Ken & Connie Retirement Blog

Recent books read

2012-05-08T11:46:00.001-07:00

Books I Read

2012-05-08T10:50:00.002-07:00

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Daemon by Daniel Suarez

Freedom by Daniel Suarez

The Litigators by John Grisham

From The Desk of Ken and Connie

2011-12-31T08:14:00.000-08:00

Entries for the Month of September

Last Mother's Day we gave my mother a digital picture frame from Vizit.com. If you ever want a great gift for sharing your pictures with a distant relative, check this site out. Each month feature some of the pictures that I have sent to her frame. You can enlarge any of the pictures below by just double-clicking on them. Then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to the original screen. To see more of my photographs, go to http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/

SUNDAY - 09/18/2011 - I spent the morning working on my new Photography Journal blog. Connie read and did dishes, wash and ironing. At noon I headed over to the "M" to play in a another $15,000 free roll Texas-hold'em tournament. Well if must have been my lucky day. I won $150 playing live poker before the tournament and ended up getting everyone to "chop" when we got down to 20 players in the tournament and picked up another $500. In addition, I got a free embroidered jacket and they fed us with a very good variety of hot and cold hors d'oeuvres and dessert selections. When I finally got home I watched a couple of TV shows with Connie. I then called my sister Bonnie in Tahoe and had a nice long talk before heading off to bed.

Henderson Symphony Concert

SATURDAY - 09/18/2011 - We had cereal with bananas for breakfast. Connie started a new book. After finally catching up on the mail, email, paying bills and entering expenses from our week away, I began work on a new blog idea that I had a couple of weeks ago, the creation of a "Photography Journal" to chronicle my photo shooting excursions and provide a place for the picture taking information, hints, tips I collected over the past several months.. At noon we went up to GVR to play for a while. Connie lost $20, however, I won $330 in the poker room. We came home and watched the finals of America's Got Talent over a dinner of chicken Caesar salad and a side of baked beans. At 7:30 we headed out to the Pavilion up the street to see the Henderson Symphony's first concert of the season. Tonight's concert featured a violin concert and symphony by Ludwig Van Beethoven. The guest violin soloist, De Ann Letourneau, was outstanding. We got home around 10:00 pm and headed straight to bed.

FRIDAY - 09/16/2011 - We watched GMA over raspberry danish and coffee in bed. Being another beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky, we then put on our bathing suits and headed to the spa and pool. We spent two hours soaking and reading. I took a few pictures. We then went back to the room to shower and checkout. After gassing up the car for the trip home, we stopped at IHOP and had a huge late breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon, home fries, and blueberry pancakes. On the way home, just before Boulder City, we ran into the worst storm I have ever driven in. Heavy, heavy rain, hail, strong winds; so bad you couldn't see to drive. every car was off the road waiting for it to end. It lasted about 10 minutes. When it was over, the whole area was nearly flooded; the intersection in front of us had 5-6 inches of water in it. Before getting home we stopped at the library, GVR where Connie had $12 in free slot play and won $21, and the "M" where I picked up two free chicken Caesar salads at the deli. After unpacking we had one of the salads over the semi-final round of America's Got Talent before heading out to an outdoor concert - "Peace Frong" a Jim Morrison and the Doors tribute band. They put on a 1-3/4 hour long concert and were excellent. We got home after 10:00 pm and finally called it a day, heading straight to bed.

THURSDAY - 09/15/2011 - We had danish and coffee in bed over GMA. This was the first really clear sunny day since we arrived here three days ago, so we decided to head to the spa and pool around 9:00am. I stopped at McDonald's on the way and picked us up some Egg McMuffins and Sausage Bisket and coffee for a poolside breakfast. We read until 1:00pm before showering and dressing and heading out for a movie. We went to the Riverside theater and sad "The Debt" with Helen Murin. A little slow, but we liked it. After the movie we had dinner at The Prime Rib room at the Riverside. This restaurant offers one of the best dining views of the Colorado River and the surrounding mountains of any restaurant in Laughlin. After a very good meal we headed back to Harrah's where we play for a while before retiring to our room.

WEDNESDAY - 09/14/2011 - After Connie had her coffee in bed, we dressed and headed down to use our two free breakfast buffet coupons. After checking out we received $40 in free slot play which Connie used while I played in the poker room.

Connie broke even, I lost. After checking in at Harrah's, we drove down to the Colorado Belle where Connie had $20 in free slot play. After several hours of playing we both ended up loosing and drove back to Harrah's for dinner. Between coupons and points, we ended up with only having to pay for one dinner buffet. I do have to admit that, though nowhere near as good as the Vegas buffets we go to, Harrah's has probably the best buffet in Laughlin. After reading for a while in the room, we watch the new season opener of "Survivor" before calling it a day.

TUESDAY - 09/13/2011 - After a night of heavy rain and thunder we slept in a little. Connie had her normal morning coffee and raspberry danish. After checking the movie schedules we headed down to the Feather's Cafe and had a nice big breakfast. Eggs, ham, hash browns, wheat toast, and pancakes for .99 each. Oops, sorry the pancakes for $3.99 extra. The whole thing was $6 - such a deal. We went to the movies and saw "Colombiana", which we both liked. After the movie we both had ice cream cones. We went back to the room and both read our books for a while before going down to the casino to play. I ended up entering a bounty tournament and won $125. We had two chocolate donuts for dessert over the TV special on Jackie Onassis and then called it a night.

MONDAY - 09/12/2011 - I got us breakfast at Burger King which we ate over GMA. After checking out of the RIO I drove downtown to the Gamblers General Store to pick up a couple of chip holders. When we reached Laughlin we went directly to Daniel's on the River, one of our favorite lunch spots. After finishing two huge hamburgers, we stayed and watched the rest of the U.S. Open men's finals with Nadal and dejokavic. Dejokavic was the much stronger player and beat Nadal in a four set match. We then went to the AVI and checked into our room. After check-in we went to the sports lounge and watched the Patriots cream the Miami Dolphins, 38-24. We had two delicious chili dogs in the lounge for dinner before heading back to the room. After a little reading we went to bed, but had a hard time falling off due to a lot of lightening and thunder in one of the worst storms we've witnessed since moving here.

SUNDAY - 09/11/2011 - The anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks. Who can forget where they were on that fateful day. Connie and I were watching GMA, having breakfast on the sun porch in our home in Greenland, NH, just prior to me heading off to work at Allegiant Management Corporation. Obviously, as was the rest of the world, we were shocked. Being only a couple of miles from the office, I was there within 20 minutes of the first plane hitting. When I got there, several of us congregated in the president's office discussing what had just happened, when Jay's wife came to the door and told us that the second tower had just been hit. Needless to say, we were all stunned, and spend the remainder of the day discussing the events. After we finished packing for the upcoming week in Laughlin, we drove over to the "M" where I had a Hold'em tournament to play. We ended up chopping for $300.00 each. Connie and I then drove to Paris-Paris on the Strip to have the dinner buffet. Even with a 2-1 LVA coupon, this buffet cost us $30, but we have eaten here before and it is well worth it. We then drove to the RIO on the strip where whe had earned a free night's stay. After check-in we watched some TV before retiring for the evening.

SATURDAY - Spent a couple of hours making some changes to categories and the home page on my photo gallery site. It was only 78 degrees this morning, so I then went out to the pool to read while Connie did wash and watched the Semi-finals of the US Open. Around noon I came in and heated up some frozen snack food to nibble on over the Federer and djokovic. Around 1:00 we had some brief rain and several bursts of thunder, a rarity for these parts. We were rooting for Roger, who was up two sets to luv, but ended up loosing the next three straight sets in a very close five set match. We then went over to the "M" and then back to GVR where Connie ended up winning $10.00 on her $12 free slot play. Unfortunately it was a loosing day for me in the poker room. Came home and watched a PBS special on the building of the 9/11 memorial and the new 1,776 foot One World Trade Center tower.

FRIDAY - 09/09/2011 - Couldn't sleep well, so I was up at 4:00 am and started working on creating pages for yesterday's hike on my Photo Gallery blog. Check them out here ... Daytrip To Mt. Charleston. I then got ready to head over to the "M" for the first play-off round of this month's $33,000 free-roll hold'em tournament. Good news and bad news. The bad news was that I got knocked out in 33th position out of 180 players, three positions off the moey. The good news is that they drew 9 names from all those knocked out for a special $2,000 "Loosers" tournament for this Sunday (9/11) and I was one of the 9 names; so I still have a shot at getting some money. I am also in a $15,000 the following Sunday (9/18) with only 50 players. Came home and made turkey sandwiches for dinner, watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows and went to bed and read before calling it a day.

Cecropia Moth Caterpillar

THURSDAY - 09/08/2011 - It was up at 5:30 am and over to the Senior Center to catch the van for this morning's hike to Mt. Charleston's Scenic Loop drive. We made five stops for short hikes along the way with the last one to Little Falls being the toughest. When I got home I made us some turkey sandwiches to eat over our latest Netflix installment of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". We then watched Federer beat Tsonga in the semi-finals of the U.S. Open. I got some good pictures and spent the latter part of the evening deleting and cleaning them up for posting to my Photo Gallery blog. One of the more unique pictures was of the moth on the right. As it had been a long, hard day, we both went to bed relatively early.

WEDNESDAY - 09/07/2011 - I continued to work on editing pictures while Connie read. Around noon we finally decided to shower and dress and head out. After a stop at the bank and the library, we went to GVR to use a 2-1 coupon for lunch at the Tides Oyster Bar restaurant. I had the Fried Oysters with french fries, coleslaw and hush puppies. Connie had the Crab-cakes. After lunch we played for a couple of hours; Connie lost a few dollars and I won a few dollars. On the way home we stopped at Smith's and picked up some groceries. I made a fresh fruit salad for dinner and we watched TV shows till it was time for bed. Before bed I staged my camera gear and set the alarm for 5:30 am for tomorrow's hike to Mt. Charleston. Looking forward to getting some more nice pictures.

Bryce Canyon, Utah

TUESDAY - 09/06/2011 - Connie made waffles and eggs for breakfast. We then decided to stay home today. I worked on updating some pages to my photography site while Connie read. The above picture is one of my favorites from my Bryce Canyon page (click to view full-screen). Check out the "RoadTrip" pages I added to the site here ... Recently Added Pages. Around noon I did decide to go out to run some errands, car supplies, water store, etc. On the way home I stopped at VON's and picked up a barbecued chicken and potato salad which we had about mid-afternoon for an early dinner over some prerecorded TV shows. After a break where we both read for a while, we decided to watch a TV movie we had recorded, "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull". Though we never thought the sequels were as good as the first one, we still enjoyed. We then watched the semi-finals of America's Got Talent over a dinner of chocolate chip cookies. We actually had a hard time deciding who we liked for the top four. We like Team Illuminate, Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., and PopLyfe. After that it is a tossup between the Smadge Brothers and Landon Swank, the magician. Oh well, we'll find out tomorrow night.

MONDAY - 09/05/2011 - LABOR DAY HOLIDAY. Today is also Cheryl's birthday, so once again HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHERYL! I sent off a birthday email this morning even though I know Connie sent her a card the other day. Connie started the morning off with more U.S. Open Tennis in between a load of wash and some ironing. I played on the computer updating this blog. At noon, we decided to go to Green Valley Ranch Resort for their lunch buffet. Connie played her $12 in free slot play but didn't win anything, however, I won $300 in the poker room. We then drove over to the "M" where she had another $5 in free slot play. After loosing $25, she decided to sit in one of the lounges and watch tennis. I won another $200 in the poker room and decided to take Connie home and come back and play in the ($100 entry fee) $5,000 tournament. Again I had no luck and came home and watched some TV with Connie before going to bed. All in all, not a bad day.

Firecracker Dragonfly

SUNDAY - 09/04/2011 - Connie decided to stay home again today and watch the U.S. Open. As she watches all of the main tournaments throughout the hear leading up to the Open and knows all the players, she really enjoys the matches. I usually start watching with her when they get down to the quarter final and final matches. Today I headed back to the "M" poker room to see if I could have any luck their Labor Day promotion of flopping four-of-a-kind for $500. Not only no luck, but gave back a lot of what I won yesterday. Oh well, easy come, easy go. When I got home I warmed up the rest of the left-over chicken patties and buns, added tomato and avocado and repeated last nights dinner. We ate dinner over our lates Netflix movie, the third in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". We both admitted that we didn't like this one as much as the first two. Bonnie called while we were watching some TV shows and talked for more than an hour. Sounds like they might be moving to Kansas to help out Christian and Christina with Adalynn - they're going to need a full-time care giver if she survives the next couple of operations and they get to bring her home. You can keep up with hat is happening on her CarringBridge page (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/adalynnpaine) We are all hoping for the best. After her call I played on my photo gallery for a while before joining Connie in bed. Here is a link to the new page I created ... Dragonfly.

Bonnie, Tom and Me (1955)

SATURDAY - 09/03/2011 - Today is my brother's birthday, 56. The little "baby" of the family is getting old. I placed the picture on the right on the front of the Smilebox e-birthday card that I sent him. Bonnie loved it! Haven't hear from Tom yet. Again, I was up early and headed over to the "M" poker room to try and win some of their special Labor Day promotions while Connie stayed home and watched the U.S. Open Tennis and a movie. After spending the day, I didn't hit the big one, but did win two of the cash drawings for a total of $100, plus I won nearly $300 playing poker. I picked up some chicken finger fillets from the deli to take home and make chicken sandwiches for dinner. We ate dinner over a couple of prerecorded TV shows and went straight to bed. It had been a long day for both of us.

Angel's Trumpet with Bee

FRIDAY - 09/02/2011 - This was the first day of the special Labor Day weekend promotions in the poker room at the "M". They are having cash drawings every half hour and offering $500 dollars for any high hand on the flop. So, after spending the morning working on adding pictures of yesterday's hike to my photo gallery, I made us lunch and we watched a prerecorded TV show before I headed over to the "M" to play poker. Connie decided to stay home and watch the U.S. Open tennis and a couple of movies. Even though I did get four queens for a high hand, in came on the turn card and not on the "flop", only getting me $50 instead of $500. They were also having a $5,000 Texas Hold'em tournament for a $100 buy-in. So, having won a couple of hundred for the day, I decided to stay and enter and give it a shot. I just couldn't get any good hands, or callers when I actually had one, and ended up getting knocked out 32 out of 72 players. Oh well, better luck another day. By the time I got home it was 8:30 and Connie had already eaten, so I just had some peanut butter and jelly crackers while we watched a TV show before heading off to bed. Long day!

Wild Horses at Cold Creek

THURSDAY - 09/01/2011 - This was the day for my first fall hike with the rock hounds from the senior center, so it was up at 5:30 am to get ready to drive over there to catch the bus at 7:00am. I was a great day for taking photos and, unlike our last visit to Cold Creek Nevada, I was able to get some nice pictures of the wild horses that roam that area. We had a new driver that made a couple of wrong turns on the way out so we didn't end up getting home until around three in the afternoon, much later than our normal 1:00 o'clock. Because it was so late, we decided not to go anywhere and I popped a pizza in the oven for a late lunch/early dinner which we ate over a prerecorded movie. I then went onto the computer and downloaded the day's pictures and started "cleaning" them up in preparation for posting onto my photo gallery site. We the had chocolate sundaes for dessert over another movie before heading off to bed.

List of Netflix Movie Reviews - 2011 Index

2011-12-30T22:15:00.000-08:00

Changes for 2011: Because we seem to be going to a theater more often these days to see a movie, it appears that there are less good movies to choose from on Netflix; resulting in the fact that we have less movies to review here. Occasionally we find something that we either missed at the theater or waited until it came out on DVD that surprises us. Even though most of the movies we order are worth watching, I will only be taking the time to provide a full review to those that we feel are in the 5-Star range. These movies will have a hyperlink that you can click on that will take you to a full review and synopsis; all others will be listed here with a simple numerical rating based upon the chart below. If you would like a good site to look for upcoming DVD releases to add to your own movie queue, go to Moviefone.com.

2011 Movies

Home of The Brave [on order]
The Social Network [4.25-Stars]
The Other Guys [1.5-Stars - "we didn't even finish it"]
You Don't Know Jack [4-Stars]
The Thin Red Line [4-Stars]]
The Boondock Saints [3.0-Stars]

2010 Movies

Rescue Dawn [3.5-Stars]
Mr. Brooks [4-Stars]
The Detonator [2.75-Stars]
Memory [2.5-Stars]
The Spy Next Door [2.5-Stars]
Dead Man Running [1.5-Stars]
Lies & Illusions [3.0-Stars]
Harry Brown [2.0-Stars]
Streets of Blood [2.0-Stars]

Push [2.0-Stars]

Angel of Death [2.5-Stars]

The Cooler [3-Stars]

Taxi Driver [5-Stars]

What Dreams May Come [3.25-Stars]

The Lovely Bones [3.75-Stars]
Munich [3-Stars]
People I Know [3-Stars]
Way of War [1.5-Stars]
Last Chance Harvey [3-Stars]
Revolver [2.0-Stars]
Pistol Whipped [2.5-Stars]
Black Book [4-Stars]
Mama Mia! [3.0-Stars]
Reservation Road [3-Stars]
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans [4.25-Stars]
The Garden [4-Stars]
Conspiracy [3.25-Stars]
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio [3.25-Stars]
Finding Neverland [4.25 Stars]
Beyond the Sea [3.5-Stars]
Everybody's Fine [2.5-Stars]
Ninja Assassin [1-Star]
Touching The Void [5-Stars]
New Police Story 2 [2.5]
Reservation Road [2.5]
Donnie Brasco [4.5 Stars]
The Ugly Truth [3.0 Stars]
The Punisher [3.5 Stars]
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen [2 Stars]
Star Trek [4.5 Stars]
Lakeview Terrace [2.5-Stars]
Martian Child [3-Stars]
X-Men Origins: Wolverine [3-Stars]
Step Into Liquid - [4-Stars]
Flash of Genius [4-Stars]
The Hurt Locker [5-Stars]
The Human Stain [3-Stars]
Driven to Kill [3-Stars]
Marine 2 [3-1/2-Stars]
Monster In Law [3-Stars]
Must Love Dogs [3-Stars]
North Country [3-1/2-Stars]
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story [4-Stars]
The International [2.5-Stars]

2009 Movies
We Were Soldiers [5-Stars]
The Contract [3.5-Stars]
Direct Contact
The Haunting in Connecticut [3-Stars]
Zodiac [3.5-Stars]
The Code [3-Stars]
The Soloist [4-Stars]
Miracle at St. Anna [3.5-Stars]
The Maiden Heist [3-Stars]
Race to Witch Mountain [1-Star] Didn't Finish Watching
Taking Chance [4-1/2 Stars]
Civic Duty
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li [4-Stars]
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Two Lovers
Five Fingers
The Marine
12 Rounds [4 Stars]
Knowing
Just Cause
Boarder Town
Revolutionary Road
Pavement
Bottle Shock
The Wrestler
Marley & Me [4-Stars]
Slumdog Millionaire [4-Stars]
In the Electric Mist
Recount [5-Stars]
Changling [5-Stars]
The International
Milk [5-Stars]
In the Shadow of the Moon
The Counterfeiters [3-Stars]
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Transsiberian [3-1/2-Stars]
Tropic Thunder [1-1/2-Stars]
Kate & Leopold
Charlie Wilson's War

Mongol
Gone Baby Gone
Birds of America
Oldboy
Priceless

Previous Daily Entries by Month

2011-12-30T13:32:00.000-08:00

Go to the Home Page to read entries for the current month. Click any of the months below to read entries for that particular month.

2011 Daily Diary Notes:

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2010 Daily Diary Notes:

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2009 Daily Diary Notes:

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2008 Daily Diary Notes:

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Movie Reviews - An Index

2011-12-30T13:16:00.000-08:00

Though half of the movies we watch are rentals from Netflix, we do go to the theater to see those that either look promising or we feel might have a better effect on the "big screen." To see Netflix 2009 movie reviews click here 2011 Netflix Reviews.

If you're looking for a great site that shows all past and upcoming releases by month, check out Comingsoon.net/. Then if you need help in deciding what you want to see, go to Moviefone.com . This is an excellent site that provides a synopsis and rates each movie by release date. Below is a list of 2009/2008 movies we have seen at a theater. Click on the movie title to read our review and a brief synopsis.

2011 Movies
The Mechanic - 3-Stars - Posted January 31st, 2011
The King's Speech - 5-Stars - Posted January 23rd, 2011
The Green Hornet - 2 Stars - Posted January 19th, 2011
Black Swan - 4.25 Stars - Posted January 12th, 2011
True Grit - 4.5 Stars - Posted January 7th, 2011

View Our 2010 Movie Reviews
View Our 2009 Movie Reviews
View Our 2008 Movie Reviews
View Our 2007 Movie Reviews

View Our 2010/09 Netflix Movie Reviews
View Our 2008 Netflix Movie Reviews

Netflix Queue as of JAN 02

2011-12-29T08:34:00.000-08:00

A Daily Diary - August 2011

2011-08-31T21:55:00.001-07:00

Entries for the Month of August

On Mother's Day we gave my mother a digital picture frame from Vizit.com. If you ever want a great gift for sharing your pictures with a distant relative, check this site out. Each month I will be featuring some of the pictures that I have sent to her frame. You can enlarge any of the pictures below by just double-clicking on them. Then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to the original screen. To see more of my photographs, go to http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/

WEDNESDAY - 08/31/2011 - Today was "car" day. Was up and over to the garage to get the annoying screak in my steering column taken care of in preparation for our tip to Laughlin on the 10th. We've been putting up with this noise for months in and around town, but decided we couldn't stand it for two hours straight on a road trip. On the way over the car overheated for the third time in two weeks. After careful examination, it was determined that I needed a new radiator and thermostat. Got home eight hours later and $500 poorer. Made us turkey sandwiches for dinner. We then watched some TV shows before quitting for the evening. I staged everything I needed for tomorrow morning's hike before joining Connie in bed.

TUESDAY - 08/30/2011 - Did our normal morning routine and then got ready to go out to dinner the Willis', one of our neighbors. We had lunch at the Coronado Cafe at the South Point casino. They have the best Chinese food in town. Connie and I had Chinese lunch specials and Martin and Janice had sandwiches. After lunch we went to the movies and saw "Rise of the Planet of Apes". Having only recieved so-so reviews, it was actually much better than any of us expected. The photography and CGI effects were excellant, and it even had a story line. We then bought dessert from the deli and went back to their apartment and looked at pictures from their recent vacation to Carmel over wine and cake. After we got home we watched a few TV shows before retiring for the day.

MONDAY - 08/29/2011 - Decided to stay home today. About mid morning I decided to drive over to Jim Herring's and do some yard work. He had received another letter from his homeowner's association stating that he needed to weed, trim his trees and shrubs, and pick up some "trash" that had blown onto his property. I spent nearly three hours trimming everything before coming home hot, tired and exhausted. I played on the computer organizing pictures while Connie read and did laundry and ironing. I Made us some turkey sandwiches for a very late lunch. Connie watched a few of the openig matches of the U.S. Open and I continued to work on pictures. We had the last of the peach and rasberry pie for dinner and chocolate banana splits for dessert. Watched movies and prerecorded TV show most of the evening and then went to bed.

SUNDAY - 08/28/2011 - I was still aching from washing the car yesterday, so I went out to the pool to use the spa. The outside spa was out of order, so I hd to use the indoor one. Spent some time talking with one of our neighbors. When I came in I cooked us a nich brunch of hash, poached eggs on shredded wheat, English muffins and cut up peachess. Connie decided to stay home today, so after lunch I headed over to the "M" for some play. Had a loosing day and came home around 6:00 and popped a pizza in the oven for dinner. We watched a Netflix movie, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" the second in the series. Though these are not our usual taste, we rather enjoyed it. Called it a night and turned in after the movie.

Stone Face - Walnut Canyon, AZ

SATURDAY - 08/27/2011 - Got up early to head to the garage to have the car looked at. ceived a call from Jim in Florida. Sounded like things were going OK. The garage added some more coolant and gave Betsy a clean bill of health. I came home and gave her a good washing and wax job. for lunch I made us a nice fruit salad with pears, peaches, apples, bananas and walnuts. I also popped some biscuits into the toaster oven. After lunch we went over to the "M". Connie lost and I won $200. Came home and had peach and rasberry pie for dinner over some TV shows befores heading off to bed.

FRIDAY - 08/26/2011 - I ran some errands this morning. Had chicken sandwiches for lunch over a couple of TV shows. Connie decided to stay home today. I went to a new barber for a haircut. On the way to the "M" the car blew a radiator hose. I reattached the hose and added some coolant, but she still kept overheating. Finally reached the "M" and bought some more coolant. Played cards for a couple of hours and won $100. Drove home and had pie and icecream with Connie for dinner over a prerecorded TV show and finally went to bed.

Reflections in Color

THURSDAY - 08/25/2011 - Spent several hours reorganizing my photo folders on the computer. After several years of naming, renaming and reorganizing photos, I think I finally have a "system" that will allow me to download pictures and place them into locations where I can find just what I want at a later date for editing and upload to my Photo Gallery blog. For lunch we had chicken sandwiches again before heading over to the "M". We both had minor losses for the afternoon. Used a poker comp for a 'take-out' order of chicken fingers at the deli for tomorrow's lunch. Came home and had the chicken Caesar salads we got the night before for dinner and ice cream and chocolate cake for dessert. Watched some prerecorded TV shows and went to bed.

WEDNESDAY - 08/24/2011 - Used comps to get two free take-outs at the deli; chicken fingers and chicken Caesar salad. Made chicken sandwiches with the chicken for dinner. Watched some TV and went to bed.

MONDAY - 08/22/2011 - I went to the pool this morning but didn't stay long. Both spas were out of order and the pool was cloudy. Came back in and read with Connie. I fixed us tacos for lunch which we ate over a TV show before going to the "M". Connie lost and I won $80 in the poker room. We then stopped at GVR so Connie could play her $12 in free slot play. She won enough to pay for her losses at "M" and broke even for the day. I picked up another $180 in the poker room. We came home and had chocolate cake and ice cream for dinner, watched some TV and headed off to bed.

SUNDAY - 08/21/2011 - Connie made french toast for breakfast which we watched over the "Sunday Morning" show. I worked on the computer while Connie did some washing, ironing and reading. At noon we headed over to Steak & Shake at the South Point casino for a late lunch. I lost $50 in the poker room and Connie lost $20 on slots. We then headed to the "M" where I made enough to break even and Connie cut her losses for the day to $10. We came home and watched TV and went to bed.

Let the Trumpets Blare

SATURDAY - 08/20/2011 - We decided to take a day off and stay home today. I spent the morning finishing up on my blog project. At noon I made us hamburgers and baked beans for lunch, which we ate over our Netflix movie, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", the first of the series. I decided to order all seven of the "Harry Potter" series and view them in order before going to the theater to see the final movie of the series. We then took a break to do some reading. I made us ice cream sundaes for dinner and we started watching some prerecorded TV shows. My sister called from Kansas to give us an update on Christian and Christina's baby. Adalynn has (RCDP) Rhizomelic Chondroplasia Punctata which is very often a lethal condition, This is being compounded by the need of open hear surgery and cataract surgery. Her condition had actually improved some in the past week and everyone is hopeful. Watched another TV show and went to bed.

The Lone Stone

FRIDAY - 08/19/2011 - Connie made waffles for breakfast. We watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows and then went back to working on the computer and reading. I've been spending the last couple of days adding indexes to all of the picture categories on my photo blog; a time consuming project. We left around 3:00pm, ran some errands and then headed over to the "M". They were having some special random slot drawings from 4:00 to 8:00 pm. I played in the poker room and Connie played slots. We had the chicken Caesar salad for dinner in the Vig Deli. Connie didn't get her name picked for any of the drawings and we ended up coming home around 8:30. It seemed like a very long day. We only watched one TV show when we got home and then went straight to bed.

THURSDAY - 08/18/2011 - Played around doing our normal stuff in the morning. Went to the "M" and had the buffet for lunch and then played for a few hours. Both made a couple of dollars and came home. Watched some TV and went to bed. I know, same shit - different day!

WEDNESDAY - 08/17/2011 - Computer, pool and then lunch at our clubhouse. After lunch we headed to the "M" where Connie had entries into a free slot tournament. We had dinner reservations for 6:30 at Veloce Cebo, their premiere restaurant on the 20th floor. For an appetizer we shared the Macadamia nut crusted sea scallops, with apple fries in a blood orange beurre blanc sipping sauce. For the main course Connie ordered the Roasted Fillet Mignon with a blue cheese crust, grilled asparagus and a port wine reduction sauce; I had the Grilled Porterhouse with Tuscan herbs, garlic and grilled artichokes. For a side we had the sweet potato fries. The portions were so large we were only able to eat about half and took the rest home in a doggy bag. Too full to eat dessert, we also got two warm molten chocolate cakes to go. The bill was $129 - the gift certificate Connie won playing slots was $130 - the net result $0. Such a deal. Well, it really wasn't totally free, I left a $22 tip. We watched one TV show when we got home and went to bed on very full stomachs.

Town of Cold Creek Nevada using the "Tilt-Shift" Technique

TUESDAY - 08/16/2011 - Up early and played on the computer. I made reservations for four free night stays in Laughlin during September and for a night at the Mt. Charleston Resort. It was such a beautiful day, not too hot with a medium breeze, that we both headed to the pool about mid-morning. After about two hours of reading we headed up to GVR for lunch at the buffet. After lunch Connie played off her $12 in free slot play and we then headed over to the "M" and played for another three hours. Connie ended up loosing $25, however, I won $120 in the poker room. We came home and popped some "pizza puffs" into the microwave for dinner and watched TV for a couple of hours. Connie went to bed and I played on my photo blog for a couple of hours before calling it a night.

