Summer Roars in with Dragon Breath

Hello again.  Our last chapter concluded on Friday, May 31^st, as we awaited summer in Pahrump.  Saturday, the first of June, we had a chores day.  We did a quick shopping run and I spent time getting things set up for my recovery period after the surgery on my hip on Monday.  We went to happy hour.  Each week we lose a few more people to summer travels, pretty soon happy hours will be just a handful of us hard core heat monsters.  After happy hour we went home, watched TV and went to bed.  Sunday we had the Sunday paper and mainly relaxed around the house.  We went to ice cream social, then came home and spent the rest of the day and evening relaxing.

Monday, June 3^rd, THE BIG DAY.  We were up early, about 5:00, and on the road by a little after 6:00, heading for the surgical hospital in Las Vegas.  We arrived at the Valley Health Specialty Hospital.  This facility is set up and designed primarily for out patient, and semi out patient surgeries, mostly orthopedic I would guess.  They have a large intake and pre-surgical prep area, several operating rooms, recovery rooms and ten regular private hospital rooms.  The hospital rooms are for patients who, for whatever reason, cannot be discharged on the day of surgery.  This is strictly a surgical hospital.  I checked in and within 5 minutes was escorted to the prep area.  This is where I changed to the surgical gown and got in the bed to be prepped.  Lots of questions to be sure that I was the right person and they were doing the right procedure in the right place.  They had an excellent nursing staff in the prep area.  I was in there about an hour, talked to the anesthesiologist, but not the surgeon.  At some point the anesthesiologist gave me a shot and the next thing I know, I am in a recovery room. 

They let me recover for about a half hour after I woke up, I was a little loopy and disoriented.  Finally they helped me out of bed and gave me a walker and said, “let’s go over here.”  Surprisingly, I was not in any pain and could actually walk pretty well.  We walked around a small physical therapy suite, and then the PT guy took me to a set of steps, three or four up to a little porch, then the same back down.  He gave me a cane and had me go up and down a couple times.  I was able to do it without any problem.  After a bunch of paper signing I was released and walked to the car.  We drove home and I was able to sit in the car with no issues either.  I was still a little groggy, but we got home and I settled into my chair and watched TV for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, June 4^th, I woke up, got out of bed after a pretty good night’s sleep, and walked out of the living room with only the use of my cane.  The only problem with sleeping was that it is hard for me to sleep on my back, I am a side sleeper.  I spent the day in my chair, getting up from time to time to walk around the house.  Still very little pain and a lot more mobility than I expected.  I was a little nauseated, but still ate dinner.  Watched TV until bedtime.  Wednesday, I was sick to my stomach and didn’t have anything to eat but crackers.  I am sure this is a result of the anesthetic and the trauma to my leg, which is quite swollen.  The did give me a nifty machine that you fill with water and ice and it then pumps the cold water through a pad that you can put on the swollen parts.  I spent the day in my chair for the most part.

Thursday, June 6^th, D-Day anniversary.  Three days in and I felt much better.  I was now able to move around the house easily, sometimes without using the cane at all.  I felt better and started eating regular food again.  The day was much the same, some rest, some exercise, icing the swollen leg.  Still no pain to speak of.  We did go to the local Physical Therapy center at 3:30 so the PT guy could evaluate my needs and set up a schedule.  I was able to do all the exercises he had, various machines, with not too much problem.  I did get tired easily, probably from just sitting around doing nothing for a week.  Friday was exactly the same.  At this point I haven’t left the house, but I am beginning to think that I would like to.

Saturday, June 8^th, I am now completely free of the cane.  I walk around the house, with a little limp because the leg is still swollen and stiff, but without any pain or balance problems.  Jackie had a ladies lunch.  Sunday I actually got out of the house and went to the ice cream social.  Our friend Charlene is going back East for the summer and she lent us her golf cart for the summer since ours is still broken.  I was able to walk into and out of the clubhouse with no issues and it was good to see everyone again.  We had dinner and spent the night with the TV.  Monday was another house day.  I think I am about ready to stop the ice treatments.  Jackie has been doing a lot of work, hauling ice from the clubhouse and keeping it going.  She has been an outstanding nurse during this week and I am very grateful. 

