Saturday, May 6th, I was over at the clubhouse in the morning picking up all my music equipment and helping to take down the Cinco de Mayo decorations. We were back in the clubhouse at 3:30 for a Kentucky Derby watch party in the TV room. It was a couple dozen people and we had a fun time. After the race we did the normal happy hour before heading back home. We had dinner, left over Mexican food, then watched TV until it was time for bed. Sunday was a relaxation day. Did few chores around the trailer and some office work. We went to root beer floats at 2:00 and then stayed for some games of LCR. There were only about 7 people playing today, but we still had fun. After that we went home, had dinner and spent the night with the TV.
Monday, May 8th, we had a Lucky Rollers Dine out, but this time was a little different. They decided to have the dine out at the new Arby’s, but the place is not big enough for the 20 or so people we usually get, so everyone had to go to Arby’s and bring their food back so we could eat as a group in the clubhouse. There were a few people who just brought other food, but most went to Arby’s. After the meal we had a brief meeting of the Lucky Rollers. I had to leave at 1:00 and go into the craft room for an executive session of the Board of Directors. That meeting went until about 2:30 or so, after which I went back home. We went out to run some errands and when we came back, we noticed that Roy Jr. was parked next to us in the rental spot. We knew he was coming in today after a week or so of vacation and was going to stay in Pahrump for a couple of days before going back to his job in Death Valley. We had Roy come over to our place for a while, then the three of us went to happy hour. Most of the people there know Roy from his previous visits to the park. We had a nice happy hour, then went home for a while. We decided to go out for dinner, so the four of us went to La Fonda, a local Mexican restaurant. After dinner we went home, Roy went to his place, and we watched TV until bedtime.
Thursday, May 11th, we had a sunshade company from Las Vegas coming over at 8:00 a.m. to give us a bid for sunshades for the outside of all our windows. The shades are the same, black, heavy 95% sun blocking material that we had for the shades on our motorhome. This same guy did at least a half dozen other rigs in our park, including a couple of recent ones for some of our friends, so I knew the quality of his work. He walked around the trailer and gave us a bid of $1,100 for all ten windows, two of which were pretty large. It was a fair price and he said they would start right away. By noon they were done. This will help a lot with keeping the house livable in the summer heat. While the guy was doing the shades Jackie was making a big pot of clam chowder for dinner tonight, After lunch we went out and dropped Roy off at the Bank so he could get his accounts set up. Jackie and I went to Walmart for a couple of things, then picked up Roy and went home. We went to happy hour again, then went home and had clam chowder. Millie, who loves clam chowder, also came over for dinner. After dinner we talked to Roy for a while, then he went home, and we spent the rest of the night with the TV.
Friday, May 12th, Roy packed up and left the park about 8:00 in the morning. I did get to say goodbye. He is headed back to Stovepipe Wells in Death Valley for his job. We decided to go out for a late lunch today since we have bingo in the clubhouse tonight. We went to the Pour House, Jackie had Indian food (lamb) and I had pizza. After lunch we went to Walmart again for some things we forgot yesterday, then we headed for home. We went to happy hour at 4:00 and just stayed in the clubhouse until 5:30 when bingo started. Jackie won one of the regular games for $14, and I won one of the special games for $30, so we had a pretty good night. After bingo we went home and watched TV until bedtime. Saturday was mostly a stay-at-home day. Jackie went to the clubhouse to help count votes on some member surveys that had been sent out. I spent a big part of the day working on Co-op paperwork.
Sunday, May 14th, Happy Mother’s Day. We had a quiet morning and at 2:00 we went over to the clubhouse for the usual Sunday afternoon root beer floats. Today, instead of floats, we had cake and ice cream for Mother’s Day. There was a much bigger crowd this afternoon and we had a nice time. After the celebration a few of us stayed and played a few games of LCR. After that we went home, rested a bit, then got cleaned up to go out to celebrate Jackie’s birthday, which is actually tomorrow. The reason we are celebrating today is that tonight we are going to Stockman’s Steakhouse in the Pahrump Nugget Casino for a nice dinner. Stockman’s is expensive, but worth it as the only high-end restaurant in town. We picked up our friends Don and Julie Klein, who we invited to go with us, and drove to Stockman’s about 6:00. We had an excellent dinner, with most of us ordering the prime rib. Jackie had lamb chops. After a great celebratory dinner with friends, we drove home, dropped off the Kleins, and went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.
