Christmas in Las Vegas - part deux

After we got back from the Hoover Dam, my younger sister and I decided to walk along the Strip for a bit.  We got to the Bellagio and I remembered they have an exhibit of Picasso works currently running.  So we headed on in.

OMG - the place was packed.  Not the exhibit, just the public portions of the hotel and casino.
We took pictures of the Chihuly glass in the lobby.

They have a store selling Chihuly products inside the hotel.  Here are two really cool pieces.

We then headed to the Picasso exhibit.  I'd show you pictures, but they flatly forbade the use of cameras in the display area.

All this was on the 23rd.  On the 24th, we headed outside of town again to go to the Red Rock Canyon about 20 minutes from Las Vegas.  Once again, we were fortunate to have sunny (if chilly) weather.  Here's one formation.  If you kinda squint and look closely, there are tiny hikers near the bottom of the photo to give perspective.

Here's another imposing formation.

I find myself wondering what the massive event was that put that red stripe in place. 

On Christmas Day we had a nice breakfast and exchanged small gifts.  We pretty much just hung out during the day.  For dinner we went to the Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the Aria hotel across the street from the Cosmopolitan.  It was yummy and I would recommend it to everyone.

The morning of the 26th, I headed to the airport.  The pilot said it had begun to snow in Albuquerque.  Nooooo!  90 minutes later, it was still snowing but had just begun to stick to bushes and grass, but not the streets.  I drove home and noticed a short while later the snow was beginning to stick to the streets.

This is how it looked Sunday morning and I decided to stay home all day.

Since then, I've had a largely uneventful time off from work.  And that's just like I like it.

Papillon

Christmas in Las Vegas

For the past several years, my sisters, brother-in-law and I have been going on destination Christmas trips.  This year we were in Vegas, baby.

My sister did some heavy lifting and got us very nice rooms at The Cosmopolitan on the Strip.  (And we thank her VERY much!!)

Here's the night view from my room on the 53rd floor of the West Tower.

The green building (upper right) is the MGM Grand.  The dark blotch just past it is the Vegas airport runways.

Here's a slightly different angle during the day.

We had a good time - arrived midday on December 21st and flew out on December 26th.

While there we didn't get to any shows.  We checked on tickets, but decided that $193 per person was a little rich for our blood.

We did go to see the Hoover Dam.  Man, it looks big in pictures, but that pales in comparison to how big it is "in person".  Taking the tour, they stress that you shouldn't go through if you have claustrophobia.  I do have it a bit, but the passageways were big enough that I didn't have a problem.
Here's one of the passageways.

And here's the generator room.  To show the size of the equipment, notice the worker in the lower right-hand corner.

Here's me on the observation deck.

Behind me, that tower is NOT falling over.  Some are cantilevered so the power lines don't come into contact with the side of the cliff and short out.

Suggestion - if you're in Vegas and decide to go to Hoover Dam, go early.  It's about 30 miles from Vegas, but factor in extra time if you're staying on the Strip.  I don't remember exactly what time we got there, but it was before 9 AM.  When we left 60-90 minutes later, the traffic heading towards the dam was backed up for several miles, all the way to the highway.  Trust me, early is better.

More to follow in the next installment.

Papillon

Winter

Winter does seem to have made its mind up to hit town. 

For the past couple of weeks, we've had slightly above average temperatures (mid-50's).  That came to an end this weekend.  Friday was cloudy and overcast.  Saturday it started raining around 8 AM and continued to about 10 AM.  It stopped long enough for me to run errands.  Then it started up again and continued into the evening, later turning to snow.

Here are the Sandias in early afternoon on Saturday.

I got about half an inch of snow at my house, much of which has melted since we got into the low 40s today.
Here's what the Sandias looked like today, at about the same time (early afternoon) as yesterday.

The weather's supposed to stay cold with another slight possibility of snow later in the weekend.

I'm already over it.
Looking forward to Spring,
Papillon

Brrr!

On Saturday, we had nice weather, cool but sunny.  Here's more autumn color.

Then a minor cold front blew in on Sunday bringing rain with it.  Since we're in high desert country, rain is always welcome.  (Just not when I'm walking to and from my car at the ABQ main library for their book sale.)

