July in Southern Nevada - It's a Dry Heat

Hi there, welcome back to the story of our life.  Our last episode concluded on Monday, June 30^th, while we were enduring a hot summer in Pahrump.  Tuesday, July 1^st, we had a stay-at-home day.  I did some chores around the house and just relaxed.  Wednesday was our usual, me going to play guitar with my jam group, Jackie playing Pokeno.

Thursday, July 3^rd, Jackie had a 1:00 dentist appointment for an exam and cleaning.  I dropped her off and went to Walmart, which is almost next door, and did some grocery shopping.  She called me to say that she was done just as I was checking out.  Good timing.  We went home and put the groceries away, then left again about 2:30 to go get haircuts for the both of us.  We didn’t get back in time for happy hour, so we just stayed home, had dinner and spent the night with the TV.  Friday, July 4^th, Happy Birthday America.  Today we had a 3:00 BBQ party at the clubhouse.  We had a pretty good turnout, considering it was summer, and a lot of our residents are gone.  It was a bring your own meat, and a dish to share meal, so we brought a couple of small steaks.  We had a good time with the group.  There was no happy hour today as the party went past 4:00.  Saturday, we had another stay-at-home day.  I got some office work done and relaxed for the day.  We went to happy hour, then home for dinner and a night with the TV. 

Sunday, July 6^th, another Sunday-Funday.  Today we left the park about 11:30 and drove to Beatty, an old mining town about 80 miles North of Pahrump.  When we got there, we first stopped at Smokin’ J’s BBQ restaurant for lunch.  We first found this place over a year ago when the park’s camping group came to Beatty for a campout.  They have excellent BBQ.  I had some ribs and pulled pork, Jackie had rib ends.  We had a great meal and took home enough leftovers for another meal.  After lunch we explored town a little, doing a couple of geocaches, and visiting a ghost town just southwest of Beatty, called Rhyolight.  This was a turn of the century mining town that at one point in the very early 1900’s was one of the largest towns in Nevada.  They actually had block and concrete buildings, many of which are still partially standing.  It is a protected property now and a tourist attraction.  After our fun day we headed back to Pahrump and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Monday, I had a 9:00 meeting in the office with two other Board members to address an issue with a visitor.  We got that done and I spent the rest of the day doing Co-op office work.  We went to happy hour and then home for a night with the TV.  We are binge-watching the entire Jurassic Park movie series, and tonight we watched the second movie, which neither of us had seen before.  We are trying to see the entire series before we go to the theater to see the latest Jurassic movie. 

Monday, July 7^th, I had a 9:00 meeting in the office with the BOD President and Secretary about an issue with a renter, which we took care of.  I did some office work and then after lunch we went to Walmart for some supplies.  We came back for happy hour, then had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.  Tuesday was another stay-at-home day.  I did a few chores and relaxed.  We went to happy hour, then had dinner and watched TV for the rest of the night.  Wednesday was again the usual routine, guitar practice for me, Pokeno for Jackie.  We went to happy hour, then came home for dinner and another night with the TV, and another Jurassic Park movie. 

Thursday, July 10^th, we left the park about 9:15, heading for Las Vegas and an appointment at the Orthopedic Center for Jackie.  This was a follow-up to the appointment about three months ago when Jackie got cortisone injections in her knees for the pain.  We saw the doctor, but since Jackie’s knees were not really hurting yet, nothing was done expect to make another appointment for a month or so from now.  After the doctor’s appointment we went to a restaurant, Khoury’s Mediterranean Grill, for lunch.  We met with our friends Don and Julie Klein, who had also come to Vegas for a doctor’s appointment.  We had a nice lunch, then they went to Costco, and we went to Sam’s Club.  After our shopping we headed back to Pahrump, getting home in time for happy hour.  After happy hour we went home and watched TV for the rest of the night.  Friday Jackie had a mani appointment at 1:15 and I stayed home and did some office work.  After she got back, we went out to Tower Pizza for a late lunch.  Jackie had the baked cod; I had the fish and chips.  After we got back, we went over for happy hour and stayed for Bingo.  Just before Bingo started, Jackie went into the ladies room and found a gun sitting on the back of one of the toilets.  She came and got me, and I found it was a real gun, a small “Detective Special” two inch, five shot, revolver.  The gun was fully loaded with hollow point rounds.  I unloaded the weapon and took it into safekeeping.  No one in the clubhouse at the time knew anything about the gun.  I won one regular game, but had to split it, so I only got $7.  Better than nuttin.  After bingo we went home and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, July 12^th, Jackie had a ladies luncheon at noon, and I had a men’s lunch.  They went to the Living Free Café; we went to the Dry Creek Saloon.  We both had a good lunch.  After we got home, we relaxed and did some chores around the house.  We spent the night with the TV.  Sunday was another Sunday-Funday.  I actually started the day by calling the Sheriff’s Office and asking for a deputy to come out and take custody of our lost gun.  The deputy came about ten minutes after I called.  He took all the information, and the gun, and it was now out of our hands.  In the afternoon we went to the Lakeside Casino about 1:00 and had a nice lunch, then stayed and played until about 4:00.  I lost, Jackie broke even, but we had a fun afternoon.  After that we went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Monday, July 14^th, I went to the Co-op’s package room to begin the install of the new video surveillance system.  The Co-op keeps the first two RV spots, and the shed between them, for Co-op use.  They are never available for members use.  These lots or for employees, or occasionally short term visitors.  The shed is used as a package room for all package deliveries.  We have regular gang-box type mailboxes for members regular mail, but the mailboxes are small.  The normal delivery services, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and the Postal Service, don’t deliver to induvial lots, they take everything to the package room.  We have volunteers that come in at 2:00 and work for a couple of hours, calling people with packages and signing them out.  Don Klein helped me with the camera installations.  By midday we had finished installing the two interior cameras and setting up the video unit and monitor.  Tomorrow we will do the two outside cameras.  It was too hot to work outside this afternoon; the temp was over 110.  About 2:30 we left to go the doctor’s office.  Jackie had been prescribed some drugs by Dr. Wiggins last month for her headaches, and she seemed to be having some bad reactions to the medication.  She had called to let them know she was going to stop taking the medication and they told her to come in and see the doctor.  Dr. Wiggins was not in but the other doctor in his part of the practice was and saw Jackie.  He told her to stop taking the medications and recommended that she let him give her a shot of anesthetic, actually Novocain, in the back of her head, around where the nerves entered the head.  He said he had a lot of success with other patients complaining of  headaches.  The shot was painful, but Jackie got through it.  Now we can see if it works.  Tuesday Don and I met again at the package shed in the morning and installed the last two cameras, which are on the outside of the shed.  By lunch time we were finished.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing and doing chores around the house.  Jackie didn’t have a headache last night or today.  Yea!

