Saturday, November 9, 2024

Fall Comes To Pahrump, the Heat Reluctantly Subsides

Hi, welcome back.  Our last chapter concluded on September 30th, with us just chilling in Pahrump.  Tuesday, October 1st, I had an appointment with my dermatologist at 10:00 to discuss how to proceed with a small skin cancer on the side of my neck.  I had gone for a regular appointment at the end of August and the doc had done a shave biopsy on a spot on my neck.  While we were on the cruise last month they called and told me that it came back as a very early squamous cell cancer and I needed to have it removed.  The appointment today was quick, I just said let’s get it out and they set me up for a MOHS procedure on Thursday.  I have had MOHS procedures several times in the past.  They basically very thin layers of tissue where the cancer is, have it analyzed right away by means of a portable lab they set up in the office.  Once they get a layer that has no cancer cells they stich you up and send you on your way.  Only once have they had to go beyond the first slice, and then it was OK on the second.  While I was gone the cleaning lady came and cleaned the house.  After I got home we just did some chores around the house.  We went to happy hour and then came home for dinner and TV for the remainder of the evening.

Wednesday, October 2nd, We went to the clubhouse at 11:00 for a MASA presentation.  Regular readers know that MASA is basically insurance for any emergency medical transport, whether by ground or air.  We have had MASA since 2007, but they encourage members to come to the presentations and, since they always provide lunch, most members attend.  We had Panda Express takeout after the presentation.  After lunch I went to guitar practice with my group of friends, and Jackie went to Pokeno with her friends.  At 5:00, right after happy hour, some of the younger members of the park put on a Cake Walk event.  Everyone who wanted to participate brought some kind of snack food and then we played a modified game of musical chairs, except that once everyone sat they would call a number and the person in that numbered chair would have to complete a “task” of some sort.  Silly stuff, but we had a good time.  After that we went home, had dinner and then spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Thursday, October 3rd, I was up, showered and in the dermatologists office at 7:00 for my MOHS procedure.  Luckily my first cut was clear of cancer cells, so I was stitched up and out of the office by 10:00 with a big bandage on the side of my neck.  We spent the rest of the day just doing stuff around the house.  We didn’t go to happy hour, so we had dinner and spent the rest of the evening with the TV.  Friday, I was up early again for a 9:00 appointment with the Peace Officers Advisory Review Board.  The POARB is a volunteer board for Nye County that is charged with reviewing internal affairs investigations from the Nye County Sheriff's Office.  I have been on the Board for a couple of years and this is only my third Board.  They have 12 members on the Board and for each review they randomly select three people to be the review board.  It was a pretty cut and dried case that was unfounded, meaning the alleged wrong didn’t occur, so the deputy was cleared.  After looking at the paperwork and watching the body cam footage we agreed with the findings.  I was done by lunch time.  We went out to lunch and ran some errands after I got home.  We went to happy hour and then had dinner.  We then watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, October 5th, Jackie had a 10:00 haircut.  I stayed home and did some chores.  We spent most of the day at home doing the usual stuff.  Sunday was also a stay at home day.  We went to the ice cream social at 2:00 then did stuff around the house for the rest of the day.  Monday I had guitar practice with my group.  We changed from Wednesday because I was not able to be there on Wednesday.  After I got home we went to happy hour, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, October 8th, we had a Silver Seekers workshop meeting at 1:00.  We spent most of the meeting putting together the tentative calendar for November.  After the meeting we went out and ran some errands.  After we got home we had dinner and were going to spend the rest of the night with the TV.  Not too long after dinner Jackie was complaining that she had pains in her stomach area.  She finally went to bed a little early because it hurt.  When I came to bed around 10:00 she was saying that it really hurt and was getting worse.  We decided that she needed to go into the emergency room to get checked out.  By 10:30 or so we were in the emergency room at the Pahrump hospital.  It was not real busy so she got checked out fairly quickly.  By 12:30 or so in the morning, after a CT scan, the doctor told us that Jackie had appendicitis and needed to have her appendix removed.  They also said that they would be calling an ambulance to take her to Summerlin Hospital in Las Vegas for the surgery.  The ambulance came about 1:30 and took Jackie to Summerlin Hospital.  Since I couldn’t do anything for her at this point, I went home and went to bed.  She called me about 4:00 in the morning and told me that she was in a room and would have the surgery sometime today, meaning on Wednesday.

Wednesday, October 9th, I was up and on my way to Las Vegas about 10:00.  Jackie had told me that the surgery was scheduled for 1:00 this afternoon.  I stopped for a quick lunch and was in Jackie’s hospital room about 11:30.  They came and took her down to the pre-op area about 12:30 and I was able to stay with her.  I left about 12:45 to go to Costco to pick up my new hearing aids.  We were going to be coming to Vegas today anyway, it just worked out that Jackie came early.  I figured she would be going into surgery shortly, so I went and picked up my hearing aids.  Because they had to do some more testing, the appointment went until almost 3:00.  I headed back to the hospital and went right up to Jackie’s room, figuring she would be in it already, but she wasn’t.  I went to the nurses station and asked them to check on her.  They finally told me that she was just now (3:15) going into surgery and it would be a while. About two hours later they finally rolled her back into her room and got her in bed.  She was in quite a bit of pain at the incision sites.  They did the laparoscopic surgery where they make several small incisions and use tools to do the surgery.  About 4:30 the doctor came in and said that Jackie was going to spend the night and would be released sometime tomorrow unless something happened.  Jackie was kind of sleepy so we agreed that I would go ahead and drive back home tonight.  I headed back to Pahrump and when I got to the park I went to another event put on by members, this one called PickleFest.  Everyone brought something pickled for everyone to try.  It was basically a social gathering and was a lot of fun.  By 8:00 I was home and I was in bed shortly thereafter because it was a busy, tiring day. 

Thursday, October 10th, I was supposed to have a couple of meetings today, one at 9:00 and one at 1:00, but I was back on the road again, headed to Vegas about 10:00.  I got to the hospital around 1l:30 and we just sat in the room and waited for her to be discharged.  About 12:30 or so they had her sign the discharge papers and we were headed back home.  We stopped at In and Out for lunch, eating in the car as Jackie was still in the nightshirt she arrived in two nights ago.  We then went back home and spent the rest of the day and evening relaxing.  Jackie was still hurting pretty bad.  Friday I had a Board Meeting at 11:00 regarding the budget, and had to attend since I am on the Budget Committee.  Jackie watched from home on Zoom.  Then at 2:30 we participated in a virtual home health care visit from a nurse at United Healthcare, which is our health insurance company.  After we just relaxed the rest of the evening.  Jackie slept on the couch tonight because getting in and out of bed was aggravating her surgical sites and causing pain.

