Karma

It must have been destined. A few days ago, I was googling to see what might be available to watch on HBO Max. I found the 1981 film Time Bandits starring John Cleese and Michael Palin (with a nice cameo by Sean Connery). Some believe that Cleese and Palin launched Monty Python after working together on this film. Well, we headed to Big Bear for a week to shed 30 degrees – 80’s instead of the 110’s in Vegas. When we were exploring the area, we actually found the actual pirate ship used in Time Bandits as Holloway’s Marina on Big Bear Lake. Awesome!

Talk to you soon.

Every day is special!

Petunia’s babies are growing like weeds! Every day we look out our kitchen window, and they are in the nest doing something cute. Occasionally Petunia brings them some nectar from the nearby flowers, and sometimes from our hummingbird feeder. But most of the time they just sit there being awesome!

Talk to you soon.

Finally, some normality

While I understand it is only a bit of normality, I did learn that PT’s Pub still comps drinks for video poker players. I had no idea what Covid might reek upon this time honored tradition, but apparently it still stands. Thank goodness!

Talk to you soon.

Another sign of Spring

We saw all the blooming cactus explode with such beautiful flowers. Although they only last a few days, they are simply awesome. We’ve seen all the bushes, flowers and roses bloom as well, and those continue to delight. But there was one sign of spring that continued to elude us. Quail are fun because they seem to always hang out at couples. Whenever you spot one adult Quail, you automatically begin to search for its mate, and you are never disappointed. Spring, however, is when you start to see these couples escorting a brood of replacements, usually numbering in the high single or low double digits. This morning, on the local tee box, we spotted our first Quail family. True spring is now officially in Vegas!

Talk to you soon.

Memorial Day Vegas style

Post pandemic Memorial Day was struggling to get back to more normality. Apparently, the strip was packed! At midnight on Fremont Street, all Covid restrictions were withdrawn, and the live music started on 3 stages! However, not all the Californians who came for the three-day weekend stayed for the music. I-15 at the California state lines is a testament.

Our Memorial Day was far more serene. We didn’t even try to weather the 7 ½ hour lines trying to cross the border outside Tijuana. We also didn’t try to weather the 2 ½ average wait times for a shuttle at Zion National Park. We watched Roger Federer win his first round Roland Garros match, and the series finally of Mare of Easttown. But our overall favorite was when I went out after dark to see if the hot tub lights were working – I’ve only been in the tub during the day, so since they are subtle, I could not tell if they were working. When the Woman exclaimed “woooo!”, I looked out on the valley. We stood there and took in Memorial Day Vegas style. Awesome!

Talk to you soon.

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.