Monday, May 23, 2011

Monday videos

OK, I’m still here, and if you are reading this it looks like you didn’t make it either. So let’s go back to the beginning (with convenient fig leaves)


Since it’s Monday, hope you had a good breakfast – if not, how about some flapjacks?


And if you can’t take that, why not let William Shatner say it

Friday, May 20, 2011

Cosmopolitan

The Cosmopolitan casino is built between the Bellagio and the City Center. It is on a very narrow strip located above some condominiums (they bought the air rights in exchange for building a big parking garage). Because of this it is different than the other casinos - there is no broad expanse of casino floor, everything is long and narrow (well, narrow for Vegas anyway). If you go upstairs and walk back toward the buffet and convention rooms there are smaller hallways filled with art works. This one looks like some form of steampunk death ray.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Cosmopolitan

From the escalator,

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Bahrain on the brain?

I don't want to downplay the problems there, and the plight of protesters versus the monarchy and how our fleet depends on their port so it's a political challenge for the US. But whenever I hear a news story from there they always talk about the capital of Manama it makes me think of this:

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Sahara closes

Cold rainy weather all week here in Vegas, only supposed to hit 20c (68f) tomorrow, and rain! Colder than predicted for Portland. Oh well, next week should be back to where I like, in the low 30’s (85f or so) and more sunshine. A lot better than putting up with those white lawns people have in other places in the wintertime.

Yesterday the Sahara resort closed, after 58 years of serving the public. Lots of local press, from tv shows to news to several articles in our local papers including an RJ article. The Sahara is way up on the north end of the Strip, close to the Stratosphere. There are empty lots across the street and next to it where other casinos have been torn down and not rebuilt, along with the steel skeletons of other modernization projects. It was too far away by itself to walk to from the bigger resorts and a little too old to attract younger crowds. It relied on tie ins to Nascar but that was not enough to keep things going all year. Perhaps it will be rebuilt and redesigned some day, the property is too valuable to become just another empty lot, but with the economy as it is that will probably be quite a few years away.

Caesar’s Palace announced that Rod Stewart will be rotating with Elton John and Celene at the Coliseum over the next two years. So if you like those guys and don’t mind dropping $150 or so to see them, check the schedules and select the appropriate week for your Vegas trip.

Supposed to be Dogs on Tuesday, so here’s a shot of Buster (in the diapers we were trying out) dancing with E and B. Well, he wasn’t really dancing he was just passing by.



He came along on our last road trip, though he doesn’t see well enough to look out the windows like he used to I guess it’s OK as long as we are there. He did sleep most of the way.

Friday, May 06, 2011

Friday!

Not much going on for me this weekend. Temps are up in the mid 90's (35c or so) and our garden is doing well.
The Palazzo is celebrating Spring

Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Random Spring notes

After a few cold windy days (highs only around 22c – 72f) we are warming up again, back into the 90’s later this week (35c+) where it should be. Most of our plants have finished blooming, and our first tomatoes are up to about an inch in diameter. We put in three tomato plants this year, two Hawaiian Tropic and one cherry, so we should start filling up on them in a month or so. A few peppers, and lots of sunflowers for B. The wisteria finished up blooming a few weeks ago


We visited the Springs Preserve for their annual plant sale a few weeks ago.


We picked up several flowering plants to put out in the yard, all low water requirement desert blooms. The trees we put in when we converted from grass to desert yard seven years ago are all getting fairly large now. We’ve had to replace some, but a few have really taken off. The larger shrubs, such as the sage, were up over six feet and had major trimming this winter. We periodically get smaller flowers to scatter around, and replace ones that aren’t doing well. That is a nice thing about having a desert landscape instead of grass; we can stick plants all over and not just have an unbroken field of green.

Around town, this is the last week for Santana at the Hard Rock. We went and saw his show several months ago, and were very impressed. Elton John has announced his return to the MGM, to fill in Celine Dion’s time off. Haven’t heard how often he will be there, but for the next few years it will probably be for two weeks every two or three months as he did before. Other names are being thrown around to also alternate, we’ll see who comes. I hear Celine’s new show is very good – and Elton is supposed to be something majestic as well.