Desert Willow tree. Stayed there most of the afternoon, sleeping.  Or at least, looked like it was sleeping.
Flew off later. Boy was it big!
Didn't seem to get any of our resident lizards. I counted 4 out there this morning.
Weather has been perfect this past week and should continue into next week. Lows in the 50's and highs in the upper 70's.
Been doing some yard work and dusting.
Booked our excursions for our cruise.
Norwegian opened bidding, so we bid for a balcony room. We booked an inside room. If you remember, we booked an inside room for the Panama Canal cruise and successfully bid up to a balcony. This apparently is what Norwegian does. We saved hundreds on the Panama cruise, and hope to do the same with this one.
Now time to go out and deadhead my Geraniums and Pansies. They grow very nice here in the cooler weather.