Another visitor!

Now that we broke the ice with a visit from Karen and Albert, we were ready for our next visitor. Literally about a foot outside our kitchen window, a hummingbird built a nest. It must be real sturdy construction, because the bush it is in is a bit spindly. When the wind blows (as it frequently does up here in the hills), the branch it is on whips around furiously, but doesn’t seem to have any impact on the nest. Karen really thought the occupant was cute, and named her Petunia.

It turns out this is an outstanding name. In doing some Google research, we learned that nest construction for hummingbirds is all done by the female. We weren’t sure why Petunia seemed so protective of the nest, so when she was out and about, I sneaked over to have a look. Google says that once a male hummingbird fertilizes the egg, his job is done and he takes off. So, Petunia is left on her own to mind for her cute pair of hummingbird eggs. We hope we get to see some baby hummingbird beaks soon!

Happy Memorial Day by the way!

Talk to you soon.

First visitors

We had our first visitors post pandemic. Karen and Albert decided that after tax deadline, they wanted to blow off a little steam – both pandemic steam and busy season steam – and spend a few days in Vegas. They’re staying at the Green Valley Ranch Casino, which is a bit more fun that just shacking up with the rents. Despite all the horror stories, they were able to get a rental car. We fought our mania and had our first in restaurant, sit down dinner the other night at Chili’s. While strange, it was fun.

Still recovering from her hip replacement, the Woman was not in the mood for a lot of exploration. Karen and Albert wanted to stroll around downtown Summerlin, and since we were there, we visited the Arsenal – the Las Vegas Golden Knights practice arena there. It was open so we explored the practice rink, gift shop, and found the restaurant on the second floor overlooking the ice – sadly not open until 4 on weekdays. On the way back after a nice stroll we drove by the Death Star – Allegiant Stadium where the Raiders play. It was packed! Albert said all NFL stadiums were hosting vaccinations, so all the folk were either doing that, or their newly started tours are drawing crowds.

Talk to you soon.

We're baaaaaaaaaack!

The Woman is having a hard time being locked in the house all day trying to recover from her hip replacement surgery. It is almost as though we were back in the peak infection times from the pandemic. So, I just took her on a joy ride the length of the strip, from downtown all the way south. She was stunned by the number of people she saw crowding the strip, as well as the completely packed restaurants. Looks like we’re back!

Talk to you soon.

More spring in Vegas

One of the more magical spring events in the Las Vegas valley is when the cactus bloom. Cactus of many different varieties bloom. Most of the year they are just green spiny lumps popping from the ground. But in the spring, many of them put on quite a show, some for only one day, while some bloom for a week or more. And, it is not just a bloom or two. Many of the cactus are laden with blossoms.

When blooming, the blossoms attract all kinds of huge insects as well as an ample share of hummingbirds. The lily-white ones often last only the day. The bright yellow ones can last a week, and sometimes bloom in continuing rounds. However, my favorites are the ones that are a very bright crimson. Awesome!

Talk to you soon.

Cinco de Mayo

Well even through it is a holiday, pretty much every day is the same during the pandemic. However, I did manage to interrupt my streaming on Peacock, Amazon Prime Video and HBO Max to grab my freezer ready wine glass and pour myself a margarita to celebrate! Wait a minute, how is video streaming and drinking booze any different than any pandemic day?

Talk to you soon.

Spring in Vegas is amazing!

Spring in Vegas is glorious! The good news – with irrigation and some artificial shading, pretty much anything grows here. The bad news – because of that, everyone who comes here brings the plants they enjoyed where they came from, meaning allergy season here is awful! However, spring scenes like these in pretty much any neighborhood take a bit of the sting out of the horrible allergy season.

My favorite, however, is more of a desert staple. For most of the year, the Ocotillo looks dead. It looks a lot like a very long armed, gangly Octopus (hence the name I assume) sticking out of the ground with its dead tentacles pointing to the sky. However, for a brief glorious time in the spring, it takes on a truly magical look. Instead of dead sticks poking up, it becomes this. Awesome!

Talk to you soon.