Saturday, October 12th, we just had a stay at home day.  Jackie spent the day just resting and taking care of herself.  I did a few chores around the house and ran some errands.  I did go to a 4:00 Celebration of Life for one of the long time members of the Co-op.  Linda Moody passed away a month or so back and her husband wanted to have a memorial in the park for all their friends and family.  Jackie slept on the couch again tonight.  Sunday was much the same, just staying around the house while Jackie relaxed and tried not to do things that hurt.  After dinner I did go to the clubhouse for another member generated activity that was basically music trivia. It was well done and had a good time.  Jackie was on the couch again.

Monday, October 14th, happy Columbus Day.  Back in the old days this was an official holiday, but Columbus has been beat up on by the younger generations so it is not so big a holiday anymore.  Jackie was feeling a little better and decided that we would go the Lucky Rollers dine-out in Las Vegas.  The Lucky Rollers is the Co-op’s camping club as well as the official Escapees Chapter (#14) for the State of Nevada.  Today we went to the Blueberry Hill restaurant in Las Vegas.  They have excellent food and service and we had a good time.  Most dine-outs are in Pahrump, but because we have several member of the camping club that live in Las Vegas, we try to have one there at least once a year.  After the dine out we went home and relaxed for the rest of the day and evening.  Jackie was hurting a little from being up and around today.  I did my first tour of security duty tonight.  Jackie was finally able to go back to sleeping in our bed tonight.  Yay!

Tuesday, October 15th, Jackie was feeling OK enough to drive herself to her manicure appointment at 10:30.  She made it back in time to come to the Silver Seekers lunch, which today was burritos, rice and beans.  We had a nice meal and Jackie was able to visit with people for a while.  After lunch we went home and Jackie rested while I did some office work.  We skipped happy hour because Jackie had been up and about all day and was tired.  We had dinner, watched TV and went to bed, although I did have to go out at 8:00 for my second night of security duty.  Wednesday, was a fairly normal Wednesday, with Jackie playing Pokeno at 1:00 and me doing guitar practice.  Today it was just Len and I at our house because our usual hosts were sick.  We went to happy hour, had dinner and spent the night watching Tv.

Thursday, October 17th, I was over I the clubhouse by 9:00 for the regular open Board Meeting.  This is the last Board Meeting for the current Board because November 2nd is the Annual Membership Meeting and three new Board members will be elected.  There will actually be five new members going on the Board as two have left the Board, one resigned and one recalled.  So next year five of the nine members will be new.  After the Board meeting I set up in the clubhouse for the big Jam session that I keep trying to do here in the park.  At 3:00 we had the jam and actually had most of the group I have been practicing with, which gave us five people.  Unfortunately, I was the only one who was a member of the park.  The jam was fun and we were done by 4:00.  I cleaned up my stuff and went to the last half of happy hour.  We then went home, had dinner and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.

Friday, October 18th, I had to go the dermatologist at 10:45 to get my stiches taken out.  That took about 10 minutes.  Jackie went with me because we had some errands to run afterwards.  We went to the bank so she could so some Silver Seekers stuff as she is the acting Treasurer.  We then went to the French Bakery for lunch and then did a Walmart run.  We went to happy hour and spent the rest of the night relaxing with the TV.  Saturday Jackie was supposed to go to a ladies luncheon, but she decided to cancel because she was still hurting a little.  We spent the day doing chores around the house.  We did go to happy hour and then came home for dinner.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Saturday, October 19th, we had a stay at home day.  Jackie was still hurting quite a bit.  We did a little office work but mostly relaxed for the day.  Sunday was also a stay at home day.  We did a little bit of packing for our trip on Monday to Laughlin.  We went to the ice cream social after which we did some chores and shopping.  We spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Monday, October 21st, we were all packed up and headed south to Laughlin, Nevada, about 11:00 or so.  We are going there for the Fall Lucky Rollers campout.  This is the camping club here at the Co-op.  We don’t have a movable RV anymore, so we stay in the hotel.  On the way we stopped at Angie’s Lobster House in Las Vegas for a lobster roll.  This is a really good and affordable place to get great seafood.  After that we just drove to Laughlin, getting in around 2:30 or so.  We checked into the Riverside Hotel and Casino, put our stuff in the room, and then drove up to the campground were the Lucky Rollers were staying.  The campground is part of the Riverside Resort complex and is just across the street from the hotel.  We can see it from our room.  We stayed and visited for happy hour, then went back to the hotel.  We gambled for a while, then went into the cafĂ© for dinner.  After dinner we gamed some more.  Jackie had really good luck, hit four deuces on a poker machine three times on the same machine.  I didn’t do so well, but we had fun.  About 10:00 we went up to the room, watched a little TV and went to bed.  Tuesday we had coffee in the room and relaxed in the morning.  We then left and drove across the river to Bullhead City, Arizona.  We had lunch in the IHOP restaurant, then went to Sam’s Club for some recreational shopping.  After Sam’s club we went back across the river and stopped at the Aquarius Casino for some gaming.  That was a bust. At 4:00 we went to the campground for happy hour.  After happy hour we went over to the Golden Nugget Casino for dinner with Sue and Dale Vice, some friends from the Co-op who are on the campout.  We had a very nice dinner at Bubba Gumps seafood house.  After dinner we gamed at the Nugget for a while, then went back to the Riverside for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, October 23rd, we relaxed in the hotel room in the morning.  We gamed a little, then went over the campground around noon.  Our friend Max and his wife Nancy were cooking ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch.  We had lunch and visited for a while.  We then left and went to the Tropicana Casino to game for a while.  Didn’t have much luck there, so we went back to the Riverside.  About 3:30 we went to the Prime Rib room at the Riverside for dinner with the group.  Jackie had won two free tickets for the Prime Rib room on her players card, so we ate for free.  It was a great dinner with friends and good food.  After dinner we played for a while, then went up to the room for some TV and bed.

Thursday, October 24th, we spent the morning in the room, then went down to the casino.  Jackie had also gotten two free buffet tickets from her players club account, so we went and had breakfast in the Riverside buffet.  After that we gamed for a while.  About noon we went over to the campground for the meeting of the Lucky Rollers.  We had the meeting, then drew for the various prizes, goodie bags, 50/50, and door prizes.  We won a couple things.  We then played Pokeno for a while.  At 4:00 we had happy hour and I played guitar and sang for the group, and we did some sing-a-longs.  About 6:00 we were done there so we packed up our stuff and went back to the hotel.  Most of the campers are staying in the campground until Sunday, but we are leaving tomorrow.  We went back and gamed for a while.  Tonight was my lucky night, I hit a natural Royal Flush on a nickel poker machine for $250.  That pretty much made me whole for the trip.  Yea!  We went to bed about 10:30.

Friday, October 25th, we were packed up and out of the room at 11:00.  We stopped for lunch at the In and Out in Laughlin, then head North for home.  We got home about 2:30, unpacked and did some laundry.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, came home and had leftover prime rib for dinner, then spent the rest of the evening with the TV.  Saturday, we spent most of the day doing chores and catching up on office work.  We did go out and do a Walmart run for supplies in the afternoon.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then spent the rest of the night watching TV.

