November Turns Chilly in Pahrump

Hi there, welcome back.  Our last episode concluded on All Hallows Eve, Thursday, October 31^st.  On Friday, November 1^st, I was up in the clubhouse kitchen about 11:00 starting to cook my chili for tomorrow.  The Silver Seekers usually puts on a “Homecoming Dinner” on the day of the Co-op’s Annual Membership Meeting.  That meeting is tomorrow and we decided to do chili, salad, corn bread and cake for desert.  I volunteered to make the chili.  Of course, instead of my usual four or five quart batch of chili I make at home, I am now making about eight GALLONS of chili in two huge pots.  I started with ten pounds of hamburger and a whole bunch of cans of tomatoes and beans.  It took me until almost 3:00 to get it all cooked and then put in the refrigerator to cool overnight and let the flavor build.  At 4:30 we went to happy hour, then did Bingo at 6:00.  I think I won one game.  After Bingo we went home and watched TV until it was time for bed.

Saturday, November 2^nd, I was up early and in the clubhouse by about 7:30.  I needed to help set up the Zoom feed for the meeting and also to get my chili out of the fridges and warming up.  The meeting started at 9:00 and was relatively uneventful.  Not too much came up during the open sessions and the meeting was pretty much over by 11:30 or so.  They introduced the new Board, which had three new members elected, and another two new members appointed to fill a couple of vacancies.  It looks like we will have a good Board this year.  Our friend Sharon Guthrie was elected President and we are friends with all of the rest of the new Board members.  After the meeting I started the work of reheating the chili and getting ready for the dinner at 4:00.  About 2:00 I realized that I wasn’t going to have enough chili, so I had to make a quick run to the store for supplies for another five pound batch of chili.  The dinner was well received and we had about 65 people eating.  We had enough chili and everything else.  Actually had a little chili left over. After the dinner I helped clean up and then we went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Sunday, November 3^rd, was a quiet day.  Day Light Savings Time ended last night.  We spent the day just doing some chores around the house.  We went to the ice cream social at 2:00, then came home and relaxed for the rest of the day.  Monday, we were headed into Las Vegas so I could go to Costco for the follow-up for my new hearing aids.  I was having some comfort issues with the left ear.  I have an oddly shaped ear canal on that side.  We stopped for lunch then went to Costco.  The hearing aid tech was very helpful and cured the comfort issue after a couple of different shapes and sizes of ear speakers were tried.  We did a little shopping, then packed up and headed back to town.  We didn’t go to happy hour because we were tired.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Tuesday, November 5^th, Election Day.  Jackie had a 10:00 meeting in the clubhouse and then went to a mani appointment.  I stayed home and did some chores.  At 3:00 we went out again so I could go to the dentist for a deep cleaning.  After the cleaning we went home and spent the rest of the night watching the election results on the TV.  Wednesday, we had to get up at 4:00 a.m. because I had to be in Las Vegas at 7:00 for my first cataract removal.  We were pleased to find out that Trump had been elected President again and pretty much in a landslide.  We got to the surgery center about 6:40 and by 7:10 I was in Pre-op getting ready to have my right eye fixed.  It was about an hour before I went in, but the surgery was maybe 20 minutes and I was out and getting ready to leave.  We were out of the surgery center by about 10:30.  There is no pain of course, the eye doesn’t have any pain nerves, but it was very foggy still from the surgery.  They told me this was normal and would clear up by tomorrow.  We went for some brunch, then did a little shopping to kill time.  We couldn’t go home right away because I had a same-day follow-up with the eye doctor, just to be sure everything was OK.  At 3:30 we did that, then started home, getting home just before sunset.  We didn’t go to happy hour, but just stayed home and watched TV. 

Thursday, November 7^th, the vision in my right eye had cleared up by the time I woke up and what everyone told me was true – the colors were MUCH brighter.  White was actually white, not beige or yellow looking.  I had a brief meeting at 10:00 with the Security Committee and we both had a 1:00 meeting with some of the Silver Seeker Board over some kitchen issues.  Jackie had a 3:00 meeting with the Election Committee, which she has joined this year, and at 4:30 we both went and got haircuts.  After we got home we had dinner then spent the night with the TV.  Friday was finally a free day.  We both did a bunch of home and office work for most of the day, getting a lot of stuff we have been putting off, completed.  At 4:00 we went to happy hour for the first time in several days, but we didn’t stay for Bingo.  We went home, had a meat loaf for dinner and then spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Saturday, November 9^th, we had another stay at home day.  I got some office work and chores done around the house, as did Jackie.  We had leftover meatloaf for dinner and then spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Sunday, November 10^th, Happy Birthday United States Marine Corps!  We had mostly a stay at home day.  Did a few chores but mostly relaxed.  We went to the ice cream social at 2:00 and then relaxed for a while.  At about 5:30 we picked up our friends Dale and Sue Vice, who live just down from us here at the park, and drove to the Pour House for dinner.  We had a very nice dinner, then came back to our place where we had some Key Lime pie that Jackie had baked this morning.  Dale loves Key Lime pie.  After they left to go home we watched TV until bedtime.

