A New Year Begins

 Hi, welcome back.  Our last episode concluded on Thursday, December 22^nd.  Friday was a chores day.  We went out after lunch and ran a few errands.  We did happy hour with the crew at the clubhouse, then went home for dinner and an evening of TV.

Saturday, December 24^th, Christmas Eve.  We stayed around the park for the day.  At 4:00 we went the clubhouse for happy hour and then stayed for 5:00 Christmas Eve party.  We had pizza and salad provided by the Silver Seekers group and then did some games.  After the games we did the gift exchange.  Gifts got passed around a lot and we finally went home with a bottle of white wine.  After the party we went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Sunday, Merry Christmas!  Today was a stay-at-home day.  We relaxed a bit and put a big breast of turkey in the oven for the Christmas dinner at the clubhouse at 3:00.  At 3:00 we went to the clubhouse with our turkey, stuffing and gravy and joined our table.  This dinner was like Thanksgiving in that individual “sponsored” a table and everyone brought side dishes.  We had 16 people at our table and had a lot of food.  We had a great meal with friends and enjoyed the afternoon.  By 5:00 we were done, cleaned up and back home where we spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Monday, December 26^th, I had some meetings and work to do in the Co-op offices, so I was down there by about 8:30.  The Board of Directors decided to close the office for the week between Christmas and New Year’s so we could get some work done on cleaning up our files and our accounting system.  I spent most of the morning down at the office, came home for lunch, and then went back for another couple of hours.  I was done about 3:00.  We went to happy hour at the clubhouse, then came home and had leftovers from yesterday for dinner.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Tuesday I was back and forth to the office doing various things with the computers for most of the day.  About 3:30 we left the park and went to Nicco’s Pizza for one of the monthly dine outs with people from the park.  We had about a dozen people, which is average for the dine outs.  We haven’t been to Nicco’s in a number of years and forgot that the food was very good.  I had a wonderful Italian sub sandwich and Jackie had eggplant parm.  After dinner we drove to the Elks Lodge for the monthly meeting.  Two of our friends, Ginny from our RV park, and Phyllis, whom we have known almost since we came here in 2007, were both being initiated tonight.  As always, the initiation ceremony took a long time and we didn’t get out of the meeting until almost 8:00.  We headed back to the coach and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Wednesday, December 28^th, was a stay at home day.  I was again back and forth between the office and home doing various tasks.  I did have a handyman/carpenter come out at 1:00 to give us an estimate on building a “porch” and steps for our new trailer.  We are using a rickety borrowed metal stair case now.  The price was a little higher than I expected at $1,380, but the price of wood has skyrocketed.  The guy who came out has built stairs and such for several people here at the park and has a good rep.  Jackie played Pokeno at 1:00 and at 4:00 went to happy hour.  After happy hour we had dinner, leftovers from last night, and then spent the rest of the night watching TV.

 Thursday, December 29^th, I went into the office in the morning to do some computer work and meet with some other members of the Board of Directors.  I was back at the trailer in time for a noon Zoom meeting of the Full Timers Chapter of FMCA.  I don’t do the newsletter anymore, but we are still members of the Chapter.  At least for the near future we are going to keep our FMCA membership and a couple of the Chapter memberships in those with which we have been closely associated.  Since our new trailer is still an RV, we are still qualified to remain in FMCA and any of the Chapters.  I went back to the office for a couple of hours after lunch, then came home.  We did happy hour and then spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Friday was more of the same.  I did a few hours in the office in the morning.  In the afternoon we went out and did some errands, Walmart, the mail store, etc.  We renewed our UPS store mailbox, but only for six months as we are transitioning our mailing address to our mailbox here at the Escapees park now that we are here full time.  We had happy hour again and then spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Saturday I did a couple hours in the morning in the office, then about 3:30 I took all the sound equipment to the clubhouse for the New Year’s Eve party.  I accepted the bid of the handyman we found to build our porch and stairs for the trailer.  We should have some new wood stairs in a week or so.  I helped Jackie make our contribution to the “finger food” pot luck, and about 5:30 we went over for the party.  There were quite a few people there for the pot luck, but by 7:30 all but a dozen or so had left.  The rest of us stayed, listened to music, did some dancing, and generally had a good time with friends.  We watched the ball drop in New York City at 9:00, and the party was over.  We went back home and spent an hour or so with the TV before going to bed.  We were asleep by 11:30 and didn’t really hear any fireworks or anything outside.  Of course, it had started raining right after we got home, a little before 10:00, and it was raining pretty steadily most of the night. 

