2023 - What Kind Of Wonderfulness Will This Year Bring?

 January 1

We got tons of snow, yesterday, after a prediction of 100% chance of rain. I went out to shovel it seven times to try to keep ahead of it. We failed to notice the canopy on the patio early enough, wo it filled up with snow. We were worried all night that it would break. This morning, Bill got on the ladder and released one corner of it, to let all the snow fall off. 

We went for a walk this morning, to enjoy the beautiful neighborhood. 

The kids are coming over tomorrow for Kathy's birthday. We are making pizza and salad, and we will serve the apple pie that we didn't serve for Thanksgiving, along with a bourbon chocolate cream pie because Kathy doesn't like apple pie. 

We just booked a small getaway with Brian and Monique at Grass Valley for the weekend of January 27 to 29, in a cozy cottage. If the weather cooperates, we will be able to spend some time together without either of us having to make the whole drive to get to the others house. 

January 2

Today, Kathy is 49! We weren't sure if we would be able to have the dinner tonight, because Bry has been house sitting at Lake Tahoe, and we weren't sure about her driving home in snow. But, Rommie said the road is clear, so tonight is a go. The pie crust is ready, the apple pie waiting to be baked, the sauce s made for the pizzas and we are looking forward to a fun evening with the kids. 

We had such an enjoyable time with the kids for Kathy's birthday 4dinner. The pizzas were a big success

Kathy's personal chocolate cream pie

It was simply a fun time for visiting and laughing. 

January 21

It has been a pretty quiet few weeks.  We've done a lot of reading and we've played games a few times.  Mostly we huddle under blankets to keep warm.  The low temp has been in the teens, with the high in the very low 30s.

We went to Urban 8 Winery for Susie's birthday and had a wonderful time.  It was very loud but we enjoyed the music and we danced a few times with Susie, Chris, Charli, Nick, and his new wife Alissa, who is friendly and fun. Bill danced a slow dance with Susie and then he surprised me by coming onto the floor to dance with all of us - fast!

For Anais's birthday, we went to Murietta's for dinner. We made a wacky cake and everyone came over for dessert, including Brenda and Phil. It was another fun night. We got Anais  mystery puzzle with a black cat on the front, but the puzzle isn't a cat.  You have to solve the mystery while putting the puzzle together. I hope it isn't too hard. 

Our cruise is only a little over one month away.  We have bought several things for it - dental repair kit, just in case a filing falls out,  money belts,  eco laundry sheets, and a few other things.  We also ordered $190 worth of Euros.  I made a chiffon jacket, using the one I bought from Amazon. I used fabric that I've had sitting in my fabric storage bin for several years. 

We bought a rug for the area next to the couch because it has been so terribly cold.  It adds a nice touch to the room. 

February 4

We've been trying to exercise at the pool as often as possible, but the water is sometimes so cold that we don't want to swim. Also, trying to keep busy.  On February 7, we will be volunteering at a Wine and Paint event for AARP. We are going to go to the Valentine's Dance at the Villa on February 10. Dan will be singing and there will be dancing and desserts. We have an appointment to get our taxes done by the AARP people on Feb 13, so we will be able to get any possible return before the cruise. We are going to see a play, called A Fish Story, at a new theater in Sparks on Feb 20. The cruise is only 24 days away, but the time is going very slowly.

We have had Sam and Squeege for the past week, and they will be here until next weekend. Tomorrow, Heidi will arrive, and then on Monday we will get Fox. So, we'll have four dogs for the next week. 

A couple of days ago, I couldn't find the barbell that I put against the door in the hallway, to keep Sam and Squeege out of our room at night. It was lost for several hours, until Bill stepped out into the yard, and found it in the snow. Hmmm. I wonder how it got out there.  

February 8

The AARP event at Crafted Palette was lots of fun. The man who runs it, David, is quite the entertainer. 

February 12

Only 25 days until the cruise. We went to the Valentine's dance at the Villa on Friday. It was really fun. Bill told the man who teaches line dancing that we will be there on Thursday for lessons, so, Yay!!!  

We went to Great Basin Brewery with Bob and Patty on Thursday. The food was delicious and they gave me the large fish portion instead of the smaller one which I had ordered. That worked out because we were able to have leftovers for dinner the next night. 

February 26

We leave for Florida in 8 days!  

We've had a busy week. Monday night, we went to see a play called A Fish Story. It was pretty good. The RAT theater is layed out so that all seats are good. We sat in the front for the first half, and then moved to seats a bit further away because we felt way too close to the actors.

Thursday, we went to meet with Mitch at Morgan Stanley to discuss our investments. Everything looks good. We bought 200 shares of Carnival stock and I sent the proof of purchase to Princess, to see if we can get $250 on board credit for being stockholders. 

That night, we went to the line dancing lessons at the Villa. Al is a good, patient teacher. I did alright, and Bill gave up early. Al sent us three links so we can practice for the next lesson. I have done the practice a couple of times and I'm going to try to get Bill to do them with me. 

Friday, we went to the social at the Villa. There was a good variety of food. Bill made pecan mini muffins, which were delicious. There were around sixty people there. 

Yesterday, we stayed in because there was quite a lot of snow that fell Friday night. It has already melted and we are expecting rain and/or snow for the rest of the week. 

March 4

The Reno Aces did a Hospitality Menu Tasting and Partner Mixer Saturday, March 4th from 11:00am to 2:00pm. As part of AARP Nevada’s sponsorship with them we were invited to be guests, which meant that we didn't have to do any work! We had a good time with Bob and Patty L Teixeira. The food was good, and we were in a nice little bar/restaurant that was much warmer than the rest of the stadium. We were all glad that the event wasn't held outside in the wind and snow.

