Belated Happy 4th!

We celebrated Independence Day by having our BFF’s Ron and Teresa over to the house for grilled meats. It was nice to finally feel like we could have an indoor dinner with guests. We played some Wizard, always a favorite for this group. I rocked – thanks to my successful 7 bid – I never looked back after that point. At dusk, we began to watch as the entire Vegas valley began to light up with massive fireworks displays. We assumed we would enjoy our awesome view from up here, but it turned out to be even more impressive than expected.

Talk to you soon.

Big Bear

We did a lot of just sitting by the lake taking full advantage of the lost 30 degrees of heat. Getting in our 6 miles of walking a day, we took on our pre-pandemic hobby of geocaching since there were oodles of them nearby. With a little diligence we managed to scare up a total of 31 caches in our 6 days here. We haven’t scored that many caches in something close to two years!

We ended up spending Father’s Day at the lake. Since we didn’t have either internet or TV reception (or cable), we stopped at Von’s to see if they might have a cheap multi-pack of DVD’s. Lo and behold we came away with a Mark Wahlberg 5 DVD marathon. Not great cinema but something to do after dinner. My Father’s Day cards from the kids will be waiting at home when we get back, but the Woman got me a new sunhat!

Even though the weather was pleasant, the effects of the drought on the area is pronounced. In the main part of Big Bear Lake there is plenty of water for recreational pleasures. But the smaller lakes, where many folks used to have lake views from their decks, don’t even exist. I think anyone would be hard pressed to either boat or to swim in this field.

Finding a sports bar in Big Bear is not all that easy, at least one with any level of service. We watched our first Las Vegas Golden Knights game at the Big Bear Bar and Grill. There were two small TVs behind the bar, but at least we got good seats. We watched the next two games at Whiskey Dave's – they claim to have 22 TVs, and they are much larger. However, there is no servers – you have to go to the bar to order food or a drink, and pay cash. At least the OT VGK win was worth the hassle.

As we were just roaming around looking at the always interesting California lake side and mountain top real estate, we came across a carving from a tree trunk that looked very much like it could have been done by Peter Toth. However, his monuments are nearly always signed, and I search all around this guy, but no signage was to be found.

Talk to you soon.

Stupid Knights!

We were actively following the Las Vegas Golden Knights on their quest for their second appearance in the Stanley Cup finals. We managed to take in Game 5, but sadly watched Mark Andre Fleury make a bonehead move, leave the net unattended, and allow the Canadiens to score. We later figured out why that happened – the Woman had forgotten to wear her Fleury jersey for that game. So, we diligently suited up for Game 6, and were excited when the VGK tied the game late in the 3^rd period. Sadly, the Canadiens scored first in OT, knocking the Knights out of the playoffs. Dang!

Talk to you soon. 

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.