"Tilt-Shift" Photo of Mt. Charleston Valley (click to view detail)

MONDAY - 08/15/2011 - I was up early to sign up for the Fall season of hikes offered by the Henderson Senior Center. I ended up signing up for 12 weekly hikes starting in September and going thru November. I then spent the remainder of the morning making some improvements to my photo blog and creating some new picture posts. You can check out the changes and additions here ... Site Change. Arround noon we drove down to the RIO on the Strip so Connie could play $10 in free slot play. We then drove to the "M" and had two free lunch buffets on my poker comps. After playing for a few more hours we came and watched some TV. Had PP&J sandwiches for dinner and banana splits for dessert. Watched "Edge of Darkness", a Mel Gibson movie we had recorded off of Cinemax's free weekend, and then headed off to bed.

Blue Agapanthus from the Bellagio

SUNDAY - 08/14/2011 - Today was pretty much a repeat of yesterday. In the morning, I worked on my picture blog while Connie read and did ironing. For lunch we had leftovers from yesterday's lunch. Boring, but still very good. We then decided to watch "Avitar" which I had recorded off of Cinemax. Being over three hours long, this was most of the afternoon. Connie liked it better than the 3-D version we saw at the Theater. After taking a break for a couple of hours, we watched a movie that I know we have seen at least four times, "A Fish Called Wanda" starring Jamie Lee Curtis. However, it is always such a "fun" movie, we couldn't resist watching it again. We then watched the Country Music Awards and went to bed.

Ferris Wheel at Bellagio's Botanical Garden

SATURDAY - 08/13/2011 - We decided to stay home today and do nothing. Connie said to me, "you did that yesterday." I told her I wasn't finished. I worked on updating apps on my cell phone and reading several magazines. I popped a Marie Calendar's frozen lasagna into the oven along with some petite corn and some homemade garlic bread. We then decided to make it a "movie" day. This was FREE Cinemax weekend on DirecTV and I had recorded several movies, some we had not seen and some that were worth watching over again. We started with "Face Off" starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. Next we moved onto the 2010 remake of "The A-Team". Before finishing with the movie called "Whiteout"; not as good at the first two but acceptable, we had banana splits for dinner. We finally headed off to bed.

FRIDAY - 08/12/2011 - Today was a very busy day. I went off this morning with Ron, my downstairs neighbor, to go have breakfast and play pool. We had the breakfast special at Blueberry Hill Pancake House; two small waffles, two eggs, two slices of bacon and hash-brown potatoes. We then went to Mickey's Cues and Brews poolroom and shot two hours of eight ball. Ron was the winner today. I came home and picked up Connie and headed to the "M" to play in this months free-roll holdem tournament. Not having any luck, I got knocked out in19th position from a field of50 players. Better luck next month. Connie, on the other hand, won a $130.00 gift certificate in a random slot drawing to Veloce Cebo, the M's best restaurant on the top floor of the casino.

We then went over to the Silverton Casino to have the Friday night seafood buffet at the Seasons Buffet. All month is 2-1 with a player's card, making the price of $11.50 a piece a super bargain. We each started off with some cold "peel'em" shrimp. We then had a huge plate of hot crab legs with real melted butter. Next we had the Oysters Rockefeller (I ate seven of them) which were absolutely outstanding. We followed that with one of my favorites, the Shark Oscar, served with a Bearnaise sauce and a piece of asparagus. We then share a small piece of grilled steak and baked salmon. This was followed with a small homemade strawberry shortcake and a couple of chocolate covered strawberries. OK, so we ate too much, but it was absolutely delicious. When we got home we "plopped" ourselves on the couch and watched a couple of TV shows before waddling off to bed. Great day!

THURSDAY - 08/11/2011 - We stayed home today. In between a couple of TV shows, I played on the computer, my blog, and updated apps on my cell phone while Connie did wash, ironing and read. Made tuna sandwiches for lunch. After lunch I went out and ran some errands. Drove over to North Las Vegas to check on Jim Herring's house. When I got back we watched a Netflix movie, "Cedar Rapids".

Rosella Parrot

WEDNESDAY - 08/10/2011 - I decided to try the pool this morning. Connie stayed inside and read and did some laundry and ironing. At noon I made us brunch consisting of poached eggs, roast beef hash and English muffins. We then headed over to the "M" for Connie's free slot tournaments. We continued to play most of the afternoon. Go to my blog page for the Eastern Rosella.

Lorikeet Parrots at Bellagio's Conservatory

TUESDAY - 08/09/2011 - After our normal morning routine we ran some errands and hit the bank before heading up to GVR for lunch at the buffet. Connie played $12 in free play and won $35 and decided to go home. I headed to the "M" poker room to continue working on my hours for the upcoming free-roll tournaments. By the end of the day, I had enough hours for the 2nd free-roll and started working on hours for being in the "top 50" for the third tournament. Just had some PP&J for dinner before having some ice cream for dessert. Watched some TV and went to bed early. Go to my blog page for the Rainbow Lorikeet.

Summer Exhibit at Bellagio's Conservatory

MONDAY - 08/08/2011 - Played on the computer and read the early part of the morning. Around 10am we headed down to the Strip. Connie had $10 free slot play at the RIO. After that we went to the Bellagio to see the summer exhibit at their Conservatory & Botanical Gardens. Finally we drove to the "M" for two free buffet lunches. Played for a short while and then finally came home. It seemed like a long day. Had ice cream sundaes for dinner and watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows and went to bed.

SUNDAY - 08/07/2011 - Talked with Jim in Florida this morning. All things considered, he sounded relatively good. Is suppose to be moving into the house he rented next week. I went to the "M" after breakfast to continue working on my hours for September's $33,000 freeroll tournament. Had a delicious "Chicago" hot dog at the deli for lunch. When I came home I cooked up some pork chops, wild rice and some frozen peas for dinner which we ate over the Netflix movie, "The Adjustment Bureau". About a congressman (Matt Damon) who's a rising star on the political scene finds himself entranced by a beautiful ballerina (Emily Blunt), but mysterious circumstances ensure that their love affair is predestined to be a non-starter. For what it was, it was good, but just a little strange for our tastes. Had banana cream pie for dessert over a couple of TV shows and then headed off to bed.

SATURDAY - 08/06/2011 - I went to the pool and Connie stayed inside and did wash and read. We had PP&J sandwiches for lunch before heading over to the "M" to play. We left the "M" at 5pm and drove to Monstah Lobstah for dinner where I had a $40 Living Social coupon. We had the New England fried clams for an appetizer. Excellant!. Connie had a 1-1/2 lb boiled lobster dinnah with fresh corn on the cob and onion rings. I had the lobstah pastah - a 1-1/4 lb lobstah over a bed of linguini with a Princess Vodka cream sauce with garlic bread, which was also very good. We were both stuffed when we left and certainly got our "fix" for a good 'ol New England meal. Watched some prerecorded TV show when we got home and went to bed early.

FRIDAY - 08/05/2011 - Sent a birthday card and some photos to my mom's Vizit photo frame. Connie made french toast for breakfast. I showered, dressed and headed over to the "M" Poker room and played all day. I lost back what I had won yeaterday. Brought home chicken fingers for dinner and cooked up some rice and left over corn. Watched So You Think You Can Dance; so far we have been right on when it comes down to who is getting voted off of "dance". The final four is exactly who we predicted more than a month ago. Mom called to thank me for the birthday card and pictures that I sent to her photo frame. Got an email from Jim Herring saying that Christina had her baby, but that she was in intensive care and that it was too early to know whether everything was going to be ok yet. Had some banana cream pie for dessert and watched a few more prerecorded TV shows and went to bed.

THURSDAY - 08/04/2011 - I created a digital birthday card for my mom. Went to the pool for a little reading. After showering, we went to the Elephant Bar to use a 2-1 lunch coupon. We both had the 1/2 rack of ribs. We the headed over to the "M" and played for the remainder of the afternoon. Connie lost $50 and I won $150 in the poker room. I cooked up the rest of the hamburger and added it to a can of chili for dinner. We watched America's Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance and then retired for the evening.

WEDNESDAY - 08/03/2011 - We spent most of the day at the "M". Connie had a free slot tournament that was paying out more thand $5,000 in prizes that she played - no luck. We had two free lunch buffets and then both play for the remainder of the afternoon. Connie won $50 and I picked up $40 in the poker room. Came home and had a hamburger steak and baked beans for dinner over a couple of TV shows. Had some banana cream pie for dessert before heading off to bed.

Best In Vegas

MONDAY - 08/01/2011 - Very humid today. With the dew point near 60 and a temperature around 100, it was just too muggy to go to the pool. I worked on gathering some prescription information to email to my friend Jim who moved to Florida. I then updated my expenses and did some end of the month backups on the computer. At noon we decided to use a 2-1 coupon at Tides, the seafood restaurant at GVR. Voted “Best Seafood” in Las Vegas by the readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Tides Oyster Bar is, in a word: fresh. We both had a cup of good 'ol New England Clam Chowder for an appetizer. For an entree, Connie had the crab-cakes and I had the fried oysters. The have the best fried oysters in town. After a little play we headed over to the "M". After a couple of hours we decided to come home and watch some TV. I made us some chicken fillet sandwiches for dinner. Later we had ice cream over a couple of prerecorded TV shows before heading off to bed.

A Daily Diary - July 2011

2011-07-31T07:13:00.000-07:00

Entries for the Month of July

On Mother's Day we gave my mother a digital picture frame from Vizit.com. If you ever want a great gift for sharing your pictures with a distant relative, check this site out. Each month I will be featuring some of the pictures that I have sent to her frame. You can enlarge any of the pictures below by just double-clicking on them. Then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to the original screen. To see more pictures go to http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/

SUNDAY - 07/31/2011 - First off, we went to Sunset Casino, the nearest place where you can get cash for change. Connie ended up cashing in $52 worth of quarters, nickles and pennies, some that my friend Jim had given her and some that we had saved up. We then drove to Ellis Island casino to play $10 in free slot play. From there we went to the Palms casino and had their Sunday Champaigne and crab-leggs brunch on a 2-1 coupon. Next we stopped at the RIO where Connie had another $10 in slot play. Finally, we ended up at the "M" where I still needed two hours play to qualify for the August freeroll tournament. By the time we headed home Connie had only lost $10 and I ended up winning $45 in the poker room. Still not too hungry after our big champaigne brunch, we just had PP&J sandwiches for dinner over Tom Clancy's "Clear and Preset Danger". We've probably seen this movie four times over the years and still loved it again. Great movie! We then watched "So You Think You Can Dance" and finally headed off to bed.

SATURDAY - 07/30/2011 - Because I had been spending so much time helping Jim over the past couple of weeks, I had not been playing as much poker. I had to get 12 more hours of play before the end of July to qualify for the upcoming $33,000 freeroll holdem tournament. After doing some "catching up" on the computer, I tried to get in some relaxation time at the pool, however it was so hot and humid, that I ended up coming in after only an hour. While having lunch with Connie, I got a call from my brother Tommy. We talked for nearly an hour catching up on getting mom some new hearing aids, his daugther's moving out in August and his life in general. I then headed over to the "M" poker room and played for 10 hours. Only ended up loosing $7. Got home around midnight.

FRIDAY - 07/29/2011 - Got a wake-up call at 3:30am and left for the airport at 5:00am. Got him checked-in, parked the car, and wheeled him to his departure gate. He boarded the plane at 6:45 and was off to Florida. Connie and I went to the "M" and had a relaxing lunch buffet. I received a couple of calls from Jim noting that he finally made it to Clearwater and that his kids picked him up at the airport. Called my sister to wish her a happy birthday and talked for about 2 hours about mom, her hearing aids, and Tommy's daughter coming out to live with him. Watched two hours of "So You Think You Can Dance" over ice cream sundaes and went to bed exhaused.

THURSDAY - 07/28/2011 - Spent the day with Jim. Had breakfast at the GVR buffet. Went to the bank and transferred the cashier's check we had gotten into his acct in Florida. Sorted through all his paperwork, balanced his checkbook, paid bills, made a list of what drugs he is suppose to take and when. Went to dinner at Tides and had a very good meal. He went back to the room to sleep and I went and played poker until mid-night before going to the room to sleep.

WEDNESDAY - 07/27/2011 - This is the day Jim moves out of his apartment and goes to GVR for two nights until I pick him up for the airport early Friday morning. I spent part of the morning cleaning and putting away a vacuum cleaner and some "stuff" that Jim had given us that he wasn't shipping. I then played on the computer the rest of the morning while Connie read. I made chicken salad sandwiches for lunch. After lunch I took Connie to the library to pick up some new books and then dropped her off at GVR while I went to pick up Jim and his luggage and bring him back to check into GVR for a couple of nights. After I got Jim settled into his room, we all played for a while before having dinner. The play was that Jim was going to treat us to dinner at Tides, GVR's Oyster Bar and Seafood Restaurant. Unfortunately, he took too many meds and started to pass out at the dinner table before we ordered. We had to get a wheelchair to take him back to the room. As we were worried about his health, we went and had a 'Fatburger" and then I took Connie home and I ended up spending the night with Jim at GVR.

TUESDAY - 07/26/2011 - Went to Jim's at 7:30 this morning as we had to call his bank in Florida early to try and get some things accomplished. The only thing we had to do today was make some arrangements with his bank, finish packing one box and three suitcases. A very long story, this took until 1:30 in the afternoon with me coming home totally frustrated and stressed out. After I got home and showered, we went over to the "M" so I could play, "veg out" and relax for a few hours. When we got home I popped some 'Pizza Rolls" in the oven for a light dinner, watched two prerecorded TV shows and called it a day.

MONDAY - 07/25/2011 - After some pooltime, I drove over to my friend Jim's to help him with some last minute packing and errands he needed to accomplish in preparation for his move back to Florida on Friday. His dementia is so bad, I'm amazed he still remembers who I am. He literally can't remember what happens three minutes before, causing us to spend four to five times the time needed to accomplish even the simplest tasks. It is SO frustrating. After I finally got back home, I picked up Connie and drove up to GVR for the dinner buffet. After dinner she played her $7 in free slot play. We then stopped the the "M" where she had another $5 dollars in free play, before heading over to the South Point casino to play $50 in free slot play. By the time we finally came home she had made $45. Still full from our big dinner buffet, we had some ice cream, watched a couple of TV shows and then headed off to bed.

Desert Mallow

SUNDAY - 07/24/2011 - I woke up this morning around 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to come out and play on the computer. Can't believe where the time goes! It has been nearly a week since I last updated this blog. Well here goes. I then sent some pictures to my mother's Vizit photo frame. After Connie got up and made breakfast, we decided to go to the pool early. I started my new audio book by Jeffery Deaver, The Burning Wire, his latest Lincoln Rhyme" series. After the pool I went over to Jim's and took him to Subway where we picked up some roast beef subs for lunch and another to put in the fridge for his lunch tomorrow. I then went over to the "M" and played poker while Connie stayed home and watched a couple of prerecorded movies she had on the DVR player. I played for five hours and ended up loosing $15, however I got a $10 comp to the deli and a free bottle of wine. Picked up takeout at the deli and came home and ate over a couple of TV shows before retiring for the evening.

SATURDAY - 07/23/2011 - Just another "hot one" as they say, so we hit the pool early. I finally finished my last audio book, "Dead or Alive" by Tom Clancy. Typical of Clancy, this was a long one, over 21 hours. It was narrated by Lou Diamond Phillips and though long, I really enjoyed his naration. Even though I haven't been reading as much lately, when I went to add this to my "Book Reviews" page I realized that I hadn't been doing a very good job of keeping up with the reviews over the past several months, so I spent most of the afternoon updating this page. We had PP&J sandwiches for lunch before going over to the Southpoint to play our $30 in free slot play. We then stopped at "M" to play for a while - I've been trying to get the 50 hours I need in the poker room for another freeroll tournament in August. For dinner, we heated up the leftovers from last night's meal at Brazilia and thought it tasted even better that last night. Funny how that works sometimes. Watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows and went to bed to read for a while before calling it a night.

Inside Bratalian

FRIDAY - 07/22/2011 - I went to the pool this morning and tried to finish my audio book, but our downstairs neighbors showed up and we ended up talking too much. When we came in for lunch, we ate the other chicken Caesar salad from the night before over a TV show. I then dropped Connie off at GVR while I headed over to my friend Jim's to help him do some more packing. It was a VERY frustrating afternoon. His dementia is so bad that he couldn't remember that he already had airline reservations for his trip back to Florida and called and made them for another day, cancelling out what we had spent weeks arranging. I couldn't believe it. I ended up talking with his daughter in Florida and finally letting her know how bad his condition had become. By the time left and picked up Connie, I was extremely stressed from dealing with all of this. We decided to go have dinner at a new Italian restaurant, Bratalian, for which I had a $25 dining coupon. We were impressed. They had a three-course special with six appetizer choices, 10 entree choices, five dessert choices and a glass of wine for $33. The food was really good, the portions were huge, and we really liked it. We couldn't each half of what they served us.

THURSDAY - 07/21/2011 - I spent some time at the pool, though Connie decided it was too hot and stayed inside doing laundry and reading her book. We had a light lunch and headed over to the "M" so I could get some more hours in the poker room for the upcoming tournament. I won back what I had lost the day before and Connie only lost $20. We picked up two chicken Caesar salads to-go on comps at the deli and a hamburger and fries for my friend Jim. Dropped off Jim's dinner and went home and watched a Netflix (Rango) and some TV before retiring for the evening. Though this type of movie usually isn't our cup of tea, we rather enjoyed it.

WEDNESDAY - 07/20/2011 - We both stayed in this morning. I worked on pictures and my photo site while Connie read. Wednesdays are 2-1 Senior days at the "M", so we headed over for the lunch buffet. Played the rest of the afternoon and came home and, still full from lunch, had cookies for dinner, watched some TV and went to bed.

TUESDAY - 07/19/2011 - After some time at the pool we went up to GVR for a couple of free lunch buffets before driving over to the South Point to play Connie's $50 in free slot play. We then stopped at the "M" on the way home where we got two free bottles of wine. She ended up winning $45 for the day and I picked up $95 in the poker room. Watched a Netflix and a couple of TV shows and went to bed.

MONDAY - 07/18/2011 - I set today aside to help my friend Jim finish packing for his return to Florida and to take boxes to the UPS store for shipping. Connie stayed home and read and watched some prerecorded TV movies. This took until 2:30 in the afternoon. We then stopped at the house and dropped off some "stuff" that Jim had given me, picked up Connie and went to Five Guys, Burgers and Fries for a late lunch on Jim. Okay, so a standard double patty burger containing 800 calories and 19.5 grams of saturated fat coupled with the standard large order of fries with almost 1,500 calories (though it can feed 3–4 people), it is one of the most unhealthy meals available at any U.S. chain restaurants. Still, in a nutshell, thought the burger is just alright, the fries here are awesome; the best I ever had anywhere!. By the time we got home, put away the "stuff" he had given us, gone through the mail, paid some bills, and showered, it was 6:30. I made us ice cream sundaes and we sat down to watch a few TV shows before falling into bed. I was exhausted.

SUNDAY - 07/17/2011 - We decided to stay home today and watch the final round of the British Open. Before the golf, I spent a couple of hours washing and waxing the car. For lunch I made some chicken salad sandwiches to eat over the golf. What a tournament it was. The weather was just horrible, heavy winds and rain. Phil Mikelson got off to a great start with four birdies and an eagle, to tie Darren Clarke, the leader. Unfortunately, he tanked the back nine holes and ended up tied for second. I played some more on the computer while Connie read. We then watched a couple of hours of prerecorded TV shows before heading off to bed and calling it a day.

SATURDAY - 07/16/2011 - Went to GVR early because the jackpot in the poker room was up to $850 per player. Using my poker comps, we had two free huge breakfast buffets. Not winners today, we both lost about $40 by the time we got home. Watched a Netflix movie, "Battle: Los Angeles", over dinner. Not bad for a sci-fi; kind of reminded us of the old movie War of The Worlds. I worked on putting together some more sideshows and pages for my photo gallery site while Connie read. We then watched some TV and headed off to bed, once again calling it a day.

FRIDAY - 07/15/2011 - After breakfast, I headed over to Jim's to help him run a few errands in preparation of his move back to Florida. When I got back, I made tuna sandwiches for lunch before Connie and I went to GVR and the South Point casinos to play $37 in free slot play. Connie made $20 and I had a bad day at the poker table. Came home and had ice cream sundaes for dinner over some prerecorded TV shows. Before going to bed I played on the computer while Connie read for a while.

THURSDAY - 07/14/2011 - Stayed home today. I worked on the slideshow pages for my photo gallery blog. Connie did laundry and read. I made grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch. We watched several prerecorded TV shows and a movie. Then I went back to the computer to finish my slideshow project. To date I now have created 16 shows. Click here to view them ... Slideshows. Cooked up two frozen Chinese Pinapple Chicken dinners and watch a couple more TV shows waiting for "So You Think You Can Dance", afterwhich we headed off to bed.

Hummingbird at Pool

WEDNESDAY - 07/13/2011 - While at the pool this morning we hooked up with two of our neighbor friends and decided to join them for the lunch buffet at the "M". Today is 2-1 senior day. We enjoyed a nice leisurly lunch. After they headed off to run some errands, we sat down and played for a while. Neither of us won anything. Came home and watched some prerecorded TV shows. Had ice cream for dinner over "So You Think You Can Dance" and then headed off to bed.

My Reading View at Pool

TUESDAY - 07/12/2011 - Just another beautiful morning. After spending some time reading at the pool we headed up to GVR for a couple of free lunch buffets. We both agreed that the buffet here has gotten better over the past several months. We both had a little luck playing; Connie won $40 and I picked up $80 in the poker room. Came home and played on the computer while Connie read. Still full from lunch, we just had some cheese and crackers for dinner. Watched some prerecorded TV shows and called it a night.

Techatticup Mine Emergency Exit Shaft

MONDAY - 07/11/2011 - I finished another "daytrip" page on my photo blog while Connie read. Check it out here ... The Techatticup Mine Tour. After buying some boxes, I headed over to Jim's apartment to help him start packing for his move back to Florida. Got back from Jim's around 2:00pm; picked up Connie and headed over to he South Point to play our $50 in free slot play. Connie also had free slot play at "M". I think we ended up about even for the day. Picked up some groceries on the way home. Had PP&J for dinner and chocolate cake for dessert. Watched some prerecorded TV shows and went to bed.

SUNDAY - 07/10/2011 - After reakfast we headed to the pool to do some reading. Our downstairs neighbors joined us and we chatted obout about books and restaurants. When we came in I doctored up a frozen pizza and popped it in the oven for lunch. We spent the majority of the afternoon watching the Davis Cup tennis finals. We then watched a movie, "Batman Returns". My mom called from Tahoe and we talked for a good half hour. She finally found a church she likes and a good walking group. Loves the Vizit photo frame and the pictures I've been sending. I then talked with my brother for nearly an hour catching up on his life. He sounded pretty good. I made chocolate sundaes for dinner which we ate over a couple of TV shows before finally retiring for the day.

Lower Las Vegas Wash

SATURDAY - 07/10/2011 - Connie decided to watch some more of the Davis Cup tennis while I worked on another blog page -Daytrip to Las Vegas Wash. I then went out to the pool for a while before heading over to Jim's to take pictures of the furniture and stuff he's selling so we could place some flyers on the mailroom bulletin boards. When I got back, Connie and I headed over to the "M" to play. We both lost. Got a comp from the poker room and picked up a couple of take-out orders of chicken fingers to bring home for dinner. Watched some TV shows and then Connie went to bed and read while I worked on putting together the posters for selling Jim's furniture and stuff. I finally finished around 11:00 and went to bed.

FRIDAY - 07/09/2011 - We went out to the pool and read for a good couple of hours. At noon we headed over to the Southpoint Casino and ate at their deli. We split a "huge" hot pastromi sandwich, potatoe salad and chips before seeing the movie, Horrible Bosses". Though somewhat hard to rate, we both agreed that we enjoyed this rather crazy "R" rated comedy. After the movie we played $30 in free slot play; Connie won $20 and I broke even. On the way home we stopped at the "M" where Connie had some more free play. No luck here, so we only stayed for a little while and came home. Had the second chicken Caesar salad for dinner over some prerecorded TV shows and finally headed off to bed.

Petroglyphs at Valley of Fire State Park

THURSDAY - 07/08/2011 - In the morning I continued making updates to pages and slideshows for my photo blog. Today I created pages on a daytrips to the Redstone Loop Trail and the Valley of Fire State Park. After lunch and a movie we drove over to the "M" for a couple of hours of play. Using a 2-1 coupon and poker comp we picked up two free chicken Caesar salads at the Vig Deli. Came home and watched a prerecorded movie and a couple of TV shows and finally headed off to bed for the evening.

Geese at Floyd Lamb Park

WEDNESDAY 07/07/2011 - We decided to stay home today. Did the pool for a while. I spent most of the day updating and making changes to my photo blog. Because this page, Floyd Lamb Park, had so many related links and slideshows, in between lunch, dinner and some TV shows, it took me almost all day to complete.

Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge

TUESDAY - 07/05/2011 - Well, my neighbor friend Jim has decided to move back to Florida to be closer to his children. He has not been in very good health these past several months and it seems like a good decision. Today I went over to his apartment to help hime get started on packing and selling his furniture. When I got back, I picked up Connie and we drove over to the South Point Casino where we had $25 each in free slot play. Connie won $45 and I won $75 in the poker room. We then had two free lunch buffets using comps. I created another new page [Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge] for the "Daytripping Series" on my photography blog. Not too hungry for dinner after our big lunch, I made some vadalia onion dip which we had on an assortment of crackers and some grapes and wine over America's Got Talent. PICTURE NOTES: This view of the bridge, taken from the walkway across the top of the dam, emphasizes the height of the bridge above the Colorado River, almost 900 feet below.

Winged Bronze Statue

MONDAY - 07/04/2011 - HAPPY FOURTH of JULY! Again, we headed over to the "M" early to see if I could hit any of their special Fourth of July promotions. When I got there, a couple of people told me that they pulled my name for a $400 drawing yesterday AFTER I left! Just the way my luck seems to be going lately. We played for more than 5 hours with no real luck, even though we both made a few dollars for the day. On the way home we stopped at Romano's Macaroni Grill and used a 2-1 dinner coupon to pick up our favorite dish here, the Porcini-filled Mushroom Ravioli sauteed with a Marsala cream sauce and fresh mushrooms. When we got home I made some garlic bread and opened a bottle of chilled Sauvignon Blanc. Perfect! Before going to bed I created another new page [Hoover Dam] for the "Daytripping Series" on my photography blog. PICTURE NOTES: The picture shows one of the two bronze statues located on the nevada side of the Hoover Dam. Created by Norwegian-born, naturalized American Oskar J.W. Hansen, they are called the Winged Figures of the Republic" and, according to Hansen, express "the immutable calm of intellectual resolution, and the enormous power of trained physical strength, equally enthroned in placid triumph of scientific accomplishment."

And the Winner Novak Djokovic

SUNDAY - 07/03/2011 - Today was a strange one. We left about mid morning for the "M" to see if I could win any of the special drawings in the poker room. On the way we noticed that the sky was filled with smoke and ash from the wild fires that have been going on out of control for the past two weeks in New Mexico and Arizona. It was so bad that visibility was limited to just a few miles. We had hamburgers and fries for lunch at the Vig Deli. Neither of us had any luck, so we came home abut mid-afternoon. I made turkey and swiss cheese sandwiches for dinner which we ate over the mens Wimbleton Tennis finals. Djokovic demolished three-time champion Nadal to become the 2011 Wimbledon Champion and capture the rating of the number one player in the world. It was quite a match. My sister called and we talked some more about my mother's hearing problems and other conditions. Seems like we may have to start getting more involved in her day to day living. After Bonnie's call we had a huge storm go through with high winds, heavy rain, rolling thunder and lightening that lasted for nearly an hour. We then watched a couple of TV shows over chocolate sundaes with fresh pinapple, strawberries and whipped cream. Delicious. Connie retired to the bedroom with a book and I played on the computer for a while before calling it an evening.

At the Techatticup Mine

SATURDAY - 07/02/2011 - Today was airport day. We got up and drove over to Jim Herring's house in North Las Vegas to pick up him and Patrick for their return trip back to Kansas. We decided to go to the Green Valley Ranch brunch buffet on the way to the airport. Patrick treated and we got to spend some more time chatting. Yesterday they saw the Cirque du Soleil show "O" at the Bellagio. In typical "Cirque" fashion, "O" is an aquatic production that combines ariel artistry, surrealism and theatrical romance. They both thought it was fantastic. Guess we'll have to put it on our agenda. After dropping them off for their flight, we headed over to South Point to play $30 in free play. We then stopped at GVR and picked up two free six-packs of Pepsi before coming home and calling it a day.

FRIDAY - 07/01/2011 - Another new month and another year half over. Today was carpet cleaning day. We spent most of the morning moving furniture, cleaning, dusting and getting ready for the cleaners. When they were finished, we headed out to the pool to waste some time while everything dried. We came in around 1:30; Connie couldn't stand the heat any longer. The carpet was still damp. We spent the afternoon slowly putting things back in order as it began to dry out. I made chicken salad sandwiches for lunch that we ate over the Whimbleton men's semi-finals. Unfortunately, after a great first set, Murray began to fall apart and Nadal finished him off rather easlily. Djokovic defeated Tsonga who had knocked out number three seed Roger Federer yesterday. After tennis we watched a couple of prerecorded TV movies, had the last of the chocolate cream pie and headed off to bed.

