A Busy May in Pahrump and elsewhere

Hi there, welcome back.  Our last episode concluded on Tuesday, April 30^th.  Of course, we are still in Pahrump since our days of constant travel are behind us now.  Wednesday, May 1^st, MAY DAY, MAY DAY!  I had a meeting in the morning with some of the members of the By Laws Committee.  We were discussing what we needed to do to bring electronic voting to our Co-op.  With many of our members traveling a lot, it would greatly increase participation if we could do electronic balloting.  Jackie went to Pokeno in the afternoon.  My friend Len had other stuff today, so no guitar practice.  I spent the afternoon doing chores.

Thursday, May 2^nd, I had a 10:00 meeting of the By Laws committee, the last until September as the Co-op takes it’s summer break for formal meetings.  After the housekeeper finished we went out for lunch at Terrible’s Roadhouse.  We both had a hankering for liver and onions.  After lunch we went out and did some shopping.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home for dinner and an evening with the TV.  Friday Jackie had a 12:00 lunch with one of her girlfriends at a wine bar called Wine Down.  I had a meeting with one of the members of my By Laws Committee, a very nice newer member of the Co-op named Arlo, who is also an attorney.  We had a long discussion about common interest communities.  We went to happy hour and then home to dinner.  We watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, May 4^th, Star Wars Day.  (May the fourth be with you)  I had a meeting at 11:00 with one of the groups I am working with.  About 2:30 or so we went over to the clubhouse to watch the Kentucky Derby.   There was no formal party planned, but a couple dozen people showed up to watch on the big screen TV together.  A group of us also decorated the dining room for tomorrow’s Cinco De Mayo party.  We stayed for happy hour then

went home and had dinner.  After dinner we watched TV for the rest of the evening.  Sunday, Cinco de Mayo.  We had a quiet morning and early afternoon.  About 3:30 we went over to the clubhouse with our taquito casserole and margaritas for the party.  There were about 30 or so people there and lots of great Mexican dishes.  I played some Mariachi music on the PA system and we had a good time.  We were all done and cleaned up by about 6:00.  We then went home and spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

Monday, May 6^th, was mostly a stay at home day.  We are working this week to get ready for our cruise next weekend.  I had a pedi at 3:30 and didn’t make it back for happy hour.  We had dinner and then watched TV until bedtime.  Tuesday was a busy day.  I had an appointment with my ophthalmologist at 11:00.  Jackie went with me because they always want to dilate my eyes.  The doctor confirmed that he felt that my cataracts had advanced to the point where they could no longer get me to 20/20 vision with just glasses.  They set up an appointment in a couple of weeks with the head office in Las Vegas to talk about surgery options.  Jackie drove home since I was light blinded for most of the day.  We had a planning meeting of the Silver Seekers board at 1:00.  During that time I also took a call from my urologist who told me that the enlarged testicle was just a benign sack and nothing to worry about.  After the meeting we undecorated the clubhouse from the Cinco de Mayo party.  We had happy hour at 4:00, then had dinner and watched TV for the rest of the night.

Wednesday, May 8^th, Jackie had Pokeno at 1:00 and Len and I went over to our friend’s house for guitar practice.  I also did some basic maintenance checks on the car in preparation for our trip.  Jackie then had a mani and pedi at 2:30, so she missed happy hour today.  We had dinner and spent the night with the TV.  Thursday, our last day before we leave for Long Beach and our cruise.  I had a Town Hall meeting at 9:00 where I held a discussion regarding the By Law change proposals that recently went out for a vote of the membership.  We then went to the China Wok for another MASA presentation and free lunch.  We then hurried home to got to the Silver Seekers Board meeting at 1:00.  This is the last meeting until September.  At 3:00 we both went to get haircuts.  We got back in time to get to the last part of happy hour, then went home and had dinner.  We spent the night watching TV and finalizing our packing.

Friday, May 10^th, we had the house prepped and the car packed by 9:30 and were on the road headed towards Long Beach.  We stopped in Barstow for lunch and were joined by Lee and Kim, two of our fellow Co-op members and friends who are also going on the cruise with us.  Traffic was a little rough once we got into the Los Angeles area, but we still made the Cove hotel in Long Beach about 4:30.  There are six of us from the park on the cruise.  Us, Kim and Lee, our friend Charlene, who has been on a couple other cruises with us recently, and another friend, Ed, who hasn’t cruised with us before.  We all had cocktails in the hotel bar and chatted for a while before going to our rooms.  Saturday morning we were all down in the lobby about 10:00 for breakfast in the hotel.  We all got our bags downstairs and took taxis to the cruise terminal around 12:00.  This is same hotel we have used twice before when cruising out of Long Beach.  It is a very nice hotel and has a package which includes one night stay, parking for the term of the cruise, and transportation to and from the terminal.  We got to the cruise terminal and processed through pretty quickly.  We were on the ship by about 1:30 and were able to go to our rooms.  The luggage didn’t show up until just before we sailed at 5:00.  This was a new ship to us so we spent some time exploring.  After we sailed we all had dinner together in the dining room.  After dinner we spent a little time in the casino, and went to one of the shows at 9:30.  We went to bed around 11:00 or so after a busy day.

