News from the desert

Vegetarian Eggs Benedict

We went to bed after the convention coverage and missed the "mysterious" light in the Nevada sky last night.  It was on the news this morning and posted on YouTube by Las Vegas night-owls with speculation about UFO's.  Edwards Air Force Base claimed it was a meteor, which is the default explanation for all mysterious streaks in the sky.  

Later they changed their minds, and said it was actually a Chinese rocket burning up over the California desert. It's slightly unnerving when the Air Force can't immediately tell the difference between meteors and missiles. 

We've had a nice day, but it was too hot to do anything except go between air-conditioned spaces.  I'm used to running in and out of the house with doors and windows open, so it feels a bit odd. But I sat on the patio and watched the hummingbirds at 5:30 am when it was just sweetly hot. But the furnace soon rose in the sky.  Las Vegas broke a heat record today, at 115 degrees.

 

Marji has a Canadice variety seedless grapevine growing in her yard. It has the most delicious tiny fruit you can image. This picture doesn't look appetizing, but the hot sun actually turns them into delicious, edible raisins. Marji harvests the ones that the Mockingbirds don't eat first. 

We went out for a breakfast this morning at The Cracked Egg restaurant. My Eggs Benedict had a whole avocado sliced on it.  The food is very good in Las Vegas. After breakfast, Marji took us to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum.

Some of the best "artifacts" in the Egyptian exhibit were donated by the Luxor Hotel when they remodeled. The museum has been there a long time and has a little bit of everything. In fact, Marji used to take her daughters there when they were kids. Now her grandsons like to go and see the aquarium,  and the pair of giant pythons who have lived there for many decades.

After that we cruised The Strip, and from the comfort of the car, watched the tourists walking around in the scorching heat.  It's great to be out and about with a Las Vegas insider.

The view from inside

It looks like a pleasant afternoon on the patio, right? 

Oh, I think I'll go sit outside for a while, says me.
Oh, no you won't, says Marji.

And she is right. Even for a warm weather lover, it's as hot as a slow-cooking oven outside.  Las Vegas is in the middle of a record heat streak (and that's really saying something) with seven days running over 110 degrees. By 6 am tomorrow, it should cool down to a chilly 98.  Tomorrow will be a record, but once you get over 110 it doesn't really matter.

Who cares?  We are cool and happy inside Marji's comfortable house. Watching the the convention on TV, having a glass of wine and getting ready for a dinner.  It's so nice to being here together.

 

Next project

Our freshly painted blue and white house looks cute as a Dutch candy tin. But one project always leads to another. This was a good time to paint the old deck, with everything cleared off.  

On Sunday, after everyone left, I scraped peeling paint on my hands and knees for a while. Poor me.  It didn't take long to get bored, and from that lowly vantage point, I could see this was basically an endless, thankless job.  Since I didn't paint it last summer, the floor was in worse condition than usual.

A perfectionist of course would have kept going, but I just hit the rough stuff with my sharp hand scraper, scrubbed it with detergent, and called it a day.  I don't use power tools and have no desire to learn how at this stage of life.  

Anyway, since this deck was built around 1980, all things considered it's held up pretty well.  The stairs were rotted and just replaced by that expensive handy-woman service, but no one is in danger of falling through the deck boards in the near future.

Tom was very worried when he left, knowing I was about to paint the floor dark brown, smack against his perfect blue wall.  As professional painter, he said his pet peeve is "subcontractors" (that would be me) who come in after one of his perfect jobs, and then make him look bad with their slapdash work.

I admit,  I'm a fast and messy painter, but Tom will be happy to hear that not a single drop splattered on the side of the house. 

It's a small deck and always cluttered up with stuff like a grill, table, chairs and plants. It's nice to see it cleaned up and empty for a change while the paint cures. 

We're having a week of absolutely perfect summer weather.  I think the Northwest is the only part of the country not sweltering hot right now.

Speaking of scorching, I'm flying to Las Vegas tomorrow. I'm looking forward to visiting my dad and sister for a few days.

I love a parade

The loot

Winding up the job

The artist and his palette

Tom painted two sides of the house this week, including the south "bad" side which was a nice bonus.  We typically do just one side a year.  The job is endless with wood siding-- round and round you will go, painting forever like the Golden Gate Bridge.

For the first time in a long while, the entire outside looks great at the same time.  Thank you, Tom. We're going to watch the parade this morning and then eat hot dogs afterwards in the yard.  After all, it's National Hot Dog Day.

The view from here

Sunlit Valley

Charles Courtney Curran

The view of our poor country from the podium last night was certainly ugly and frightening. At one point, I had to get up and take walk around the lawless block. But he was still blathering when I got back.  Watching that event all week leaves a person with a hopeless, hung-over, regretful feeling.  I suppose I'm not the only one in America who feels that way this morning. 