Books Read '08, '09, '10, '11 - An Index

2011-07-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

Originally I had planned on providing a list of books both Connie and I have read, but she said she reads so many she does not even keep track any more. As a result I just started listing the ones I have read, although she has also read some of these as well since we are always making recommendations back and forth to each other. I have also included a list of the 2009 "Ravings" written by my step-sister Linda J. Clarke.

Below are the books I've read over the past couple of years, starting with the most recent. Click on a "Title" and you will be taken to a blog entry that will provide you with a review of the book and a synopsis of the story line. In addition to the books that read, I also listen to audible books on my Zune MP3 player. You can check these out on the following page ... My Audible Book Reviews Many of the authors I read have written several novels as a continuing series. Click here (My Favorite Authors) to go to my author page to view an alphabetical list of authors and a chronological list of the books they have written. If you're looking for a great Internet site to find and review books, you have to check out www.zoomii.com. Another great site where youcan keep a virtual library of the books you want to read, are currently reading or have read and reviewed is http://www.shelfari.com/.

Books Read 2011
Dead or Alive by Tom Clancy [Audio]
Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson [Audio]

Books Read 2010

The War Within by Bob Woodward [Audio]
The F Word by Louie Anderson [Audio]
A Place for My Stuff by George Carlin [Audio]
Mortal Fear by Greg Iiles [Audio]
Daemon by Daniel Suarez [Audio]
Deliver Us From Evil by David Baldacci [Audio]

Pursuit of Honor by Vince Flynn [Audio]

True Blue by David Baldacci [Audio]

Just A Guy by Bill Engvall [Audio]

Heat Wave - penned by Richard Castle [Audio]

Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin [Audio]

The Silent Hour by Michael Koryta [Audio]

Books Read 2009

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly

The Devils Punchbowl by Greg Iles

Atlantis Found by Clive Cussler

The Appeal by John Grisham

The Terrorist Watch byRonald Kessler

The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery Deaver

Divine Justice by David Baldacci

A Welcome Grave by Michael Koryta

Thunder Bay by William Kent Krueger

Envy the Night by Michael Koryta

Keepsake by Tess Gerritsen

Silence by Thomas PerryCleaner by Brett Battles

Capital Conspiracy by William Burnhardt

Assassin by Stephen Coonts

Ravings by Linda Clarke

Nightmares From The Edge of The Milky Way

Persons of the Year

The Great American

Dreaming of a Bear

Bottlenose Dolphins in the Savannah River

Books Read 2008

Extreme Measures by Vince Flynn

The Whole Truth by David Baldacci

The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver

Malice by Robert K. Tanenbaum

The War Within by Bob Woodward

Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver

Fury by Robert K. Tanenbaum

Hoax by Robert K. Tanenbaum

Storm Runners by T. Jefferson Parker

Resolved by Robert K. Tanenbaum

The Chase by Clive Cussler Cuba by Stephen Coonts

Enemy Within by Robert K TanenbaumTrue Justice by Robert K. Tanenbaum

The Red Horseman by Stephen Coonts

A Grave Breach by James Macomber

Strike Force by Dale Brown

Liars and Theives by Stephen Coonts

The Collectors by David Baldacci

Zero Game by Brad Meltzer

Stone Cold by David Baldacci

Last Man Standing by David Baldacci

Wild Fire by Nelson Demille

Fourth Order by Stephen Frey

Hunting Season by Peter T. Deutermann

Master Post Date 11/16/2009; 1:01pm

A Daily Diary - June 2011

2011-06-30T16:37:00.000-07:00

Entries for the Month of June

On Mother's Day we gave my mother a digital picture frame from Vizit.com. Each month I will be featuring some of the pictures that I have sent to her frame. You can enlarge any of the pictures below by just double-clicking on them. Then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to the original screen. To see more pictures go to http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/

Patrick & Jim at Nelson's Landing

THURSDAY - 06/30/2011 - This morning I was finally able to get onto my blog sites. It appears that Google was having problems with their Blogger.com servers as I was unable to log in or make posts for the past couple of days. I spent the early part of the morning and the latter part of the afternoon updating my sites and correcting posts on my photo gallery that I had screwed up earlier in the week. It was a beautiful morning so we both headed to the pool to read and relax. I made a picnic lunch of grilled hot dogs, baked beans and chips. We watched a Netflix movie entitled, "Derailed". I thought it was pretty good. Connie said that we had seen it before, but I didn't remember any of it. Oh well! I created a slideshow of yesterday's pictures to post on my site and send out to everyone. Click here to read more and view the slideshow ... Edorado/Techatticup Mine Tour We really weren't too hungry and only had PP&J sandwiches for dinner with some more chocolate cream pie for dessert. Watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows and Thursday's elimination show for "So You Think You Can Dance".

View of the Colorado River at Nelson's Landing

Patrick and Jim inside the Techatticup Mine

WEDNESDAY - 06/29/2011 - Jim Herring and his friend Patrick came over early this morning and we headed out to Nelson Nevada for a tour of the Techatticup Mine in Eldorado Canyon. This was my third visit and second mine tour and I just love taking visitors here. They both really seemed to enjoy the area and the tour. Besides, it was only 75-degrees inside the mine versus more than 100 outside in the sun. After the mine tour we drove down to Nelson's Landing and walked along the edge of the Colorado River. Upon returning home, we picked up Connie and headed to the "M" where we treated them to the lunch buffet. I think Patrick enjoyed it; besides a huge meal, he had seven desserts. After they went home we stayed and played for a couple of hours before coming home and having chocolate cream pie for dinner. We watched a couple of TV shows and I worked on the day's pictures before coming to bed.

MONDAY - 06/27/2011 - Got up and played on my computer updating blogs while Connie read. Jim Herring called last night and asked if he and his friend Patrick could come over and use the pool today, so I went out early to reserve us a good spot. They arrived around 10:30am and it was already 94 degrees. I packed up some poolside lunch snacks; a fresh fruit platter, turkey & cheese, vidalia onion dip, salsa dip, chips, crackers and two bottles of wine, and we all headed to the pool. We all lasted until the temperature went over 100 degrees; I told them they should have come earlier; that we usually do the pool between 8:00am and 11:00am. After that it usually gets too hot to really enjoy it. We sat and talked for a while and then all had chocolate pie for dessert before they headed home. Connie then watched Rafael Nadal defeat Juan Martin del Potro and Roger Federer defeat Mikhail Youzhny in Round 4 of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. I worked on my photo blog. I made a chicken Caesar salad and hot cresent rolls for dinner. We watched three or four TV shows and then headed off to bed.

Blue Heron at Floyd Lamb

SUNDAY - 0626/2011 - Nice morning, I went to the pool while Connie read and did some wash and ironing. Talked with our downstairs neighbors at the pool and caught up on things in their lives. After getting showered, dressed and ready to go out for the day, we stopped by the office and renewed our lease for another year. In addition to the reduction in the monthly rent that they were already offering, I got a "senior discount" which together lowered our rent by $77.00/month. Coupled with last years reduction, this brought our rent down $152.00/mo over the past two years; and $57 lower than it was when we moved in in 2003. Such a deal! We then spent the afternoon at the "M" where we had a free lunch at the deli with my poker comps, both won $80 and picked up two free chocolate pies. We then stopped for some groceries on the way home and settled in and watched some prerecorded TV shows. Had chocolate pie and ice cream for dinner and went to bed early.

Indian Blue Peafowl

SATURDAY - 06/25/2011 - We decided to stay home today. I was going to go to the pool, but ended up spending all morning fixing some of the pages I screwed up on my photo blog by deleting a picture folder on Picassa. Looks like I will be spending the next several days fixing this screwup. Also created a new slideshow on Peacocks. Popped a Marie Callenders frozen lasaggne into the oven for lunch - it was delicous. Watch some TV shows and a Netflix's movie, "War of the Worlds". It was just OK, we were not impressed. Worked on the photo site some more while Connie read. Had ice cream sundies for dinner over a few TV shows and headed off to bed.

New England Crocus

FRIDAY - 06/24/2011 - As I was running out of storage space, I spent some time trying to clean up some unnecessary picture folders on my Picasa Web Albums site. By the time I finished, I ended up accidently deleted a folder that was holding pictures for my picture blog site - which naturally, deleted pictures from about half of my pages. Whoops! Unable to deal with that roblem anymore, we headed to GVR for lunch at Tides, their seafood restaurant. Connie had the crab cakes and I had the seafood salad with shrimp and crab. After playing for a while, I took Connie home and I headed to the "M" to sit and play until it was time to head to the airport to pick up Jim Herring and his friend Patrick. Got home sometime after midnight.

THURSDAY - 06/23/2011 - I left early and headed down to the Las Vegas County building downtown to pick up my Veterans exemption for my car registration. I then went to the car wash and to Terrible's once again to get my smog check. I then drove over to my friend Jim's apartment to pick him up and we headed to the DMV once again to register our cars. Everything worked out fine this time. When I got home I picked up Connie and we headed to GVR and had two free lunch buffets and played for a while before coming home and watching some TV shows and "so You Think You Can Dance". Talked with my sister and found out that everything seemed to be proceding along schedule in getting my mother's problem of being "scammed" with a hearing aid purchase fixed. Before heading off to bed I created two new slideshows on One of Various Cactus and one of Various Flowers.

Grand Canyon near the South Rim's Eastern Entrance

WEDNESDAY - 06/22/2011 - Spent some time working on the Slideshow portion of my Photo Gallery blog and updating the daily entries on our Retirement Blog. Added a slideshow on the Lou Ruvo Center. At noon we went over to the clubhouse for our monthly free luncheon which included chicken wings, ham, turkey, cheese and crackers with plates of mixed fruits. The wings were quite good and came from a new place in town called "East Coast Eats" that has been getting great reviews. We are definately going to have to give it a try very soon. After lunch I picked from my neighbor friend Jim and we were headed off to the DMV to register our cars. On the way I had to stop and get a "smog" test for mine and in the middle of the test it blew a coolent line (and anti-freeze) all over everything. I had to call AAA and get a tow to my mechanic. After waiting for the tow truck, waiting for the part at the garage and then the repair, the entire afternoon was gone. After shelling out $88 for the repairs, I took Jim back home and we decided to try it again tomorrow. Came home and made chicken salad sandwiches for dinner, watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows and then "So You Think You Can Dance", after which we headed off to bed. PICTURE NOTE: Be sure to click on the picture and view full size in order to see its real beauty and detail.

Grand Canyon, South Rim - Eastern Entrance

TUESDAY - 06/21/2011 - Well, I spent the entire morning "fixing" the problems on my photo blog that I created last night while trying to make some changes. Even though I was unable to correct the initial problem, I was able to find a work-around that actually improved the site's layout and navigation. How lucky was that? Around noontime we showered, dressed, and headed out with a 2-1 coupon for lunch at the Elephant Bar. What a great deal. I had the seasoned baked trout with sweet-potato fries and Connie had the shrimp and crab louie salad. Both were very good. After lunch we went across the street and played the remainder of the afternoon at GVR. Connie won $10 and I picked up $52. Such a deal. We had hot brownie fudge sundaes for dinner over a couple of prerecorded TV shows and an episode of America's Got Talent before heading off to bed.

Colorado River in El Dorado Canyon

MONDAY - 06/18/2011 - I went out to the pool in the morning and listened to my audio book while Connie watched the beginning of Wimbleton Tennis Tournament. After some frozen Mexican ???? into the toaster oven for lunch, we headed over to the "M" to play for a couple of hours. I got a comp from the poker room to the Deli and picked up their huge grilled chicken Caesar salad to go for dinner. Was in the middle of watching some TV shows when I received a call from Bonnie noting that she had had a good conversation with mom and was driving up to Tahoe in the morning to try and get the problem resolved. Was trying to make a couple of changes on my photo gallery blog and ended up destroying the list of all my photo category links. Spent three hours trying to repair the problem to no avail and finally went to bed around midnight with nothing resolved and very frustrated.

The Muddy Colorado - Grand Canyon South Rim

SUNDAY 06/19/2011 - We went out to the pool for a couple of hours this morning before it got too hot. Got over a 100-degrees by the end of the day. Before noon, I headed over to the "M" poker room to see if I could win any of the special drawings they were having - three drawings for a total of $400 every hour. I only won one of the $50 and $25 for my six hours of effort. Came home and made us hot brownie sundaes for dinner and watched the finals of the U.S. Open Golf. Rory Mcillroy had another great under par round breaking 12 U.S. Open scoring records, and finished with a 16 under, 8-point lead to win the tournament. It was one of the greatest golf we have every watched. We then watched a couple of TV shows until I received a late call from my sister noting a problem that had come up with my mom. Seems someone talked her into buying a set of hearing aids for more than $5,000. I spent the next couple of hours talking back and forth with my brother and sister trying to figure out how to "fix" the situation and the fact the it was maybe time to start taking more control over certain things, including the possibllity of taking her driver's license away.

Emerald Lake - California

SATURDAY - 06/18/2011 - Worked on sending some pictures to Mom's photo frame and then went out to the pool early. Later in the morning, our downstairs neighbors came out and sat with us and talked. At noon I headed over to the "M" to see if I could win any of their special drawings in the poker room. Hit one for $50 but still ended up loosing $75 for the day. Came home and had hot brownie sundaes for dinner and watched the end of the U.S. Open golf and a couple of TV shows. Rory Mcllroy shot another three under round ending up at 14 under for the tournament, eight strokes in the lead. He's just killing everyone.

FRIDAY - 06/17/2011 - Just another beautiful day in paradise. We spent three hours at the pool reading, taking pictures and talking with neighbors. At noontime we headed over to the "M" casino for two free buffet lunches. before sitting down to play for the remainder of the afternoon. Connie won $70 and I won $11. The free gift of the day was a watch for "Father's Day". We stopped at Smith's on the way home and picked up some groceries. Had ceral with some fresh peaches for dinner. Watched the second day of the U.S. Open and couple of prerecorded TV shows. and headed off to bed. Another great round by Rory Mcllroy. He broke two records to end up 11 under par, even after a double bogie on today's 18th hole.

Movie - The Jacket

THURSDAY - 06/16/2011 - It took most of the morning, but I finally finished my computer cleanup and backup project. There had been several things that I had been putting off for quite a while and I now certainly feel more prepared for any type of computer/hard drive failure. Believe me, having experienced a hard drive meltdown four years ago, I know how these things can "just happen". By the time I finished, it was nearly 100 degrees with winds approaching 40 mph. Not very condusive to sitting by the pool - so we nixed that idea. I made us some salami sandwiches for lunch and we sat down to watch 22-year old Rory McIlory take a three-shot lead with a fantastic 6-under 65 in the first round of the U.S. Open at The Congressional. After the golf we watched a very strange and complex Netflix movie entitled, The Jacket. This 2005 movie, was based on a 1915 novel by American author Jack London [1876-1916] As one reiewer put it, "Difficult to categorize but, for all its faults, still quite a gripping roller-coaster of a movie." Even though the movie has a few flaws, its ingenuity keeps your interest and makes you want to forgive its shortcomings. Slow and confusing at times, it's a dark, weird and rather moving experimental film. We enjoyed it. After the movie we watched "So You Think You Can Dance" and then retired for the evening.

WEDNESDAY - 06/15/2011 - I guess summer is finally here. Today reached 103 degrees. Again, I spent the majority of the day finishing the review and updating of my picture and data backups as well as deleting various seldom used software programs. I took a break at lunchtime and made us some chili and cornbread. We watched a movie and a couple of prerecorded TV shows over lunch before I went back to the computer. Nearly done with my backing up, at 5:00 we headed to the living room to watch the seventh and final game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Bruins and the Canucks.

Orr's Game winning overtime goal of the 1970 Stanley Cup

What a great game; the Bruins won 4-0. We hadn't seen a game like this since 1970, when we watched the Bruins defeat the St. Louis Blues in four games in the Final as Bobby Orr scored the game-winning goal in overtime to clinch the Stanley Cup. The same season was Orr's most awarded—the third of eight consecutive years he won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the top defenseman in the NHL—and he won the Art Ross Trophy, the Conn Smythe Trophy, and the Hart Memorial Trophy, the only player to win those four awards all in the same season. "No one, absolutely no one, could have finished a goal in like manner. For years Orr had been described as someone who was graceful, elegant, powerful, without fear—poetry in motion. All these epithets were captured and immortalized in the photo of the goal that won the 1970 Stanley Cup shown to the right. After the game we watched two hours of "So You Think You Can Dance" over hot fudge sundaes before heading off to bed.

Computer Woes

TUESDAY - 06/14/2011 - After yesterday's computer scare, I realized that I needed to be more diligent about backing up my pictures, data and programs in the event of a possible hard drive failure. So I began the long hard process of reviewing all of my program information (serial/production/registration numbers, etc.), my backup needs and status of existing backups. This review showed that I had some obvious problems and needed to update my current backup scheme. As I have literally tens of thousands of pictures and other important data/financial files, I immediately set to work on fixing this problem. Between eating and watching a few TV shows for a break, I spent the remainder of the day coming up with a new backup scheme and making the necessary backups. It's amazing how much time it takes to perform these various tasks when you have 1.2 Terabytes of drive space. I can remember when I bought a $300 10MB hard drive, the largest you could buy, for my twin 5-1/4 inch floppy drive computer. Today just one of my pictures is more than 12MB. By bedtime my task was nearly 75% complete and I finally went to bed with a somewhat more relaxed peace of mind.

Orange Day Lily

MONDAY - 06/13/2011 - Today was not a good day! When I got up this morning I decided to do some computer maintenance. I started off doing an integreity check of my hard drives by performing a CHKDSK. As I knew this would take several hours, we went out to the pool to read. Took a few pictures of the Orange Day Lilies that surround the pool. By 11:30 it was nearly 100, so we came in and had some salsa, cheese and crackers for lunch. Well guess what? Three-quarters of the way through the drive checking process on my computer the program froze up and refused to let me escape the process, even after rebooting. I tried everything to no avail. After lunch we decided to go up to GVR and play for a few hours. Don't know if it had anything to do with being the 13th, but we both lost. Stopped at a computer repair store on the way home to see if they had any ideas. Nothing. When I got home I got out my System Recovery disks and started the process of trying to fix the problem. Finally, after performing a System Restore, I was able to get everything back to normal. Whew! I made us a Trader Joe's frozen Beef Bourgoine dinner with garlic mashed potatoes. It turned out to be very good. We watched a couple of TV shows before retiring for the evening.

Humming Bird at our Pool

SUNDAY - 06/12/2011 - Spent a couple of hours reading at the pool this morning. Made tuna salad sandwiches again for lunch before heading over to the "M" to play in the finals of the freeroll tournament. As noted before, I had the least amount of chips of anyone. I got knocked out in 25th position (out of a total of 195 players) and picked up $100. Oh well, better luck next time. After playing for a while after the tournament, we came home and popped a pizza in the oven for dinner, watched a few prerecorded TV shows and finally headed off to bed.

SATURDAY - 06/11/2011 - I did my normal playing on the computer while Connie read, did some wash and some ironing. I spend a little time at the pool. I made tuna salad sandwiches for lunch. Watched a netflix movie and a couple of prerecorded TV shows before getting ready to go out for dinner. First we drove over to north Las

Piano Bar at MRKT Land & Sea Restaurant at Aliante

Next, we drove over to the Aliante Casino and had dinner at their "MRKT Sea & Land" steakhouse restaurant. Having opened more than two years ago, this was our first visit. The casino was nothing spectacular, however the steakhouse was outstanding. First of all, we were serenaded all through dinner by live piano music from the bar area. For appetizers, Connie had the blue cheese and pecan salad and I had the sea scallops in a avacado sauce. We both had two pette filet migons, cooked to perfection, for the main course with a side of grilled asperagas. With a 2-1 coupon and the two free glasses of wine we were give for a table "snafu", it was a great meal. We play for a while after dinner and Connie won $70. We finally got home about 10:00 pm, late for us, and went straight to bed.

The Ridge Line

FRIDAY - 06/10/2011 - Worked on creating some black & white photos on the computer. Click here to view more ... The Hikers. After playing on the computer Ron, my downstairs neighbor, and I drove over to Mickey's Cues and Brews for a couple of hours of pool. I hadn't shot for nearly two months and was quite rusty. After about 10 games of eight-ball, I think we ended tied. After lunch with Connie, I headed over to the "M" for the elimination round of the $33,000 freeroll Texas Hold'em tournament. I placed 10th in today's round out of 58 players, making it to day two on Sunday and a guarantee of $100. Unfortunately, my chip stack is so small that I probably won't last long enough to place in the money on Sunday. Got home about 9:00 and watched a TV show with Connie over a chocolate brownie sundae before going to bed.

THURSDAY - 06/09/2011 - Today was an absolutly beautiful day for the pool. Before heading out I created a wall collage for Connie with pictures April and Cheryl and the grandchildren that I downloaded from various Facebook accounts. Unfortunately Thursdays are also "lawn care" days, so the usual peacefulness and listening to my audio book by the pool was filled with the noise of lawn mowers and leaf blowers. At noon we headed to Connie's hairresser for two much needed haircuts. After our scalp trimmings we headed over to the "M" to use our 2-1 weekly buffet coupon. After lunch and some brief play, we stopped by GVR where connie had some free slot play. She ended up about $40 ahead for the day and I broke even. Next we stopped at the water store and the grocery store for a few needed items. I played on the computer for a while while Connie read and worked her crossword book. Still full from our late buffet lunch, we just had some oatmal raisen cookies for dinner and watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows and So You Think You Can Dance.

Grilled Skirt Steak at Border Grill

WEDNESDAY - 06/08/2011 - Suppose to be a beautiful day today; 80's and no wind. After some vacumming and house cleaning, I went out to the pool for a while this morning before going to lunch with one of our neighbors. We went down to the Strip and had lunch at the Boarder Grill inside the Mandalay Bay Casino. I had eaten here before, but it was a first for both Connie and our neighbors. First of all, was the seating; we were seated out on the deck overlooking Mandalay Bay's magnificent pool and beach area. The weather was perfect and the atmosphere was wonderful. The food here is excellant and everyone was really pleased with their meal. Connie had the Guajillo Pork Tamale (slow cooked pork, potato, panela cheese, guajillo sauce, crema, sautéed chayote squash slaw); I had the Grilled Skirt Steak (roasted corn relish, black beans, seasonal salad, handmade flour tortilla); Janice and Martin had a made to order fish plate with a choice of sides that they both thought was excellant. We then shared three desserts, a Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie and a special banana concoction that was out of this world. After lunch we came back to our place and enjoyed a two hours of conversation over a couple of bottles of wine. Later in the day, we had chicken Caesar salad for dinner and watched some TV and America's Got Talent.

Notch-leaved Phacelia

TUESDAY - 06/07/2011 - Connie made a banana bread for breakfast. I played on the computer and my phone creating some 'playlists' for all of the music I have on my phone. I now have over 2,700 individual songs on my phone that I listen to while playing poker. Today I created a playlist of "Soft Listening" songs sung by only female artists. Had to do something while waiting around for the garage to call about the car. Finally got to pick up the car around 3:00 - $1078 for a new AC Compressor and battery. Seems like this has been an expensive repair year so far; oh well, life goes on. Went over the the "M" for some play. Neither of us had any luck. Picked up two chicken Caesar salads at the Deli for dinner. Came home and watched America's Got Talent and a couple of prerecorded TV show before heading off to bed. To see more of the beautiful flower on the right, click here ... Notch-leaved Phacelia.

MONDAY - 06/06/2011 - Pretty much a nothing day. Went to the garage early to drop the car off. Need a new AC compressor to the tune of $900+ dollars. Mom called this morning and said how much she was enjoying her picture frame. I made a brocholli soup for lunch that was kind of a failure. Watched a couple of National Geographic Channel shows and movies most of the afternoon. The garage called and said I needed a new battery as well. Had stuffed chicken breasts and wild rice for dinner. Guess what, we had chocolate brownie sundaes for desert again. Watched some more TV and went to bed.

SUNDAY - 06/05/2011 - Bummer - still too windy today to do the pool. I made a breakfast of hash, blueberry muffins, and scrambled eggs with vidalia onions and cheddar cheese, which we then consumed over the men's finals of the French Open tennis tournament. It was a tight match and we were hoping Federer would win, however, Nadal played a very strong match and pulled it out in the end. After the tennis Connie read for a while while I played on the computer. I made us turkey and avocado wraps for a late lunch that we enjoyed over our Netflix movie, "Dilemma". Then we watched a couple of TV show and another movie we had recorded on the DVR player. For the third day in a row we had chocolate brownie sundaes for dinner. Watched 60-Minutes and American Idol and went to bed.

MOVIE - Bridesmaids

SATURDAY - 06/04/2011 - It was still 75-degrees when we got up this morning and seemed like another great day for the pool. Connie watched the Women's final of the French Open while I played with pictures. We then both hit the pool to do some reading. However, after an hour or so, the wind kicked up so bad that we had to come in. I put together some snacks for lunch; cheese, crackers, salsa dip, and some salami. After lunch we headed over to the South Point to see the movie "Bridesmaids". We thought it was very good and quite funny. After the movie we hit the "M" for a couple of hours. On the way home "Betsy" started acting up and we had to pull off the road. Smoke was coming from under the hood, not a good sign. It appeared that it might have something to do with the AC - possibly the AC compressor freezing up. I turned of the AC and drove the remainder of the way home at 35 mph with the emergency flashers on. Made it safely. Guess I'll just have to get it to the garage on Monday morning to have it checked out. We had chocolate brownie sundaes for dinner again, watched some prerecorded TV shows and went to bed.

European Fan Palm

FRIDAY - 06/03/2011 - Though a little breezy, it was still a good morning for the pool. After breakfast over the last semi-final women's match of the French Open, we taped the last semi-final match between Federer and Dejokovich and then headed to the pool. Seemed like the hummingbirds were everwhere. We watched Federer take the first set of the of the Semi-final in a tie breaker over lunch. We then drove over to the "M" and played for a while before heading out to the Monte Lago Casino at Lake Las Vegas to pick up two free bottles of wine and use the free play we earned on opening night last week. Picked up some dessert on the way home and watched Federer win in a four set tie breaker over chocolate brownie sundaes. Federer will be playing four time winner, Nadal in the final on Sunday. I also added a couple of pages of recent pictures I took at the pool to my Photo Gallery. The latest featuring the European Fan Palms the surround our pool area ... European Fan Palm.

THURSDAY - 06/02/2011 - After some playing on the computer and watching tennis, Connie joined me for a trip to the pool this morning. I started listening to a new audio book, "Dead or Alive" by Tom Clancy. I now have two books going - hope it doesn't get too confusing. I'm also reading The Siege by Stephen White. For lunch we decided to use a 2-1 coupon and go to the Tides Oyster bar at GVR. I had my favorite, the fresh fried oysters and Connie had the Crabcakes. After lunch we played for several hours before coming home. When we got home I made us dinner - Spam fried in coke and mustard, baked beans and potato salad. We watched some prerecorded TV shows and then watched the last of the "So You Think You Can Dance" auditions. After Connie went to bed I worked on adding some flower pictures I took yesterday at the pool to my Photo Gallery blog. Click here to see more ... African Iris.

Flowering Yucca

WEDNESDAY - 06/01/2011 - Yet another new month. It is hard to imagine that here we are, halfway through another year. Guess we just keep getting older and older. Connie made pancakes for breakfast which we ate over the quarter finals of the French Open tennis. Today I decided to take my camera to the pool to get more practice on how to use it. Hopefully, one of these days I will actually get better at taking pictures. There really is a lot to learn and so much to remember if you want to get beyond just point and click picture taking. Today I concentrated on getting some pictures of the beautiful Mimosa trees that surround our pool area. When I came in I made us some chicken salad sandwiches for lunch and then worked on the pictures I took at the pool. After spending my normal several hours deleting, editing, cataloging, backing up and creating a page for my photo gallery blog, here is what I ended up with ... Mimosa Trees. Connie watched a TV movie, washed clothes, and worked on a crossword puzzle while I played with pictures on the computer. We then sat and watched some prerecorded TV shows before watching one of our favorite shows of the season, "So You Think You Can Dance".

A Daily Diary - May 2011

2011-05-31T07:10:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day we gave my mother a digital picture frame from Vizit.com. This month I am featuring the pictures that I have sent to her frame. You can enlarge any of the pictures below by just double-clicking on them. Then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to the original screen. To see more pictures go to http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/

Entries for the Month of May

Mr. & Mrs. Mallard Strolling at the Pool

TUESDAY - 05/31/2011 - Finally another nice pool day. The maintenance people did a great job of cleaning the spa and pool, however didn't get it finished until nearly noon. Connie decided that we needed to go to Walmart today and do some grocery shopping. What a mistake that was - a day in Walmart HELL. After filling our cart and getting in line (three deep) at a register, their system went down and they were unable to finish checking anyone out. This continued "up" and "down" for more than an hour. By the time we got out of their Connie's hip was killing her. It seemed like it took me forever to put everything away when we got back home and we didn't sit down to have lunch until nearly 3:30 in the afternoon. By then we were starved. I made some nice turkey wraps with avocado, cheese, scallions and cucumber along with some potato salad and chips. We hadn't had 'wraps' for a while and they tasted really good. Now that the nice weather is finally here we are looking forward to having them a lot more. We watched some prerecorded TV shows and the season premieres of "So You Think You Can Dance" and "America's Got Talent" before retiring for the day.