Tuesday, June 11^th, another home day.  Jackie and I both went to a meeting of the Silver Seekers Board, or at least the five of us still in the park.  We were doing some planning for July and August, which didn’t take long.  Jackie left about 10:30 for a mani appointment.  After the meeting I went home and had lunch.  Then I spent some time out in my office in the shed.  Got this blog caught up, updated the checkbook, and did a few other regular office tasks.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, my first happy hour since the surgery.  After that we went home, cooked a lasagna in the outside oven, then after dinner relaxed with the TV until bedtime.  Wednesday Jackie had to meet with our friend Kim, who is treasurer of the Silver Seekers, to get up to speed with the books of the association.  Kim and Lee are leaving for their summer travels soon and Jackie is taking over the treasurer duties until she gets back.  About 12:45 we left for my first PT appointment.  Jackie had to miss her Pokeno today because of the PT appointment because I am not released to drive yet.  The PT went about 40 minutes or so.  They had eight or so different exercises and/or machines in my chart.  Only a couple of them really taxed me or caused some discomfort in my leg.  After the PT we went to Smiths for some grocery shopping and I was able to walk around shopping without any problems.  After that we went home, then went to happy hour.  I had my first alcohol at happy hour since my surgery.  We had dinner and then spent the night with the TV.

Thursday, June 13^th, the housekeeper came about 10:00 or so to clean the house.  After she left we had lunch and then we drove out to a Rehab facility on the North end of town to visit with a friend of ours from the Co-op, Jon Albinson.  A couple of weeks before the surgery on my hip, Jon was getting ready for his summer travels.  He was climbing the ladder on his large toy hauler fifth-wheel to get to his Starlink antenna on the roof of the trailer.  As he neared the top the ladder broke loose from the trailer and down he went.  At first he thought he had broken his hip, but it turned out to be his femur.  He had surgery where they pinned the break, but his doctor sent him to a rehab facility to get better.  He lives alone, so he needs to be somewhere where help is available when needed.  He has been out there a week or two and will probably be another couple of weeks, so we went out to visit for a while.  It turns out, the difficulty he is having, and most of the pain, is actually not from the break in the femur, but rather the damage he did to his knee, which he had replaced some years ago..  They are still trying to decide what needs to be done to fix the knee.  After our visit we headed back home.  We went to happy hour, then came home and had dinner.  We then spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Friday, June 14^th we were on the road a little after 11:00, heading into Vegas for my surgery follow-up at the orthopedic center.  We arrived and I had the interview with the nurse and the PA.  They took the dressing off of the surgical site and released me for whatever I felt I could do.  I have to come back in a month for the final follow-up.  We left the doctor’s office and stopped for lunch at one of the Distill restaurants.  After lunch we headed back to Pahrump, getting home in time to rest for a bit and then go to happy hour and Bingo.  We both won multiple Bingos, including Jackie getting one of the special games for $35.  Between the two of us we won about $80 or so.  Yea!  After Bingo we went home and watched TV until bedtime.  Saturday we went over to the clubhouse at noon for a hamburger lunch put on by the Silver Seekers.  After lunch we did a few chores around the house and relaxed.  I went to happy hour at 4:00, although there were only four other people there.  Things thin out during the summer.  Jackie didn’t go because she was getting ready to go to the Ms. Golden Years pageant tonight.  Our friend Debbie Forrest, my friend Len’s wife, is one of the contestants this year.  I decided not to go because I didn’t think I could sit in one chair in a crowded ballroom for three or four hours.  Jackie invited our friend Genny to go instead.  About 5:30 I drove the two of them to the Saddle West Casino and dropped them off for the pageant.  I went out and ran some errands, got the car washed, stopped at the bank for some money, and then went to El Jeffe’s Mexican place for dinner.  I had a nice taco salad.  After that I went home for a little bit, then drove back to the Saddle West so I would be there when the pageant ended.  While I was there I gamed a little and hit it big on a penny slot machine, cashing out $375!  Yea.  The pageant ended about quarter to nine and our friend Debbie won!  Yea again.  She will now be the Pahrump Golden Years Queen for the next year.  I congratulated my friend Len for becoming the Prince Consort.  We drove back home, dropped Genny off, and went home and watched TV until it was time for bed.

Sunday, June 16^th, Happy Fathers Day, and happy birthday to my oldest daughter, Tye.  We had pretty much a quiet day at home.  We did go to the ice cream social, with free ice cream for the fathers in the group.  We went home, did some chores and just relaxed for the rest of the day.  We had a meat loaf for dinner, then watched TV until it was time for bed.  Monday was pretty much a stay at home day.  I did have to go to the gym for my PT at 2:00, but I was done and back home by 2:30.  We did a few chores and I went to happy hour at 4:00.  Jackie was feeling puny and stayed home.  We had leftover meatloaf for dinner, then spent the rest of the evening with the TV.  Tuesday was a stay at home day for me.  Jackie went to a ladies lunch at the Artesian Cellars about noon.  We both had big lunches, so we just had light snacks for dinner and spent the night with the TV.