Sunday, October 27th, we had another stay at home day.  We did some office work and a few chores around the house.  We went to the ice cream social at 2:00, then came back and did a little more work.  We had dinner about 6:00, some country ribs that had been cooking all day, then watched TV until bedtime.  Monday the housecleaner came about 10:00.  I did a few office jobs in the shed while she cleaned.  At 12:30 we had a Silver Seekers lunch in the clubhouse with hamburgers and various sides.  After lunch we just hung around the house and did some chores.  We went to happy hour and then came home for dinner.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Tuesday, October 29th, we had the first real Fall day, windy and cold.  Yesterday was the beginning of what we call “Homecoming Week” which is the week before the Co-op’s annual Membership Meeting.  We were supposed to have a “meet your neighbor” event this morning, where people just walk around the park and visit, but with the winds and the cool temps no one went out.  We went out about 1:30 to get some taco salads for lunch and then to look at golf carts to replace our cart which quit working six months ago and has resisted all efforts to fix it.  I finally gave up and decided we would just replace it.  We looked at several new carts, which were in the $6,500 to $9,500 range, as well as a couple of late model used carts.  One was a three year old cart that was pretty much what we were looking for for $5,000.  We decided to think on it and went back home.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home and spent the night with the TV.

Wednesday, October 30th, I had a meeting of the Nye County Police Officers Advisory Review Board (POARB) at 9:00.  Another citizen complaint against a Nye County Sheriff’s Deputy that we had to review.  We finished with that around 11:00 or so.  Since I was close I then went by the golf cart place and did a closer inspection of the three year old cart we were interested in to make sure I didn’t miss anything the other day.  I then talked to Garry, the owner, and offered him $4,500 and our old cart.  He accepted the offer, but to avoid additional expenses I needed to pay in cash.  I went home and did some funds transfers, then went to the bank and got the money.  I paid for the cart and he said it would be delivered tomorrow.  Yea!  I then stopped at what used to the Pour House, but is soon to be something else, I don’t recall what.  I ordered a pizza for dinner since we have to be in the clubhouse at 6:00 for the trivia night I am putting on.  The pizza was just shy of $25 and while I was waiting I sat at the bar and played the poker machine.  When the pizza came out I cashed out and I had won $25 over what I started with.  Basically, FREE PIZZA!  Yea!  I then went home and relaxed for a little while.  We went to happy hour and I got everything set up and working for the trivia session.  We started at 6:00 with four teams, a total of about 25 players.  We went until a little after 7:30 and it seems everyone had a good time, although the scores were not very high.  I use pretty tough questions.  After we finished I cleaned up and we went back home and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, October 31st, Happy Halloween.  After a relaxed morning I went over to the clubhouse after lunch and set up my sound equipment for tonight’s Halloween Party.  At 4:00 we went over for the Halloween pot luck dinner at the clubhouse.  We had about 35 people there and some pretty good food.  A lot of people were already in costume for the party.  After the pot luck we cleaned up and then at 6:00 we started the party.  We had about 30 people there.  I was expecting more, but the younger crowd, what we call the Xers, (for GenX) didn’t come.  They had their own thing going on I guess.  We still had a great time.  We played dance music, did some karaoke, did some lip sync and just had a great time.  I know people were having fun because most of the crowd was still there when I shut down at 8:00, which is late for a crowd in this park.  I got everything torn down and cleaned up and we went home and watched TV until bedtime.

Well, that is the end of another month here in Paradise.  Until next time, stay calm and carry on.  Bye.


Sunday, October 27, 2024

A Hot September in Pahrump and a Two Week Cruise

Hi there, welcome back.  Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, August 31st.  The heat wave is not over, they are predicting temps over 100, close 110, for at least the first two weeks of September.  Sunday was a slow day.  We did some packing and planning for the cruise trip that starts on Thursday night when we fly from Vegas to Baltimore.  We went to the ice cream social and then came home and had dinner.  

Monday, September 2nd, Happy Labor Day.  We went over to the clubhouse about 11:30 to help with the Silver Seekers Labor Day hamburger lunch.  By job was cooking hamburgers on the flat top and I ended up doing over 70 burgers.  We had a great turnout of over 60 people!  A real success.  After the lunch was done and we had cleaned up the kitchen and clubhouse, we went back to the trailer and just relaxed the rest of the day.  Tuesday was another day with not too much going on.  I did some office work and at 10:30 we went to the nail salon.  I just got my toenails cut, Jackie had a full mani/pedi.  While she was doing that I ran some errands.  After we got home we were too tired to go to happy hour.  While she was getting into the big chair they use for pedicures, Jackie slipped and fell, hitting her knee and shin on the hard plastic.  It hasn’t swelled up, but she says it really hurts.  This is the same knee she hurt years ago and has had two orthoscopic surgeries on.  It has always bothered here some, now it really hurts.  We watched TV for the rest of the night and went to bed.

Wednesday, September 4th, Jackie went to play Pokeno at 1:00.  I skipped my jam session this week because I have stuff I have to do before we leave tomorrow on our cruise.  I went out and ran some errands while Jackie was at the clubhouse.  We spent most of the late afternoon and evening getting our packing finished.  Thursday, sort of the first day our of cruise vacation.  Our cruise leaves on Saturday out of Baltimore, Maryland.  Because of the possibility of problems with air travel, we asked Norwegian Cruise Lines to fly us to Baltimore a day early.  We made our own hotel reservations because Norwegian said they did not have any deals with hotels in Baltimore.  Well, the cruise line met the letter of our request by flying us out of Las Vegas on Thursday, just at 11:55 pm!  We packed the car with our luggage, and set up the trailer for our absence of over two weeks, then left for Las Vegas about 5:00.  This got us over the hump and into Vegas before dark.  After we got into town we drove to the Blueberry Hill restaurant just North of the airport for dinner.  After dinner we drove to the Best Western McCarren hotel right on the perimeter of the airport.  The airport is now Harry Reid International Airport, but the hotel kept the old name of McCarren.  This hotel had a “park and ride” program which didn’t require we stay in the hotel.  It cost us less to park there than it would have at the airport, and they provide a shuttle to and from the terminals.  After we got the car parked and secured, we had the shuttle take us to the airport, even though we were about four hours early for our flight.

