The Weeks Between the Holidays

Hello again.  Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, November 26^th, while we were in the process of changing our entire lifestyle.  About three weeks ago we sold our motor home, in which we traveled the country for 17 years, and bought a destination trailer, basically a large travel trailer intended for long term stays.  In our case, we will be living in it, without it ever moving, at the Escapees Co-op park in Pahrump.  It has taken all of the three weeks for us to finally get everything moved back into the trailer and put away.  When we unpacked the motor home before trading it we unloaded all of our possessions into our storage shed here at the park. 

Sunday, November 27^th, we went out after lunch and ran a few errands.  Other than that we stayed around the house and did chores.  Monday I had a 10:00 meeting of one of the committees I attend here at the park.  I say attend because I used to be a member of this committee, the By Laws and Standing Rules Committee.  However, when I was elected to the Board I can only come to the committee meetings as an observer and advisor.  Board members are not allowed to be members of any of the standing committees of the Co-op.  While I was in the meeting our golf cart was returned by the golf cart shop here in Pahrump.  They had to pick it up late last week because it quit running.  I thought it was something in the control system, but it turned out it needed new batteries.  Since it has 7 deep cycle lead acid batteries it was not cheap, about $1,400 worth of not cheap.  I knew the batteries were old and not well maintained when I bought the cart, but I had hoped they would last a little longer.  However, when I went to use the cart in the afternoon I found that the left rear tire was flat.  Crap, still don’t have a cart.  I don’t know how to take the wheels off of the thing, so I am having to wait until the cart guys can come back out and take a look.  Jackie had a mani appointment in the afternoon and I did some more work around the lot, mostly now cleaning up the shed and patio.  We went to 4:00 happy hour, then had dinner and watched TV the rest of the night.

Tuesday, November 29^th, we both had our semi-annual physicals with our primary care doctor, Dr. Wiggins, at 11:00.  We are both in reasonable health given our ages, but we had a chance to catch up Dr. Wiggins on the specialists that we both have been seeing.  Other than that, we are in good shape.  Jackie had physical therapy in the afternoon and I did some chores around the coach.  Wednesday Jackie had her regular Pokeno game in the clubhouse at 1:00 and I did more work around the lot.  At 4:00 we drove to the Japanese Steak House, Ohjah, here in Pahrump for the monthly dine out with other people from our park.  We had about 18 people in the hibachi grill and had a great meal and a great time.  After the dinner we went back to the park and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Thursday, December 1^st, we left the park about 10:30, picking up our friends Millie and Charlene, and headed to the China Wok Buffet for another MASA meeting.  Regular readers know that MASA is a sort of insurance for ambulance bills, ground and air, and many of the members at the Co-op are also MASA members.  They invite their members to come to the sales presentations and we get a free lunch for just listening to the pitch for the hundredth time.  We had a nice lunch and then went back to the park.  Jackie had physical therapy at 2:00 and I stayed home and caught up on a bunch of administrative work I have gotten behind on.  At 4:00 we went to happy hour at the clubhouse and then came home and had leftovers from last night’s dinner for tonight.  We then spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Friday, December 2^nd, the local cart guy came by first thing in the morning and picked up our golf cart again.  When they returned it Monday after replacing the batteries I found that it had a flat tire.  As it turns out, it appears that all of the valve stems have deteriorated from age and are leaking, some worse than others.  All four tires have to be taken off and taken to the tire store to be repaired.  So, off to the shop it goes, again.  I did some more chores around the place, finally getting the patio and lanai cleaned and ready for use again.  Most of the work in the shed is done and we are pretty much finished moving into the new trailer.  We still have to hang some pictures and do some other minor work, but we are close.  We went to happy hour at 4:00 and stayed at 5:00 for the park’s first “Spam-o-Rama” contest.  One of the members, Scott, dreamed up a spam cook off contest and, surprisingly, there were almost a dozen contestants.  There were all kinds of dishes made which incorporated spam, including a couple of chilis, some stuffed mushrooms (which won), bacon wrapped spam, and many more.  There was so much sampling to be had that we didn’t even have to make dinner after we went home.  It was a great idea and a lot of fun.  After we got home we watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, December 3^rd, we left the coach about 1:30 and I dropped Jackie off to get her nails worked on.  While she was doing that I ran some errands, picked up mail, dropped off some donations at the thrift store and went to Walmart for some supplies.  After my errands I picked up Jackie and we went back home.  We were about to leave to go to happy hour when our friend Charlene came by and asked if I would go with her to the local Jeep/Dodge dealership to look at a Jeep.  She was in an accident in Las Vegas a month or so ago and they totaled her old Jeep.  She has a rental car and has someone at the Jeep dealership searching for a replacement Jeep.  She told me they had just called that took a Jeep in on trade today and wanted her to look at it.  Her husband died about a year ago and she didn’t want to go alone.  I told her I would go.  We drove to the dealership and they showed her a very nice, low milage 2015 Jeep Wrangler 4dr in white.  It was the Sahara model, which is an upgrade, and it was really a good looking car.  We took it for a quick test drive and it seemed be in very good condition.  Of course, the sales guy took inside and tried to make a deal tonight.  Charlene is on a limited fixed income and she knew exactly how much she could afford to put down, and how much she could afford in payments.  The sales guy tried everything to get her to fall in love with the car and come off of her financial requirements, but in the end, after an hour of haggling, they just weren’t able to make the deal work.  It was a little too much car, cost wise, for her budget.  We drove home and Charlene came in and had dinner with us.  Jackie had made a chili relleno casserole and we had a nice dinner.  After she left we watched TV and then went to bed.

