A Day of Chores

That's all we did today - as we planned. Couldn't find any excuses to talk ourselves out of cleaning house and doing laundry.  Hopefully we'll come up with something to do that's more exciting for tomorrow. 

My Camera is Like My Brain

I brought my good camera with me that has a view finder since I have trouble seeing what I'm taking pictures of using those screens on the new ones and on my phone.  When I got it out yesterday to check the batteries before we left for our hike, I discovered it had no memory card in it.  I put the one from my little point and shoot in it and all I got was a message "Unable to Read Memory Card"   Hmmm.   So, yesterday I used the small camera and my phone for those pictures we took.  Today we went to the base exchange and bought a 16GB memory card (the smallest I could find).  Figured that ought to cover me for a long time!  Well, I put it in and got that same message.  I tried everything - reformatting, cursing, and getting my  neck muscles all in a knot trying to figure out what to do.   I gave up and put it back in it's package.  After a half-hour walk with Maggie to decompress I started doing some "Google" searching for the camera model and compatible discs.  Well, it seems that my camera is old enough (like my brain) that it will only hold so much memory, and it will only work with a 2GB memory card.  I was feeling a kinship with it after I found that out - just so much data one can expect to retain in one's old age - be it camera or brain!!  

About the same time as I was wrestling with that problem I tried to help Roger by  deleting stuff from his old iPod.  It's old enough that it hasn't been able to upgrade the operating system for the last four times an update has been available.  His battery life is dwindling faster all the time  (I mean the iPod's) and I thought, being fairly proficient with Apple products, I could remove apps, do some cleaning up of the memory and help him get more battery life.  He only wants to use it to listen to his audiobooks and music, so I went crazy deleting everything in sight!  It wanted to upgrade his Audible app, so I did.  He came in from working on replacing the door handle and turned the iPod on - oops.  No Audible.  Just kept crashing.   That's about the time I took the walk.  While I was gone, he took the app off the iPod and reloaded it through the iTunes store.  It works now, thank goodness!  So much for knowing what I am doing. 

As much as I walk most days, I was so surprised today to wake up with sore calf muscles from the hike in the deep sand yesterday!  Wow, it was more of a workout than I thought.  Roger says he felt some discomfort, too.  Maggie was a bit lazier today than usual so we must have tired her out as well.  I had to dump more red sand out of my shoes this morning for our walk.  Not sure where it had been hiding as I dumped a ton before we headed home.  I made the mistake of wearing a pair of hikers yesterday that have a mesh top (my feet get hot).  Yeah, well, that didn't work all that well in deep fine, silty, sand.  

We are about five miles down the road from the Las Vegas Speedway.  It's  huge and apparently one of the major NASCAR tracks in the country.   Well, last night and today it was quite obvious it was open for business.  Those cars racing around and around and around that track are almost as noisy as the airplanes from the base (which we expect living on an Air Force base). 

Tomorrow we will be here one week.  It has gone pretty fast.  We will celebrate by dusting, vacuuming and doing laundry!  It is supposed to be cooler and very windy, so it will be a good day to stay at home and get it done.  

Maggie the Mountain Goat

We took a drive out to the Valley of Fire State Park  today for a picnic and a hike.  It's about an hour northeast from where we are staying.  Miss Maggie thought she could climb the rocks like a mountain goat.  She certainly did have a good time on our hike.

The scenery was phenomenal and we ate lunch in a picnic area surrounded by red sandstone mountains.  At the Atlatl Rock area there were petroglyphs we could view at the top of a very long staircase built to reach them.  We then drove further into the park, stopping at the visitor center, and then further to Mouse Trap Canyon for a hike.  It was a bit like hiking in sand dunes on the beach only redder!  It wasn't a long trail - about 3/4 of a mile round trip -  but it was a workout because of the soft sand in the the canyon.  I've chosen a few of the many pictures we took to upload to the journal to share with you.  I'm hoping to put the rest in a "cloud" somewhere so that if you want to see them you can.  I'll let you know the website when/if I get it set up.  Roger took some really incredible shots (as usual) and I did get a few good ones as well.   The weather was perfect for hiking in the desert - sunshine and mid 60s.  We had a fun day!