Today, more wind, more cold, more rain then snow.  After sitting out in the cold, I guess the car's battery was affected because it took a bit longer than usual to turn over.  It cranked, but didn't start up right away.  Panic, followed by relief.

I got home OK.  Here are a couple of trees in the front yard.

Wet roads plus overnight temps below freezing - not looking forward to the morning commute.  I'm really hoping work delays opening tomorrow.

Papillon

This busy (for me) week

On Wednesday, I had my 6 month teeth cleaning.  Not fun, but lots of clean teeth afterwards. 

Friday night I went to see Penn & Teller perform.  I'm not sure what I expected, but it was an interesting and fun show.

To start with, it was held at the Route 66 Casino.  I've only been there once before, a whole bunch of years ago.  Which meant I'd forgotten it's 17 miles (or so) west of Albuquerque.  It's not in the middle of nowhere, but you can see the middle from their parking lot.  Essentially it was set up to provide food & gambling for people who stop at their truck stop for gas.

I do have a bit of a gripe about their auditorium.  The seating needs to be 'raked' a bit more.  It's flatter than it could be & means it can be hard to find a clear sight line to the stage.  I managed, but it was an effort.  It helped they had a couple of large screens on either side of the stage.  But I didn't want to watch them on a screen, I wanted to watch them on the stage.

The show was part fun and part a discussion of Penn & Teller's philosophy regarding illusion, sleight of hand, putting on a 'magic' show and life.  The pace is leisurely.  I enjoyed it and am happy that I've been able to see them live.  They do include audience participation which was amusing (since the jokes were on other people).  Note:  they're not 'cruel' to the audience participants, but they do joke around.  It's fun to see them do a trick and then show you how they do it.  Teller did a sleight of hand involving a lit cigarette, a pencil and a fake lighter.  He did the trick, then did the trick showing you exactly how it's done, and then faked you out doing the trick again.

I was disappointed because they didn't do their usual meet-and-greet after the show.  The casino is a casino, after all and so they have slots almost up to the front door of the auditorium.  I have a couple of books written by Penn and was hoping to get them signed.  No luck there.  Rats!

Tomorrow is the biannual ABQ main library's clear-the-shelves book sale.  $5 per bag of books - you get to pick the books from the tables they've set up.  LOVE it!

I know.  For many folks, this would not be a busy week.  I'm not most folks.

Papillon

Balloon Out Back

When I first moved to Albuquerque I was frequently found tracking and photographing the balloons during the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

That has tapered off in recent years.  I like sleeping in on the weekends and the balloons go up early.

This morning I heard a balloon around 7:30 AM.  I got up, looked around and didn't see anything.  About 15-20 minutes later, I heard the balloon again.  I walked outside and there, in the park behind the house, was a balloon setting up prior to flight.  My guess is, they decided to avoid the crowds and early hours of the ascension field.

Inflated and almost ready for takeoff.

And, up into the air.

They weren't the only ones looking for later hours and less of a crowd.

Early morning in the Albuquerque metro area during Balloon Fiesta.

Papillon

Getting my creativity groove back

For the longest time, I've done VERY LITTLE in the way of crafts.  I just had no creative energy at all.  I've been waiting for it to come back.  And waiting.

Finally I decided to take the advice of Jack London (American author), who said -- You can't wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club.

I decided to start with a project from my quilt group.  We had a packet of batik fabric fat eighths.  We could use those fabrics plus a couple more non-packet fabrics.  We could make anything we wanted - in any size we want.  It also had to include a pieced star.

I have a book of paper-pieced blocks - 50 star blocks/1 for each of the US states.  I chose the block labeled Maine.  Here's my first one - done this afternoon while switching back and forth between football and NASCAR.

Since the packets and fat eighths aren't providing a TON of available fabrics.  If I can stretch things enough, I'm thinking I'll make 5 more blocks and put some sashing around each one and make myself either a small wallhanging or a runner for the dining room table.

Cesar 'helped' for a while.  Inspected my sewing machine.  Laid on fabric so it wouldn't float away.  That sort of thing.  After a while he decided he done more than enough and expended too much energy.

I'm off to see if I can see the lunar eclipse.  I looked earlier but I think my view was blocked by neighboring houses.