Wednesday, July 16^th, we had the usual activities.  I went and jammed with my guitar buddies; Jackie went and played Pokeno.  After we both got home, about 3:30, we went to the grocery store for some supplies.  After we got home, we had leftover green chili for dinner, then watched TV, including the last of the old Jurassic Park series.  We are now prepared to go to the movies for the new Jurassic World movie.  Thursday, I went over to the clubhouse in the morning and met Don Klein.  We spent about three hours working on the new camera surveillance system for the clubhouse.  We did some testing and mapping out locations, and we installed the first of the new cameras.  About 11:00 I started getting the BBQ grill outside the clubhouse going so I could cook hot dogs for the Hot Dog Lunch the Silver Seekers were doing today.  I cooked up a couple dozen hot dogs and went home to get Jackie.  We had a nice lunch with friends and neighbors.  After lunch we went home and spent the rest of the day doing stuff around the house.  We skipped happy hour so I could make stuffed green peppers.  Yum!  They turned out well and we have leftovers for another night.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Friday, July 18^th, Don and I worked in the Clubhouse installing the remaining five new inside cameras for the surveillance system.  After that was done, we went back home and spent the rest of the day doing things around the house.  I had a security tour at 8:00.  Saturday, we went out and ran some errands, then came back and spent the rest of the day at home doing chores and relaxing.  Another security tour this evening.  Sunday, we had a Fun Day at home.  We watched TV, played some cards and just relaxed for the entire day.  I did have to do a tour of security at 8:00, but other than that it was a day off.

Monday, July 21^st, I had a 10:00 dentist appointment.  A few months back I broke one of the teeth that holds my front bridge in place.  I went to the dentist we had and didn’t like the way he diagnosed my issues.  I decided to change back to my old dentist, and my appointment finally came around.  The bridge is very loose but has not fallen out yet.  He did all the x-rays and diagnostics and came up with a treatment plan that will cost just under $2,000, which is less than other dentist was going to charge, and way less than I expected.  I didn’t get anything done today because I have to be off of my baby aspirin regimen for a week or two before they can extract the broken tooth.  After I got home, I did some work around the house.  I had a meeting with the Board President and Secretary at 2:00.  I did my final tour of security for month in the evening.  Tuesday, I went to the Quonset hut and met with Don, and we installed the two new security cameras inside the building.  We are going to put two outside at a later time.  After I was done, we went out for a late lunch, then did some grocery shopping.  We came home and went to happy hour, then came home and had dinner.  We spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Wednesday, July 23^rd, we had our usual Wednesday, except that my jam session with the big group was cancelled, so Len came over to our house and we jammed with just the two of us like in the old days.  Jackie played Pokeno.  We went to happy hour and relaxed for the rest of the night.  Thursday, Jackie went to the clubhouse in the morning to play cards.  I met Don at the Quonset hut to install the two cameras for inside of the Quonset hut.  This took us a couple of hours. We went out and ran some errands in the afternoon then relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Friday, July 25^th, I had a 9:00 Board meeting which went about an hour.  We both went and got haircuts about noon, went out for a late lunch, then came home for Bingo at 5:30.  Jackie won a couple of games, I struck out.  After Bingo we went home and watched TV until bedtime.  Saturday, we had a stay-at-home day, just doing some chores and relaxing.  We also did some packing for our outing tomorrow.  We watched TV and went to bed.

Sunday, July 27^th, we left the park about 10:30 with our overnight bag in the car and headed south towards Laughlin, Nevada.  We had two free nights at the Riverside Casino and Hotel in Laughlin, so we decided to have a Sunday, Funday and Monday.  Whatever.  We stopped at Angie’s seafood in Vegas for lunch and both had lobster rolls.  We then continued down, getting in Laughlin about 2:30 or so.  We got checked into the hotel after a LONG wait.  Lots of people checking in at the same time. Once we got our room we went up and unpacked, then came down to the casino to game.  Through the players club we had gotten two free movie tickets, so we went to the show in the Riverside and saw the latest

Jurassic World movie.  Dinner was popcorn.  The movie was good, but the connection to the previous five movies in the series was pretty loose, none of the actors from the original five movies were in this one.  We still enjoyed it.  After the movie we gamed a little, then headed up to bed.  Monday, we got up and had coffee and relaxed a bit begore going down for the brunch buffet.  We had also gotten two free buffets from the players club.  After brunch we drove to Oatman, Arizona, an old 1915 mining town that was on the original Highway 66.  It is strictly a tourist town now, with bars, souvenir shops, and burros, LOTS of burros, burros EVERYWHERE.  On the way into town, they get in groups and block the road, so you have to slow down or stop, then they come up to the windows looking for food.  We had drinks at the bar in the hotel, the bar and restaurant are complexly covered in dollar bills, every wall, pillar and the whole ceiling are covered in money.  We have a dollar somewhere in the mess that we put there back in 2008.  We didn’t look for it.  We checked all the shops, petted the burros, and left after a couple of hours.  When we got back to the casino we gamed a bit, then changed clothes and went to the Prime Rib Room for dinner.  We didn’t have free tickets this time.  We had a great meal, with leftovers for tomorrow’s dinner. After dinner we gamed some more, then headed up to the room and went to bed.

Tuesday, July 29^th, we checked out of the room at 11:00, stopped at the In and Out in Laughlin for lunch, as is our custom when we come to Lauglin, and then started the drive back home.  We stopped in Searchlight to go to the bathroom, then gamed a little in the casino there. We then continued home, getting back about 2:30.  We went to happy hour, came home and had our leftovers for dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.  Wednesday, I went to the jam session in the afternoon, Jackie played Pokeno.  We went to happy hour, then came home and had dinner then watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, July 31^st, I met Don at the Quonset hut, and we installed the two cameras on the outside.  We are now done with the camera project.  We now have four cameras inside and outside of the Quonset, four cameras inside and outside of the mail and package room, and twelve total inside and outside of the clubhouse.  In the afternoon we did some chores and relaxed.  We had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

We are now at the end of the month, time to get this published.  Be good until we meet again.

June in Pahrump - It's a Dry Heat!

Hello again.  Our last chapter ended on May 31^st, while we enjoyed the beginnings of summer at home in Pahrump.  Sunday, June 1^st, we went out for some supplies in the afternoon.  After we got home, I noticed that the refrigerator seemed uncommonly warm inside, then I noticed that there was an error message on the display inside.  It seems that the fridge has stopped working.  We were having Dale and Sue Vice over for dinner at 5:00, so we only had time to empty out the freezer portion of the fridge before they came over.  Fortunately, we have a nearly empty refrigerator in the shed, plus we had some space in our chest freezer for food.  We had a nice dinner and visited with the Vices.  After they left, about 7:00 or so, we spent the next hour emptying out the refrigerator portion of the box.  Again, lucky we had somewhere to take all the food.  With the box now empty, we headed off to bed.

Monday, June 2^nd, after my morning coffee and shower, I started troubleshooting the now warm refrigerator.  The error message indicated a problem with a fan in the freezer compartment.  I spent a couple of hours pulling the refrigerator out of its little cubby hole in the kitchen so I could look in the back.  I was hoping that it was just a clogged vent or something.  The condenser coil in the back was, in fact, very dirty, but cleaning it did no good.  About 3:00 I called two of the local appliance repair shops.  I had to leave voice mails for both.  About a half hour later, while we were at happy hour, Jack’s Appliance Repair called back.  I told them what was going on and they said the service guy was in the neighborhood and could come over in about a half hour.  That made me very happy.  He did show up, a nice guy named Miguel.  He talked to me, did some diagnostics, and said that it appeared the circulation fan motor had died.  As it turns out, he had a replacement in his truck and after less than an hour and a half the fridge was fixed.  It needed about 24 hours to cool down completely, so we just watched TV for the rest of the night and went to bed.

