November in Pahrump - A Chill In The Air

Hello again.  Our last chapter concluded on Halloween, Friday, October 31^st, while we were celebrating at our home in Pahrump, Nevada.  Saturday, we had a generally relaxed day at home.  At 5:00 or so we went over to the clubhouse for a “Frozen Pizza Party” put on by the Silver Seekers.  Those who came brought some sort of frozen pizza and the kitchen crew put them in the ovens and sent them out.  It was actually a lot of fun with everyone trying a little bit of different types of pizzas.  Jackie made a dill pickle pizza because the younger son of our Maintenance Manager, who is 6, loves pickles.  It actually turned out to be a pretty popular choice and went fast.  After the pizza party we did some trivia games, one just regular trivia, another a musical bingo type of game which was a lot of fun.  We were done around 8:00, after which we went home and watched a little TV before bed.

Sunday, November 2^nd, another Sunday-Funday.  We didn’t go anywhere, but we generally define Sunday’s as not doing any kind of work, just relaxing with each other and not stressing about anything.  We watched a couple of movies and had a good time  We did actually spend quite a bit of time working on a new cruise for next year which will be the crowning glory of our cruising experiences.  We put a deposit down on a 33-day cruise which leaves Los Angeles in November 2026 and goes to Hawaii, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and ends in Singapore.  A little scary to think about, but still, something to look forward to.  Monday, Jackie went to the clubhouse and played cards with her girlfriends for most of the day.  I just worked and played in the shed for most of the day.  My friend Len came over for guitar practice about 1:00 and we played for an hour or so.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home and had dinner.  We spent the rest of the night watching TV.

Tuesday, November 4^th, we went out for a late lunch and some grocery shopping in the afternoon.  After we got home, we relaxed for a while.  About 5:30 we went over to the clubhouse for an event, a “Snack Walk” which is like a cake walk except for snacks.  Basically, a big game of adult musical chairs.  The twist is that if your chair number is called you have to face a challenge of some sort.  Solve a puzzle, draw cards, tell a joke, various stuff.  All in all, it was a lot of fun.  After the event we went back home and watched TV until it was time for bed.  Wednesday was the normal stuff.  Jackie played Pokeno in the afternoon, I went to jam with friends.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home and had dinner.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Thursday, November 6^th, we didn’t have a busy schedule.  We went out for a late lunch because we had a party tonight at the clubhouse.  After we got back, I went over and set up my music stuff for the party.  We went over about 5:30 for the party.  Tonight was “Ugly Prom Dress” night, set up to be like your typical high school prom.  We had probably 50 people attend and some of the costumes were great.  We played music and danced and took lots of pictures.  The party ended just before 9:00, after which we went home and watched TV for a while and went to bed.  Friday, we had a free day most of the day, we went out and ran some errands.  At 4:00 we had a show in the clubhouse put on by the Silver Tappers, a local senior women’s dance troupe.  They put on a really nice show.  After the show there was a dinner, tonight they had pulled pork or chicken, and sides.  After dinner we went home and relaxed for the rest of the night. 

Saturday, November 8^th, I was up early and in the clubhouse for the Annual Membership Meeting of the Co-op.  As a member of the current Board of Directors, I was up on the podium with the rest of the directors.  The meeting was very easy, with little input from the membership and no controversy.  The whole meeting only lasted about three hours.  At the end of the meeting the results of the recent election were announced, and I won one of the three-year seats on the new BOD.  There were three elected to three-year terms, the three top vote getters.  The fourth-place candidate was appointed to fill a two-year term, and the fifth-place candidate was appointed to fill a one-year term.  Therse were terms that were open due to resignations from the BOD through the year.  We will still have two open seats which will need to be filled at the next regular Board meeting from nominees made by a special nominating committee appointed by the President of the Board.  Speaking of which, the newly elected Board met, and I was selected to be the President of Board for this year.  Yea me, I think.  After the meeting we went home for a little while, then came back for another dinner, this one rolled steak.  After that we went home and relaxed with the TV for the remainder of the evening.  Sunday was a quiet day at home.  I tried not to do any Co-op work, and we spent the day just being together watching movies on TV. 