Monday, November 11, Happy Veterans Day.  I was up early for the 8:00 am flag raising ceremony to celebrate Veterans Day.  We spent the rest of the day just doing work, Jackie with her Silver Seekers treasurer stuff and me with the usual office work.  Our cleaning lady came for her bi-weekly cleaning of our trailer.  We went to happy hour at 4:00 and then came home for dinner and another night with the TV.  Tuesday, we both went to a 1:00 planning meeting for the Silver Seekers Board.  We discussed some potential changes as well as set up the December calendar for the park.  After the meeting we went out to Walmart for some supplies.  I then went to a 3:00 dentist appointment to get the other half of my teeth deep cleaned.  While I was doing that Jackie ran some errands.  I was finished with the dentist in time to go to happy hour.  We then went home and had dinner and watched TV for the rest of then evening.

Wednesday, November 13^th, we finally had a “normal” Wednesday.  At 1:00  I went with my friend Len to our weekly guitar jam and Jackie went to play Pokeno in the clubhouse.  Jackie had a grievance committee meeting at 3:00.  We decided to skip happy our today and just stayed home and relaxed.  After dinner we watched TV until bedtime.  Thursday we had a busy day, starting with a Town Hall meeting in the clubhouse at 9:00.  I then had an interview with a selection committee regarding an appointment to the Co-op Board to fill the vacancy of a resigning member of the Board.  I then had an 11:00 meeting of the By Laws Committee.  At 1:00 we had a meeting of the Silver Seekers Board.  That was quite a meeting with a lot of input from the members in the audience.  After that meeting we were able to go home and relax a while before going to happy hour.  After happy hour we did some hamburgers for dinner then watched TV the rest of the night.

Friday, November 15^th, I had a 10:00 appointment with my ophthalmologist to get the final checkup on my right eye after last week’s cataract surgery.  The doctor told me everything looked good.  This coming Wednesday I get the left eye done.  Yea!  After the doctor we went to Walmart for some supplies.  We stopped and had lunch at Romero’s Mexican restaurant, then headed home.  We relaxed for a while before  heading to the Elks Lodge for a fund raising dinner.  The dinner was to raise funds for our lodge’s contribution to the Elks National Foundation, ENF.  The ENF provides millions of dollars in grants every year to help kids and veterans around the county.  We had 14 people from our Co-op come to the dinner and made up about a quarter of the attendees.  We have been working hard the last couple of years getting people in our park to join the Elks.  After a great dinner we went back home and spent the evening with the TV.  Sunday was a stay at home day.  We did a few chores but mostly relaxed for the day.

Monday, November 18^th, I went to the Co-op Board’s planning session at 1:00.  Then at 3:00 we had a planning session for the Silver Seekers.  We planned out the calendar for December.  We had happy hour at 4:00, then went home and had dinner.  Spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Tuesday Jackie had a mani appointment at 10:30.  About 2:30 we left and drove to Las Vegas and to Arizona Charlie’s Hotel and Casino.  We are spending the night here because I have my second cataract surgery, the left eye, tomorrow morning at 7 am.  The surgery center is only a mile from the hotel, so we don’t have to get up nearly as early as we did last time.  After we checked in we went to the casino and gamed for a while, then had dinner in the coffee shop.  We then went back to the room and watched TV for a while before going to sleep a little early. 

Wednesday, November 20^th, we were up at 5:30 getting ready to go to the surgery center.  I couldn’t have anything to eat or drink, but Jackie had coffee.  We got to the surgery center and registered.  I got called in about 7:30 and by 10:30 we were finished and I was in the car with both eyes done now.  This surgery went as smoothly as the first one. We went to the Cracked Egg restaurant for breakfast.  Then we went to Costco for a couple of things.  We had to stay in town because, like last time, I had a 3:00 appointment at the ophthalmologist’s office for the post surgery checkup.  Also, like last time, we got there about an hour early and they got us right in to see the doctor.  He checked me and said everything looked good.  By 3:00 we were on the road headed home.  We got home before dark and spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the house.

