Hope you had a great Thanksgiving Day 11-24-16

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Another view of Lake Havasu, AZ,  Thanksgiving Day 2008

It was a quiet Thanksgiving here in Placentia, CA.  I do miss the beauty and calm of Lake Havasu, but since Corky died it just isn't the same out there.  I do hope to go out some day this winter for a sewing session.  Getting away from the every day things seems to allow me to accomplish more.  Of course, if I figure in packing, driving, unpacking, etc., it probably would behoove me to stay home and concentrate. 


I continue to improve but am still on medications for another week.  Don't want to spend the entire winter with this bronchitis thing.
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Wordless Wednesday Lake Havasu 2006 11-23-16

 

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Wordless Wednesday 10-31-14

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Wordless Wednesday 12-18-13

12-26-11  LHC, AZ  Click to enlarge.

Looking back 12-08-12

I looked back to see if I could find pictures from early December in years past.  These two struck a cord.  Both were taken from the patio of Corky's house in Lake Havasu City, AZ.  It is a beautiful house with a fabulous view - as you can see.  I have reversed the images, the sunset shot was 2006 and the misty cloudy one I took in 2008.
Sorry the pictures didn't show.  I have gone back to my Picasa files and uploaded the 2006 picture and added one from 2005, but I cannot locate the misty view taken on 12-03-08.  I'll keep looking.  


I don't know what I was doing out there on this date.  I looked for my appointment book from 2008, but, unfortunately I was keeping it online.  Something I stopped doing when my computer first crashed years ago.  Too early for Xmas and too late for Thanksgiving.  By this time they had started building houses between Corky's house and the lake.  I much preferred the weed grown open lots.
12-03-08
 

I love this moody image taken just as the sun went down.  The shoreline is public land and off to the right there is a fishing pier.  This was on a Thanksgiving trip and, as usual, it was a gorgeous weekend. 11-29-06

Here is one from a Christmas visit to Lake Havasu on 12-27-2005.  In this image the fishing pier is on the right side just where the first downward dip is. 

 

Wordless Wednesday 10-03-12

 

 

Wordless Wednesday - LHC 01-11-12

Corky has laser surgery 12-29-11

A big reason for driving out to Lake Havasu City the day before Christmas was so I would be there when Corky went to the vet to have laser surgery to remove a number of warts that had become a problem when the groomer accidentally nicked them.  I don't know about other breeds, but poodles have a tendency to develop the warts as they age.  Using laser surgery with local anesthetic avoids having to put the dog to sleep which becomes more dangerous as they age.  I was not invited to attend the surgery, although I was very interested in seeing how it is done.  Corky did not seem to be in any pain afterward and, of course, he didn't have the grogginess that accompanies many surgeries.  He is doing great.

Unfortunately his bad back, arthritis and old age make it impossible for him to get up the steps to his perch in the windows at both LHC and LBeach.  A new addition to his "doggie paraphernalia" is this expanding ramp shown in LHC in the guest room where Corky views the not-so-busy street from the window seat.  In LBeach he has a free-standing 'table' in the front office where he watches a MUCH busier street and we think the ramp will work there also.  He did need some training - coaxing him up with treats and down with treats worked, but will have to be repeated in LBeach!  

 

The surgery required some shaving and sutures, so he is wearing a T-shirt to protect the stitches and keep warm.  This is the post-surgery size 4-T outfit the vet provided.  The tinsel was part of his Xmas bow.

 

Corky received a lot of TLC from his nanny, his g'ma and his mommy.

But the 4-T was a little large, so his mommy went to the pet store for a more fitted shirt.  This one hikes up better when he goes out to piddle.  He looks so long with his hair all compressed - more like a dachsie.

 

Here is a shot with papa's cell phone - I can see the thought in his head, "Enough, already."

Another Desert Sunset 12-26-11

I've taken a lot of "sunset over Lake Havasu" pictures in the fifteen years I have been coming out here, but I can never resist a few more.  These are not SPECTACULAR, but they are very nice!

