Stormy Weather

Good morning, my friends. It was a blustery and rainy day yesterday. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I was determined to break my lazy streak by getting out for a walk. Mike accompanied me along my way. The sun was shining as we walked away from the RV, but there were some clouds in the sky. We walked up and down, taking in whatever there was to see. Before we walked away from our site, I turned to capture a shot of this snow-covered peak. This is Charleston Peak...the highest peak in the Spring Mountain Range.

When we awakened this morning, the snow level had dropped and the entire range behind us is capped with snow now.

We're expecting even cooler temperatures as the week goes on. By Wednesday, we could see some snow at our level. We've seen snow in Pahrump before. Here's an image from our visit back in January of 2021.

There's a rumor going around about snow back home too. Snow levels are supposed to drop to 500 feet. Our place sits at 1,300 feet, and so I expect we'll get some there. Oh well...you can run, but you can't hide.

And all of that to say that we got outside in a nick of time because the rain started up just a few minutes after we got back to the RV. We were dry on our walk, though, and of course, I took pictures of every blooming thing and every little thing. My guess is this next image is pyracantha.

I'm not sure what this next one is. The wind was blowing a gale force, and so it was hard to get anything in focus. This was growing in an empty site. I'll try again, but if someone moves in, I won't be able to.

Here's some RV art.

Here's some lantana. We saw this in several colors. This was the only one I was able to capture in focus.

This pine cone was lying on the ground outside our rig. Pine cones seem out of place in Nevada.

There's a tree growing just beside where the catio is. Looking up, this is what I saw. The little pine cones there are about the size of a thimble.

Back inside, we were warm and dry when the rain started up. I spent the afternoon finishing off Block #4 for the Snowmen & Reindeer project. This one is called Snowman Feeds Feathered Friends. I really like the faces of the snowmen.

Here are the four blocks I have for this quilt so far.

Now, I've traced out Block 5. This one is called "Winter Trees."

It's hooped up and ready for my stitching pleasure this morning.

We'll be visiting the quilt shop today. I'm kind of curious to see it and ask about the Alaska connection. I'm not in the market for any particular fabric, but if I can find a kit with an embroidery pattern, I'll probably buy it. I'm afraid these snowmen won't get me all the way home. Goodness knows, I want to avoid a stitching emergency. 

We'll make a day of it by getting lunch somewhere. Aside from that we don't have any plans. The sun is shining today, and we're expecting more rain by tomorrow. Seems like a good idea to get in another walk, and that's probably what I'll do this afternoon.

Lazy Bones

Good morning, my friends. A serious case of the lazies has befallen us here in Nevada. Sadie is channeling the energy level in the RV right now.

I spent a lazy morning taking the first stitches on the fourth block for the Snowmen & Reindeer project.

Now, I've moved my hoop up and to the left, and I'll continue on there this morning.

We've been lazy since arriving in Pahrump. I've spent some time looking at hikes in the area. Almost all of them lead to a high peak, and so there is a lot of elevation gain. My benchmark for elevation gain was a hike we did in Mt. Rainier many years ago. The elevation gain was over 700 feet, and that was tough. It was worth it to see the wildflowers, but now, it's become my measuring stick for whether we'll want to do any given hike. The ones here were mostly in the thousands of feet range, and so I pretty much ruled out any hikes we might do until we get to Death Valley in about ten days.

So...okay...no hiking, but there's no elevation gain here in the RV park. I could get out and walk here, but I have not so far. Except for a brief walk with Smitty, I've barely been out of the RV. Today I want to get outside for a little while. There's rain and freezing temperatures in the forecast for the week, and this could be the last nice day for walking.

All of that didn't stop us from making a trip to the grocery store yesterday. We wanted to get a bottle of wine for last night's dinner, and we picked up the other things we'd added to the shopping list. As we were leaving, we spied this panel truck. It was towing a trailer made from the bed of a pick-up truck and a camper shell. I barely caught it through our back window.

And, you know...I might have just found my next calling. On the other hand, the condition of this person's rig would indicate they're not getting rich doing it. Oh well. So, maybe not.

We selected a wine for last night's dinner. It was a nice pinot noir from a California winery. It was very fruity...more like a merlot than a pinot, and we enjoyed it.