After we got to the airport we checked our bags, which American Airlines charged us $170.  We then went to the gate to wait for our flight.  We went through security and Jackie’s carryon got flagged for an inspection.  They threw out her water and a small can of hair spray, but let her keep a small pair of haircutting scissors.  When we got to the gate we just had a cocktail and relaxed until boarding time.  The flight boarded on time and we were off just after midnight headed first to Chicago.  The flight was full, the seats were uncomfortable and neither of us could fall asleep.  We landed at Chicago O’Hare a little before 6:00 am Central Time and watched the sun come up.  Our connecting flight didn’t leave until 8:30 or so, so we just relaxed for two hours.  The connecting flight was also on time, and also full.  This one was a smaller plane with just two seats on each side of the aisle.  I was still uncomfortable and a little bumpy.  We finally arrived in Baltimore, Maryland at BWI, just before noon Eastern Time on Friday, September 6th.  Fortunately, all of our bags arrived with us, so we gathered everything up and caught an Uber to take us to our hotel.  We had reservations for the night at the Courtyard Baltimore Inner Harbor Hotel.  Well, the Uber driver took us to the Baltimore Marriot Inner Harbor.  When I tried to check in they let me know we didn’t have a reservation there.  I showed them my conformation email and they told me it was a different hotel.  Seems there are several hotels downtown that use the term “inner harbor” in their name.  We caught a cab and got a ride to the right hotel.  Fortunately they had a room ready for us so we got settled in and took a nap.  Later in the evening we had a couple of drinks in the hotel bar, then went next store to a deli that was in the same building and had a very nice dinner.  After dinner we went home, watched a little TV and went to bed after a 12 hour day/

Saturday, September 7th, we had an 11:30 check in time scheduled with the cruise ship.  The ship was only about 10 minutes away from our hotel and the hotel desk clerk had set up a ride for us with someone she knew who did ride shares.  The driver arrived right on time with a big SUV.  We had originally asked for a bigger vehicle because we thought our friend Peggy Bullock and her friend Wanda, who are also booked on this cruise, were staying at the same hotel.  Turns out, they were staying at the one we had mistakenly gone to first yesterday.  We did find a very nice, older couple from Holland waiting in the lobby for a ride to the cruise port, and asked them if they wanted to share a ride.  They did so the ride was half price for each couple. 

We got to the port, checked our bags with the ship’s baggage people and got checked in for the cruise.  The check in process was very organized and we were on the ship all ready to go after only about 30 minutes.  Once we got on the ship we went to the buffet and had lunch, the found a bar to have a drink.  The “drink package” was included in our cruise fare, so we could drink as much of whatever we wanted.  While at the bar we met up with Peggy and Wanda.  We had never met Wanda, although we knew of her from conversations in the past with Peggy.  They have been friends for years and are both widows.   After a couple of cocktails we went to our cabin and started to unpack our bags, which were arriving in our stateroom.  The ship, the Norwegian Sky, is an older, smaller, ship so the cabin was pretty small and storage was a major problem.  Nonetheless, we managed to find somewhere to put everything and we were ready to cruise.  We spent the afternoon just looking around the ship.  

Because of the fall Jackie took a couple days before we left, her knee and leg really hurt.  We arranged for a rental scooter to be brought to the ship and when we went to the cabin it was there, outside in the hallway.  Jackie used the scooter while we were on our explorations, getting used to driving it, not too fast, not too slow, and not running into people or things.  It was tricky at first.  The ship sailed at 4:00, leaving Baltimore Harbor and headed down the Chesapeake Bay towards Virginia Beach and the open ocean.  All four of us were up on deck when we left taking pictures of the concrete pylons left over from the recent collapse of the Key Bridge after one of the supports was hit by a wayward cargo ship.  We all went to dinner in the dining room about 6:30 and had a very nice meal.  We didn’t get out in time for the Welcome Aboard show in the showroom, so we just checked out the casino and gamed a bit, then checked a couple of bars before heading back to our cabin after an early and busy day.

Before I go into the next day, the first full day aboard the Sky, I want to give a little information about the ship.  This is an older ship, the second oldest in Norwegian’s current inventory.  It was built in 1999 and sailed as the Norwegian Sky until 2004.  In 2004 Norwegian Cruise Line purchased American Cruise Line, which had operated two ships on cruises limited to the Hawaiian Islands.  American went bankrupt and NCL purchased the company.  They sold the older ships American had used and transferred the Sky to the new subsidiary, NCL America for service in cruising the Hawaiian Islands.  The ship underwent some changes and was rechristened  “Pride of Aloha.”  US Federal laws require that ships which sail solely between United States ports must be registered in the United States, and have United States citizens as crew, so that was why the ship had to be transferred to the new company.  The major renovation undertaken was removal of the casino and replacing it with a Hawaiian cultural museum.  Since the ship never left US waters, it was not allowed to have a casino.  The ship sailed at the Spirit of Aloha until 2008 when NCL terminated the NCL America company and withdrew from the Hawaiian Island cruise business.  The ship went back into dock and was again slightly modified with the casino being restored and the ship being rechristened back to Norwegian Sky and reregistered in the Bahamas, where all the other NCL ships are registered.  In 2019 the ship went into drydock and was completely refurbished.  As I said, it is a smaller ship with a nominal capacity of about 2,000 passengers, with a crew of 900.  This is in comparison to some of the newest “super cruise ships” which have passenger capacities approaching 7,000.  The ship is 848 feet long, and has a beam of 118 feet, narrow than most of the other ships we have been on, explaining the smaller cabin size.  The dĂ©cor on the ship is modern but actually quite plain compared to other ships we have cruised on.  The two dining rooms are located on deck 5, the lowest passenger deck, one aft and the other amidships, with the galley in between.  Another feature we have never seen is that the main showroom is located in the aft on decks 6 and 7, right above the aft dining room.  Every other cruise ship I have been on has the main showroom in the forward part of the ship.  All in all, it was a very pleasant ship and the small passenger load meant that you saw a lot more of the same people every day.  

Sunday, September 8th, was a day at sea.  We slept in, relaxing in the morning with our coffee and enjoying the warm weather and calm seas.  When got ready leave to go to lunch we stepped out into the corridor and saw Jackie’s mobility scooter was gone!  We had parked it outside our door because we had tried, and failed, to get it into the small cabin.  Our cabin steward told us that because the cabin attendants had to have there cleaning and supply carts in the hallway most of the day, the housekeeping staff took the scooters and park them in the crew hallways where they would not be in the way.  He said when we need it, they would call for it to be brought back.  He made the call and a little while later the scooter appeared.  We went up to the buffet for breakfast and then were touring around the ship looking for something to do.  Suddenly the scooter alarmed and indicated it needed to be recharged.  This surprised us since we hadn’t used it that much yesterday or today.  We immediately went back to the cabin to charge it.  I finally figured out that if I took off the seat I could maneuver it around the end of the bed into a place near the door to the balcony, where it was out of the way.  When I took the charger out of the basket and pulled out the instruction book to see where I needed to plug the charger in, I noticed a tag in the basket that said this was the “spare” scooter provided by the rental company.  It was then I also noticed a couple of other details, different colored zip ties and so forth, and figured out, this wasn’t Jackie’s scooter.  This was an extra provided by the company.  It was identical to her scooter, as well as a half dozen others that we had seen around the ship.  The average age on this cruise was well into the 60’s, so there were a lot of scooters in use.  We had the cabin attendant call and sure enough, Jackie’s scooter was still in the crew area.  They brought it back and we made the switch.  Jackie used the scooter for rest of the day.  We had dinner in the dining room around 6:30 again with Peggy and Wanda.  After dinner we went to the showroom for a Magician and Mentalist named Eric Walton.  He was a very good entertainer and magician and quite funny.  He involved the audience a lot and his act was well received.  After the show we went back to our cabin and went to bed.