Sunday, December 4^th, was a stay at home day.  I was fighting a cold, so I did a few small chores around the house, as did Jackie.  Monday I was up early for an 8:30 meeting at the Nye County Administration building.  I had been called in for my first review of a citizen’s complaint made on a Nye County Deputy Sheriff.  It was an interesting experience, being briefed on the complaint and the investigation by internal affairs, and the proposed outcome.  The Undersheriff did the briefing and then myself and two other members of the Advisory Board discussed the issues and made our report.  Everything is confidential, so I can’t go into details, but it kind of took me back to my days at the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office when I was a Lieutenant in command of the Internal Affairs unit.  The whole process took a couple of hours.  At 1:00 I had another meeting in the clubhouse with the Board of Directors.  We were able to go to happy hour at 4:00, then went home and had steaks and scallops for dinner.  Yum.

Tuesday, December 6^th, I had a 9:00 dental appointment, which didn’t take too long.  I am having a new clasp put on one of my partial plates and they needed to take some impressions.  After the dentist I picked up mail then went back to the park.  I had an 11:00 meeting in the clubhouse with the Treasurer of the Co-op, which lasted about a half hour.  I went back to the house and had lunch.  At 1:00 Jackie and I both went to the clubhouse for the Townhall Meeting.  There were not too many people there and very few people had anything to say, so the meeting was pretty short.  After that meeting I spent another hour or so doing some work on the clubhouse sound system.  Jackie had left to go to her PT appointment.  We went to the 4:00 happy hour and then came home and had scampi for dinner, then spent the rest of the night watching TV.

Wednesday, December 7^th, Pearl Harbor Day.  Jackie woke up feeling the effects of having caught my cold.  She was supposed to have gone to play Pokeno this afternoon, but she decided not to go so as not to spread germs.  I spent most of the day doing chores.  About 3:30 I started setting up for our howl at the moon gathering in the patio area of the clubhouse.  I took our portable firepit to go along with the park’s firepit because it was supposed to be cold.  We started gathering about 4:00.  I had my guitar and our friend Scott had is ukulele and we were providing a little entertainment.  The moon came up about 4:40 and we all howled.  It was not a huge gathering, maybe a dozen or so, but it was very cold.  We hope to make it a monthly thing, weather permitting.  We broke up about 5:30 or so and we went back to the house, had some dinner and watched TV until bedtime.  Thursday I had 10:00 meeting with the new audit committee members, turning over the books and records.  At 1:00 I went to the Silver Seekers meeting.  Jackie spent the entire day on the couch nursing her cold.  We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the house with the TV.

Friday, December 9^th, I had a committee meeting in the clubhouse at 10:00.  About 2:00 I went to the dentist to get my newly repaired lower partial.  It didn’t take too long to do the fitting and I walked out with lower teeth again.  Yea, steak time again.  We did 4:00 happy hour at the clubhouse, then came home and had dinner.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Saturday was a chores day.  Jackie had a 1:00 manicure appointment and after I dropped her off I ran some errands, including doing a Walmart run.  After I picked her up we went back home and stayed in for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  We are both trying to recover from colds and cold weather is not making it easy.  We are not so much sick as just uncomfortable with runny noses and an occasional cough.

