Yay! We Got Out of the House Today!

We were getting pretty desperate, I can tell you, so even the prospect of getting out for groceries was exciting this morning! Everyone is back to work and we figured it was safe to go out. In fact, the race cars are gone and the Air Force is back to work.  We saw lots of fighter jets, helicopters, and even two B-1 bombers today.  Apparently Nellis is the the Air Force's "Top Gun" training school.  We even heard them after dark doing night ops.  

Again, no exploring today.  Roger's back and hip were talking pretty loudly to him today and in addition, the wind made it just uncomfortable for going on a picnic/hike somewhere.  The temperature was nice - 60 and it was partly cloudy, but, again, just enough wind to make it uncomfortable.  The mountains west of us were snow covered this morning from yesterday's storm.   We did go to the commissary this morning and then to the exchange.  We have groceries and enough working flashlights for a couple of families :-)

All the old flashlights we had in the RV were failing.  I could hardly see with the ones we had while taking Maggs out after dark.  We are sure being left in the RV in temperatures varying from over 100 to less than freezing might just have something to do with it.  Plus, we discovered, I was putting old batteries in the one flashlight we had.  I had a ziplock bag where I had been putting used batteries until I could find a place to recycle.  I didn't remember that and thought they were new ones.  Duh!   So, now we have lots of new batteries and a couple of nice new flashlights.  

We took a ride to the south of town today to the Camping World for toilet chemicals and tire covers (ours blew off somewhere in one of the wind storms in Reno while the RV was in storage). I found the cleverest idea for storing spices, so we picked that up, too.  I now have some extra cabinet space and organized spices.  Can't beat that.  Maggie went with us and had a good time sniffing around the pet section!  

In going down I-15 past The Strip we were reminded about about how much the area has grown.  It is fantastic and overwhelming just looking at all those casinos.  Then, two blocks away, derelict houses.  So sad.  

The furnace is working, but I'm not mentioning it for fear of antagonizing the furnace gods. 

The cactus garden here in the park is looking good.  I remember being here years ago when one of the campers was planting it.  She did it because she needed something to do while she was here.  The Air Force paid for the plants and pavers and whatever she needed, but she did the work for free. She was not finished when I met her and had been working on it for months.  It's large and lovely now.  

Roger's glasses broke this afternoon. The frame pulled away from the lenses.  This is the second pair of the same frame that this has happened to.  Our eye doc replaced them once.  Looks as if he needs to do it again.  We will package them up and send them back to see what they can do for him.  We've pretty good rapport with the staff, so we don't think it will be a problem.  We hope. Fortunately Roger brought his old beat up pair that he wears in the shop and working on stuff where they might get scratched. He'll be ok.  


We met a man in the RV park the other day who is really amazing. These are pictures of his rig. (I took them today on the sly.)  A 45 foot Prevost coach ($1M at least) and a trailer as long as the coach. He hauls his Lincoln Continental in the trailer along with a BMW tricycle.  He was out warming up the BMW when we met him.  He told us he recently had to get rid of his motorcycle because it was too heavy for him so he bought the "trike."  Very impressive - especially when you consider the guy is at least 90 years old.  He was wearing a hat that said he was a WWII, Korean, and Vietnam vet. So, if you calculate his age by assuming he was at least 18 and joined towards the end of WWII, he has to be up there.   If you look closely at the front window of his coach you will see a medal.  Roger thinks it might be a Bronze Star.  He spends the winters here but didn't say where he spends the other six months of the year.  He was spry and seemed quite cogent, but it is a bit scary to think of someone that old just hauling down the road in a rig that big. Just amazing.  

Maggie's latest weirdness - it all started before we left home so we are a big confused by her recent actions.  In the past, when I am in the office working on the computer she curls up on a pillow in a chair we have in there and sleeps while I work.  The last few weeks she wouldn't do that, but pestered me constantly.  She would get under my feet, scratch on my legs, scratch the arm of my chair, and want in my lap.  Once there, she pesters me by giving me kisses.  I just figured she was bored and wanted attention.  She's now doing it in the RV every time I pull out the laptop.  Tonight I was entering today's expenses in the Quicken checkbook at the desk area and she about went crazy trying to get in my lap. Then, after dinner when I pulled out the laptop again to do this blog and brought it over to the sofa and my lap, she went crazy and tried to lay across it.  So, is it (and the desktop at home) making sounds we can't hear but is disturbing to her? Right now she is curled up again under the table as if she were hiding.  Very bizarre.  

Roger's baking gingerbread for our snack tonight.  Yum!