Feathers and Flowers usually gives politics a wide berth, but I appreciated David Brook's Dark Knight essay in the New York Times.  Well, on we go. Next up, Democrats.

It's raining!  Very nice for the parched garden, not so nice for Tom trying to finish up the painting today. But it's supposed to stop soon, and then we're back to sun tomorrow in time for the parade.  

Amanda fought some epic Seattle traffic jams yesterday, but she finally got here around 5:30.  "Roger" spent the night with us, so Amanda and Tom could go out with their friends. We are enjoying some quiet morning time, listening to the rain with the TV off.   Sweet-natured dogs really are good company.

Sunshine and Haze

Charles Courtney Curran

Busy hands

Lots of busy hands around here this week.  The three girls were over yesterday and the fairy garden is in recovery mode this morning. Ditto Nana. Among other things, we made (and ate) snicker-doodles, goofed around outside and played with build-a-horse clay projects. My horse turned out a bit sad. Nova said, "more like a dog." 

But Tom's hands are the busiest. He finished most of the prep work on both sides of the house and started spray painting yesterday afternoon. I love the color of that blue paint when it's fresh. Something so clean and Dutch about it. Another coat or so, then on he's to the trim.

It's another beautiful summer morning, some showers expected tonight but nothing too serious. This is the first time in a long while that all sides of the house look good at the same time.

Amanda drives to Seattle today.  We're all looking forward to the old-fashioned, local West Seattle "HiYu" Parade on Saturday morning, just up the street on California Avenue.  It's pretty rare that everyone is in town at the same for the parade.

Mary Claire (Nova and Maya's sweet cousin)

Nana's "sad" horse

Moon Day

Today is Moon Day. Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon 47 years ago on July 20, 1969.  If you are old enough, you'll remember those ghostly black and white images on the television.  That evening our family was visiting Aunt Ruth and Uncle Mark's ranch house, and all ten of us watched it, absolutely transfixed. It seemed real, but not real. Possible, but impossible. No wonder those conspiracy theories started up.

The full moon rose last night.  The July moon goes by several names, including Thunder, Hay and Buck Moon.   We're having such pleasant weather, although there may be a few showers by the end of the week.  Our personal professional painter (Tom) is working hard on the house right now, and making good progress on two sides. 

Tom is staying at his parent's place this week with the girls, while they go to vacation Bible school.  Amanda had to work, but she drives to Seattle tomorrow to spend the weekend.  This afternoon I'm looking forward to having Nova, Maya and their cousin Mary Claire over.  We have to stay out of Tom's way outside, but I have some art projects planned to keep us busy.  And there's always cookies.

George McGovern

Today is the birthday of the politician George McGovern, born in 1922.  He was a fighter pilot and a WWII hero.  His parents were staunch Republicans, but he ran for Congress as a Democrat in South Dakota and won.

By 1968, he was a leading opponent of the war in Vietnam and a hero of our generation. He famously said: “I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.”

McGovern ran against Richard Nixon in 1972, and it was the first presidential election I ever voted in. We had a McGovern bumper sticker plastered on our VW.

In our naiveté, it seemed impossible that such an intelligent, liberal, rational and basically good person could lose to the hated incumbent, Richard Nixon.  Well, that was just the beginning of my political "education."

Mark Twain once said that “history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme."

Some like it hot

When the going gets tough, the tough get cooking... 

Here's a good marinade recipe I found on the Internet for oven-baked wings:

3 TBS butter, melted
4 TBS hot sauce
1 TBS paprika
1/2 TSP salt
1/2 TSP cayenne pepper
1/4 TSP black pepper

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, then add the chicken wings and stir well to coat.  Let them marinate for several hours in the refrigerator. Bake at 350 on a foil-lined cookie sheet until very tender, about an hour.

I thought these would be mouth-on-fire hot, but they were just mildly spicy.  Probably because I used a combination of that tasty Cholula hot sauce and Tabasco. 

Why go out?   If you can buy Krusteaz baking mixes in your neck of the woods, these flatbread mixes make a nice light pizza with fresh mozzarella cheese, fresh tomato and basil. 

National Ice Cream Day

Ice Cream Day is always the third Sunday of July.  The holiday was created by Ronald Reagan in 1984 to promote the dairy industry.

The Republicans did not invent ice cream. Thousands of years ago, people in the Persian Empire would pour grape juice and other flavorings on ice brought down from the mountains.  In ancient times, it was a treat for royalty only.

Before modern refrigeration, when people had "ice boxes" in the kitchen, making ice cream was only for special occasions.

In early America, ice was cut from lakes or streams in the winter and stored under sawdust or straw in ice houses.  Many farmers and plantation owners did this, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

Speaking of modern refrigeration, this is our new Kitchen Aid. We passed up the frills, like an ice maker, and a computer screen on the door to flash when you are running low on eggs.  This one looks almost retro in our old small kitchen.

