Of course, I had to take this little fella with me, and it didn’t take long for him to become rather warm as he’s made of cast iron! It was so peaceful out there today with far fewer people. I would rather have all the extra people there though than that damn evil virus. Be safe, friends!
I took a drive out of the city for a little while today to the usual places I like to visit, please excuse the redundancies. Today there was much less traffic out there than the last trip out about one month ago which is great. There is usually a little less traffic in summer due to the heat, but it’s even less now which I suspect that damn virus is responsible for.
Without a zoom lens, it’s very difficult for me to capture good photos of those sweet little Golden Mantled Ground Squirrels. Only one attempt to photograph one was slightly useable. This amateur photographer can’t justify $2600 bucks for that 70/200mm zoom lens for the Nikon Zed 6 lens. Unless someone wants to help with the cost, haha!!
This is round one of about sixty photos taken today. While outside in the sunshine, I grabbed a couple photos of the truck with the new wheels for insurance purposes as suggested by my local insurance dude. It was very hot out there, even at 3200+ feet above sea level!
I have lived in Las Vegas for a bit over seven years now, to the best of my memory, this kind of heat has been here just once although it’s been close to one hundred fifteen before. This is extremely dangerous heat!
The National Weather Service is warning the public here ahead of time, taxpayer money well spent. I’ve seen these extreme temperatures before in Baker, California in years past, one hundred twenty is fairly common for that area.
Guess who’s going to be staying at home during these extreme heat days? I will try to avoid driving too, that much heat is not good for any piston engine!
I suppose you may find these photos a bit odd or funny and that’s OK. I take photos of these large towers once in a while because of my interest in Ham Radio, or Amateur Radio. I’ve been licensed since about 1980.
This tower has a lot of empty bays, those vertical pipes at the end of the Halo which protrudes horizontally away from the tower. An antenna and its feedline will attach to the halo.
Apparently, the owner or owners of this large tower installation are losing a bit of money each month as many times, the space rental is monthly. I used to have a repeater many years ago in Michigan which served the ham radio community, which was installed on a commercial tower, not a private installation.
So it’s safe to say that I am a bonified two-way radio nutter! I still own several ham radios and have a mini station set up inside the house as the HOA doesn’t allow external towers or appendages on the structure of the home. Poo poo!
These and other towers make your phone work so don’t complain about them!
Here are some photos taken on the way home from the nursery earlier this morning. Now children, never, ever take photos while driving, and at around sixty-five miles per hour! This is a job for experienced drivers and photographers only.
I have become increasingly concerned about the larger Sago Palm that was planted several days ago as it’s color has changed sharply. This morning, I took a couple iPhone photos of them both and headed back to the nursery where I purchased them.
The very nice lady that greeted me in the office is also a worker among the many plants and trees there (there must be thousands) around the property. I showed her the photos, and to my relief, she said the trees are doing fine.
The reason they fronds are changing color is heat stress from the walls on two sides of it, and shock from being pulled from the fifteen-gallon bucket it lived in for a long time. I have watered the trees as prescribed so I haven’t apparently killed them. Yet!
I am going to mix up some Moon Juice as they call it to fertilise them a bit at the woman’s suggestion. The name of the company is Moon Valley, hence the fun name of the fertiliser. Let’s see how this goes! Nobody wants dead palm trees in the backyard…
I always pronounce Cement as Ceement, I suppose this is because of my Michigan upbringing. Or not. Anyway, these are more reworks, re-colored a bit. Today, I plan to drive north to the nursery where I purchased the Sago Palms armed with photos of them both. The larger palm isn’t looking too god regardless of my watering it as suggested by the nursery.
Gladly, there is a warranty period on the trees which is very nice. If the tree croaks, they will replace it at zero cost to me. I love free stuff! As I’ve said before in this space, John has not a green thumb but I’m not so sure this is my doing. Honestly, it’s a great excuse to get out of the house for a bit and get some fresh desert air!
Welcome to the valley where you’ll be stopping very frequently for the insanely long traffic lights. You become used to them, but they still frustrate me daily. And today was one of those days that I see far more moron drivers.
More tailgaters, more reckless drivers and drivers who are driving so fast and using lanes that are not lanes, that they are a serious danger to the public. It’s unfortunate that there isn’t a cop on every corner, waiting to snag these idiots.
