Wednesday December 13th 2017

The weather continues to be mild for the season. It topped out in the upper sixties after a cool start around forty. As expected the sun was out all day. Since I arrived in Las Vegas at the end of October it has been sunny most days. Only a handful have been cloudy and none of them have been wet. It hasn’t rained a drop since I got here. The forecast raises a remote possibility of rain for next week. I’m not going to hold my breath.

Santa’s Elves load the sleigh for his Christmas Eve deliveries.

The day started with a reminder that I have been neglecting one of my chores. The water didn’t drain out of the shower as fast as it should. It was a clear sign that the gray water holding tank was getting full. I keep the valves for both tanks closed so that sediment doesn’t get an opportunity to build up. I usually empty the tanks when one of the gauges shows two thirds full. I must have missed my cue. There was still room in the tank for my shower, but the first task of the morning was to empty the tanks.

After breakfast I got to work on preparing dinner. I was running late, but not that late. The other day I bought stew beef so I had to brown and load the slow cooker with the meat and onions. Later in the day I added carrots and later yet the potatoes. The smell of the cooking stew was a pleasant addition to the RV during the day. It was finished somewhere around four. I over indulged, but have plenty leftover for future meals. Using the slow cooker is a new approach for me, but it allowed me to leave the RV while it was cooking. It was good and the meat was tender. So, I’m declaring success.

I went over to Sam’s Town Casino in the middle of the afternoon. Wednesdays are “Young at Heart” days. Anyone who has been on this earth more than half a century qualifies for a few promotions including a drawing for cash. I spent my entertainment budget for the day in the slot machines, but didn’t win anything from the slots or the drawing.

The casino was more alive today than it has been on past Wednesdays. The National Finals Rodeo has a lot of people in town. The main lounge has been closed on past Wednesdays, but today it hat a country band playing. There were a lot of cowboy hats sitting in the audience listening to the music. The event ends this weekend so next week will probably be dead again.

Tuesday December 12th 2017

Last night was the first night that I felt cold in the RV. Just before dawn I had to either add another blanket or turn on the heat. I’d been getting away without having heat overnight up until this morning. I turned on the electric space heater and added another layer on the bed. The outside temperature of thirty nine wasn’t the lowest I’ve seen this fall, but the inside temperature of forty five may have been.

After turning up the heat, I went back to bed. Somehow I remained warm and comfortable way after my normal morning start time. Once I did get up the day pretty much followed the same pattern slow and lazy. I watched a lot of TV and took several walks around the RV park, but never ventured off the property. The setting sun starts to be a real issue around three in the afternoon. Most of the places I would go are to the west of here. The roads head right into the setting sun. Even with good sunglasses the glare makes the drive in heavy traffic very difficult. The cars are big enough to see in the glare but the people on foot are much harder to spot. It causes me to think twice before heading out late in the day.

Christmas Snoopy has replaced the Frosty the Snowman blow-up that didn’t make it through one of the wind storms.

Here at the RV park the population continues to fluctuate. Most of the remaining monthly residents won’t arrive until after the holidays. The travelers arrive in waves for some reason. The park will have quite a few vacancies for a few days then go through a period of heavier occupancy. It doesn’t seem to follow any obvious external reason like weekends or events in town. We are in a period of heavier occupancy right now. In addition to the states of Florida, Texas and South Dakota made popular by full time RVers there are license plates here from most of the West Coast from Alaska to California. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario Canada are also popular provinces here. I’ve seen scattered visitors from the east coast states of New York, Vermont and Massachusetts. Other east coast states have probably been here, but these caught my attention. Most of the travelers stay for a week or less. My guess is they are heading for the truly warm areas of southern Arizona and California. They stop in Las Vegas to get their gamble on or to see a show.

Looking out the entrance road to the RV park just after sunset at 4:30pm.

Monday December 11th 2017

The weather in Las Vegas is in a nice rut. The temperature gets down into the thirties at night and peaks in the sixties during the day. These daytime highs continue to be above normal.

The big task for the day was resupplying the kitchen. I made a big grocery run to the Super Walmart in Henderson NV. The pictures in this blog post are from yesterdays visit to the center of the Las Vegas Strip.

Tunnel to the north pole at the Bellagio Conservatory.

Christmas tree in the Caesars Palace Lobby.

Christmas tree display in the Crystals Mall.

While I was negotiating the thick crowds along the Las Vegas strip yesterday, I had a lot of thoughts about my fellow pedestrians. Some of them good, but most of them total puzzlement. I suspect that the behavior is totally different than their normal daily behavior. I saw lots of different characteristics.

