Stanley finally has fun!

Poor old Stanley, he was beginning to think there was no such thing as fun at the McLean house (all my children need not respond to that statement). But he discovered he was wrong. After the yard was cleaned up it was time to hop in the car for a trip out to Red Rock National Conservation Area. We had told Stanley so much about the beautiful Red Rocks he was really excited. Of course, like everyone else, he wanted his picture taken at the entrance sign.

Red Rock Canyon is known for its rock climbing. People come from all over the world just to climb in the Canyon. Flat Stanley wanted to climb the rocks. We looked at the tall rocks and he decided they were too tall. Instead he decided to climb a smaller rock. When he got to the top he said, "Look at me!" We looked down, and sure enough, he was on top of the rock. What a guy!

Next on the tour was Red Springs, one of the natural springs in Red Rock Canyon. He thought walking on the boardwalk was a lot of fun. But he wanted his picture taken with the sign. He really likes those signs.

He also asked, where are the desert burros? Of course this time of the year you don't see many so he settled for another sign.

Driving back from Red Rock Stanley asked what the big building was. When we explained it was a casino he wanted to go inside and see what a casino was. We said, "No, you are too young and you would probably touch something that would get us in trouble." Stanley thought about that for a minute, asked us to read him the sign (yes, another sign picture) and I don't know who taught him about spas, but he wanted a spa treatment. Are you sure he hasn't visited Suzanne?

Stanley was starting to look a little thin so Grandma asked if he wanted lunch. Well of course he did. When we asked where, he said "In-N-Out Burger. They don't have any in Utah and I heard they are really good." Off we went to make the order. Stanley isn't in the picture because he was afraid he would fall out of the car.

Then off to home for lunch and another nap! That Stanley sure likes to sleep!

Later Stanley ate popcorn with Grandma and Grandpa (sorry no photo - Stanley would eat all of Grandpa's popcorn if he took a photo) while all 3 watched a good old war movie.Even Grandma got sucked into it.

Sunday morning Stanley was up with Grandpa and the two of them read their scriptures together.

After Church Stanley helped Grandma write in his journal. When Stanley saw the picture of Cole he wanted to stand next to it and talk to Grandma.

Then it was time to get packed up and ready to leave. Off to his next destination. Look for Stanley on someone elses blog!

Stanley helps out in the yard!

Poor Flat Stanley, he thought he was on vacation. He was looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday morning. At 7 am Grandpa wakes him up and says, "Time for a workout!" Stanley really did like standing on the screen where he could yell to Grandpa, "faster, faster."

Sitting on the seat was harder. His legs just wouldn't reach the peddles so he had to settle for riding and providing encouragement.

As if that wasn't enough, when Grandpa went outside to work Stanley was invited along. He helped trim the hedges and get to some of the spots Grandpa couldn't reach. He had to be very careful since the sharp edges could cut off an arm (or head).

The hardest part was stuffing all of the limbs into the trash can. Stanley jumped and jumped and jumped, but just felt like he wasn't pushing hard enough. The limbs kept springing back and dumping Stanley out of the trash can. With a little help from Grandpa he got it done.

Stanley really thought the hard work was over. That is until Grandpa said, "We have to clean the sidewalk off. How about you push the broom." When you are a small guy, pushing the broom is really hard. But Stanley did it.

Boy was Stanley proud of his work. He took all of the credit for getting those bags full.

He also was tired and thought he deserved a nap on Grandpa's favorite old couch.

Stay tuned, after Stanley took his nap he was ready to go and have some fun!
P.S. For those of you counting (Like Grandma), this is Part 2.

Flat Stanley Visits Las Vegas - Part 1

Today we received in the mail "Flat Stanley" (shortened to Stanley) from our youngest grandson in Utah. Stanley is making a whirlwind world tour beginning in Las Vegas. On this first afternoon of his arrival it was too late to get out and see the sites. I think Stanley is too young to do the strip, but we will discover that later.

Today he focused his efforts on getting to know some of the local cacti (that's plural for more than one cactus). The following photos show Stanley's efforts to get to know the family and not to get stuck with the cactus and yet to try to make friends with them.

Grandma introduces Stanley to our African tree.

Stanley was anxious to meet Whisper, but we though a window in between might keep Stanley from being mauled.