April 9

We returned from our Spain cruise on April 5. We are still sick but feeling much better than we were. It is such a shame that the last several days of the cruise were marred by being sick. In spite of that, we still had some fun on those last days. Our time in Spain and Amsterdam was not what we expected, but it was an experience that we won't forget. The trip is 2023 - Spain Cruise.

May 3

Surprise! Spring is over. We woke up to snow this morning, after reaching 87 last week. That's just crazy. 

Bailey left us a cute note, along with two tropical cups and a dish towel for our homecoming from our trip.

My birthday has come and gone, and the only thing we did with anyone was go out to dinner with Kurt and Susie. They took us to Red Robin and gave me some cute patio dishes with matching glasses and a picnic blanket, which we will use on the patio furniture. 

The kids have already gone  on their first camping trip of the season and they were lucky that the weekend they went had nice weather. 

We went to the ice cream social at the Villa in mid April. We had a lot of fun, and the sundaes were really good. The entertainment was Karaoke, but mostly we sang along with the performers, so I enjoyed that a lot. Bill and I went to the end of the month social at the Villa last Friday. The food was pretty good, and we had a good time visiting with Patty, Sue, Tina, and Arvin, a man who sat next to Bill. They had a lot to talk about. 

Our coughs are finally almost gone, but we didn't feel well until well into late April. Dr. Makenzie gave us antibiotics and I guess they worked their magic. 

We had some nice weather last week, so we got a lot of branches and yard debris cleaned up, and Bill cleaned the sunroom gutter. It wasn't too bad this time, because the stuff wasn't wet, so it scraped out more easily than the last few years. 

The yard is starting to green up a little bit and we have a few flowers that have bloomed. 

We went for a drive to Boca and Graeagle last Saturday. As we were leaving, we saw an ambulance at Bob's house, so we stopped to see what happened. He was mostly feeling weak from not eating or drinking, so the paramedics hung an IV from the ceiling fan and told him to keep his appointment with the urgent care that afternoon. They said his vitals were good. Of course, he didn't keep the appointment, but, Patty said he was feeling somewhat better yesterday. Boca is full for the first time in a couple of years, from all the snow in February and March. The drive was nice, although there weren't very many flowers or any other special sights.  

Truckee River

Boca

W have had a new dog, Lucy, since April 22. She will be with us until May 17. She is doing well now, but she was a real pain for the first few days. She cried a lot, especially at night. I gave her tranquilizers for the first three nights so we could get some sleep. She has adapted to our habits, but she still has to go outside around 2 or 3 AM, and she won't use the dog door, so I have to let her out. We found out that she hates the rain, so I have to go out with her on a leash and wait while she makes up her mind where to go. I hope the rain goes away soon. We had a meet and greet with two dogs a couple of days ago. The dogs were together in the yard with us right there, and Lucy and one of them got into a fight. Nobody saw who started it, but the other dog is small, and Lucy left a small puncture on her elbow. They were very nice about it but they did cancel the upcoming visit. Hmmm. 

May 21

Lucy was picked up a day early. She turned out to be a good dog, accept for the part about not liking rain. She learned to go outside by herself, and she only had to go outside once during the night after the second week. 

Last Friday, we took care of Biscuit and Nala/ Biscuit is old, a little bit grouchy, and has to take a lot of medication, and Nala is young and very friendly. We only had them for one day and night as a trial for their upcoming stay of several days. The parents, Hiroko and Floyd were so happy that everything went well. They left us a $21.00 tip on Rover, which made the medicine issue much more tolerable. 

Saturday, we went to Leslie Ramsdell's house for a surprise party for Christie and Cliff. It was a lot of fun, and Christie was totally surprised. Cliff knew that something was brewing, but he kept it to himself. Julianne and Craig were there, as well as a few other people we had met many years ago at some of Christie's parties, so we had lots of people to visit with. Leslie's yard is a perfect yard for a party, with views of Sparks. 

Sunday, we met the Browns, the Houcks and Tony and Anais for dinner at Great Basin Brewery for Tony's birthday dinner. It was a surprise for him, and he acted all mad, but he had a good time. We gave him a fob to open the gate so he won't have to use the code any longer. 

Bryanna and Jace were there, as well as Bailey. Jayce graduated UNR last Friday, and Bryanna is home for a few weeks before she has to start work in Athens, Georgia. Bailey will be leaving for Germany on June 8 for a few weeks. She is pretty excited. 

 

 

June 21

 

Bill's brother, Mike, died last Friday. He has been in poor health for quite a while, but we didn't know that he had been put on hospice, so it was quite a shock. Gail died eight months ago, and Mike has really missed her. Seth called us on Friday morning to let us know, and he mentioned that there will be a service. We said we would go to it. But, after lots of thought, and on the advice of Bill's doctor, we aren't going to go. Bill has been having severe leg cramps, and sitting on airplanes and in airports for up to 12 hours, is not something that would be good for him. We will send a donation to a cause that Mike supported. I talked to Bonnie on the phone, and she and Gene aren't going to go, either. 

 

We took care of Max several days ago, for ten days. During that time, we got a request for boarding for two sisters. We had them come over for a meet and greet with us and Max, and everything seemed to go well. But, when the dogs came over, one of them, Quinn, took a dislike to Max, who is a total sweetheart. Max didn’t retaliate but he was scared, and stuck close to us. Quinn and her sister, Finn, were very sweet girls, except for that. We tried to work it out, and I wrote to the parents, who suggested that we separate them. Our house is small, so that wasn’t a practical idea. We got through one night, and in the morning, the behavior was still happening. They decided to come to get the dogs. The man came in and didn’t say one work to either of us. He just put the leashes on the dogs, grabbed the food, and left. So much for that. I put in a cancel booking order at Rover, but today we received the pay for the whole stay. I think that will need to be reversed, because the dogs only stayed for one night.

