Hello again. Our last chapter ended on May 31st, while we enjoyed the beginnings of summer at home in Pahrump. Sunday, June 1st, we went out for some supplies in the afternoon. After we got home, I noticed that the refrigerator seemed uncommonly warm inside, then I noticed that there was an error message on the display inside. It seems that the fridge has stopped working. We were having Dale and Sue Vice over for dinner at 5:00, so we only had time to empty out the freezer portion of the fridge before they came over. Fortunately, we have a nearly empty refrigerator in the shed, plus we had some space in our chest freezer for food. We had a nice dinner and visited with the Vices. After they left, about 7:00 or so, we spent the next hour emptying out the refrigerator portion of the box. Again, lucky we had somewhere to take all the food. With the box now empty, we headed off to bed.
Monday, June 2nd, after my morning coffee and shower, I started troubleshooting the now warm refrigerator. The error message indicated a problem with a fan in the freezer compartment. I spent a couple of hours pulling the refrigerator out of its little cubby hole in the kitchen so I could look in the back. I was hoping that it was just a clogged vent or something. The condenser coil in the back was, in fact, very dirty, but cleaning it did no good. About 3:00 I called two of the local appliance repair shops. I had to leave voice mails for both. About a half hour later, while we were at happy hour, Jack’s Appliance Repair called back. I told them what was going on and they said the service guy was in the neighborhood and could come over in about a half hour. That made me very happy. He did show up, a nice guy named Miguel. He talked to me, did some diagnostics, and said that it appeared the circulation fan motor had died. As it turns out, he had a replacement in his truck and after less than an hour and a half the fridge was fixed. It needed about 24 hours to cool down completely, so we just watched TV for the rest of the night and went to bed.
Tuesday, June 3rd, again, after coffee and a shower, I started the process of putting the refrigerator back into its cubby hole. After that was done, we did a thorough cleaning inside and then put all the frozen and regular food back into the fridge. We were done by mid afternoon and everything in the kitchen was normal again. We went to happy hour, then came home and had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. Wednesday we were back to normal, with me going to guitar practice in the afternoon and Jackie playing Pokeno. We went to happy hour at 4:00, then watched TV until it was time for bed.
Thursday, June 5th, after lunch we went out to do some grocery shopping and other errands. When we got back, I went to happy hour, Jackie didn’t feel good, so she stayed home. After I got home, we had dinner, then spent the rest of the night with the TV. Friday Jackie woke up and was still not feeling well. She has had a chronic upset stomach for about a week or so and wanted to go to urgent care. After lunch we went to urgent care, and she got a prescription for some anti-nausea pills and was told to buy some Pepto Bismal. We went to Walgreens and picked up her stuff, then stopped at KFC for some dinner. After we got home, we had dinner, then spent the rest of the evening with the TV.
Sunday, June 8th, my brother Dennis’ birthday. He is eight years younger than me and lives in Arizona. We were picked up at 10:00 by our friends Dale and Sue Vice for a Sunday-Funday trip. We drove north around the Spring Mountains to pick up US-95, now I-11 in some areas, and then headed back south towards Vegas. We stopped in Indian Springs at the Terribles Casino there. There is a Bob’s Big Boy inside the casino. It has been decades since I have eaten at a Bob’s. We had a really nice lunch, and I had a strawberry shake, which was as good as I remember. Indian Springs is an interesting place. It is just a few miles east of the Nye County line in Clark County, the home of Las Vegas. Creech Air Force Base is right across the street from the casino. Creech is one of the primary bases for the Air Force’s drone activities. It is the training base for drone pilots and was where most of the drones operated in the Middle East during the various conflicts over there were piloted from. After lunch we drove up into the Spring Mountain Recreation Area, which goes up in the 8,000-foot elevation areas of the mountain range which separates the Pahrump Valley from the Las Vegas Valley. There is a ski area, a number of campgrounds, a lot of high-end houses, and it is a very nice area to drive through. While we were up there, we drove through one of the campgrounds just to see what it was like. Dale and Sue still have a trailer they travel in and wanted to see if the campsites were big enough for them. Turns out they are, or at least a number of them are, and they can be reserved. Also, while we were driving through, we spotted one of our friends and fellow residents of our Co-op, Jon Albinson, camped there with his camper. We knew he was out of the park but didn’t know he was up in the Spring Mountains. We stopped and visited with him for a while before continuing out touring. We stopped at the visitor’s center for the area. It is interesting too that there is a monument at the visitor’s center in commemoration of a 1955 plane crash on Mount Charlston, the tallest peak in the range and which overlooks the visitors center. It was an Air Force C-54 (DC-4 in civilian life) plane which was flying from Burbank, California to Groom Lake Air Force Facility, better known as Area 51. At that time the then Top-Secret U-2 spy plane was being developed and tested at Area 51. The plane had 14 passengers and crew. The four crew were Air Force personnel, the others were a mix of Lockheed Aerospace engineers and Officers of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Since all operations surrounding the U-2 at the time were Top Secret, the plane was flying without any outside navigation or communications. It got caught in a storm and strayed into the Spring Mountains where it hit the side of Charleston Peak, killing everyone on board. The information sign at the memorial said that even the families of those killed were not told any of the details of their death beyond the fact that they were killed, until decades later. After visiting the center, we drove through Northwest Vegas and then back over the mountains to Pahrump. We got home about 4:30 or so and spent the rest of the evening watching TV.