Sunday, January 1^st, 2023!  Happy New Year.  For the most part today was a stay-at-home day.  I did go into the office briefly, but then spent the rest of the day on some of my own chores at home.  We didn’t go to root beer floats or really leave the house most of the day.  We had another power failure just before dark.  This time the power was out almost two hours and it was starting to get a little chilly in the house before it came back on.  It made me wish for the motorhome, which a big diesel generator we could run when the power went out.  Monday was the actual Federal holiday for New Years.  I had a 10:00 executive board meeting in the office that went a couple of hours.  After that I did a little bit of my Board work in the office and then went home.  We went to happy hour and had dinner, then watched TV until it was time for bed.

Tuesday, January 3^rd, I went in the office early for some Director duties.  I came home for lunch about 11:30 and went back about 1:00 for another couple of hours.  The guy we hired to build the steps came in the morning and made really good progress on our porch and steps.  If the predicted rain doesn’t mess things up he should be done in a day or two.  We went to happy hour and then had dinner and spent the evening with the TV.  Wednesday I went into the office early again, but was back home by about noon.  Jackie went to play Pokeno at 1:00 and I did some chores around the house.  We did happy hour at 4:00 and then came home and made dinner.  After dinner we watched TV.

Thursday, January 5^th, I another early start at the office due some things the Board was doing.  I was finished in the office by about 11:30 and went back home.  About 12:30 we went out to lunch at the Pour House restaurant, meeting our friends Don and Julie Kline there.  We had a very nice lunch and a visit with friends.  After lunch we ran some errands, including the mail store and Walmart.  We went home and put stuff away, then relaxed until 4:00 happy hour.  After happy hour we went back to the house and spent the rest of the evening with the TV.  Friday I went into the office for a little bit in the morning,  Our handyman finished the construction phase of our new porch and steps.  It is now functional, but still needs to be stained once the weather clears for a few days and the wood dries out.  At 3:00 we had a meeting of the group here at the park that is going on the cruise next month.  The main topic of conversation was trying to get a place to stay in Las Vegas the night before we leave for Los Angeles, and the day we come back from Florida.  The Los Angeles flights are all early, and we all get back late after the cruise and don’t want to drive over the hump late at night.  After the meeting we had happy hour, then went home.  I made chili for dinner and then we watched TV.

Saturday, January 7^th, we did a few chores around the house.  At about 1:00 we went out for a late lunch at China A Gogo and then a haircut for Jackie.  We left the house a little before 5:00 and went to the Elks Lodge for karaoke, for the first time in several weeks.  It was a big crowd, but we had a good time.  We got home about 9:30, watched a little TV and went to bed.  Sunday was a stay-at-home day.  We went to root beer floats at the clubhouse at 2:00 and then stayed for the Left-Right-Center game afterwards.  We were back in the coach about 4:00, had some dinner and watched TV the rest of the night.