 

Tony spent several days with Colleen in DC taking care of Aunt Laura's house and furnishings. They made a lot of progress toward cleaning it up. It has been very messy for years. Tony sent a lot of things home for Bill to sell, and we'll put the money in her account for her expenses. We went over to their house last evening to see their new toy. Wow! 

 

A couple of weeks ago, we were invited to go to the home of Nick and Kathy, a few houses north of us on Palermo. We enjoyed talking with them. Molly, who leads the chair yoga classes and Bob and Patty, and another neighbor, Mark, were there. We would like to get to know them better. 

 

On Monday, we drove to Davis Creek, Mexican Ditch and Lake Tahoe, just for a getaway. We were going to go to Tahoe City, and back home via Truckee, but the traffic was backed up for miles between King's Beach and Incline, so we chose to take Mt. Rose Highway. We stopped at Olive Garden for a delicious dinner of soup, salad, bread sticks and pasta. 

 

We are going to the Villa BBQ on Friday night. They always have the same food, and it is kind of boring, but we'll be able to visit with lots of people who we have met in the last year. 

 

The house is decorated for the 4th of July, and we have our menu for dinner all planned. We are just having a few people over - Patty and Bob, Patty and Dan, and Kathy and Nick. After dinner, we are going to play games, and when it gets dark, we will be able to go to Jan's house to watch fireworks. 

July 6

The party was fun. The dinner was excellent, with beans, cucumbers with cream cheese and tomatoes, and macaroni salad to compliment the hot dogs and hamburgers, which Bob grilled to perfection. Patty brought the jello and pretzel dessert, and I made cherry crumble and apple pie, so there was plenty to eat, 

Bill started feeling icky just as everyone was leaving, so we didn't go to watch the fireworks with everyone else. He has been coughing for a couple of weeks, even more than the regular cough that we have both had since the cruise. We went to see Dr Mackenzie yesterday morning for the cough as well as severe cramps that Bill has been getting. His diverticulitis has also flared up. He sent Bill for blood work and a chest x-ray. We made an appointment to visit the gastroenterologist but that won't be until next week. 

July 11

Bill felt much better the day after visiting the doctor. He is still having unexplained cramps, so we need to find out what is going on there. We have two dogs, Riley and Beatle. They are good, except, they don't respond to any commands, so when Riley stands next to the couch staring at Bill, it is very hard to get him to go away. They are also food stealers, so we have to be sure to keep all food away from the edge of the counter. Riley stole several of his treats because I left them too close to the edge. 

We were going to go to the Toscana Carnival on Saturday  Patty said it was so much fun last year. But, we got a notice that it has been cancelled due to extreme hot weather being expected for several days. We hope it will be rescheduled. 

We are going ahead with our plans to go to Arnold, California with Monique and Brian on July 28. It should be a relaxing getaway. We were planning to drive from there to Canyon Country to visit Joline and Bill, but he isn't feeling well enough for that, so we will come home and enjoy a few dog-free days. 

 July 12

Bill had a follow up visit with Dr. McKenzie today. His cramps are from drinking too much water and not having enough salt. His coughing is caused by his blood pressure medicine. So, both are easily fixed. Yay!!! 

We're going to swim this evening, for the first time in over a week. We haven't wanted to leave Riley and Beatle home alone. They will be going home by 5 today. 

July 21

I just got home from a pretty fun time at Pizza Plus for Patty's birthday. I took Tina and Kathie with me, and Laurie, Rose, Leslie, Linda, Patty, and Barbara met us there. The buffet was $12.99 so I had a large salad which was quite good. The pizza was good, as always, but the service was poor, as the pizza was brought our one at a time and we never knew what kind it was going to be. It was fun talking with everyone. I really like Leslie, who I had never met before. 

Kahlua was with us for eight days. She started out to be a problem dog, because she is very timid. She pooped on the sunroom carpet the first morning, after we went to bed the night before and left the back door open for her. But she soon came to like and trust us. She loved lying on the couch between us and being petted. Lon and Roberta have already booked a stay for her for Sept 25 to 29.

We have been having a problem with yellow jackets. When people came over to pick up rocks from the front yard, they were being stung by the pests who were living inside the water box. I put up a sign to warn people, and I called the TMWA. Surprisingly, they sent out a man right away to help. He opened the box and removed the nest. Clark Pest Control will be coming out on Monday to spray so they don't rebuild. 

July 30

Bill lost his wedding ring about a week before our trip with Brian and Monique. After looking for several days, we went to Helzberg Jewelers to buy a new one. The next day, he found his ring in the trunk. He came in to me on the couch wearing it, and put his hand on mine, saying how cold his hand was. I didn't even see the ring at first! We cancelled the order for the new ring and went to Michael's to have it resized. They said they couldn't resize it because it had worn too thin on the back, so he had it repaired. The repair was almost $400, about the same price as the new ring, but now he has his old one back and in good shape. It fits so it won't fall off again. 

We had our weekend getaway with Monique and Brian at 878 Hibernation in Arnold, Calif. We drove through Markleeville on Rt. 89 and then took Rt. 4 to Arnold. The road was very narrow, with a steep drop off in a lot of places. Though the speed limit was 55 for most of the way, I did between 20 and 40 because of the hairpin turns and the road being so narrow. It wasn't very much fun, although the scenery was beautiful. We decided we were going to find a different route for coming home. The trip of 150 miles took a little over four hours. 

The house was nice and pretty comfortable. There is only a couch in the living room, which seems strange because, with four double beds and a twin, you'd think there would be enough comfortable seats for at least eight people. After the pain of dragging all our stuff down the stairs to the house and getting settled, we had a great time. Friday evening, we planed games after a dinner of cheese bread from Schat's Bakery in Minden, and Ramen Chicken Salad. For dessert, we had homemade apple pie with whipped cream. 