Monday, September 9th, we awoke about 8:00 or so just in time for our arrival into the Port of Boston, Massachusetts.  We had visited Boston back in 2017, when we were still full-timing.  That was the year that did the “Grand Northeast Tour” to get to all the States which we had not yet visited with the motorhome.  We up, had some coffee and got ready to go ashore about 9:00 or so for the tour we had booked through the ship.  The tour was a “hop on, hop off” tour of Central Boston, which, according to the brochure, hit all of the main historical and cultural sites in town.  We got on the trolley, which had a very interesting and knowledgeable guide narrating the trip, and decided to take the entire round trip first, just to see where we might want to get off and explore later.  We had plenty of time since the “all aboard” time wasn’t until 7:30 this evening.  The round trip took about an hour to complete, after which we continued the ride until we reached the stop for the Quincy Market and old downtown area.  We got off here and did some shopping and had lunch in a nice seafood place.  We also got a couple of geocaches.  After we explored the area and checked out some of the historical sites, we got back on the trolley and took it back to the dock so we could reboard the ship.  After we got back to the ship we had a cocktail and just did some of the activities on board, like trivia.  We had dinner about 6:30 or so.  After dinner we went to the showroom to see a featured female vocalist named Mellissa McLaughlin.  I had never heard of her, but I guess she works the cruise ship circuit.  She had a decent voice, but she was a little too shrill and loud for us.  We watched for about a half hour and then left.  Since the ship had now sailed we went to the casino for a little while before heading off to bed.

Tuesday, September 10th, day four of the cruise.  Today we arrived in Bar Harbor Maine about 9:00 a.m.  We didn’t have any scheduled shore excursions for this stop.  We had also been in Bar Harbor back in 2017 and had camped at a big campground just off the island that Bar Harbor is situated on.   About 10:30 we boarded a tender to go into town.  Bar Harbor does not have a dock big enough for a cruise ship, so we were anchored out in the bay.  We did a little shopping in the small harbor area of town and then went into a cafĂ© for lunch.  After lunch we decided to take a tour of the town, so we bought tickets for a small sightseeing trolly and looked around town an listened to another interesting speaker telling us about town.  It was a good tour and we were glad we took it.  After the tour we caught a tender back to the ship.  We rested for a while and watched while we left port about 4:30. We wandered around the ship and played some trivia before going to dinner.  Tonight we had dinner with Peggy and Wanda in the dining room.  They had found a waiter named Dias that they really liked and we asked to be seated in his section.  Dias, which is his last name, but easier to use than his first name, Zennium.  He is East Indian with a strong, but understandable Indian accent.  He is very funny and very attentive.  We had a great dinner and afterwards just went out and wandered the ship for a couple of hours enjoying different bars and checking out the karaoke at 9:00.  The featured artist in the showroom tonight was a soloist violinist and neither of us had much interest.  The Karaoke was great.  There wasn’t a big crowd at the beginning and I ended up doing both the first and second songs of the session before anyone else got brave enough to put in their name.  They had a great setup in one of the smaller showrooms. They had a wide selection of songs and the sound system was the same one they use for the professional entertainers that play in the room.  They had the spotlights on and you really felt you were on stage.  I did about four songs before the rotation started to become fairly big, at which time we headed back to the cabin and went to bed.

Wednesday, September 11th, the fifth day of the cruise.  Of course, we have to remember the terrible day of September 11, 2001.  Ironically, today was the first port stop in a Canadian port, Saint John, New Brunswick.  We didn’t have any excursions set up for this stop, so we just walked around the port area and did some shopping and exploring.  We did couple of geocaches too.  We stopped in a local brewery so I could get a tee shirt since none of the shops had anything I liked.  After a couple of hours we were tired, and Jackie’s knee was hurting, so we got back on the ship and rested for a while.  The ship sailed early, about 4:00 and we watched from our balcony as we left port.  We had dinner with Wanda and Peggy again, at Dias’ table.  Today he remember that Peggy, Jackie and I all drank double Tito’s vodka on the rocks and when he came to the table he already had the drinks for us.  Wow!  We had another very nice dinner.  After dinner we went to the main showroom for one of the two production numbers put on by the ships dance company.  This one was fashioned as a “sing off” type contest between the four lead singers of the group.  Of course it was done with lots of neat costumes, sets, lights and dancing.  It was a very good show.  After the show we went to the casino for a while, then headed up to bed.

Thursday, September 12th, day six of the cruise.  Today we arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.  We had lunch on the ship then went ashore for another hop on, hop off, excursion.  This was a very nice city and we took the entire tour without getting off.  After the tour we walked around the port area for a while, got some geocaches, and then got back on the ship.  The ship left about 7:00 as we were having dinner in the dining room with “our” waiter Dias.  We had another really good meal.  The variety of foods on this cruise is not quite what we experienced with Carnival, but the quality was very good and I always had a great meal.  After dinner we went to the showroom at 9:00 to watch the cruise ship version of “The Newlywed Game.”  This seems to be a staple for cruise ships and we have seen it on every cruise we have been on, regardless of which cruise line.  It was funny and entertaining, as it usually is.  After the show we spent some time around the ship, then went to the cabin and bed.

Friday, September 13th, day seven.  Today was another port call, this time the city of Sydney, Nova Scotia, at the very Northern tip of the province.  We did get off of the ship for a little while and did some shopping in the port area.  I did walk into town to drugstore to get some pain patches for Jackie’s leg.  It is a pretty, if small, rural seaport town.  We got a geocache at the world's largest fiddle, and then got back aboard the ship.  Today was the day we had our dining reservations in Cagney’s Steakhouse.  On this cruise we got two specialty dining credits, where we can go to the fancy ala carte restaurants on the ship for free.  We had an excellent meal.  I had the 16 oz rib eye and Jackie had the lamb.  We had a really nice dinner.  After dinner we went to the casino and a bar since we didn’t want to go to the show.  It was the same lady that we walked out on earlier in the cruise.  After a nice evening we went to the cabin and went to sleep.

