Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Thursday, April 8th, when we arrived back home at our lot in the Escapee's Park in Pahrump, Nevada. Peggy, who is traveling with us for a while, was able to get one of the rental lots at the park and will be here a few weeks.
Friday, April 9th, I spent a few hours in the morning working on setting up decorations and stuff around our lot. We went out for a late lunch to the Chatthai restaurant. Peggy, who had taken a fall on Tuesday when we were leaving Yuma, was still hurting, so after lunch we dropped her off at the urgent care so she could get looked at. I went back later and picked here up and took her back to her coach. Nothing broken, just sore. We spent the evening with the TV and then went to bed. Saturday was also a set up day, I put out the decorative lights around the lot and pretty much finished setting up the outside stuff. We did a Walmart run in the afternoon, then came back and had a pork loin for dinner. After Peggy left we spent the rest of the night with the TV.
Tuesday, April 13th, Jackie and I went out about 2:00 so Jackie could get a pedi. I also got my toenails trimmed. Peggy was supposed to go with us, but she hurt her foot this morning and didn't want to go with an open wound. After the nail appointment we picked up our mail and did a quick Walmart run before returning back to the ranch. We had cocktails with Peggy, Millie had another engagement. After happy hour we did some steaks on the BBQ for dinner. After Peggy left we watched some TV and then went to bed. Wednesday was pretty much a stay at home day. We did go out in the late afternoon to pick up our mail. We also stopped at the used appliance store near the park to look again for a refrigerator for the shed. We found a really nice looking, nearly new, 18 cubic foot Whirlpool top freezer for $350, basically half price. It was another $50 for delivery, since we couldn't fit it in Maxie. It will be delivered at the end of the week. We had happy hour with our little group at 5:00 and then dinner with us and Peggy. We did some hamburgers on the grill and had them with coleslaw on the side. After Peggy left we spent the night with the TV.
Thursday, April 15th, was supposed to be tax day, but because of the plague the government put it off for another month. Not that it matters much to us, we filed and got our refund over a month ago. Today was pretty much a stay at home day. I did the paperwork for out planned improvement projects, including a patio slab, landscaping the front yard, and doing some repairs to the covered patio. I got them submitted to the park for approval by the various committees. We had cocktails at our place, but then went over to Peggy's for dinner. She made her penne pasta dish, which was wonderful. After dinner we went back to our place and watched TV until bedtime. Friday we left the coach about 10:30 with both Millie and Peggy, and drove to the China Wok Buffet for lunch and a presentation by the Medical Air Transport Services (MASA) representative. MASA is a company along the lines of an insurance company, but legally different. They are intended to provide payment to any sort of emergency medical transport, ground ambulance, helicopter ambulance, fixed wing ambulance travel for long distances. They also are supposed to provide assistance when you are hospitalized away from home, like returning your RV and car, transporting next of kin, that sort of stuff. The program for seniors is a one-time purchase, which provides coverage for life. We bought our coverage in 2007, shortly after starting our full time lifestyle. Whenever they put on these presentations they always invite existing members as well as new people. We particularly wanted to go today because after 14 years we were disappointed in the way MASA handled Millie's affairs in Yuma when her husband Dick died in the hospital of Covid. They didn't do a thing for her, none of the things we always assumed the program would do. After the presentation we brought up these issues with Chuck, the representative we have known for years, and both he and the other representative that was there, seemed to be genuinely shocked at what happened. They talked to Millie and promised to look into the matter to see why things went the way they did. Now we will just have to wait and see. We did get a nice Chinese buffet lunch after the presentation. After lunch we headed back to the RV park because our new, at least to us, refrigerator was scheduled to be delivered. They showed up about 2:30, unloaded the fridge and put it in the shed for us. Looking more closely at it, it is clear that it is essentially a brand new fridge that was “scratch and dent” sidelined. There were deep scratches on both the left and right side of the cabinet that most people who buy new would reject. For us it is a spare fridge in the shed, we really don't care as long as it works. We are very happy with it. We did have happy hour with the four of us and Belle, but no dinner because of the big lunch. After Millie and Peggy left we spent the rest of the evening with the TV.
Monday, April 19th, I had a committee meeting in the morning that lasted a couple of hours. This morning the renters that had been on the lot next to ours left and Peggy made arrangements with the office to move over to that lot to be closer to us. I helped her get packed up and then set up again when she moved. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the coach. We had happy hour with the group, but Jackie and I had dinner on our own. After dinner we watched some TV and went to bed. We did get approval today for our projects on our lot, including the concrete slab and some landscaping work. Tuesday we were up early and out the door by 8:30, going to get our annual blood tests done. We have doctor's appointments for our checkup and prescription renewals in a few weeks and needed to get the testing done. After our tests we drove to Johnny's, a Mexican restaurant here in town. Peggy met us there and while we were there our friend Len came in. We had also seen him earlier at the medical center waiting to go in for an MRI on his hip. He came and sat with the three of us and we all had breakfast. After eating we went back home, then in the afternoon we took Peggy and did a Walmart run and picked up our mail. After Walmart we went back home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. We had cocktails with the group and then we and Peggy had dinner. We had a pizza that we had bought at Walmart. After Peggy left we watched TV and went to bed.