Our complaints were that the stairs from the parking spaces to the cabin were steep. If someone who is disabled were to go there, they would not be able to get down to the cabin. Also, there were no dish towels and no large plastic glasses. We realized we should have taken our own.

Saturday morning, we were all up by 8 and had the breakfast casserole I had made with fruit and coffee cake. We went to the Calaveras Big Trees Park, just about five miles from the cabin. It was a beautiful place, and we had a good time walking on one of the trails and exploring the beautiful trees as well as several trunks that had been uprooted. It was hot, so we didn't last long. 

We went back to the house for snacks and rests. In the late afternoon, we played games. Brian cooked tri tip and Monique made a salad and corn on the cob. Dinner was perfect. After dinner, we played games, including Five Crowns, Point Blank, and SkipBo until almost 10, when it was dark enough to go out to look at the stars. It was very dark on the deck, and we sat for about a half hour talking and watching. 

We slept in the downstairs bedroom the first night, but didn't get much sleep because the double bed was very small for us, as we are used to a king. So, on the second night, I slept in the second bedroom in my own double bed, We were much more comfortable and slept very well. Brian and Monique had the upstairs loft and they, too, slept one to a bed. Even so, Brian is so tall, that he wasn't very comfortable with his feet sticking out the bottom. 

This morning, we got up early, again. After talking over coffee for a little while, we packed up and checked out. We went to the Bistro Espresso Cafe for breakfast. It was pretty good, and we sat outside in a nice, shady spot. We left about 10:30. We drove southwest on Rt. 4 to 49 and took that north to Rt. 88 to go back to Gardnerville. The road was wonderful, and we passed lots of beautiful lakes.  

Some of the devastation from the resent fires.

This was a lake we saw from a view point so we don't know what lake it was. 

 We drove to the lodge but didn't go inside.

These two are Silver Lake which was at the Kit Carson Lodge. 

We stopped at a few of them to walk around and take pictures. We got to Sparks at 3 pm and stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings for an early dinner so we wouldn't have to fix dinner tonight. So, it took us about five hours to drive home, even with all the stops we made, because we were able to drive much faster on the way home. 

August 28

Bill's 74th birthday at the Villa. 

We lost a wonderful man last week. Bill, Joline's husband of almost 40 years died. He has been fighting colon cancer for several years. We were going to go there for his memorial, and so were the kids, but Joline said she didn't want us all to make the trip. Instead, she is coming to visit us on Sept 9. She is feeling good and she is excited about the trip. Cyndi, Terri, and Debbie have been such wonderful, loving support for her throughout this whole ordeal. 

Bill's birthday was last Friday. I got his a cake at Costco, as a surprise, and Bob brought it out at the social Friday night. Everyone sang to him. We had a fun night. Saturday, we went to Kyle and Leanne's open house. They moved from Stead to Sparks a month ago. Their house is very nice. They want to get together with us and some of the other people at the party, to play cards. Now that they live closer, we would enjoy that. Last night, the kids took us to Red Robin for Bill's official birthday dinner. Then we went to Tony's house to talk and have cake. It was lots of fun. Tonight, we are going to Kurt and Susie's for another birthday dinner. Tomorrow we will take the day off. 

We took Aunt Laura to a mini-luau at Cascades. She enjoyed the music and said that she had always wanted to go to Hawai'i but Denis wouldn't take her. 

We got the front yard almost finished.

Bill helped me to remove the huge bush under the pine tree. It was a real bear to do. After cutting it back as much as we could, we dug it out. The area looks so pretty. I don't know how hard it will be to keep the pine needles raked up, though. We will see. 

Two weeks ago, Bill had to swallow the ghose camera to make sure it went through him. In three weeks, he will have the camera endoscopy to find out if there is anything going on in his intestines. 

The Mystery Dinner Play was August 12. We had a really good time. Karen and Diane were at our table. Our server was Gail, who we met at Kathy and Nick's house a few weeks ago. Her husband is Mark. They are nice people. 

Our garage sale was on August 19. What a disappointment! We sold almost nothing. We did get rid of a lot of stuff, but most of it was given away to a salvage company after the sale. We don't want to have any more garage sales. 

September 4

My rant from a couple of days ago.

Regarding student loans. "Here she goes again," you may be thinking. I'll keep this short. If you legitimately borrowed money for any reason, car loan, house loan, or loan to go to school, it is your responsibility to pay it back. Loan forgiveness shouldn't be a thing. Get a job or two and make your payments. Period. Sacrifice if necessary. Give up your fancy $5.00 a day Starbuck's habit. Wait a few years to buy the car of your dreams. You should make the payments, not your parents. I think that the plan of charging no interest for those who make their payments every month is a great way for the government to help. I know it's hard to get started after college. But not living up to your responsibilities is not a good way to start adulting. It just sets a precedent. Nobody in the future is going to come along and forgive your home loan, or your car loan, or your astronomical credit card bill, that got so high because you didn't know how to save in order to buy the pretty things you just can't live without. When you graduate college, you are old enough to be a grown up. So, act like a grown up and pay your debts.

All reactions

We have had rain for two days. Tomorrow the rain is supposed to go away and it will be hot, again. We have enjoyed it, and wish it would rain here a bit more often. 

Sept 9

We took Rocky over to visit Aunt Laura last week when he was staying with us. She loved having him on her lap. So, yesterday, we took him over to see her again. 

She held him on her lap for over an hour.

Friday night, we layed Mini golf at Wild Waters. It was the 1st Toscana Open. We had a very good time. 

Sept 13

We had such a fun visit with Joline. She got here Saturday evening and we took her to the airport at 4 pm today.  We had Ramen Chicken salad for dinner on the patio and sat outside until 8 pm.  Then we introduced Joline to Five Crowns. She liked the game. We played until almost bedtime and watched about  half hour of a Smugglers then went to bed. 