Tuesday, June 3^rd, again, after coffee and a shower, I started the process of putting the refrigerator back into its cubby hole.  After that was done, we did a thorough cleaning inside and then put all the frozen and regular food back into the fridge.  We were done by mid afternoon and everything in the kitchen was normal again.  We went to happy hour, then came home and had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.  Wednesday we were back to normal, with me going to guitar practice in the afternoon and Jackie playing Pokeno.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then watched TV until it was time for bed.

Thursday, June 5^th, after lunch we went out to do some grocery shopping and other errands.  When we got back, I went to happy hour, Jackie didn’t feel good, so she stayed home.  After I got home, we had dinner, then spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Friday Jackie woke up and was still not feeling well.  She has had a chronic upset stomach for about a week or so and wanted to go to urgent care.  After lunch we went to urgent care, and she got a prescription for some anti-nausea pills and was told to buy some Pepto Bismal.  We went to Walgreens and picked up her stuff, then stopped at KFC for some dinner.  After we got home, we had dinner, then spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Saturday, June 7^th, we went to the clubhouse at 11:00 for a potluck brunch.  Because a lot of our members have left for the summer, there were only a dozen or so people at the brunch, but they all brought some good stuff.  We had a nice brunch and a visit with friends and neighbors.  After the brunch we went home and did some stuff around the house.  About 5:30 we left and picked up our friends Linda and Sharon and drove to the Saddle West Casino for the annual Ms. Senior Golden Years pageant.  One of our friends, Debbie Forrest,

is this year’s queen.  We have known Debbie and her husband Len since about 2007.  Len is also one of Roy’s guitar jam session friends.  The pageant was about two hours and again this year there was someone we knew competing.  Dianne Sauter is currently a visitor to our Co-op as she and her husband are full-time RVers.  A couple years ago she ran for Sheriff of Nye County but lost.  She did well in the pageant, finishing as second runner-up.  After the show we dropped our friends off and went home to watch TV until bedtime.

Sunday, June 8^th, my brother Dennis’ birthday.  He is eight years younger than me and lives in Arizona.  We were picked up at 10:00 by our friends Dale and Sue Vice for a Sunday-Funday trip.  We drove north around the Spring Mountains to pick up US-95, now I-11 in some areas, and then headed back south towards Vegas.  We stopped in Indian Springs at the Terribles Casino there.  There is a Bob’s Big Boy inside the casino.  It has been decades since I have eaten at a Bob’s.  We had a really nice lunch, and I had a strawberry shake, which was as good as I remember.  Indian Springs is an interesting place.  It is just a few miles east of the Nye County line in Clark County, the home of Las Vegas.  Creech Air Force Base is right across the street from the casino.  Creech is one of the primary bases for the Air Force’s drone activities.  It is the training base for drone pilots and was where most of the drones operated in the Middle East during the various conflicts over there were piloted from.  After lunch we drove up into the Spring Mountain Recreation Area, which goes up in the 8,000-foot elevation areas of the mountain range which separates the Pahrump Valley from the Las Vegas Valley.  There is a ski area, a number of campgrounds, a lot of high-end houses, and it is a very nice area to drive through.  While we were up there, we drove through one of the campgrounds just to see what it was like.  Dale and Sue still have a trailer they travel in and wanted to see if the campsites were big enough for them.  Turns out they are, or at least a number of them are, and they can be reserved.  Also, while we were driving through, we spotted one of our friends and fellow residents of our Co-op, Jon Albinson, camped there with his camper.  We knew he was out of the park but didn’t know he was up in the Spring Mountains.  We stopped and visited with him for a while before continuing out touring.  We stopped at the visitor’s center for the area.  It is interesting too that there is a monument at the visitor’s center in commemoration of a 1955 plane crash on Mount Charlston, the tallest peak in the range and which overlooks the visitors center.  It was an Air Force C-54 (DC-4 in civilian life) plane which was flying from Burbank, California to Groom Lake Air Force Facility, better known as Area 51.  At that time the then Top-Secret U-2 spy plane was being developed and tested at Area 51.  The plane had 14 passengers and crew.  The four crew were Air Force personnel, the others were a mix of Lockheed Aerospace engineers and Officers of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).  Since all operations surrounding the U-2 at the time were Top Secret, the plane was flying without any outside navigation or communications.  It got caught in a storm and strayed into the Spring Mountains where it hit the side of Charleston Peak, killing everyone on board.  The information sign at the memorial said that even the families of those killed were not told any of the details of their death beyond the fact that they were killed, until decades later.  After visiting the center, we drove through Northwest Vegas and then back over the mountains to Pahrump.  We got home about 4:30 or so and spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

Monday, June 9^th, we had a stay-at-home day.  Jackie is having some major problems with her stomach and bowels.  Still constipated and in pain much of the time.  Since going to the urgent care didn’t accomplish much she is trying to hold out until next week when we see our regular family doctor.  I did some office work and other stuff around the house.  Tuesday we were up and out of the house by 8:30 and headed to the medical center to get our blood drawn for tests for our upcoming semiannual checkup at the doctor.  Because we didn’t get in right when they opened, we ended up waiting for an hour and a half to get in.  After that we went back home and spent the rest of the day around the house.  I went to happy hour at 4:00, but Jackie wasn’t feeling well.  We then watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, June 11^th, I went to my normal jam session at 12:30, but Jackie wasn’t feeling well, so she skipped Pokeno.  After I got back, we just stayed around the house for the rest of the day and evening.  Thursday, I had a 9:00 Town Hall meeting in the clubhouse.  I was the “featured” speaker, talking about the proposed amendments to the Co-op By Laws that were just sent out for a vote of the membership.  As chair of the By Laws Committee this year, I was tasked with explaining the proposals.  I guess I did OK as there were no questions and few comments.  Jackie had an 11:00 manicure appointment, which she felt well enough to go to.  After she got home, we went out for lunch at the Nugget Casino.  We went there because we had appointments at 1:45 to give blood there at the casino.  Jackie’s blood draw went OK, but mine not so much.  They had trouble getting the catheter into a vein and then for whatever reason it clogged up.  They weren’t able to get a full bag of blood from me, only about three quarters full.  I am not sure if they even send that to the blood bank, but they beat the crap out of my arm with their digging around.  This was a private blood bank, so I think I will stick to the Red Cross in the future.  After giving blood, we went home and went to happy hour at 4:00.  We then came home and had dinner and spent the night with the TV.

Friday, June 13^th, ooouuu, scary.  I had a short Board meeting at 1:00 for an unexpected expense authorization.  After the Board meeting, we had a jam session in the clubhouse.  Since it was sort of a last-minute thing we only had myself, two people from the park and one of my regular jam group, playing.  We had a couple of spectators, and we still had a really good time.  We played for about an hour and half and then packed up.  I went home and we spent the rest of the night with the TV.  I did go out and pick up some take-out fish and chips from a local place for dinner.  Saturday, we had another stay-at-home day.  Jackie was still feeling poorly and didn’t go to her ladies luncheon.  I did go out with two other guys for the men’s dine out.  We went to El Jefe Mexican.  I brought a taco salad home to Jackie afterwards.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the house.

Sunday, June 15^th, Happy Father’s Day.  I heard from both my daughter Tye in Kentucky, and my son Roy in California.  We were originally going to go to an early dinner at the Elks Lodge, which was having a Father’s Day rib cook, but Jackie wasn’t sure she wouldn’t get sick, so we cancelled and just stayed home.  We spent the day watching movies on TV.  I made some chicken soup hoping it would help Jackie feel better.  Monday our house cleaner came.  We had pretty much a stay-at-home day.