Monday, May 15th, Happy Birthday Jackie! I had a Board workshop meeting in the clubhouse at 1:00 which lasted about two hours. At 4:00 we did happy hour with the group, then went home, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. Tuesday Jackie had a ladies luncheon group at 11:00 and then a dentist appointment at 1:00. While she was gone, I did some Co-op work and some chores around the house. We had happy hour and then watched TV until bedtime.
Wednesday, May 17th, we had a meeting at 10:00 in the clubhouse with the Lucky Rollers RV group, planning the outing for October. The decision was to go to the Riverside RV Park in Laughlin, which is great for us because we can down and stay in the hotel and participate in the outing. Jackie had her Pokeno group at 1:00 and I spent the afternoon doing Co-op work. After Pokeno we did a Walmart run, then happy hour and dinner. Tonight, I made a decision that I was going to resign from the Board of Directors of the Co-op. I talked it over with Jackie and she supported my decision. There were several things that factored into my decision, far too much work for a volunteer job. I was spending over half my free time on Co-op stuff. Plus, I spent a law enforcement career dealing with conflict, hostility and people with bad ideas. It was a great job, but I was very happy to retire. I had almost 18 years of complete retirement, where it was just Jackie and I enjoying life. When we settled here in the Co-op, I thought that my experience and education would be useful, and I ran for the Board and was elected. The first few months were fine, we had a great Board and thought we were making progress. Then we had a change in leadership and things went downhill. I became Secretary and was working too much. I found that I was not happy having to deal with all the unhappy and hard to please people in the park, and the final straw was when one of our members, a single woman who is a neo-liberal, woke, obnoxious ass, started raising hell in the park about perceived wrongs done to her by the Board and other members. Most of her stuff is nonsense, but it just increased my stress and frustration to new levels, and I decided I was going to go back to just being retired. I resigned from the Board in a letter sent to the rest of the Board at midnight.
Thursday, May 18th, the Board had a regular meeting at 9:00 today in the clubhouse. I wasn’t there. I did watch from home on Zoom, but I am no longer on the Board. After the meeting we went out for lunch with our friends Tom and Phyliss Howell, who do not live in the park, and we had a great visit. Afterwards we did some shopping, had an enjoyable afternoon, and went to happy hour at 4:00. Most of my friends who come to happy hour were OK with my decision, although I did get some ribbing. All in all, I made the right decision for me, for us. We went home, had dinner and spent the rest of the night with the TV. Friday, I woke up after a great night’s sleep, no lying awake thinking of stuff about the Board. About 2:00 or so we left and drove into town to get haircuts. Jackie found a new hair stylist that she likes, and I thought I would give her a try as well. She was running a little late because she was out on a house call. I didn’t even know anyone did that anymore. We both got nice haircuts and headed back to the park. We got there right at 4:00, time for happy hour. We went to happy hour and had a good time. Went home for dinner then watched TV until it was time for bed.
Monday, May 22nd, we left the park about 11:30 and drove to the Artesian Cellars restaurant for lunch, picking up a couple of friends on the way. There were supposed to be a couple of other people, but one got sick, and another backed out due to a time conflict. The four of us had a very nice lunch and some conversation. After lunch we dropped off Lenita and Stephanie at their lots, then headed back to the trailer. We spent the rest of the day doing a few chores and relaxing. We didn’t go to happy hour because most of the happy hour group is out of town, down in Laughlin, for a few days’ vacation. We just snacked for dinner and watched TV until bedtime. I did do my first security tour of duty tonight at 8:00. Today we did make a new, last minute, cruise reservation. We are going on the Emerald Princess out of Los Angeles on June 17th. It is a seven-day cruise that goes from Los Angeles to San Francisco, overnights there, then goes down to San Diego for a day, Ensenada for a day, then back to Los Angeles. Because it was last minute, we got the whole thing, fare, taxes, and port charges for $1,500 for both of us. We had to take an inside cabin, the only thing left, but we are going cruising again, soon!