Actually, one did get snagged by a Metro officer who was rolling next to me, yet I didn’t see him. He turned on his gumballs and blasted the siren, but not for me. It was the guy in the left lane next to me, guess what? You are…
Busted, LOL! thank you, Las Vegas Metro Police. The other day, two officers pulled up next to me at a traffic light, we were stopped. The officer looked over my way, I gave him a thumbs-up, he responded with a smile.
It really cranks me off when I see and hear people saying things like **** the police and worse. I am not an Anarchist, are those who say this crap anarchists? Or just your average assholes…
I am heading home after buying a new CPAP mask
This week, Las Vegas is going to get scorched as the mid and late-week temperatures will push up to 112 to 114 degrees. Gladly, I had the HVAC tech have a look at my cooling systems yesterday. It’s a very old system, maybe as old or almost as old as this home which was built in 1996 but it’s still ticking along just like me! Could you live in Las Vegas and the Mojave Desert?
And here is the forecast for the next several days!
Some of you remember the new chrome wheels that were put on my truck several days ago. I was asked to bring the wheels back in fifty to one hundred miles for the retorquing of the lug nuts. Done! I’m glad that the wheels are perfectly balanced, the original wheels have always had a very slight vibration regardless of the weights.
Anyway, just a couple boring photos are all I captured on this little jaunt. The HVAC guy was here early today to inspect my AC system.
He found that the freon level was just a bit overfilled so he drained off the excess and cleaned the outside unit up as well as hosing down the condenser coils which are a mess. The fins are all pushed in and flattened which never helps with the cooling capacity.
To replace the outside unit would require a crane since the unit would be too large to fit through the gate, and approximately $3400 dollars, cash on the barrelhead. Yikes, I’ll run the old fart machine until it finally surrenders to the Mojave Desert heat
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This photo makes me think about the millions of years these mountains silently stood here, always watching. If only they could speak to us…
Old and new photos here. The Wash photo was taken about two or three years ago in a wash that ran behind my apartment complex. It was a very nice place to ride my bike, there isn’t anything like this near my house. Note how beautifully groomed the wash is! It gets plenty of use by the public, and runs for a very long way too. There is also a Disc Golf course too.
The ceiling fan is new, the other four are all alike which looks so much better than three white five-blade fans, and two bronze five-blade fans. They also each have their own remote controls which is really nice. Money well spent on a nice home upgrade!
I am not sure, but I think the white crust is Calcium of some kind that is dried all over the stainless steel. The same crap that creates the “bathtub ring” at Hoover Dam as the canyon walls are extremely steep near the dam, and the water level is very low.
This is why I never drink the tap water here! The water is fine for showering and washing clothes, but never drink the Colorado River water. The water smells like chlorine added by the city anyway, just as it did when I lived in Dunedin, Florida during the 1990s.
I have tried the filtres that screw onto the kitchen tap, they never seem to last and don’t taste as good as the costly bottled water, hence I buy the expensive bottled water. In my defense, the bottled water is far more portable, and my bottom two drawers in the refrigerator are always stocked with super cold, delicious water always ready to go!
Black and white on top, grayscale below.
Here are some oldie pics from around Las Vegas, I think the old Nikon D3300 was used here. Lots of tourists are lined up for a photo op in front of that sign which I find a bit funny. The photo of the base of the Stratosphere Tower was taken at Las Vegas Boulevard and Charleston Boulevard. The goofy flooring sign is somewhere along Sahara Avenue I think? It’s a big city!
Late yesterday afternoon, I reopened the case of this old receiver and went to work on round two of the tuner shower. After a few more applications, the switches stopped the crackling. Unfortunately, the tuning dial is still out of alignment, but oh well. I’m not going to crack the case again for that as the radio is thirty-nine years old, and I have two modern shortwave radio receivers anyway. But it does work fine otherwise! Big boys and their toys, right? 😂
I had a short ride around the area a while ago and grabbed these photos. Along the way, I passed a few parks where lots of people were gathered for cookouts and boy did it smell good! At least a few people were masked and keeping a distance away from others, that’s good to see. The little man-made lakes are pretty to look at and are stocked with fish, I don’t know which fish though. There were about a half dozen people fishing on one end of a lake.