• The most common annoying behavior is the groups of three or more people that travel abreast slowly down the sidewalk. If you are behind them it is impossible to get by without rudely knocking them over. If you’re heading for the group from the other direction, they rarely move over. Usually you have to force your way between people or stop in your track and force them to go around you. Do you think they drive similarly?
• A variation on the slow traveling mob is the group that stops dead in the middle of the walkway to have a discussion. Why can’t they move to the side of the sidewalk? Everybody following has to stop or dodge around them. The worst variation on the stopping scenario is the people that stop at the top or bottom of an escalator. Stopping for the people coming behind them is not an option. I always worry about pick pockets or snatchers in these situations.
• Another annoying behavior is the person that suddenly changes direction. They always seem to forget to look around before turning into the path of others. Laser vision and confidence that everyone will get out of their way seem to be the thought process.
• Then there is the pedestrian that is in a hurry to get somewhere. They seem to weave in an out of traffic often cutting others off in the process. Sadly, I’m often in this group.
• Cell phones introduce another class of walkers. A phone to the ear holding a conversation as they walk produces a totally unaware pedestrian. This is accentuated when the pedestrian is doing something like texting on the phone.
• I didn’t encounter many parents with strollers yesterday, but they can be a real danger. What I did see yesterday were parents holding there kids hands while they hurry along. Some of the parents seem to forget that the child can’t move as fast and also takes up space. One mom holding a little boys hand passed a traveling group so close that the boy was dragged into the back of one of the groups members. Again I wondered about the kid being a pick pocket. He clearly wasn’t in this case.

In general I don’t think people exhibit the same level of patience and aggression when walking in crowds. There is a time for both. The biggest thing about these crowds in particular is to be aware of your surroundings. If you want to look at the sights step to the side of the walkway, preferable with your back to a wall and look at the sights from there. The same applies to decisions on what direction to go.   END of RANT.

Sunday December 10th 2017

Today started cold. It was just above freezing this morning, but it still got up to the high 60s before dark. The mercury is diving again tonight.

A little after three this afternoon I drove up to the Las Vegas Strip. I had a ticket for the 7:30 Reba with Brooks and Dunn show at Caesars Palace. This was the last show of their December series as part of their residency at the Colosseum. I went in early to pick up my ticket at will call, see the new Christmas display at the Bellagio Conservatory and have dinner.

Colosseum theater a few minutes before the show was scheduled to start. Notice all of the guys with cowboy hats.

Reba McEntire with Brooks and Dunn during a slow number. The band was taking a break.

The show was about ten minutes late getting started. All of the cowboys in town for the National Finals Rodeo were slow getting to their seats. It really seemed like a third of the audience arrived at or after the 7:30 start time. Once it got started the show ran for two and half hours. They started as a team. Then Reba McEntire left the stage for Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn. After a few Brooks and Dunn hits, Reba came back for a few of hers. They continued to alternate and team up for the next two and a half hours straight. In addition to their hits they threw in a few Christmas songs. I really enjoyed the show, but not as much as some of the fanatics. The jumping up and down with hooting and hollering by some folks in the audience was extreme at times. A few people even gathered in the aisles near the stage until they were “asked” to return to their seats by the ushers.

Before the show I took a few pictures of the Christmas display at the Bellagio Conservatory. The theme this year was Polar Bears. It was very crowded so I didn’t get many good pictures, but here are some of the better ones.

Flower covered elfs working at the North Pole.

Flower covered polar bear.

Polar bear and Ice Princess.

Polar Bear cub getting in trouble.

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Christmas tree with and Elf hanging more ornaments.

Overall, I find the Christmas Decorations at the center strip casino hotels disappointing. I’ve been to Las Vegas during the Christmas season many times over the last twenty years. While it has never been over the top, it is usually more striking than what I saw tonight. There didn’t seem to be anything outside, just small trees, wreaths or garland adorned some areas inside. Even the Bellagio didn’t have much other than in the conservatory.

Saturday December 9th 2017

It was a few degrees warmer today. The temperature peaked out at seventy degrees this afternoon. The daily high temperature doesn’t last long since it occurs shortly before the sun starts to set. The short amount of daylight is a real limiter to the warm weather.