Monday, June 9th, we had a stay-at-home day. Jackie is having some major problems with her stomach and bowels. Still constipated and in pain much of the time. Since going to the urgent care didn’t accomplish much she is trying to hold out until next week when we see our regular family doctor. I did some office work and other stuff around the house. Tuesday we were up and out of the house by 8:30 and headed to the medical center to get our blood drawn for tests for our upcoming semiannual checkup at the doctor. Because we didn’t get in right when they opened, we ended up waiting for an hour and a half to get in. After that we went back home and spent the rest of the day around the house. I went to happy hour at 4:00, but Jackie wasn’t feeling well. We then watched TV until bedtime.
Wednesday, June 11th, I went to my normal jam session at 12:30, but Jackie wasn’t feeling well, so she skipped Pokeno. After I got back, we just stayed around the house for the rest of the day and evening. Thursday, I had a 9:00 Town Hall meeting in the clubhouse. I was the “featured” speaker, talking about the proposed amendments to the Co-op By Laws that were just sent out for a vote of the membership. As chair of the By Laws Committee this year, I was tasked with explaining the proposals. I guess I did OK as there were no questions and few comments. Jackie had an 11:00 manicure appointment, which she felt well enough to go to. After she got home, we went out for lunch at the Nugget Casino. We went there because we had appointments at 1:45 to give blood there at the casino. Jackie’s blood draw went OK, but mine not so much. They had trouble getting the catheter into a vein and then for whatever reason it clogged up. They weren’t able to get a full bag of blood from me, only about three quarters full. I am not sure if they even send that to the blood bank, but they beat the crap out of my arm with their digging around. This was a private blood bank, so I think I will stick to the Red Cross in the future. After giving blood, we went home and went to happy hour at 4:00. We then came home and had dinner and spent the night with the TV.
Friday, June 13th, ooouuu, scary. I had a short Board meeting at 1:00 for an unexpected expense authorization. After the Board meeting, we had a jam session in the clubhouse. Since it was sort of a last-minute thing we only had myself, two people from the park and one of my regular jam group, playing. We had a couple of spectators, and we still had a really good time. We played for about an hour and half and then packed up. I went home and we spent the rest of the night with the TV. I did go out and pick up some take-out fish and chips from a local place for dinner. Saturday, we had another stay-at-home day. Jackie was still feeling poorly and didn’t go to her ladies luncheon. I did go out with two other guys for the men’s dine out. We went to El Jefe Mexican. I brought a taco salad home to Jackie afterwards. We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the house.
Sunday, June 15th, Happy Father’s Day. I heard from both my daughter Tye in Kentucky, and my son Roy in California. We were originally going to go to an early dinner at the Elks Lodge, which was having a Father’s Day rib cook, but Jackie wasn’t sure she wouldn’t get sick, so we cancelled and just stayed home. We spent the day watching movies on TV. I made some chicken soup hoping it would help Jackie feel better. Monday our house cleaner came. We had pretty much a stay-at-home day.
Tuesday June 17th, we had a 2:00 appointment with our regular doctor for our semi-annual checkup. Mine was pretty routine, for my age I am still fairly healthy. The doctor told me that I didn’t need to come back until next year, I could skip the 6-month checkup. Jackie spent a great deal of time discussing her issues with the doctor. He gave her a prescription for her belly pain, which is basically a gut antibiotic, just in case some of the reticula in her tummy are infected. He also talked to her about her headaches and is going to start her on a pill for migraine headaches to see if that helps with the constant headaches. After the doctor’s visit we went home. I went to happy hour and then we had dinner. I did my first shift of security for the park in the evening. Wednesday, I went to guitar practice in the afternoon. Pokeno was cancelled because they were doing some maintenance on the floors in the clubhouse. Jackie didn’t really feel like going anyway. I skipped happy hour and did my security patrol at 8:00. We watched TV and went to bed.
Thursday, June 19th, we had mostly a stay-at-home day. I had another security shift in the evening. Friday, we went out and ran some errands in the afternoon. We went to happy hour and then home for dinner and a night with the TV. I did my last shift of security. Saturday, we had another stay-at-home day.
Sunday, June 22nd, we went out after lunch to the Pahrump Nugget casino for some gaming for our “Sunday-Funday” time. Neither of us won, but we had fun. After that we stopped at Smiths for a few supplies, then headed home. We went to happy hour, then home for dinner and a night with the TV. Monday was a stay-at-home day.
Tuesday, July 24th, I had a 9:00 calendar meeting with the Silver Seekers. That lasted an hour or so. We spent the rest of the day working around the house. Wednesday, we had our usual guitar practice and Pokeno. Went to happy hour then home for an evening of TV. Thursday, Jackie had a mani appointment in the afternoon. I did some office work and other chores.
Friday, July 27th, I had a 9:00 Board Meeting which went until about 11:00 After that we went out for lunch at Dry Creek Saloon, a local bar and restaurant, and then went home. We went to Bingo at 5:30. Jackie won; I didn’t. We watched TV and went to bed. Saturday, I went out in the morning with our Board President, Sharon, and our Maintenance Manager, Ashliy, to the golf cart place to shop for another golf cart for the Co-op. We found a nice one and bought it. After I got home, we went shopping, then came home and relaxed for the rest of the day.
Sunday, July 29th, we had a stay-at-home day. Monday, we had a stay-at-home day on the LAST day of June, halfway through 2025. Wow. Until next time, stay safe, be good.
