Glen visits Las Vegas

I dropped Glen at the airport early this morning so he can catch the United flight through Denver back to Sioux Falls. I had a little mileage left so I brought him out for a few days. He likes to tune up my desert landscaping a couple of times a year and God knows he's a huge help.

He replaced a couple of dead bushes, repaired my drip irrigation where necessary, fertilized and ran up my water bill ("Good God, I don't know how anything lives in this country with so little water!") He sprayed the property for insects and cleaned my a/c-furnace filters (I guess I hadn't thought about doing that since he was here last October). He stretched Sunday night's meal of takeout Chinese through two more noon lunches (Doreen doesn't like Chinese food so he indulges when he comes out here without her). While he's an incredibly generous soul he is also Kate's son and is very frugal. I think he likes to see how long he can go without spending any money and he loves to stretch a meal.

Last night we went downtown and ate at the diner at the Golden Gate Casino (established 1906). Then we each pooled $10 and found a lively craps table at the Golden Nugget. Dad held the dice and made the point 4 times in a row before he crapped out. I tell him he's lucky because he throws the dice with the hand that's missing the thumb...the result of a little encounter with a conveyor belt at Sokota (he refused the $10,000 dismemberment offer from the insurance company because "it's only a thumb.") We left after a half hour with our initial investment and considered ourselves winners (we're not high rollers like Don & Dave). I taught him how to play craps years ago and he only gambles when we're together (unlike Mom, who I'm sure used her free time while Dad was away to contribute to the tribe's slot machines in Flandreau).

When he was going through the security checkpoint in Sioux Falls on the way out they tried to confiscate his full-size tube of toothpaste. By God they weren't going to get it...he turned around, went outside, buried it in the rocks and returned to the checkpoint. I'm sure he will remember to retrieve it this afternoon when he returns.