I took a drive to the other side of the valley today. My destination was the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It is about thirty miles and several hundred feet of elevation away. Traffic wasn’t too bad most of the way, but as I got onto the single lane road approaching the heart of the Red Rock Canyon area the traffic got heavy. Almost all of the traffic was heading for the Red Rock Canyon Scenic Drive. I’ve been on the drive when it was a solid line of traffic around the whole loop and this looked even more congested. Serves me right to visit on a Saturday. I decided to put off the scenic loop drive until a week day.

Some of the rock that gives the canyon its name.

I stopped at the scenic viewing area along the main highway. It provides a good view of the whole canyon area from a distance. Sometimes you get lucky and see a wild burro or two from there. Today wasn’t a lucky day, but I got a few good pictures of the colorful rock formations. While I was there a Pink Jeep tour arrived to board their pink jeep. The tourists were brought from Las Vegas in a mini bus so they weren’t exposed to the elements in the open jeep until the last minute. It was kind of funny really.

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The traffic on the trip back across the valley was much heavier than the trip out. I got stuck in stop and go traffic on the highway in downtown Las Vegas. The intersection of Interstate 15, Intestate 515 and US95 has been under construction for a few years and will be for a few more. It is right in the middle of the downtown area making the task of getting through the area difficult.

Friday December 8th 2017

The weather was very much on my mind today. Here in Las Vegas it was a seasonal normal or slightly better than normal day. We had lots of sunshine with a high temperature in the low sixties and no wind.  Overnight it was in the low forties. It was the weather in other parts of the country that got my attention.

A reminder that this is not a cold weather area.

Before hurricane Harvey wrecked havoc on southeastern Texas, I was doing to spend my winter in San Antonio. That area got up to five inches of snow yesterday into last night. The temperatures weren’t much below freezing, but none the less it snowed. That same storm is moving east. It will impact the east coast tonight into the weekend. My friends and family in the east are going to get their first winter storm of the season. The folks in Florida are even gearing up for freezing temperatures. Right now this is the right place to be. All that could change at a moments notice. I’ve been in Las Vegas between Christmas and New Years when it snowed.

In this rig I can easily handle the conditions I’m likely to get in this area. If it gets into the fifties during the day and doesn’t get colder than the low 20s at night, very few special considerations are necessary. If it is going to be below freezing overnight I will turn off the outside water and drain the hose. My inside tanks get warmth from the RV furnace so they won’t freeze. If the outside temperature is forecast in the twenties, I’ll put a hundred watt light bulb in the outside wet compartment to help keep the water filter and lines from freezing. If it’s that cold, the furnace will run all night set somewhere in the fifties.

Generally the day time sun warms the inside of the RV to the high seventies or low eighties by mid afternoon. On a cloudy day I may need my electric fireplace running to keep the inside comfortable during the day. In the evening or early morning I have an electric space heater to keep the temperature in the comfortable range. I can also use the heat pump in my air conditioner to warm the inside, but its efficiency is hurt by cooler outside temperatures. I only turn the propane furnace on when it is absolutely necessary. It produces a lot of heat, but half of it goes out the vents to the outside.

People who live in RVs in the northern climates during the winter do all kinds of other things to insulate the RV. First, they skirt the outside to keep the wind and cold out from under the rig. The next step is to add electric heat tape to the water input hose and the tank drain lines. Extra insulation and condensation control inside comes next. Last but certainly not least is bulk propane to keep the furnace running. Just because I have an idea how to do it doesn’t mean I want to.

Thursday December 7th 2017

Today’s weather was a repeat of yesterday. The high temperature was a cool start to the day with the high in the mid sixties. I took advantage of the good weather to return to the Wetlands Park for more photography practice with my new camera.

The park is about three miles away from my RV park. It is a nice place to get away from the paved parking lots and back to nature. Today I explored some areas of the park I hadn’t visited before. There is still plenty of park I haven’t checked out yet. Every week the park takes on more of a winter configuration as the cold kills off some of the reeds and grasses around the ponds which exposes more open water. I’m enjoying exploring the park.

I continued to experiment with the long lens today. The primary lesson learned was when I need to take manual control of the focus. If there is anything nearer to me than the subject in the field of view the camera will not focus where I want it to focus. To overcome that I’ve got lots of choices from changing the method of auto focus to total manual control of the focus. So far I’ve just tried changing the aperture with mixed results. I took over 70 shots. Thank goodness for digital cameras. The film cost would be outrageous. Some of the better pictures are included in this blog entry.

Auto focus locked on the grass in front of the duck.

This duck swam up to about 6 feet away.

This turtle turned on the rock to face me.

I’m king of the rock!

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There was something making noise in the reeds, but I couldn’t see anything.

