Day 56, May 31, 2020 -- All Quiet on the Homefront

When I went to bed last night I wasn't too sure what the state of the city would be like today.  It appears that it did in fact survive the night with a total of 23 arrests.  Most of the people were from Reno, Sparks, Fallon and Truckee.  So much for outsiders being bussed in to cause trouble.  If they are, they know how to avoid arrest. 

This morning I took a hike with my girlfriend up a huge hill.  We arranged to meet half way (her way down, my way up).  I was only 5 minutes late.  Now I know.  We had a good chat especially as we sat at a park, drank lemonade (wink, wink) and watched all the puppies frolicking on the grass.  Here we are!!

And the park:

The walk was beautiful and a good way to spend 3 hours this morning.  I need to do more of this.  I practiced it a lot last year in preparation for the Camino with a 15lb backpack.  Got a ways to go before I will feel comfortable doing it that way.

This afternoon I set up the ladder ball game that I am planning to take with us on our camping trip next weekend.  You know, it is just such an effort to do this stuff -- reading directions and all but once I got it set up I got a chance to practice!!  Now I have practice setting up the game AND tossing the balls.  Good drinking game -- a beer in one hand and the ball in the other.  Can't wait!!

I got another little bitch about apple -- I have been a diehard fan but they are really taking it too far.  When I used to transfer photos to my computer, they came in as jpeg format but NOW apple has to have their own format (HEIC- all caps no surprise)  which, of course, does not sync with google aka Blooger.  What a pain.  I have to send it from my phone and change the extension before I can post it here.  I hate to compare this to politics but I just don't know why the two can't work together to make this easy on us.  Rant done for now.

We are scheduled for a cocktail party which I am hosting on Zoom at 5 pm and I still have to walk the dog so - adios for tonight.  

In The Biggest Little City? Really? Day 55, May 30, 2020

Coronavirus has been dwarfed by the situation across our country as a result of the murder of George Floyd.  Right now I am watching a protest unfold on our local TV station KOLO in Reno.  Right now night is falling and things are getting really testy.  You can see the protesters include pros who are wearing flak vests.  There has been a lot of tear gas shot into the crowds as the rioters have damaged city hall, breaking windows and setting fires inside.  

I feel bad for these police -- they are definitely stuck between a rock and a hard place.  

The mayor and the Washoe county sheriff have declared a curfew which all of the people that are on tv right now are ignoring and are therefore in violation of the law.  The freeway exits have been closed in the downtown area to prevent more participants.

I do understand the unhappiness and frustration that we all feel.  I am also devastated and ashamed.  Where do we go from here?  How do we affect a change?  Certainly it is not the way I am watching on TV right now.  

Interestingly enough, I was living and working in Detroit in 1967 during the riots there.  We never got the perspective that we are able to get in this day with video and onsite reporting.  Now I kind of have an idea of what it was like downtown then.

The good news is that Space X got off the earth safely -- just in time!  I am sure that Doug and Bob are happy to be in that peaceful environment and I wonder if they are aware of all of this violence.

Yes, wow this is a shot of the TV made after a tear gas round has been shot off.  Wow Reno, I just can't believe you 😭

Day 53 and 54, May 27 & 28. Why can't we be colorblind like the rest of the world?

Today is Thursday, I think, or maybe it is Sunday or what???  I really have no real memory of what I did yesterday but this morning I woke up determined to get back into the walking mode.  It is so hot here that I knew it had to be done early.  I took a little 4 mile walk downtown and back and noticed a lot of things opening up.  There were coffee shops with a few people in them, some people strolling by the river and some even kayaking in it.  

I returned up Arlington and was treated to some beautiful backyard flowers and overhanging shade trees.  Reno really is a special little city.

So later in the day I had the opportunity to experience a trip to the dispensary.  This is not a common occurrence for me, in fact, it is only my second trip.  I had done research online to figure out what tincture would best help me with joint pain and sleep.  I had a recommendation from a friend and after several emails to the dispensary of choice I figured I had it down.  You see, right now there are no "consulting" people available at the dispensaries, so I had to wing it.  