Saturday, September 14th, day eight.  Today our port call was in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.  We had booked a tour for this port, but it didn’t leave until 1:00.  We had a relaxing morning and lunch on the ship.  We went ashore and boarded a very nice Prevost tour bus for a tour of the city and the bridge which connects Prince Edward Island with the mainland and New Brunswick.  The tour was nice but a big part of it was just driving through the countryside to the bridge.  This eight mile long bridge is the only land connection between the province of Prince Edward Island and the mainland of Canada.  Until the bridge opened in 1997 the only way to get to PEI was by air or boat.  It is the longest bridge in Canada, and the longest bridge over ice covered water in the world.  In the winter the sea around PEI freezes solid.  We drove over the bridge and made a stop at a little shopping area on the New Brunswick side.  We also got a geocache there.  We got some geocaches in Charlottetown and then got back on the ship.  

Sunday, September 15th, day nine of the cruise.  Today was a day at sea, the second of our two sea days on this cruise.  We slept in and relaxed, we had lunch in the dining room with our regular waiter.  We spent the rest of the day just around the ship doing whatever.  We spent some time in the casino, played some trivia, and just had a quiet day.  We had dinner with Peggy and Wanda and after dinner wandered around some more.  We went to the showroom for a magician and mentalist show.  He was Eric Walton and he was very good.  He was also very funny and got the audience involved with the show.  In fact, since we were in the front row, he actually came and took Jackie up on stage to help with one of his mentalist things.  She did great.  After the show we went to karaoke again and I got to do about three songs.  After a good day at sea we went back to the cabin and went to bed.  

Monday, September 16th, today we are making port in Saguenay, Quebec, Canada.  This is a port city located at the end of an almost 80 mile fiord northwest from the Saint Lawrence

River.  We entered the fiord early in the morning, about 7:00 or so, and finally made port at noon.  It was very interesting cruising up the fiord with the rock walls on either side of the ship.  The fiord is only about four miles wide, but it is very deep.  We had a tour booked for today, but the tour didn’t leave until 4:30, so we spent some time on the ship.  We had lunch and then went ashore about 2:00 or so.  It turns out there wasn’t much shopping in the port area, so we spent a couple hours just sitting.  We did get a geocache though.  The tour was on a very nice Prevost coach and we toured the entire area.  The city was formed by combining three smaller communities into one large municipality.  It is a very pretty area and the tour was fun.  Saguenay is sort of the end of the world for mainland Quebec.  There are no roads that go north out of Saguenay and there are no settlements north or East on the mainland except for some small tribal communities.  After the tour we went back to the ship   We had dinner with Peggy and Wanda and after dinner went to the production show in the showroom  Tonight’s show was called Rock you Tonight and was really good with a lot of great music.  After the show we gamed a bit, then went to the cabin and to bed.


Tuesday, September 17th, day 11 of the cruise.  we arrived in Quebec City about 9:00.  We had one more tour scheduled, but it wasn’t until 2:00.  We had lunch on the ship and spent several hours in the afternoon packing our suitcases.  Tomorrow is the day we get off the ship.  The ship actually just stays in Quebec City overnight.  We had to have the bags packed and outside the cabin by 9:00 and we had a lot of things planned for the day.  We went on the tour with Wanda and Peggy and it was very interesting.  At one point the bus stopped for a little while in a large riverside park and we noticed that is was very close to the hotel we had booked for two nights after the cruise.  It seems to be in a very nice neighborhood, so we were happy we chose that one.  After the tour we went back on the ship.  We had our second specialty dining tonight in the French restaurant, Le Bistro.  We went at 6:30 and had a fabulous dinner.  Jackie had lamb and I had the filet and both were excellent.  After dinner we went to an adult comedy show in the showroom, which was very funny.  After the show we just went to bed because the shops and casino were closed since we are not leaving port tonight.


Wednesday, September 18th, we were up early because we had to be out of the cabin by 8:30.  We got our carryon bags packed and were out in time.  We went to breakfast, then found a place to wait to get off the ship.  By 9:30 we were called to get off the ship.  We didn’t have to go through Canadian customs, I guess because we have been in Canada for the last eight days.  We got our bags and got a cab to take us to the Le Concorde Hotel.  This hotel is in the main part of the city, on the hill above the port.  It is a very nice hotel and has a revolving restaurant on the roof.  We got to the hotel and they told us we couldn’t check in until 4:00, so we checked our bags with the porter and caught another cab down to the old part of the city, much of which we had seen on the tour yesterday.  We spent a couple of hours walking around the old square, which dates back to the 1700’s.  We did some shopping and also some geocaching.  It was interesting in the old town area there was what I assume was an art installation with giant pink inflatable babies all over the buildings.  One was looking in a window, another was looking over a roof, another was strung up like it was flying.  Very odd.  After our shopping we went back to the hotel and got in our room.  We had an excellent room on the 17th floor which was in a corner of the building so we had views out of two sides.  One overlooked the park and river, the other overlooked the city and port.  The room was very large and very nicely done.  We went out to dinner about 6:30 or so and the street that the hotel was on had at least a dozen or more restaurants and bars.  We finally settled on one and had a great dinner in a sidewalk cafĂ©.  After dinner we walked around the street a little, then went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Thursday, September 19th, we had breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then went to the lobby and caught a cab to go to the port area again.  We had booked another tour that was supposed to be a ride on a boat down river to a place called Canyon St. Anne.  Wanda and Peggy met us at the boat dock and we got on a small, enclosed, water taxi.  It’s a good thing it was enclosed because the weather was terrible.  It was cold and windy, the worst weather day we have had on the entire trip and it had to be on the day we were on a small boat.  We went up river to a dock, and then had to take a bus to the canyon.  The canyon is on private property and has been developed as a tourist attraction.  Jackie didn’t want to walk the canyon, but I went and did the entire one mile round trip.  The canyon is spectacular with waterfalls and rapids.  I took lots of pictures.  While I was doing that Wanda and Jackie took a zip line ride that took them over the same area in which I was walking.  We spent a couple of hours there and then had to catch the boat back at 4:00.  We got back to Quebec City and went to the hotel.  We had to say goodbye to Wanda and Peggy because they are leaving very early in the morning to fly back to California.  Our plane doesn’t leave until afternoon.  After we got back to the hotel we rested for a while, then went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner.  We had a really nice dinner and then we went up to the revolving restaurant on the roof for a night cap.  The view from up there was fabulous.  After that we went down and went to bed.

Friday, September 20th, was our return to Las Vegas day.  We had lunch in the hotel, then caught a cab to the airport.  We were flying Air Canada back to Las Vegas.  Our flight got out on time, about 3:30, and flew to Toronto, which was only a 45 minute flight.  We then had a long layover in Toronto before catching the flight to Las Vegas.  Both flights were crowded and uncomfortable.  Flying today is torture unless you can go first class.  We got into Vegas just before midnight.  After we got our bags we took the shuttle to the motel where we left our car.  We got into the car and drove to Arizona Charlie’s Hotel and casino to spent the night.  We didn’t want to drive over the hill in the dark this late and this tired.  We settled into the room and went to sleep.

