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.