Sunday, May 12^th,  Happy Mother’s Day.  Today was a sea day.  We spent the day with various activities around the ship.  Tonight was a formal dress night, so we got all dressed up for dinner with our group.  We spent some time in the casino and went to the production show at 9:30.  We did other activities after the show and went to bed about 11:00.  Monday was another sea day.  It was a little boring since this ship doesn’t have much in the way of activities beyond endless trivia contests.  We had dinner with our group in the dining room and went to another show at 9:30.  We also took in the late comedy show at 11:00 with a very funny comic, Larry Omaha.  After that show we went to bed.

Tuesday, May 14^th, our first port of call, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  We have been to Puerto Vallarta before, but it was many years ago on another cruise.  We went ashore about 10:30 or so and did some exploring and shopping and also had lunch at a nice restaurant.  We went back about the ship in the early afternoon and got ready for our shore excursion which started at 3:00.  This was an excursion we got through the ship.  They put us on a large tender boat at 3:30 and we had an hour long boat ride across the bay to a rural area south of town.  This was a private resort where we had a wonderful dinner with a hundred or so people, then were treated to one of the best variety shows I have seen.  It was all themed around Aztec culture and legend was really good.  Did I mention the excursion also had an open bar?  After the show we were back on the boat and back on the ship just 15 minutes before it sailed out of Puerto Vallarta.  We did a couple of things around the ship after it sailed before heading off to bed.

Wednesday, May 15^th, Happy Birthday to Jackie.  Today we are in Mazatlán and all six of us were off the ship at 10:00 for another excursion, this one a private outfit which Jackie found and set up for us.  Like Puerto Vallarta, we have been here before, but it’s been a while.  We had a driver with a truck that had seats in the back and he treated us to a personal guided tour of  Mazatlán.  We saw all the sights, we did some shopping, and had a really great lunch at a beachside restaurant.  I bought a new ring, Jackie got some stuff and we had a really good time.  It was a five hour tour and only cost $30 a person, which was also wonderful, much less than shorter trips arranged by the ship.  After the tour we went back on ship just before sailing time.  We spent the evening with different activities.  We had dinner in the steak house specialty restaurant even though we had a big lunch.  We were joined for dinner by our friends Lee and Kim.  We still stayed up until about 11:30 before hitting the bed.

Thursday, May 16^th, another port of call,  this time Cabo San Lucas, a port we have been to three times in the last year.  We still got off the ship about 10:30 and went into town for some shopping and lunch.  Today was a short day off the ship as we all had to be back by 2:30 and the ship sailed at 3:00.  We also learned that our friend Lee had been transferred off the ship to the hospital in Cabo.  He had not been feeling well last night at dinner.  Kim took him to the ship hospital in the middle of the night and he ended up staying there until they transferred him to the hospital.  Kim said they also took all their luggage ashore since they didn’t believe he would be able to come back to the ship in time for sailing.  Turns out they were right because he went into surgery very quickly after being admitted to the hospital.  He was going to stay there for the night and maybe be released tomorrow. 

Tonight was the second formal night of the cruise.  We got dressed up and had dinner with our group.  We also had some photos taken, which we ended up buying a couple of.  We spent some time in the casino and took in another show.  We went to bed around 11:00 again.  Friday was the last full day of the cruise and was a sea day.  Kim told us Lee had been released and they were flying out today.  They were flying back to Long Beach, via Salt Lake City, and would pick up their car from the hotel and drive home.  We didn’t do too much other than a few of the activities on the ship.  I did some karaoke and we had a final dinner with our group.  We also had to put our checked bags out in the hallway by 10:00.  Tonight we went to bed a little earlier since we had an early day tomorrow.

Saturday, May 18^th, disembarkment day.  We had to be out of the cabin by 8:30, so we were up early.  After we left the cabin we had breakfast and just waited for our number to be called to get off the ship.  This is a large ship, more than 4,000 passengers, so debarking took time.  They also got a late start, so we didn’t get off the ship until about 10:30.  Fortunately, everything after, getting our bags, clearing Customs, and catching a cab back to the hotel went quickly and flawlessly,  We were on the road rom the hotel before noon and headed back to Pahrump.  We were making good time until we got to the climb to Cajon Pass.  About halfway up traffic came to a near stop.  There seems to have been an accident of some kind on the Northbound side near the top.  We finally got to the pass and things cleared up.  We stopped for lunch in Yermo, at Peggy Sue’s Diner along with our friends Charlene and Ed.  We finally got home just a little before 6:00.  We got the car unloaded and just crashed for the rest of the evening.  Jackie had talked to Kim  and found that they had arrived in Long Beach late on Friday, drove part way home and spent the night at a hotel in Fortuna.  They then headed for Pahrump and got there a little before we did.  Lee is doing well and everything turned out as well as could be expected.