Sunday, we went to Lake Tahoe. Jennifer and Rich paid our way into Burnt Cedar Beach. Such a beautiful place!

We stayed from 10 am until a about 12:30. We just sat in chairs in the shade and enjoyed being together. Then we drove to Tahoe City to visit Fanny Bridge for just a short time.

From there we drove to Clio and stopped at Anais and Tony's campsite, and then finished the trip with dinner at Gumbas. Delicious. When we got home, around 6:30, we played cards before watching a few minutes of TV. Then off to bed. We were all tired from our busy day.

Monday, we made an apple pie in the morning, before going to Legend's Casino so Joline could play slots for a little while. We had a really fun time. She won over $100.00 and we won $200.00. None of us wanted to leave, but we had to get home because Micky and Maxine and Patty and Bob were going to come over for wine at 2. We had a good visit with all of them. Patty loved Joline. Dinner was at Tony's house. Kathy and Rommie took all the ingredients for tacoes, nachoes, and burritos. Everything was wonderful. After dinner, we sat outside for a few hours. We had apple pie before moving to the firepit. Just before we left at 9, we all saw the Starlink sattalittes. The highlight of the night was when we first got there. Tony took us our on his new side by side. What a blast. We bounced around so much, but the seats are so comfortable and the car is made for that, so none of us hurt at all. 

The next day, Kathy and Bailey came over to take us to Legends Bay Casino for breakfast. Joline treated us, and we all enjoyed the meals, except, our steaks were way overcooked. After breakfast, we drove to Washoe Lake to look for horses. We found some at the south end, but they weren't close to any area we could get to. We had a fun time anyway. After Kathy brought us home, we watched Joline's movie, The Great American Traffic Jam. It was a pretty lame movie, but she and her car were in it, so it was fun to watch. After the movie, I got the idea to go to Lockwood to see if we could find some horses. We took all her stuff for her flight and we left. We found two horses standing by the road. I wish we could have been mobbed like we have at other times, but at least we found some. We took pictures and Joline enjoyed being up close to them, It was too early to go to the airport, so we came home and played Five Crowns for 45 minutes. We dropped her at the airport a few minutes after 4 for her flight. We enjoyed her visit and hope she will come back soon.

Sept 17

We found out on Wednesday morning, that Gumbas was on fire. The fire started early that morning, and the restaurant, along with Village Bakery, was a total loss. It was fortunate that the fire didn't spread to other buildings or to the surrounding forest.

Arson is suspected.

On Wednesday, we volunteered at the Planetarium for Game Day. It was a huge flop because only one person who had signed up actually showed up. But we had fun anyway, and we played a game of scrabble with Joan, one of the volunteers and the guest.

After that, they showed us a short program about the upcoming solar eclipse. It will be in October, but will only be a partial. There will be another one on April 8. It will be the last total eclipse for our country for 30 plus years. The path of totality will go through Texas. We have decided that we d so we can experience a total eclipse. Road trip!

Thursday was Movies For Grownups. The movie was My Big Fat Greek Wedding III. It was a lively and entertaining movie. We're glad we watched the first Greek wedding movie last week so we understood many of the nuances that we might have missed otherwise. 

Friday was Paint and Sip night at the Villa. David had asked Bob if we were going to be there and Bob told him we weren't. David said he wanted us there, so we went to watch. We ended up helping with serving wine and food. We had a very good time. 

The next day, we had two dogs, Rocky and Sophie, so we spent the day at home.

|Tony came over in the afternoon, and told us about the Human Trafficking Prevention Alliance. It is a non-profit that he has formed with a woman named Janet. He said he has long been interested in the problem and he wants to do something to stop it. Kathy is on his board of directors! We are so proud of them for trying to make a difference. Other names associated with the HTPA are Operation Underground Railroad, and chat GPT. I have wanted to see the movie, The Sound Of Freedom, and now we will make sure we do, because it deals with trafficking. 

There is a play at the RLT, that I want to see. A Facility For Living.  I hope to be able to go to in next weekend. 

Sept 29

We enjoyed our evening out with Tony and Anais. We went to the India Pizza With a Twist. The food was good, but it wasn't a sit down and order type of restaurant. We had left plenty of time to have dinner and not be late to the play, but we were done very early. We went to the old Shopper's Square, which is now called the Reno Public Market, It is filled with overpriced food shops. There is one store with pretty gifty things, that are also overpriced. We drove over to the old Park Lane Mall. We got to the play a little after 7 pm so we didn't have too long of a wait. The play was funny, about old people who have to live in care homes that used to be federal prisons. 

On Sunday, we took Abby to visit Laura. 

00

On Monday, Bill had his endoscopy. After he swallowed the camera, we came home so Kahlua could be dropped off. We went to the market and then spent most of the rest of the day at home. At 3 pm, we went back to Reno Diagnostic Center to have the monitor removed. We went to Sasquatch for dinner. We loved it. The food was delicious and the prices are unbelievably low.

We plan to go back. 

I went to lunch at Los Compadres with Patty and Tina on Tuesday. We were Patty's guests for a Medicare presentation. The presenter only talked for a few minutes so we had a nice lunch. After lunch, Tina came over to play Rumikub with Bill and me. We went swimming in the evening. I didn't even let Patty know, because she has been in such a foul mood. She isn't much fun when she is that way. 

Kahlua is such a sweet dog. We would like to have her here with us more often. Crowley and Kona came over on Thursday (yesterday) and she was very timid at first, but she got used to them and she even played a little bit last night. 

Wednesday, we went out with Tony and Anais on the side by side. We had such a fun time. We went up into the hills to the east of Spanish Springs. We hiked into Griffith Canyon and saw a few petroglyphs. It was hot so we turned back before we went all the way to the good part, but I had trouble making it back to the car. 

