It's another beautiful day here in Southern Nevada. I just got back from walking my puppy (well,
he's not really a puppy anymore, he's 4, but he still answers to that). It's a lovely 79 degrees with just enough breeze
to move the air around without blowing so hard that there's dust in the air and
leaves in your apartment. Of course,
it's still early, so it'll be over 100 by the afternoon, but by then I've shut
up the windows and turned on the air conditioning.
Yesterday I had a couple of errands to do, so as usual I
took my camera along, and got the shots above – if you can believe it – from the
parking lot at the local Target. I love
the fact that everywhere here has a picture-worthy view in the background, if
you remember to look up and beyond your immediate surroundings. As great as my home state of New Jersey is (And
yay, Jersey Devils! They made it into contention for the Stanley Cup!), you
just don't see backdrops like this there.
(I miss the ocean . . . even the ocean smell, but that's another story).
On the way to do my errands, I drove through a local housing
development that had previously been full
of foreclosure and, "For Sale By Bank," signs, only to find them
mostly absent. So maybe, just maybe,
things are starting to turn around a bit.
On the other hand, it could just be localized to my area, or it could
simply mean that deep-pockets investors have just bought up all those houses
and will just sit on them until prices go back up or they can rent them out for
exorbitant rates.
I also passed yet another construction site on my way, and
as with a lot of others, this one seems to be sitting quietly and waiting. You might have noticed a recurring motif in
this respect, and if you haven't yet, you will do soon.
It's slightly depressing, and for me a little
mystifying. I mean, who wouldn't want to
set up house or shop in such an awe-inspiring area? Who would not
want to invest here?
But then, I guess it has a lot to do with the casinos, and
the gambling roots of this town. People
seem to want to take chances here that they wouldn't otherwise normally take,
and they also do things in excess. You
know, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas"? But when you get away from the lights and the
shows and the craziness of The Strip and Downtown, it's really not any more of
a gamble than anywhere else. It's a
place people live and work, and not just in hotel/casino-related jobs,
either. Someone has to run the Subway,
the Sev (7-11, in JerseySpeak), the local bank, and someone has to teach school
here (Yes, we have them! But the schools
here have . . . issues, shall we say?
Mostly underfunding, but that's a discussion I'm not sure I'm qualified
for).
So as all people with any sense at all here will do, I will
now stay inside for most of the day, looking out my window at the scenery, and
avoiding the sun in the hottest parts of the day unless I really have to go out
(well, I will have to for the puppy's next walk, at least). And then only when heavily covered in
sunscreen. This is vital for anyone even visiting
to understand: sunscreen is all-important!
Even if you have a darker complexion!
But especially for those of us
of the ghostlier variety of skin-color.
Never, ever, under any circumstances go out without sunscreen.
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