Sunday, May 19^th, I had a short meeting in the morning.  After lunch I was feeling really sick to my stomach.  I took a nap but it didn’t get any better.  Finally, about 4:00 or so I barfed my guts out.  After that I started feeling better.  Whatever caused the tummy problem was out of there.  I had some chicken soup for dinner and was OK for the evening.  We got some of our bags unpacked and did several loads of laundry, but I was not much help because I was feeling yucky.  Monday, I was feeling much better.  I had the remainder of the soup for lunch and then finished the unpacking and putting stuff away.  By supper time I was fine and we even went to happy hour, although I still didn’t want to have a drink.  After happy hour we had chicken burros for dinner, then watched TV until it was time to go to bed.

Tuesday, May 21^st, Jackie had a mani appointment at 10:30.  We both went to a presentation in the clubhouse put on by Nathan Adelson Hospice.  They gave a lot of good information about their hospice, and what hospice was and wasn’t.  They also brought pizza for the crowd, which pretty much guarantied an audience.  After the presentation we went out and did some shopping.  We got back for happy hour, then had dinner.  We watched TV until bedtime.  Wednesday, Jackie had her usual Pokeno at 1:00.  I didn’t have guitar practice with Len today because he was busy with a doctor’s appointment.  We both had haircuts at 3:30.  We skipped happy hour because we were having a BBQ and Howl at the Moon party at our outdoor gazebo in the back of the park tonight.  We had about 30 people there and had a good time.  I played guitar and sang for about an hour.  Only a handful of the people stayed until 7:30 for the actual moonrise, but we still had a good night.  After the moon came up and we howled, we packed up and went home to the TV for the rest of the evening.

Thursday, May 23^rd, we had a Board Meeting at 9:00, the last until after summer.  I set up for the 2:00 jam session after lunch.  I went back over the jam at 2:00.  We only had three other people come to participate.  Our friends from outside the park cancelled again due to poor health.  After the jam we did some chores and packing at home, getting ready to leave tomorrow for Phoenix and my brother Ken’s memorial service.  Friday we were packed up and in the car on the way to Phoenix about 9:30.  It is over 300 miles so it makes for a long day.  We stopped at the In-N-Out in Kingman for lunch and arrived at the Hampton Inn in Glendale, Arizona about 4:30.  We got settled in our room and relaxed for a little while, then went out to Cracker Barrel restaurant for dinner.  We went there because it was close and Jackie had something to return that she had bought at a Cracker Barrel when we were here in March, right after Ken died.  After dinner we went back to the hotel and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.  This is a very nice hotel with really big, nice rooms.

Saturday, May 25th, we left the hotel about 12:30 and drove to the Knights of Columbus Hall in Glendale for Ken’s memorial.  Sadly, when we arrived and met with Susan she told us that her mother, Helena, had just passed away this morning.  Talk about stacking grief.  Her mother lived in South Carolina and Susan will be going back there later this week to deal with that.  There were a couple dozen family and friends in attendance, mostly from Susan’s side of the family.  My brother Russ, who lives in Las Vegas, and his wife Zen were there, and Jackie and I.  My brother Dave lives in Virginia and couldn’t come, and my brother Dennis, who lives in Cottonwood, Arizona, didn’t come because he has decided to be estranged from the family.  There were also a couple dozen members of the Arizona Rangers organization in attendance, in uniform, putting on the memorial.  Both Ken and Susan were members of the Rangers for over ten years.

In 1901, the original Arizona Rangers were created to rid the Arizona Territory of outlaws and corruption.  At the time, the Territory was very dangerous.  The United States Congress had denied the Governor's application for Arizona to become a State in part because there was no law and order.  The Rangers were well-trained, well-equipped, and very effective at apprehending even the most dangerous of outlaws, evolving into one of the finest law enforcement agencies in the country.  Modeled after the Texas Rangers, the Arizona Rangers were tasked with hunting down and arresting outlaws in the Territory, especially along the Mexican border.  By 1908, most of the outlaws had been arrested, killed, or had fled into Mexico.  The Rangers were disbanded for political reasons in 1909.  Shortly afterward, Arizona became the 48th state.  The “New” modern-day Arizona Rangers were officially recognized by the State of Arizona when the Legislature passed a new statute authorizing the Arizona Rangers to provide armed law enforcement assistance to any Local, State, Federal or Tribal law enforcement agency in Arizona, which was then signed into law by the Governor.  In addition, the Arizona Rangers are exempt from private security regulations and are authorized to provide armed public safety services for a variety of nonprofit organizations as well.  Ken was very proud of his affiliation with the Rangers as he always wanted to serve in Law Enforcement.  They left the group in 2022 when the started their full-timing life style.  At the time Ken was a Company Commander (Captain) of one of the local companies. 