Saturday, September 21st, we checked out of the hotel, had lunch and then drove over the hill to Pahrump.  After we got home we found the house just as we left it.  We unpacked and stared doing laundry and putting things away.  We did go to happy hour to see our friends at 4:00.  We went home and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.  Sunday was also a work at home day getting all cleaned up from the trip.  We went to the ice cream social and then back home.  We pretty much got everything done, all the laundry done and everything put away by the time it was time for bed.

Monday, September 23rd was pretty much a stay at home day for me.  I had a lot of stuff from Silver Seekers I had to catch up on.  Jackie went in the afternoon for a mani appointment.  We went to happy hour and then relaxed the rest of the night.  Tuesday I had an appointment in Las Vegas in the afternoon to set up the appointments for taking care of my cataracts.  I went through a bunch of tests and then worked with the assistant to set up the surgery dates.  They will do one eye the second week of November and then the other one two weeks later.  Kind of scary but everyone tells me I will see much better.  Jackie had to drive home because they had dilatated my eyes.  We got back in time for happy hour, after which we had dinner and relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, September 25th, we were finally back on a normal schedule.  I went to guitar practice with my friend Len over to another friend’s house.  Jackie went to play Pokeno.  After our fun times we went to happy hour then had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.  We have a lot of TV to catch up on from being gone two weeks.  Thursday, we ran some errands and then worked around the house.  We had a pot luck in the clubhouse at 4:00 with some very good food and time with friends.  After the pot luck we went home and watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, September 27th, I had appointment with our new dentist.  Neither of us liked the way our old dentist ran his office.  He seemed to not care much about his patient’s time.  The new dentist did some x-rays and wrote up a plan that included a deep cleaning, a root canal and crown for a bad tooth, and new partial dentures.  Our insurance will pick up half or so of the cost.  I set up some appointments for December because I didn’t want to mess with dental stuff during the time I am doing the cataract thing in November.  We went to happy hour, then had dinner and relaxed for the rest of the night.  Saturday we had a 10:00 meeting of the Silver Seekers to finalize the October calendar.  Then we just worked around the house the rest of the day.  After dinner I had my first night of Security Duty.  After that we watched TV and went to bed.

Sunday, September 29th, we pretty much just stayed around the house, went to the ice cream social, had dinner and watched TV.  I had security again tonight.  Monday, the last day of October.  We were headed back into Las Vegas about 11:00 so I could go to Costco to get my hearing tested and get fitted for new hearing aids.  My last set finally wore out after seven years.  I used Millie’s late husband Dick’s for a while after mine broke.  He and I got them in Mexico at the same place and time.  They were not perfect, but they did work for me for about 8 months before they too quit working.  We had lunch at the Omelet house then went to Costco.  Jackie shopped while I got tested.  I was surprised at how thorough the test was.  After the testing the technician showed me the various brands they carried and tried them on me to see what I liked.  I decided on the one’s made by Phillips.  I have to come back in week to pick them up.  After all that we headed back to Pahrump.  We went to happy hour, then home to relax with the TV the rest of the evening.

That is now finally the end of this episode, which is quite long because of the cruise.  Until next time, be happy, be safe and have fun.  Bye.


Monday, September 2, 2024

A Sweltering August in Pairadice

Hello again.  Our last Chapter ended on Wednesday, July 31st after a record breaking hot July in Southern Nevada.  Our $300 plus July electric bill is testament to that.  Thursday, the first day of August, was a stay at home day.  Jackie went to play cards at the clubhouse and I stayed home and did chores. 

Friday, August 2nd, I had to go over to the clubhouse after lunch to setup the zoom for an emergency meeting of the Board of Directors.  It seems that one of our two well pumps went out yesterday and needed to be pulled from the well and replaced.  This is a $4,000 plus job, so the Board had to hold an open meeting in accordance with the By Laws.  There were only a dozen or so people that came to the five minute meeting, and another eight or so on Zoom, but for the sake of transparency they had to have a meeting.  After the meeting I put everything away and went back the house for some office work.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home and had meatloaf for dinner.  We watched TV until it was time for bed.  Saturday was mostly a stay at home day.  We went over to the clubhouse at 9:00 for the “First Saturday Breakfast” but were one of the last to come in.  We got some waffles and bacon.  About 12:30 the delivery truck from the local furniture store arrived to deliver our new furniture.  Last week we went out to shop for new dining chairs for our trailer.  The four we have are the typical, lightweight chairs that they put in RVs.  That is understandable for RVs that are going to be used for travel since towing weight is an issue.  Ours is a permanent home and will likely not be moved until after we die.  The chairs are only about a year and a half old, but they are starting to fall apart at the joints.  We found chairs that we really liked at one of the local stores and put them on order.  While we were there we looked at a replacement for our current theater seating unit that came with our trailer.  It has two recliner positions, but the recliners are manually operated by a pull handle, which Jackie cannot operate.  In addition, they are either up or down, nothing in between.  We want to replace it with a unit with electric recliner activation.  We found what is actually a love seat in the right dark blue-grey color with dual electric recliners.  The only difference is that there is no center divider as is present in a theater seating unit.  It does have storage bins in each arm, just nothing in the middle.  It is also about the same size as our current unit, just a couple inches narrower.  We decided to get it too and have it delivered at the same time.  The delivery guys took our old theater unit out and set up the new love seat.  They also took the old theater seating over to the clubhouse as we are donating it to the park.  The old dining chairs we kept in case someone in the park wants them.  After the delivery people left we went out to do some errands, including a run to Smith’s for some groceries.  After we got home we went to happy hour, then came home and spent the night watching TV while reclining in our new power recliners.  Yea!

Sunday, August 4th, we relaxed in the morning and left about 1:00 for a late lunch.  We went to the Pour House where Jackie had lamb Tika and I had one of their great pizzas.  We both brought leftovers home.  After we got home we just relaxed with the TV the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Monday we went out after lunch and ran a bunch of errands.  After we got back we went to happy hour, then came home and had leftovers for dinner.  We spent the rest of the night watching the TV.

Tuesday, August 6th, Jackie had a birthday lunch with some of the other ladies from the park at the Artesian Cellars restaurant.  I had a stay at home day and did some chores.  At 4:00 we went to happy hour and then came home and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with the TV.  Wednesday I went with my friend Len to our Jam session in town, Jackie went over to the clubhouse for Pokeno.  In the afternoon we went to social hour, then came home and had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, along with some freshly baked, homemade sour dough bread made by another member of the park.  We then spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Thursday, August 8th, was a another stay at home day.  Jackie went to the clubhouse in the morning for a card game.  I did some chores around the house.  We spent the afternoon doing things around the house.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home and had dinner.  I had my first of three nights of security duty starting at 8:00.  After that we watched TV and went to bed.  Friday we went out for a late lunch to La Fonda, a local Mexican restaurant that we don’t go to very often.  The food was good for me except the taco meat was a little flavorless.  Jackie ordered chicken fajitas and the chicken was very tasteless and tough, like it was frozen and never marinated.  After lunch we went back home, then we went to happy hour and stayed for Bingo.  Jackie shared a pot on one regular bingo and I won one regular bingo, so I made my money back and a few bucks extra.  After bingo I did my security rounds, then we watched TV until it was time to go to bed.

