WIND-ter has arrived - Jan. 19, 2012

Sparks, NV: 

Whooooie...it is WINDY today. Dust has blown in from the desert. Tumbling tumbleweeds are zipping past our trailer, the wind is screeching around the windows. The whole trailer is shaking. 

Gorgeous, interesting clouds again today. I got pics!

As I was eating a late breakfast, I saw the cleaning lady for the restroom facilities with her cleaning cart go around the building. A few minutes later, some large, black, empty, plastic trash bags whipped down the road followed by the cleaning cart. The wind had grabbed the cart and was rolling it down the drive unattended. She found it and got it back, but it made it a good 100' or so.

I was out this morning doing laundry and running errands. Now I'm tucked back into the trailer.

Early afternoon, I saw lots of blowing dust, but also what looked like a cloud of black smoke. I wondered if something was burning. It's very dry here and there's a high chance of fires.

The cats were freaked earlier, running to every window to look out, coming to me for petting and reassurance. They have finally settled down into an afternoon slumber. 

Sunnie in his cozy spot.

Sunnie really getting comfy!

Bowie conked out in recliner.

Trading places

Bob came home around noon to get our propane tank filled. He told me had been on a large roof this morning and it was dangerous! The wind was really strong and metal panels from roof air conditioning units were flying around...they had been blown off by the wind. The store maintenance people were going to call the HVAC contractor to get it fixed so no one gets hurt.

I have changed my mind about not working. If the right job comes along that is something I would love doing and is flexible about my schedule, I will go back to work. A posting for a part-time PR person for a bookstore came up. I applied, got an email back from the owner. She asked me to give her more information. She must have liked my answer as she asked me to call on Monday to set up an interview. I'm excited! I love reading and have been an avid user of libraries and bookstores my whole life. We'll see what comes of it.

Bob is enjoying his job. He spoke to the company owner and Bob proposed instead of us taking off six months to work in Yellowstone this summer, he will take off three months over the course of the year...not all at once. The owner was very happy to hear that. We are so lucky Bob found this job. I think they're lucky they found Bob too!

If we both have jobs that are flexible we'll be set to work and still be able to travel! It's amazing what comes along when you picture it in your mind. Of course there are other ways to do it and we will probably explore those avenues in a year or so when we've got all our debt paid off and have saved some money.

One of the challenges of having kitties is the kitty litter box. The kitties' box is in the bathroom in a closet designed for a stacking washer/dryer. This closet is one of the reasons we bought this model. We didn't care if we had a washer/dryer because we can use laundromats, but we did want a place for the kitty box. This location works well, but requires vacuuming the bathroom and trailer about three to four times a day...basically after each time the kitties use the box. If you've had cats you know litter tracks out of the box with them. I told Bob we have one of the most vacuumed trailers around.

The other challenge with the kitties, which we haven't overcome, is how to get them to stop sharpening their claws on the furniture and the decorative carpet strips that go up the wall. The kitties think these decorative strips are perfect for climbing and sharpening claws. We may have to redecorate the carpet strips up the walls with tin foil over the top of the carpet. People will think we're trying to keep aliens away as in the movie "Signs," although we won't be wearing tin foil hats. LOL.

This afternoon I went to the RV Park office to pay for our refilled propane tank. While there, I asked the lady if they ever had any RVs or trailers blow over in the wind. She said, "No, although one year an empty contractor's trailer blew over. It was parked sideways to the wind." She told me this wind is nothing , they get winds up to 100 mph here! Yikes! (Just heard on the news sustained winds are 37 mph, gusts are 57-82 mph! News said a semi blew over somewhere around here...didn't hear exact location.)

Bob called me a minute ago to tell me the news. There's a large brush fire between Reno and Carson City which started at 12:45 p.m. today. Highway 395 is closed. The guy who works in the shop at Kodiak Roofing has a home in the area. He left 1-1/2 hours ago to try to get to his house, but he can't get through. With the high winds the fire is spreading north fast. It's about 25 miles south of us. I can smell the smoke. I've got to turn on the news. 

News says the "Washoe Drive Fire" is currently in a sparsely populated area. "Several" homes have burned. The fire is moving rapidly north. Many people are evacuating. The flames being shown on the news are basically horizontal because of the wind.

Smoke from Washoe Drive Fire (normally hills are crystal clear)