One more travel pic

I had just arrived back in France. It was a Sunday, just after mid-day. I had gone through passport control and baggage claim (I checked my bag through for the return trip and am glad I did) and was killing time before my train home. The check-in hall at Terminal 2E (Charles de Gaulle Airport) was relatively quiet and I snapped this photo.

This terminal was much more frenetic the day I left for the US.

We just had a couple of very mild days, weather wise. A week or two of that would be great. I could get a few more outdoor chores done before the weather gets in the way.

Vegas, baby

As we left the casino (after playing bingo), we got a view of the whole of the Las Vegas strip from the roof of the parking garage. The southern end of the strip is on the left, the northern end, and downtown, are on the right.

Ooh, Las Vegas, ain't no place for a poor boy like me.

That's about it for the photos I took during the trip. Not having the DSLR camera was freeing in a way. I felt no need to look at everything as a photo op. I didn't have to cart the camera around everywhere I went.

Deadly

I found this California Zinfandel in a CVS drug store during my Las Vegas trip. It was pretty much the only zin they had among the cabs and merlots and other reds. I thought it was weird to buy wine in a drug store. But then, alcohol is a drug, n'est-ce pas?

And it was tasty, too!

Today we're recuperating after a late night out and a wonderful dinner with blogger friends from down under and their local host. We're not accustomed to staying out past midnight.

Havin' a good time

My cousins in the Mob Museum. They've been multiple times since it opened in 2012. Nevada residents get a deal on the admission price. And they ask for ID. A mobster can't be too trusting, I suppose.

If you want to catch a crook, follow the money!

We had a cold night. Extra blankets on the bed. Sleeping (or trying to) with socks on. The outdoor temperature reads 12ºC this morning, about 54ºF. The jet lag is better, but it's still messing with me.

An offer I couldn't refuse

My cousins took me to the Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas. It's a museum dedicated to the history of organized crime in the US. All manner of exhibits, from clothing to the electric chair, populate the beautifully renovated and historic Las Vegas Post Office building. They even have a section of the brick wall against which seven mobsters in Chicago were executed on St. Valentine's Day, 1929, blood stains and all.

The photo is of Gaetano Badalamenti, a member of the Sicilian mafia who used pizza stores as a front for distributing heroin in the United States.

We had steady rain for most of the day yesterday. It ended around midnight. I know because I was awake. Jet lag works in mysterious ways.

Take a chance on me

It was Las Vegas, after all. Well... Henderson. It's right next door. This is the only casino I visited on this trip. We decided to play bingo (I had never played) and this casino had a big bingo parlor. As my cousin warned me: this is not your regular church bingo. Everything is electronic/digital these days. The game plays itself while you sip your complimentary cocktails.

A small section of the larger casino, filled with slot machines. The bingo parlor was in a separate room.

I noticed that most of the casino patrons were seniors. Poor saps. Then I saw myself in a rest-room mirror. Oops. We played. I won squat. But one of my cousins hit a game and the winnings covered her entry and the hour-long session. My other cousin wasn't any luckier than I was. Another woman a few chairs away from us won at least three times. Some people have all the luck!

Flight fright

The international flights I was on last week were very good. On time, mostly comfortable, uneventful. It was the two domestic connections that were problematic. I mentioned yesterday the return flight (Las Vegas to Los Angeles) was delayed for a few hours. My arrival a week earlier (Los Angeles to Las Vegas) was a little scary.

This was not our plane. This is terminal 2E, Paris CDG, at sunrise on October 5.

That black spot visible in the upper right is a plane that had just taken off.

The flight (Delta Airlines) was on time as we boarded and headed out to the runway. Then the plane stopped. Our pilot told us there was a "ground stop" at the Las Vegas airport. No flights allowed to land, no flights allowed to take off. We were stuck on the ground and probably headed back to the gate. After a few minutes, the pilot let us know that we were granted an exception and would be allowed to take off. And so we did, for our thirty minute flight to Las Vegas.

The pilot came on again to tell us that the primary runway at LAS was closed and that we'd be using a shorter runway. The landing might be a little rough. We had descended into our landing approach and were just about to touch down when the plane pulled up suddenly into a very steep climb. The engines roared to gain speed. It felt almost as if we were in a rocket ship blasting off. We continued to climb, almost vertically, for what seemed an eternity. This is it, I thought, we're done for. After a while the plane leveled off and we banked around for a second attempt at landing. The plane hit the runway hard and the reverse thrusters came on full. We were all pitched forward in our seats (this is why seat backs need to be up for take off and landing). Then suddenly all went quiet and we were safely landed and taxiing to the terminal as if nothing had happened.