The Outside Spa at Our Pool

MONDAY - 05/30/2011 - MEMORIAL DAY - Guess what? No wind this morning - amazing. Suppose to be in the 80's. I headed to the pool around 10:00 while Connie continued watching the French Open tennis.The pool and spa were pretty dirty from the wind of the past few days. The maintenance people were off due to the holiday and I spent most of my time cleaning up the spa. Looking at our calendar and coupons, we had $32 in free slot play between us today at three casinos. We started with free play at the Ellis Island Casino, then went to the "M" where we had lunch at the Deli and finally ended up at Green Valley Ranch. Connie ended up a winner for the day and I lost at poker. Came home and popped a pizza in the oven for dinner and watched a movie we had prerecorded on the DVR player. Hit the sack around 10.

Baja Fairy Duster

SUNDAY - 05/29/2011 - The wind the past couple of days has been unbelievable; 25-45 mph. Connie said its been like a Nor'easter without the snow. Haven't really felt like doing much the last couple of days, so we stayed home and played on the computer, read and watched the French Open, the Senior PGA Championship and the Indianapolis 500. I cooked up a breakfast of hash browns, a pepper, onion and cheese omelet, and English muffins to eat over the Indy 500, which started at 9:00 am here. It was sad to see the leader, rookie driver JR Hildebrand, hit the wall on the last turn before the finish line. At least he was going fast enough that he made it over the finish line in second place. What an unbelievable finish. After the race we got to see Tom Watson win the Senior PGA Championship at 61 years old. What a great achievement. I made nachos for dinner and we watched a four hour movie we had prerecorded on the DVR.

Prickly Pear Cactus

FRIDAY - 05/27/2011 - Pretty much our normal morning routine; computer, reading, tennis on TV, etc. Around noon we headed over to the "M" for two free lunch buffets. I had pretty much breakfast with ham, bacon, scrambled eggs and hash browns; Connie chose a variety of their Chinese selections. After lunch we played for a couple of hours and then came home and watched a Netflix movie and some prerecorded TV shows including the season opener of, "So You Think You Can Dance." I worked on a couple of new pages for my photo blog before heading off to bed. Check them out here ... Bird of Paradise Yellow and Agave americana

A Street View at Monte Lago Village

THURSDAY - 05/26/2011 - We were woken several times during the night from the sounds of heavy winds, which continued for most of the day. We stayed home most of the day, me playing on the computer and Connie some more of the French Open. In the late afternoon we decided to go see the new Pirates of the Caribbean in 3D with Johnny Depp. We thought it was OK, but not as good as the previous ones. After the movie we headed over to what used to be one of our favorite places to go, the Lake Las Vegas Resort with its 320-acre lake and surrounding golf courses. It's been nearly two years since Casino Monte Lago, the Ritz-Carlton and two of the three golf courses were all devastated by the recession and filed for bankrupcy. Today was the beginning of a five-day Memorial Day holiday weekend celebrating the reopening of the new Casino Monte Lago and Aston Monte Lago Village Resort. There was a Red Carpet pre-opening party outside the casino entrance with entertainment provided by the Phat Strad Orchestra, a group which we have seen before and absolutly loved.

Dinner at Auld Dubliner

We had dinner at The Auld Dubliner Irish Pub & Restaurant. It features many authentic Irish dishes, premium beers and spirits, and is set in a genuine village pub interior that was hand crafted in Dublin, Ireland. We were boring this time and just had the grilled chicken sandwich and a couple of Sam Adams. After sunset they had a minimal fireworks show before the casino opened it doors. The casino was pretty much the same as it always was; we were just glad to see that it was open again.

Agave Century Plant

WEDNESDAY - 05/25/2011 - I played on the computer while Connie did some ironing and watched tennis. Our first stop out was at GVR where Connie had $17 in free slot play. Next, we headed over to the "M" and had two free lunch buffets before playing for a couple of hours. I finally got in the 50 hours of play I needed to qualify for the freeroll poker tournament in June. We picked up the day's free gift, two bottles of wine and headed home. I put together some cheese and crackers for a dinner snack and then we settled in to watch the two hour finale of American Idol. What a show it was! The star studded entertainment with the likes of Lady Gaga, Steven Tyler, Judas Priest, Gladys Knight, Jack Black, Tony Bennett, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, etc., was fantastic. Although I really wanted James Durbin to win, my choice of the final two, Scotty McCreery beat out Connie's pick, Lauren Alaina.

Crocus from our yard in Greenland, NH

TUESDAY - 05/24/2011 - I spent the day at the "M" earning hours for the June freeroll Texas-holdem tournament. After a loosing day I came home and made us two huge strawberry shortcakes for dinner. Watched a couple of TV shows and American Idol and then went to bed.

MONDAY - 05/23/2011 - Too windy again today to go to the pool. I spent the morning updating my blog and working on sending pictures to Mom's photo frame. Connie continued watching the Roland Garros French Open tennis in between doing some wash and ironing. After showering and dressing, I once again headed out to the "M" to gather some more hours for the tournament. After about 5 hours of play I won $130, used a poker comp to pick up a chicken Caesar salad at the Vig Deli and headed home. We watched the finale of Celebrity Apprentice over dinner. We were rooting for John Rich and were glad to see that he won. We then had some chocolate cake over the movie, “Jesse Stone: Innocents Lost,” starring Tom Selleck, that we had recorded from Sunday.

John's Sandhill Crane

SUNDAY - 05/22/2011 - It was so nice this morning that I almost went out to the pool, but got caught up working on pictures on the computer instead. This past week has been quite grueling. So far I've spent more than 30 hours playing poker at the "M" Casino trying to earn the 50 hours I need for their $33,000 Freeroll Texas Holdem Tournament in June. They are paying up to 30 places, with $15,000 for first place. Today she decided that she wanted to come along. We headed over around noon and had a huge chicken salad sandwich and chips at the Vig Deli when we arrived. I then settled in to play while she headed to the slots. After about five hours of play we decided to call it quits for the day. Put some frozen pizza rolls in the oven and called it dinner. Had chocolate cake for dessert, watched some prerecorded TV shows and went to bed.

The Bee and the Begonia

SATURDAY - 05/21/2011 - Connie had $12 in free slot play at GVR, so we headed up there for a few hours of play, had two free lunch buffets, after which I took her home and then headed over to the "M" Casino and played poker the rest of the day. After about five hours, I called it quits. I won $40 for the day, picked up their free gift of the day, a bottle of Coconut Rum, and came home and watched some TV shows with Connie before retiring for the evening.

Flax

FRIDAY - 05/20/2011 - Connie stayed home and watched the French Open tennis tournament while I went to the "M" Casino and played poker most of the day. I won $38 for the day, got the free give-a-way, a pen and keychain set, and came home. Had some double-stuffed Oreo cookies for dinner, watched some TV shows and went to bed.

Bird of Paradise Yellow

THURSDAY - 05/19/2011 - After taking the day off yesterday, I decided that I needed to "get in gear" and get serious about playing some hours at the "M". I need a minimum of 50 hours play by the end of the month to qualify in their $33,000 freeroll tournament in June. I got a food comp from the poker room and we had a free lunch of Hot Pastrami sandwiches at the Vig Deli. Connie went off to play her $7 in free slot play and I headed to the poker room. By 6:00 pm we were both tired and decided to call it a day. Popped a pizza in the oven for dinner, watched a couple of TV shows and headed to bed.

WEDNESDAY - 05/18/2011 - Yesterday was another cool and windy day and we stayed home played on the computer, read and watched TV all day. Today, with a high of only 62-degrees, was the coldest day on record for this time of year. We had high winds again last night and this morning, up to 50 mph guests, for the third day in a row, with rain off and on throughout the day. Connie made French toast for breakfast. I spend some more time on the computer re-organizing my photos while she read a book. After showering and getting dressed, we headed to the Palms Casino where Connie had $20 in free slot play. Had lunch at McDonald's and then drove to the "M" where they were giving away two bottles of wine. Connie lost on slots, but I picked up a couple of hundred in the poker room. Watched a Netflix movie when we got home - "The Hard Corps" with Jean-Claude Van Damme. Just Average. Cooked up Mac-and-Cheese and hot dogs for dinner. Watched American Idol and a couple of TV shows and headed off to bed.

MONDAY - 05/16/2011 - This morning I had to take my neighbor friend Jim to a VA medical appointment on the other side of Las Vegas. Another real disappointment! After fasting all day on Sunday, and taking medicine in preparation for a Barium Enema that had been ordered by his surgeon, they cancelled the procedure indicating that it was potentially too dangerous and said they were going to schedule him for a CT Scan instead. Unbelievable. Since he had been able to eat since noon on Sunday we stopped and had lunch at Guys and Fries on the way home. Connie and I stopped by GVR to play some free slot play before heading to Smith's to do some necessary grocery shopping. We popped a pizza in the oven for dinner and watch some prerecorded TV shows and the finals of Celebrity Apprentice between John Rich and Marlee Matlin. As much as we like Marlee, I think we're rooting for John Rich.

Desert Globemallow

SUNDAY - 05/15/2011 - As predicted, today was extremely windy - 71-degrees, but with guest of greater than 40 mph. Too cool for the pool, so I worked on the computer and creating pages for my photo gallery site. First, I added a couple of posts of wildflowers I had taken pictures of over the past couple of weeks. The first being the Indigo Bush that I captured on the way to Reno last week. Next was the Checker Fiddleneck that I shot on a hike near Potosi Mountain a couple of weeks ago. Then I created a post for the Incense Cedar tree that I saw with my brother in South Lake Tahoe last week. Finally, was the picture of a Bumblebee that I had taken a couple of years ago. For lunch I cooked up some fried eggplant, spaghetti with mushroom and garlic sauce, and corn which we ate over the finals of the Italian Tennis Open with Nafa Nadal against Novak Dejokovic. Dejokovic pulled it out in two straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. We then watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows, read and played on the computer before getting ready to watch the three hour finale of Survivor: Redemption Island - we've been rooting for Rob Mariano, more commonly know as "Boston" Rob. I heated up some more chocolate pudding cake for dinner and we settled in for another long night of TV. God, we are so boring. The good news, Boston Rob WON the million dollars plus the $100,000 for the most strategic player.

SATURDAY - 05/14/2011 - Though the next couple of days are supposed to be back to "windy and cooler", today was again a beautiful day, up in the low 90's. After a couple of hours at the pool I picked up Jim, my ex-neighbor, and drove over to the Senior Center for a vintage car show, yard sale and breakfast. Guess what? Wrong Day! It's next Saturday. We went to Steak and Shake for lunch. Worst burger I have ever, ever had! This was my second time there and we were not pleased the first time; I will never go back. Went back to Jim's and helped him deal with some medical paperwork and then came home and put a frozen lasagna in the oven for dinner. Watched some TV shows and went to bed.

FRIDAY - 05/13/2011 - Today was a gorgeous day, upper 80's, and we decided to take a day off from our normal routine to stay home and use the pool. I made a breakfast of hash, eggs, English muffins, and applesauce. After our normal morning routine we spent nearly three hours at the pool. The birds were providing a full cacophony of sounds. We had grilled hot dogs and beans for lunch. Watched our Netflix movie, "The Inside Job", a documentary on the banking, Wall Street and housing mess that caused the 2008 to present recession. It's seems just amazing that those involved have not only been rewarded financially, but have never been prosecuted. As Connie said, it's enough to make you sick. I then put together a blog page on my photo site of our recent trip to Reno to see my sister. Our Reno Visit w/Bonnie. We then had some chocolate pudding cake for dinner, watched our favorite, James Durbin get voted off American Idol and a few more prerecorded TV shows and went to bed.

THURSDAY - 05/12/2011 - I spent much of yesterday and most of the morning working on pictures of our visit to Lake Tahoe and my brother over Mother's Day weekend. Eagle Falls - South Lake Tahoe. Connie had free slot play at three different casinos, so after lunch we started our trek by heading to the "M" casino first; then down to the Palms on the Strip, and finally back to GVR where we used a 2-1 comp for their dinner buffet. Being a long day, we came home, watched American Idol and Survivor and headed straight to bed.

TUESDAY - 05/10/2011 - Our first full morning back was a busy one. I spent the morning cleaning up emails on the computer, recording our trip spending over the past week; Connie did unpacking and laundry. At lunchtime we decided to go to the "M" and have the lunch buffet on a poker comp. After and afternoon of playing we broke even, I made what Connie lost. Came home and had light appetizers for dinner over some TV shows. Connie went to bed and I stayed up working on our trip pictures to Lake Tahoe over Mother's Day. Here is the Mother's Day page I made for my photo site ... Mothers Day - 2011.

Kingsbury Pass, Tahoe, NV

MONDAY - 05/09/2011 - Well, after nine long hours on the road, we finally made it home. It took us nearly an hour to get out of Tahoe this morning and over the Kingsbury Pass due to a snowstorm. Even after we got over the pass, it continued to snow for almost a half hour. The rest of the trip was pretty much normal. We stopped at the "M" to pick up two free Caesar salads to go from the deli on my poker comps. Came home and unpacked the car, sat down to dinner and watched a couple of TV shows to unwind before heading off to bed

SUNDAY - 05/08/2011 - Got up and checked out of the motel and went to Tom's for breakfast. We then went over to Mom's and picked her up for church. After church we took Mom to the Red Cup Ice Cream Parlor and we all had 'huge' hot fudge sundaes. Connie and I then went back to Mom's, gave her a Mother Day's gift of a digital photo frame and chatted for three hours. Connie and I then left and went to a movie; The Conspirator. Because we were a little early for the movie, we hit a bar and had a couple of beers and a hot crab and cheese dip appetizer for dinner, before the movie. We then went back to the motel, packed and watched Celebrity Apprentice before retiring for the evening.

SATURDAY - 05/07/2011 - After Continental breakfast in our room, we headed over to Mom's. She made us lunch and we sat around and talked for several hours. After we left Mom's we went over to Tom's to visit. He made us a chicken and rice Chinese dinner. Later we had Boston Cream Pie and butter pecan ice cream over a couple of TV shows. Went back to the motel and watched another TV show and went to bed.

Eagle Falls, South Lake Tahoe

FRIDAY - 05/06/2011 - We checked out of the Atlantis in Reno and drove directly to Tom's. After a brief snack of ham, cheese and crackers, we decided to drive to Falling Leaf Falls. Unfortunately, the snow was still so deep that we couldn't get up the road to the falls. We ended up at Eagle Falls, which was ok, but not as nice as Falling Leaf would have been. (Click the above picture to view full-screen) When we got home, Tom started on making a nice pot roast dinner with roasted asparagus, mash potatoes and homemade bread. He called Mom and invited her over for dinner and we surprised her with out presence. She seemed really thrilled. We talked with Tom some more after Mom left and then went back to the motel and retired for the night.

THURSDAY - 05/05/2011 - We had a Continental breakfast in the room, then went down to the spa and pool where we again spent three hours reading and relaxing. We stopped at Red Robin for lunch before heading over to Bonnie and Paul's. They drove us around the area where they live and up to the highest spot in their neighborhood where Paul and I proceeded to get out and take photographs. Back at their place we looked at the afternoon's photographs and then Bonnie made us dinner. After dinner we went back to the Atlantis, watched American Idol and went to bed.

WEDNESDAY - 05/04/2011 - When we got up we went directly down to the spa and pool. I bought some coffee and Danish and we sat around relaxing for several hours. We have stayed here several times in the past and just love the inside pool with its mesmerizing waterfall. At noon we drove over to Bonnie's for lunch. She made a nice homemade soup and cornbread. We sat around and talked for hours. Paul and I worked on pics and the picture frame that we were giving Mom for Mother's Day. When we got back to the Atlantis, Connie played some slots while I played some hold-em in the poker room. We broke even, I made what Connie lost. We then pick up some hot pastrami sandwiches and potato salad from the deli and had dinner in the room over a couple of TV shows before retiring for the evening.

View Looking North Towards Lovell Canyon and Mt. Charleston

TUESDAY - 05/03/2011 - After a long eight hour drive we finally arrived at the Atlantis Casino in Reno around 5:00 pm. I called Bonnie and she and Paul came over and joined us for a nice casual and relaxing dinner. It had been a long day, so we went directly to the room and bed after Bonnie and Paul departed for home. Because I'm going to be away from my computer for the next week, I won't be making any posts until we return from our trip to Reno and Tahoe.

Lava Man

MONDAY - 05/02/2011 - I vacuumed the deck, the apartment and my computer. Cleaned and packed my camera equipment and then went out and picked up some emergency car supplies, After lunch we finished packing for tomorrow's trip to Reno to visit Bonnie and Paul. Got some great news today; our rent is going down $35/month starting upon our renewal in June. We'll now be paying $13/month less than what we were paying when we moved in in 2003. I recording the TV shows we wanted while we were going to be away; we watched a Netflix movie. I Made PP&J sandwiches for dinner, watched some more TV shows and retired early.

Indian Paintbrush

SUNDAY - 05/01/2011 - Well, it's a New Moon and a new month! We're glad April is over; it's been the coldest, windiest April in more than 10 years here. Though today is still windy and in the mid-70's, it is suppose to be in the upper 80's and low 90's in the upcoming week. At least we're not experiencing the devastating tornadoes that the rest of the country seems to be having. I decided to go get the car washed this morning before we went out to pick up a few items we needed at Walgreen's and Smith's. We then drove over to the "M" casino and had two open-faced barbecued pork sandwiches for lunch at the Vig Deli before picking up a couple of free bottles of wine and returning home. Connie broke even on the slots and I picked up $80 playing poker. Watched a some TV shows over munchies and finished the last of the chocolate cream pie before calling it a night.

A Daily Diary - April 2011

2011-05-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

Entries for the Month of April

NOTE: This month I am again featuring pictures taken during my various picture taking hikes. You can enlarge any of the pictures below by just double-clicking on them. Then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to the original screen. To see more pictures go to http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/

SATURDAY - 04/30/2011 - Again the winds. They said on TV that this has been the windiest April in more than ten years. We decided to stay home today and make some preparations for next week's trip. Connie did several loads of wash and some ironing. I payed bills on the computer, got out the luggage, cleaned the car and checked all the fluids, vacuumed the house and hung a couple of my pictures that I had blown up and printed on 16x20 inch canvases at www.canvaspop.com. We had the leftover chicken Caesar salad for lunch and watched a couple of prerecorded shows on the DVR to make space for next weeks recordings while we were going to be away.

FRIDAY - 04/29/2011 - I spent most of the day cleaning up photos from yesterday's hike and doing research on the Internet to go along with the postings I put on my photo gallery site. Click here for pictures and summary of yesterday's hike ... Lovell Canyon. We drove up to GVR for two free buffet lunches, played for about an hour and came home. We stopped at the library on the way so Connie could pick up some books for next week's Tahoe trip. I got a great book entitled, Mojave Desert Wildflowers, to help me identify some of my pictures. My sister called after dinner to tell us that she had a bad fall last week while her and Paul were vacationing in Monterey. We talked about mom, our upcoming trip next week and plans for Mother's Day. We then watched Survivor and American Idol after which Connie went to bed and I stayed up to finish the post to my website.

THURSDAY - 04/28/2011 - Well, it was once again up and out early for my weekly hike with the rock hounds from the Henderson Senior center. Even though this was the last hike I had signed up for until September, when they start their Fall schedule, it will give me time to go back and revisit some of the areas that I really liked and get some even better pictures. Today's hike was to Lovell Canyon on the back side of Red Rock Canyon and Mount Charleston. It was a really nice trip, however, by the time we returned I had probably hiked about five miles and was pretty tired. Probably the most exciting part of the day was when I came upon a Western Diamondback Rattler. Click here for more ... Diamondback Rattlesnake. After showering and cleaning up, Connie and I headed over to the "M" to play for a while; stopping for gas on the way. $4.15 a gallon! Our trip to Reno and Lake Tahoe next week is going to cost us a fortune. I used my poker comps to pick up two free chicken Caesar salads to go for dinner. We watched American Idol and went to bed.

Chalcedon Checkerspot

TUESDAY - 04/26/2011 - 35 MPH wind guests again today. We both read this morning. Decided to go to Red Lobster for lunch and have one of the new shrimp specials. One of our neighbor friends, Cathy, whom we haven't seen for several months works there and we got to have her wait on us. It was a good meal and we were both stuffed when we left. We then drove over to J.C. Penny's at the Galleria Mall and bought some much needed new bathing suits. Returned a call to the Batchelder's in Florida. Talked for quite some time; found out that their daughter had just been diagnosed with a severe case of cancer. Came home and watched a special Hallmark movie, "Behind the Blackboard", that we had recorded on Sunday. It was really good and we both enjoyed very much. Finished the chocolate pie, watched some more TV shows and went to bed.

SUNDAY - 04/24/2011- HAPPY EASTER! After a few hours of our normal morning routine, I decided to go out to the pool for a while. Connie thought it was still too windy and cool and opted out. When I got there I found out that the outside spa was not working and I was bummed. Even though it was warm enough, the winds were bothersome. I only stayed for a short time and came back inside. This has been, without a doubt, the windiest, coolest spring we have experienced since moving here. While we were sitting around trying to decide what to do for the day, we got a call from the 'girls' who used to be our next door neighbors, who are now living in Phoenix, AZ. Other than some technical legal problems over the passing of their mother, they sounded pretty good. We then headed over to the "M" for lunch. Even though I had free comps for the special Easter Buffet, the lines were so long, more than 300 people total, that we decided to skip it and eat at the Vig Deli instead. I went over to the poker room and got a comp for Deli, so we still ate free. We both ended up with a small loss for the day, but picked up two chocolate cream pies that they were passing out for Easter. When we got home we had chocolate cream pie for dinner over some prerecorded TV shows and then called it a day.

SATURDAY - 04/23/2011 - I spent most of the morning working on 'cleaning up' the pictures from this past Thursday's hike while Connie read. At noon we went to Walgreen's and the bread store. We then stopped at Burger King and had a couple of 2-1 chicken sandwiches before heading over to the "M" casino where they were giving away some monogrammed shirts. After several hours of play Connie ended up making $75 dollars on the slots and I broke even in the poker room. When we got home I cooked up some Chinese Ramin soup, adding water chestnuts and chopped scallions, for dinner. After watching a couple of TV shows, Connie went to bed while I stayed up finishing the posts to my photo site of this weeks hike. Check them out here ... Mountain Springs Pass.

FRIDAY - 04/20/2011 - Wouldn't you know, the first morning in a week that it has been nice enough to use the pool and it was locked up due to some problem. Bummer! So instead, I decide to get a little exercise doing some raking and trimming of bushes around the entrance to our apartment. At noon I came in and showered and we headed to the Palms Casino where Connie had $20 in free slot play. I had $24 dollars in comps from the poker room, so we tried their luncheon buffet. Neither of us thought it was anywhere near as good as the "M's". Connie made over $50 off of her free slot play and I won $140 in the poker room. Next we headed to the "M" where they were giving away two boxes of free chocolates for Easter. We both lost a little here, but were still 'up' for the day. On the way home we stopped at GVR, where Connie had another $5 in free slot play. She made a $1.50 and we went home and called it a day. When we got home we had some ice cream and called it dinner. Watched Survivor: Redemption Island and American Idol that we had prerecorded on our DVR system and then retired for the evening.

THURSDAY - 04/21/2011 - Up and out by 6:15 to go to the senior center for the day's hike. Today we headed toward Pahrump on NV-160 to Mount Polosi, the Spanish Trail and the Late Night Trailhead for Red Rock Canyon. When I got home we headed over to "M" for soime play and their dinner buffet. Watched Survivor, American Idol and a few TV shows before retiring for the evening.

WEDNESDAY - 04/20/2011 - Wind was back; making it too cool to go to the pool this morning. Bummer! Played on the computer while Connie read. Made us turkey wraps for lunch over a prerecorded TV show. After lunch I had to drive my friend Jim over to the VA Hospital in N. Las Vegas. Looks like he may have to have surgery. Came home and picked up Connie and went over to the "M" for some play. Between the two of us we broke even. Cooked us some summer sausage in wine and served with cheese and crackers. Watched some TV shows and had banana splits for dessert. I got my camera "stuff" together for tomorrow's hike and went to bed.

TUESDAY - 04/19/2011 - Today the wind was gone, though the weatherman said that it will be back again starting tomorrow. Even though it was nice enough to go to the pool, I ended up spending most of the morning working on a new project, paying bills, balancing my checkbook and ordering a few things off the Internet. Connie said her book, "House Rules" by Jodi Picoult, was really good and that she didn't want it to finish. She made waffles for breakfast. By the time I finished up it was past noon so we showered, dressed and headed over to the "M". I made $140 while Connie only lost $25. On the way home we stopped at one of our new favorite restaurants, Monstah Lobstah, and picked up three lobster rolls for dinner with a 2-1 coupon I got by texting them on my phone. When we got home we found the water for the whole building was off. I talked with both Bonnie and Tommy, firming up plans for a trip to Reno and Tahoe for Mother's Day. Watched some TV shows waiting for the water to get turned back on. Came back on around 8:30. We did dishes, cleaned up and went to bed.

Antelope Canyon - Rivers of Taffy

MONDAY - 04/18/2011 - It was windy all last night and again this morning - too hard to go out and enjoy reading by the pool even thought it was 77-degrees out. This morning I played with pictures on the computer while Connie read. We decided to stay home today and catch up on watching some movies we had recorded on our DVR player. I made us some tuna salad sandwiches for lunch. After and afternoon of watching movies, we retired to the den where I read some magazines and Connie continued reading her book. For dinner we took some frozen appetizers out of the freezer. After dinner we watched Antiques Roadshow and a few more of our favorite TV shows before retiring for the evening.

SUNDAY - 04/17/2011 - Today was a beautiful day, in the mid 80's. We both hit the pool around 10:30. Sure signs of spring, the bees were everywhere and the mocking birds were in full chorus. At 1:00 we finally came in and had lunch. After lunch we went to GVR and played for a while. On the way home we stopped at Smith's and did some grocery shopping. I did some picture organizing on the computer while Connie read. We then had chocolate cake and butter pecan ice cream for dinner, watched some prerecorded TV shows and retired for the evening.

SATURDAY - 04/16/2011 - I was up at 6:00 am and out the door by 7:15 headed to Texas Station casino for Stations' freeroll Texas Hold-em tournament. Unable to catch any good hands or any luck when I was lucky enough to get a hand, I was knocked out halfway through. I collected a conciliatory prize of $75 and then headed over to Jim Herring's house to pick up him and his friend Patrick and drive them to the airport. They sounded like they had a very busy week seeing the "sights and sounds" of Las Vegas and the area. When I got home, I made us lunch and we watch some prerecorded TV shows. For the evening, I had made dinner reservations at Todd's. One of the finest restaurants in Henderson, it was voted 'Best Gourmet Restaurant of 2005 by the Review Journal. For appetizers we had the flash fried Calamari and Rock Shrimp and the Arugula salad with spicy balsamic dressing, strawberries, oranges and feta. For the main course Connie had the Todd’s Meatloaf in a mushroom cabernet sauce with caramelized onion mashed potatoes, stuffed tomato, red cabbage and baked yam; I had the Seared Sea Scallops in a pistachio butter sauce with wild mushroom potatoes. Both dishes were delicious. Even with our $25 off coupon, this meal was not cheap, however it was again up to our expectations. Before bed I worked on posting some black and white photos, like the one here, to my Photo Gallery. Check them out here ... Black & White

Shot inside Lower Antelope Canyon

FRIDAY - 04/15/2011 - I spent most of the morning working on creating a couple of postings to my photo gallery of our 2009 trip to Antelope Canyon in Arizona. This is probably one of the most famous slot canyons in the US. Check our the pictures here ... Antelope Canyon. I checked the temperature after working on pictures and seeing that it was nearly 80 degrees decided to go out to the pool for a couple of hours. The birds were really chirping away and it was a very relaxing time. When I came in I cooked us up a 10-minute skillet meal out of the freezer for an early dinner. We were watching some prerecorded TV shows when my sister called. We talked for more than an hour. Before we finished, I locked in some dates for a Mother's Day visit to Reno and Lake Tahoe. We watched a couple of more shows over the rest of the chocolate cream pie and then hit the sack, as I have a No-limit Texas Hold-em tournament at 8:00 am over at Texas Station before going to Jim Herring's house to pick up him and his friend to take them to the airport.

Red Canyon, Utah

THURSDAY - 04/14/2011 - Well, it's finally done! Using the electronic filing system from Turbo Tax for the first time, I filed my taxes today, kissing goodbye to nearly every dime we had saved up. This is ridiculous; I need to figure out how to get some 'tax deductions' before next year. Yesterday I spent time working on some pictures from our 2009 road trip through Utah. I created two new pages on my photo gallery site; one for Red Canyon and one for Bryce Canyon National Park. Click to check them out. Connie had free slot play at both GVR and the "M" today, so after hitting GVR first, we headed over to the "M" for a free buffet lunch. After picking up another free bottle of wine, we came home, had chocolate cream pie for dinner and watched TV.

TUESDAY - 04/12/2011 - Today I decided to work on preparing my federal taxes. Now I know why I have put this off for so long. I owe $2,990.00. It's hard to believe that retired people should still have to pay so much after having worked all their lives. Oh well, I guess that's just life.Today Connie stayed home while I went to the "M" to earn some "Tax" money. I only won $125, but at least it was a win. Popped a pizza in the oven when I got home and watched some prerecorded TV shows with Connie before heading to bed and calling it a day.