Monday, November 10^th, Happy Birthday United States Marine Corps.  My friend Len came over at 11:00 for an hour or so of guitar practice.  We had a 1:30 lunch with the Lucky Rollers, the park’s camping group, at the Dry Creek Saloon.  We had a nice lunch with about 20 other members of the park.  At 4:00 I had four other former Marines over to the house for a Birthday shot.  We stood in front of the Marine Corps flag I have on display and toasted the Corps.  We then went to regular happy hour at the clubhouse.  After that we went home and spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Tuesday was Veterans Day and I went to an 8:00 flag raising ceremony to celebrate the holiday.  I had a 9:30 meeting of the Security Committee and our housekeeper came at 10:00 to clean the house.  At 12:30 we went back to the Dry Creek Saloon for lunch because they were giving a free meal to veterans.  We had another good meal.  After lunch we ran some errands, then went back to the house to relax.  We went to happy hour, then came home and watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, November 12^th, another typical Wednesday.  Jackie went to play Pokeno at 1:00, I went to play with our jam group.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home and had dinner and another night with the TV.  Thursday, I went to the Town Hall meeting at 9:00, then later went to the Silver Seekers meeting at 1:00.  Both Jackie and I went to the SS Board Meeting since today was the election of new officers for the coming year.  Normally there is only one person that signs up for most of the SS Board positions, but this year there was a battle for President, Secretary and Treasurer, as well as four people signed up for three Director positions.  It was basically a generational battle, similar to the generational shift we are seeing on the Co-op Board of Directors.  It was the old guard vs Generation X members.  As with the regular Board, the Generation X people won control of the Silver Seekers Board.  We look forward to a lot of new activities because the Gen X folks love to party.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then home for dinner and a night with the TV.

Friday, November 14^th, Jackie had a 12:00 mani appointment.  I went with her and after her appointment we did a late lunch at the Mexican restaurant in the same shopping complex.  I had a 2:00 appointment at the Co-op office to sign off on the weekly payroll.  We then had Bingo at 5:30.  I won tonight, one game but I was the only winner, so I didn’t have to share.  I finally went home with more than I spent to play.  After Bingo we went home and watched TV until bedtime.  Saturday, we woke up to a steady rain that had started in the early morning hours.  Jackie had her ladies luncheon at 12:30 and I went to the men’s lunch at 12:00.  We only had three people go to lunch out of the eight that had signed up, mostly because of the rain.  At 2:00 I had a guitar practice with the two people I regularly play with here at the park.  We skipped happy hour because of the steady rain, had dinner and watched TV until bedtime. 

Sunday, November 16^th I had to go out at 11:00 for my yearly pistol qualification to renew my concealed carry permit.  When I got to the quarry it was only cloudy, but while we were shooting the rain came.  It was light, but steady.  We finished the shoot since, as my old Sheriff’s Office range officer used to say, “you never know what the weather is going to be when you get in a gunfight.”  After shooting I went home, and we spent the rest of the day just watching movies and having us-time.  Sunday Funday!  Monday,  I had a Board of Directors workshop meeting at 9:00.  This is where the Board sets the agenda for the open Board meeting later in the week.  This only took about an hour.  Jackie was in the clubhouse at 10:00 to play cards with her friends.  At 1:00 I hosted the monthly jam session in the clubhouse.  As with last month, we had a good turnout, with half of my regular weekly jam group coming, as well as several members of the Co-op.  We had a really fun session and even the audience is getting bigger each month.  After the jam session we did happy hour, then went home and had dinner.  We watched TV until it was time for bed.

Tuesday, November 18^th, I had a 9:00 meeting with the Silver Seekers to help plan the December activities calendar.  The rest of the day was spent working on Co-op business in my shed office as well as going down to the Co-op office to do some paperwork.  At 5:00 we picked up our friends Dale and Sue Vice and drove to the Artesian Cellars restaurant for a nice dinner.  It was raining again, but other than some lightly flooded roads it didn’t affect our evening.  After dinner we went back to our house where Jackie served Key Lime pie to us.  She had made it earlier in the day because it is Dale’s favorite dessert.  We talked for a while and they left just before 8:00.  We spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Wednesday the Direct TV service man came out to check out our Direct TV.  We have been having problems with just one channel, the Las Vegas CBS station, breaking up and pixilating frequently.  They checked the system, put a new LMB on the antenna and changed a coupler on the coax line.  Seems to be working OK now.  Jackie went to play Pokeno at 1:00.  I didn’t have guitar practice because we had the jam on Monday.  We went to happy hour, then came home for dinner a night with the TV.

Thursday, November 20^th, I had a 9:00 Board meeting where I was supposed to have my first meeting as president of the Board.  However, the new Board decided to not have the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of the meeting because many of the new GenX members have been not standing for the pledge, creating a political nightmare amongst the older members.  It came to a head today with a huge turnout of the older members, many carrying flags and staging a demonstration.  Since my main fear for being president was being the only Boomer on an otherwise all GenX Board I would be trying to make the older members understand why the GenX folks were doing certain things.  This morning I realized that I didn’t want to do that, so before the meeting I stepped down from being president of the Board and became just a regular Board member.  The rest of the meeting went pretty routinely.  In the afternoon the RV tech came by and fixed the dump valve on our black tank.  We spent the rest of the day relaxing around the house.   Friday, I had two committee meetings today, a By Laws meeting at 11:00 and a Policy and Procedure meeting at 1:00.  I had chaired both these committees last year, so I was in charge of setting up the organizational meetings for the new year.  I will not be chairing either, but I will be on the committee as a member.  At 3:00 we went to get haircuts, then went out and ran some errands.  We had dinner and then spent the rest of the night with the TV. 

