Gardening in the Desert

Did you know you can garden in Las Vegas? Well, you can! Over the last few years, since I got rid of the rocks and gravel in my yard, I've planted corn, eggplant, tomatoes, carrots, green beans, watermelon, cantelope, green peppers, hot peppers, herbs, flowers and trees. I've got carrots growing under the rosebushes, tomatoes next to the honeysuckle, green peppers under the plum tree, eggplant next to the pineapple mango (I think it's mango) bush/tree, cilantro next to the creeping thyme and mint and I still have room to plant more.

I now have my old bathtub, we renovated our upstairs bathroom, in my yard and I'm looking for ideas on how to incorporate it into my landscaping plans. Oh, here's a good website fors that kind of thing:

http://www.simplythrifty.com/6-uses-for-an-old-bathtub/

And while surfing for ideas about using my bathtub as a garden, I found this wonderful blog with pictures taken by the author of the blog in New York City ... it is:

http://blogjem.com

So I wanted to add this blog to my blog, but it was so complicated I just started another blog:

http://sretirwriters.wordpress.com

and I still couldn't comment on blogjem.com, but

I found out how to convert my old tub to a garden tub in my backyard, how to convert my old tub to a pond (I don't think so) and how to covert one of my wheelbarrows to a flower garden (we'll see) so now I have to go do my homework.

Do you think I'm easily distracted? Well, um, later.....

Spring Sprang Sprung

It's spring in Las Vegas. Oh no, wait a minute. It was spring yesterday, and today it's winter and then tomorrow will be, OMG, summer again!

The weather here is unique, no doubt about it, but, just like everywhere else, it's changing. When I first moved here I was amazed, not only by the heat and the terminally cloudless skies, but by the fact that it would get up to 120 during the day and drop 30 degrees to about 90 at night. Now the disparity is much less, up to 120 during the day and down to 105 at night. And worse than that, some of our seasons seem to be disappearing, namely fall and spring.

Yes, that's right, disappearing. I set up my garden every spring, housekeeping stuff. I rake out the leaves from my neighbor's trees, and my bushes. I pull weeds and rerake the rocks in my front yard, trim trees, that kind of thing; and I try to do it before it gets, say 100 degrees at noon. The difference between gardening here and say northern California is that there you have weeks to get it all done before it gets hot. Here, it seems like I have about, um, a few; maybe two days. Yes, that's right, days. On Monday it's 58 degrees and really windy. No gardening today. On Tuesday it's windless, sunny, and 90 degrees. Spring is now over and summer has begun.

Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating, a bit. But unfortunately not too much. I watch the weather channel and I'm glad that we don't have hurricanes, tornados, mud, blizzards or (many) floods but I do rather miss the in between seasons. You know, warmer than winter but cooler than summer. Where did they go? I wish I knew; I'd go and bring them back.

So, if you're visiting Las Vegas and want to come in the Spring or Fall; beware! It's hit or miss, and lately more 'miss' than 'hit.'

Multigenerational Multicultural

Sitting in my kitchen this morning it struck me how much our family is like Las Vegas, multicultural. My American Indian grandson is eating his cereal, my Japanese husband is sleeping on the couch, my Eurasian daughter is upstairs waking her two daughters whose father is half-Jewish. My son's two Irish/British/Japanese daughters are off from school today for President's Day. My daughter is mistaken for Hispanic as is one of her daughter's. My half-Hispanic niece is working today, my half-German nephew is on his days off, my mom is German, English and Scottish and my dad was French, English, Indian and Irish. Oh, our dog, is an Akita from Japan, our fish are Siamese fighting fish and our frog is from, well, his mother.

We are five generations here in Las Vegas, all, like most Americans, from somewhere else, from California, Vermont, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Colorado, Indiana, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Scotland, France, Canada, England, Israel, and, well you get it, I'm sure. Neither can you tell by looking at us how 'small town' or multicultural are lives are. Our 'small town lives' reside in the middle of a big city. My grandson asks me, "how many toes does a frog have," as I'm reading an article about increasing crime in 'Sin City' the 'City that never sleeps.'