Dying Ponderosa Pine

MONDAY - 04/11/2011 - I did my normal playing on the computer while Connie sat on the couch reading. For lunch we decided to go to Red Robin, where I had a free birthday burger coming. After lunch we 'hit' three casinos, the Palms, GVR and the "M". Between the three, Connie had $35 in free slot play and ended up wining $20 for the day. I lost $20 playing at the Palms, but made up for it with a $80 win at the "M". We then came home, had PB&J for dinner, chocolate cake for dessert and watched several prerecorded TV shows before retiring for the evening. The picture on the left is of an old dying Ponderosa Pine that I found on a hike along the Robber’s Roost Trail off NV State Road 158. Click here for more ... Dying - But Not Gone

Beavertail Cactus Blossom

SUNDAY - 04/10/2011 - This was just another lazy sit around and read/work on the computer day. I worked on adding some pages to my photo gallery blog while Connie read a new book, "The Spy" by Clive Cussler. I posted some pages on my hike with Johnny to Eldorado Canyon and our tour of the Techatticup Mine. Techatticup Mine Tour. I also added some pictures of some lichen and a tree that I shot up on Mt. Charleston last Thursday. Ponderosa Pine and Crustose Lichens. At lunch I heated up some chili adding some onion and green pepper, topped with grated cheddar cheese. We spent the afternoon watching the Masters Gold tournament and some TV shows. My brother Tommy called in the late afternoon and we spent nearly and hour catching up on "life". We had chocolate cake and ice cream for dinner over some prerecorded TV shows before heading off to bed for the evening. The picture of the bee inside the blossom of the beavertail cactus was taken at the Techatticup Mine Camp in Eldorado Canyon.

SATURDAY - 04/09/2011 - Pretty much our normal morning routine. I posted some pictures of Thursday's hike to Mt. Charleston to my Photo Gallery blog. Click here to view ... Mt. Charleston. I made us some turkey wraps for lunch. We had a lot of errands to run today; so after lunch we hit the water store, gas station, library, bread store and Walgreen's. We then went to GVR so Connie could play her $7 free slot play. Wehn we got back home, Jim Herring was just getting out of his car. He had to pick up a friend at the airport around 7:30 and decided to come early and take us out to dinner. After a couple of bottles of wine, we drove up to the Cheesecake Factory across from the District at Green Valley.

Dinner w/Jim at Cheesecake Factory

The Cheesecake Factory menu features more than 200 menu selections made fresh from scratch each day plus more than 50 cheesecakes and specialty desserts. We started off with an appetizer of Stuffed Mushrooms made with Fontina and Parmesan Cheese, Garlic and Herbs in a Wine Sauce. Connie and I both had the Chicken Madeira, a sautéed chicken breast topped with fresh asparagus and melted Mozzarella cheese, covered with fresh mushroom Madeira sauce and served with mashed potatoes. It was outstanding as usual. Jim had the fried shrimp platter. We then shared a Key Lime cheesecake and a Strawberry cheesecake. It was a lovely, long, relaxing dinner; and needless to say we were all stuffed when we left. After dinner Jim drove to the airport, we went home and watched a couple of TV shows before heading to bed.

Breakfast at Rae's with Rick

FRIDAY - 04/08/2011 - It was reported this morning that the winds up on Mt. Charleston, where I was taking pictures yesterday, were over 74 mph. This morning it was only 42 degrees when we got up to go met Connie's brother and his family for breakfast at Rae's, a local's restaurant just around the corner from us. They are headed back to Colorado from their short four-day visit to Belen's family here in Vegas. After saying our goodbyes, we went back home and I worked on postig pictures to my photo gallery from yesterday's Mt Charleston hike while Connie read. At 2:00 pm I had to drive my friend Jim Freed to the doctors office. He has been having a problem with a pain in his side for two months that no one can seem to diagnose. After taking Jim back home we went to GVR and the "M" where Connie had $15 in free slot play. We stayed at the "M" and had dinner before heading to the airport at 7:30 pm to pick up Jim Herring. By the time we drove him to his house on the other side of Vegas and got back home it was after 11:00, way past out bedtime.

THURSDAY - 04/07/2011 - Got up at 5:30 am for one of my hikes with the Senior Center's rock hounds. Today's hike was to the Mt. Charleston area, which as predicted, ended up being very windy and cold. Several of the trails still had so much snow on them that they were closed. As always, I still was able to get a few nice pictures, even though I missed some sittings of two beautiful woodpeckers and a huge western blue jay. Came home and made a late afternoon lunch that we had over some prerecorded TV shows. Connie then watched over my shoulder as I reviewed and edited the pictures from this morning's hike. We then had ice cream sundies for dinner, watched a couple of TV show and went to bed.

WEDNESDAY - 04/07/2011 - Connie's brother and family arrived late on Monday after a long 13 hour drive from Bayfield, Colorado. They spent all day Tuesday visiting with Belen's family and touring some of the new sites on the Strip. We went over to the "M" and had lunch at the Vig Deli and played for a couple of hours. Today, Rick, Belen and Caden came over around 9:00 am and I made us all a nice 'brunch' consisting of egg, pepper, onion and cheese omelets, hashbrowns, bacon and English muffins. After breakfast we took Caden out to play in the yard area around the pool. When we went back inside, Caden ended up taking a nap and we sat out on the deck conversing for several hours. We then headed over to the Coronado Cafe at the South Point casino, where they were staying, and treated them to a wonderful Chinese dinner. It was just one of those nice days with family. After we parted company, we drove by the "M" and played for a couple of hours before heading back home. I won, Connie lost. Caught up on a few of our TV shows before retiring for the evening.

Generator Room on the Nevada Side of Dam

SUNDAY - 04/03/2011 - I got up, gathered my camera gear and headed over to Boulder City to pick up John again at his RV site on Lake Mead. Today we planned on going back to the Hoover Dam to take the Powerplant Tour, which after a short movie about the building of the dam, begins with an elevator ride that goes 530 feet down inside the dam. Even though there isn't a lot of pictures to take down inside the dam, we did get a few. After our stop at the dam we were going to go over to Floyd Lamb Park to get some waterfowl pictures, but it was still so windy we decided not to go. By the time we finished everything it was nearly noon and we were getting hungry, so we drove back to our house and picked up Connie and went up to the District at GVR to have lunch at the Elephant Bar.

Lunch on the Deck at the Elephant Bar

Even though it was still a little breezy, it was still warm enough that we decided to eat lunch on their outside deck. Connie and I opted for the Chicken Marsala, John had the Mongolian Beef. It was a very nice conversationally filled, leisurely lunch. After sharing a walnut fudge brownie sundae with ice cream, whipped cream, hot fudge sauce and a cherry for dessert, we went back to our place and watched the movie "127 Hours". It's the true story about a mountain climber who became trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah in 2002 and who, after five-days, had to resort to cutting off his arm in order to survive. We all thought it was very well done and enjoyed it. We then drove Johnny back to his RV and said our goodbyes, thanking him for a very nice, week long visit. Even though we keep in touch on a regular basis via email, it had been a couple of years since we had seen him and it was really good to get together, swap stories and reminisce. As Connie said, it was a great birthday present for me!

SATURDAY - 04/02/2011 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me! Sixty-Five - OMG, I must be getting old; now I'am even eligible for Medicare. The plan for the day was to go over to the Hoover Dam early enough to capture some sunrise pictures of the new by-pass bridge at the dam. Connie told me later that her sister Pattie had called to wish me happy birthday after I had left to pick up Johnny. I was up at 4:14 am, drove over to the Boulder Beach Campground at Lake Mead to pick up John and get to the dam before sunrise. Whoops! Because the dam and bridge are located deep within Black Canyon, there were no sunrise pictures!

The good news was that we were early enough to see nearly a dozen mountain sheep grazing on the hillsides on the southern end of the dam. After our dam stop we headed southwest to Eldorado Canyon and a visit to the Techatticup Mining Camp.

The Techatticup Mine Camp

After an hour of roaming the area, we decided to take the tour into the original Techatticup Mine. We had a great tour guide who really knew the history and took us into several of the mines' nearly four miles of tunnels. It was an excellent tour that provided a lot of information about the history of this famous gold and silver mine and the people who worked it. We were really glad that we had made a last minute decision to take it.

When we got back home, we picked up Connie and drove over the the "M" Casino, where Connie treated us to their all-you-can-eat Seafood Brunch for my birthday.What a meal it was; the King Crabs Legs were delicious. I ended up getting an 'end cut" of prime rib that was unbelievably tender. Johnny was impressed with all the offerings and thought it was the best buffet he had ever been to. After we got back to our place we were all stuffed, and somewhat tired after our long day of hiking and picture taking, so I ended up taking John back to his RV site on Lake Mead. When I got back home I got a call from my sister in Reno, wishing me a happy birthday. It was a nice call and we talked for more than an hour and a half. Connie and I looked at the day's pictures, watched a TV show and went to bed early.

Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (Colorado River Bridge)

FRIDAY - 04/01/2011 - After a continental breakfast in the room again, we checked out and headed back to Henderson. After unpacking the car, I ran some errands, cleaners, gas, auto shop and car wash. When I got back home Connie and I went to Burger King for a couple of 2-1 burgers. When I got back home I opened mail and emails, paid bills and recorded my expenditures of the past four days. John called and let us know that he found a nice site at the Boulder Beach RV site on Lake Meade. We made arrangements for getting up early in the morning to go to the Hoover Dam and the Eldorado Mine for some more picture taking.

Ravings–by Linda J. Clarke

2011-04-11T06:24:00.001-07:00

“Ravings” are a series of essays written by my sister Linda J. Clarke. It was her hope that people who read them would gain a “tenderness and appreciation for the animals and plants who share this world with us.” For more on Linda and her book, “On A Planet Sailing West”, click here … Linda Clarke.

I have learned through a secretly released report that a small vehicle from another galaxy recently floated through our solar system and briefly hovered over our planet. The ship’s computers confirmed that of the billions and billions of worlds populated with living organisms, ours is an average planet and our sun an average star.

Apparently, this unusual visit was prompted by a plaintive sub-space lament the ship’s computers picked up, from both our oceans and dry land masses, which seemed to be a collective expression of sorrow. These sophisticated instruments had detected such sounds before as their starship wandered from one sector to another in deep space. Mysterious whisperings, interpreted as haunting appeals or pleas, usually indicated a large-scale planet-wide extinction in process and were always investigated by the ship’s crew who were a deeply compassionate race and often acted upon an instinct to help an immature species in its natural progression for entry into the cosmic community.

A planet must have oceans, oxygen and billions of years of life in its geological and evolutionary history before sensor arrays detect the unmistakable grieving sound. Their data indicated that earth is a water world, the oceans covering over 71 percent of the planet’s surface, and that life here has flourished for several billion years, developing

intelligence and a technical civilization about midway during the approximate life span of the sun, a healthy yellow dwarf star. Currently, over ten million species live on earth, all direct descendants of organisms that lived 3.8 billion years ago. The crew also confirmed that in less than a hundred years, over half of these species will be extinct, particularly the largest, most intelligent, and most beautiful of the species.

Upon entering the earth’s atmosphere, they determined the cause of this worldwide anguish is the same as on other distressed planets: one dominant species in its headlong rush to build a scientific civilization, grows so aggressive and overpopulated and self-important that it takes over and occupies the habitat of the rest of the life forms who, finding themselves pushed aside and subdued, are unable to live as their nature intends them to live. Thus conquered, their movements restricted, these captive species unconsciously send out these sorrowful sounds on a psychic wave into the universe.

Very social family animals who travel in groups seem the most tragic, their lives the most interfered with. Wolves, for example, dolphins and whales, orangutans and gorillas, elephants are all tortured in one way or another. Some of these creatures, notably dolphins, whales and elephants have considerable intelligence and communicativeness but have not developed the capacity to create their own technology.

From the starship’s viewpoint, these creatures are worthy life forms who make our planet more valuable and interesting in the cosmic scheme as their characteristics and personalities have an intelligent integrity that has taken eons to evolve from mere instinct.

Humans, as the dominant species, possess a clever technological mind, an inventive, curious and ambitious brain that is social and literate, but our civilization is still in its infancy and our dependence on declining fossil fuels for energy still childlike. The certain disappearance within a century or less of oil, coal and gas, upon which our entire electrical grid depends, will be catastrophic. Without the sustaining help of electricity human progress as we’ve known it, is impossible. The computers noted that our recent attempt to create energy from nuclear fission has proved disastrous with hundreds of tons of radioactive dust blowing over the Pacific Ocean.

Most importantly, a spirit of responsible guardianship for the home planet is lacking in the majority of human beings. The computers recorded an extreme erosion of tropical rainforests, coral reefs, and temperate forests. A portion of the atmosphere is missing over one of the poles, and the oceans are badly damaged by overfishing, pollution and acid rain. Fish are the planet’s most valuable protein but few big ocean fish remain and smaller fish species are dying off in huge fish kills from lack of oxygenated water.

Even such a brief fly-by revealed we possess profound emotional deficiencies that make us indifferent and unresponsive to life here, even to the most charismatic life forms like tigers, panthers, blue fin tuna and whooping cranes. Some with great effort have transcended egocentric and human-centered limitations and become authentic cosmic citizens. However, they are generally helpless and unsupported. Our current post-capitalistic system, with its disinterest in anything but the well-being of multinational corporations, portends a violent end to intelligent life.

It was also noted that our species possesses a kind of reckless greed which could be the result of the short span of time intelligent life has been here, compared to astronomical and geological time. Fortunately, we are quite far away from the populated galactic centers so our limitations are not yet dangerous to other star systems. This kind of quarantine is providential. The algorithms of one computer onboard even concluded human beings and all remaining wildlife will be living on an unbearably hot, almost lifeless and radioactively damaged planet by the end of the century.

With their computers still whizzing and collecting infinite terabytes of information to be stored away, the small ship exited our solar system and moved on to another quadrant of the galaxy. The crew’s somber conclusion: we will not survive long enough to become a truly advanced civilization. Because our planet is supremely beautiful even in its present state of deterioration, in a few hundred years, another crew will fly by again to observe either our extinction or further evolution. Self-destruction is more than probable. A summary of this visit perfectly translated into English, Hindi, Mandarin, and Spanish was unobtrusively released by the spaceship’s computers to Wikileaks as a courtesy.

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Strangely, about the same time I read about this sensational visit, I dreamed that I was visiting a large male polar bear somewhere on an ice floe in the frozen Arctic Sea. In grumbles and hoarse murmurs, he communicated that seals are hard to find now that the ice floes are disappearing. Recently, he had met up with another much fatter male who has begun preying on females and their cubs, but he just does not have the heart to do such a thing.

His most expressive growls indicated to me that the Arctic, which so many have found so dismal, is to this elderly fellow an unforgettable paradise. He enjoys the howling arias of the wolf families at night and the thunderous drumming of caribou hoof beats shaking the ground as a herd flees into the darkness; and he loves the damp smell of the hairy musk oxen rising up from the hidden valleys and the daily contact with seabirds, seal and fish and the grinding and scraping and squeaking of the pack ice. He loves the tremendous din of huge walrus communities creating pandemonium near the coast. Three-foot tall Arctic hares hop away like small white kangaroos from his sudden stealthy shadow.

From what I can tell, in this exotic backdrop he has grown into an improbably serene and amiable creature, free to be himself, no longer guided solely by his appetite, though I suspect he doesn’t have the opportunity to agonize over good and bad too frequently. In the three months of constant daylight, when the sun moves in a small half circle around the horizon, his normal habit is to trudge solemnly mile after mile across the ice under a bright sunny sky, exploring his vast world with admiration. In the three months of constant darkness, he naps a good deal in his snow cave (polar bears are world-class sleepers) and contemplates shooting stars and the aurora borealis and other indefinable joys and pleasures of solitude.

Despite being a venerable twenty-three years old, he can still hike mile after mile on the remaining ice and swim in frigid water between ice floes and haul up seals from their breathing holes whenever he finds one. Ambling confidently on his own in the cold up and down the ice ridges toward a molten gold and emerald sunset, he has always been filled with joy and gratitude for the stark beauty around him.

But lately, he has been troubled. The top layer of ice on the Arctic sea where he managed his lengthy hikes was now always a mixture of water and slush and his feet were suffering from this new wet world and strange blisters were appearing on the tough soles of his paws. Then he discovered his mate of many years and their latest two cubs washed up on the shore of Davis Strait separating the Greenland ice cap from Baffin Island, apparently drowned, as there was not a mark on any of their sodden bodies. He experienced a strange discontent when he turned over their stiff furry bodies to look them curiously in the face. Something about the cubs’ small frozen black noses. They should not be dead.

During the season of long black nights and wintry cold, exhilarated by the intensely bright fresh air, he had watched the stars tirelessly. His mate must have been drowsing on an ice floe with the two cubs when a fast current began dispersing the ice. A storm must have come in, slapping the seas against their small island and breaking it into pieces. The mother must have slid into the water and started swimming toward a shore she could not see, followed by the heroically striving cubs who would have followed their mother into hell and back. They all swam diligently through the four-foot swells, through driving sleet and spray, but for some unknown reason found no other ice floes. Padded with less fat than their mother, the cubs were soon cold.

His mate would have turned to try and save the cubs. For heartbreaking minutes, they would have all clung together in the rough water. The cubs probably tried to clamber on their mother’s wide back. Exhausted, they couldn’t hold on and finally, panting and choking and sneezing in the relentless waves, she could not bear their weight.

Of all the creatures on this planet, the female polar bear has always been the fiercest personification of protective motherhood. She had provided these cubs with food for two years; she had driven off strange males who would do them harm; she had curled up around them in blizzards; she had called them back if they recklessly wandered off. She had anticipated every danger except that her fluffy white darlings, so promising and well-behaved, would drown, that the vast ice sheet at the center of their home, normally so substantial and thick, would melt and break up and change faster than anywhere else on the planet.

I woke up suddenly in my lounge chair in the back yard, a wasp in my face. The last image I had in my mind was of the disconsolate polar bear’s massive head with its Roman nose, bent over, almost touching his blistered paws, asleep. I sat there in my chair in the sun for a long time staring at a perfect red hibiscus flower still clinging to its bush. I was warm and disoriented. The yellow pollen and wavering stamen seemed to shout: that polar bear’s life is worthy! And then it shriveled up. Later, I noticed the plainspoken hibiscus had dropped to the ground, its ferocious red petals limp and defeated after their outburst. Everything had changed. My favorite cheery mockingbird had become unaccountably grumpy and glared at me with skepticism as if I was not to be trusted and could poison the birdbath. Even the orange butterflies seemed to float away from me with contempt, no doubt still upset I had killed so many of their caterpillars last year while they were eating the leaves off the passionflowers. The ambrosial jasmine vine pulled and tangled in my hair with a certain irritability and distaste. For some reason, I was resented and unwelcome in my own back yard.

A Daily Diary - March 2011

2011-04-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

Entries for March 2011

NOTE: This month I am again featuring pictures taken during my weekly hikes. You can enlarge any of the pictures below by just double-clicking on them. Then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to the original screen.

THURSDAY - 03/31/2011 - Had breakfast in the room and picked John up around 10:30 and drove to Oatman, AZ. Had lunch at the Oatman Hotel Restaurant and then took the long way back over and through the mountains towards Kingman. It was an absolutely beautiful curvy, winding ride through the mountains. As we came out of the mountains we saw more than a dozen wild donkeys along the road. After we dropped John off, we played a while in the casino at Harrah's. We then had a late dinner at their Beach Cafe before retiring to the room to watch the elimination round of American Idol, after which we went to bed.

WEDNESDAY - 03/30/2011 - Got up early and picked up coffee and a sausage biscuit for Connie at McDonalds and a egg McMuffin for myself. I then picked up John for our morning photography shoot at Grapevine Canyon. It was quite windy, but we still got some great Petroglyph pictures. Upon our return, we picked up Connie and drove to the AVI Casino for lunch. After a nice lunch and drive, we dropped John off at his RV and we drove down to the Colorado Belle and played for a while before heading back to Harrah's. Watched American Idol and went to bed.

TUESDAY - 03/29/2011 - Got up early and drove to Enterprise to drop off the rental and pick up Betsy. Came home and finished packing the car. Drove to Connie's hair dresser for her hair cut and then to GVR for a buffet lunch before heading of to Laughlin to meet up with Johnny. While at the hairdresser's, I remembered that I had forgotten to take our clothes hanging rack out of the rental and called to see if they had it. The people who had rented the car after me, brought it back to the rental office, so we had to drive over there to retrieve it before heading out to Laughlin. Arrived at Harrah's around mid-afternoon, hooked up with my cousin Johnny, who actually arrived before we did. Met him at his RV and chatted up for a while and then headed out for an early dinner at a little local restaurant called, Daniel's on the River. After a long leisurely meal we made plans for Wednesday and dropped John at his RV. We played for a while in the casino before heading to the room and to bed.

MONDAY - 03/28/2011 - Got up bright and early and took Betsy to the car doctor. The garage got me a rent-a-car for the week at $19/day. When I got to the rental place, I upgrade to full-sized Ford Focus for an additonal $10/day. Drove home and picked up Connie and went to the "M" to use our last 2-1 Buffet coupon for the month. Came home and started packing and getting ready for tomorrow's trip to Laughlin to meet up with Johnny. Got word that Connie's brother will be here from April 4th through the 8th and that Jim Herring is arriving on the 8th and needed us to pick him up at the airport that night. Sounds like it's going to be a busy couple of weeks; though it is always nice to see family that we haven't seen for a while. FLASH BULLETIN:

Some great news!Just got a call from the garage and Betsy had been fixed and is ready to be picked up in the morning.

SUNDAY - 03/27/2011 - Connie made French toast for breakfast which we ate over Sunday Morning, our weekly ritual. Connie did some wash and ironing and I played on the computer. At noon we ran some errands, Walgreens, the Bread Store, Smoke Shop, etc., before heading to GVR so Connie could play her $10 in free slot play. As we drove out of the driveway, I noticed that my speedometer was not working. Then the transmission started to 'slip' and a couple of times I had no forward drive motion. NOT GOOD! Connie ended up wining $40 on her free slot play, so we left and headed to the Henderson Pavilion attend the Young Artist's concert with the Henderson Symphony Orchestra. I seems like this is a spring ritual for us; I think we have only missed a couple since we moved here. There were three featured pianists and three violinists, all of whom were quite good, however one of the male violinists, 16-year old Tamas Toka, was outstanding. He got a standing ovation from the entire audience. After the concert we drove (very carefully) to Monstah Lobstah, where I had a free lobster dinner coming for my birthday. Connie had the fried seafood platter. The car was still acting up and we barely made it home. Had pumpkin pie for dessert, watched some TV and went to bed.

Tule Springs at Floyd Lamb Park

SATURDAY - 03/26/2011 - I spent most of yesterday and this morning working on pictures from Thursday's hike and creating posts on my photo gallery. I cooked up some garlic and asparagus on toast points with melted cheddar cheese for lunch. Simple, but delicious. We watched a couple of movies we had prerecorded on our DVR player plus a Netflix movie titled, Wild Target. For a British production, we found this movie to be pretty good with just the right amount of pathos, humor and action. Later in the evening I called my mother in Tahoe and talked for a half hour. Other than complaining about all the snow they have been getting, she sounded pretty good. I made Ramin soup with pea pods and water chestnuts for dinner - watched a couple of TV shows and headed off to bed.

Peacock at Tule Springs

FRIDAY - 03/25/2011 - Connie made waffles for breakfast. Besides working on Thursday's hiking pictures, I spent a couple of hours communicating back and forth with my cousin Johnny who is currently in an RV park in New Mexico. He is heading this way to visit us before weaving his way through Utah, Colorado and Wyoming on his journey back to Chatham New York for the summer. We made plans to meet him in Laughlin, where we will spend several days visiting and taking pictures of local sites and points of interest. I made reservations for three free nights at Harrah's Hotel and Casino. After a lunch of chicken salad sandwiches, we went to the water store and then over to Southpoint, where Connie had $15 in free play. She won and I lost again. Next, we made a stop at the "M" where they were giving out free bottles of Finlandia Vodka. We then drove to GVR where she had $10 in free slot play. She won again and I lost some more! Oh well, better luck another day. Came home and made supper and watched TV before going to bed for the evening.

Bristlecone Pine Snag

THURSDAY - 03/24/2011 - Today was another 'hiking' day with the rock hounds from the senior center, so it was up at 5:30 to get ready for the day's excursion. Today's trip was to Cold Creek Nevada with stops at Corn Creek and Tule Springs park. Click here for a description and pictures of ... Cold Creek Nevada. I also got some great pictures of peacocks at Tule Springs. Check them out here ... Indian Blue Peafowl.

TUESDAY - 03/22/2011 - After our normal morning routine we headed to Mimi's Cafe for a 2-1 breakfast. Connie had her usual, the asparagus and brie quiche with bacon and tomatoes with fresh fruit and orange juice; I had the 3-egg avocado BLT omelet stuffed with garlic spinach, diced tomato, and topped with tomato, bacon, jack cheese and avocado with red skin fries, blueberry muffin and orange juice. Add a milk and coffee and we were stuffed. Heck of a meal for ten bucks. We then went to the Silverton casino where we had to play some slots to maintain our $25 in comp points. I broke even and Connie only lost $2. We then drove to the South Point casino to see the movie, The Lincoln Lawyer with Matthew McConaughey. We both liked it. After the movie Connie played her $15 free slot play and made $30; I won $12 in the poker room. We then went to the "M" where Connie broke even and I lost in the poker room. All in all a good day. Came home and heated up some oyster soup for dinner over a couple of TV shows. Having been a vey long day, we then retired for the evening.

Roy Purcell's "The Journey"

MONDAY - 03/21/2011 - Connie's cold wasn't much better, but she still wanted to get out, so after our normal morning routine we drove to the library to return some books and then to GVR so Connie could play her $10 in free slot play. We then went to "Five Guys Burgers and Fries", a new hamburger joint that just opened over on Eastern Ave. Originally an East Coast establishment, they are particularly famous for their French fries and fresh (not frozen) beef hamburgers. They now have more than 750 establishments country wide. All we can say is OMG, the French fries are outstanding! Great hamburger too. After both picking up some money at GVR we headed over to the "M" where Connie had some more free slot play. Connie lost a little here, but I won a small amount in the poker room, making it a clean sweep for the day for me. Came home and had Ramon soup for dinner over some TV shows before retiring for the evening. I finished working on a post of a past hike to my Photo Gallery ... Roy Purcell Murals.

Desert Sand Verbina

SUNDAY - 03/20/2011 - I spent most of the morning working on creating postings of my Death Valley pictures for my picture blog. You can check it out here ...Death Valley National Park. After lunch over the "Sunday Morning" show we went to GVR for a little 'play'. Connie won and I lost. Came home and had steamed asparagus with garlic and cheese on toast points for dinner. Watch a movie and some TV shows and went to bed. Click on the flower on the left to view in more detail.

SATURDAY - 03/19/2011 - Got up bright and early this morning and headed to Death Valley National Park with my next door neighbor Marc to see if we could get any 'wildflower' pictures. It was a very disappointing day. Not only was it extremely windy and cold, this turned out to be a very bad year for wildflowers in the park. So after driving for more than 7 hours, we came home with only a handful of wildflower pictures, though I did get some of other scenic stops and points of interest within the park. Connie has been suffering from a bad cold the past couple of days and slept most of the time I was gone.

I cooked up a package of frozen Orange Chicken and rice for dinner which we ate over the movie "Unthinkable" staring Samuel L. Jackson that we had recorded off of a free weekend of Showtime a couple of weeks ago. It is a psychological thriller centered around a black-ops interrogator and an FBI agent who press a suspect terrorist into divulging the location of three nuclear weapons sets to detonate in the U.S. We both thought it was a very good movie. I worked on some pictures for a while and then we watched some more TV shows later in the evening. After Connie headed off to bed, I finished working on cleaning up the days' pictures and started creating some posts for my picture gallery blog.

WEDNESDAY - 03/16/2011 - Connie felt like she was coming down with a cold, so we sat around most of the day doing our normal computer and reading thing. After we finally got showered and dressed, we drove up to the District to have lunch at the Elephant Bar, one of our favorite local restaurants. We split a full rack of the barbecued baby back ribs and a macaroni and cheese side. We then went over to GVR for some free slot play. Connie won, I lost. Came home had a light dinner, watched some TV and went to bed.

TUESDAY - 03/15/2011 - After our normal morning routine we showered and dressed and headed to our clubhouse where they were putting on a 'Welcome Spring' luncheon. They had 1/2 barbecued chickens, Caesar salad, pita bread, baklava, and beverages. It was all quite good and we got to see and talk with some of our neighbors. After lunch we drove up to GVR where Connie had $10 free play. After playing for the entire afternoon, Connie picked up $20 and I won $75 in the poker room. Came home and made salami, avocado, onion and cheese sandwiches for dinner. Had some chocolate cake for dessert over a couple of prerecorded TV shows and went to bed. Today's picture is of a Mallard that I captured at the Wildlife Habitat area while we stayed at the Flamingo Casino on the Strip last week.

MONDAY - 03/14/2011 - Woke up early and worked on the computer cleaning up some photo files and creating some new business cards. I worked on adding some more photo pages to my blog gallery while Connie read. I made us some sandwiches for lunch which we ate over a couple of TV shows. We then drove to GVR and played most of the afternoon. Neither of us had any luck. We had dinner at the Tides Oyster Bar, their signature seafood restaurant. Connie had the Seafood Cobb Salad with Crab, Shrimp, Avocado, Bleu Cheese, Bacon and Eggs and Louie Dressing - always a winner! I had the fresh fried oysters that are always outstanding. Came home watched TV until we headed off to bed.