Papillon

"Up In The Clouds?"

For the longest time, I thought Cesar was a 'shrub' cat.  One who liked to be low down.  For example, he took a nap wedged under a chair on the floor.

So imagine my surprise to find his new favorite nap place is about 6.5 to 7 feet off the ground on top of a bookcase.

Of course, to get up and down, he has to use a shorter bookcase and knock a few books off onto the floor.

The things we do for our pets.  ;)

Papillon

Just Chillin'

OK, I'd say Cesar is settling in nicely.
Just getting his 'relax' on.

Papillon

Settling In

Cesar seems to be settling in quite well.  He can still be a tiny bit clingy, but not terribly so.

He really does love his catnip mice.  He especially likes stalking them underneath the dining table and in and out of the chair legs.  Here he is - taking a short break before 'killing' another (catnip) mouse.

He's not a good photo subject.  He'll strike a pose.  As I'm getting my camera set to take a picture, he'll move around.  Or, while I was taking a series of photos of him on the floor with the mouse, he got curious about the noise and got up on the arm of the chair.

So I decided to help him take some selfies.

Ever so slightly cross-eyed, but they do go nicely with his collar.

Looking a bit regal.

I'm so glad he's settling in.  He was so sad the first week and a half.

Papillon

Progress is being made

Cesar seems to be loosening up.  Example:  for the first week the only sounds I heard from him were a couple of sad-sounding meows on the way home.  After that, he was silent.  For a Siamese, this is not normal.

Almost exactly a week after I brought him home, he gave me two soft, small meows.  Since then, he's not a 'talker' but he does meow, especially in greeting me when I get home from work.

Also, for the past week and a half, he's showed NO interest in toys of any kind.  Catnip mice, whiffle balls, nothing seemed to interest him.  Imagine my surprise and pleasure tonight when I noticed he was actually playing with the scratching box.  I'd bought a flat cat-scratcher that has openings so cats can bat at the balls inside.  He used it as a scratching device until tonight, when he began poking his paws into the openings.

Then, he started batting around the catnip mice.  And having a great, good time doing so.  I was at the computer when he jumped up on my desk and dumped a mouse (catnip) in my lap.  I threw it.  He attacked it and then brought it to me.  I threw it.  He attacked it and brought it to me.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Being a cat, this was only for a few reps, but my new cat fetches!

Quite a change from the traumatized, quiet cat I brought home a week and a half ago.

Progress!

Papillon

More Cesar

Cesar's eye is doing better.  He's NOT enthusiastic about the eye drops, but they definitely are doing what they're supposed to.  He's still sneezing.  In the paperwork I got when I adopted him, they mention the possibility of cats being adopted from the pound having Upper Respiratory Infection.  It can take anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks to clear up so I'm not worried about the continuing sneezing.

Some things I've noticed.  He's a flame point Siamese yet is almost entirely quiet.  Siamese aren't just talkers, they're TALKERS.  Shoot, I've had two orange tabbies who were chattier than Cesar.  He may start talking more as he gets more used to being here.  He may not.  We'll see.

He's also still a MESSY drinker.  He doesn't drink like a normal cat (perhaps due to his URI?).  Instead he rakes his paw through the bowl  & then licks the water off his paw.  In the process he gets water all over the floor.  I had a newspaper down to absorb the water.  It did OK, but wasn't quite right.  So, I ordered a Soggy Doggy Slopmat.  Really.  That's its name.  Oddly, I read about it in a newspaper insert about the time I adopted Cesar.  After all the water on the floor, I decided to give it a try.  Hopefully, it will absorb all of the mess.

So far, Cesar does not seem to be a cuddler.  My three previous cats were all big fans of sitting on my lap.  Not the best scenario in the middle of summer, but a plus in winter.  Not Cesar.  He likes being close to me, having me in his line of sight.  He does occasionally lounge on my lap when I'm in the recliner.  However, he seems to prefer the chaise to my lap.  As you can see here:

Propped up against the pillows.  If you're a cat, does it get any better than this?  Since you asked, yes, my cats do live a good life.

Papillo

Cesar the cat

I've decided to call the new cat Cesar.  It can be pronounced either SEE-zar or SAY-zar.  I tend to lean more towards SEE-zar.