The Rangers did a great job with the memorial.  After the memorial we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a while.  We then went out again and met Russ and Zen at a Mexican restaurant for dinner.  We had a nice dinner.  They are leaving tomorrow to go back to Vegas because Russ has to work.  After dinner we went back to the hotel and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.

Sunday, May 26^th, we had pretty much a free day.  We relaxed in the hotel room in the morning, then went out for lunch at a place called Ceviche 101.  They specialized in ceviche, although they had other Mexican foods as well.  It was good, but pricey.  After lunch we did some shopping at a nearby outlet mall, getting a couple of things in the process.  We then spent an hour or so driving around the west side of town where I grew up and lived most of my life just sightseeing.  We then went back to the hotel and rested a bit before going out again to a Mexican restaurant in Goodyear to meet Susan for dinner.  We had a really nice dinner and a nice quiet visit with Susan.  After dinner we went back to the hotel and watched TV until it was time to sleep.  Monday, Memorial Day.  We were packed up and in the car headed back North by about 9:30.  Traffic was pretty light, being a holiday.  We stopped in Wickenburg for lunch, then continued on to Pahrump, getting home about 4:30.  We got the car unpacked, did some laundry, and watched TV until we went to bed.

Tuesday, May 28^th, we had pretty much a stay at home day.  Got some laundry done and some post-trip chores done.  Also spent a lot of time on the phone and computer getting ready for the surgery next week.  We did leave about 3:30 and went to Terrible’s Roadhouse for the monthly park dine-out.  Tuesday is rib night, so both of us had a half rack of ribs, which were very good.  There were a couple dozen people from our park at the dine-out.  After dinner we stayed and gamed for a while.  I put $20 in a nickel poker machine and played for a while.  When I had $1 left I hit a natural Royal Flush for $200.  My first natural Royal in many years.  I continued to play for another five or ten minutes on that last dollar and cashed out when I got down to the $200.  Yea!  Jackie lost her $20, but played for about 45 minutes on it. We then headed home and spent the rest of the evening watching TV.  Wednesday, we had a pretty normal Wednesday.  Jackie did go out early, about 7:30, to get blood drawn for labs she needed for her six month checkup with Dr. Wiggins next week.  I was supposed to also have a checkup, but I probably won’t feel like going to the doctor because I will be recovering from my hip surgery on Monday.  The cleaning lady came over in the morning and cleaned the house.  Jackie had Pokeno at 1:00 and Len came over for guitar practice, also at 1:00.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home for dinner and another night with the TV.

Wednesday, May 30^th, we were in the car and on the road headed for Las Vegas about 11:00.  I had a 12:30 appointment with my ophthalmologist to confirm that my cataracts had reached the point where they needed to be fixed.  After a quick exam he said I was ready.  He was ready to the first eye this week, but I told him that I was having hip surgery and would hold off on the cataracts for a couple of months.  He said no problem, just let him know and he would get me scheduled.  We then went out and did some shopping and had lunch.  We went to the outlet mall, which was fun, but a lot walking made my hip hurt.  About 3:30 or so we drove to Arizona Charlie’s hotel and casino in the middle of Vegas and checked into our room.  We are staying the night because I have my pre-op appointment tomorrow with the orthopedic center.  We decided it was less stress to just stay over for the night rather than drive back and forth on two consecutive days.  After we got checked in we rested for a while, then went downstairs and gamed for a couple of hours.  We had dinner in the casino restaurant, then went up to our room and watched TV until we fell asleep.  Thursday we were checked out of the hotel by about 10:30.  We drove to an Egg Works restaurant where Jackie had breakfast and I had lunch.  We then went to my pre-op appointment.  We met with the Doctor’s PA and nurse and found out everything we needed to so as to be ready on Monday.  Everybody was pretty upbeat and only said, as had everyone else, that the first two weeks after the surgery will be painful, but then it should start to get better if I stick to the PT schedule.  After the doctor’s visit we headed back to Pahrump.  We got back in time to go to happy hour with our group.  After happy hour we went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

We are now done with the month of May, time to get this closed and online.  Until next time, be good, be kind, have fun.  Bye.