Ohhhh, don't try to ride the cactus!

Careful where you walk...

You can't climb a cactus like a tree - too many spines.

Finally, something that doesn't stick me!

Stanley was exhausted after his long trip from Utah and all that walking in the garden. He is sleepng, and thankfully not snoring. Keep watch, there will be more news from Stanley.

We've Seen Snow...Again

We have had such a beautiful winter (sorry kids), it seemed almost bitter-sweet when the temperature dropped into the 30's for lows over the last 10 days. Even more so we have experienced quite a few rain days (which of course we need). We even had a real midwestern rain day, as noted in a previous blog.


A week ago today, however, we knew rain had just passed and weather was still southern Nevada cold. We had no snow, but as I drove off to the dentist for a 7 am appointment I noticed a little snow on the front mountains, but it wasn't until 90 minutes later when I drove out of the parking lot looking west and I saw the full impact. No, it is not a Wasatch snow and it's not much good for snow caves or cross-country skiing, but it is a Red Rock snow and it is beautiful.

Go to my flickr account to see this panorama as well as other photos, or click on the photo and it will give you a full-screen (width) representation.

We feel fortunate to live so close to the Red Rock Conservation Area and to be able to go out and visit it on a regular basis. We have photos from multiple seasons, but I didn't really have any good snow photos. I was tugged to go work, but also tugged to take some photos. I rationalized, since I did have writing to do, and drove home, picked up my camera and was out the door. The photos in this blog are of Red Rock shortly after the storm and before the sun got too much hold on them. I think they are gorgeous. By the way, I did get some writing done, so no guilt.

iPhoto Face Recognition and learning

We have loaded the newest version of iPhoto, the Mac photo archive tool, on our computer and spend a little time here and there training the program to recognize people. We are discovering that is a little challenging for the software to recognize faces when they all look alike - and even some who do not look alike. Also, when we have the same person from 1 to 38 it can be challenging for the computer. Take a look at the following photos as we were attempting to train the software to find Bonnie:

Of course once we have the software partially trained it begins to identify everyone that looks like Bonnie and ask us if this is Bonne? Clearly some more training is in store for the software.

We have discovered that Mom's are significantly impacted by face recognition (go figure) as in this case where I inadvertently selected Sally as Bonnie and Grandma reminded me I didn't have a clue what I was doing. When I deselected it, however, this was what I got. See Sally/Bonnie - okay, Sally to the right.

Not to be outdone, I asked myself, what if I start to do a face recognition of Sally? Will it tell me it is Sally? I do front and side photo face recognition and while it captures the front pretty well, but still it needs work on the side shots. Sally was unrecognizable in this photo, although after I select a few more side shots it was less of a problem.
Yet, after a little more work iPhoto found Chas without any problem at all! Even if he was in his most profound pose.

You should see what happens when I try to put all of the daughters photos in. The software just throws up its electronic hands and says, "they all look alike - Including the mother." But then, I've know that for years. When the girls are in town everyone knows they are sisters and who their mom is.

Baking Cookies

It is a time-honored tradition to bake cookies at our home. Of course, now that children are gone we don't bake cookies nearly as often. This weekend daughter 3 is in town for 5 full days and she and Grandma had quite a list of things to get accomplished. Sugar cookies was on that list and on Saturday afternoon we got to the "baking cookies" portion of the list. I can't remember the last time we baked sugar cookies at our house. It was fun and all I had to do was wander in occasionally and swipe a bit of batter (watch for it).

The 2:29 minute movie (without sound) is below. For those of you who want sound turn on Aretha Franklin's "Respect" it is just about the right length. Oh, and be sure to watch for the cheesy shots. It was a cloudy day that is why the color seems to change all of the time.

A Mostly Quiet Rainy Saturday

It is an unusual day in Las Vegas - a quiet rainy Saturday. It feels like an Indiana spring day. The rain is soft and the sky is varying shades of gray, as opposed to the slate gray of an Indiana winter. Spring in Indiana is beautiful as the dogwoods, daffodils, and crocuses come alive and populate the woodlands.

In Las Vegas our springs come earlier, and especially this year, and typically dryer, so an Indiana spring day is a bonus. We don't have dogwoods, crocuses, or daffodils. We do have pansies and a variety of plants that bloom all winter. For us that is a real bonus. As I looked out the back window and across the partially submerged patio I see yellow, red, and lavender flowers. Several are in the early stages - especially the red ones, while others have been around for weeks.