We planned to go to the Toscana Social tonight, but Kahlua won't be picked up until late and we don't want to leave the three dogs home alone, so we aren't going to go. 

Game night at Kyle and LeeAnn's house was cancelled for tomorrow night, I am disappointed. 

October 8

The Tahoe getaway is coming together nicely. We only have nine days to go. Jackie is really going to eat up the peace and quiet and not having to prepare separate meals for Jennifer. Jackie asked me to look for a restaurant with a great view and great food, so I did some searching this morning, and sent them several choices. Patty and Bob are going to join us for a day of games and dinner on Oct 18. 

We had Crowley and Kona, doodle dogs, here for nine days, and they were good dogs except for the incidents of diarrhea on the carpet. We've gone swimming a couple of times in the last few days and we are going to go today at 3 pm to meet with several of our friends. We've been working in the yard, just a little bit at a time, because the big fall dump is just around the corner. 

Last night, we went to the Villa to listen to Dan's music. Patty and Bob, Tina, Karen and Diane, and Diane from the pool sat in our group.It was a nice warm night, and we had a good time.  

I got some new, free, plants from the Facebook group. Seven of them are elephant ear plants, which are big and very pretty. I gave Tony and Anais three of them and I have one for Kathy and one for Bob. The other ones are unidentified, but very nice. One of them is about five feet tall. 

Bill is making brownies for our Tahoe trip. We will prepare the pasta casserole the cheesecake and the chicken pot pie sometime next week. 

October 12 

We have had a quiet week, so far. It rained on Tuesday and we have gone swimming three times, all inside, since Sunday which was the last warm day. We have done some yard work, including cutting down the volunteer tree that grew in front of the swing four years ago. It was getting too big, Of course, we didn't take any pictures of it. 

The roses are blooming like crazy and it looks like they will be able to continue for several more days. 

Lake Tahoe With Craig and Jackie Oct 17 to 20

We had fun getting together with Craig and Jackie, as we always do. John came with them on the trip, and Jackie said she hadn't seen him have so much fun since he lost Linda. 

The condo was not at all to anyone's satisfaction. It wasn't clean. There were two flights of stairs inside to get to the bedrooms and "living room." And we had to go down 10 rickety steps to get to the walkway to the condo.We took the bottom bedroom with John just above us, but there was a window over his bed that looked right down on our bed, so that was creepy. John is partially blind so I don't think he could have seen us, but still... Jackie and Craig and Kala took the bedrooms on the main floor. The only comfortable place to sit was on the middle floor, where there is sort of a living room with a couch and love seat. The dining room table, where we ate, played cards and sat to talk, is about eight feet long and has 10 hard chairs for sitting. So the place just isn't comfortable at all, 

The creepy window

Bob and Patty drove up to spend a few hours with us on Wednesday. Originally, they were going to be there for dinner and spend the night at a hotel, but they decided not to do that because Bob was worried about Patty's vertigo. 

Om Thursday, we went to Harveys, so ackie and Craig could play some live poker. We took two cars, so we could leave early, because we knew we wouldn't want to stay as long as they would. We didn't know that the cost to park for one to three hours was $25.00. We were there just over one hour. When we got back to the condo, we had a snack and then sat on the walkway in our lawn chairs to read.   

  That was nice but it got cold early, so we went inside and read, still on our chairs, until they got back. 

 Jackie was having breathing problems due to the altitude, so she wasn't able to go out to do anything, like hiking or even riding to see the Baldwin and Pope Mansions or Taylor Creek. Then they found out that Jennifer had to go in for surgery on her leg for a possible tumor. That, along with the condo being so disappointing and her breathing, made them decide to leave on Friday morning. 

They left for home on Friday morning, and we could have stayed for four more days. We moved from the bottom bedroom to the two upstairs rooms, but the beds there weren't any more comfortable.  After they left, we had breakfast, and then went out to explore. We headed for Taylor Creek to see the salmon.

At Taylor Creek, we found an interesting sign about the how snow monitoring stations work.  Right next to the sign was a monitoring station so we could see the way it worked.

Winter Snows

BECOME SPRING FLOWS

Using monitoring stations similar to the one before you, Snow Surveyors

can predict the annual water supplies created by melting snow.

Predicting your WATER SUPPLY

The SNOTEL equipment includes a snow pillow precipitation collector, deptli sensor and imperature gauge, With data readings In these devices, NRCS Snow Surveyors predict water supplies or potential flooding produced by the melting snowpack.

The NRCS operates 16 sites in the Lake Tahoe Basin and over 700 sites throughout the western United States where water supplies are dependent upon melting sws

Snow Pillow

Precipitation Collector

The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) operates snowpack telemetry sites and snow courses. At these remote sites, snowpack levels and weather conditions are monitored year round. The snowpack telemetry equipment (SNOTEL) transmits data using meteor burst technology.

Each day, the snow pillow measures the weight

of water in the form of snow resting upon it.

There was a trail with a lot of people in the area, so we felt safe walking around the area Just as we got back to the beginning of the loop, we found out that three bears had been spotted on the other side of the creek, only a couple of hundred feet away, so we went to look. The ranger was just arriving, and was yelling at people to get back on the trail, because several of them had gone down to the creek for a close up look. We got some pretty good shots of the bear mom and her two yearling cubs,

 

After that, we drove partway to Fallen Leaf Lake, and got some pretty fall shots, but we decided not to go all the way, just because there weren't many people there, and we didn't want to get out of the car without any bear protection. We didn't want to run into any bears without a creek between us and them. 

We went to Camp Richardson and the Tallac Historic Site. Unfortunately, the tours ended Oct 1, but we were able to walk around the mansion grounds and that was fun. At Camp Richardson, we were thinking about getting a drink at the restaurant, but it was way crowded. 