That was my first ever experience with a "go around," as it's called in aviation parlance. The pilot was not satisfied with his approach to the shorter runway and decided to try again.

It turned out that the ground stop was initiated because a Frontier Airlines jet caught fire landing at Las Vegas. The fire was quickly extinguished and nobody was hurt, but traffic in and out of Las Vegas was interrupted for a time. Except for us.

Be it ever so humble

I made it home on Sunday. The return trip started out well, but it took a bad turn when my Delta flight from Las Vegas was delayed not once, but twice. We were three hours late taking off, one hour of that spent sitting on the plane at the gate while luggage was loaded. Fortunately for me, I had a five hour layover at Los Angeles and I had no problem getting to my Air France flight home.

After a couple glasses of chardonnay, the sign on the bar started looking pretty.

I didn't take my camera on this trip as I wasn't planning any major sightseeing. Instead, my goal was to hang out with my cousins and that we did. I did have the camera on the mobile phone, so I do have some photos to share. I spent the first night of my trip at an airport hotel prior to departure. I ventured down to the hotel lounge that evening for a drink or two and some people watching. The hotel (Ibis) had music playing. I assumed it was a selection of music put together especially for the hotel chain. It was called "Ibis Music" and this was the sign on the bar.

Filler

I'm out of fresh photos. I don't feel the need to show more of the roof work. Between Ken's blog and mine, I think we've done it all. That said, here's a close up of one of the two garage windows with it's freshly painted sill. Now I've got to wash those windows. Ken washed the garage door yesterday and it looks great.

Garage window.

The weekend is still expected to be a wet one, so we're waiting to see if this roof job fixed our leak problems. Fingers crossed.

My plan for the day: get the grass cut before it rains.

All is calm

The roof work is done now. The guys spent about two hours on Wednesday morning putting on the finishing touches and cleaning up. Now we wait for rain. Storms and rain are predicted as we move into the weekend. So, we shall see.

The garage window sills and the underside of the deck are looking pretty spiffy now!

Today's errands include a stop at the vet's office to pick up an order of dental chews and a supply of flea & tick medicine for Tasha. Then I'll likely make quick stops at the recycle center and the grocery store with a final stop at the filling station (do people say that any more?) for gas for the lawnmower. Then I'd like to cut the grass before the rain moves in.

Almost done

Here's some of the roof work in progress. You can see one of the two dormer valleys with it's new metal flashing. The tiles are back on now (but not in this photo). You can also see the underside of the deck. In this shot, it's been power washed, but not yet prepared for paint. That is actually done now. The work should wrap up today. I will post "after" photos soon.

Tasha's on the deck supervising the roofing crew. The yellow spots are made by the sun shining through a leafy tree.

Meanwhile, the heat is holding, but not for long. I think a cool-down is expected for the weekend. Boy, were we lucky!

Tasha Tuesday

Of course I took a couple of pictures of Tasha when we walked along the river in Montrichard last week. This one shows how happy she was to be out in a new place with new smells. She looks happy to me, anyway. You can see central Montrichard in the background.

A walk on the right bank of the Cher.

Well, glory be! The roofers showed up right on time yesterday morning. Once they started working, they realized that they needed a tool that they didn't bring. So one of them had to go to the hardware store while the other two waited. Not a great start. But, they eventually got under way. The valleys over the chien-assis (sitting dog, also dormer window) are rebuilt. Today the roof tiles will go back up. The underside of the deck has been power-washed. Today a filler and sealer will be applied before the first of two paint coats. I guess the final job will be to clean out and re-seal the rain gutters. This morning the guys are planning to show up around 08h00 to get a jump on the afternoon heat. Yeah, it's hot! And, more importantly, dry.

Will he or won't he?

This morning we're expecting the roofing contractor to start work. We have no confirmation of this. We think that's the way we left it last week. So, we shall see. I moved the flower pots out of the kitchen window boxes yesterday. They were just below where the work will be done. One of us will take the car out of the driveway and park it on the road in case we need it while the contractor is working. Then we just wait.

Another view of the dam, lock, and old mill in Montrichard.

Remember those baby grapes I posted about a while back? Well, now I see that they were just the flower buds getting ready to open. They've been open for a while now and grapes are beginning to form. These next few days of sunny and warm (yay!) weather should make them happy.

Dam it

This is one of many small dams on the Cher River. It's just down stream from central Montrichard. Tasha and I walked by last week while Ken was at a doctor appointment. The building is, I believe, an old mill that used the force of the channeled river for power, very similar to the old mill dam at Saint Aignan up river. And, like at St.-Aignan, there is a lock to allow water craft through.