 

5:40pm MST

6:02pm MST

 

6:04pm MST

And then it was dark!

Desert Journey on Xmas Eve Day 12-24-11

Corky and I drove out to Lake Havasu City today - a little change in plans from my quiet, solitary Xmas weekend.  He has been having some health problems requiring an antibiotic and an antibacterial, so perhaps needs extra rest and TLC.  His parents drove out on Thursday so they could shop and visit and do tasks around the house and Corky came with me today after a few days rest.  He was really wound up for the first part of our trip, but after a "walkabout" in Essex he calmed down and slept almost the entire rest of the drive.

Once out of the LABasin and up I-15 into the high desert through Hesperia and Apple Valley it is not far to Barstow.  On the western boundary are outlet stores and several hotels, gas stations, restaurants, etc..

Fifteen years ago there were a few truck stops and gas stations and some fast food places.  I think the outlets were quite new then.  I wonder if someday this will be the town of Lenwood abutting Barstow which is just over the first hill off to the left, so there is plenty of room for both to grow. 

As I-15 continues north to Las Vegas (and up through Nevada, a corner of Arizona, Utah,  and Montana to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) we turned off I-40 which originates at Barstow and continues east to the Atlantic Ocean.  This sign always catches my eye, although sometimes it has been removed by souvenir hunters.  Eventually the highway sign people replace it with a new one.

Then it is pretty much a straight shot through unpopulated high desert for about 170 miles to the Arizona border and nine miles further to the turnoff on US-95 South and another twenty miles south to Lake Havasu City.

Usually the only wildlife I see are the ravens (notice his spade shaped tail), although there are occasional signs warning to be careful of burros on the roadway.

As the sun nears the horizon the hills on the south side of the highway are dark against the paling sky.

On one of the higher peaks stands a tower with relays for cell phones and other transmissions.  Generally there is cell service the entire distance from Placentia to where US 96 bisects I-40 - on Verizon, anyway.

This appears to be water, but is actually a long freight train reflecting the light from the setting sun. 

The sunset in the desert seems to linger, but when it is gone there is total darkness other than the other cars and trucks on the highway.  A few isolated lights and the town of Needles on the Colorado River are all the shows in the night.

Here is my companion on the ride.  He spent much time staring out the window, although he has traveled this route many, many times in his life.   He has his blue pillow with white dots propped up on his chest - he is very good at pillow manipulation.  Buildings in Lenwood out the window.

And he finally took a nap for quite a few miles.  The yellow out the window is the setting sun reflecting on the desert plants - no flowers in bloom this time of year.

 

Wordless Wednesday 06-15-11

Lake Havasu in the morning 06-02-11

I could sit here looking out the window all day - the lake color changes and the high, thin clouds drift over from  the opposite shore, which is in California.  But, alas, home tomorrow.

Holbrook, AZ - Lake Havasu City, AZ 06-01-11

I left early this morning after the in motel breakfast at 6:30am - REALLY early for me.  But I was awake and felt the need to be on my way.  I arrived in Havasu not long after Noon and promptly went to sleep again for a long, greatly needed nap.  I have been working on pictures and trying to catch up with e-mail and making arrangements for meeting Mabel Huseby on Friday before I return to Placentia.   It seems that the nap wasn't nearly long enough, so I am just posting this one picture and it is off to bed.  I did see some wild flowers today at a high elevation - at last!  I wondered if they were just not going to bloom this year.  More on that tomorrow.

 
This bronze Indian is greeting the dawn in front of the Holiday Inn Express in Holbrook.

Drive to the Desert 12-28-10

Oh, my goodness, how I love driving on the highway, out of the LA Basin - the "open road" has always called me and I have been missing it the last year or so. The five plus hour drive to Lake Havasu City seems more like being on a road trip than my drives north on I-5 to San Juan Bautista and Pacific Grove. I think it is due to the miles and miles of uncultivated desert and the rough, rocky mountains.