SUNDAY - 03/13/2011 - Today was another nice day, in the low 70's. I decided to go check on Jim Herring's house over in North Las Vegas. On the way I stopped at the Red Spring at the Calico Basin near Red Rock Canyon to snap a few pictures. When I got home we headed up to GVR for their lunch buffet. Connie got $40 in free slot play and came out a winner. I picked up $85 in the poker room. Came home and watched some TV and then Connie read while I worked on the pictures I took in the morning. Here are a few shots I got of some Petroglyphs ... Petroglyphs. There was a couple having an outdoor Japanese wedding while I was taking pictures at Red Springs. The picture on the right is a shot I took of the bride and groom after the wedding.

SATURDAY - 03/12/2011 - I had a $30 Groupon for the Blvd Bar & Grill opposite the South Point casino, so at noon we headed over there for lunch. Even though we had eaten here once quite a long time ago, we only had a hamburger and forgot that they actually specialize in Italian fare. Today we had the stuffed mushrooms, meat lasagna and eggplant parmigiana. The mushrooms and eggplant were just average, however, the lasagna was outstanding, probably the best since we moved here. Connie had $30 free slot play at South Point, so after lunch we headed over there. From there we drove to the "M" to pick up the gift of the day, a free bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey. Connie ended up winning for the day, I lost a hundred in the poker room. When we got home I placed some frozen hors d'oeuvres in the toaster oven for dinner. After watching some prerecorded TV shows, Connie headed off to bed and I went into the den to work on adding some photos to my blog.

Mandarin Ducks at the Wildlife Habitat

FRIDAY - 03/11/2011 - Got up early and headed back down to the Flamingo Poker room for the free-roll tournament. There were over 100 people in the tournament and when it got down to a little less than 20, everyone wanted to "chop", rather than play it out. I ended up with $125.00, Not bad for nothing! It was absolutely beautiful out, in the low 80's; so I stopped by the wildlife habitat to take some more pictures. Pairs of Mandarin Ducks, such as those above, are often given a wedding present in China. I then headed home, picked up Connie, and drove to GVR for lunch. We had a 2-1 lunch at the buffet and then played for about three hours before going home. Connie had $10 in free slot play and only ended up loosing $5 for the day. I picked up another $85 playing hold'em in the poker room. When we got home I heated up some 'appetizers' from the freezer and we watched some prerecorded TV shows. After Connie went to bed, I stayed up and worked on the photos I took over the past several days. Pairs of Mandarin Ducks, such as

Chilean Flamingo's at the Wildlife Habitat

THURSDAY - 03/10/2011 - Breakfast was so good at the Victorian Cafe at Bill's Gambling Hall yesterday, that we went there again today. After breakfast we checked out of the room and then played for a couple of hours before picking up the car from valet and heading home. Counting this morning's play, I had enough hours to play in tomorrow morning's $2,500 free-roll tournament in the poker room. Got home, picked up the mail, unpacked, sorted mail, read emails, made chicken salad wraps for dinner and watched several prerecorded TV shows before heading to bed for the evening. It had been quite a busy four days, and having stayed up later than normal a couple of nights, we were rather tired. Besides, I had to be back down at the Flamingo by 8:00 am to play in the free-roll tournament.

Bill's Gambling Hall

WEDNESDAY - 03/09/2011 - We has a late breakfast in the Victorian Room at Bill's Gambling Hall which is located next door to the Flamingo. After a very filling breakfast, we headed back to the Flamingo where we gambled until it was time for dinner. Connie only lost $40 for the entire afternoon, however, I picked up $280 playing poker. Around 5:00 pm went to the room and freshened up an picked up the car at the valet for the drive over to Palace Station or dinner and a show. We had dinner in the Grand Cafe. Connie had and extremely tender prime rib dinner special and I had the NY sirloin. After dinner we had tickets to see the Louie Anderson show, one of our favorite comedians. Louie was everything we expected him to be. We laughed our asses off. After the show we drove to the South Point Casino where I had $15 in free slot play; made a profit of $7 dollars. It was nearly mid-night by the time we drove back to the Flamingo and called it a night.

River in Wildlife Habitat at Flamingo

TUESDAY - 03/08/2011 - After a good night's sleep we went down to the Flamingo's buffet and enjoyed a nice big breakfast. With a $5 off LVA coupon and some poker comps it ended up being half price. I grabbed my camera and we went outside to the Flamingo's Wildlife Habitat. A photographer's haven, the habitat is filled with lush foliage imported from around the world including varieties of pines, palms and magnolia. Strolling alongside streams and waterfalls, or on bridges over lagoons and ponds, you get the chance to see more than 300 birds, including Impeyn and silver pheasants, Gambel's quail, a Crown crane, two ibis, swans, ducks and parrots, and of course, the most notable, the Chilean flamingos. But birds aren't the only wildlife that can be seen in the habitat; there is an abundance of turtles and koi as well. I got some great pictures. After more than an hour of picture taking, we picked the car up from the valet and drove to Bally's to meet with Jim prior to his playing in the tournament. We then went to the Palms where Connie lost at slots and I picked up $85 in the poker room. At 4:00 we were back to the Flamingo to attend the Nathan Burton comedy magic show. Considering the fact that I got these tickets for free, this was a great show. After the show we proceeded to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville for dinner. Connie had the fried shrimp and I had the Jerk Salmon, which by the way was the best salmon dinner I've had since coming to Vegas. After dinner we headed to O'Shea's Casino to see Dirk Arthur's "Wild Magic" show. The up-close, in-your-face look at his majestic cast of exotic cats was amazing. The Dirk Author theater is quite small and we had center seats in the second row for an in-your-face opportunity to witness a variety of exotic cats including a Liger, Leopards, Bengal Tigers and a pure White Snow Tiger. The magnificent tigers just beautiful. We headed back to our room at the Flamingo after the show, watched a TV show and retired for the evening.

The Flamingo - Our Residence for the next 4 days

MONDAY - 03/07/2011 - Today was the start of our in town 'mini' vacation at the Flamingo Casino on the Strip. After we finished packing we headed to GVR to play Connie's $10 free slot play. We then drove over to the "M" where she had another $5 in free slot play. Used a 2-1 coupon and my poker comps for two free lunch buffets. We then headed over to Jim's new apartment and picked him up to go to the Flamingo to check in for the three free room nights he was letting us have that were part of his Hold'em tournament package. After he registered for Tuesday's Texas Hold'em tournament, I drove him back home and we went to Johnny Rockets back at the Flamingo and had a burger, fries, onion rings and a shake for dinner. I went to the poker room to play and relax a little and Connie played some more slots. At the end of the day, Connie had played several hours of slots in three different casinos and won $20, while I picked up $14 in the poker room at Flamingo. After a long day, we finally headed up to the room and retired for the evening.

Lost Creek Falls

SUNDAY - 03/06/2011 - I spent the first half of the morning catching up on this blog. Then I got out the suitcases and started packing for our upcoming 4-day stay at the Flamingo Casino starting tomorrow night. Next, I then vacuumed the house and washed and waxed the kitchen and bathroom floors while Connie did wash and ironing. We then watched a Netflix movie, Transporter 3, over salami sandwiches that I made for lunch. Even though it was kind of a 'B' movie, it had a ton of action, right up our alley. After the movie we showered, dressed and went to GVR to play Connie's free slot play. Connie lost $25 but I picked up $85 in the poker room. Came home, popped a pizza in the oven for dinner and watched some prerecorded TV shows before calling it a day and retiring for the evening.

Viewscape off Lost Creek Trail in Red Rock Canyon

SATURDAY - 03/05/2011 - I worked on placing pictures on my photo gallery blog while Connie finished her book, Rose in a Storm by John Katz. She liked it som much that she suggested that I add a review of it to our blog. Click the title to read her review. I had enough pictures from this last hike to make three separate pages on my blog. They can all be accessed from the Red Rock Canyon page.

FRIDAY - 03/04/2011 - I started working on yesterday's photos while Connie read. At noon we showered and dressed and drove to the Strip again to pick up some more show tickets for next week. Again using our LVA book we were able to get 2-1 tickets to Dirk Arthur's magic show at O'Sheas Casino. Stopped at GVR and had two free lunch buffets on my poker comps and then played for a short while. After both picking up a few dollars here we headed to the "M" where they were giving away some nice long sleeved anniversary shirts. Unfortunately we both had a loosing session here. Came home and had PB&J sandwiches for diner. Watched a movie on TV and then retired for the evening.

THURSDAY - 03/03/2011 - Today was hike day again with the senior center rock hounds. We went to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Even though we have visited this area several times since our move here, each visit promises new and different pictures depending upon the season and time of day. We did visit an area, Red Springs at Calico Basin, that I had not been to in the past. After I got home, we went over to the "M" and had dinner at the Vig Deli.

WEDNESDAY - 03/02/2011 - Today we drove to the Strip to pick up some show tickets for next week's stay at the Flamingo. My ex-neighbor Jim received an offer of three free nights and entry into a Texas Hold'em tournament at the Flamingo and gave the free room offer to us. We got two free tickets to the Nathan Burton at the Flamingo Casino and 2-1 tickets to see comedian Louie Anderson at Palace Station Casino. Using an LVA coupon, we had a huge 2-1 lunch at the Ellis Island Cafe. On the way home we stopped at the Palms where Connie had $20 in free slot play. She ended up wining $20 and I walked away with $130 from the poker room. Came home, watched some TV and headed off to bed.

Corn Creek at Desert National Wildlife Range, NV

TUESDAY - 03/01/2011 - Connie appeared to be in more pain than usual today and even after several drugs and a long shower, still decided not to go out. I still had a 'sick' headache. I finished my photography book while she read on the den couch. I had to go to the water store and the Bass Pro Shop to pick up a vest for this Thursday's hike. Made a salad and heated up the curry chicken and rice leftovers for lunch. Watched a couple of TV shows and then both took an afternoon nap. Made some photo shooting notes on my phone while Connie read. Had PB&J sandwiches for dinner and cut up some fresh pears for dessert. Watched some TV shows and then headed to bed. I created the above picture by playing with the exposure and color saturation in my PaintShop program.

Previous Entries by Month

A Daily Diary - February 2011

2011-03-01T09:02:00.000-08:00

Entries for February 2011

NOTE: You can enlarge any of the pictures below by just double-clicking on them. Then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to the original screen.

Old Windmill at Wee Thump

MONDAY - 02/28/2011 - The end of just another month, though I must say, spending February in Nevada is much nicer than it was in New England. Some trees and flowers are already beginning to bloom here. My neighbor and I are planning to take a trip to Death Valley in two weeks to see the spring wild flowers. We went to the "M" today to use our last 2-1 buffet coupon for the month. Well. apparently, so did everyone else; there must have been at least 200-300 people in line. We ended up eating at the deli. By dinner time, Connie had broken even on the slots and I picked up $250 in the poker room, which made up for last weeks losses. On the way home we drove to Red Robin for dinner as this was the last day Connie could get her free 'birthday' burger on her Red Robin card.. We shared the burger, fries and an order of onion rings for a total of $5.50. Such a deal! Watched some prerecorded TV shows when we got home and then headed off to bed

Prickly Pear Cactus

SUNDAY - 02/27/2011 - Today was just another lazy sit around and read day. I continued reading The Unofficial Quintessential Guide for my new camera; Connie read a murder mystery. I made turkey wraps for lunch. Got a call from my brother Tommy and mom who were driving back from dropping off his daughter Kristin at the airport. She had been visiting from North Carolina for the past week. His phone kept dropping the call, so we didn't get to talk much. Later in the afternoon we began watching the Oscars. Received a call from my sister Bonnie in Reno. For dinner I cooked up some curry chicken tenders, wild rice and frozen peas. After watching five hours of the Oscars, we headed off to bed. The picture of the Prickly Pear Cactus on the right was taken at the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area on my hike last week with the rock hounds from the Henderson Senior Center. Click here to learn more ... Wee Thump Wilderness Area.

Title - "Veins of Gold"

SATURDAY - 02/26/2011 - Still fighting flu like symptoms, though I don't think it's the flu. Worked on organizing and backing up the past couple of weeks worth of pictures and making changes and updates to this site. Lately I've been having problems with IE8 and decided to download the new IE9 a couple of days ago. Still many of the same problems. So, today I downloaded Chrome, Google's new browser. So far, so good! Some of the problems I was having went away. Now I have to learn how to setup and use another new program - I hate it when that happens. Talked with my now ex-neighbor Jim this morning, who still isn't feeling up to par. At noon I went to the kitchen to prepare us some avocado and Swiss cheese turkey wraps for lunch. After lunch and a movie, I decided to shower for the first time in three days. Afterwards we went to the "M" and played for a couple of hours. Neither of us had any luck. After we got home, my neighbor friend Marc came over for an hour or so to get some pointers on using his new camera. We also made tentative plans for some future photo excursions. After Marc left we watched an old Robert Redford movie (Legal Eagles) that we had recorded off of Showtime. It had been so long since we had seen this movie we had both forgotten how good it was. We both really enjoyed watching it again. Had some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for dinner over a couple of TV shows and then called it an evening. The picture above shows some crustose lichens that I captured on some rocks along the Joshua Tree Highway, west of Searchlight, Nevada.

Joshua Tree

FRIDAY - 02/25/2011 - Today I awoke with a severe sore throat and an overall flue like feeling. As a result we decided to stay home for the day. I spent the better part of the day working on placing pictures to my photo gallery site while Connie read. Connie made some Ramen soup for lunch. After watching a couple of movies on TV, I went back to working on pictures. You can view the end result here ... Joshua Tree Wilderness Area. Had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, watched some more TV and went to bed.

Title - Westward Ho!

THURSDAY - 02/24/2011 - Even though I didn't feel great today, I still got up and drove to the Senior Center for my scheduled hike to the Wee Thump Joshua Tree Wilderness Area, just west of Searchlight, Nevada. There really wasn't too much hiking, mostly easy walking, which, because I wasn't feeling great, was a good thing. When I got home we decided to stay home instead of going out for dinner. I made tuna wraps which we ate over some prerecorded TV shows. I then went into the den and started working on the days' pictures. Even though I didn't take as many pictures today as I normally do, I still came home with almost 200. After deleting the really bad ones, and 'fixing' some of the remaining ones, I ended up with about 30 that I felt were good enough to place on my blog site.

WEDNESDAY - 02/23/2011 - Neither of us felt too strong today, so we stayed home, read and watched TV.

Jumping Cholla Cactus

MONDAY - 02/21/2011 - The temps this morning were in the mid-thirties and there was more snow on all the mountains for the third day in a row. We decided to stay home again today. I added a couple of new categories and pages [ Nevada Mine Samples ][ Jumping Cholla ] to my Photo Gallery blog while Connie read. After lunch, I visited my ex-neighbor Jim at his new apartment. He still hasn't been feeling up to par since I took him to the hospital a couple of weeks ago. I spent some time helping clean up his living room and dining room which were still filled with boxes from the move. On the way home I ran some errands picking up clothes at the cleaners and stopping at Trader Joe's. I cooked a ot roast skillet meal for dinner. We watched some prerecorded TV shows and then both headed off to bed to read.

SUNDAY - 02/20/2011 - I spent a good part of the morning reading the book I purchased on how to better utilize my new camera. Just before noon we had a visit from our ex-neighbor Jim who had been dropping off the keys to his old apartment. After Jim left I made turkey wraps for lunch which we ate over our Netflix movie, 'Home of the Brave'. The movie tells the story's of how four American soldiers returning from their tours of duty in Iraq must face the memories of war and deal with both their physical and psychological injuries as they try and return to civilian life. Even though the script writing could have been better, we still felt this was a powerful film. After the movie we read and played on the computer. Later on we had cherry pie for dinner, watched TV and went to bed.

Cactus in Eldorado Canyon

SATURDAY -02/19/2011 - Connie made French toast for breakfast. I spent most of the morning posting pictures from last Thursday's hike to my Picture Gallery blog site while Connie read. Around noon we made our monthly grocery run to Walmart. After putting everything away, I made us some roast beef sandwiches with baby Swiss cheese and avocado for a late lunch. After a few TV shows, I went over to Marc's to help him order his new camera. He decided to get the same one I bought. When I got home I finished working on my blog site. Check out the new postings here ... http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/ We had pie again for dinner over some TV shows before retiring for the evening.

Techatticup Mining Camp in Eldorado Canyon, NV

FRIDAY - 02/18/2011 - It was kind of cool this morning so Connie cooked some hot oatmeal cereal with raisins for breakfast. The rest of the morning I worked on cleaning up pictures from yesterday's hike while she read. We decided to head over to the "M" Casino for lunch at the VIG Deli. We decided to try something new and both ordered the barbecued pulled pork sandwich and were both very pleased. It was excellent. After an hour and a half of play we picked up two free cherry pies and headed over to the South Point casino for popcorn and a movie. We saw the Unknown" with Liam Neeson. It had some pretty good action and we both enjoyed it. Then again we're easy. After we got home, my neighhbor friend Marc came over to discuss cameras. Also in the market for a new camera he had narrowed his search down to two and wanted to get a 'hands on feel' for mine. Came home, had cherry pie for dinner and watched some prerecorded shows before retiring for the evening.

Nelson's Landing, Nevada

THURSDAY - 02/17/2011 - Today was hiking day, up at 5:30 am and over to the Senior Center to catch the van. At 7:00 we headed off to Nelson's Landing. About 40 miles south of Vegas, it is located on the Nevada side of Lake Mohave, about 16 miles north of Cottonwood Cove by water. It is a small boat launch and village located in a steep dry wash along the banks of the Colorado River. The town of Nelson is located way up the wash, away from the flood channels. This is a small town that looks like it came right out of the 1950's. There are also several ghost towns in the area.

MONDAY - 02/14/2011 - VALENTINE'S DAY: After Connie read her Valentine's card we enjoyed a breakfast of banana pancakes over the "Sunday Morning" show that we recorded yesterday. Because I was not happy with the calendar app on my EPIC 4G, I recently downloaded a new app called CalenGoo. Because it is much more detailed that the old one, it took me several hours to learn how to use and customize it. The good news is, I love it! While Connie read her book, I read the new book I received ...

The Unofficial Quintessential Guide (to my new camera) The Panasonic Lumix DMC-G2. Learning all of the many features, settings and menus on this great camera has been a daunting task, and this book is a blessing. Though I'm sure there are parts I will have to read more than once, it is really great on explaing how to get the most out of the cameras' many functions. For lunch we decided to use a coupon to Red Robin. After a nice lunch we stopped for dessert at our apartment's clubhouse on the way home where they provided some special Valentine's Day treats - a chocolate fountain with strawberries, marshmellows, angel food cake and bananas, decorated cupcakes and cookies. After a few TV shows we watched the 2011 Grammys that we had recorded the night before. We were really impressed and thaought it was a great show. Being rather late, we went right to bed afterwards.

The Social Network

SUNDAY - 02/13/2011 - We turned on the Celtics game at 10:00 am and watched them beat the Miami Heat in a close game - 85-82. My neighbor friend Jim, who moved out last Thursday, stopped by for a visit. After he left I made us an Italian lunch of spaghetti, fried eggplant, and cheese stuffed Manicotti. We ate lunch over our latest Netflix movie, The Social Network. We weren't sure if we were going to like this movie, but ended up really enjoying it. After the movie we both read for a couple of hours before watching any more TV shows. After several TV shows, we headed off to bed.

Carp at Lake Mead Marina

SATURDAY - 02/12/2011 - Today was "Valentine" gift day. First, we went to Monstah Lobstah for breakfast. We sharred a breakfast with 3-eggs, ham, hash-browns, and wheat toast and both order the blueberry pancakes. They have the best bleberry pancakes; made with small, sweet Maine blueberries. We then headed to the library so Connie could get some new books. It was thenover to the Fiesta Casino for two boxes of Russell Stover Valentines' Day chocolates. We then drove to the "M" where the were giving out apple pies. On the way home we stopped at GVR for two more boxes of Sover's Valentines' Day chocolates. What a haul. Connie will be eating chocolate for months. We had apple pie with melted cheddar cheese for dinner over some prerecorded TV shows. I opened some mail and packages containing "more" stuff for my new camera, including a book I had ordered on how to better use all of its features, menus and functions.

Beach Along Lake Mead's Lakeshore Drive

FRIDAY - 02/11/2011 - Today was pool day with Ron, my downstairs neighbor. After a couple of hours of shooting pool, I came home, picked up Connie, and drove to the "M" for another buffet lunch. After playing most of the afternoon, I won $2 and Connie lost about $40. Came home and watched TV. Got a call from my sister in Reno and talked for an hour. Paul is heading to Hawaii on the 24th for a weeks visit with his family. After a few more shows, Connie headed to bed and I stayed up working on yesterday's hiking pictures.

Desert Sunflower

THURSDAY - 0210/2011 - Today was "hiking day" with the rock hounds from the senior center. This morning we were scheduled to do the south shore of Lake Mead. We started with a hike of the Historic Railroad Tunnel Trail, a 3-1/2 mile hike through five old tunnels and along an old rail bed that was used to service the building of the Hoover Dam. After that we drove to the Lake Mead Marina for lunch and then took the shouth shore road home making a couple of stops along the way. My neighbor friend Jim decided a few weeks ago to move into another apartment complex a few miles away; and today was moving day. After changing from the hike, Connie and I drove over to see his new apartment. We didn't like it that much, but wished him well. We then went to Annie's Gourmet Italian restaurant for dinner. We had never been here before, but I had a 2-1 Groupon that I bought off the Internet. We both thought the stuffed mushrooms were outstanding! The rest of the meals were very good, but not what I would consider "gourmet". The decor was simple but warm and the price was right. We will probably try it again. Came home and watched some show and went to bed.

WEDNESDAY - 02/09/2011 - Didn't really do much today. Checked in on my friend Jim, who appeared better, but not great. He had made an appointment with his doctor later in the day and anothher friend was driving him over. At noon we drove up to GVR and had their lunch buffet. After lunch we went over to the "M" to use Connie's free slot play. Came home early and watched prerecorded TV show till bedtime. Talked with Jim on the phone and ne noted that his doctor had told him that he had been having a bad reaction to a recent drug change that the VA had made and told him to stop taking it and go back to the old drug.

The Couple

TUESDAY - 02/08/2011 - My neighbor friend Jim called this morning because he wasn't feeling well and wanted me to come over. It appeared that he blacked out the previous day and couldn't remember what had happened since Sunday. He couldn't remember when he ate last, was pale, shaking, disorientated, had no equilibrium and his eyes were terribly bloodshot. I took him to the emergency room at St Rose Hospital. They admitted him and ran a series of tests. In the afternoon Connie and I went to the "M" and had a late lunch at the Deli. Even though we didn't loose much, neither of us had any luck playing and came home relatively early. Got a call mid evening from Jim saying that none of the tests showed anything; that they had released him and another friend who was visiting at the time brought him home. I went over and talked with him for a while; he still seemed very weak and was having trouble walking. I told him I would check on him in the morning.

MONDAY - 02/07/2011 - I spent the morning working on my picture blog and catching up on posts for this blog. Around noon we decided to shower and get dressed and head out to find lunch somewhere. We decided to have New England Clam Chowder and the Seafood Salad at Tides, the seafood restaurant at Green Valley Ranch. We played most of the afternoon. I picked up $150 in the poker room and Connie lost $20 playing slots. After we got home, Connie made chocolate brownies which we ate for dinner. Watched some TV shows and went to bed.

Just take the picture, this is my best side!

SUNDAY - 02/06/2011 - SUPER BOWL 45. I made a green pepper, onion and cheddar cheese omlets with roast beef hash and English muffins for breakfast that we ate over the Sunday Morning show. Connie watched the Celtic game while I worked on pictures. Since OUR Patriots lost, we pretty much didn't care who won the Super Bowl, though we were rooting for the Steelers, as our next door neighbor is from Pittsburgh and a huge Steelers fan. Oh well, so much for that thought. At least the Celtics won! I had to head over to North Las Vegas to check on Jim Herrings house. He had an extremely high water bill and wanted me to make sure there were no leaks anywhere. Everything appeared fine. I stopped at the Floyd Lamb Park on the way over and got some great pics of the peacocks and water fowl. I then headed to the "M" for some special promotions they were having in the poker room. I won one of the $100 drawings, $50 playing and a nice bottle of Merlot. Not bad for an afternoon's play. Came home and watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows with Connie. After she went to bed, I worked on cleaning up the day's pictures and posting to my blog site. Go here to see more pictures of peacocks and geese ... Ken's Photo Gallery.

SATURDAY - 02/05/2011 - I spent most of the day Friday working on pictures from my hike on Thursday. This morning I continued working on pictures, email, and paying bills while Connie read. We then drove up the street to GVR for two free lunch buffets. We both played for a while afterward, but neither of us did very well. Came home, had dinner, watched some TV and went to bed.

Blue Herring at Tule Springs

THURSDAY - 02/03/2011 - Today was "hike" day again, so it was up early and over to the Henderson Senior Center to catch the bus. Burrr! Today was one of the coldest days of the entire winter; 27-degrees at 6:00 am. Needless to say our first hike of the morning at Tule Springs was pretty cold. Though a little warmer by the time we got to Corn Creek, inside the Desert National Wildlife Refuge, it was almost 60 by the time we got to the Las Vegas Wetlands Park just before noon. I spite of the cold I still managed to get several pictures of the many birds and water fowl that the park is noted for. Click here for more pictures ... More Pics at Tule Springs. When I got home we used a 2-1 coupon at Mimi's Cafe for an early dinner. She had the Fish (Haddock) and Chips and I had the Blackened Mahi-Mahi. It was a long day for me and after a few TV shows we both went to bed early.

WEDNESDAY - 02/02/2011 - Today was just plain raw, cold and windy. I went out around 10:00 am to run some errands and buy some "stuff" for tomorrow's hike and it was only 37-degrees. After shopping, Connie and I headed to the Palms Casino on the Strip. They didn't have a No-Limit game in the poker room so we only stayed for a couple of hours. I won $10 playing $2-4 limit. Had lunch at Faminglia's Pizza in the food court. After lunch we drove to the "M". We only stayed for a couple of hours. I won $20 in the poker room and Connie lost $20 playing slots. We both picked up a free bottle of wine and headed home. I made grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches for dinner that we ate over a couple of prerecorded TV shows. I updated some stuff on the computer and got my camera and stuff staged for tomorrow's hike before heading to bed.

TUESDAY - 02/01/2011 - Here it is yet another new month already; and today is CONNIE'S 71st BIRTHDAY! To celebrate, I made a nice late morning breakfast brunch that consisted of Eggs Benedict, corn beef hash, toast and champagne. Just before breakfast she received a call from her sister Patti wishing her happy birthday. She got a wonderful card and letter from Cheryl yesterday, and this morning she received a happy birthday email from April and opened cards from my mom and Nancy Barlow, one of her best friends back in NH. Just before noon she received a call from her brother Rick in Colorado.

Four-Story Chandelier Bar

We then decided to go someplace today that we had yet to see, the new Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino at City Center down on the Strip. Having just opened in the middle of December this past year, it has been getting rave reviews for its beauty and architecture. Though not much on the outside, the inside was fairly impressive. The fifth story pool area overlooking the entire Strip, has without a doubt, the best view in Vegas. Probably the most striking element is the multi-deck Chandelier Bar. This is a three-level imbibing and hobnobbing haven encased in an enormously audacious chandelier that is strung with more than 2 million beaded crystals. It is truely awesome, and no matter your physical size, you instantly feel small when encountering the tri-decked bar space. We ended our picture taking tour by sitting and having a drink directly beneath The Chandelier.

The Salad Bar at Texas de Brazil

We then headed over to Texas de Brazil for dinner. They had sent Connie a free $50 dinner coupon via email for her birthday. When we got there around 4 p.m. we found out that they close between lunch and dinner (2:30 - 5:00). With an hour to waste, we drove back out on Las Vegas Blvd to where the famous "Entering Las Vegas" sign is located opposite the Executive Airport to watch the planes land and takeoff. I forgot to turn the car lights off while we were there and when we were ready to leave my battery was dead and the car wouldn't start. After flagging someone to give us a "jump start", we drove around for 15 minutes to let the batter charge before going to the restaurant. Even though we had just been here for dinner about a month ago, we both agreed that the meal was the best we've had there. They even had a new item (Seared Ahi Tuna) on the 60 item salad bar that was outstanding. As usual, we were stuffed by the time we finished. Our first dinner here was for our anniversary back in November of 2008. Check out my 2008 review ... Texas de Brazil. The car started without problem after dinner and we came home and watched TV until 10:00 trying to give all that food a chance to digest.

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The Lion King

2011-01-31T21:49:00.001-08:00


	COSTUMES AND MASKS: The Lion King is unique in that we see how the magic works on stage. There's no attempt to cover up the wheels and cogs that make it all happen. As an audience member at The Lion King you have an important job: With your imagination, you are invited to mix the "animal" with the human into a magical whole.
	PUPPETS: The human beings that control the puppets and wear the animal masks are fully seen. As Julie Taymor says, "When the human spirit visibly animates an object, we experience a special, almost life-giving connection. We become engaged by both the method of storytelling as well as the story itself."
	AFRICAN MASKS: In Africa, masks are functional works of art. As in The Lion King many African masks are made to be worn over the head instead of over the face. They serve many ceremonial purposes: initiating a young man into manhood, exorcising evil spirits, capturing the invisible supernatural forces surrounding us. The sculptor has only one opportunity to incorporate the anger, humor, and passion of a character, to tell his or her whole story."
	BUNRAKU PUPPETRY: Named for its founder, Uemura Bunrakuken, this Japanese theater form started in the 16th century. In Bunraku, master puppeteers, visible to the audience, control large puppet dolls, while a narrator tells the story. Through movement and gestures (and, as always, the audience's imaginations), great expressiveness can be achieved.
	SHADOW PUPPETRY: In shadow puppetry, the audience only sees the shadows of the puppets, thrown onto a screen by a light or a fire. Shadow puppetry seems to be thousands of years old; many think it originated in Greece, although Chinese records show forms of shadow puppetry being performed 2000 years ago. In Indonesian shadow puppetry, called the wayang kulit, intricate flat puppets made of wood and animal hide are shown before a muslin screen.
	Perhaps the most dramatic scene in The Lion King is the wildebeest stampede in which Mufasa is killed. The effect in the theater is electric, as thousands of wildebeests seem to be rushing straight at Simba -- and at the audience. The illusion of thousands of racing animals is achieved with a canvas scroll and a series of large rollers. Wildebeests are painted on the scroll, and each roller is equipped with sculptures of the animals. On each successive roller, the wildebeest sculptures are slightly larger, until, closest to the audience, dancers rhythmically move huge wildebeest masks. This design creates a false perspective of great distance. When the scroll and rollers are moving, the audience seems to see waves of wildebeests driving forward.