We live the midst of hotels and casinos, night life, and neon excitement, and we feel their presence in our quiet lives, daily. We live in a city of transients; we've lived here since the mid 60's. We go to Chinatown to buy 'nori' and then stop by the Supermercado for 'pico de gallo.' We go to th Haufbrau House for dinner and Soporo's for lunch. We buy corned beef to make for St. Paddy's Day, and hot cross buns for Easter. Appearances can be deceiving.

Oh, and by the way, a frog has four toes on the front legs and five on the back legs.

Shootings

Shootings at schools. I don't get it. I don't want to get it. Two shootings today, at schools. Palo Verde High School and Whitney Elementary School ... two transported ... one fatality, a 9th grader. A patron gives me a lopsided grin at the announcement ... "Yeah, Palo Verde" is his only response. Where's the horror? Where's the tightened jaw? Where's the pain? A lopsided grin.

"Palo Verde? Oh, that's over on the other side of town" a random wave towards the north. "Up there." So, that's okay? I bite my tongue, may I never become accustomed to violence, so that a casual response sufices. Ninth grade, fourteen or fifteen years old, an unlived life, leaving grief and loss in its wake. Ninth grade, math, science, p.e., movies, boyfriends, girlfriends, going to the mall, giggling with friends, screaming at scary movies, complaining about cleaning up, staying up late, 'whatever', practicing foul language, showing off and then hiding. Ninth grade. Never tenth grade, never prom night, never holding hands, never never when ninth grade ends with ninth grade.

Windy?

Wow, what a windy night, and we've got another one coming tonight.
Maryland Parkway was dark, parts of Trop and Flamingo were too, and probably other parts of town as well. Driving home after 6 I could feel the wind pushing against my car as I kept reminded myself that the car is heavy the wind won't push it over. On the freeway some slowed down (me) others ran their bumper (the car behind me) because he couldn't get around anyone so decided I was the most likely to move (sigh). I couldn't even see his headlights he was so close.

But I made it home (obviously) early enough to get in a game of raquetball at the rec center before crawling home, into a hot shower and collapsing into bed. No homework then, and the dentist today (groan). But ... it's not cold here ... much ... and it's not windy here ... yet ... and the dentist's ad says that he's gentle ... we'll see and I'll let you know.

Las Vegas Scene

Check out LasVegasVegas.Com. A little glitzy at the top of the page, but good information, well written, lots of pictures, for those who are literally impaired and overcompensate visually. Who's taking over for Celine Dion, how many 'who's, that is, and more.

And for local news, forget Channel 3, 13, 10 and 8. Logon to http://www.topix.com/city/las-vegas-nv. Just trying to find local news that's not old on the channels is exhausting, time consuming and just too frustrating. Bring it into the 21st century or stand back and let others do the job for you.

I'll post more sites, or please, jump in and make some suggestions.

Ebay Blues

So the consumer wins again, sort of. Well, Ebay has learned, as companies before, that there is power in numbers, especially if the numbers threaten a boycott. Imagine what Ebay stock would look like if there were, say, five members trading? Hmmm. Well, Ebay, read the numbers and figure it out. If you keep consumers happy they will trade, if not. Even big companies can lose their client base (all of their sellers and buyers) if they piss them off badly enough.

Oh, BTW, the fuss about sellers leaving bad rap's on buyers; remember, that works both ways.

Yahoo Dentistry

Wow, it is so expensive to go to the dentist ... that border towns in Mexico are offering dental care, inexpensive dental care, for customers. They even pick them up at the airport and drive them back to the airport after their appointment.

I thought about it. I need a root canal and my dentist thinks that I need to go to an endodontist .. fancy name for expensive - expensive dentist that does dental surgery. Ouch in both pocket and mouth. The good news ... my insurance pays 80% for root canals. The bad news, there is a $1,200 cap for each year ... wow ... that's one root canal and one crown and I'm out of pocket about $900.00

Maybe Taco Bell is not the only good reason to make a 'run for the border.' Hmmm.