The experience was very okay.  They only allowed 10 customers in the place at a time so as one went out, another came in -- kind of reminded me of The Bookstore Bar in college.  There they kept their occupancy limit by forcing potential customers to line up outside in the cold and snow while waiting for a current customer to get sick, puke and have to leave (that was the ONLY reason you would leave that bar once you were in).  This time we were forced to wait outside in 95 degree heat and wait until the current customer exited the building.  We were also made to wear our face masks, no problem.  It seemed that most people in line were regular customers and knew exactly what they wanted so the line moved quickly.  For the record, NONE of this was unexpected or a problem for me.  Glad to see cooperation here.

The other similarity this place had to the bar was that they checked your ID when you entered.  This time they ran it through some kind of machine though which makes me think that they now know I have been there.  

Following my visit to the dispensary I made another stop at the Wine store where I stocked up on enough wine to last the week (I hope).  If the mj doesn't work -- the alcohol will!!  Let you know.

I can't leave this day without sharing my thoughts on this recent killing of a George Floyd in Minneapolis.  Right now I want to stop every black person on the street that I see and apologize, beg their forgiveness and ask what I can do to help change this horrible situation in our country.  I just can't believe it has come to this -- where did we go wrong?  And don't tell me it is Trump, alone.  Racism has been here, in this country, since I was little.  I'm also sure that there were white men murdering black men then -- we just didn't hear about it.  I just don't understand why the US has such a problem with BLACK!  The rest of the world  seems to be colorblind.  What is wrong with us and what can we do about it?  Electing a president who is black didn't seem to help -- what will?  I pray for the answer to this every night.  

Enough for now.  

Day 52, May 26, 2020 Wow! Somebody turned up the heat here!

I knew it was going to be hot this morning so Cirila and I planned to meet on Mt. Rose for a hike at 9 am and I am glad we did.  We walked the  Incline Flume Trail .  On the way up the mountain I saw so much snow on the south side that I was pretty sure we wouldn't be able to walk the trial but I was wrong.  The trail was clear with only a couple of small creek crossings and snow patches.  The views were, as always, spectacular:

After the turn-around, we encountered quite a few more folks.  It was difficult to "socially distance," with the single track trail.  We only saw one couple with masks, but I was sorry I didn't have mine at my fingertips.  I have grown so accustomed to using it.

That brings me to another place.  I find myself watching a show on TV where people are close to each other and hugging and in crowded places and my instant reaction lately is "what are they doing?" they are too close.  I wonder if others  have a similar reaction?

I digress. 

Tonight I had a zoom meeting with 8 other ladies who are Baja girls.  It was so fun to connect with them.  We were supposed to be in Baja this past month but alas, you know where that is right now.  So for now, here's a picture of us:

Don't we look like a "fun bunch/"

It was good to check in on what is happening in various parts of the the west.  One of my friends who lives in Idaho says that things there are "business as usual."  Nobody wears masks, nobody seems to be concerned.  Others who live in the LA area describe continued lockdown and surprise at any lack of social distancing.  All of us are ready for this to be over. Period!

Day 50 & 51, May 24 & 25, 2020 - A little backyard Celebration

I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day Celebration yesterday.  We decided to do a low-key but in-person backyard visit with our family.  Cohen, Montana, Uriah, Joye, Russ and I and Ceilidh shared an all American meal of hot dogs, corn on the cob, potato salad, beer and a flourless chocolate cake. 

Since I don't have any new photos I thought I would share this one of my grandson who is 7 years old.  We haven't been able to touch him in 3 months and this is a rare occasion when we are actually within 10 feet of each other.  In this picture he is standing in front of a greenhouse that he and his Dad made a few weeks ago.  the vegetables are beginning to grown but I understand that somehow a bunny got in and stole some lettuce. 

I know that those of you who are grandparents know what I mean about how hard it is to be apart when we live so close.  I am hoping that we will be able to help out this summer and take him camping -- if he will go, or at least have him stay with us so Mom can go back to working in the office.  

Anyways, that is a couple of weeks off.  Can't believe school is almost over!  

We played bocce ball and ring toss.  The grass is so long and healthy (thank you Ruben) that we had a difficult time finding the little white ball to shoot for.  Cohen won, of course.  

Beautiful weather -- people are pretty good about keeping their distance at the lake. 

Tonight we will do a zoom cocktail party with the friends that we plan to camp with in 2 weeks.   