We went to the vet today.  I knew Cesar was a hefty cat.  It turns out he weighs - wait for it - 13 pounds.  Yep.  He's not a huge eater.  More of a nibbler.  He still weighs 13 pounds.  And he is solidly built, rather like a furry rectangle with legs.

The only problem spotted was conjunctivitis in his right eye.  I noticed he's been only partially opening it.  I now get to put drops in his eye several times a day for at least a week.  What fun!

He doesn't seem to be much of a player.  He was indifferent to a number of toys left over from Oscar's era.  So, of course, I went out and bought more.  More - meh.  I bought a flat scratching post that has toys inside.  He likes to sit on it and sharpen his claws.  Has he played with the interior toys?  Nope.

I did buy him a collar with a bell.  Although he's less clingy than he was yesterday, he still likes to follow me around.  The bell helps me keep track of him.  It's a pretty blue, the color of his eyes.

Papillon

The newest member of the family

For 16+ years I lived with Oscar, the cat.  His kidneys were failing and I had to have him put to sleep in December, 2014.

So, I decided to adopt another cat.
There were two reasons - one, I was missing having a cat (not all the time, but quite often).  Two, I've been noticing evidence that I might have a mouse in the house.  Not good.  With that, I decided to head off to a local pet adoption event.

There I found Siwa, a 5 year-old Siamese flame point.  We're still getting to know each other and have been doing a lot of lounging around the house this afternoon.  I'm not entirely reconciled to his name.  I looked it up and it's the name of an oasis in Egypt.  It just sounds a bit twee as a cat's name.

There's stuff I'm still getting used to.  I was startled at his drinking habits.  He's capable of drinking from his water bowl like a regular cat.  However, he also likes to drag his paw through the water and lick the water off it.

He's been kinda stand-offish for most of the afternoon.  I can't say I'm surprised.  One habit that does startle me is when I walk around the house.  He follows me almost like a dog and demands attention.  It's kinda weird because he'll sort of ignore me - until I start walking, then I'm his best buddy.



I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow for a wellness check.  I think he's a bit overweight, but will see what the vet says.


Papillon

More odd weather

As mentioned in earlier posts, Albuquerque is officially high desert.  That means we do get rain, but not just in large amounts.

July and August are considered to be 'the rainy season'.  June is normally considered to be the 'dry' summer month.

Which made yesterday's weather both surprising and welcome.

I'd noticed clouds moving in for most of the afternoon.  And then I heard the thunder.  Yippee!
Later on, I noticed it was raining.

More yippee!



The forecast doesn't look promising for the rest of the week, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Papillon

Confusion

Albuquerque exists in an environment known as high desert.  High as in being a mile above sea level.  Desert as in - not a lot of precipitation on a yearly basis.

That said, this has been one wet month of May.  It started raining yesterday and has been intermittently doing it right up until about mid-afternoon today.  Then the clouds moved off (mostly) and the sun came out just in time for sunset.

Whatever blew through also blew in some cooler temperatures.  Normally daily highs in mid-May are in the upper 70's.  Today, the high was forecast to be in the low to mid 60's and I'm not sure it got up that high.  I had to turn on the heat this morning.  Not very high, but enough to take the edge off.

The weirdest part has been the snow in the Sandias.  I tried to take a photo around noon, but the clouds had rolled in and looked to be dropping another light layer.

All this while the vegetation around town is still doing the spring thing.  Notice the green in the lower fifth of the above photo.  Or this lovely bush, I think it's called Spanish Broom.

Later the clouds pulled back a bit.  You can see small areas of snow at the top of the mountains and just below the clouds, if you squint a bit.

Tomorrow it's supposed to start warming up a bit.  And we might get more rain later in the week.
Either 1939 or 1941 are the wettest Mays on record.  If we keep going the way we have been, we might just beat the record.  Considering how recently the state was listed as being in a drought, any and all rain is welcome.

Papillon

It's All Happening at the Zoo

It's been years since I went to the Albuquerque zoo so I decided to go Friday morning (yesterday).  I thought - it's a work day and a school day so it'll be quiet and uncrowded.

Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha!  Snort!  Smacks hand on desk!  Ha, ha, ha! 
(Excuse me while I take a short break.)