Tuesday June 17^th, we had a 2:00 appointment with our regular doctor for our semi-annual checkup.  Mine was pretty routine, for my age I am still fairly healthy.  The doctor told me that I didn’t need to come back until next year, I could skip the 6-month checkup.  Jackie spent a great deal of time discussing her issues with the doctor.  He gave her a prescription for her belly pain, which is basically a gut antibiotic, just in case some of the reticula in her tummy are infected.  He also talked to her about her headaches and is going to start her on a pill for migraine headaches to see if that helps with the constant headaches.  After the doctor’s visit we went home.  I went to happy hour and then we had dinner.  I did my first shift of security for the park in the evening.  Wednesday, I went to guitar practice in the afternoon.  Pokeno was cancelled because they were doing some maintenance on the floors in the clubhouse.  Jackie didn’t really feel like going anyway.  I skipped happy hour and did my security patrol at 8:00.  We watched TV and went to bed.

Thursday, June 19^th, we had mostly a stay-at-home day.  I had another security shift in the evening.  Friday, we went out and ran some errands in the afternoon.  We went to happy hour and then home for dinner and a night with the TV.  I did my last shift of security.  Saturday, we had another stay-at-home day.

Sunday, June 22^nd, we went out after lunch to the Pahrump Nugget casino for some gaming for our “Sunday-Funday” time.  Neither of us won, but we had fun.  After that we stopped at Smiths for a few supplies, then headed home.  We went to happy hour, then home for dinner and a night with the TV.  Monday was a stay-at-home day.

Tuesday, July 24^th, I had a 9:00 calendar meeting with the Silver Seekers.  That lasted an hour or so.  We spent the rest of the day working around the house.  Wednesday, we had our usual guitar practice and Pokeno.  Went to happy hour then home for an evening of TV.  Thursday, Jackie had a mani appointment in the afternoon.  I did some office work and other chores.

Friday, July 27^th, I had a 9:00 Board Meeting which went until about 11:00  After that we went out for lunch at Dry Creek Saloon, a local bar and restaurant, and then went home.  We went to Bingo at 5:30.  Jackie won; I didn’t.  We watched TV and went to bed.  Saturday, I went out in the morning with our Board President, Sharon, and our Maintenance Manager, Ashliy, to the golf cart place to shop for another golf cart for the Co-op.  We found a nice one and bought it.  After I got home, we went shopping, then came home and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Sunday, July 29^th, we had a stay-at-home day.  Monday, we had a stay-at-home day on the LAST day of June, halfway through 2025.  Wow.  Until next time, stay safe, be good. 

 

 

  

May Starts with a Tropical Cruise Adventure

Hi there, our last chapter ended on April 30^th, while we were at our Co-op Park in Pahrump.  May 1^st started very early for us.  Our ride share driver arrived at 3:30 am to drive us from Pahrump to the Las Vegas airport.  We are catching a plane to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, so we can go on another cruise through the Panama Canal.  Our flight to Ft. Lauderdale was at 7:00 am out of Las Vegas, so that is the reason we left so early.  We got to the airport a couple of hours before the flight.  We checked our bags for the flight and just waited to take off.  We never slept last night so we were a little tired.  The flight, on United Airlines, took off on time and we were on our way.  This particular flight was actually to Chicago, which is how the cruise lined booked our flight.  I guess they always go for the cheapest fares.  It seemed a little out of the way to go to Chicago to get to Florida, but whatever.  We arrived in Chicago on time, early afternoon there since we lost two hours through time zone changes on the way.  We only had a 90-minute layover at Chicago O’Hare and fortunately the gate we had to go to for the next leg was fairly close by.  The next flight also left and arrived at Ft. Lauderdale on time.  Both flights were pretty uneventful, and reasonably comfortable as we had upgraded to Economy Plus which gave us seats in the first row of the economy section, right behind first class.  This gave us another six or eight inches of leg room.  After we retrieved our luggage, we caught a shuttle to go to the nearby Hampton Inn.  We had made reservations at this hotel, which is midway between the airport and the cruise port so that we could come in two days early and get rested up before the cruise.  We checked into the hotel, a nice room, and walked to a nearby sports bar and restaurant called Slackers Bar and Grill.  We had a cocktail and a nice dinner before heading back to the hotel and going to bed early.  At this point we were at about 36 hours without sleep, so we crashed. 

Thursday, May 1^st, we woke up about 9:00 after a very comfortable night’s sleep.  We didn’t have any plans to do anything today, so we just hung out in the hotel room and relaxed all day.  We got some lunch from a nearby Wendy’s and went out for dinner to Slackers again.  Both of these were just across the street from the hotel.  We did nothing else all day.

Friday, May 2^nd, we had reservations on the 11:30 shuttle from the hotel to the port to board the ship for our cruise.  We got up about 8:00, cleaned up and went down to the lobby about 11:00 to wait.  There were a dozen other couples in the lobby with their luggage, all of which had tags for the Island Princess cruise ship, which was also ours. The buses, (they sent two) picked us up at 11:30 and fifteen minutes later we were dropped off at the port.  We checked our big bags (3 of them) with the porters at the port to be taken onto the ship and then headed for the check-in area in the port.  Since Jackie sometimes has trouble walking long distances she had her cane.  One of the Princess Cruises embarkation people saw that and we were sent through the handicap line, which was much faster than the regular line.  We were checked in and on board the ship within a half hour of arriving at the port.  When we got on board we learned we could go to the room and leave our carryon bags, so we did that.  We have a nice balcony room on deck 11, which Princess calls the “Baha Deck.”  Although this is a fairly small cruise ship, the room was very nice and larger than those we had on the comparably sized Norwegian Sky ship we were last on. We completed our required muster station check-in and watched the safety videos, then headed for the buffet for lunch.  This ship has a wonderful buffet, called the Horizon Grill.  Lots of choices and lots of seating.  After lunch we explored the ship a little and had a drink or two.  When the luggage showed up in our stateroom we unpacked and got ready to sail away for 15 wonderful nights.  At 3:00 the ship set sail headed South.  The weather was great and the seas calm.  We had dinner in the dining room at about 6:30, and for the evening just went to some trivia games, went to the theater to see great comedian, spent a little time in the casino and finished the night with karaoke at 10:30.  Their karaoke was very short, only 45 minutes, so only one song per person.  We were in bed by 11:00.

Saturday, May 3^rd, was a sea day.  We slept in and spent the day with the various activities around the ship, including some trivia games, listening to music, the casino, eating and drinking, all the stuff you do on cruises.  Just on a whim I went to what was described in the daily newsletter as “Princess Pop Choir sign up and rehearsal.”  It turns out that one of the Cruise Director staff, Donovon, used to be a music teacher and created this program where passengers on the ship can sign up for the choir, which will have a 45 minute practice session at 2:00 on every sea day, and on the last day of the cruise before we dock in Los Angeles, this choir will perform in public in the main atrium of the ship.  We both stayed and did some singing.  All the songs are pop hits, they include “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” from the musical Oklahoma, “Waterloo,” by ABBA, “Don’t Stop Believing,” by Journey, “How Deep Is Your Love.” by the Bee Gees, “Swee Caroline,” by Neil Diamond, “New York, New York,” by Sinatra, “It’s Not Unusual,” by Tom Jones, and a couple of practices later, “The Rose,” by Bet Midler.  A total of eight songs.  That night after dinner we went to a production show in the theater that was music, dancing and singing by the entertainment cast.  They are quite good.  No karaoke tonight, we were in bed by 11:00 or so.

