July in Southern Nevada - It's a Dry Heat

Hi there, welcome back to the story of our life.  Our last episode concluded on Monday, June 30^th, while we were enduring a hot summer in Pahrump.  Tuesday, July 1^st, we had a stay-at-home day.  I did some chores around the house and just relaxed.  Wednesday was our usual, me going to play guitar with my jam group, Jackie playing Pokeno.

Thursday, July 3^rd, Jackie had a 1:00 dentist appointment for an exam and cleaning.  I dropped her off and went to Walmart, which is almost next door, and did some grocery shopping.  She called me to say that she was done just as I was checking out.  Good timing.  We went home and put the groceries away, then left again about 2:30 to go get haircuts for the both of us.  We didn’t get back in time for happy hour, so we just stayed home, had dinner and spent the night with the TV.  Friday, July 4^th, Happy Birthday America.  Today we had a 3:00 BBQ party at the clubhouse.  We had a pretty good turnout, considering it was summer, and a lot of our residents are gone.  It was a bring your own meat, and a dish to share meal, so we brought a couple of small steaks.  We had a good time with the group.  There was no happy hour today as the party went past 4:00.  Saturday, we had another stay-at-home day.  I got some office work done and relaxed for the day.  We went to happy hour, then home for dinner and a night with the TV. 

Sunday, July 6^th, another Sunday-Funday.  Today we left the park about 11:30 and drove to Beatty, an old mining town about 80 miles North of Pahrump.  When we got there, we first stopped at Smokin’ J’s BBQ restaurant for lunch.  We first found this place over a year ago when the park’s camping group came to Beatty for a campout.  They have excellent BBQ.  I had some ribs and pulled pork, Jackie had rib ends.  We had a great meal and took home enough leftovers for another meal.  After lunch we explored town a little, doing a couple of geocaches, and visiting a ghost town just southwest of Beatty, called Rhyolight.  This was a turn of the century mining town that at one point in the very early 1900’s was one of the largest towns in Nevada.  They actually had block and concrete buildings, many of which are still partially standing.  It is a protected property now and a tourist attraction.  After our fun day we headed back to Pahrump and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Monday, I had a 9:00 meeting in the office with two other Board members to address an issue with a visitor.  We got that done and I spent the rest of the day doing Co-op office work.  We went to happy hour and then home for a night with the TV.  We are binge-watching the entire Jurassic Park movie series, and tonight we watched the second movie, which neither of us had seen before.  We are trying to see the entire series before we go to the theater to see the latest Jurassic movie. 

Monday, July 7^th, I had a 9:00 meeting in the office with the BOD President and Secretary about an issue with a renter, which we took care of.  I did some office work and then after lunch we went to Walmart for some supplies.  We came back for happy hour, then had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.  Tuesday was another stay-at-home day.  I did a few chores and relaxed.  We went to happy hour, then had dinner and watched TV for the rest of the night.  Wednesday was again the usual routine, guitar practice for me, Pokeno for Jackie.  We went to happy hour, then came home for dinner and another night with the TV, and another Jurassic Park movie. 