Today’s forecast is for total sunshine and one hundred four scorching degrees. Regardless, it’s another beautiful day in Las Vegas Valley. I hope each of my American friends are having a beautiful day, stay safe and be well!
Late yesterday, I finally received the can of tuner shower for use on the dusty old tuning knobs of this thirty-nine-year-old shortwave radio receiver.
After letting the can cool down from its time in transit, I went to work splitting the case to expose the backside of the front panel which houses the areas I need to spray.
After several sprays, the noise from the switches did calm down almost one hundred percent but there is still a bit of noise. Sometime today, I will do a bit more spraying then find a piece of wire to attach to the antenna jack on the back of the unit.
I hope to hear something this time! If not, then the radio will become an oversize paperweight. Bummer!
I took a quick jaunt around the area to get the heck out of the house for a while today. Had a nice chat with my dad while parked in this little park. I feel a bit childless like this playground regarding the damned virus. I so want to see my children and the rest of my family but it’s not possible. The fence around the playground is like the virus, a fence that keeps families apart.
A sad sight
These are admittedly not good photos, but I don’t do night photography. There have been zero clouds at sunset the last few days, hence no new sunsets. I have zero plans for the upcoming holiday, do you? This holiday will be very different for many Americans. Myself? No difference really but there will be no trips to Michigan this summer either. John is not a happy camper…
Last night, I thought about adding some color to the two pots on either side of the yard. Last year, they had Indian Blanket flowers which looked great but died off. Lantana is commonly used here for both homes and other places such as office building complexes. It’s easy to maintain according to the folks I’ve spoken with, we shall see how they do as I follow the watering guidelines given to me at the nursery. It will add a nice pop of color to the backyard.
With luck, the Lantana will spill over the edge to the ground.
I’ve had some running around the city today, I grabbed these shots on the way home. It’s deep into palm tree pruning season as you can see crews both run by the city and private companies doing the residential trees. The quackers seemed to be enjoying the shade on this one hundred degree day. And I got brand new lenses in my glasses via warranty too, score!
Yesterday, the electrician spent about four hours swapping out all five of the crappy old fans for these new, DC brushless motor fans. Very quiet, and far more stylish than the noisy old wooden five-blade fans. They have three blades and are shaped like an aircraft propeller.
Before the install. I handled one blade, noting it’s curvatures. Somebody got the blade design correct. I also happen to be a lover of anything aircraft, hence I wanted this blade style. The fans do the same job as the old fans, but far more quietly and with less rotation speed.
My home has these Plantation Shutters throughout. When I purchased the home, not all of the shutters were in good condition, hence I worked with a reliable company to replace the bad ones. Some of them were torn up by a dog, a great way to treat your home isn’t it?
I mean, it’s just your largest investment, right? I would love to have a cat, but having new furniture in the home, that’s not a good option. This set is in the kitchen, over the sinks.
Well, today has been a bit busy around my house with five new ceiling fans being installed (looks great) and two Sago Palm trees being planted in the backyard which finishes off my very minimalist design. They look great too! Damn, I’m good. I’ll snap some photos of them.
The Sagos need water every morning and evening for two weeks, then they should be OK with the volume of water they receive from the irrigation system. Always be sure to drain the very hot water from the hose first though as it will doom the trees!!
So how much is that piggy in the window?
This old Realistic or Radio Shack shortwave receiver is thirty-nine years old and still looks nearly perfect. I thought about taking it outside for some real lighting but decided on the dining room table under the skylight. I’ve never understood the use of the word Realistic. Is it fake?
A couple new photos I snapped today, once again manipulated with three applications.
I have owned this very nice receiver for a couple years now as it’s a great way to listen to the Shortwave Radio frequencies. It also tunes the standard AM and FM frequencies too.
It’s portable of course and the receiver sensitivity is second to none in its class. And it makes a nice photo too! As a radio nutter and licensed Ham since 1980, I recommend the ATS 909.
At least one of these photos has a bit of smoke in it from the Mahogany fire near Mount Charleston. I do hope the fire is contained very soon, we need some rain!
Mainly through the lens of a Nikon
by Lize Bard
Landschaftsfotografie in Norwegen
Life in Copenhagen, Denmark, after moving during Covid-19.
We are all just babes in the woods.
a photo journal