Monday, January 9^th, we left the coach about 10:00 and drove to one of the local medical centers so Jackie could do a consultation appointment with the doctor who is going to do her colonoscopy later in the month.  The appointment only took a half hour or so, after which we went to the Lucky Rollers monthly luncheon.  The lunch was at place called Living Free, which is a non-profit restaurant supporting addition programs in Nye County.  After lunch we ran some errands and then went home.  We had happy hour at 4:00, then went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Tuesday I went into the office for a while to do some work and then we had a meeting over some financial stuff for the Co-op.  After the meeting I went home, then went to the Town Hall meeting in the clubhouse.  After that meeting I went home, did a few chores and relaxed.  We went to happy hour then spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Wednesday, January 11^th, I left the house about 9:00 and drove to the local DMV office to try and register the new trailer, as well as transfer the registration on the car from our Montana LLC to regular Nevada registration.  Since we no longer own the motor home, and are not full time travelers any more, we no longer need the LLC and will let it go dormant.  I got served pretty fast and learned that I needed some additional paperwork, like a VIN check on the trailer, which I knew I needed, and proof of Nevada insurance on the car.  Right now, the insurance papers show Montana.  I went home and called the Sheriff’s Office to see if someone could come out to the VIN check.  They told me a deputy would call me later.  I then called our insurance agent and got the insurance transferred to Nevada.  Jackie went to Pokeno at 1:00.  After Pokeno we left the house to go to Walmart, but before we even got to the store I got a call from a Sheriff’s Deputy that he was on his way to the RV park for the VIN check.  We quickly turned around and headed back home again.  We didn’t want to miss the deputy because when the Sheriff’s Office does the VIN check it is free, when you have to call a licensed tow company to do it they charge like $75.  We got home and the deputy, one of the motor cycle officers, came by, did the VIN check and gave me the form.  We did happy hour at 4:00, then had dinner and watched TV.  Thursday I had 9:00 Board meeting, which was the workshop session for next week’s open BOD meeting.  That meeting went until about noon.  I went home and had lunch, then went back to the clubhouse for the Silver Seekers meeting.  This is the group that operates the clubhouse.  After that meeting we went home until happy hour.  After happy hour we had dinner and spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Friday, January 13^th, we went out after lunch to do the Walmart run that got cancelled on Wednesday.  At 3:00 we went to another meeting of the five couples going on the Panama Canal Cruise next month. After the cruise meeting we went to happy hour, then home for dinner.  We spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Saturday was a stay-at-home day.  It was predicted that we would have rain by early afternoon and it showed up right on time.  The rain was steady until early evening when became more on and off.  By bedtime the rain had cleared up, only to return on Monday according to the weatherman.  We had dinner and watched TV for the rest of the night.  Sunday the skies cleared, at least for a few days.  We had another relaxing, stay at home day.  We went to the afternoon social at 2:00, then stayed for the LCR game at 2:30.  We had a good time playing with friends for an hour or so.  After the games we went home and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Monday, January 16^th, was MLK day.  Jackie had a nail appointment at 2:00.  I dropped her off and ran a few errands.  After she was done we did a Walmart run.  After we got home we went to happy hour, then came home for dinner.  After dinner we watched TV.  Tuesday we left the park about 10:30 and started over the hill to Las Vegas to do a Costco run.  As we drove over the Spring Mountain pass we saw lots of snow on the sides of the road from the last round of rain.  The pass is close to 5,000 feet, so it tends to get snow when it rains in the valleys.  We had lunch at a place in Summerlin called Hash House A GoGo.  It is a breakfast and lunch place that we have never tried before.  The food was really good and very plentiful.  After lunch we went to Costco and spent a bunch of money.  After Costco we headed back over the hill, getting home in time to unload everything and still make it to happy hour.  After happy hour we went home and spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Wednesday, January 18^th, I had an 11:00 meeting of one of my committees which went until about 12:30.  Jackie went to play Pokeno while I did some chores around the house.  At 4:00 we went over for happy hour and then stayed for the 5:00 pot luck dinner.  There was lots of good food and talk with friends.  About 7:00 we were back home and relaxing with the TV.  Thursday I had the open meeting of the Board of Directors at 9:00.  The meeting went pretty well and lasted for about two hours.  After the meeting we had lunch and spent the rest of the day doing chores and working on projects.  Friday I got a call in the morning from the President of the Board asking if I would look into an incident involving an alleged assault on one of the members of the park by an employee.  I spent most of the rest of the day talking to the parties involved and trying to review surveillance video that may have caught some of the incident.  Jackie had a 2:00 appointment at the medical center with a Nurse Practitioner regarding some aches she has in her legs that she thinks may be related to her medications.  The NP just put her on a new blood pressure med.  At 5:30 we went over to the clubhouse for bingo.  Jackie won one of the games, but had to split the pot.  She still made a couple bucks.  I got close but didn’t win anything.  After bingo we went home and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, January 21^st, I spent most of the day doing chores and projects.  We did go out about 1:30 to the Roadhouse Casino for a late lunch.  We both had liver and onions and it was great.  At 5:00 we went to the Elks Lodge for karaoke.  It has been a few weeks since we went.  Our friends Tom and Phyliss where there as well as a lot of other acquaintances.  We had a good time, I sang and listened to others sing, Jackie tried to win on the slots in the bar.  After karaoke we went home and relaxed with the TV the rest of the evening.  Sunday, we had a stay-at-home day.  I spent the biggest part of the day working on the report regarding the investigation I was doing on the employee.  I finally got that finished by late afternoon.  We had dinner spent the remainder of the evening watching TV.

We are now a month into this episode of the blog and will close it out to get it online.  I realize that what was a travel blog has become more of a daily diary that is probably not of much interest to anyone else, but we find it a useful resource to look back and see what were doing on any given day.  Until next time, be kind, be helpful, but be you.  See ya.