Thursday, November 21^st, I went to the 9:00 Board of Directors meeting in the clubhouse.  The new Board had a really long agenda of stuff they wanted to address.  About 11:00 or so they adjourned the meeting and tabled a number of items to the next meeting.  At noon Jackie went to Artesian Cellars for a girl’s lunch.  Six of us guys decided we needed to go out too, so we drove down to Sherie’s Ranch, one of the two local brothels, for lunch.  They actually have a café and bar in the front of the brothel.  We had a good time and the food was actually quite good.  A few of the girls walked through while we were eating, but didn’t pay us much mind.  We decided that we were forming a group, the ROMEOs, which is Retired Old Men Eating Out, which would go out every time the girls called an ad hoc lunch.  This doesn’t include the regularly scheduled Ladies Luncheon, which is a monthly event on the calendar.  We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening doing a few chores and relaxing.  Went to happy hour at 4:00 then went home and watched TV until bedtime.  Friday we didn’t have a real plans.  Spent a little time doing chores and office business.  At about 1:00 we went out for a late lunch to the Roadhouse restaurant where we both had their wonderful liver and onions.  We then went back home and relaxed until 4:30 when we went to happy hour and then stayed to play bingo.  Lucky us, I won one and a half games for a total of $30, and Jackie won a game for $20.  Yea us.  We then went home and watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, November 23^rd, today we had nothing on our calendar.  We stayed home and did a few chores, watched some TV and played some games.  A very relaxing day.  Only downside, sort of , was ATT was off line all day, so we had no phones.  Fortunately, we still had our internet which is not phone based.  We didn’t even go to happy hour.  Sunday was also a stay at home day.  We went to the ice cream social at 2:00, but otherwise just stayed around the house keeping busy.  The ATT phone system came back on line in the afternoon after being off for a day and a half.  Pretty sad service for a major phone provider.  We had a nice steak and scallops dinner then watched TV for the rest of the night.

Monday, November 25, we had another stay at home day with nothing on our schedule.  We had a relaxing day at home.  Tuesday was the same as Monday.  We went out and did some shopping in the afternoon, had happy hour and then relaxed with the TV until bedtime.  Wednesday Jackie had Pokeno at 1:00 and I just stayed home and did some office work and played.  We went to happy hour, had supper and watched TV for the rest of the night.

Thursday, November 28^th, Happy Thanksgiving.  Today was a busy day.  I was up and over to the clubhouse by 7:00 so that my volunteer turkey cookers could get in when they wanted to.  Jackie is making one of the turkeys and four other people are doing the rest.  The five turkeys are for the Silver Seekers Thanksgiving Dinner, which is at 3:00 today.  For the rest of the morning and early afternoon I was back and forth checking on the progress of the cooking.  Four people are cooking their turkeys in the clubhouse in the roaster ovens, one person took a turkey home earlier in the week and is doing it in their home.  At about 1:30 Jackie and I went over and started getting setup for the meal.  I had a lot of volunteers helping and we were carving turkeys, making gravy and setting up.  By 3:00 everything was ready for service.  We had about 60 people and lots and lots of sides to accompany our turkeys.  We had a wonderful meal and everything went off without a hitch.  I had lots of help cleaning up the clubhouse and doing dishes.  By 5:30 we were done and went home.  I relaxed until 8:00 when I had my first tour of security for the month.  After that was done I crashed with the TV until bedtime.

Friday, November 29^th, we had announced at the dinner yesterday afternoon that we were having leftovers for lunch today.  I went out and bought a bunch of bread for hot turkey sandwiches and some extra dressing since we were running low.  We had lots of potatoes, veggies and other sides that we had saved.  I went over about 10:00 and started heating everything up and getting the room set up.  At noon we had about 25 people who came for lunch and they managed to finish off all the turkey, stuffing and potatoes.  After lunch we cleaned up, again with lots of help, then went home and spent the rest of the day resting from some very busy days.  Saturday we went out in the afternoon and ran a few errands and did some shopping.  We skipped happy hour and had dinner.  I did my last tour of security for this month and then we watched TV and went to bed.

This marks the end of November and the time to get this episode published.  Until nest time, be happy and enjoy life.  Bye.