The Lion King

2011-01-30T09:02:00.000-08:00

[To better read the text, click the pcture to enlarge]

The various techniques and effects that Julie Taymor used throughout this production are absolutely stunning. They push the boundaries of your imagination in every way possible. Because I was unable to take pictures, I have captured the ones below off of the Internet and provided a brief description in an effort to provide you with a better sense of just how wonderful this production was.

_______________________________________________________


	COSTUMES AND MASKS: The Lion King is unique in that we see how the magic works on stage. There's no attempt to cover up the wheels and cogs that make it all happen. As an audience member at The Lion King you have an important job: With your imagination, you are invited to mix the "animal" with the human into a magical whole.
	PUPPETS: The human beings that control the puppets and wear the animal masks are fully seen. As Julie Taymor says, "When the human spirit visibly animates an object, we experience a special, almost life-giving connection. We become engaged by both the method of storytelling as well as the story itself."
	AFRICAN MASKS: In Africa, masks are functional works of art. As in The Lion King many African masks are made to be worn over the head instead of over the face and serve a variety of ceremonial purposes. The sculptor has only one opportunity to incorporate the anger, humor, and passion of a character, to tell his or her whole story.
	BUNRAKU PUPPETRY: This Japanese theater form started in the 16th century. In Bunraku, master puppeteers, visible to the audience, control large puppet dolls, while a narrator tells the story. Through movement and gestures (and, as always, the audience's imaginations), great expressiveness can be achieved.
	SHADOW PUPPETRY: In shadow puppetry, the audience only sees the shadows of the puppets, thrown onto a screen by a source of light. Chinese records show forms of shadow puppetry being performed 2000 years ago. In Indonesian shadow puppets, called wayang kulit, are intricate flat puppets made of wood and animal hide shown before a muslin screen.
	Perhaps the most dramatic scene in The Lion King is the wildebeest stampede in which Mufasa is killed. The effect in the theater is electric, as thousands of wildebeests seem to be rushing straight at Simba -- and at the audience. The illusion of thousands of racing animals is achieved with a canvas scroll and a series of large rollers. Wildebeests are painted on the scroll, and each roller is equipped with sculptures of the animals. On each successive roller, the wildebeest sculptures are slightly larger, until, closest to the audience, dancers rhythmically move huge wildebeest masks. This design creates a false perspective of great distance. When the scroll and rollers are moving, the audience seems to see waves of wildebeests driving forward.

Movie Review–“The King’s Speech”

2011-01-23T14:42:00.001-08:00

RELEASE: 2010; GENERE: Science-Fiction/Fantasy; RUN-TIME: 1 hr, 51 mins; RATED: R for some language; STARRING: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Carter; DIRECTED BY: Tom Hooper

REVIEW: This is definitely not an action movie. However, if you like deep and inspiring movies, this is one of the best ever. A very special film indeed with just the right mix of pathos, humor and well-observed period detail. It is a well crafted chapter of British history that charts a remarkable and unlikely friendship between two men from totally opposite sides of the class divide. Both entertaining and inspirational, it is definitely in the running as 2010's best movie and will - in the end - leave you speechless. Everyone it the theater loved it. We give it [5-Stars].

SYNOPSIS: Based on the true story of King George VI, THE KING'S SPEECH follows the Royal Monarch's quest to find his voice. After the death of his father King George V and the scandalous abdication of King Edward VIII, Bertie (Colin Firth) who has suffered from a debilitating speech impediment all his life, is suddenly crowned King George VI of England. With his country on the brink of war and in desperate need of a leader, his wife, Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), the future Queen Mother, arranges for her husband to see an eccentric speech therapist, Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). After a rough start, the two delve into an unorthodox course of treatment and eventually form an unbreakable bond. With the support of Logue, his family, his government and Winston Churchill, the King will overcome his stammer and deliver a radio-address that inspires his people and unites them in battle.

Movie Review–“The Green Hornet”

2011-01-19T08:55:00.001-08:00

RELEASE: 2010; GENERE: Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy; RUN-TIME: 1 hr, 58 mins; RATED: PG-13; STARRING: Seth Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz; DIRECTED BY: Michael Gondry;

REVIEW: Having seen and been spoiled by Avitar, my first impression was that the 3D photography was kind of "cheesy". It had nowhere near the depth and quality of Avitar. It just didn't seem worth the outrageous 3-D-glasses surcharge. In all senses, there's little that jumps out at you. However, this being only my 2nd 3D movie, I thought maybe I was being too harsh. Then I was confronted with a weak script followed by the poor acting of Seth Rogen, the Green Hornet. He was so bad that he made his sidekick, Jay Chou, look good. Fortunately, there is just enough novelty, action and comedy to keep you in the seat till the end, even though it marred by dull action and non-existent chemistry between the cast. All the buzz in the world isn't enough to turn this movie into a fond memory for most viewers. We were both sorely disappointed. For the money, I give it [2-Stars].

SYNOPSIS: In the 3D action-comedy The Green Hornet, Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) is the son of LA's most prominent and respected media magnate and perfectly happy to maintain a directionless existence on the party scene - until his father mysteriously dies, leaving Britt his vast media empire. Striking an unlikely friendship with one of his father's more industrious and inventive employees, Kato (Jay Chou), they see their chance to do something meaningful for the first time in their lives: fight crime. To get close to the criminals, they come up with the perfect cover: they'll pose as criminals themselves. Protecting the law by breaking it, Britt becomes the vigilante The Green Hornet as he and Kato hit the streets. Using all his ingenuity and skill, Kato builds the ultimate in advanced retro weaponry, Black Beauty, an indestructible car equal parts firepower and horsepower. Rolling in a mobile fortress on wheels and striking the bad guys with Kato's clever gadgets, The Green Hornet and Kato quickly start making a name for themselves, and with the help of Britt's new secretary, Lenore Case (Cameron Diaz), they begin hunting down the man who controls LA's gritty underworld: Benjamin Chudnofsky. But Chudnofsky has plans of his own: to swat down The Green Hornet once and for all.

Movie Review–“Black Swan”

2011-01-12T08:03:00.001-08:00

RELEASE: 2010; GENERE: Mystery, Suspense, Drama; RUN-TIME: 1 hr, 50 mins; RATED: R for strong sexual content, disturbing violent images, language and some drug use; STARRING: Natalie Portman; DIRECTED BY: Darren Aronofsky;

REVIEW: Trust me, you have never seen a movie quite like this before. I came out of the theater saying that is was odly strange, sometimes confusing; yet at the same time brilliant. Showing the world of a ballerina at its worst and at it best, is what makes the portrayal so weirdly compelling. It takes a thrilling and at times terrifying journey through the psyche of a young ballerina whose starring role as the duplicitous swan queen turns out to be a part for which she becomes frighteningly perfect. Often melodramatic, it is odly captivating and features some of the best dance sequences you will likely see all year. Without hardly ever raising her voice, Natalie Portman is brilliant in the film and cold end up being a strong contender for an Oscar. Definately one of the most provocative movies we've seen all year. We give it a stong [4.25-Stars].

SYNOPSIS: This is a psychological thriller set in the world of New York City ballet. Staring Natalie Portman as Nina, a featured dancer who finds herself locked in a web of competitive intrigue with a new rival at the company (Mila Kunis), it portrays the life of a ballerina, like all those in her profession, that is completely consumed with dance. She lives with her retired ballerina mother Erica (Barbara Hershey) who zealously supports her daughter's professional ambition; to the point of driving her to near insanity. When artistic director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace prima ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) for the opening production of their new season, Swan Lake, Nina is his first choice. But Nina has competition: a new dancer, Lily (Kunis), who impresses Leroy as well. Swan Lake requires a dancer who can play both the White Swan with innocence and grace, and the Black Swan, who represents guile and sensuality. Nina fits the White Swan role perfectly but Lily is the personification of the Black Swan. As the two young dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get more in touch with her dark side with a recklessness that threatens to destroy her.

Movie Review–“True Grit”

2011-01-07T08:30:00.001-08:00

RELEASE: 2010 GENERE: Western, Drama, Action and Adventure; RUN-TIME: 1 hr, 50 mins; RATED: R; STARRING: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Hailee Steinfield; DIRECTED BY: Ethan Cohen, Joel Cohen;

REVIEW: In a few words, the casting for this movie was superb; the performances outstanding. In the role of Rooster Cogburn, a grizzly, aging, and often drunk U.S. Marshal, Jeff Bridges provides what is probably his best performance ever. As for her role of the 14-year-old Mattie Ross, Hailee Steinfield was mesmerizing. The tense verbal comedy of Mattie's early negotiation with a Fort Smith merchant will immediately win you over to her being a star on par with Jeff Bridges. She conquers the role with the maturity of a well seasoned actress. This film offers one of the year’s best overall casts and should garner more than one Academy Award nomination. Truely one of the best films we've seen all year. We give it [4-1/2 Stars].

SYNOPSIS: A stubborn young woman, 14-year-old Mattie Ross (played by Hailee Steinfeld) joins an aging but tough U.S. marshal (Jeff Bridges) and another lawman (Matt Damon) in tracking her father's killer into hostile Indian territory in Joel and Ethan Coen's adaptation of Charles Portis' original novel. Sticking more closely to the source material than the 1969 feature adaptation starring Western icon John Wayne, the Coens' True Grit tells the story from the young girl's perspective.

A Daily Diary - January 2011

2010-12-31T22:02:00.000-08:00

Entries for January 2011

NOTE: You can enlarge any of the pictures below by just double-clicking on them. Then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to the original screen.

MONDAY - 01/31/2011 - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME! Here it is the end of the month and the anniversary of yet another year of retirement. As of today I've now been retired 14 years. Where has the time gone? The good news is that I would do it all over again, even though I suffered a huge financial loss by leaving so early. The bad news is that I didn't know that my retirement would be going down nearly 15 year later. Today I received notification in the mail that my retirement check was going down $87/month in 2011. First, there was no COLA adjustment for 2011; second, my BCBS health insurance went up $31.00/month; and finally, the IRS automatically increased my tax withholding deduction by $47/mo. Add to this that my Social Secrity check is going down $110/month to pay for Medicare Part B and my monthly income just went down $197 a month. Isn't life just wonderful! Even though the past couple of days have been windy and a little cooler, they have still been in the 60's. Today I worked on updating my blogs and reviewing the pictures I took yesterday when we went to see the Lion King at Mandalay Bay casino. Check this one out ... The Lion King Theater at Mandalay Bay. At noon we drove up to GVR so Connie could play some free slot play and to have their lunch buffet. We then drove over to the South Point casino to see the movie, "The Mechanic". Even though the reviews have been just so-so, it had plenty of action; we both enjoyed it. They informed us at the ticket counter that the ticket prices for seniors was going up from $3 to $4 per person starting tomorrow. Still one of the best deals in Vegas, it's hard to complain.

Lone Survivor

SUNDAY - 01/30/2011 - I don't know where the time goes. It seems like I just updated this blog the other day and its been four days since I last posted anyting. One reason is that I am hiking with a group from the senior center every Thursday. It then takes me a couple of days to sort through, clean up and then post all the pictures I take on the hike. Another is the time I've spent working on my new photo site. The hardest part was coming up with a list of categories and sub-categories in which to place my pictures. Then I had to select pictures, make a written write up and then post them to each category in order to create a link to the list. Although I sure there will be a few tweaks now and then, it's pretty much complete. Check it out here ... http://kensphotogallery.blogspot.com/. The picture above is one of my favorites taken over the past couple of weeks. It's a desert still-life I call Lone Survivor. Click here to read more ... Redstone Loop Trail.

Curtain Call of "The Lion King" at Mandalay Bay Casino

This afternoon, after lunch over the men's finals of the Australian Tennis Open, we went to Mandalay Bay casino to see the Broadway show, The Lion King. From the imagination of award-winning director Julie Taymor this is a spectacular musical based on one of the most successful animated films in history. Just a few months back we watched a 60 Minutes segment on her past accomplishments and her direction of the new accident plagued Broadway show, Spider Man. Hailed as the world's most spectacular musical, it has been estimated that more than 45 million people worldwide have seen this truly one-of-a-kind experience. Newsweek called it "a landmark event in entertainment," It was truly a breathtaking adventure. The music, color and costumes and scene changes stretch the boundaries of your imagination. We gave it [5-Stars]. Click here to view a picture collage ... Lion King Collage

SATURDAY - 01/29/2011 - Today I decided to go down to Caesars Palace casino on the Strip and enter a Senior's Hold-em Poker Tournament. They were paying 18 places with a first prize of $4,000 plus a free $1,000 entry into this year's World Series of Poker Senior Event in June. Even though I played for nearly 6 hours, I ended up getting knocked out in 45th place. I came home and picked up Connie and we went to GVR and the "M" where she had $20 in free slot play. Came home and had grilled cheese sandwiches and left-over cheddar cheese broccoli soup for dinner. Watched a couple of TV shows and headed to bed.

FRIDAY - 01/28/2011 - Didn't do much today. I was still pretty sore from yesterday's hiking. I spent time reviewing and organizing yesterday's pictures and working on my new photo blog site. We then went over to the "M" buffet for lunch, played a little, came home. For dinner, I made some wraps. Watched some TV and went to bed.

A Fellow Hiker

THURSDAY - 01/27/2011 - Got up early as I had to be at the Senior Center for my weekly hike by 6:45 am. Nobody who is retired should have to be anywhere that early in the morning. This week we headed to the Sandy Valley area which is about 40 minutes south west of Las Vegas. This is an area that is crawling with old mines, which made for a very interesting day. Check out some more pictures on my new picture blog at Ken's Photo Gallery. These hikes are generally 6-7 hours and by the time I get home I am definitely worn out. After I played with pictures for a while and showed Connie where I had been, I made some cheddar cheese and broccoli soup for dinner that we ate over a couple of TV shows. By bedtime I was exhausted and took no time at all falling to sleep.

TUESDAY 01/25/2011 - Another nice day in the mid-60's. After a normal morning of playing on the computer, Connie reading and doing ironing, I went to GVR to play some poker. Connie stayed home and continued watching tennis (the Australian Open). After picking up $75 in the poker room, I drove over to Hair-4-U for a scheduled haircut. On the way home I picked up some Popeye's Chicken takeout for dinner. We were not happy with it. The chicken was overcooked and the coleslaw was extremely runny. We lost our water around 6:00 pm and after talking with several neighbors, determined that the entire complex was without water. It came back on around ten in the evening. We figured the town must have been working on something out by the road. After watching several prerecorded TV shows we called it a day and retired for the evening.

MONDAY - 01/24/2011 - Just another winter day in the mid-60's while New England and the east coast get pounded with snow, wind, rain and ice. We drove over to the "M" so Connie could play her $15 in free play. There wasn't enough people in the poker room for a no-limit game so after an hour of playing $2-$4 limit, we left and headed to Green Valley Ranch. By the time we left there, Connie was down only $10 for the day, and I was up over $200 between the two places. We came home and had a pizza for dinner over some TV shows and a Netflix movie. The movie was, "You don't Know Jack", an Emmy-winning HBO biopic starring Al Pacino that focuses on the life of Dr. Jack Kevorkian. It was outstanding. Al Pacino, who won the 2011 Golden Globe award for won best actor in a made for TV movie, was brilliant. This is a must see movie.

SUNDAY - 01/23/2011 - I spent most of the day working on my new photo site. During breaks from the computer, I joined Connie who was watching both of the NFL Division Title games. We were actually rooting for Green Bay and the Steelers, both of whom won. One of my neighbor friends is a huge Steelers fan, so now we are rooting for the Steelers. At dinner time we headed over to the South Point casino where we had tickets to see comedienne Kathleen Madighan. We had Chinese (Won-Ton Soup, Shrimp Tempura, and Pork Egg-Foo-Yung) at the Coronado Cafe. I have mentioned before, this is some of the best Chinese food in town. After stuffing all that down we headed over to the theater to see Kathleen. We had seen her back in 2005 at the Improv at Harrah's. With a whole routine of new stuff, we enjoyed her more than the last time. Great show I had 2-1 tickets through our subscription to Las Vegas Advisor and the show was only $10 each. Such a deal! Came home and went to bed.

FRIDAY - 01/21/2011 - A few days ago I decided to design and create a new website for posting my pictures. You can visit by going to Ken's Photo Gallery. As a result I have spent 4-5 hours a day designing it, coming up with a category structure for placing pictures, and reviewing and selecting what I feel are some of my better pictures and uploading them to the various categories. I can tell, this will be a "work-in-progress" for quite some time, so bear with me. At noon we decided to take a drive up to Green Valley Ranch for lunch and a little "play". We ate at one of our favorite burger joints, Fatburger. Their hamburgs are made from fresh lean beef, not frozen patties and cooked-to-order, just the way you want it. They are the biggest, juiciest hamburgers around. They also have a choice of skinny fries of fat (steak) fries, great onion rings made from real onions, hand-scooped, real ice cream shakes and great tasting chili. After lunch we played for a couple of hours before heading home to get ready for a planned dinner engagement. We told my neighbor friend Jim Freed that we would take him out to dinner for his birthday. And what a dinner it was! We went to our favorite new seafood restaurant, Monstah Lobstah. Jim had a two-pound Maine lobster; Connie and I had the Fried Haddock, fried New England clams (the best in Vegas) and shared a 1-1/4 pound lobster. Not to mention, the baked potatoes, hush puppies and onion rings. It was a delicious meal and needless to say we were all stuffed! Came home and watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows and went to bed.

Our Transportation

THURSDAY - 01/20/2011 - Today was the first of the 12 scheduled hikes I signed up for through the Henderson Senior Center. Today's hikes were along Lake Mead's Northshore drive. I had to be up at 5:30 a.m. in order to get ready and be at the Senior Center by 6:45. Not used to that!

Lovell Wash

Our first stop was at Lovell Wash located at mile marker 16 on the Northshore Road. This ended up being about a 4-mile hike. Though the sky was clear and sunny, it was rather cold and windy this early in the morning. The area had some amazing geology, a narrow slot canyon and a couple of old mines, both of which I would love to explore more on a return trip. I'm sure this would have been considered a relatively easy hike for anyone in shape, however, I was pretty tired by the time I returned to the van.

Arch at Redstone Loop Trail

Our second stop was at the Redstone Loop Trail at mile marker 27. This was a relatively short 1/2 mile hike in and arround a series of red rock outcroppings. In my exploring around this area I came across a rare finding for these types of outcroppings, a beautifully formed arch. It is always fun taking pictures of the various formations and trying to distinguish recognizable shapes.

Almost to the Top!

On the trip back, our final stop was at the Las Vegas Wash area as it enters into Lake Mead. Due to the changes in elevation, this two mile hike was a a backbreaker. Following the wash trail down to the water's edge was relatively easy, however climbing up to the top of the ridge for the walk back was a killer. In addition, the entire morning's ride, sitting at the rear of the van, was no picnic either. Needless to say, by the time I got back to the Senior Center at 1:00 p.m., I was beaten old man. I ached so bad that I spent 30 minutes in the spa and whirlpool when I got home.

WEDNESDAY - 01/19/2011 - After our normal morning routine, we walked to our Pool House where they we putting on a free luncheon for the residents. Prepared by Olive Garden, they had three different kinds of soup, bread sticks, salid, soda and cookies. We ran into a couple of our neighbor friends who were going to see the movie "The King's Speach" afterwards, and invited us to go with them. With nothing else planned for the day we said sure, why not. It was a great movie. (click the title for a review) After the movie we went to their apartment for some wine and dessert. Came home and watched a couple of shows and went to bed.

TUESDAY - 01/18/2011 - As usual, I played on the computer while Connie read and put in a couple loads of wash. We got a call from Sue and Nancy, our ex-neighbors that we helped out a little over a year ago. They both sounded good, although we learned that Nancy had suffered a heart attack back in early December. They were both still working at the Pancake House and had gotten re-hired back in the fall to do follow-up visits for the Census Bureau. It sounded like the working of the two jobs is what ended up giving Nancy the heart attack. Sue sounded like she had a good job opportunity with Hilton, but was hesitant on taking it because it would involve a lot of travel and would have to leave Sue home alone. They both sounded good; it was good to hear from them. At lunch time we headed to the "M" for two free lunch buffets on comps. Good as usual. Connie had $15 in free play and came home a winner; on the other hand, I lost for the day. After coming home we had PB &J sandwiches for dinner, watched TV and went to bed.

Green Hornet - 3D

MONDAY - 01/17/2011 - MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY - Today was just another beautiful day with a high of 72 degrees. Connie even spent some time out on the deck reading while I played on the computer and cleaned my bathroom shower. We had lunch at the South Point buffet before going to see the movie, "The Green Hornet" in 3D. We were both disappointed. I thought the script was bad, the acting was poor and the 3D photography wasn't much better. The Green Hornet never approaches the surreal heights suggested by all the hype. After the movie I picked up tickets to see comedian Kathleen Madigan this coming Sunday.

SUNDAY - 01/16/2011 - We stayed home today and had one of our most disappointing days of the year as we watched our New England Patriots loose to the NY Jets in the NFL divisional playoffs. After such an outstanding season, it was a heart-wrenching defeat. Just before the start of the game, I started taking down and packing all the Christmas decorations that we had put up for the holidays. After the game we watched the Neflix movie, "The Thin Red Line". This 1998 movie, based upon James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focused on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War. Almost three hours long, it had a great cast (James Caviezel, Sean Penn and Nick Nolte) and was quite good. In the evening we watched the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Here are the winners.

For MOTION PICTURES:
Best Picture, Drama: "The Social Network."
Best Picture, Musical or Comedy: "The Kids Are All Right."
Best Actor, Drama: Colin Firth, "The King's Speech."
Best Actress, Drama: Natalie Portman, "Black Swan."
Best Director: David Fincher, "The Social Network."
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right."
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Paul Giamatti, "Barney's Version."
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, "The Fighter."
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, "The Fighter."
Best Foreign Language: "In a Better World."
Best Animated Film: "Toy Story 3."
Best Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, "The Social Network."
Best Original Score: "The Social Network."
Best Original Song: "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," (written by Diane Warren), "Burlesque.

For TELEVISION:
Best Series, Drama: "Boardwalk Empire," HBO.
Best Actor, Drama: Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire."
Best Actress, Drama: Katey Sagal, "Sons of Anarchy."
Best Series, Musical or Comedy: "Glee," Fox.
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory."
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Laura Linney, "The Big C."
Best Miniseries or Movie: "Carlos," Sundance Channel.
Best Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Claire Danes, "Temple Grandin."
Best Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Al Pacino, "You Don't Know Jack."
Best Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Jane Lynch, "Glee."
Best Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Chris Colfer, "Glee."

SATURDAY - 01/15/2011 - I went to a friend's house to help him set up some "stuff" on one of his computers. Then went shopping at the Bass Pro Shops for some hiking boots and other accessories I needed to get for the upcoming hikes I signed up for at the senior center. Connie had free slot play at both GVR and the "M". We had the Seafood Brunch at the "M" and both agreed that it seemed even better than normal. The prime rib was the best we ever had there and the Alaskan crabs-legs were outstanding. I also had some Mahi-Mahi and baked mussels that were very good. Though the seafood brunch is rather expensive ($30 per person) it is certainly well worth it. After a 2-1 coupon and comps, it was only $15 for the two of us - a real steal. Connie broke even for the day, however, I didn't fare so well in the poker room. Came home and watched some TV shows over cake and ice cream.

THURSDAY - 01/13/2011 - Hints of spring? Today it got up to 58 degrees and it is suppose to be in the low to mid-sixties for the new seven days. We like it! Looking for some new photo opportunities for my new camera, I signed up online for a series of 11 different hikes to various scenic locations that were being offered by the Henderson Senior Center. For only $10 per trip, a van transports 13 people on a six hour hiking and picture taking experience to a variety of scenic locations, usually not much more than an hour's drive from Henderson. Today I had to attend a manditory orientation briefing at the Senior Center, so Connie and I decided to go early and have lunch there. For $1.50 each we had tossed salad, open faced pot roast sandwich, mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed vegetables, beverage and canned pears for dessert. After my meeting we drove to the "M" for a little play. Using our comps we purchased a chicken Caesar salad and order of chili to-go for dinner. After watching a couple of prerecorded TV shows over dinner, we called it a day and retired for the evening.

WEDNESDAY - 01/12/2011 - Spent over an hour at the doctors office this morning trying to fix a prescription screw up that cost me $70 dollars. We then drove over to the "M" casino and had lunch at their buffet. We then played for a couple of hours and I won what I had lost yesterday. Came home and had some light snacks for dinner over a couple of prerecorded TV shows before retiring for the day.

TUESDAY - 01/11/2011 - I spent most of the day at the "M" poker room trying to hit some of the day's special promotions. Even though they gave away more than $13,000 in cash while I was there, I had no luck at the table I played on. Came home and cooked up some Ramin soup for dinner with Connie over a couple of TV shows and went to bed.

MONDAY - 01/10/2011 - Same old morning routine. At noon we headed to the South Point for lunch and a movie. Had lunch at the new "Steak & Shake". Was not impressed. Besides relatively slow service, the food was not great. There was a (lemon) seed in my hamburger. The toasted sourdough bread it was served on was cold, as well as were the french fries on both of our orders. After lunch we went upstairs to see the movie "Black Swan". Very different. Read our review here ... We then drove to the "M" where Connie had $15 in free play. That cost us both money. Stayed until 9:00 pm trying to win a 50" flat-screen TV in the poker room drawing. As it turned out to be a very long day, it was then straight home and right to bed.

SUNDAY -01/09/2011 - Where does the time go? Here it is Sunday already, and I haven't made a post update in three days. So let's start with today and work backwards. GVR's "bad-beat" poker room jackpot has been over $230,000 for the past several days, so I have been spending a lot of time there hoping it would hit. As the payout to each player is best early in the morning when fewer players are playing, I got up at 4:00 am and went up hoping to get lucky. The bad news is that it didn't hit; the good news was that I won $450 while playing. Came home around 2:00 pm and made us an avocado guacamole dip with salsa, sharp cheddar cheese and crackers to snack on over the movie "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", that we recorded off of a free weekend of Showtime. This was Woody Allen's romantic comedy in which Penelope Cruz won an Oscar in 2010 as best supporting actress. It's about two young American tourists, Vicky and Christina, spending a summer in Spain where they meet a flamboyant artist (Javier Bardem ) and his beautiful, but insane, ex-wife (Penelope Cruz). Vicky is straight-laced and about to be married. Cristina is a sexually adventurous free spirit. When they all become amorously entangled, both comedic and harrowing results ensue. The movie was quite good and we can now see why she won the Oscar. Cruz was outstanding as the tempestuous artist Maria Elena. Watched a couple more TV shows after the movie, however as I was quite tired from the last couple of days of poker playing, we ended up going to bed early.

SATURDAY - 01/08/2011 - We both headed up to GVR for a couple of free buffet lunches before I played in the poker room, trying to hit their bad-beat jackpot. We both ended up having a loosing afternoon, which we had to cut short in order to pick up my neighbor friend Jim at the airport. Perfect timing! We got there just about the time he was picking up his luggage at the baggage claim area. Had banana splits for dinner over a couple of TV shows before retiring for the evening.

FRIDAY - 01/07/2011 - Connie had $15 in free slot play at the "M", so we drove over around noon to have lunch. There was no action in the poker room, so after Connie played her free play, we drove to Green Valley Ranch. I found out why there was no action at the "M". The bad-beat jackpot in the poker room was over $200,000, and everyone was here trying to hit it. At the end of the day Connie won $70 and I picked up $170 in the poker room. We came home and popped a pizza in the oven and watched some TV before heading to bed for the evening.

THURSDAY - 01/06/2011 - I spent most of the morning re-arranging and backing up the thousands of pictures I took over the past year. Connie tried to finish one of her library books that couldn't be renewed. After a light lunch snack we headed over to the South Point casino to see the movie, True Grit. Even though we expected it to be good, based upon what we had been hearing, it was even better than we had hoped it would be. Check out our review here ... True Grit. Came home and cooked up a frozen Pot Roast skillet dinner to watch over Paula Abdul's new Live To Dance show that we had recorded on our DVR player. We then watched a two hour special of one of our favorite shows, Human Target. Afterwards, I went into the den to write up the movie review, while Connie grabbed her book and headed to bed early.

WEDNESDAY - 01/05/2011 - Pretty much just another normal day. Computer and reading in the morning. Went to the "M" for two free buffet lunches, played a little and came home. Had dinner, watched TV and went to bed.

Jim & Christina - Back to Kansas!

TUESDAY - 01/04/2011 - Compared to yesterday's snowstorm, today was a complete opposite. Though still cool, it was a beautiful day with clear, sunny skies and no wind. I played on the computer sending out emails and updating programs most of the morning while Connie read. Around noon we headed up to GVR for two free buffet lunches. We both agreed that they had made some improvements and that they had added some food items that we hadn't seen for a while. The Sea Bass was excellent and the liver and onions was very good. We both played most of the afternoon hoping the bad beat jackpot would hit in the poker room. No luck with that, however we both left winners. Came home and made PP&J sandwiches for dinner. Watched some TV shows and went to bed.