There aren't many good restaurants in Pahrump. Mike selected the restaurant associated with the Nugget Casino. Entering the doors, I loved these handles made to look like miners panning for gold.

Past all the slot machines, we entered the Stockman's Steakhouse. The food and service were good, and we had a nice evening.

After opening our wine, they brought us this fluffy loaf of bread. It reminded me of a crown, and it was topped with an herb butter. Yummy.

We selected our entrees. They came with a choice of soup or salad. Mike chose the salad.

Soup of the day was a seafood chowder. It isn't much of a looker, but it was delicious. 

For my entree, I chose the Italian Penne. It had chicken, shrimp, Italian sausage, and grilled vegetables. It was very tasty. This was a huge portion, and I only ate about a third of it. I can work on the rest for lunch today.

Mike chose the rib-eye steak. It came with a side of The Baked Potato that Ate Los Angeles. Good grief. That's the biggest potato I've ever seen.

We skipped dessert in favor of the ice cream we already had at home, and that was a nice, quiet way to celebrate Valentine's Day.

There was a pretty sunrise this morning. 

It was cloudy most of the morning, but it appears to be clearing up some. I'm determined to get out for a walk today. I'll work on my slow-stitching too. With rain in the forecast, I'll probably wait to drag out my sewing supplies until the wet stuff arrives. When I do, I'll be working on this little quilt.

All the pieces were cut before we left home. It's just a matter of sewing it together. Also, I'm planning to visit a quilt shop tomorrow. If it's going to rain, it seems like a good opportunity to do indoor things.

So, that's all I have for you today. Hopefully, I'll find something interesting to photograph on my walk around today. Some things have changed since our last visit, and it'll be good to get out and explore some.

A Good Day

Good morning, my friends. It was a nice sunny day yesterday. We both did only what we wanted to do, and nothing more. 

If you've been reading for a long time, then you might remember when Mike retired back in May of 2017. He celebrated his retirement by signing up for a Corvette driving class at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch. 

It might have been our first time staying in Pahrump. You can read my posts about the place here and here. Fast forward to yesterday, and we could hear the cars running from where we're staying. The sound of those fast engines finally piqued Mike's curiosity, and he had to go watch them for a while. While he was there, he learned there would be a race in the afternoon, and doncha know he was there for that too.

So, we were both in our happy places. I stayed back and worked on my slow-stitching, finishing Block #3...Peeking Snowman and Feathered Friends. Each of the blocks I've made so far is supposed to have a button from a supplied button pack. When I took this one's picture, I remembered to add the button. 

Then I went back and took new pictures of the others. This one has a button at the top of the tree.

This one has a little heart button. 

None of these are sewn on yet, and one could even skip the embroidery in those places and just use the buttons. I'm doing both, but I won't sew any of them on until I get home. Here are the three blocks I have for this quilt so far.

When that was finished, I traced the fourth block. This one is called Snowman Feeding Feathered Friends.

I haven't started on the stitching yet, but I'll get going on it this morning.

Later in the afternoon, I got Smitty out for a walk. We've seen a woman out walking her stupid woofie. We know it is a stupid woofie because all woofies are stupid. And so we have to make sure the coast is clear before we venture out.

Sadie kept look-out on her catio and gave Smitty the all-clear signal.

When we were sure all danger had passed, he donned his activewear and we headed out. The desert is just behind us, and so I carried him up to where we could be assured we wouldn't meet any monsters (except Gila Monsters), and then we had a brave and bold adventure.

The adventure lasted all of ten minutes before he turned tail and headed back to the RV. There, we dispensed treats of valor and treats of appeasement. It's the best part of any walk.

Aside from stitching, I'd done some other things during the day. We ate in for Valentine's Day. Dinner was the usual fare, but I made us Lemon Pudding Cakes for Two as a special dessert. The recipe I've linked to makes six pudding cakes. I simply scaled it down to one-third to make it a recipe for two.

So that was yesterday. We're expecting rain by Tuesday, and the sky has clouded over this morning. The weather is cooling off some too. By Thursday, we're expecting lows in the 30's and highs in the 40's. We have a crew coming on Thursday to wash and wax our RV. (We've used them before, and they did a good job. Now we call them every time we're in Pahrump.) Not sure if that's going to go off as planned if the weather gets too cold.