I really like the pull out freezer on the bottom, and having the stuff you need at eye level.

Since our bedroom is a few steps from the kitchen, we're still getting used to the slightly louder and slightly different noise it makes. Or rather I am, since it would take a lot more than a new fridge to keep John awake at night.

To build an underground highway

I guess you can do anything, if you spend billions and billions of dollars.  Bertha’s cutter head is now about 3,088 feet into the tunnel, not quite half way through the 9,000 feet yet to go. She is paused for complicated maintenance work, 120 feet below Spring Street.

All the work on the the cutter head has to be done under pressurized (hyperbaric) conditions, similar to a deep water dive. 

Since workers can only stay in the pressurized environment for 30 to 45 minutes, seven teams of five rotate around the clock. 

To get access to the space behind Bertha’s cutter head, workers first remove the soil and then fill the space with a slurry of clay and water called bentonite. This turns to a gel-like substance. Once that happens, workers push compressed air into the space, forcing the bentonite into the surrounding soil to make a sort of seal that keeps water and soil from getting back into the area.

This latest maintenance stop has been going on since July 5, and crews have made 44 hyperbaric “dives” replacing 32 cutting tools on the drill head.   

The most recent estimate from Seattle Tunnel Partners says the digging will be complete this December, with the highway opening up to traffic in spring 2018. 

 

Happy raspberry pickers

At the luau

The view from the orchestra pit

It was fun being on the "other side" of a performance for the first time. The Ukes played some big Hawaiian hits at the luau yesterday, including: Tiny Bubbles, Little Brown Gal, Pearly Shells, Hasegawa General Store and Ukulele Lady. 

I have an endless loop of hokey songs rattling around in my old brain, but some of those were new!  No matter, I just followed along with all the chords I could play.

And I'm not familiar with these events (yet) but this looked like a good turn out...

We shared the limelight with the Senior Center's line dance team.  They are warming up before the performance.

 Relaxing post-show

Afterwards, the performers were treated to a free Hawaiian lunch of pork, rice and pineapple cake. 

Summer in the desert

Here's Dad out for an early morning walk with Marji at Floyd Lamb Park, just 20 miles from the baking Las Vegas Strip.  Henderson was once considered to be far out of town, but like Red Rock Canyon, it's now encroached by development.

But those Las Vegas insiders know all the great secret spots.  These ponds are popular for bird watching and there's even public fishing. Trophy monsters like 20 lb catfish have been pulled out of these small desert pools.

The park is centered on Tule Springs, a series of small lakes that formed an ancient oasis in the Mojave Desert.  Mammoths, lions and camels and other creatures roamed along wetlands and their fossils can be seen at Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument. We look forward to going there on our next visit. 

It's wonderful seeing dad out enjoying himself, and apparently eating Pollo Loco several times a week. We are jealous!

Ukes: A Unique Kind of Entertainment

Each year my New Year resolutions seem to become more feeble, but I made a brave one in 2016 to perform "in public" with any ukulele group that would have me.

 The smiling leaders of the SUPA band

There are thousands of ukulele players in the Puget Sound region, and the Seattle Ukulele Players Association is the heavy hitter of all the song circles.  I enjoy going to SUPA, but they only meet once a month on Sunday afternoons, way up in north Seattle. We are often busy then, plus they perform at big venues, like the Seattle Folk-life Festival. 

"The Ukes" is a smaller song circle, just down the street at the West Seattle Senior Center.  About 10 regulars play each Monday afternoon, and they welcomed the newcomer. (Not to sound morbid, but senior center groups are always looking for new blood.)

The Ukes also perform occasionally at nursing homes and such. Well, a musician must get her start somewhere, and tomorrow we entertain at the Senior Center luau party.

Hopefully those seniors drink a lot of Mai Tais.

A good finger-picker can make a ukulele sound sweet and poignant, but it can never be mournful like its distant four-string relative, the violin.  The uke is basically just a happy strumming instrument that doesn't take itself too seriously, and neither should we. It is hard to be sad and play a ukulele.  Senior luau, here I come.

There's no shortage of of hokey ukulele music. The Ukes play songs like Ja-Da, Sloop John B, Lemon Tree, Island Style, King of the Road, Leavin' on a Jet Plane, and so on.  The only problem is these catchy tunes turn into the most annoying earworms.

I can't play all the obscure chords in the The Uke songbooks, so I just air strum those parts and no one seems to care.  Unlike a symphony, in ukulele circles the strong players seem perfectly content carrying the weak ones along. And all ukulele players like to sing loudly and happily-- whether you can really sing or not, it makes no difference.    

So I'm looking forward to my first performance with The Ukes tomorrow.  Darn, I wish I'd kept that old Hawaiian shirt I had way back in the 90's.

Some Uke musicians at a recent Senior Center Performance