Unbelievable

This beautiful little tree that I posted a photo of yesterday, was inexplicably cut down in it's prime yesterday afternoon! I have no idea why. Poor thing.

My right hip, leg and buttocks were really complaining yesterday, and took 3 Tylenols and 3 Advils to shut them up.

Now, I'm thinking that the osteoarthitis needs no stress and more rest. Aha! At last a valid excuse...

p.s. I called the office, and they told me the landscapers said the tree "had issues"....awww...I can relate.

Autumn

This little tree outside our apartment is certain it's fall...but all week we've been having record breaking temperatures. It's been in the 90's! Feels more like the middle of summer!

Unfortunately they already closed the pool. Fortunately it's been cool and very pleasant in the mornings, perfect for walking.

However, I haven't been walking. There is a park down the street that I realized yesterday is perfect for walking. I haven't been blogging, because I feel so guilty about not doing my daily mile. There's a ping pong game going on in my brain....excuses....no excuses....excuses.

Sunday afternoon stroll...

We walked around downtown Sparks and checked out the vendors and bikes! This one caught my eye, I guess because of the color.

There were way more vendors than I thought there would be...mostly selling a lot of biker stuff, tee shirts, leather goods, patches, pins, jewelry, etc. I bought a ring that I think is "faux" turquoise. The seller said it was set in "mexican silver"...is that code for fake? Anyway it's a pretty ring.

Dan got a deal on a leather vest, and bought a small patch and had it sewn on. The patch is a skeleton riding a harley, and the caption is"It's a dry heat".

It was a little warm...around the mid 80's...so we ducked into the movies to see Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps. We both give it a B+. It was good, though a little slow moving. Michael Douglas was good, as was Shia LaBouf and girlfriend.
















Woman were flocking to this tent! I felt a little over dressed and under tatooed...but it was fun people watching.

I know walking around like this doesn't seem like much, but I'm trying to convince myself it's better than being home in front of the tv.

Skywriting

Pics from last week...we were taking the doggies out and I saw five planes flying in formation. I thought it looked cool...then Dan said "they're skywriting"! Oh...so I grabbed the camera and caught these photos. The words don't last long...so it was lucky we saw it happen!

Dan is home from the hospital and feeling much better. The doctor says he can walk, so that's good news.

Lately I've felt like my blog is anything but a journal of my walking. It's certainly become a photo journal. And....that's okay.

Yesterday we went to the bookstore and bought the Mediterranean Heart Diet book, a food plan we both think we can live with. Now to clean out the fridge and cupboards of the "bad" stuff!

Be well everyone!

Street Vibrations

For the 17th year, the city comes alive with thousands of motorcycles. It's another party...with plenty of visitors...in the 10's of thousands...bands...food...tatoos...you name it.

We are having our own vibrations here at casa da Jones. On Tuesday, Daniel was admitted to a local hospital here (the VA was full) with palpitations. He's had some tests, and tomorrow will have a cardiac catherization. We will see the cardiologist tonight for more details, but I do know it's ischemia, (sp) which means not enough blood is getting to the heart.

We're hoping for the best with tomorrow's procedure...keep us in your prayers.

p.s. Gov Jim Gibbons is at the same hospital having broken his pelvis in two places after being bucked off a horse! Yee Haw...wild west!

Arboretum pics cont.

What's an Arboretum without an Arbor? Here is one of the first ones we saw.

Today we took doggies to the dog park and ventured over into the Big Dog area, as there were no big dogs there.
They loved the bigger space and ran and explored all around. It wasn't long until a woman arrived with an exuberant 6 month old part Lab, part Newfoundland, black bundle of energy.

Baby ran up to her and barked, letting her know who was boss, and the puppy (who probably already weighed around 60 pounds) loved her and Buster! She was very docile for a puppy, and very well behaved.

Her owner and I had a nice conversation, but my walk didn't amount to much.

Here is another pretty Arbor over a foot bridge.

I've got to quit stalling all over the place and get to walking.

The weather is perfect...no excuses!

Stacked Lenticular Clouds

When we stepped out the door to go to the Arboretum this morning, this wonderful example of a lenticular cloud formation was just over the hill.