OJ ... not the Juice

So, OJ Simpson is in the news again, this time in Las Vegas. What will he not do? We don't know, but we're watching and waiting. His lawyer is doing the 'it's not fair' thing. You remember that. When you were a kid, you heard it, and said it. Now that you're grown up you still hear it, and maybe still say it. I hear it from my grandkids all the time. Life isn't fair ... get used to it.

But who does? Apparently not OJ. His lawyer doesn't think it's fair that he's being prosecuted for taking his own stuff back. Well, if it's not in your house, taking something from someone else's house is, if I remember right, stealing. So I guess when OJ steals, or I'm sorry, takes his own stuff back, he does it in a big way. That would explain the charges of kidnapping, and armed robbery.

He doesn't think it's fair either to mention the homicide of his wife back in the mid 90's. He also doesn't remember any guns being involved in the robbery. That lack of memory explains a lot about his wife's homicide too, maybe.

His attorney's stated that they're going to let the documents speak for themselves. Well, this should be interesting.

Driving Quiz Question Two

Okay, so it's not the next day. But anyway, it seems like the next day because of the holidays and .... oh, never mind. Here it is:

When driving on the surface streets (not the freeway) an approaching a traffic signal that is changing from green to yellow (presumably then to red), you should:

A. Speed up, close your eyes and hope you can get through the light that was green when you saw it last, unscathed.

B. Maintain your speed and wait until you reach the light, that is now yellowish-red, and slam on your brakes to prevent running a red light. (Oops, was that care behind you too close, anticipating that you were going to run the light?)

C. Slow down and prepare to stop for the changing light, glancing in the rearview mirror to make sure that the car behind you is slowing down (proactive).

Hands-Free Phones The Rumor

Rumor has it, as of January 1st, 2008, the only cell phone use that is legal in Las Vegas is the hands-free cell phone use.

Rumors are interesting, they often sound like and look like fact; sometimes they are not fact, they are wishful thinking. Like the law prevening cell phone use while driving, is wishful thinking, at least in Nevada. In the State of Nevada (Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah) localities are prohibited from banning cell phone use. As of this writing, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (http://www.iihs.org/laws/ cellphonelaws.aspx) there are no laws in Nevada for restricting cell phone use.

Should there be? Well, that's a horse of a different color (not wearing a NHP uniform). It seems pretty obvious to me that drivers who are on their cell phones drive slower, (maybe a good thing), have slower response times (definitely a bad thing), are distracted from their main task (driving) and could use a swift kick in the, well, you know.

Stay off your cell phone while you are driving. Even if it's not illegal in Nevada, yet, with the mass of traffic in Las Vegas, keep your wits about you, keep a reasonable distance between you and the car in front of you (how fast do you really think you can stop if he/she stops quickly), and save the cell phone calls for later. You don't really want to know how convenient the cell phone can be following an accident, do you?

The Rest of the Story

So, we left our heroine sadly recounting her tale of her unsuccessful attempt to fight an unfair traffic violation.

She morosely returns to court to change her plea to guilty, her finances in shreds due to the happy holiday season.

The judge stares at her in surprise, "Why are you back?"

"I'm changing my plea to 'guilty'".

He looks confused, "Why? Are you guilty?"

"No," she answered slowly, "but I can't afford the bail, the ticket was cheaper."

"So," he questions further, "you'll pay the ticket because you don't have the money for the bail?"

"Yes," she quietly responds.

"And so," he continues, "if I reduce the bail to say, $220, you won't change your plea? Can you afford that? Can you pay that, say, by the first of January?"

"Yes," she answered softly, "I can afford that, and I can pay it by then."

"Okay," he pounds his gavel, "pay the bail by the first of January and make an appointment with the District Attorney." A small passes his lips and then he snaps, "Next!"

The bail is paid, the appointment is made. What faces our plucky heroine next?