Sunday February 9th 2020

The cold front arrived earlier than originally forecast. Friday the prediction was for half a good day on Sunday. By Saturday night, Sunday was going to be cool and windy. When I woke up this morning the wind was blowing and there were more clouds in the sky than blue. As the day went by the clouds increased and the temperature never passed the mid fifties. It was about fifteen degrees cooler than Saturday.

The gloomy weather made me want to stay in and vegetate, but the TV programming told me to get out of the RV. The Academy Awards pre-shows started at 10AM in the Pacific time zone and the sports programming on the other networks didn’t drag me in either. I spent most of the afternoon visiting casinos and stores in the area. It was pretty much an indoor hike separated by a little driving. I didn’t buy anything in the stores and I left the casinos quickly enough that I didn’t loose any money. I came away from the afternoon with some entertainment from people watching in the casinos and a few ideas on things I should buy from the stores.

I was going to stop at the Wetlands Park on my way home, but it was too cool and raw. I didn’t even take my evening walk around the RV park, I just closed the blinds turned up the heat and settled in front of my computer and TV for the evening.

Saturday February 8th 2020

The weather today was another small incremental improvement from the day before. The temperature peaked around seventy under a full sun. Hopefully tomorrow will be nice before the transition back to Las Vegas winter weather moves in.

Today was another day of leisure, which is just another way of saying I was lazy. I read and sipped coffee for much longer than I knew. Around two in the afternoon I was brought out of my reading by the arrival of a new neighbor. The site on my front passenger side has been used as a transient site since the monthly resident departed in the middle of December. The site was empty for a couple of days before today’s tenants arrived.

It is interesting to speculate about all the new arrivals. This set was a little confusing. They were taking a lot of time to setup and were doing things in an odd order and less than efficient ways. This is often indicative of people new to RVing. On the other hand, they had lots of older hoses, cords and blocks. In fact, I think they got them all out before they were finished setting up. I’m guessing they are experienced RVers with a new trailer on its maiden voyage. I may never know for sure. They got into their truck and left as soon as they finished setting up and I don’t expect them to be here long.

This evening the rising full moon got my attention. I spent more than a few minutes trying to take pictures of the moon. A few of the better ones are included in this blog entry.

Friday February 7th 2020

The weather continued to improving today. It was a calm, sunny day with the high temperatures in the mid sixties. Tomorrow is forecast to be a little better, before the bottom starts to fall out on Sunday afternoon. The possibility of rain in the valley and snow in the mountains is part of the weather threat.

Today was a day full of minor water oriented calamities. The first started with a sink that wouldn’t drain. My first thought was that my holding tanks were full. That was wishful thinking since it would mean an easy fix. Unfortunately, the problem persisted after I drained the tanks. I found a length of stiff wire that I could use as a snake and started to work on the problem. The wire couldn’t turn a right angle about a foot from the drain and still provide enough leverage to clear the clog, so it was back to the drawing board. A quick run to Walmart for a three dollar plunger and I was back in business. I got the clog cleared and everything draining successfully. What caused the clog remains a mystery.

The second minor calamity was simply spilled water. Putting my dinner plate on the table I knocked over my water glass. Sixteen ounces of water and ice spilled onto the table, the credenza cabinet front and the carpeted floor. A few minutes with paper towels and a sponge and I got back to eating. When I sat down I found another spot the spilled water accumulated. I sat in the middle of a nice puddle of ice water. The water on the chair got cleaned up by the seat of my pants. After a wardrobe change I finally got to eat my dinner.

I took two walks around the RV Park for exercise. The good weather was evident throughout the park. More people were outside their RVs sitting or working on one thing or another. At the pool for the first time in a long while I saw people in the water. There is still only one bush in the park with flower blossoms, but today it had a lot of visitors of the bee variety. My second walk was at sunset. There wasn’t much beauty to tonight’s sunset, but in the other direction the moon was rising in the sky. It will be full tomorrow night.

Thursday February 6th 2020

The temperature was down in the thirties again last night, but it managed to warm up into the low sixties this afternoon. The next couple of days are forecast to be above normal before the temperature crashes again on Sunday afternoon.

This afternoon I was in the area of the Ethel M Cactus Garden. It was a perfect opportunity to see the Valentines Day lights on the Cacti. The only issue was it gets dark later than I though. I got there just before 5PM and had to wait half an hour to get the full view. During that time I wandered through the garden, but paid more attention to the airplanes in the landing pattern overhead and the setting sun to the west.

Once it was dark enough the red, white, pink and purple lights on the cacti really stood out. It isn’t as heavily decorated as it is at Christmas time, but they still decorate most of the trees and bigger cactus. The number of wire frame light displays is smaller. Instead of reindeer they have unicorns for Valentines day, but the same peacocks they use at Christmas are on display in a different area for this holiday. I spent an additional half hour wandering through the gardens taking pictures after it got dark. They never enticed me into the building to buy any chocolates, so I guess I’m a bad visitor. Never the less I enjoyed the decorated cactus garden.

Wednesday February 5th 2020

The day started cold. The temperature got down below freezing overnight. The bright sun with the assistance of very little wind allowed the temperature to climb to just over fifty. It was about two degrees warmer than yesterday, but still almost ten degrees cooler than the norm.

Once again my day started slowly. I didn’t sleep well last night. Shortly after I got to sleep I got a new neighbor across the street. For some reason the motorhome arrived after 12:30AM. They woke me up and kept me awake for most of the next hour as they got set up. I never really got fully committed to sleep. Around 5Am I was listening to people departing for the start of the work day. Somewhere around 8AM I turned the heat up before I got up nearer to 10AM than I would have liked.