We walked down to the beach and out on a pier before heading over to the Tahoe Keys, were we saw another bear in a driveway.         

              

We went back to the condo, and played Hand and Foot for an hour before dinner. We had the salad and pasta that I had taken up for dinner with Bob and Patty.  We went to bed around 8 only because we weren't comfortable on the chairs any longer.  We slept badly, so, we decided to head home on Saturday. It was a pain, having to carry all the stuff down the stairs and then back up to the car, but we did it without either of us getting hurt! The drive home was nice and we were greeted by Bailey and Kahlua. 

November 2

We had a little bit of Halloween fun. We went to the Toscana Social Friday night, There were lots of good costumes. I was a witch and Bill wore our old pumpkin shirt, old, but still like new, since it seldom gets worn. The food was pretty good.  

Halloween day, we went to Cascades to take Laura to the Halloween party. There was a singer, who was very good, and that was enjoyable. We stayed for an hour, and left her with one of her "friends" who promised that she would help Laura to push her button when she wanted to go back to her room. Laura was not in a very good mood, so we were glad to be able to leave early. 

After a small bite of dinner, we took homemade banana bread over to visit with Tony's neighbor, Mark and some of his other friends. There were lots of families out for Trick or Treat. It was nice to see everyone having fun. 

November 18

We got a fun Halloween card with a lovely message from Bryanna, which I have put away with the things to keep, It's always so special to hear from the girls. 

Since Halloween, we really haven't done much. We had Sam and Squeege until November 9. They are good dogs, but so needy for our attention. We saw Laura a couple of times, and on November 5, Colleen was here for a family dinner at Cascades. It was fun to visit with Colleen. We had her over for dinner on the 7th, and it was very enjoyable. We are going to go to her house in St. George in March to house sit while she and Kurt go on vacation. We will stay to visit with them for a few days after they get back, and then we will go on to Texas to see Rollie and Donna. 

The dinner went ok, but Laura snapped at Tony for something as we were gettng her settled in her room, and he left without saying goodbye to her. Unfortunately, she does that a lot, but she doesn't notice when she upsets him,   

Tony was sick for a week after the dinner so we haven't seen him since the 5th. We've seen Kathy and Rommie a couple of times. They brought over some blankets for the dog bed project. 

We went to see some horses, yesterday, because I had a pumpkin to give them. They really weren't interested, though. They came over to the car, just for a look at us. I know we aren't supposed to feed them, but I figured that pumpkins can be found in the wild. I was surprised that they didn't start eating them right away, I know the zoo animals like them. Gary stopped by for a visit yesterday, for the first time in several months, He was full of stories, just like he always is. We went to the Toscana Social last night, and had fun, as usual. I talked with Sue, my old friend from the 80 for a few minutes, and she said we should get together with Bill and her husband, Dave, to play Rummicub and Five Crowns. I think that will be fun. 

Cracker Barrel finally opened a couple of weeks ago. We stopped by last week after a doctor visit for a very late breakfast. The wait was about a half hour, but the meals were delicious.

I was surprised that the price of the food seemed pretty reasonable. The parking lot is horrible, though. They didn't think that aspect our very well. We saw Bill's gastroenterologist, Barbara, who said everything looks good. But, they want to check out one polyp so he has to have an endoscopy. They couldn't schedule that until January. It takes so long to get things done. He also has to have an ultrasound.  

November 24

We had Thanksgiving with Kathy, Rommie and Bailey. The dinner was delicious as always, and we took a bourbon pecan pie. It was good, but I though tthe bourbon was a bit strong, so we are going to eliminate that ingredient in the future. We watched football, talked, and watched a comedienne, who was very funny. Bryanna Facetimed, so we got to talk to and see her and Jayce for a little while. Another fun day. 

November, 29, 

We went to Dave and Sue Lanigan's house for Rummicukub and dessert. We enjoyed the evening, and we discovered that we have been playing the game a little bit wrong. The next day, Bill and I played the right way, and found that it is more challenging. We will continue to play the correct way.

Dec 2,

There was a Reveal Party at the Villa. The decorating committee had decorated the tree with $2000.00 worth of ornaments. The tree is pretty, but $2000 is crazy. We had cookies and other Crristmassy goodies afterward, talking with friends. 

Saturday, Dec 9, 

We went to a party at neighbors and clients, Elain and Arvid's house. They have a group called Second Saturday, where they get together to eat and play games once a month. They opened the Christmas gathering to several people who aren't in that group. We hadn't met most of the people, but we made some new friends. Nick and Kathy, Sue and Dave, and Diane, all of whom we know, helped to make us feel part of the group. We had a very good time, and the food was good, They had hired two ladies to clean and serve the food so they were able to enjoy visiting with their guests instead of being stuck in the kitchen. We took a chocolate pecan pie, which was a success. Diane played the piano and several of us sang along. That was lots of fun. 

Dec 15

Friday night, we attended the Christmas house tour followed by refreshments at the Villa.  It was fun to see ask the beautiful decorations and to visit with several friends. 

We had a very good time, and, Bill told me after the gathering, that we have been invited to join the Second Saturday group. We are going to do so. 

Dec 16

We visited Aunt Laura with Kahlua yesterday. She was not in a good mood and it was lunch time so we didn't start long.  She told us that she has given up on trying to keep up with Colleen, who seems to have several different men in her life.  I'm going to call Colleen today to give her a laugh. (I did call Colleen, and she thought it was hilarious.)

Last night we went to Bob and Patty's Christmas party. Besides us,  they had,  Tina, Dave and Laurie, and Linda Brahaus, who we have met before.  She is very hard of hearing so it was hard to converse with her.  They did a lot of work to make the party great.  Lots of goodies,  including Patty's famous deviled eggs and delicious ham sliders. Their house was decorated beautifully. We made a chocolate pecan pie and wrapped hot dogs. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't plan to post anything about the party on Facebook so no other people would find out and know that they weren't invited. 