Sunday, May 4^th, another sea day.  Another day of relaxation, and spending time with the activities around the ship.  We both went to choir rehearsal today at 2:00.  Tonight was “formal” night, so we dressed up for dinner.  We spent the evening with activities, including another show in the theater, this time by a couple of rhythm and blues singers.  Another pretty good show.  We went to a late-night comedy show which was very funny.  We were in bed by about 11:30.

Monday, May 5^th, we arrived in Cartagena, Columbia, about 9:00.  We had an early shore excursion and were off the ship not too long after we docked.  We did a hop on, hop off, tour.  The tour did most of the main part of town, as well as the “old city” area, which is walled in.  We just went for the tour and didn’t get off until the last stop.  We had some time before we went back to the ship, so we had a nice lunch in a very nice seafood restaurant called Mar de las Antillas near where we caught the bus back to the ship.  We had a grilled octopus appetizer, and an excellent sea food chowder.  After lunch we went back to the ship and wandered around.  This port has a really cool mini-zoo that you have to go through to get back to the ship.  We were here a couple of years ago when we did the Panama Canal tour with a bunch of people from our Co-op.  It has a lot of birds, including flamingos, monkeys, lizards, etc.  It is really a fun place to visit.  We skipped the theater show after dinner because it was a Folklorrio show, which we have seen plenty of before.  We were in bed by 11:00. 

Tuesday, May 6^th, another sea day.  We did the usual stuff, went to choir practice, played games, drank and ate and gambled a little.  We had

dinner in the dining room and made arrangements with the waiter for a standing 7:00 appointment at the same table.  The waiter, Brighton, and his assistant, Howard, were very nice and very accommodating.  We also became acquainted with the two couples on either side of us.  One is a couple, originally from Guatemala, but now living in Los Angeles with a very successful Body and Paint shop.  The couple on the other side of us are from England, a town just north of London, and they are very nice also.  Tonight’s show was a tribute to ABBA.  After the show we went to karaoke, where I got to sing a song.  At karaoke we met another couple with the last name of Holt, the only other one’s on the ship  They are from British Columbia, Canada, near Vancouver.  Martin and Michelle.  We talked a lot but couldn’t come up with any family connections based on our limited knowledge of my ancestors on my father’s side.  They are very nice, and Michelle is a good singer.  They also have a karaoke side business.  After karaoke we went to bed.

Wednesday , May 7^th, today was the day we went through the Panama Canal.  We got up early enough to see as we approached the Atlantic end of the canal and went under the Atlantic Bridge.  We arrived at the first of the Gatun locks about 8:30.  Between the views from our balcony and the view from the bridge of the ship shown on our TV screen, we had a really good visual.  Unlike our transit of the canal two years ago, we were going through the original series of locks dating back to 1914.  This ship is what they call “Panamax” sized, which means it is the largest size ship that can fit in the old locks.  Our previous transit was on the Norwegian Joy which was a larger ship.  However, the process was the same.  There were three locks in the Gatun group, and it took about two hours to go through the series.  Between the three locks our ship was lifted about 85 feet from sea level at the Atlantic Ocean, to the level of Gatun Lake.  For the next three hours we cruised east, first across Gatun Lake, which is the source of all the water used in all of the locks of the canal.  Then we entered what is called the Culebra Cut, which is the channel that had to be carved through the mountain range that made up the Continental Divide in Panama.  The cut had to be made thorough 312 feet of solid rock at its deepest point and was the most difficult, expensive and time-consuming part of the whole project.  We arrived at the second set of locks, the Pedro Miguel Locks.  These locks, one chamber for each direction, drop the ships 31 feet to the level of Lake Miraflores on the Pacific side of the Continental Divide.  About 45 minutes after leaving those locks, we went into the Miraflores Locks, which drop the ship another 54 feet to Pacific Ocean sea level.  The new larger locks combine the two sets of single locks into one set of double locks called the Cocoli Locks.  Once out of the Miraflores locks we passed under the Bridge of the Americas and Panama City and out into the Pacific Ocean.  The whole transit took about ten hours to complete.  Unlike our previous cruise, this one did not make a stop at Panama City, which was a pretty neat place to visit.  The historian narrating the transit for the passengers over the PA system told us at one point that the cost charged to the ship for this ten-hour transit was in the neighborhood of $360,000, which comes out to about $163 per passenger.  After the transit we changed for dinner and went to the dining room.  After dinner we did the usual evening activities, although we skipped the entertainment in the theater since it was a saxophone player which didn’t interest us.  We were in bed by about 10:30 or so.

Thursday, May 8^th, another sea day.  We slept in and left our cabin at lunchtime.  For lunch we went to the Crown Grill, which is the premium dining steak house on the ship.  Today they had a special lunch that was a crab boil.  It was an extra cost option, but it was interesting.  They had an appetizer, a soup, and then brough out a huge silver bucket filled with crab, lobster, mussels, shrimp, and clams, all on ice.  It was a huge amount of food, but we managed to finish it off.  After lunch I had choir practice.  This was the point that Jackie decided she wasn’t going to continue as part of the choir so she could film us on the day we gave our performance.  After that we went to some trivia and other games and spent some time shopping and gambling.  We went for dinner at 7:00 and ate, despite the big lunch.  The food in the dining room is very good.  After dinner we did some activities and then went to the 9:30 show in the theater, which was Duo Gravity, a couple that did a balance/strength/jugging/comedy act that was very entertaining.  We remember them from being on America’s Got Talent a few years age.  After that show we went to bed.

Friday, May 9^th, a port call day.  We arrived in Puntarenas, Costa Rica about 7:00 am.  We were up when we docked because we had a shore excursion scheduled for 8:30.  We grabbed a quick breakfast in the buffet and then went out for our excursion, which was a ride down a jungle river in a wildlife refuge.  There was an hour plus bus ride to get there, which was interesting in its own right.  We have never been to Costa Rica, the only new port to us on this cruise.  When we arrived, we got into a small flat bottom boat and went for a three hour ride up and down the river.  We saw huge numbers of birds, jungle birds and waterfowl.  We also saw a number of crocodiles, some of which were the size of a small car.  It was a good trip and worth the cost.  On the bus ride back to the ship we stopped at a local store for some souvenir shopping.  Of course, I bought the shirt.  We arrived back at the ship about 6:20, which was 20 minutes late.  Fortunately, since this was a ship sponsored excursion, they delayed leaving until we got back.  Tonight, we had dinner in the Italian fine dining restaurant on the ship, Sabatini’s.  We had a very nice dinner, after which we did some of the regular activities on the ship before heading to the theater for a comedy show.  A.J. Jamal put on a great show and it was very funny.  After the show we went to karaoke, but it got cancelled because they couldn’t get the equipment to work.  We then went to our cabin and went to bed.

Saturday, May 10^th, another sea day and mid-point of the cruise.  We slept in and relaxed in the morning as is our routine.  We always had room service bring coffee and we just lazed around until lunch time.  After lunch I had choir practice, then some more activities.  We dressed for dinner, tonight was a formal night, and after dinner did some more activities.  We skipped the theater entertainment as it was another solo singing artist, and experience has taught us that these are usually not that good.  We were in bed by 10:00 or so.