Tuesday, May 23rd, we left the coach about 10:30 and started over the hill to Las Vegas. Jackie had a 3:00 appointment with her ear doctor and we wanted to do some shopping before we went to the doctor. We first went to Kohls for some things, then stopped at the Lazy Dog brew pub for lunch. After lunch we went to Skechers in the outlet mall, then headed off to the doctor. Jackie was there because her right ear still felt to her like it was plugged up. We thought maybe the doctor would put in a relief tube, which is what he talked about the last time we were here. However, after looking at her ears, he said there was no longer any fluid in the ear, so he didn’t think a tube would do anything. He suggested a small hole in the eardrum, which would heal in a couple of weeks, rather than a tube, which had to stay in for a few months and be taken out. He said a hole would let Jackie see if there was any change in the stuffed feeling and would heal on its own in a few weeks. He did the hole, which was a quick and easy procedure, then made an appointment for a follow up visit in another month. After the doctor we stopped at a Ross store, then headed back over the hill. We didn’t get back to Pahrump until after 5:30, so we missed happy hour. We were full from the big lunch, so we didn’t do dinner, just watched TV and went to bed. I had an hour of security duty at 8:00.
Wednesday, May 24th, Jackie went to Pokeno at 1:00. Len came over and we played guitar for about an hour and a half. We went to happy hour at 4:00 and then came home for dinner and then watched TV. I did my last tour of security for the month at 8:00. Thursday Jackie had a nail appointment at 11:00. After I dropped her off, I ran a couple of errands and went to the laundromat to wash our comforter. This is the first time I have visited the laundromat since we got the new trailer. Because we have a washer and dryer built into the trailer, we can do our laundry at home. However, the comforter is too big for our washer, so off to the laundromat I go. After a little over an hour, I picked up Jackie, went back to the laundromat and got the comforter out of the dryer, and we went to lunch at Arby’s. Jackie had the pecan chicken salad sandwich, which she said was great. I tried the beef brisket sandwich, which may be my new favorite sandwich at Arby’s. After lunch we went to Walmart for a few things, then to Smith’s to do some grocery shopping. Smith’s had a big sale on meat, so we stocked up on a few things for the freezer. After our shopping we headed back to the park and put everything away. We went to happy hour at 4:00 and had a good time with friends. The group that had gone to Laughlin for three days was back, so we listened to their stories. After happy hour we went home for dinner, then watched TV until it was time for bed.
Friday, May 26th, Jackie had a lunch date with our friend Phyliss, after which they were going to do some shopping. I stayed home and did some chores for most of the afternoon. We had happy hour and then Bingo in the clubhouse. Both of came close this week but didn’t win anything. After bingo we went home and watched TV until bedtime. Saturday was a stay-at-home day. I finally had time and somewhat cool weather to be able to finish installing the ceiling fan in the patio area. It has been half finished for about 6 months because I was either too busy or it was cold and rainy. It took about four hours to do the new wiring, which also included installing a new electric socket in the patio. Now I just have to do some paint and seal up the hole in the ceiling to keep the birds out of the rafters. We went to happy hour then had dinner and watched TV.
Tuesday, May 30th, we had a stay-at-home day again. I did some chores, including doing some touchup paint work on the patio. At 4:00 we went to Mom’s Café for dinner with a group from the park. It was the monthly park dine-out. We had a nice dinner, after which we stopped at Walmart for some supplies. We then went home, put everything away, and watched TV until bedtime. Wednesday, the last day of May. We had 11:30 doctor appointments with our primary care doctor, Dr. Wiggins, for our semi-annual checkups. We both went through all the questions and tests and the end result was that we are in pretty decent shape for our age. We both had some minor med changes, but overall, there were no big red flags. After the doctor we treated ourselves to a quick Arby’s lunch, then headed back to the park. Jackie went to her Pokeno session, a little late. My friend Len came over and he and I jammed on guitars for an hour and a half or so. We were having some weird half rainy back and forth weather today, but at least it was cool for the end of May in the desert. We did happy hour with our group at 4:00, then made dinner and spent the rest of the evening watching TV.
We are now a month since publishing, so time to close this chapter out. See ya next time.