December 17

Domani was supposed to come over today. He has a high maintenance dad, who sent videos about how to feed him and give him treats. The dog only drinks Japanese water. 

Here are the texts that were exchanged.  

"Good morning, John. We are going to be taking care of Domani for Brian. Bill and I are wondering if you can tell us the approximate time you will be bringing him over today.  ....Billie"

"Good morning Billie . My trip got canceled so I can take care of Domani until Brian gets back tomorrow . So I won't be bringing him by today . Thank you "

I wrote to the dad, Brian.

"I wrote to John this morning to see if he could give us a time of arrival for Domani. He just wrote to tell us that he is canceling the booking. We made special accommodations for Domani by not accepting three other dogs for today and tomorrow so Domani would be comfortable and safe in our home. We love dogs, and taking care of them is our livelihood, so this last-minute cancelation is costing us quite a lot of money. We are very disappointed."

Brian called me a few minutes later to say that a medical emergency caused the cancelation. He apologized and said he is going to come over when he return from his trip to pay us.But, he also said that I an not an understanding person, and that if it was him, he wouldn't take the money!  So that's good news. (We received a check a few days later, along with a note..."Billie, Hopefully you will consider maybe watching Domani for a day sometime for this money, It would be greatly appreciated. Brian,"  After telling me that I am not an understanding person, he still wants me to take care of his dog!

December 19

Bailey came over in the morning for breakfast, of bacon, eggs, biscuits and fruit. It's always so much fun being able to just talk with her.

She is leaving today for Florida to spend some time with Germaine's family. On the 23d, whey will be going on the Carnival Freedom for a five night Caribbean cruise. We are very excited for her. Bryanna and Jayce will be driving to Longview00000000000000000, Texas to spend Christmas with his family. I'm glad they have somewhere to spend it, rather than being alone. 

In the afternoon, we went to the Sparks Galaxy theater for Movies For Grown Ups. The movie was Wonka, which I didn't really want to see, but Bill and I both ended up enjoying it. Patty and I worked in the theater to make sure people were able to get seats. We only had 93 people and there are about 12o seats, but the front row seats are popular. We had an incident, which I wrote about to Justin this morning, I sent a coy to Bob.

Good morning, Justin. I'm sorry that I didn't get to say goodbye to you yesterday. I think the movie was a success. 

My phone call to at 1:50 PM might have been difficult for you to understand due to the noise in the theater. The person, who I have found out is an AARP volunteer at the dance studio, with William, came in and started up the stairs to find a seat. I could see that she was wearing an AARP badge but I had never seen her before. I told her that I was sorry, but here were no seats available except in the front two rows. She immediately started yelling at me, in front of several patrons, that she is an ambassador and she can't sit in the front! She wanted to know why we didn't save her a seat. I tried to explain that we were only able to save seats for the volunteers who were accounted for, but she just kept yelling that she needed to have a seat and that she had been working the venue. Patty was there, and she too, tried to explain that we only saved seats for volunteers who were on the list, and she yelled at Patty that she was on the list. She then announced loudly, that she was going to sit on the stairs and she proceeded to go up several rows and sit on the stairs. I told her that is a fire hazard and the theater wouldn't allow anyone to sit there. I really tried to keep her calm, since we were in full view of AARP members but it really got out of hand. I asked her to talk to you, and said that maybe you would have a solution. She stormed off and encountered Bob at the bottom of the stairs. I don't know what was said at that point. She left and I haven't had a chance to talk to Bob about it. She went into the lobby and encountered Bill at the door where he was stationed. Without him asking her anything, she yelled at him, "There are no seats left!" Bill said, "No seats? There are only 90 people registered. I'll help you find a seat," She yelled, "There are only front row seats. I can't sit there!" She stormed away toward the lobby. And that was the last we saw of her. 

Her rude attitude and actions reflect poorly on the rest of the AARP volunteers, who go out of our way to be professional and kind. I wish I had been able to deescalate the situation better. I understand that she was disappointed not to be able to watch the movie, and I'm sorry it happened. ((Justin responded with an apology for her behavior. He said he spoke with her, and she apologized.))

On a lighter note, we all appreciated the popcorn very much and we thank you for buying it. We all thought the movie was a lot of fun I enjoyed it much more than I expected to, especially after you gave me the backstory,

Merry Christmas to you and your family. We're sure you house will be filled with joy and laughter.

Billie

Dec 20

Bill woke up this morning, feeling like he is coming down with something, He feels a bit sluggish. I hope that goes away! Thank goodness, whatever was going on went away, and he is fine. 

December 25

We had a calm, quiet Christmas morning at Tony and Anais' house for breakfast. We had all of our tradition Christmas breakfast goodies - Monkey Bread, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, bacon, and Anais even cooked Laura a pancake. We had planned on not exchanging gifts, but Tony and Anais gave out a few things. Rommie got a really nice brown flannel shirt. Bill got Harley sunglasses. Kathy got a Miller's Outpost hat and I got a framed pelican photo that Tony took. Kathy and I also got goodie bags with lotions, sachets, etc. Laura got a framed photo of her with a friend who owned the restaurant she and Denis used to go to.  We visited for a while after breakfast, but we had three dogs who had to be seperated due to aggression, so we left a little after 10 am. We drove Laura home, and Kathy and Rommie followed us with her wheelchair and walker. 

We're spending the day just relaxing. We are going to have meatloaf for dinner and then we are going to go to Kathy and Nick's for the evening. 

December 31

Patty and Bob came over for a pasta dinner and games to celebrate New Year's Eve. They stayed until almost 10. We had two dogs, who were both bothered by the fireworks, so we stayed up watching TV until almost 1 AM. That is the latest we've stayed up on NYE for several years.