We're Back!

Enough with the working already!

We got home around 1pm today and I've been hitting the keyboard, playing catch-up and trying to get next week's edition of the paper done, or at least well on its way to being done.

Time to take a break.

Had a wonderful time in Reno. The food was outstanding, out hotel, The Silver Legacy, was excellent. Slept like a baby most of the time . . . a couple times I awakened in the middle of the night but that's just me. Nothing to do with the comfort of the room or bed.

Neither Evelyn nor I gambled so much as a quarter. We are clearly in the minority, however, as the Blackjack tables, the Roulette Wheels, the Slots . . . were all being patronized night and day.

As I looked out our hotel window on the 14th floor, I marveled at how beautiful the valley in which Reno is located is. A lovely view of the foothills surrounding the city that forms one side of the valley. Nice, clean, crisp air . . . the lovely Truckee River running straight through the valley . . . our pioneer settlers must have breathed a few, huge sighs of relief when they spotted this paradise after trekking over the deserts and mountains for months.
I suspect a whole lot of good farmland has been paved over and/or built up with housing developments. The valley just looks right for agriculture.

I don't much like conventions . . . but I could learn to like them, if structured properly. Our convention had morning and afternoon sessions on Friday, same on Saturday, and a closing session Saturday night. Most of the sessions are boring as hell. Lots of puffery as Kiwanis officials were recognized for their accomplishments, some of whom bored us to tears with long, drawn out speeches. I left several of the sessions early because I was bored.

A couple of special guest speakers eased the pain somewhat. They did have meeting rooms with educational meetings . . . and those I've come to rather enjoy.

Next time I go, I'll ask Evelyn to not book me for lunch or dinner at any of the events. I'll buy my own meals, attend those events where I can do some meaningul work, and avoid the boring theatrics of typical conventions. I may attend some of the sessions, but only after all the garbage is done and we have a special speaker. Some of them are good. I just have a short attention span and get bored easily.

So much for conventions. Next big one is next year in Geneva, Switzerland. I'll go to that one . . . then take Evelyn on a tour of my ancestral home of Norway. I'll show her where all of my Viking ancestors sailed out to beat the pudding out of other nation's and kidnap all of their beautiful women, which is, of course, the reason all of us Scandinavians are so doggoned good looking! Stands to reason. My Viking ancestors weren't dumb. They didn't kidnap any ugly women . . . so our gene pool is filled with naught but beautiful people.

Upon arriving home something happened that I feared would happen. Trixie didn't recognize us. At least she didn't recognize Evelyn.

What happened was, Evelyn's twin granddaughters housesat and puppysat for us. Trixie bonded completely with them and forgot dear old mum and dad. After Evelyn picked her up and held her, the memory returned and Evelyn got lots of puppy kisses. When I walked up and Evelyn handed her to me, she recognized me immediately . . . but she probably wouldn't have, had she not finally recognized who Evelyn was. I, too, was showered with puppy kisses.

The grandkids are better at housetraining Trixie than Evelyn and I are. Almost all the time she went outside for both tinkles and poopies . . . only one or two accidents in the house. I hope we can continue those traits.

I had a cold before the convention and en route. Evelyn is grateful to me for passing it along to her. I'm almost over mine, she's about the same place I was when we arrived last Wednesday.

I may have spoken too soon about my miraculous healing of my hip and leg sciatica. When we got off the plane in Reno there was a horrendously long walk from the jet port to the terminal and baggage claim. I think I put a lot of strain on both hip and leg. Than night some of the old pain started to return . . . seemed to get progressively worse over the next several days. I'm hoping that now that I'm home and won't be walking quite so much that the sciatic nerve will once again settle down, lose the inflammation, and I can once again begin working out as the surprise Quarterback for the San Diego Chargers.

I was called at the hotel by Kaiser Permanente, telling me they have me scheduled for Shoulder Replacement Surgery on September 9th. I'm not so sure if I'm going to go forward with that or not. At my age, I don't know how much use I'm gonna get out of a new shoulder . . . plus, I'm not real good at self discipline when it comes to physical therapy . . . and, for some reason, I don't much like pain. I reckon there would be at least as much pain rehabbing a shoulder following such heavy duty surgery. I go in tomorrow for a presurgical consult but I retain the option of bailing out. I'm leaning in that direction now.

We shall see.

We spent Thursday taking a tour of Virginia City; hundreds of tunnels/mines still exist under the main street and surrounding area of the town. Had a great, air-conditioned bus ride, a trainride form Virginia City to Gold Town . . . great guides with lots of information. Then time at leisure to stroll up and down the wooden sidewalks of this ancient town, taking in museum after museum. Really enjoyed ourselves. Had a barbecue sandwich for $7.50 that would have been sufficient to feed a squad of Marines. I was amazed that the prices were so reasonable. So many of these tourist places really gouge the tourist. Not Virginia City. I highly recommend it as a place to visit.

That's about the only extracurricular activity we did, other than explore a number of superb restaurants.

Reno is really a fun place. Much cleaner than Vegas (you couldn't pay me to go to Vegas) . . . I'd go back to Reno tomorrow.

And that, dear friends, is the latest update from the World Travelers, lyle and evelyn.

Back down to earth in the next day or two. More Chuckles, a few pithy observations, and probably raising a little hell now and then.

Bedtime for Bonzo.

C-ya!