Okay, I'm back.  (Brief episode of low-level giggling.)

After you re-read the first paragraph, I'm sure you can picture the look on my face when I pull up in front of the zoo.  Not only is the parking lot FULL, so are all parking areas within walking distance.  And there looks to be most of the school buses in the Albuquerque metro area, plus a couple from Santa Fe.

Needless to say, I promptly put the zoo in my rear-view mirror.  I had NO desire to be trampled by large hordes of very short barbarians.

This morning I woke up and the thought occurred to me.  Saturday morning is generally when crowds of parents and children converge on the park near my house to do whatever sport they do.  If they're all at the park, then they can't also be at the zoo.  Shall I try again?

I decide to go for it and was very pleasantly surprised when I get there and note that the parking is only about half full.  There were numerous people there, but it was not nearly as crowded as on Friday.

When you first get to the zoo, you're greeted by a rather contentious group of flamingos.  They seem to spend half their time eating and the other half bickering with each other.  (Notice the ruffled feathers on some of the birds.)

Here's a cougar who was kind enough (bored enough) to pose for me.

 

This tiger came out, took a look at us and walked back indoors.  I know there's a dark spot on the wall behind him.  No, he's not urinating, it's a spot that's being repaired & hasn't been painted yet.

His behavior was mimicked by the zebras.  They walked out, looked bored and walked back indoors.

The sea lion on the other hand seemed to be having fun posing for all of us.

 

Finally, here's the zoo's baby giraffe.  I'm not sure how old he is, but he's a cutey.  He was very curious about me at first, then decided eating was more fun.

All in all, I had a pleasant time and left just as the parking lot was beginning to fill up.  Timing is a good thing.

Papillon

 

Chocolate and Roses

This evening I got home a bit later than usual.  Why?  Well, it involved chocolate and roses and not in the way you think.

At work they will periodically offer classes to employees that are not related to work.  Tonight's class was on using chocolate modeling clay.

Chocolate modeling clay?  Yep.  You read that right.

Apparently someone somewhere decided to see what happens when you melt chocolate and then add some vegetable oil to it.  You then let it sit at room temperature for a couple of hours and you then have edible modeling clay.  Obviously it's hard to dye it if you use brown chocolate.  But if you use white chocolate, dye away.

You can use the clay to make most anything you want, similar to how you use fondant.  The teacher said ultimately it doesn't get as hard as fondant, making it easier to eat. 

Here are the results of my class.  I think I've got them in the order that I made them.  If not, sue me.

 

I'd like to thing I got better as I went along.

It was fun and I may try my hand at other projects.

Papillon

More Snow

One month after my last post, here I am posting about more snow.  For a state that's been in a drought for several years, we've sure been getting a bunch of moisture lately.

It started Thursday night as you can see from the park out back.

This made Friday morning's commute an annoyance.  Fortunately, work allowed us to come in 2 hours later than usual.  As usual, there were a whole lot of idiots who were driving as though the streets were dry and clear.  Sigh.  Not surprisingly, there were a whole lot of accidents.  I was NOT one of them.

The middle of the day was snow-free.  However, I noticed the weather radar showed another band of snow was forming up west of town so I took a couple of hours of vacation and headed home.  I doubt I was missed since there were only about a dozen people in my whole office building.

It started snowing again about halfway home.  Fortunately the streets were damp but clear which made the afternoon commute much easier than the morning's had been.

Overall, it wasn't a 'vicious' snow storm.  It was more like a dripping faucet as opposed to a gushing one.  However, even a drip over a long time adds up.  Desultory snowing over 8-10 hours does add up.

From the snow on the wall, it looks like we got about 3 inches of snow.

And it looks like one of the local critters hopped around the front of the house. 

I know they're hard to see, but the sun wasn't out and I couldn't get good shadows.  The trail looked like it hopped across the driveway and hung out under one of my bushes for a while.

Not surprisingly, the neighborhood kids seem to be having fun in the park.  Last time several built a snowman.  I wonder if we'll have more being built this weekend.

Well, the street in front of the house looks to be mostly clear and it looks like things might be starting to melt a bit.  I may be able to get out and run my errands.

Papillon