Sunday, May 11^th, another port call day.  We arrived in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, about 7:00 am.  We had a shore excursion today, but it wasn’t until 12:30, so we had time to relax in the morning.  We went to lunch then went on our excursion, which was a bus tour through a drive through zoo.  It was about an hour to the zoo, and then a couple hours to drive through.  They had all the usual zoo animals, most from Africa and South America.  We had a light snack at the zoo clubhouse, then got back on the bus for home.  This time we got back to the ship well before the 5:30 deadline.  We changed for dinner and ate in the dining room.  After dinner we did some activities and then went to the theater for a magician, Nick Paul.  Had never heard of him, but he was quite good and very entertaining.  After the show we went to karaoke, and I actually got to sing one song.  After karaoke we headed back to the cabin and went to bed.

Monday, May 12^th, another sea day.  We relaxed in the morning and spent the afternoon with the various activities and venues around the ship, including choir practice.  We went to the dining room for dinner, then out for some more activities.  At 9:30 we went to the theater for a song and dance show focused on Latin music.  The performers on the ship are very good.  There was no karaoke, so after the show we went back to the cabin and went to bed.

Tuesday, May 13^th, yet another sea day.  Pretty much the same routine, although we did do lunch in the Italian fine dining restaurant because they had a “pop up” pizza parlor which was free to us.  The pizza was excellent.  After that we did various activities until it was time to change for dinner.  We did dinner in the main dining room and then did a few activities before the 9:30 show in the theater, which tonight was an Elton John impersonator.  The music was good, but his impersonation was terrible. After the show we went to karaoke where I got to sing one song again.  After that we went to bed.  Wednesday, another port day.  We arrived in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, about 7:00 am.  We waited until lunch time to get off the ship.  We spent about two hours ashore, mostly in the port area.  We had lunch, did some shopping and had a good time.  After we got back on board we did some activities, then changed and went to dinner in the dining room.  We skipped the theater show again, a single performer doing Aretha Franklin was not something we needed to see.  They had karaoke again at 10:30 and then we went to bed.

Thursday, May 15^th, Happy Birthday Jackie!  Today was a sea day and we had the usual relaxing morning.  We went to lunch, then did some activities around the ship in the afternoon.  We changed for dinner; tonight was the last formal night.  Tonight, we had dinner in the steak house for Jackie’s birthday.  Most of the food was good, but the service was a little disappointing.  We still had a good birthday dinner.  After dinner we did some activities around the ship, ending with another session of karaoke.  We then went to bed.

Friday, May 16^th, another sea day and the last full day on the ship.  We had a relaxing morning and went to lunch.  After lunch I had a final rehearsal with the Pop Choir.  At 2:00 the Choir assembled in the main atrium of the ship and put on a half-hour concert of our 8 songs.  We were well received and quite good, if I say so myself.  Jackie captured all 8 songs on video, available on request.  After the show we went back to the cabin and packed our suitcases.  They have to be put out in the hallway tonight by 10:00 and it is easier to pack in the afternoon than miss the nighttime activities.  We went for our last dinner in the main dining room, then did some activities around the ship.  We went to the 9:30 show in the theater, which was the usual farewell show with all the various entertainers making cameo appearances.    After the show we went to cabin and went to bed.

Saturday, May 17^th, we arrived at the Port of Los Angeles, in San Pedro, about 7:00.  We got up, cleaned up and were out of our cabin by 8:00.  We had breakfast, then just waited to get off the ship.  We were off the ship and through customs by about 9:45.  The debarkation was very smooth and easy.  We got our luggage and boarded a bus to LAX and were on our way by about 11:00.  We had a five hour wait at LAX, where we just sat, watched our phones and relaxed.  We had an expensive lunch of airport cheeseburgers.  We boarded our United flight to Las

Vegas and left LAX right on time at 5:30.  The weather was rough on the way to Vegas, with lots of rocking and rolling, but it only took about 45 minutes.  The landing in Vegas was really scarry.  We were coming down in very high winds and on approach we could see we were getting close to the airport, about eight or nine hundred feet with the gear and flaps down, when all of a sudden the engines went to full power, the gear came up and we went back up.  After a minute the pilot came back on and told us that a dust storm had hit the airport just as we were approaching and he had to go around.  He never said whether it was his decision, or air traffic controls, but around we went.  We made it down on the second approach, but it was a rocky, cross wind landing.  Everyone on the plane clapped and cheered when we set down.  In all my many thousands of miles flying this was my first missed approach.  We got off the plane, about 40 minutes late, and caught our ride share back home.  After a little over an hour, we were back in Pahrump and relaxing with the TV in our own living room again.  We went to bed about 10:00.

Sunday, May 18^th, was a day spent at home unpacking, doing laundry and taking care of things around the house.  By the end of the day, we were pretty much done with the unpacking and laundry and were ready to settle back into our normal routines.  We did go to the ice cream social at 2:00 to let everyone know we were home.  We watched some TV after dinner and went to bed.  Monday, I had a 9:00 planning meeting with the Board of Directors.  This meeting only lasted about 45 minutes.  Our house cleaner came about 10:00 and after she left we went to Walmart for some supplies.  After we got home, we had dinner and spent the night with the TV.

Tuesday, May 20, I had another 9:00 meeting, this time to set the June activities calendar with the Silver Seekers.  After that there was a 10:00 meeting of the Lucky Rollers camping group.  Jackie stayed home because she seems to have come down with a cold or severe allergies and is coughing and having cold symptoms.  We spent the rest of the day at home.  We skipped happy hour because we didn’t want to expose anyone to whatever Jackie has.  Wednesday, I went to play guitar with my practice group at 12:30.  Jackie was feeling sick still, so she skipped Pokeno.  When I got home, we had dinner, watched TV and went to bed. 

Thursday, May 22^nd, I had a Board meeting at 9:00.  Jackie was still not feeling well.  After the meeting I came home and found that I was not feeling very good either.  Mine got worse though the afternoon and by evening it was clear we both had head colds.  We did take Jackie to the hospital at noon for a follow up mammogram checking on something of concern they found at her routine screening a while back.  We spent the night with the TV and went to bed.  Friday, we didn’t have anything on our schedules so both of us just relaxed at home for the day, taking DayQuil and working on feeling better.  We even skipped the evening Bingo session.  Saturday was a repeat of yesterday.  Just staying home, taking care of our colds and working to get better.  Saturday was another free day that we spent just medicating and relaxing at home.  I did have to go out at 8:00 for my first shift of security, but it is mostly done just riding around in the car, so it was an easy hour. 

Sunday, May 25^th, another free day.  We did get out of the house today and went out to eat lunch at Denny’s, put some gas in the car and went to Walmart for some supplies.  We didn’t go to the ice cream social.  After we got home, we just did some chores and relaxed for the rest of the day and evening.  I did have to do my security patrol at 8:00.  Monday, Memorial Day.  We had no plans for today and just stayed home and did a few light chores.  Jackie is starting to feel a little better, I am probably at 80 percent today.  We did go to happy hour just to assure our friends we weren’t dead.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV, except for me and my last security tour for the month.