Saturday, November 22^nd, Jackie played cards at 10:00, I did some work around the house.  In the afternoon Jackie made her entries for the Spam cookoff tonight.  At 5:00 we went over the contest.  Jackie didn’t win, but there were about 20 entries.  I don’t care for Spam, too greasy, but there were a couple that, to me, were somewhat edible.  After the contest we went home and relaxed with the TV until bedtime.  Sunday, we left the park about 10:30 and started down to Laughlin for a two-night stay at the Riverside Resort.  The Riverside is always sending us offers for free nights, so every few months we go down for a weekend.  We got there about 2:30, got checked into our rooms and then gamed for a while.  I managed to hit a Royal Flush for $200, which was great.  We went to the Prime Rib room at 6:30 and met our friends Linda and Jim for dinner there.  They had just got off a cruise in San Diego and decided to stay overnight in Laughlin before driving the last 150 miles to Pahrump.  We had a very nice dinner.  After dinner we gamed a little more, then went back to the room for the night.  On Monday we pretty much stayed at the Riverside gaming and relaxing.  We did breakfast in the buffet since they gave us free buffet tickets.  We also got free movie tickets, so we went to see the third of the Now You See Me movie series.  It was pretty good, and we enjoyed it.  We gamed and then had dinner in the buffet as well.  We went to bed around 10:00. 

Tuesday, November 25^th, We checked out of our room at 10:30, then went across the river to do a little shopping in the Bullhead City, Arizona, Sam’s Club.  We bought a few things, gassed up the car, and went to the Laughlin In and Out for a quick lunch.  We then headed back home, getting into home about 3:00.  We went to happy hour, then came home and had dinner and another night with the TV.  Wednesday was a typical one, with Jackie playing Pokeno at 1:00 and me going to guitar practice with my jam group.  We had dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Thursday,  November 27^th, Happy Thanksgiving.  Jackie spent the morning making the sweet potatoes for the Thanksgiving dinner in the clubhouse today.  A little before 3:00 we went over to the clubhouse for dinner.  There were over 60 people at the dinner, and it was a lot of fun.  The park cooked a bunch of donated turkeys and hams and everything else was potluck, there was LOTS of food.  After a nice dinner we went home and spent the rest of the day and evening vegging on the couch.  Friday Jackie and several of her girlfriends left about 9:30 to go to a black Friday sale at Secret Sisters, Jackie’s favorite secondhand store.  At 11:30 we went over to the clubhouse for “leftovers lunch” with stuff from yesterday’s dinner.  They made a LOT of turkeys.  About 1:30 we left again so Jackie could get a mani.  After the mani we did a Walmart run for supplies.  After we got home, we considered going to Bingo, but we were both a little tired, so we decided to stay home.  I had no more gotten into my “evening clothes” when Jackie got a phone call from the Bingo crew that they couldn’t get anything to work.  I threw on my regular clothes and went over there.  I found that the internet for the Clubhouse was down.  The modem was working, but there didn’t seem to be any signal from the provider, Valley Electric.  Finally, someone in the audience came up with a cell phone that had hot spot capabilities, and I got the system running.  I then went back home, and we spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Saturday, November 29^th, Jackie went to play cards in the clubhouse at 10:00.  Other than that, it was a stay-at-home day, doing some chores around the house and relaxing.  Sunday, we had a relaxing morning then went out to run some errands.  We stopped first at the Steelbound Brewery, the former Pourhouse restaurant, for lunch.  I had a nice steak and Jackie had lamb.  We were joined by our friend Charlene, who just happened to come in shortly after we did.  After lunch we went to Secret Sisters secondhand store to drop off some clothes, then we went to the Verizon store to change our phone service.  We had changed to AT&T three years ago when we first moved from the motorhome into the trailer.  We had the Direct TV people out to install the antenna for us and the representative convinced us to switch over to them from Verizon.  We had been with Verizon since before we went full time, even before it was Verizon.  The AT&T service has not been good in my estimation, but we couldn’t switch until we had paid off the phones we bought when we first switched.  The phones were paid off last month.  Because of the black Friday sales, we both got new Samsung smartphones for free, as well as we each got tablets for free.  We are now back on Verizon phone service.  After the phone store we went home and spent the rest of the night watching TV and setting up our new phones. 

That brings us to the end of November, time to get this diary post online.  Until next time, behave well and love greatly.  Bye