Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Time spent

Las Vegas is a big city, but we still do not have all of the things that you might find in larger cities. One of the things we are missing is a branch of a very large store that is found all over the world. Evidently they looked at Vegas for expansion and the statistics showed we had a very low percentage of college graduates in the general population, which seems to indicate the purchasing preferences would not be in favor of large sales. So a few weeks ago I hitched up the trailer and we drove down to Los Angeles for s shopping trip. We left early in the morning, and due to spending a lot more time wandering around we did not get back until well after dark, having put almost exactly 500 miles on the car. I ended up with another weekend of work:


I’m sure most of you are familiar with those items, ending up with a little pile of them after tearing apart boxes. There are a lot more, but that is what I left on the counter. The work involved following multi page diagrams like this:


We now have new furniture scattered around. And one sample of what our kitchen will become. After almost ten years in this house we are finally getting around to redoing the kitchen. The house was built in the late 60’s, and the kitchen appliances and cabinets have never been changed, so it is time. We were about to start on the kitchen several years ago, and were just a few days from placing a $20,000 order for cabinets when I was called into HR at the Sands one afternoon and along with 3,00 others given a long vacation. Everything is now planned out, and while looking at the model kitchens we decided on a major change; instead of the ‘traditional’ wood cabinets I wanted we decided to go with gloss white, with stainless steel for the island. Our garage is not filling up, we have the ovens, cooktop and microwave there, and the sink and big stainless exhaust hood out in the shed. Cabinets and a new big window are being ordered, and work will commence in early November (after our European guests leave).

Besides working I also like to play. Yes, computer games usually but I also build little model train things. Traditionally model train layouts are built in the basement, but since so few Las Vegas houses have basements there are very few built in layouts out here. I joined a group that builds small table sized pieces individually, and then we get together once in a while to join them up and make a big layout. Last weekend a dozen of us got together in my back yard and played trains:


It’s called N Scale, a ratio of 160:1 in size compared to real trains. Each train car is about four inches long. The getting together and playing is fun, as is the sitting alone and making the modules. I do the major work, and B is great at details.


Let’s end up with something I haven’t shared in a while: our granddaughter E is still a poser:

7 comments:

Blond Duck said...

Hope E has a cute Halloween costume planned!

Unknown said...

Great blog. Really. Mad ups to you Joe. This is something else and you've been doing it a while now. Kudos! Thanks for the linkage. I just added you to my blog roll. Have a good one.

JoeinVegas said...

I should mention, for the first two photos, we have friends coming from Sweden this week and we just wanted them to feel at home.

Don said...

And the kid is still a real cutie!

Every time we visit San Diego I have to hit IKEA. No idea why but it's some sort of sick obsession.

Good luck with the kitchen. It's fun fixing things up. I'm looking forward to photos!

SOL's view said...

I've yet to set foot in an IKEA store. Don't know why. It's only a half hour drive to the nearest but I still haven't managed to get there.

I can't wait to see the remodelling photos.

The trains look great! I find I'm much more interested in the detail of the layouts and carriages rather than watching the trains go round.

E is still so cute! :)

Pamela said...

My husbands late step father was a big train aficionado. He had a whole room full and a track. Our kids were small - and he was an old fart about his "toys" Our kids didn't dare touch anything. And he would let them in to the room and watch them like a hawk.. run the train once around the track.. and then usher them out. His stuff was all "brass" etc. I'm not sure what happened to it when he was gone.

One Christmas we bought him a special license plate holder that said "Grandpa in training" (Double entendre ... as he never had any children or grandchildren except by marrying my MIL)

You look serious about this hobby.

Rob said...

E is growing up fast: quite the lady.

Never got into model railways personally, though as a schoolboy I used to hang around signal boxes and sometimes get invited up if I knew the signalman. I suppose being in a signal box (especially if you're allowed to pull the levers) is like having a 1:1 scale model railway to play with.