Tuesday, May 27^th, I was about 90 percent.  I have gotten rid of the cough, but I still have congestion and a of snot, have to blow my nose every ten minutes.  I did some office work today and Jackie spent the day in the house doing some chores and relaxing.  We went to happy hour again, then came home for dinner and another night with the TV.  When we got back from the cruise we had about 150 hours or so of TV recorded while we were gone.  All the regular shows we watch.  We are finally catching up.  It is helpful that most of the drama series that we watch are getting to the end of the season, so we are not recording as much.  Wednesday, I skipped my guitar session with my jam friends today because I am still a little “froggy” from the cold and didn’t feel like being with others.  Plus, one of our group tested positive for Covid last week so, better safe.  We both went to the clubhouse at noon to listen to a presentation from some of the staff from the Nathan Adelson Hospice group.  This is the only non-profit hospice in Nevada, and they have a presence here in Pahrump.  This is the second time they have come here to present to our members.  We had a couple dozen members attend, and it was a good session.  Plus, they always bring pizza to eat while you listen to the presentation.  Jackie stayed after the presentation to play Pokeno, while I headed home and did some office work.  We tried to do some baby backs on the BBQ for dinner, but I tried to hurry them along and ended up burning them to a crisp.  It was inedible for me, but Jackie carved off a few strands of meat.  She likes the char taste.  After dinner we watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, May 29^th, was another mostly stay at home day.  I did some chores and played out in the man cave.  Jackie had a haircut and pedicure at 3:00.  While she was gone, I went to happy hour.  We had dinner, a Costco chicken that our friend Linda had brought from Las Vegas.  We had a “chicken club” here where if any of the six or eight of us go to Vegas and stop at Costco, we checked with the rest of the group to see if they want rotisserie chickens.  After dinner we watched TV and went to bed.  Friday was a stay-at-home day.  I did some office work and some chores.  We went to happy hour and then came home for dinner.  We had leftover meat loaf.  We watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, May 31^st, the last day of the first half of the year. Wow!  Jackie went to the clubhouse about 10:00 to play cards with her friends.  About 11:00 I went with our friend Mo, who is chair of the Election Committee, to the post office to mail out the ballots for this year’s proposed amendments to the By Laws of the Co-op.  I am the chair of the By Laws Committee, which put together the proposals.  I was going to the post office with Mo because the By Laws require a member of the Board of Directors to certify that the ballots were mailed.  So, I went as a Board Member.  We had almost 150 ballots that had to be run through the machine, so we were gone for a while.  After I got back, I did some things around the house.  About 2:00 Jackie said she was feeling sick to her stomach, so she went to bed to take a nap.  We canceled our dinner plans for tonight with our friends the Vice’s.  When she came out around 4:00 she felt a little better, but not completely.  I made a pot of soup for dinner, and we watched TV until it was time for bed.

This marks the end of the May blog/diary, so it is time to put it online for posterity.  Until next time, enjoy life, you only get one ride.  Bye. 

Springtime Comes to Pahrump

Hello again.  Our last chapter concluded on Monday, March 31^st, while we were in residence at our wonderful retirement community in Pahrump.  Tuesday, April 1^st – April Fool’s Day!  I hate April Fools jokes.  Anyway, today we had a planned event starting at 1:00 that was intended to substitute for the usual Spring camping trip for the Lucky Rollers camping club here at our Co-op.  The club always has a Spring and a Fall campout somewhere within a couple of hundred miles of Pahrump.  They had planned for an event at the Avi Casino, which is an Indian casino a few miles South of Laughlin, Nevada.  About two weeks before the campout the plans sort of collapsed when the RV park at Avi wouldn’t honor the rates and conditions that the people from the club thought had been set up.  The club just decided to cancel the outing and hold a one-day party in our park instead of a four-day campout.  It didn’t bother us too much since we don’t have a movable RV anymore.  We go to most of the campouts, but we stay in a nearby hotel instead of the RV park.  A couple dozen people showed up at 1:00 in the open air “Quail Run” picnic area at the back of our park for the event.  However, it was cold and windy, so about 3:00 they decided to move the event into the clubhouse and restart at 4:00 with the potluck dinner.  The potluck went well, lots of good food.  After dinner we had some drawings for a couple of door prize gift baskets, one of which Jackie won.  They also had a brown bag drawing where you bring a gift in a bag and people buy tickets for a chance to win one.  We both got one of those as well.  We didn’t get the 50/50.  After all the drawings I played guitar and sang for the group for about an hour.  The whole thing wrapped up about 6:00.  Not quite the usual campout, but fun, nonetheless.  After the party we went home and spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Wednesday, April 2^nd, I had my guitar practice session with my music friends, and Jackie had her Pokeno in the clubhouse.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home for dinner and a night watching TV.  Thursday was a busy day.  I had a 10:00 meeting of the By Laws Committee.  Jackie had an 11:00 mani appointment.  I also had a 12:00 meeting with the Board of Directors where we met with the employees of the Co-op.  The current Board tries to do this at least once a quarter.  I then had another Board meeting at 2:30 for some financial approvals.  That meeting was pretty short.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home and had dinner.  We watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, April 4^th, we went to the China Wok restaurant about 10:30 for another one of our MASA lunches.  MASA is a sort of medical transport insurance and we have a lifetime membership.  They periodically put on lunches to try and get new business and they always welcome current members to attend.  Free Chinese food, why not?  After lunch we went home and spent the rest of the day relaxing and doing things around the house.  Saturday, Jackie went to play cards at 10:00 while I did some work on Board issues.  At 5:30 we picked up our friends Dale and Sue Vice and drove to the Pour House restaurant for dinners.  We had a pretty good visit with Dale and Sue but were a little disappointed with the quality of the food.  The place is in the process of converting to a brew pub and they seem to have lost their edge with the food.  After we dropped Dale and Sue off, we watched TV for the rest of the night.

Sunday, April 6^th, we did another “Sunday-Funday”.  We left the house about 1:00 and drove to the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge for a visit.  Although the Refuge is only about 28 miles from Pahrump, we have never been out here.  At last night’s dinner Dale and Sue talked a lot about the place, so we decided to go out there.  One reason we hadn’t gone out there since we stopped traveling in the motorhome and settled down is that our car, our old Ford Cmax hybrid, had a very low ground clearance and all the roads going to, and within, the Refuge are gravel.  Now we have our Buick SUV with normal clearance, so we were not hesitant to go ahead and drive out there. Back in the 50’s and 60’s this area was largely developed farming and ranching land.  The Armargosa River runs through (and beneath) this part of the Armargosa Valley.  By the 70’s the water was getting more and more difficult to get, so the area was pretty much abandoned and left as desert.  In 1983 http://The Nature Conservancy purchased 12,613 acres that had been slated for development to protect Ash Meadows. The Nature Conservancy transferred the land to the Fish and Wildlife Service  and the refuge was created on June 18, 1984, to protect this extremely rare desert oasis in the Mojave Desert.

Ash Meadows is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Ash Meadows provides a valuable and unprecedented example of desert oases habitats, that have become extremely uncommon in the southwestern deserts. The refuge is a major discharge point for a vast underground aquifer water system, reaching more than 100 mi to the northeast. Water-bearing strata come to the surface in more than thirty seeps and springs, providing a rich, complex variety of mesic habitats.  The Point of Rocks Springs in the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is home to the Amargosa River Pupfish.  Virtually all of the water at Ash Meadows is fossil water, believed to have entered the ground water system tens of thousands of years ago.  Numerous stream channels and wetlands are scattered throughout the refuge. To the north and west are the remnants of Carson Slough, which was drained and mined for its peat in the 1960s. Sand dunes occur in the western and southern parts of the refuge.