Lately I've been noticing all the variety of clouds in the area. Now that Fall is nearing, there seems to be more unusual formations.

We drove over to San Rafael Park to go walking in the Arboretum there.


Unfortunately, the Museum was closed, so we'll save that for another day.

I noticed these trees were beginning to change color.

Kate took Sarah here when she and the kids were visiting back in July. We were going to see it on Labor Day, but thought it was closed.

I remember Kate telling me she thought the trees looked smaller than normal, which might be due to only 7 inches of rain annually, and a shorter growing season at 4,600 ft. altitude.

The place is huge...over 11 acres, and today we just scratched the surface.

There are many wonderful spots for restful contemplation. I must say our walk, was more of a stroll. I took around 50-60 photos, and will try the share a few good ones.

There are several dozen groves and gardens as well as a Labryinth. We didn't make it to the Labryinth today...another reason to return.




I loved the vast variety of trees! There were many unique pines I'd never seen before.

After I took several dozen photos, Dan suggested I take a pic of the plaque that showed the tree's name. Ha! Too late...but a good idea for identifying trees in the future.

As we moved through the trails, I couldn't help but think of the "tree leaf" projects my kids did in school. This would have been the perfect place for an A+ paper!


In "Kristen's Garden" we found this waterfall, and a perfect place for intimate weddings.

There was a two tiered platform made of stone in front of the waterfall. This would accommodate an officiant on the higher one, and the couple on the other.

Both raised above the arbor where people attending the wedding had a beautiful view of the ceremony.




Here is a photo of that arbor.

According to the literature, "A profusion of wisteria, iris, magnolia, and peonies bloom in the spring; opulent stands of Michaelmas daisies delight visitors for several months in the late summer and fall."

We did see a few daisies, but they were almost finished blooming.




More interesting clouds at the Arboretum.

I think this place is our new favorite place to walk. We have much more to explore here.

Of course we weren't able to tell how far we walked/strolled, but we were on the trails for about an hour.

More photos of the area tomorrow!

Ready, Set, Go!

The Reno International Air Races have been here all week, and it's quite the event. Pilots from all over the world have come to compete, and there are only a little over 200 that even qualify to fly here.

So...why the pic? Because as of Friday, I have the green light to go ahead and keep walking! Yay!
The Stress Test made me sick, and I was a little wiped out Thursday, and yesterday. But, today's another day!

By the way...the flag man in this photo is only the second man to have the job in 47 years of the event.

And just for good measure, here is a photo of the famous Camel Races in Virginia City. Apparently the fun is that the camels don't always go the way the rider wants them to.

So...I'm off to my race to get fit!

Doggie Park

We got the doggies out yesterday to the park.
Walked some...not much...it was a little warm.

The sprinklers came on while we were there, and Baby and Buster loved it!

Hopefully I'll get back to a mile a day soon!

Boot Hill

Otherwise known as the Silver Terrace Cemeteries, once described as the "Most beautiful burial grounds in the State of Nevada."

Dan and I have often wandered through old cemeteries around PA, and this was an opportunity to see a real western one while we were in Virginia city.

The boots pictured on the left are my new cowgirl boots that I wore yesterday.



This is a view of Virginia City looking southwest from the near top of the cemetery. Many of the plots were surrounded by beautiful ironwork fences.

This cemetery, like others around the country, were viewed as a place to go for a "meditative promenade". Cemeteries, in this period of history were places of quiet contemplation, to be out of doors and enjoy nature. The garden cemeteries were the forerunners of municipal parks. (from the Comstock Cemetery Foundation literature)


Here is another example of some of the beautiful ironwork. Back in the day, the cemetery was beautiful, with manicured landscapes, laced with soft grasses, planted trees and flowers.

The pioneers of the Comstock mastered the problem of water in the early 1870's, at the cost of over two thousand dollars. This kept the grounds lush and green, in contrast to the surrounding mountain landscape.

I was fascinated with the division of land for various groups of people. Some of the largest, and highest plots were for different orders of Masons, Oddfellows, Knights and other protestant Fraternal organizations. The Catholics were put in the back on the down slope of the property. Further down the hill were areas for Italians, Irish, Chinese and other ethnic groups. Waaaayy down the hill and far away, the Madams and their girls were buried. Supposedly because the women folks still didn't want them anywhere near their men!