Of course, one must first get out of the basin. This image is on I-15 (which starts at the Mexico border and ends just south of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) and we are all stopped quite near where Hwy 60 crosses - the high roadways you see are part of the Interchange. Just beyond this point all lanes of the road were closed due to a seven or eight car pileup with serious injuries - all northbound traffic had to exit either Hwy 60 East or Hwy 60 West. I chose west because I had an idea how to go around the blockage on surface streets. And I did fine. But instead of 1 to 1-1/2 hours it took me two hours and twenty minutes to make the drive from my house to Lenwood just south of Barstow. I really can't sit that long without suffering great pain in my hips and back, so when I got out at the Arco station in Lenwood I had to hang onto the car at first. Pitiful! I felt I needed a special lunch with lots of protein, so I lined up at the In & Out Hamburger drive-thru. One thing about In & Out, they know how to keep things moving. And the burgers are cheap and delicious. The last time I had one was late August when Liz and I stopped before I did the program in the garden for Westside Quilters.

Then I was on the road again, At Bartsow I turned off busy I-15 north to Las Vegas and took I-40 east which usually has light traffic, but lots of big trucks. This sign where I-40 begins always starts me daydreaming about driving across country again - "Wilmington, NC, 2,554 miles". I-40 follows the old Route 66, crossing and recrossing and sometimes it is the same roadway. The first time I drove/rode this route it was a great deal of Route 66 interspersed with short sections of the new Interstate. That was a lot of years ago.

Because I was delayed today, Corky's parents and grandparents left for Laughlin, NV, where they had tickets to see Debbie Reynolds in concert - she is 78! - leaving Corky alone for maybe a half an hour. He was glad to see me, but spent most of his time sitting in the front window looking for his parents to return. They got home about an hour ago and the three of them are sound asleep.

While I was unloading my car Corky wanted to go out back to do some business and this is the view I saw. I had been too busy to even look out the back windows. I have taken a zillion pictures of Lake Havasu sunsets - so many of them are spectacular. Almost as good as the South Pacific, but not quite so gaudy. I have more pictures to share with you, but I cannot keep my eyes open and keep typing on the wrong keys, so I'll post more travel views on another day.

New Apparatus 12-19-08

On Tuesday I saw a hand doctor and on Wednesday I saw the hand therapist. Talk about specialization - at least they do both hands. No specialist for the left hand and the right hand! I suppose I am fortunate that it is my left thumb that is killing me, because I am right handed. This is really an ongoing problem which derives from the arthritis I have in my hands ....and my hip.... and ...and ...and!! It finally came to the point that I can't hold anything in my left hand. At the beginning of this year someone suggested that it wasn't arthritis at all, but carpel tunnel syndrome. And, it turns out, it is a combination of the two.

This is a daytime splint.

Another view.

This is the night time splint.

And another view.

The most amazing thing about all this was watching the hand therapist make the night splint. She put a rectangular piece of the hole-y white plastic in a flat apparatus that looks like a banquet serving hot tray. She drew a very rough sketch (like five little lines) of my hand on a piece of paper. When she took the plastic out it was malleable and using the hand 'pattern' she had made, she cut it in the shape that she wanted and, when it had cooled a little, she wrapped it around my hand to shape it. Then she trimmed and smoothed and applied the Velcro tabs and voila! a splint made just for me. I'm not too crazy about the ragged knit piece that I wear under it, but if I don't wear it the splint sticks to my hand and I have a hard time getting it off. I'm trying to find something else that will work. This is an open ended deal, so I don't know how long I will wear the splints, or if it will be sufficient. The next step is surgery and anyone who knows me at all knows how diligently I avoid surgery! I'm tying to figure out ways to do things without using my left thumb. I'm not ready to give up on the computer yet.

I have a lot of sympathy for the people across the nation who are suffering from miserable weather. I had planned to go to the desert this week, but the weather reports deterred me and I am glad. Thousands of people were stranded around SCalifornia due to snowy road closures. I will try to go on Xmas day or the day after, but will be home by the 30th. Meanwhile I will try to blog.