Here it is, Day 43 and for the 3rd time this season, we are thankful! You may recall, we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving last month in Vancouver, U.S. Thanksgiving accidentally last week (when I bought turkey and mixed up the dates), and here we are again today....Thanksgiving #3.
Wild Fire Nearby
Truthfully, we are very thankful. Yesterday afternoon, and throughout the evening, we were in the vicinity of a crazy wild fire. Our RV Park is located in a suburb of Reno called Sparks (ironically). It's just a 10 minute drive to downtown Reno from here. During the afternoon dog bathroom break, I could smell hot caramel corn in the air (weird). And, the wind was whipping around like crazy. Somehow, I didn't even notice that the top of the big hill just outside our area was on fire. Later in the afternoon, I put the TV on and news flashes were going across the screen that there was a fire in the Sparks area. They said it was in the hills exactly where Steve and I have been walking our dogs for the past 5 weeks. I decided to take the dogs around the block for a walk and lo-and-behold the top of the hill beside our park was absolutely black with soot and firetrucks could just barely be spotted near the top. It was still daylight so it was hard to see the fire as it was burning on the other side of the ridge.
Loki, Klio and I went for a walk around the area at approx 4pm and according to the news it was 0% contained and burning approx 2400 acres. So sad. I was worrying about the jack rabbits, horses, etc. up in the hills.
The wind started to die down and the air turned from a sweet smell to a sooty smell. Not nice. As darkness fell, the eery glow of the fire still burning on the other side of the hill was more pronounced.
Because the temperature dropped, the wind died down, and the fire crews were finally able to get close to the fire....it was extinguished during the night and is no longer burning. Not sure yet what started it and very glad that it's out.
Two HUGE Owls & More Wild Horses
Today's dog walk was just past the wild fire area. We went to our "usual" walk spot and found our gang of wild horses again! They watched us with keen, cautious eyes. Once we carried on our way, they came out onto the road and started walking where we had just been. So cool.
And, towards the end of our walk it was becoming dark outside. We heard an owl in the distance hoo-hooing so we decided to go and investigate. A couple of weeks ago, a big owl swooped by our dog watering hole and was gone in a flash. This time, I spotted the owl (remember, I'm a bit of a "Bird of Prey Whisperer") on the top of a distant tree. After jumping in the truck and zipping over a little bridge, we stopped at almost the exact spot where we saw the horses at the start of our walk. And WAY up in the tree was this gigantic owl twirling his head around like Chucky and shouting at us to go away. Steve noticed that the hoo-hooing sound seemed too distant, so we glanced in the direction from which we just came. A SECOND OWL! A dark blob on the top of another tree with his head twirling around!
Owl #2 swooped out of his tree and headed for us (huge wings, huge body - so awesome) then flew up to the top of the other guy's tree. We were standing right underneath it! In awe, we watched the two of them chastising us for being in their desert and decided to leave them in peace. These birds were huge. I tried to figure out what type of owls they are but haven't definitively determined their species yet. White chests and light brown feathers. Yes, I left the camera at home today. No cool pictures of the owls to show you.
Driving back from our walk we stopped into the local mall to see if any crazy people were camped outside for tonight/tomorrow's huge Black Friday sales. Walmart opens at 10pm tonight, Best Buy at midnight, Target at 3am (who goes to Target at 3am - seriously??) and most other retailers open at midnight. The local mall has a Best Buy location and there were at least 10 tents and a huge line of people outside - apparently some of them have been there since last night.
U.S. Thanksgiving at the Reno Atlantis Casino
Today the RV Park was very quiet. Well, except for the family of people who started drinking at noon wearing Green Bay Packers jerseys and one guy with a huge foam block of cheese on his head (cheese-head). The other people were either cooking up a storm in their trailers or out visiting friends and neighbours. Convenience stores & gas stations are open today, but that's about it. Felt a lot like Christmas Day in Vancouver. So, we did what any normal person would do when celebrating our 3rd Thanksgiving this season, had a buffet feast at the local casino and didn't have any turkey. Dungeness crab legs, salad bar, deep fried prawns, Mongolie grill vegetables, freshly tossed caesar salad, ice cream with chocolate fudge, caramel AND peanuts on top.......and that was just me! Steve didn't have seafood .....but a healthy serving (or two) of prime rib. Yum yum!
Hopefully we're not at that age (yet) where the highlight of our day is talking about what we ate. So, enough about our buffet busting......we also went into the casino tonight and did a wee bit of gambling. The place was super busy. Apparently A LOT of people celebrate the holidays by heading to the casino rather than spending $200 buying turkey, ham, side dishes, pumpkin pie supplies and wine. They don't spend all day cooking up a family feast, sitting down and eating it for 10 short minutes, then kiss another 2 hours goodbye while packaging up left-overs and doing dishes! Ah ha! I think this "new tradition" is fantastic. It's the Thanksgiving casino for us from now on!
Lots for which to be thankful! Hope your day was happy too!
Gobble gobble!
S&S
I'm glad you guys are safe!! Loving your blog, so happy you are able to keep in touch. Me... no time to write a blog unfortunately :)
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