As you can see by this last photo, the cemetery is no longer so plush. It's interesting that the caretakers have left this old dead tree next to someones plot. We noticed many trees like that, some inside the plot, but long gone. The monument at the top of the hill is for Captain Storey, for who Storey county was named. His is by far the largest monument.

Climbing the hill and walking the cemetery grounds was my "walk" for the day.

Virginia City, NV

We thought we'd go up there and see the annual Camel Races, but we decided inhaling the dust wasn't worth it. Instead we toured the old Historic Fourth Ward School which was built in 1876 for 1,000 students. It was open until 1936, then stood closed for 50 years.

The classroom sizes back then were around 60, and teachers made about $125 a month. No wonder they used corporal punishment!




The photo on the right shows a typical classroom, with the pot belly stove in the middle to keep the kids warm. The old maps were so interesting, as well as the narrow blackboards.
I got to ring the school bell which was really fun.
Most of the class rooms were set up with historic displays, some showing the mining in the area.
One room had the old typewriters and printing press the school used to print the newsletters.
There was also a Mark Twain exhibit in that room.


One thing I loved were the huge windows and high
ceilings. All the walls were done with 4" boards in a herringbone pattern. You can kind of see that in this
photo.

Here is a small pic of the front of the school.

We also visited the cemetery, but that's
a post for tomorrow!

While we didn't do continuous walking, we did do a lot of walking...and in cowboy boots!

Till tomorrow...

Labor Day

We had a little picnic at San Rafael Park, and I walked a small loop maybe close to a half mile. It was a gorgeous day, perfect temperature, light breeze.










Then, in the evening we took the doggies to the Marina. Not a whole lot of walking but a very pleasant end to a lovely weekend.

Truckee Art Festival

It's a double post for today! I am so proud of myself...this morning I marched up the hill and back in 21 minutes...and that's stopping 1/2 way. It's a mile.

Then this afternoon we drove up to Truckee for the Art Festival. The town was crowded, but the art tents weren't bad.

I found a woman who made jewelery out of antique buttons...very cool. There were the usual potters and painters and other jewelers. Nothing very unique. We did quite a bit of walking.

Interstate 80 was one lane going back to Reno, so we decided to take 89 up to Tahoe. We didn't know that we'd drive right past Squaw Valley...so we took a quick pic of the entrance and olympic flame.















There must have been hundreds of folks tubing down the Truckee River! At last we made it to Tahoe! A fun Sunday afternoon.

Doggie Park

One of the many beautiful views of the Sierra Nevada mountains we see at the dog park! Friday and Saturday we took doggies again and I walked a few laps. The dogs have benefited from getting out as much as I have.

It was hot Friday, so we also went swimming. Not a great workout, but better than nothing.

Saturday night we went to dinner, then after wards we walked around the outdoor mall and hit several other store looking for some illusive hair clips for our granddaughter. More walking than I could have done a month ago!

Land speed records

I'm not breaking any yet! However, I did walk up the hill this morning a mile and made it back in 23 minutes. That's really good considering I stopped about 6 times to drink some water, and sat down at the 1/2 mile mark to catch my breath. I need to learn how to drink and walk at the same time...but with my clumsy history I don't know if that a good idea or not.
Once again I didn't get out early enough, but the temperature wasn't too bad and there was a light breeze.
Love coming down the hill...

August in review

After adding up the miles, I walked a total of 15 for the month of August. That's 15 more than I walked in the month of July, which was 0.

I'm beginning to feel energy return, which is wonderful. My right quad is really getting stronger, and that's a relief. I was getting a little tired of walking around like a weeble wobble. I see a lot of elderly people walking like that...you know, like one leg is shorter than the other.

We took the doggies to the dog park yesterday, and they were in heaven! With all their ailments, plus the hot weather, they had not been since June. I usually sit and watch them, but yesterday I walked around the perimeter four times. Doggies followed sniffing and looking happy with grins on their little faces.

The photo is from the woods near Tahoe taken this summer. I would title it "The Green Cathedral".