Endemic plants and animals.  Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge was established to provide and protect habitat for at least twenty-six endemic plants and animals, meaning they are found nowhere else in the world.  The concentration of locally exclusive flora and fauna that distinguishes Ash Meadows is the greatest concentration of endemic biota in any local area within the United States. It has the second greatest local endemism concentration in all of North America.

We went to the visitor’s center first, where we learned all about the history of the Refuge.  It was a very nice center with lots of exhibits and information.  We then drove to some of the various highlight areas.  We went first to Devils Hole, which is a natural fissure in the earth at the base of a small mountain range.  The fissure is an opening to a huge underground reservoir that is estimated to be more than 500 feet deep.  You can look down into the hole and see the water about 40 feet or so down.  The first five feet or so of this underground lake is home to the Devils Hole Pupfish, which is a tiny minnow that only exists in this place.  At one time the population of the fish declined to 35 individuals.  However, the Refuge has nurtured the population by creating a hatchery where they take the fish eggs every year and raise them until they can be returned to the hole.  There are now more than 200 of this species.  We also drove to a natural spring at a place called “Point of Rocks” where there is another species of Pupfish, the Armargosa River Pupfish.  In this spring fed pool, you can see a variety of species of pupfish and minnows. We took several pictures of the bright blue Pupfish.  We had a really nice visit and were glad we went.  After we drove home, we had dinner, which we had cooking in the crock pot while we were gone, then watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, April 7^th, we had nothing on our schedule today.  I spent most of the afternoon in the shed office doing some work related to my position on the Board of Directors.  I had to get a number of proposals written for the open Board meeting next week.  We skipped happy hour and just relaxed with the TV for the rest of the night.  Tuesday the cleaning lady came.  We had a stay-at-home day.  Wednesday, we had a lunch at the clubhouse at 11:00 put on by MASA.  After the presentation they had lunch catered by Panda Express.  After lunch I had my guitar practice group and Jackie had Pokeno.  We went to happy hour, then home for dinner and night with the TV.

Thursday, April 10^th, we left the park about 9:30 and headed to Las Vegas so Jackie could see Dr. Nishiyama about her knees.  After the exam and the x-rays, she was told that she really didn’t need any sort of surgery.  They gave her cortisone shots in both knees, and we were done.  We had lunch at the Omelet House in Summerlin, then went to Costco to shop.  After Costco we headed back home, getting back in time for happy hour.  After happy hour we went home and watched TV for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Friday, we went out for a late lunch at El Jefe’s, then came home and did some chores.  We went to Bingo at 5:30.  Both of us won one small pot, but we had fun.  We went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  On Saturday, Jackie had her ladies’ lunch out at Living Free Café, and I went with the men’s group to Tower Pizza.  After lunch we ran some errands and then came home and relaxed with the TV for the rest of the night.

Sunday, April 13^th, we had a stay-at-home day and did some chores.  We had our friends Mike and Rhea, and Max and Nancy, over for cocktails at 4:00.  After that we had dinner, then spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Monday, I had a Board workshop at 9:00.  About 11:00 we went to the Lakeside Casino for lunch with the Lucky Rollers camping group from here at the park.  After lunch we went home and spent the rest of the day there.  Tuesday was a stay-at-home day.

Wednesday, April 16^th, I skipped guitar practice and did some chores.  Jackie went to Pokeno.  After Pokeno we went to the physical therapy place because Dr. Nishiyama had suggested that Jackie might need some PT.  This is the same place I went to after my hip replacement.  She had her consultation with the PT specialist, and he told her he didn’t think she needed any PT, so we left and went home.  We had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.  Thursday was a busy day.  I had to go to the regular Board Meeting since I am now a Director on the Board.  After the Board Meeting, I had to set up the jam session in the clubhouse.  At 1:00 we had the jam session and had a really great group.  Some of the people I play with weekly came, as well as a couple of people from the park.  Jackie had an 11:30 mani appointment but made it back for the last half of the jam.  After the jam we went to happy hour, then came home for dinner and night with the TV.  I also had my first shift of Security Duty at 8:00.  Friday,  we ran some errands and spent most of the day home doing chores and the usual stuff.

Saturday, April 19^th, we ran some more errands.  I also spent an hour or so helping the Lucky Rollers group clean out their storage shed.  We are now working on getting things together for our cruise through the Panama Canal.  We leave here on Wednesday, the 30^th at 3:00 in the morning.  Our flight to Florida is at 7:00 am in Las Vegas.  We went to happy hour, then relaxed for the rest of the night.  Sunday,  Happy Easter.  This was a stay-at-home day.  I went over to the clubhouse to help with the cooking and serving of Easter Dinner.  Jackie stayed home and made sweet potatoes.  We had a really nice dinner with both turkey and ham.  After dinner we went home and watched TV until bedtime.  Monday was mostly a stay-at-home day.  Our house cleaner came, and we did a bunch of chores.

Tuesday, April 22nd, I had a calendar meeting with the Silver Seekers group.  Although I am not on the Silver Seekers board anymore, I still do their calendars and take care of the Electronic Bulletin Board.  After the meeting I spent several hours doing office work for the calendar.  Since we are leaving in a week, I had to get it done early.  Wednesday, I skipped guitar practice and did a bunch of chores, getting ready to leave for our cruise.  Jackie still went to Pokeno.  We went to happy hour, then came home for dinner and TV.    Thursday, I had a 10:00 meeting with the Policy and Procedures working group, of which I am the facilitator.  Afte the meeting we ran some errands.  Spent the rest of the day at home.

Friday, April 25^th, I had a 10:00 meeting of the By Laws Committee and then at 1:00 I went with a bunch of people to help clean up around the park’s Quonset hut.  There was a lot of hording going on, so a lot of junk to throw away.  After clean up time we went out to eat a late lunch at Rubalcabas Mexican restaurant.  We went home and then to Bingo at 5:30.  Neither of us won anything tonight.  After Bingo we went home and relaxed with the TV.  Saturday, we went out for haircuts at 11:00, then we both got our toes clipped.  Jackie got a full pedi.  After we got home Jackie made some pea soup in the InstaPot for the potluck.  At 3:00 we went over to the potluck and had a nice dinner with friends.  After dinner we came home and watched TV.  Sunday, we got the suitcases out and started packing for our trip.

Monday, April 28^th, I went over to the clubhouse at 10:00 and helped my friend Don install a new TV on the wall.  We had to take the old TV down, put up and new bracket for the bigger TV and get it mounted.  We were done in about two hours.  We spent the rest of the day at home, getting ready to cruise.  Tuesday Jackie had a manicure appointment at 2:30.  We spent most of the day doing our final packing for our cruise.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home and had dinner.  Because we were being picked by our ride service at 3:30 am, we didn’t go to bed.  We just stayed up and watched TV.  Our ride service is a private ride sharing service, the driver, Debbie, has been used by a number of our friends and fellow members at the Co-op park.  It’s $80 each way, which makes it cheaper than driving and parking a car somewhere in Las Vegas.

That is the end of this month’s chapter of our personal history blog.  Until next time, be safe and have fun.  Bye.