Sunday, December 11^th, we stayed home and relaxed for most of the day.  About 2:00 we left, along with our friend Millie, and drove to the Saddle West Casino for the annual Christmas Show put on by the Silver Tappers group.  The Silver Tappers are all local women, over the age of 50, who dance and entertain locally.  Our friend Debbie is a member of the group.  The show was a little under an hour and was very entertaining and enjoyable.  After the show we headed back to the park, had dinner and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Monday we were up and out of the house by about 10:00, headed to Las Vegas for lunch at the Olive Garden with the park’s RV group, the Lucky Rollers.  Normally the Lucky Rollers do their monthly dine outs in Pahrump, but we do have a number of members who live in Las Vegas, so at least once a year they try to do a lunch in Vegas.  We had almost 30 people and it was a great lunch.  Olive Garden did a wonderful job taking care of such a large group and we all enjoyed our meal.  After lunch we went to the nearby Costco for some needed supplies.  After Costco we headed home, getting back before dark.  We spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Tuesday, December 13 I had a Board of Directors planning meeting at 9:00 that went most of the morning.  After the meeting we both just stayed in because we still weren’t feeling a hundred percent.  I did some office work, but we mostly just relaxed.  Wednesday Jackie went to play Pokeno at 1:00 and I spent the afternoon catching up on office work, mostly related to the Board of Directors.  We did happy hour at 4:00, then came home for dinner.  We spent the rest of the night watching the TV.

Thursday, December 15^th, I had the regular open Board of Directors meeting at 9:00.  The meeting was pretty much uneventful and went for about 90 minutes.  After lunch I had to back to the clubhouse for an Executive session meeting with the Board.  That meeting ran until almost 4:00.  I just stayed in the clubhouse after the meeting and Jackie came over with our happy hour cocktails and we sat with the happy hour crew and chatted.  After happy hour we went home and fixed a nice pork loin for dinner then watched TV until bedtime. Friday we went out about 1:00 for a late lunch at Romero’s, one of our favorite Mexican places.  After lunch we ran some errands, including a Walmart visit.  After we got home and relaxed for a bit we went over to the clubhouse a little after 5:00 for the monthly Bingo game.  Jackie won one game, which she had to split.  I didn’t get anything.  We were back home by about 8:30, watched some TV and went to bed.

Saturday, December 17^th, was a stay at home day.  I got some things done around the lot.  We had an early dinner and went over to the clubhouse about 5:30 or so for Trivia Night.  We had done this in the late summer and had a really good time.  Our friend Scott was the MC again and asked the questions.  We had six people on our team and had a really good showing in the first half, but sort of fell behind in the second half, finishing second overall for the night.  It was a lot of fun and we look forward to the next one.  After trivia we went home and watched TV until bedtime.  Sunday was another stay at home day.  We did a few chores, but mostly were just lazy today.  About 4:00 I went over to the clubhouse with my audio equipment and set up for karaoke.  At 5:00 we had a pot luck in the clubhouse and at 6:00 we did karaoke.  We didn’t have too many singers, or too many people who stayed after dinner.  However, those that did participated and we had a really good time for about 90 minutes.  Everything was over about 8:30, after which we sat and watched TV before going to bed.

Monday, December 19^th, we went out after lunch to run some errands.  We stopped at the Dollar Store for some Christmas decorations for the golf cart and some wrapping materials for the gift exchange.  We then picked up mail and did a quick Walmart run for some we needed.  After that we headed back home.  We went to 4:00 happy hour, then came home and had dinner.  After dinner we watched TV until bedtime.  Tuesday was a stay at home day.  Got a lot done around the house.  We got some pictures hung and some other chores completed.  Wednesday was also a stay at home day.  Jackie went to the clubhouse for Pokeno at 1:00 and I stayed home and did chores.  The biggest one was replacing four of the roller shades inside the trailer.  When we got the trailer we noticed that some of the shades had grey or silver markings that didn’t match the other shades in the coach.  A couple weeks ago we received new shades from the Forrest River factory in Indiana.  I got all four shades changed out this afternoon.  We went to happy hour at 4:00 and then went home and had dinner.  We had country ribs cooking in the crock pot all day.  After dinner we watched TV and went to bed.

Thursday, December 22^nd, we didn’t have anything on our schedule until 1:00 when we participated in the park’s Christmas golf cart parade.  We had our cart well decorated and even had Christmas carols playing.  We had about seven carts in the parade and drove around the entire park.  We were pleased that a number of the residents had come outside and were sitting waiting for the parade to go by.  After the parade we had hot chocolate and snacks in the clubhouse.  We were back in the clubhouse at 4:00 for happy hour.  After happy hour we went home, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

We are now a month into this episode and it is time to close it out.  Until next time, ponder the words of writer Alexandre Dumas, “Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering what one receives.”  See ya soon.