Thursday, July 10^th, we left the park about 9:15, heading for Las Vegas and an appointment at the Orthopedic Center for Jackie.  This was a follow-up to the appointment about three months ago when Jackie got cortisone injections in her knees for the pain.  We saw the doctor, but since Jackie’s knees were not really hurting yet, nothing was done expect to make another appointment for a month or so from now.  After the doctor’s appointment we went to a restaurant, Khoury’s Mediterranean Grill, for lunch.  We met with our friends Don and Julie Klein, who had also come to Vegas for a doctor’s appointment.  We had a nice lunch, then they went to Costco, and we went to Sam’s Club.  After our shopping we headed back to Pahrump, getting home in time for happy hour.  After happy hour we went home and watched TV for the rest of the night.  Friday Jackie had a mani appointment at 1:15 and I stayed home and did some office work.  After she got back, we went out to Tower Pizza for a late lunch.  Jackie had the baked cod; I had the fish and chips.  After we got back, we went over for happy hour and stayed for Bingo.  Just before Bingo started, Jackie went into the ladies room and found a gun sitting on the back of one of the toilets.  She came and got me, and I found it was a real gun, a small “Detective Special” two inch, five shot, revolver.  The gun was fully loaded with hollow point rounds.  I unloaded the weapon and took it into safekeeping.  No one in the clubhouse at the time knew anything about the gun.  I won one regular game, but had to split it, so I only got $7.  Better than nuttin.  After bingo we went home and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, July 12^th, Jackie had a ladies luncheon at noon, and I had a men’s lunch.  They went to the Living Free Café; we went to the Dry Creek Saloon.  We both had a good lunch.  After we got home, we relaxed and did some chores around the house.  We spent the night with the TV.  Sunday was another Sunday-Funday.  I actually started the day by calling the Sheriff’s Office and asking for a deputy to come out and take custody of our lost gun.  The deputy came about ten minutes after I called.  He took all the information, and the gun, and it was now out of our hands.  In the afternoon we went to the Lakeside Casino about 1:00 and had a nice lunch, then stayed and played until about 4:00.  I lost, Jackie broke even, but we had a fun afternoon.  After that we went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Monday, July 14^th, I went to the Co-op’s package room to begin the install of the new video surveillance system.  The Co-op keeps the first two RV spots, and the shed between them, for Co-op use.  They are never available for members use.  These lots or for employees, or occasionally short term visitors.  The shed is used as a package room for all package deliveries.  We have regular gang-box type mailboxes for members regular mail, but the mailboxes are small.  The normal delivery services, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and the Postal Service, don’t deliver to induvial lots, they take everything to the package room.  We have volunteers that come in at 2:00 and work for a couple of hours, calling people with packages and signing them out.  Don Klein helped me with the camera installations.  By midday we had finished installing the two interior cameras and setting up the video unit and monitor.  Tomorrow we will do the two outside cameras.  It was too hot to work outside this afternoon; the temp was over 110.  About 2:30 we left to go the doctor’s office.  Jackie had been prescribed some drugs by Dr. Wiggins last month for her headaches, and she seemed to be having some bad reactions to the medication.  She had called to let them know she was going to stop taking the medication and they told her to come in and see the doctor.  Dr. Wiggins was not in but the other doctor in his part of the practice was and saw Jackie.  He told her to stop taking the medications and recommended that she let him give her a shot of anesthetic, actually Novocain, in the back of her head, around where the nerves entered the head.  He said he had a lot of success with other patients complaining of  headaches.  The shot was painful, but Jackie got through it.  Now we can see if it works.  Tuesday Don and I met again at the package shed in the morning and installed the last two cameras, which are on the outside of the shed.  By lunch time we were finished.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing and doing chores around the house.  Jackie didn’t have a headache last night or today.  Yea!

Wednesday, July 16^th, we had the usual activities.  I went and jammed with my guitar buddies; Jackie went and played Pokeno.  After we both got home, about 3:30, we went to the grocery store for some supplies.  After we got home, we had leftover green chili for dinner, then watched TV, including the last of the old Jurassic Park series.  We are now prepared to go to the movies for the new Jurassic World movie.  Thursday, I went over to the clubhouse in the morning and met Don Klein.  We spent about three hours working on the new camera surveillance system for the clubhouse.  We did some testing and mapping out locations, and we installed the first of the new cameras.  About 11:00 I started getting the BBQ grill outside the clubhouse going so I could cook hot dogs for the Hot Dog Lunch the Silver Seekers were doing today.  I cooked up a couple dozen hot dogs and went home to get Jackie.  We had a nice lunch with friends and neighbors.  After lunch we went home and spent the rest of the day doing stuff around the house.  We skipped happy hour so I could make stuffed green peppers.  Yum!  They turned out well and we have leftovers for another night.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Friday, July 18^th, Don and I worked in the Clubhouse installing the remaining five new inside cameras for the surveillance system.  After that was done, we went back home and spent the rest of the day doing things around the house.  I had a security tour at 8:00.  Saturday, we went out and ran some errands, then came back and spent the rest of the day at home doing chores and relaxing.  Another security tour this evening.  Sunday, we had a Fun Day at home.  We watched TV, played some cards and just relaxed for the entire day.  I did have to do a tour of security at 8:00, but other than that it was a day off.