Wednesday, April 21st, I drove Jackie to her eye doctor about 10:30 for a followup to her cataract surgery from last year as well as an issue with dry eye. The doctor said her vision was perfect and gave her a prescription for a drops to treat the dry eye issue. After the doctor we went home and then Jackie and Peggy left to go to lunch at a place here in Pahrump called Artisan Cellars, a winery themed restaurant. I stayed home and did a few chores around the coach. After lunch Jackie went to Walgreens to pick up her prescription and called me because she was in shock. It turns out that the medicine she was prescribed had a co-pay of $105 and a retail price of almost $2,800!! She got the meds, but I don't know how the average middle class person without good insurance could possibly afford those prices. After Jackie got home we relaxed for bit, then had happy hour with Peggy. Millie was busy with other stuff. After happy hour we did some fish on the new BBQ for dinner. After Peggy left we watched some TV and went to bed.
Sunday, April 25th, we had a stay at home day. I went out in the morning for a paper and then spent a little time in the morning getting a crock pot full of chili colorado ready to cook. We did a few chores and went over to the clubhouse at 2:00 for root beer floats and what was supposed to be a jam session, but no one else showed up. We had our floats and went home. We did go over to see Millie's new “home”, a large trailer that her son bought in Florida and had shipped out here. It is 40 feet long and very nice inside and out. I think Millie will be very happy. Now, she just has to sell her motor home. We had happy hour with the group and then Peggy and us had chili colorado for dinner, along with rice and beans. A very nice dinner, and sadly, the last with Peggy for while as she has decided she needs to head home to help with the efforts to sell the house in Mineral. She will be leaving in the morning. After Peggy left we watched some TV and went to bed.
Monday, April 26th, I was up about 7:30 and helping Peggy get unhooked, packed up and ready to travel. She was on the road by 8:00, heading to Mineral, California with a few stops along the way. About noon one of the concrete contractors I had called came out to give us a bid on the concrete slab we want to put on our lot between the coach and our shed and front yard. The good news is that he estimated it would be around $2,000, a little less than I had anticipated. The bad news is that he is backed up at least 8 weeks, which means he couldn't get it done before we leave for the summer in June. I have another coming out on Wednesday. The rest of the day was pretty much stay at home. We walked over to Millie's after lunch and I moved her motor home out of her lot and onto another lot a few doors down. She had made arrangements to use this empty lot for a few days while she transitioned from her motor home to her new trailer. Some other friends of hers at the park then moved her new trailer onto her lot and started to get it set up for her. We had cocktails with just the two of us for the first time in a long time. We had leftover chili colorado for dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.
Tuesday, April 27th, we were on the road about 10:00 headed over the hump for our first trip to Las Vegas since coming back to Pahrump a few weeks ago. Our first stop was a restaurant called the Omelet House, which has become our favorite Vegas breakfast place. They have about 45 different, and sometimes exotic, omelets on the menu. I had the corn beef hash omelet, Jackie had the avocado and shrimp omelet. After lunch we went to a Great Clips and both got haircuts. Once the haircuts were done we went to Costco to stock up. It is nice that we now have the shed on our lot to store things, we can stock up on paper products at Costco and save money. After spending a bunch of money at Costco we headed back over the hump, getting back home just before 4:00. We got everything unloaded and put away, then relaxed for the rest of the day. It was too windy and cold for cocktails outside, so we stayed in. We also didn't have any dinner because of the big, late lunch.
Wednesday, April 28th, we went out after lunch to run a few errands. We picked up our mail and stopped at Walmart for a few things. After we got home I did a few chores and generally relaxed. We spent the rest of the day in the house because the wind was still blowing hard. Thursday, April 29th, we went out after lunch to run some errands. We picked up mail and stopped at Walmart to return some windshield wiper blades I bought yesterday. They didn't fit on our car,despite the fact I bought the one's the book said was correct. We stopped at Albertson's and bought some steaks and country ribs that they had on sale, then went to Home Depot to shop a few things we might be using in our projects around our lot. Our final stop was the NAPA store where I bought the correct blades and the desk guy even came out and installed them for me. Yea! We went back home where we relaxed for the rest of the day. We did a couple of the new steaks on the BBQ for dinner, watched some TV and went to bed.
Friday, April 30th, we had a stay at home day. It was quite warm outside today, so we stayed in and did some light chores. We did settle on a contractor to put in our patio slab. Neither of the contractors we had bid could get the job done before we left for summer travels in June, so we picked the less expensive bid with a start date in September, when we get back to Pahrump. We did some pork chops on the BBQ for dinner, watched TV and then off to bed.
We are at the end of the month and a little over three weeks, so it is time to close out this episode and get it published. Until next time, consider these words by author W.H. Auden. “We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know.” See ya soon.