Today will probably be a mostly do-nothing day. We're planning to go in search of the new quilt shop on Tuesday. (They're closed Sunday and Monday.) My stitcheries are going so fast, I'm worried I'll run out of stitching before we head for home the first week of March. If I can find an emergency back-up project at the quilt shop, I'll probably buy it. Aside from that, I'm not in the market for anything, and so I'm mostly going to give it a look-see. 

As for today and tomorrow, I'm not sure what we'll be doing. The only thing I know for sure is that we're going out for dinner tonight...our late Valentine's Day celebration. As for the rest of our time, I guess we'll all find out together. 

Pahrump, Nevada

Good morning, my friends, and Happy Valentine's Day! We have plans for dinner out tomorrow to celebrate. For now, let's just talk about this new location and yesterday's drive, shall we?

On our last day in Boulder City, the Stanbro Men got out for their only walk in that location. Smitty sat on the step for a bit before deciding to get to ground level.

There, he has a luxurious dust bath, and then sniffed around this orange tree. He sniffed, and sniffed, and sniffed. Obviously, some other critter has left its scent here.

While they were out walking, I was busy tracing the third block for the Snowmen & Reindeer project.

When I had it traced, I stitched the lower portion...

And then I could move my hoop up to encompass the rest of it.

As I'm writing this morning, it's almost all finished. I expect to finish it today, and then I'll need to trace the next one. I'm seriously concerned about running out of stitching before we get home in a little more than three weeks. Fortunately, there's a new quilt shop in Pahrump. I can probably pick up an emergency back-up project there.

Heading north from Las Vegas, we enjoyed the colors in the landscape.

Just a little ways out of town, we spied this warning about the wild burros roaming the area. There's a fence to keep them (and the turtles) off the road. We didn't see any wild burros yesterday, but we have seen them in this area before.

The mountains were prettier as we moved farther north. Our drive was just about an hour and a half yesterday.

Here, we noticed how the hillside looked different toward the top and the middle of the image. It almost looked like a dam. Then, we noticed the mining operation below.

Turns out that is the Apex Limestone Quarry.

Moving on, the mountains were more rugged as we moved north. These are the Spring Mountains.

Nevada seems big on freeway art. I barely caught this guy.

Just up the road, I captured some more of his friends.

As we approached Pahrump, we noticed more Joshua Trees, which isn't surprising since Joshua Tree National Park is near here.

Between Las Vegas and Pahrump it's fairly desolate. This was our view for the end of our drive.

It was an easy drive, and we are parked. We always request this side of the park near the desert's edge. This is the view from our back window.

I tried something new for dinner last night. These are Asian Chicken Crunch Wraps. This was quick and easy, and it allowed me to use up some tortillas I had hanging out in my pantry.

They're made from frozen breaded chicken tenders, packaged coleslaw mix, green onions, and sweet chili sauce. (They had me at the sweet chili sauce. I love the stuff.) I've linked to the recipe up there. I made just half the amount of chicken, but all of the coleslaw mix. I substituted a teaspoon of ground coriander seed for the cilantro. I don't like the buy cilantro. You have to buy a whole bunch, and then you need just a tiny amount. I can never use it before it turns to slime. So, if I need just a small amount in a recipe, I'm starting to check in with The Google for appropriate substitutes. In any case, this was good. I'll make it again because I still have lots of that chicken. Next time, I'll use a larger tortilla. Burrito sized would be a good and it would be easier to wrap.

This morning, we were treated to the sight of hot air balloons being launched. 

As it turns out the Pahrump Hot Air Balloon Rally is this weekend.

There are other events associated with this rally. If we're feeling energetic, we might head over and see what's going on.

For now, I've got some laundry started. We're going to eat in tonight, and so I need to get a rib-eye steak into some marinade. Also, I'm going to bake some lemon pudding cakes for our dessert tonight. Just because we're waiting to celebrate Valentine's Day tomorrow doesn't mean we can't make tonight a little bit special.

Also today, I'll want to finish off my stitchery, and trace the next one. If there's still time in the day, I'll walk around the park with my camera and take some pictures. The park is under new ownership from our last stay. A few things have changed. I'll talk about that in tomorrow's post when I have some pictures to help tell the story.