Atlatl Rock with stairs leading to rock art

Prehistoric rock art

Can't describe the beauty.

  

Do you think maybe they get
wind here?  This is the Ranger's office
roof being held down by the chains.  

Plants pop up at the barest  places.

Rog getting ready to capture the petroglyphs
high up on the wall.  You can see them if you look closely.

Rawhide!!!  Where are the beeves?  

Back lighting for effect.

Off into the wilds of the desert!

Canyon walls.

A lone prehistoric warrior.

Two Days of Quiet

We spent yesterday and today just hanging out with Maggie.  We kept busy with lots of walks, some reading, some knitting, some naps and watching airplanes.  We saw the Thunderbirds today doing some practice landings and we almost felt as if we were back in Pensacola watching the Blue Angels only there's no lush vegetarion about.  

Tomorrow we plan on packing a picnic and going out to the Valley of Fire State Park which is northwest of here and about an hour's drive.  Will take the camera and hope to get some good pictures to share.

A Very Nice Birthday!

It's always nice to hear from family and friends on my birthday.  Thank you all for the loving good wishes.  It made my day!

I celebrated with blueberry pancakes for breakfast (cooked by Roger), by not counting calories all day, and splurging on a piece of chocolate cake.  The sun was shining and the wind wasn't blowing!  All of that, a couple of walks with Maggie, and a good haircut made for a great day.  

We did take a tour of North Las Vegas looking for an RV parts place to find a new door handle.  What a depressing area of town.  We found the store but they didn't have the part so we came home and ordered it on line hoping to get it before we leave here.  

Nothing else new to add.  We have no agenda for tomorrow. Who knows what we will end up doing - if anything.  Might just be a good day to sit and read or knit or nap between walks with the Maggs.  

A Pretty Normal Day for Us

We participated in some pretty mind blowing activities today!   Grocery shopping, walking the dog, lunch in the fast food court at the Base Exchange, and sitting in the sun (not necessarily in that order!  

I'm a happy camper!!!

The Dish tech showed up early this morning - after spending 40 minutes going through security - and basically did nothing but make a phone call to tell them to turn our service on for local channels.  He did, however, clue us in as to how to avoid this hassle next time we re-activate after putting the service on hold while we are home.  We felt sorry for the poor guy having wasted so much time, but he was very pleasant  and helpful.  

As for my maroon vest that I was upset about leaving at home - well, it seems I doubled up my many vests on the hangers and it was under another one.  Yay!   And, lo and behold, guess what was in the pocket... yep, my Costco and American Express cards!  Double Yay!!!  All that being upset yesterday for nothing.  We did not, however, find any tubes of toothpaste hiding anywhere. 

Our site is huge with trees on both sides
separating us from our neighbors and with
parking off to the side. 

The Nellis Fam Camp is across from the main part of the base with the hospital on one side and a fuel farm on the other side.  Not a prime location, but once inside the park is it very comfortable.  The Air Force always has nice facilities for the troops and retirees.  Lots of airplane noise during the day but that is what they do here.  (While we were having lunch we saw pilots from Canada and the UK here for training.)  


There is a walking trail behind us and along the fence that you see behind the RV.  The loop around the park is .75 miles with doggie stations and people benches along the way.  It's nothing but gravel, and the only thing to look at is the other RVs, but it provides a nice walk for Maggie.   There is a large dog park for her, as well.   

Several years ago when we stopped here on our way home one of the women staying in the park was building a cactus garden.  It's a bit overgrown right now but is a nice part of the walking trail.  

Woodhenge?  

Tomorrow's excitement will include a haircut!   Roger is making me some blueberry pancakes for breakfast and we bought little baby chocolate cakes for my birthday dinner!  The sun is supposed to shine and the temperatures are supposed to be in the low 60s.  Happy B'day to me - life is good.  

All Set Up for Two Weeks in Sin City!