Tomorrow I'm going on a hike with Carila and Ceilidh.  Hopefully I will have more pictures and cool stuff to report.  I hope we don't run into too many people.  Because of social distancing, we have to travel in 2 separate cars to the trailhead.  Pain in the butt!! It will be worth it though.  We are heading out early because it is supposed to get toasty in Reno for the next few days. 

Be safe all💋

Days 58 and 59, May 22-23 Let the Summer Begin - from a distance please!

Yes, it is here.  You can feel it in the air and you can see it at Virginia Lake.  Many people are out and about, ignoring and/or abiding by social distancing rules.  It just kinda blows me away that people would not want to just be sure.  It's kind of like going to church in case there really is a heaven.  Why wouldn't you do it?  Who is going to laugh at you for wearing a mask?  He who laughs last, laughs longest.  Whatever. 

I understand that some of my friends in Truckee are complaining about the same problem.  Locals are not happy with visitors right now to their paradise and I don't blame them.  We all need to be really careful on our way back to some semblance of reality.  It's going to take a long time but it will take longer if we don't follow common sense rules. 

Yesterday I was sitting at the pickleball court waiting for my turn when I noticed a group of about 6 teens walking down Plumas.  They were definitely not following the 6 foot rule.  But the amazing part to me was that they were also not hanging all over each other.  They were all -- and I mean all -- studying their cell phones.  You would think that if they wanted to break the rules, they would want to do it so they could do what teenagers do -- maul each other.  But I guess that's not what they do anymore -- they check out their social media. . . .

So today (Saturday) I got in a 3 mile run on the road.  It was a beautiful day weather wise.  Here is what my backyard looks like

I love this time of year.  Everything is so green and the blossoms are on the trees.  Soon (this week) it will be 90 degrees and dry.  

Tomorrow we will do a social distanced celebration of Memorial Day.  We will be here in our backyard with hot dogs, potato salad and corn.  I also made this cake from a recipe I found on the internet.  It is a flourless chocolate cake.  The ingredients are butter, sugar, chocolate, eggs and cornstarch.  We will cap it off with raspberries soaked in cognac.  Oh yes and a little whipped cream on top of that.  

Oh by the way, that bottle you see in the upper portion of this picture is the $300 bottle of Platinum Patron that my brother-in-law Chuck purchased for me as a gift and let me tell you -- it is pretty special. 

Whatever else you can say about Chuck -- he never does anything half-ass.  Thank you Chuck!

Home Means Nevada!! May 20 & 21. Day 56 and 57

We left these folks this morning at the highly recommended Prospector Hotel in Ely, NV.

And after the circuitous route that we had taken on Tuesday:

Our way home was pretty straight forward.  We hopped on Hwy 50 -- the loneliest highway in the USA and only stopped for pit stops until Fernley.  The one pit stop we needed to make in the wilderness we both stepped out of the car, pulled down our pants and -- you guessed it -- a car pulled up.  So much for lonely.  What are you gonna do?  There is no easy way up, or down. ....

We had been craving a good cup of coffee for a couple of days so the next stop was Fernley where, lo and behold, we found a Starbucks!  Now I'm not a fan of this coffee but compared to whatever that colored water was in the hotel rooms we stayed in, it was liquid gold (brown or whatever).  

1.5 hours later we were at Costco  in Reno to fill up with gas for Carol's final leg to Truckee with her new car!!  Then it was home for me.

For those who haven't traveled the southwest, it is really something to see.  Here there are no city lights, no hustle-bustle; nothing but clear blue skies, ominous grey clouds or puffy white ones, incredible land formations and a lot of nobodies.  It is a place to be experienced by everyone who lives in this country -- hell on this earth!  Here is Mother Nature/God's extraordinary creation!  Do yourself a favor -- just go see it!  The pictures do not do it justice, believe me.

Home now one day and really relishing and appreciating my little place.  I plan to meet the pickle ball girls tomorrow for a game or 2 (outside court).  They asked me so I told them I had been out of town and wanted to be sure they knew.   They said -- good to go.  Just bathe in Whiskey or Tequila.  Thought I would start with this, a precious gift from my brother-in-law Chuck:

Reno seems to be easing back into pre-corona virus mode (will there ever be a normal?).  I plan to keep myself out of public places  (other than outdoors) for 2 weeks just to be sure.  Fingers crossed.