Monday, July 21^st, I had a 10:00 dentist appointment.  A few months back I broke one of the teeth that holds my front bridge in place.  I went to the dentist we had and didn’t like the way he diagnosed my issues.  I decided to change back to my old dentist, and my appointment finally came around.  The bridge is very loose but has not fallen out yet.  He did all the x-rays and diagnostics and came up with a treatment plan that will cost just under $2,000, which is less than other dentist was going to charge, and way less than I expected.  I didn’t get anything done today because I have to be off of my baby aspirin regimen for a week or two before they can extract the broken tooth.  After I got home, I did some work around the house.  I had a meeting with the Board President and Secretary at 2:00.  I did my final tour of security for month in the evening.  Tuesday, I went to the Quonset hut and met with Don, and we installed the two new security cameras inside the building.  We are going to put two outside at a later time.  After I was done, we went out for a late lunch, then did some grocery shopping.  We came home and went to happy hour, then came home and had dinner.  We spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Wednesday, July 23^rd, we had our usual Wednesday, except that my jam session with the big group was cancelled, so Len came over to our house and we jammed with just the two of us like in the old days.  Jackie played Pokeno.  We went to happy hour and relaxed for the rest of the night.  Thursday, Jackie went to the clubhouse in the morning to play cards.  I met Don at the Quonset hut to install the two cameras for inside of the Quonset hut.  This took us a couple of hours. We went out and ran some errands in the afternoon then relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Friday, July 25^th, I had a 9:00 Board meeting which went about an hour.  We both went and got haircuts about noon, went out for a late lunch, then came home for Bingo at 5:30.  Jackie won a couple of games, I struck out.  After Bingo we went home and watched TV until bedtime.  Saturday, we had a stay-at-home day, just doing some chores and relaxing.  We also did some packing for our outing tomorrow.  We watched TV and went to bed.

Sunday, July 27^th, we left the park about 10:30 with our overnight bag in the car and headed south towards Laughlin, Nevada.  We had two free nights at the Riverside Casino and Hotel in Laughlin, so we decided to have a Sunday, Funday and Monday.  Whatever.  We stopped at Angie’s seafood in Vegas for lunch and both had lobster rolls.  We then continued down, getting in Laughlin about 2:30 or so.  We got checked into the hotel after a LONG wait.  Lots of people checking in at the same time. Once we got our room we went up and unpacked, then came down to the casino to game.  Through the players club we had gotten two free movie tickets, so we went to the show in the Riverside and saw the latest

Jurassic World movie.  Dinner was popcorn.  The movie was good, but the connection to the previous five movies in the series was pretty loose, none of the actors from the original five movies were in this one.  We still enjoyed it.  After the movie we gamed a little, then headed up to bed.  Monday, we got up and had coffee and relaxed a bit begore going down for the brunch buffet.  We had also gotten two free buffets from the players club.  After brunch we drove to Oatman, Arizona, an old 1915 mining town that was on the original Highway 66.  It is strictly a tourist town now, with bars, souvenir shops, and burros, LOTS of burros, burros EVERYWHERE.  On the way into town, they get in groups and block the road, so you have to slow down or stop, then they come up to the windows looking for food.  We had drinks at the bar in the hotel, the bar and restaurant are complexly covered in dollar bills, every wall, pillar and the whole ceiling are covered in money.  We have a dollar somewhere in the mess that we put there back in 2008.  We didn’t look for it.  We checked all the shops, petted the burros, and left after a couple of hours.  When we got back to the casino we gamed a bit, then changed clothes and went to the Prime Rib Room for dinner.  We didn’t have free tickets this time.  We had a great meal, with leftovers for tomorrow’s dinner. After dinner we gamed some more, then headed up to the room and went to bed.

Tuesday, July 29^th, we checked out of the room at 11:00, stopped at the In and Out in Laughlin for lunch, as is our custom when we come to Lauglin, and then started the drive back home.  We stopped in Searchlight to go to the bathroom, then gamed a little in the casino there. We then continued home, getting back about 2:30.  We went to happy hour, came home and had our leftovers for dinner, then watched TV until bedtime.  Wednesday, I went to the jam session in the afternoon, Jackie played Pokeno.  We went to happy hour, then came home and had dinner then watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday, July 31^st, I met Don at the Quonset hut, and we installed the two cameras on the outside.  We are now done with the camera project.  We now have four cameras inside and outside of the Quonset, four cameras inside and outside of the mail and package room, and twelve total inside and outside of the clubhouse.  In the afternoon we did some chores and relaxed.  We had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

We are now at the end of the month, time to get this published.  Be good until we meet again.