This afternoon while I was out of the RV park I stopped at the Clark County Wetlands park to get some exercise. The mid week day and the cooler weather kept the number of people in the park down. I only saw a few people while I was walking the trails. In their place I saw a few of the more shy members of the wildlife family. I saw a couple of rabbits and the elusive road runner. Getting a picture of the fast moving bird is a challenge, but today I had some success.

The only downside to today’s excursion was the trip home. I got caught in the traffic from a school getting out and the end of the shift at the water treatment plant and public works. It took about twice the normal time to get home. I should have spent another half an hour wandering around the wetlands park.

Tuesday February 4th 2020

Today was a slight improvement in the weather department. It was still windy, but the temperature improved by a couple of degrees. The high temperature for the day was just under fifty or about ten degrees below the average for the day.

I had a reasonably productive day for a change. One of the tasks I needed to accomplish before I began this years travels was getting a new set of tires for my Honda CR-V. The current set have over eighty thousand miles when you combine the towed miles with the actual driven miles. The front tires were also showing signs of alignment issues. I stopped at the Firestone Service Center with the intent of getting an appointment. Three hours later I left with four new tires and an alignment.

While I was waiting for my car, I got my hair cut at the Great Clips in the nearby strip mall. I look like a human again. The last time I got my hair cut was in Oregon. It had grown to a length I haven’t seen since my college days. I just haven’t been at the right place at the right time since I got to Las Vegas.

I didn’t get back to the RV park until after dark. Getting sunset pictures was out of the question, so I took a picture of one of my new tires to illustrate this blog entry. Publishing a new blog entry without a picture seems wrong. The other alternative was a picture of cooking sausages on the gas grill, but I did a version of that over the weekend with the brat picture.

Monday February 3rd 2020

The weather has been the center of attention in the Las Vegas area over the last twenty four hours. Sunday’s high temperatures in the seventies gave way to highs in the forties today. The thirty degree change in temperature came with a lot of wind. There have been sustained winds in excess of 20mph with gusts up to 60mph.

Neither the sustained wind or the gusts are particularly new. I’ve experienced both in my RV home many times. The difference was the long duration and the irregular wave pattern to the gusts. When the wind started late Sunday afternoon it was out of the south with continuous gusts. As the evening progressed the gusts got stronger, my RV home shook and the awnings and roof top items rattled loudly. By bed time a new pattern emerged. The gusts died down or even stopped for periods of time. As the night continued the downtime got longer, but you could always hear the steady roar of the sustained winds. The pattern continued all night and through the day today. The only change was the wind direction. Today’s cold weather was ushered in by a north wind. It wasn’t until late this afternoon that the gusts were below the shaking and rattling level.

The inconsistent wind pattern prevented me from getting a good nights sleep. I’d get to sleep during the lull in the gusts, but the next RV shaking gust would wake me up. I lacked energy all day and even fell asleep a couple of times. My first excursion out my RV home was at sunset for a walk around the RV park. I was well bundled up against the cold, but the wind on my exposed skin was uncomfortable. Up north in similar conditions I’d be commenting on the nice sunny February day. Here it isn’t expected and down right unwanted.

Sunday February 2nd 2020

The day began calm and bright, but ended windy and dull. The bulk of the day was beautiful with a high temperature in the mid seventies. About 3PM in the afternoon the forecast cold front arrived. The wind started to blow and the clouds moved in. It wasn’t long before the wind was blowing steadily over 20mph from the southwest. As I’m writing this blog entry the gusts are rocking the rig and flapping the slide out room toppers. The overnight gusts are forecast to be as high as 60mph. It’s going to be an interesting night.

I pretty much got caught up in the Super Bowl programming on TV. It wasn’t just the pre-game and game I kept watching, but some of the creative counter programming too. Five or ten minutes of the Kitten Bowl or the Puppy Bowl were fun diversions. Watching much more would have been just a little too sweet. I also watched some of the golf tournament from Phoenix before settling in to watch the football game and commercials. The game was just OK. I would have been happier if the 49ers won, but the Chiefs are explosive. Some of the commercials were cute. I can’t say that I’ll remember any of them a few days from now.

While I was watching all of these things on TV, I finished my photo printing experiment from early last week. I stuck the 8×10 print of the picture I sent to CVS for printing into a cheap plastic frame. It looks pretty good sitting on the credenza beside my dinning table. If I continue to like it over the next few weeks I’ll give it a better frame and hang it in place of the art work that came with the RV. The other option is to print a few other pictures and try them.

Saturday February 1st 2020

I got up on time this morning, but not because I was ready to get out of bed. There was too much noise outside to stay in bed. One of my rear neighbors were getting their RV washed and my front side neighbor was leaving this morning. The lack of any real separation between sites is one of the down sides to this RV Park.

After breakfast and my morning internet reading, I was out of the RV park for the days errands. The best part of the day was a stop at the Wetlands park to visit the birds. The day was sunny and warm in the low seventies so the park was busy. Families, groups and a few other solo walkers were all over the park. I went out to the back of the park away from most of the people and sat on a bench in front of a pond with a couple of pairs of American Coots and other swimming birds. Watching the birds dive under for a piece of vegetation then come up and chew on it for a bit was a little mesmerizing.

I spent about half an hour with the coots before continuing my walk through the park. There weren’t too many other close up wildlife encounters. I saw several interesting birds in the distance and fish and turtles up close. It was a nice way to spend a couple of hours on a very nice day.

When I got back to the RV park, I still didn’t have a new neighbor. I’m surprised most of the other sites in the park are occupied and the site next to me hasn’t been empty overnight for more than a month. At least I won’t get woken by a departing neighbor tomorrow. It will be the last of the nice days for a while according to the forecast. Heavy winds and a twenty degree drop in temperature are forecast for tomorrow afternoon.