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Can you find the bunny rabbit?

Looking at the mountains to the southwest.

One of the tree lined paths at the Wetlands Park.

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Coming home from the park took an extraordinary long time. I had to go through two school zones with children being let out. The first was an interesting exercise in dodging the buses. The second was an elementary school that seemed to have more walking students than buses. The florescent yellow green vested crossing guards might protect the students, but they sure did a number on automobile traffic. They attempted to coordinate their activity with the traffic lights, but only proceeded to prevent all traffic turning right from ever getting through the intersection. Then again if they weren’t there the kids would never get home from school. I guess I’m surprised they don’t bus the kids for their safety. It reminds me of my era or earlier, not today’s safety and security conscious society.

Wednesday December 6th 2017

Today started out cooler than Tuesday but ended up a little warmer in the low sixties. The wind was much calmer too. I took advantage of the nice sunny afternoon to get some more experience with my new Sony Alpha 6000 camera.

I took the camera and the 55-210mm lens to the Wetlands Park for some practice with the longer lens. I took about 40 pictures of various things. The wildlife was a little less visible today than on past visits. I suspect the overall cooler temperatures are keeping the birds back in the reeds. I continue to appreciate the speed of this camera. The time to compose, auto focus and expose is much quicker than my point and shoot. I almost got a good stop action shot of a duck landing in the pond. The sun angle combined with my slow reaction time didn’t help the shot, but I wouldn’t have had a chance with my point and shoot. The following are some of the pictures I took.

The color on the turtle is much clearer than a similar shot I took last month with my point and shoot camera.

Mountain to the east of the Las Vegas valley.

The green color of the reeds really stands out behind this duck.

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This is my attempt to catch the ducks landing. I didn’t really get the camera aimed in time and the sun is in the wrong place for a good shot.

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On the way back to the RV park I stopped at Sam’s Town Casino for the senior day gambling. On Wednesday’s people over fifty can earn more points, participate in a drawing for cash or free plan and get cheap to free buffet meals. I didn’t win anything but I did get a free dinner buffet out of the visit. The buffet was good, but I didn’t find any vegetables until I was ready for desert. My dinner was prime rib, a hamburger, a baked potato and some dressing. I’m pretty sure the carrots I saw on my way to the desert station weren’t available when I made my first pass. For desert I had chocolate cream pie not vegetables. Overall a very good dinner.

Tuesday December 5th 2017

The temperature got down into the high thirties last night. It will get even lower tonight since the insulating cloud cover disappeared during the day. Getting up this morning into a cold motorhome was a real challenge. I rolled over under the warm covers and went back to sleep a couple of times. When I finally got up it took some time to warm up the RV. It slowed down my morning even more. The outside temperature peaked in the mid fifties, but the north wind made it feel a few degrees cooler.

According to the TV weather people this is a little below normal for this time of year. It compares to a late October day in the Northeast. The average highs and lows won’t get much lower while I’m here. In the grand scheme of things this is great weather. It’s about what I expected when I decided to spend the time in Las Vegas. What is hard to get used to is the change from the mid 70s weather that was the norm until this week.

I pretty much stayed at home today. It was a household chore kind of day. I did a little clean up here and a little picking up there throughout the day. The dirty dishes in the kitchen sink got turned into clean dishes ready for the next meal and the trash got bundled up and walked down to the dumpster at the end of the road. On a good day all that would take an hour. Today I managed to get it done in six. I used most of the available daylight hours. As I mention earlier, it was a slow day.

Here are four more pictures from yesterday’s visit to the Ethel M Chocolate and Cactus Garden’s Christmas lights.

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Monday December 4th 2017

The cool weather has arrived. It didn’t get out of the mid fifties today. The cloud cover and the wind made for a raw day. Inside the RV it was comfortably in the seventies with a little help from a space heater. I reserve the furnace for the real cold. That may come tomorrow morning. There is a freeze warning for much of the area.

The big event for the day was a visit to the Ethel M Chocolate and Cactus Garden Christmas display. After spending the afternoon doing some shopping in Henderson NV, I stopped at the cactus garden. It is a real gem hidden in an industrial area. For Christmas they cover all of the cactus with lights and add a few other Christmas scenes like wire frame reindeer and snowmen. It is a real dense burst of color in the middle of the chocolate factory buildings.  Walking along the paths of the garden you are surrounded by Christmas lights. I went crazy with my point and shoot camera and my cell phone. I’m going to include more than a few pictures here to try and convey the volume and depth of the lights. It really is beautiful.

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