While the midwest has suffered through an excruciatingly cold winter, we in Las Vegas have had a beautiful January with temperatures 5 to 10 degrees above normal. My midwestern friends and family call and I'm always telling them there is a 65 degree difference. However, I'm digressing.
As we sit around with daughter number 3, who is visiting, we are baking cookies, listening to a little Norah Jones and Jack Johnson (at least I am) and relaxing. We didn't do that all day, as evidenced by the photo. We were up early and I was out working on cleaning the front yard up about 7:30 am (after I had been bribed to go to Panera Bread for some breakfast goodies). I got a couple of driveway offending limbs cut off of our only front yard “real tree” and then we began to work on the yard.

You would think that a yard with NO grass and just a few desert shrubs wouldn't be much to take care of, but over the last 18 months some of those desert shrubs got big. We didn't realize how big they had become until we looked at a photo of the house when we first purchased it. Surprise! Our shrubs were totally out of control. They had quadrupled in size. In midwestern terms that means a bush 1 foot tall was not 10 feet tall. In desert terms, not quite so bad.
It was time to get serious and with daughter 3 in town we had a solid worker. Grandma and I purchased a new hedge trimmer (big one) and this morning I went to work. Okay, we went to work - all 3 of us. I was a little concerned about making noise too early in the morning until our neighbor down the street got out his 4-wheeler off-road vehicle and went up and down the street without a muffler. Okay, noise is now appropriate.
Two hours later we have 8 bags of cuttings in front of the house and it's only until Monday when the garbage man comes, but the yard looks - or at least will, great. Actually, right now it looks like a bad haircut, but when the bushes turn green and the others begin to grow back it will look great - for rocks, microdust, a few plants. The photo of me sitting and Suzanne working wasn't wholly true. I did sit, but then I did also work. Suzanne just worked harder.
All done and time to shower. We were so sweaty and smelled of sage that we just dumped out clothes in the washing machine before we took off for a little shopping. Come on - Mom, Daughter, and a driver. What more can they ask for. Although I did find Harry & David's right next to where the girls were and did a little Valentine shopping. I know, it's a week away, but I have little chance of remembering until then.

Back home to make sugar cookies and my next post will be a real treat. I downloaded a timelapse software for my iPhone and used it to take photos of the cookie baking. The girls kept saying, "What is that noise?" And them Mom couldn't find the phone/camera.

Day is done, sun is down, water is receding for a record high on our patio, cookies are made, time for some veggies! And maybe a little fruit. Tomorrow we are planning our first "barbecue" of the season. Eat your heart out midwesterners.

I call the following photo "desert zero-depth patio." For you non aquatic types that means a beach type entrance into a pool.

Short Weekends, Long Naps, Reflections

I remember my Grandpa Merriam. When I was young and we were visiting in Des Moines, IA, we would all come home from church, have a big dinner and then Grandpa would putter around until he found the couch. He would lay flat, pick up the newest edition of National Geographic and begin to read. At least that was what I thought as a child.

On reflection, I would sit and watch that National Geographic get lower and lower until it was right over his face with the spine of the magazine centered on his nose. It would stay that way for a couple of hours. I didn't really understand why he was tired, but I sure do now. In fact, I love those weekend naps. Yes, weekend naps. I don't always get them, but it seems they occur more frequently then they used to. I took a 2 hour nap this past Saturday another nap on Sunday. Of course I'm not real tired now.

I'm beginning to think that I'm feeling the need for a little more rest. My weekdays are pretty hectic and I just don't have the stamina I had 20 years ago. I cherish my weekends with JoAnn and time to do different things. Less frequently do I bring home work for weekends. I'm busy with family and with Church, plus a little relaxing. I do enjoy the weekends probably more than I ever have.

Getting back to Grandpa Merriam. He was forever a tinkerer. I was always impressed how he seemd to keep busy. Whether it was genealogy, philately (stamp collecting), photography, or whatever. He was always busy. In later years, after retirement, he moved to polishing stones (see the photo), decoupage, travel, and family. I find myself more like him every day. He was a great influence on me - much more than I recognized.