View of Red Rock Canyon - 3 January 2011

MONDAY - 01/03/2011 - We woke up to a snowstorm this morning - heavy enough to place up to a couple of inches in some places and create some very slippery driving. Just Great! This is the morning I had to drive over to north Las Vegas to pick up Christina and her dad to drive them to the airport. The good news was that their flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 2:30 in the afternoon. As it was still snowing in many places when I left the house at 9:00am, I had to take the western route on the 215, which took a little longer. The picture above was taken about 3/4 of the way over to their house, and is pretty much the same view as the one at the very top of the page, though at a further distance.

After driving back to our place, I cooked us up a nice big breakfast with ham, scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and salsa and English muffins. After saying our good-bys and dropping them off at the airport, we hit the "M" and GVR for some free slot play that Connie had coming. I kept checking in on their flight on my phone and learned that their takeoff ended up being delayed about 35 minutes. Could have been worse! After we came home, Connie popped a pizza in the oven for dinner. We got a call from our friend Gus in Connecticut and talked for about a half hour. We then called my mother in Tahoe and wished her a Happy New Year. After watching a couple of prerecorded TV shows, we called it an evening and hit the sack.

SUNDAY - 01/02/2011 - Well, it was just another morning down in the 30's. Connie made some hot oatmeal cereal with raisins for breakfast. I spent time paying bills and doing some year-end cleanup on the computer while Connie watched a football game. Later, we had a light lunch of cheese and crackers and munchies over the the Sunday Morning show that we always record. We finally got showered and dressed around three in the afternoon and decided to drive up to GVR to play. I had a good afternoon and picked up $320 in the poker room. Came home and cooked up an Italian dinner - fried eggplant, spagetti, meat sauce, and corn. Watched a couple of TV shows and headed off to bed.

New Year's Eve on Freemont Street - 2010

SATURDAY - 01/01/2011 - HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to 2011! We wish all of our family and friends a wonderful, happy and prosperous New Year! We started the celebration of the new year by sharing champagne and some wonderful hors d'œuvres with Christina Paine and her dad who have been here on vacation all last week. We've had a really enjoyable week with them, talking, dining and sharing the 'holiday' sights and sounds of Vegas. Yesterday, New Year's Eve, was Jim's 60th birthday, and we celebrated it with them by having dinner at The Flame steakhouse inside the El Cortez casino and by attending the New Year's Eve celebrations on Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas. You can see by the way Christina, Jim and Connie are dressed in the picture on the right that it was quite cold (31-degrees). That is the coldest that it has ever been on New Year's eve since having moved here. It will certainly go down as one of our most memorable new years celebrations. You can catch more pictures and details by reading the last entry in our December 2010 Blog ... Friday - 12/31/2010. After they went back to Jim's house in north Las Vegas, Connie and I tried to watch a movie, but we were so tired from the previous evening we could barely stay awake and ended up retiring for the evening quite early. It is tough getting old!

Just one of the 3 stages with live entertainment New Year's Eve

We voted the The Rolling Stones tribute band at the best group of the evening

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A Daily Diary - December 2010

2010-12-30T23:35:00.000-08:00

Entries for December 2010

NOTE: You can enlarge any of the pictures below by just double-clicking on them. Then click on your browser's "Back" button to return to the original screen.

For this month's posts, I decided to feature some of our favorite Christmas time pictures of places and family that I have taken over the past ten years. Hope you enjoy them.

Now This is a Steak!

FRIDAY - 12/31/2010 - NEW YEAR'S EVE! Yes, the end of another year. It's hard to believe we've been here in Vegas for going on eight years already. The poker room at the "M" had some special promotions going on all day, so I headed over to see if I could win any of the $10,000 dollars they were giving away. No luck on the drawings, but won $300 playing. A good way to end the year! After I got home Jim and Christina showed up for our planned New Year's Eve celebration, and what a celebration it was.

Christina and her Dad at The Flame

We headed out for the Flame Steakhouse at the El Cortez Casino located on Freemont Street in downtown Las Vegas. We all had a great meal! Connie had Steak Diane, Christina had the Shrimp Scampi, Jim had the New York Strip and I had the 20-oz Bone In Ribeye. Because it was his birthday, Jim got a free cheesecake, while the rest of us shared the Rasberry Chocolate Mousse Cake. Everything was delicious. Wow! What a meal.

Freemont Street on New Year's Eve 2010

After dinner we walked up to the Freemont Street Experience area for the Tribute Palooza where they had more than 16 tribute bands playing live on three outside stages as part of their New Year's Eve party. We got to see The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Queen Nation and Led Zepalin. Though the music was LOUD, they were all really good, especially the Rolling Stones. As the hour approached, Mayor Oscar Goodman raised his martini glass to the city he has served for 12 years as he celebrated his last New Year’s Eve in office. Then thousands counted down the final seconds as live fireworks exploded along with their digital counterparts spread across the canopy of the Fremont Street Experience, marking the close of 2010 and ushering in the first seconds of the new year. Confetti rained down and people kissed and shouted to welcome 2011.

We then made the 5 block walk back, which seemed like it took forever in the freezing cold, to the El Cortez to pick our car up from valet. How cold was it, you ask? It was 31-degrees. Jim was amazed that we got out of there without any traffic problems what-so-ever. I told him, it was just good planning on behalf of their "tour-guides". Quite different from out usual New Year's Eve of watching on TV and early to bed, it was a very enjoyable evening, shared with some very nice friends.

Tom, Alyssa and Kristin's 2001 Christmas Visit

WEDNESDAY - 12/29/2010 - I had a 2-1 breakfast coupon at Monstah Lobstah that was running out soon, so we headed over there this morning for breakfast. Boy, were we surprised! Breakfast consisted of two eggs, home fries, toast and choice of bacon, sausage or ham. We decided to split an order of blueberry pancakes (made with Maine blueberrys). Connie had a cup of gourmet coffee. The pancakes were the best we've had anywhere since moving here. The total bill was only $8.47. WOW! We will definately be going back here, coupon or not! We then drove over to the "M" so Connie could use her $15 in free play. Came home around three and finished preparations for dinner.

In Front of Our Fireplace in Greenland - December 2001

Jim and Christina arrived at 4pm. We sat around and drinking wine, talking and listening to Christmas music while I finished dinner preperations. For dinner we had corn and red pepper soup, pork roast stuffed with spinach and cheese, applesauce, acorn squash, stuffing, gravy and sweet potatoe fries. after dinner we had a gingerbread cake for dessert. Needless to say, we were all stuffed. After they we watched the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors, a special we had recorded a few days before. The recipients were Meryle Haggard, Oprah Winfrey, Bill T. Jones, Jerry Herman and Paul McCartney. It was an outstanding show, especially the tribute to Paul McCartney. Today's pictures are from a pre-Christmas visit my brother and his daughter Kristin and Alyssa made to our home when we lived in Greenland, NH. We do miss our fireplace during the winter months!

Dinner at the Elephant Bar

TUESDAY - 12/28/2010 - After playing on the computer, I went out and did some shopping for the New Year's Day brunch I'm planning. Came home and prepared some Hors d'œuvres of dips, cheese and crackers for Jim and Christina's pre-dinner arrival. We sat around and talked for nearly two hours before heading up the street for dinner at the Elephant Bar at The District at Green Valley.

The Tree and Raindeer at Bellagio's Conservatory

After Jim treated us to a wonderful dinner we captured some shots of the Christmas tree in the District who's lights blinked in tune with music that played throughout the area. We then headed out to view the Mystic Falls Park Holiday show inside Sam's Town. They really liked it. From there we traveled over to view the Christmas lights at the Ethel M Cactus Garden. Christina was "blown away" to put it in her terms. They couldn't believe all the lights. Christina said her mind was on "overlaod" from all the lights. We topped the evening off with a visit to the Conservatory at the Bellagio. All in all it was a very colorful evening that provided them with some of Vegas' best holiday decorations.

Lobby Area at Bellagio

MONDAY - 12/27/2010 - I spent most of the morning reading the manual and playing with my new camera. It has a "ton" of features that I'm sure will take me months to learn, but so far I love it. Connie spent the morning reading and washing clothes. Around noon we went to the "M" and split a bowl of hot chicken soup and a grilled chicken Caesar salad for lunch at the Vig Deli. We both played all afternoon; Connie lost $20, and I picked up $30 for a break even day. Came home and put a frozen pot roast dinner in the skillet and served it over some garlic mashed potatoes. It was actually quite good. Watched a movie on TV and went to bed early.

Hoorah! They Finally Made It!

SUNDAY- 12/26/2010 - Well, today was "Airport Day" again. We were scheduled to pick up my niece and her father who were flying in this evening from Kansas. I spent the morning cleaning the house and preparing for a dinner I'm planning for Wednesday. After lunch we headed to GVR where Connie had some free play. We then drove to the "M" to play to pass the time before heading to the airport. They were scheduled to arrive at 8:15 and ended up getting delayed three hours. By the time we picked them up, drove them to their house in north Las Vegas and drove home it was 1:00 AM; making for a VERY LONG day. The only good news was we made $300 at the "M" while waiting for their plane to arrive.

My Friend Jeff Stecker at GVR

SATURDAY - 12/25/2010 - CHRISTMAS DAY - A rather uneventful day for us. We opened our only present, a Hickory Farms gift box that my brother sent us over breakfast. We then drove over to Jim Herring's house to turn on the heat so they wouldn't be cold when they arrived tomorrow night. On the way home we stopped at the "M" where Connie had $15 free slot play and then headed over to GVR where I picked up $200 at the poker table. We were going to have a lobster at our seafood restaurant, but they were closed for Christmas. Duh? Came home and had a light dinner over a movie. My sister called to wish us a merry Christmas and we talked for over an hour. Then my mom called to thank us for the flowers we had sent for Christmas. Finished the movie and went to bed. Ho, ho, hum!

FRIDAY - 12/24/2010 - After our normal morning routine we headed to the South Point for two free lunch buffets and to see the movie, Little Fockers. It was fun. On the way home we stopped at the "M" to pick up a free holiday coffee cake. After a brief dinner we picked up our downstairs neighbors and drove to Sam's Town to see the decorations, lights and laser show in their indoor atrium. Were able to watch everything over a few holiday drinks from a table in the center bar. The show was better, and longer than previous years; Ron and GaryAnn really liked it. GaryAnn won $100 on slots as were were leaving.

THURSDAY - 12/23/2010 - I woke up at 3:00am with a shin splint from pushing Jim in a wheelchair at the airport the previous day, and couldn't get back to sleep. Connie either. So we both got up. I spent time reading the manual on my new camera while Connie read. At noon we drove to "M" and had a free lunch, hot dogs, in the Vig Deli. Afer and afternoon of playing, we came home and watched Bruce Willis in "Live Free or Die Hard. What an action flick! Had Cherry pie for dinner over a couple of TV shows and went to bed.

My Friend Jim at the Airport Bar

WEDNESDAY - 12/22/2010 - What a wet week we've had! Here it is only Wednesday and already we've had nearly 1.5 inches of rain, for a total of 5.8 inches since January. Our annual average is usually around 2.5 inches. Of course in the higher mountain elevations surrounding us it was all snow, making them quite beautiful. I got up early this morning and headed over to the "M", in the still pouring rain, to see if I could get lucky in any of their hourly cash drawings. It was 12:15 and I was just getting ready to leave when they picked my name out of the drum for $150, making it well worth the trip. I came home and had lunch with Connie before taking my neighbor to the airport for his holiday trip to Clearwater to visit family. Naturally, just as we were headed out the door to pack the car, the rain was coming down the hardest it had all day. What a time that turned out to be. We showed up late knowing that his flight had already been delayed 45 minutes. They confiscated a small knife and clippers I had hooked to my keychain. Then after we checked in, they told us it would be delayed another half hour. We finally went to a bar and had a couple of drinks. When we got back to the departure counter and looked up, we found out it had been delayed another 45 minutes. This meant he wouldn't be arriving in Tampa until after 3am in the morning. Glad it wasn't me!

TUESDAY - 12/21/2010 - By the time we hit the bank, did some errands and paid a visit to our library for some new reading material for Connie it was almost 1:00. So we headed over to the "M" for two free buffet lunches and some "play". It turned out to be a great day for the both of us. Connie won almost $70 playing slots and I hit four duces on the flop for a $1,000 bonus and ended the day up over $1,200. Merry Christmas to us!

The Fighter

MONDAY - 12/20/2011 - Monday morning I worked on pictures taken over the past couple of days and put together a Hallmark Christmas e-card with some of our recent holiday pics to send out to all of our computer friends and relatives. We then went out to perform some errands, which included spending 45 minutes in line at the post office to mail a small package to Connie's brother. After some minor grocery shopping we headed to the South Point to see a movie. Our errands took so long that we didn't have time to stop for lunch and had to end up having popcorn for lunch at the movie. We saw "The Fighter" starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, and Amy Adams, each of whom provided outstanding performances. After we got home I cooked up the remaining Kilbasa and beans for dinner and settled down to watch our Netflix movie. Unfortunately the disc was damage and wouldn't play. Watched a prerecorded TV show and went to bed.

Waterfall at Palazzo Casino

SUNDAY - 12/19/2011 - This morning we picked up Ron and GaryAnn, our downstairs neighbors, and drove to the Strip to have lunch and view some Christmas decorations. Our first stop was the inside waterfall and garden area at the Palazzo Casino. We then drove over to the winter exhibit Conservatory and Botanical Gardens at the Bellagio. It is just amazing to see what they do each year to make the displays and decorations different. This year was spectacular in many ways. Grouping all the penguins together into a little village was outstanding as well was the snow covered trees and polar bears surrounding a lake. Not to mention the raindeer made out of pecan shells pulling santa's sleigh. We thought it was one of the best winter displays they have ever done.

After our sightseeing venture, we went to the Garduno's located inside the Palms Casino for lunch. Because it was Sunday, they were having their Margarita Buffet Brunch. Though I'm not usually crazy about Mexican buffets, it was probably the best I have had. With my 50% off LVA coupon it was even better. After lunch, Ron wanted to try his hand at playing some slots and ended up getting a nice Christmas present by winning $400 dollars. Gotta love it. Only in Vegas can you go out and view some wonderful sights, have a 1/2 price lunch and come home with $400 more than you left home with.

Dinner at Primarily Prime at the South Point - December 2010

SATURDAY - 12/18/2010 - Connie made poached eggs and roast-beef hash for breakfast. We both had appointments for a haircut at Connie's hairdresser. I wasn't happy with the last two haircuts I got at my regular barber shop ever since my regular guy retired, so I thought I'd try her hairdresser. She did a good job. Went to the "M" for some play and then came home and got ready for dinner. Our neighbor friend Jim said he wanted to take us out to dinner as a Christmas present to us. We suggested he take us to Primarily Prime at the South Point casino. He had not eaten there, and we had been there twice and thought it was pretty good as well as reasonable.

Now that's a Prime Rib!

Jim and I both had the soup, while Connie had the salad, which they toss table-side. We all had baked potatoes prepared table-side with tons of butter and chives. Connie ordered the South Point Cut, in itself a generous thick slice. However, Jim had the Cowboy Cut, an extra thick, bone in double cut. We both thought he was going to have to get a "doggie" bag, but he surprised us and ate the whole thing. I decided to go with the Sauteed Sea Bass, that had been recommended by a friend. With a sesame seed crust served on a bed of stir-fried vegetables with light teriyaki broth. A huge portion, cooked to perfection, it was one of the best I've ever had. We were all so full, that we couldn't even consider dessert. It was a great meal. Thanks my friend!

Our kitchen counter - 2010

THURSDAY - 12/16/2010 - Had to take the car back to the garage first thing this morning to have a leaking A/C Compressor replaced. They also converted it from R-12 (Freon) to R-134. $530 - Just another fun morning. After that I came home and cooked up some Kilbasa and backed beans for lunch that we ate over a TV show before I had to go for a doctor appointment to review my blood test from last week. All my "numbers" were up from the last time and I was told that I've been a very bad boy, eating way too much sugar and other stuff. So now I have to watch what I eat for a couple of months and go back for another test in March. Oh, well! After the doctors visit I went to the "M" to play some poker. The good news was that I won $480.00, almost enough to pay for the repairs on "Betsy". Came home and watched some shows with Connie before retiring for the evening. At night we get the pleasure of enjoying all of our lighted Christmas decorations. The picture on the left is of the counter dividing our kitchen and dining room. The "house" is really pretty lit up at night.

The Lamb Chops at Texas-de-Brazil

WEDNESDAY - 12/15/2011 - After our normal morning routine of playing on the computer and reading, we went to our clubhouse for a free Christmas luncheon. It wasn't anything spectacular, just some turkey and ham subs with soda, chips and pies for dessert. We did get to meet some new neighbors. We then headed to the "M" and played until dinner time. I made $150 in the poker room and Connie only lost $20 on slots. We then headed to Texas-de-Brazil for dinner. They had sent us a free dinner coupon for our anniversary that was about to run out. This is a really good restaurant that we have been to several times. They have a 50-60 item salad area that includes shrimp, appetizers, soups and even a lobster bisque. They then have a waitstaff of carvers come around with various cuts of seasoned, roasted beef, lamb, pork, chicken and Brazilian sausage, carved and served off of hot skewers. I think the Lamb Chops and Bacon Wrapped Filet Migon were our favorites. Let's put it this way, you don't go away hungry! After an excellent dinner, we came home, watched a couple of prerecorded TV shows and went to bed with very full tummies.

TUESDAY - 12/14/2010 - This morning I played on the computer and worked on customizing my new phone while Connie started writing Christmas cards. At noontime we headed over to the South Point casino for two free buffet lunches and a movie. We saw The Tourist, starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. I thought is was a little slow, though a beautiful travelogue of Venice, Italy. Click here for our review ... The Tourist. Came home and played on the computer for a while before watching some prerecorded TV shows and going to bed.

View of the golf course from our pool - December 2008

Mt Charleston, November 2010

MONDAY - Nothing very exciting today. I had to take the car to the garage to get the AC fixed. My mechanic found a freon leak in the system and had to order a part the will take 3-4 days to get here. Will have to take back on another day to finish the job. After I ran some more errands, we went up the street for lunch at one of our favorite local restaurants - The Elephant Bar. Using a 2-1 coupon, we both had the new Pacific Rim Shrimp Platter which consisted of coconut battered shrimp, shrimp tempura and a shrimp & vegetable stir-fry. We both thought the stir-fry was excellent. After lunch we drove to the "M" to use Connie's $15 in free play. I picked up hundred in the poker room. Came home and had PP&J sandwiches over some prerecorded TV shows and wnet to bed. The picture above was taken in 2008, the day after our heaviest snowfall since moving to Las Vegas. Double-click on the picture to enlarge - even the Canadian Geese look surprised! Imagine our surprise when we learned that it could snow here in Vegas. Though we have only had snow on the ground three times here in the valley where we live, this was the heaviest, nearly 6 inches. The good news - gone by the next day. From our parking lot, and from almost anywhere else in the city, we can view snow on Mount Charleston from early October thru mid June. Only about 35 miles northwest of Las Vegas, at 11,916 feet, it is the highest of the Spring Mountains of southern Nevada and the state's eighth highest mountain peak. The picture on the right was taken fro Jim Herring's home in North Las Vegas.

Christmas at Patti's in California - December 2004

SUNDAY - 12/12/2010 - We had just finished some blueberry muffins that Connie had made when I got a missed call from our downstairs neighbors asking if we were ready to go with them to the Fresh52 farmer's & artisan market on Eastern that we had forgotten about. I called back and told them we would meet them there in about 20 minutes. This is a lively, friendly, open air market that, every Sunday, features choice vendors with pesticide free seasonal produce, freshly baked goods, gourmet olive oils, salsas, spices, sauces, nuts, handmade modern craft, artisans & more! On select dates they host special events, live entertainment, and even chef demonstrations, We walked the market and I ended up purchasing some butternut squash and cranberry orange bread. Everyone except Connie had a freshly made breakfast crepe that was quite good. Afterwards we ran some errands at Walmart, OfficeMax, Trader Joe's and got the car washed. When we got home I waxed the car and cleaned the interior. I heated up some tomato and roasted red pepper soup and grilled some cheddar cheese sandwiches for lunch. We then sat down and watched the New England Patriots crush the Chicago Bears in a "snow bowl" 36-7. Fortunately most of the action was in the first half, as the network switched to another game after half-time because it was such a run-away. Connie was pissed! We then watched some prerecorded TV shows and until dinner time and had chocolate cake that my neighbor friend Jim had given me earlier in the day. I played on the computer for a while and connie read until a couple of shows came on TV that we wanted to watch, one being a special performance of the Nutcracker performed by the San Francisco Ballet company.

Shannan's Family

Today's featured pictures are from our visit to Pattie (Connie's sister) and Leon's home in Windsor California on our 2004 Christmas visit. They put us up for several days and treated us like royalty. Cooking great meals, taking us out to dinner and driving us around the area. We even got to meet their son Shannan, wife Lisa and their lovely children, Ashland and Brianna. It was a wonderful visit that will be long remembered. Thanks guys.

Jim's Morning Wake-up Call

SATURDAY - 12/12/2011 - Today was a full day! It started at 7:30 am, just as we were having breakfast, with a phone call my from my neighbor friend Jim, letting us know that someone had just run a car through his deck. We couldn't believe it. I walked over to talk with Jim and take some pictures. He was in bed sleeping at the other end of his appartment when it happened. The driver was so drunk, that they handcuffed and arrested her on the spot. Here are a couple of pictures. I then headed over to North Las Vegas to check on Jim Herring's house. Everything good there. When I returned, I picked up Connie and we headed to the "M", where we had lunch, tuna sandwiches and french fires, at the Deli. We then played until dinner time.

What a mess!

For dinner we drove out to Lake Las Vegas and had dinner at the Auld Dubliner Irish restaurant. I had the Shepards Pie Boxty which was a combination of ground beef and lamb cooked with carrots, peas & leeks in a savory beef stock. Though mine was good, Connie had the better meal by far, the Wiskey Chicken Boxty (potato pancake) stuffed with boneless chicken breast sauteed with garlic, fresh thyme and mushrooms in an Irish whiskey cream sauce. We enjoyed both over a couple of beers. Thought we had a wonderful dinner, it was sad to see that this area had become pretty much a "ghost town" compared to what it was years ago when we first started going there. The bankruptcy of the MonteLago Casino and others in the area have had a devastating effect on the remaining restaurants and business in the MoneLago Village.

Christmas at Bonnie's - December 2004

FRIDAY - 12/10/2010 - We decided to stay home today and relax. I spent part of the morning making the final finishing touches on our Christmas decorations. For lunch I made grilled cheese, tomato and oregano sandwiches that we ate over some prerecorded TV shows. We then retired to the den and I played on the computer while Connie read. I put together a college of pictures of our decorations. We had soup and crackers for dinner and watched a Netflix movie and some TV shows before calling it a day. Our first Christmas in Tahoe with Bonnie and Tom after our move to Las Vegas. It had been years since we had been able to get together for the holidays and we had a really nice time.

Christmas lights at the Ethel M Cactus Garden, December 2010

THURSDAY - 12/09/2010 - Did some more Christmas decorating, and played on the computer while Connie read. Showered, dressed and headed to the "M" for two free buffet lunches. Found a couple of new items on the buffet that were quite good, one being a delicious chicken curry dish in the Chinese section. Played for several hours after lunch. I made $140 and Connie, after cashing in her winning ticket on Monday night's Patriot's game and free $15 in slot play, only lost $15 for the day. It's nice to come home now and turn on the Christmas lights from the various decorations that we have scattered about. We had a snack of peanut butter and fluff on ritz crackers with banana shakes for dinner. Watched a couple of TV shows and headed off to bed.

WEDNESDAY - 12/08/2010 - I decided to get out some of our Christmas decorations and get into the "holiday" spirit. At noontime the Wilson's (one of our neighbors) came over for some wine before we headed out for lunch and a movie. For lunch we went to Brio Tuscan Grille at the Town Square Mall. It was our first time eating there and we found it to be quite good. Both of our meals were very good and the lobster bisque was excellent. After lunch, we drove to the South Point casino to see the movie "Burlesque" with Cher and Christina Argularia. We thought it was entertaining. See our complete review here ... Burlesque. It was after six by the time the movie got out so we just endied up coming home, watching a couple of TV shows, and going to bed.

Christmas Dinner at Evan's - 2004

MONDAY - 12/06/2010 - After some playing on the computer, I decided to get some exercise and went outside and raked leaves around our building. Last night's soaking rain caused most of the remaining leaves to drop. My guess is that by the weekend, the trees will be completely bare. We then headed over to the "M" and had a hamburger and onion rings at the deli for lunch. For the second week in a row, I flopped four-of-a-kind on the wrong day. I got $50 for four duces instead of a $1,000 if I flopped it tomorrow. Oh well, better than nothing as they say. When we got home I made a taco salad that we enjoyed over the Patriots and Jets game. And what a great game it was! The Patriots trounced the Jets 45-3, giving Tom Brady his 26th consecutive home game win, another new NFL record. In 2004, Tom and Bonnie treated us to what was probably one of the best Christmas dinners we ever had at Evan's American Gourmet Restaurant. Nestled in a vintage Tahoe cabin, surrounded by towering pine trees, Evan's is aclaimed as Lake Tahoe's finest restaurant, (with the highest Zagat rating in Northern California, East of the Bay Area).It was real special treat that we will always remember. Thanks guys!

Ron and GaryAnn - December 2009

SUNDAY - 12/05/2010 - Decided to stay home today. Connie made pancakes and eggs for breakfast which we ate over a TV show. I decided to get some exercise and went outside to rake leaves and ended up doing more talking with two of our neighbors than raking. Decided to go shoot pool with Ron, our downstairs neighbor. I was the champion winning 13 out of 16 games of eight-ball. Came home and heated up "Chicken Alfredo" we had in the freezer. Watched our latest Netflix arrival, "Falling Down", an old 1993 movie starring Michael Douglas and Rober Duvall that we both loved. Finished off the night pumpking pie topped with pumpkin ice cream and whipped cream over a couple of prerecorded TV shows. Today's picture is of Ron and GaryAnn, our downstairs neighbors, taken last year at our Christmas Eve open house.

Bellagio Concervatory - December 2008

SATURDAY - 12/04/2010 - After our normal morning routine we decided to do lunch at the Tides seafood restaurant at the Green Valley Ranch casino up the street. Connie had the crab cakes and I had the fried oysters, which were excellent. With a 2-1 coupon and our comps, lunch was free. We then drove over to the "M" for a few hours play. Neither of us had any luck. When I got home I cooked up some asparagus with garlic and melted cheese on toast points for dinner. Around 7:00pm I picked up my neighbor Jim and we hided over to the poker room at the South Point casino to see if we could win some money off the "cowboys" that were in town with the National Rodeo Finals. Though Jim lost, I picked up nearly $300, more than making up for my earlier loss at the "M". The picture Connie on the left was taken in 2008 on our annual trek to the Christmas display at the Botanical Gardens at the Bellagio.

Cheryl and Ashleigh - Xmas 2000

FRIDAY - 12/03/2010 - Nothing much new today. I decided to go play poker at the "M" while Connie stayed home and read and watched movies. No luck hitting any of the jackpots. Came home and popped a pizza in the oven for dinner and watched some prerecorded TV shows before calling it a night. The picture of Cheryl and Ashleigh on the right was taken at our home in Greenland, NH on December 25, 2000, or as Connie referred to it, "The year of the pillows." She made the pillows for the girls that Cheryl is holding.

Connie and April - Xmas 2000

THURSDAY - 12/02/2010 - After our normal morning routine we drove to the "M" for just another free buffet lunch. You may have figured out by now, we really like this buffet, which by the way, has been voted the best in Las Vegas for two years running. It was a "break even" day in the casino - what I picked up in the poker room, Connie lost on slots. The picture on the left is from an exchange of gifts at our home in Greenland, NH on Christmas eve in 2000.

John Coxon's 2001 XMAS visit

WEDNESDAY - 12/01/2010 - Another new month and just 30 more days till 2011. Where does the time go? The picture on the right is a reminder of my cousin John's 2001 Christmas visit to us when we lived in Greenland, NH. It was always a pleasure to have John come visit and spend a few days with us, especially when it was over the 'holidays'.

I spent most of this morning reading, answering and returning e-mails, paying bills, as well as down-loading and setting up some new applications on my new phone. For lunch I heated up the last of the leftovers from Thanksgiving. We watched a couple of TV shows and then drove over to the South Point to see the movie, The Next Three Days. We both enjoyed, check out our review here ... The Next Three Days. Came home and had pumpkin pie w/whipped cream for dinner. Watched a couple more TV shows and headed to bed.

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Favorite Recipes - Index

2010-12-30T16:48:00.000-08:00

To save you time in perusing this Category and determining what recipes are provided, a list of postings is provided below. Click on a title to go directly to its recipe page.

Angel Hair Pasta w/Chicken and Asparagus Posted September 26th, 2010
Split Pea Soup Posted September 22nd, 2010
Crab Cakes Posted September 22nd, 2010
Butternut Squash and Apple Casserole Posted October 10th, 2008
Honeydew Ice Parfait Posted September 29th, 2007
Shrimp and Artichoke Pasta Posted September 19th, 2007
Bruschetta - Mexicali Posted September 19th, 2007

Master Post Date 01/01/2008; 4:48pm