I believe it's called le Moulin des Îles de la Motte. At least that's what is says on the map. The lock is in the foreground.

The sun is shining this morning. We're having a very welcome break in the rain. Flooding has been a problem all over the country, along with crop and property damaging hail (none here, thankfully). We're keeping our fingers crossed that our roof work can get done before the rain comes back.

Les pommes

Our apple trees are laden with fruit this year. Last year we had virtually none. I wonder if it's related to the weather. This past winter was warm and wet. Whatever the reason, it looks like we're in for a bumper crop. The pain is that the bigger apples have to be gathered off the ground before mowing. And the more of them that there are, the more of a pain it is. Unless... maybe the new riding mower can just make applesauce from the fallen apples.

Little apples in the back yard. They'll get bigger.

Yesterday was a wet day. And that's an understatement. We got hammered. Rain came down in buckets through the morning, one of the hardest rainstorms we've had in recent memory. Maybe ever. The rain continued into mid-day and then slacked off. A good thing, because our roofer came by then to do the measuring for the repairs he's starting next week. The forecast is good. If it's correct, we should have sunny and dry weather for the next four or five days. And won't that be nice.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Here's a shot of that strip I cleared out last week beyond our north side fence. To the right of the fence in this view is the west forty section of the back yard. To the left is outside. That's where I hacked the path that you can see. In a couple spots, it's more like a tunnel.

There's still some cleaning up to do, but the worst is done.

We heard from the roofer yesterday. He's coming by this afternoon to take more measurements for the replacement of the dormer valleys. Then he will choose a day that looks good weather-wise to do the work. He said it'll take one full day to get it done. After that, he's going to repair the gutters on the rest of the house. That's another job. And lastly, he gave us an estimate for repainting the underside of our deck. It hasn't been done in well over twenty years and is a serious mess of cracks and peeling paint. It will be nice to have that finally done.

A short walk

Tasha and I drove Ken to his ophthalmologist appointment yesterday afternoon. While he was with the doctor, we took a short walk down to the river (le Cher) just outside of central Montrichard. We continued a little along a bike/hike path to a small dam on the river, then turned around and headed back. I'm still trying to master the "selfie" without looking like a dork. Not squinting would help. I need more practice.

Yours truly at Montrichard-sur-Cher.

We've accepted an estimate on the roof work and put down some money. Now we wait. The contractor promised it wouldn't be for long, since we have a little "emergency." We're still having periodic rain showers and the roof is still leaking. We don't quite need buckets on the floor (yet), but there's visible water damage on the drywall below the leak.

Threatening skies

And they did follow through with the threat. This image, from the guest room window, was taken yesterday morning. By nightfall, it was raining again, and it seems to have rained steadily through the night. Early this morning there was some distant thunder, but nothing like yesterday morning. It's still raining as I type this (07h15).

This sky was trailing the thunderstorm we had on Tuesday morning.

The forecast for the week is more rain every day, but with quantities diminishing. We are having a few roof problems (again!) and we had a guy in to give us an estimate on repairs. The worst problem has to do with the roof valleys on either side of the dormer window in the loft, the same problem we've been having off and on for twenty years. They probably need to be reconstructed. Ka-ching!

Thunder boomer

We woke up this morning to the muffled sound of thunder rumbling in the distance. It didn't stay muffled or distant for long. Radar showed the center of the storm right over us around 05h00. Rain started to pour down. The garbage collectors were right outside, sitting the squall out in their truck. The sky was lit by multiple lighting strikes as thunder boomed all around us. The storm lasted about thirty minutes as it rolled off toward the northeast. As they do.

The phone camera didn't know where to focus. Or, more likely, I don't know how to tell it where to focus.

The photo above is a little blurry, but it shows the kind of blackberry brambles that live among the hedges and woods around us, the kind I recently hacked through to clear a path behind our fence. This one is growing out of our compost pile. Look at those thorns! Like sharks' teeth, they are. There are bigger ones than these, I dare say.

I discovered yesterday morning that I've lost my prescription form. Now I have to go to the pharmacy and ask them to spot me some pills while I get a duplicate Rx from my doctor. They've done that before; we've been loyal customers for over twenty years. Still, what a pain. It's always something.

Wet

It rained off and on yesterday evening and into the night. Our forecast still includes a warm up as the week goes on, but there's rain (and T-storms!) predicted through Thursday. Sigh.

Grass growing in a fallow vineyard parcel. I need some new photos.

It's my morning to walk Tasha and, at the moment (06h30), it's not raining. I'd better get out and back while I can.