Well, we are here and glad of it despite the fact that we have freeze warning for tonight!  That doesn't happen often, but figures that it would our first night here!

Last night the wind started howling at gale strength about 8pm and didn't let up.  It was still going strong when we left at 9:30 this morning.  You know how I hate the wind if you paid any attention at all to last winter's blog. Not only did it blow continuously, but it was strong with some pretty powerful gusts.  There was a tree next to the bed slide out.  One of the branches beat against the wall behind our heads ALL night.  That was pretty annoying.

The temperature was as cold as predicted early this morning and with the wind blowing Maggie's ears backward when we went out for her to do her morning business, she even hurried back to the RV.  

After ruminating on it most of the night, Roger figured out what went wrong when he de-winterized and why we still had antifreeze in the hot water tank.  So, first thing this morning, in the cold and wind, he went outside and drained it, fixed the issue and we now have clean water for dishes and showers.  It's a good thing, 'cause we are starting to get a little disreputable.  Thank goodness for paper plates and bottled water!

It was a short drive from Beatty to north Las Vegas where Nellis AFB is.  Nothing to take pictures of for you, I'm afraid, as the drive is about as interesting as watching cabbages grow  Just brown desert with mountain backdrops and the long lonely road in front of the truck.  

I will take some photos tomorrow of our site and the RV park.  We have a huge site with trees between us and our neighbors.  No one behind us or directly in front.  It's a very nice layout here.  We are at the opposite end from the laundry, though.  There's a very  nice dog park available for Maggie and this afternoon she had a great time just running like a mad woman from one end to the next.  She was glad to get out of the RV!  

When we arrive at a site, Roger puts the RV on the pad where we think it will go best, I go inside and use a level to see if we have to put some leveling blocks (aka legos to me) under the tires on one side or another.  Today, I opened the outside door, reached up for the handle on the screen door, pushed it down and it broke off.  Plastic handle - not surprising with all the wear it gets.  The issue, though, was that the door was effectively locked shut and I had no way to get inside.  Roger had to shut off the truck, find a screwdriver (he carries a very large toolbox with us) and he had to take off the casing that the handle mechanism resides in.  At least he didn't have to take off the door like he did when Maggie destroyed the screen last year.   We eventually got the RV leveled and in its spot for the next two weeks.  He's super-glued the handle back together but I have a feeling we will be searching for an RV parts place tomorrow.   That would be after the Dish Network tech shows up.

Last year in Santee we purchased a "Tailgater" satellite dish.  The deal is supposed to be that we can turn it on and off when we want and we can call them to set the locatiaon every place we stop and want it hooked up.   Last  year - not a problem.  Roger would set it up, call the 800 number and give the person on the other end our zip code and we would be all set.  So, you are rightly guessing, it didn't work that way today.  We got a woman on the phone whose kids were screaming in the background, Roger couldn't understand a word she was saying, and it was a struggle to get her to understand what we needed.  I finally got on the phone and we made a little more  progress but she couldn't explain why we needed a technician other than her computer said we did.  She charged the credit card a very strange amount but couldn't tell us why - only that there was no charge for the tech and she couldn't start the service without it.   We waited about an hour and called back and I got someone on the line who told me the strange charge was because we had credit from when we stopped service in May and that the tech needed to do some upgrade thing because we were in Las Vegas.  Easy, peasy.  All I wanted was an explanation.  Geez, is that so hard?

We are starting to find things we meant to bring but left behind.  I think my Costco card and accompanying American Express card are in the jacket pocket that I wore last week when we went. We forgot toothpaste (had to replace that right away), a favorite maroon vest I wear all the time on cool days over long sleeve shirts, and our breakfast cereal.  I also believe I left a tomato sitting in the kitchen window.  (I've already texted Mike and asked him to retrieve that before it becomes a biology experiment!)

So, tomorrow, after the tech is finished, we go get groceries, get a long walk, and stettle in for the next two weeks.  The temperatures are supposed to be in the mid sixities with sunshine.  That's about normal for Sin City and our reason for being here.