Saturday, August 10th, was a stay at home day for me.  Jackie went out about 11:00 for her monthly Ladies Luncheon.  Today they went to the Pour House, the local Indian restaurant that also has the best pizza in town.  I stayed home and did some chores around the house.  Jackie came home with a pizza for me.  At 4:00 we went to happy hour and at 8:00 I did my last security shift for the month.  After I got done we watched TV and went to bed.  Sunday we went out to do some grocery shopping.  We went to several different stores because, in addition to our own shopping we were also shopping for the Taco Tuesday lunch in the Clubhouse.  Jackie and I are doing that lunch.  After shopping we just headed home, put stuff away, and then relaxed for the rest of the day.  After dinner we watched TV and went to bed.

Monday, August 12th, was a stay at home day for me.  Jackie went for a manicure at 2:00.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then went home and had dinner.  We spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Tuesday I was over in the clubhouse kitchen by 9:30 cooking the taco meat for the lunch, as well as making other preparations.  At 12:30 we started the lunch and had about 35 people in attendance.  Everyone seemed happy with the meal.  We bought the rice and beans from a local Mexican restaurant, but I did the meat.  We had a good time and came close to breaking even.  After the lunch I had another meeting in the clubhouse for a new Budget Advisory Committee.  I am only a member of this one, not in any position of authority.  After the meeting, which took place over happy hour, we went home and crashed for the rest of the night since we were both tired. 

Wednesday, August 14th, Jackie had Pokeno at 1:00 and I drove to the center of Pahrump to our friend’s house for the weekly jam session.  Today, in addition to our now group of six, we had a bass player.  We are working on a real band here.  We had a good, if a little messy, jam.  After the jam I went home and we went to happy hour.  We then came home and had leftovers for dinner and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Thursday Jackie played cards in the morning and I did some chores around the house.  Other than that it was a stay at home day.  Went to happy hour at 4:00, then home for dinner and another night with the TV.

Friday, August 16th, I had to set up and run a Zoom meeting for the Board at 1:00.  The meeting was an emergency expenditure meeting and only lasted a couple of minutes.  After the meeting we drove up to the Elks Lodge so Jackie could drop off some jewelry she is donating.  After that we went to Walmart for some groceries.  After we got home we put stuff away and then went to happy hour.  After that we came home, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.  Saturday we did some chores around the house until about 3:30 when we left, picked up our friends Ginny and Joyce, and drove up to the Elks Lodge for the State President’s dinner.  This is a dinner our Lodge puts on when the new State President makes his yearly visit to the Lodge.  It is a tradition with Elks that both the District Deputy and the State President have to visit each Lodge in his or her territory at least once.  The dinner was very nice, ribs, salad, bread, potato salad and beans.  We had a before dinner drink and gamed a little at the bar.  We didn’t win the 50/50, but we had five people from our park at the event.  Jon, who came on his own, is not a member, but I think we have convinced him to join the Elks as well.  After dinner we had a couple of short speeches and presentations.  We were on our way home by about 7:00.  After we got home we just watched TV and went to bed.

Sunday, August 18th, we had a stay at home day.  Did some chores and relaxed most of the day.  We went to the ice cream social at 2:00, then came home and had some country ribs that had been cooking all day in the crock pot.  After dinner we watched TV and went to bed.  Monday was a stay at home day for me.  Jackie had a manicure at 2:00 and my friend Len came over at 1:00 for some guitar practice.  We went to happy hour at 4:00 and then came home and had leftovers for dinner.  We spent the rest of the night watching TV.

Tuesday, August 20th, Jackie had to go for a bone density scan at 1:00, so I took her there and then we went out and ran some errands.  After we got home we went to happy hour and then just relaxed for the rest of the evening.  Wednesday was a typical one, Jackie had Pokeno at 1:00 and I went to my weekly jam session.  After we got home we went to happy hour and then watched TV until bedtime.   Thursday we did stuff around the house until 1:00 when we both went to get haircuts.  After haircuts we ran some errands and went to Walmart for supplies.  After happy hour we spent the rest of the night watching TV.

Friday, August 23rd, we went out for a late lunch to China A Go Go because we have Bingo tonight in the clubhouse.  After we got home we did some chores, then went to happy hour and stayed over for bingo.  I won one game, but had to split the pot so I didn’t quite break even.  After bingo we watched some TV and went to bed.  Saturday was a stay at home day.  We went to the clubhouse about 3:30 for pot luck dinner.  Jackie made a Chinese chicken salad.  There were about 40 people there and we had a good time.  After we got home we relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.

Sunday, August 25th, we had a stay at home day.  We went to clubhouse at 2:00 for the ice cream social.  After we got back we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing and watching TV.  Monday was also a stay at home day.  I had to go to the clubhouse in the afternoon to give another member a briefing on how to run the zoom setup so he can do while we are on vacation starting next week.  There are four different meetings that have to be zoomed during the 15 days we are gone.  We went to happy hour, then came home and had dinner.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Tuesday, August 27th, Jackie played cards in the morning and we spent the rest of the day around the park.  Wednesday I went to guitar jam at 12:30 and Jackie went to Pokeno at 1:00.  After we got home we went to happy hour and then home for supper.  We spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Thursday I had an 11:00 dermatologist appointment.  I got some spots sprayed with the nitrogen, and he took a shave biopsy of a small spot on the side of my jaw.  Only a very small spot.  Later in the afternoon Jackie went to our new dentist to get her teeth cleaned.  We decided to change dentists because neither of us much cared for our current provider.  Jackie was not happy with the new dentist either because she had to wait almost an hour to get her teeth cleaned.  After the dentist we ran a few errands and then went home.  We had dinner and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Friday, August 30th, we left the park around 10:30 and headed for Las Vegas for my three month checkup for my hip.  Everything is still fine and I don’t have to come back until next June.  On the way to the Orthopedic center we stopped for lunch at a new place called Angie’s Lobster on Blue Diamond Road and Decatur.  We both had lobster rolls, with fries and a drink for $25.  The lobster roll was excellent and we will be back to try some of their other items in the future.  After the doctor’s visit we drove to Summerlin and the Costco store.  We were back home by 5:00, had dinner and spent the night watching TV.  Saturday, the last day of August.  We left the park about 2:00 to go out and run some errands.  I had to pick up a prescription, we needed to get some cash for our trip, we stopped at Walmart for some things, and we picked up dinner at Teriyaki Madness.  We got home in time for happy hour.  After happy hour we went home and had dinner, then watched TV for the rest of the night.

We are now at the end of August, time to get this puppy published.  Until next time, be kind.  Bye.