Wednesday, June 19^th, Jackie went to Pokeno at 1:00 and my friend Len came over for guitar practice about the same time.  Later in the afternoon we went over to our friend Millie’s house for a visit because her daughter Dion and her husband were in town visiting with Millie.  We had a nice visit before leaving to go to happy hour.  Millie and her kids also came to happy hour.  After happy hour we went home and had dinner, then spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Thursday was pretty much a stay at home day.  Dion and her husband stopped by just before lunch to say goodbye as they headed down to Las Vegas.  I spent the day doing some office work and other chores.  It was a quiet day at home.  I went to my PT at 3:30, so I missed the first half of happy hour.  I did get over to the clubhouse about 4:30.  We went home and had dinner, then we watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, June 21^st, the first full day of summer.  Today was a stay at home day.  Got a few chores done, mostly just relaxed around the house.  Went to happy hour at 4:00, then home for dinner and night with the TV.  Saturday we went out about 1:00 or so and went to the Roadhouse for a late lunch.  We both the excellent liver and onions.  After we ate we stayed and gamed for a while.  I broke even, thanks to a late jackpot on a penny machine.  Jackie lost her $20 investment.  After that we stopped at Goodwill to get our yard skeleton, Bob, some new clothes for summer.  He got new shorts and a Vegas Golden Knights tee shirt.  We decided to skip happy hour today and just stayed home and watched TV for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  Sunday was a stay at home day for me.  Jackie went out early, about 9:00, with a couple of the other women in the park, to Secret Sisters for a sidewalk sale.  Secret Sisters is a high end resale boutique that many of the “ladies of Pair-a-dice” like to shop.  I put a bit corn beef brisket in the crockpot for dinner.  We went to the ice cream social at 2:00, then came home and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening relaxing. 

Monday, June 24^th, Jackie spent some time with our friend Kim out in the shed office working on Treasurer stuff for the Silver Seekers.  Kim is the group’s Treasurer, but she and Lee are going away for a couple of months this summer and Jackie is taking over for the time they are gone.  Kim was showing Jackie how she keeps the books.  I went to my PT at 2:30, getting home around 3:00.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home and had leftover corn beef and cabbage for dinner.  We spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Tuesday I spent most of the day at home doing chores.  Jackie went in the morning for a manicure.  About 3:00 we left and ran a couple of errands and then went to Nicco’s Italian restaurant for the monthly park dine-out.  We only had six people today since a big proportion of the park is gone for the summer, and another big proportion of the park are older people who are pretty much shut-ins.  After dinner we went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Wednesday, June 26^th, Jackie went out about 10:30 with Kim to go to the bank for Silver Seekers business, then out to lunch.  She came back just in time to go to Pokeno.  My friend Len came over about 1:00 and we played guitar for a couple of hours.  We went to happy hour at 4:00.  Our friend Jon Albinson, who had fallen off his RV a month ago or so, was back home recovering and made his first appearance at happy hour.  After happy hour we went home and had leftovers for dinner, then spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Thursday was mostly chores and relaxation day.  Jackie went in the morning for a pedi, leaving about the same time the housekeeper came to clean the house.  I worked in the shed while she cleaned.  I went to my PT at 2:30, then we went to 4:00 happy hour.  After happy hour we went home and Jackie made an excellent chili relleno casserole.  It has been a while since she made one.  Part of the reason is that we can no longer find whole green chilis in the large, 21 oz can.  We finally got three of the small cans, which provide the same amount of chilis, but the size of the individual chilis is smaller.  In the casserole it doesn’t matter, so it came out good.  After dinner we watched TV until it was time for bed. 

Friday, June 28^th, was pretty much a stay at home day.  We did a few chores but mostly relaxed.  We had leftover chili relleno for dinner, then went to Bingo.  Both of us won again, I won one of the special games for $30, and one of the regular games for $4.  Jackie also won a couple of regular games.  After Bingo we went home and watched TV the rest of the night.  Saturday we went out about 1:00 for a late lunch at Chat Thai Bistro.  After lunch we ran some errands, including a trip to Home Depot for some supplies to fix a broken stair, and Walmart for some supplies.  After shopping we went home, then went to happy hour at 4:00.  After happy hour we went home and spent the rest of the evening watching TV.

Sunday, June 30^th, the last day of the first half of the year.  Wow, time flies.  We had a relaxing day at home.  We mostly relaxed all day.  We went to the ice cream social at 2:00 and one of the other members, Bob, surprised us by paying for everyone’s ice cream.  (It’s a dollar each).  Turns out, he just won $4,500 on a penny slot machine at the Lakeside Casino just down the road.  Wow, I thought I was doing well last week when I cashed out $275.  After ice cream we went back to the house and stayed in the rest of the afternoon and evening.

It is now the end of the month, time to get this episode posted.  Until next time, have fun, stay cool, be safe.  Bye for now.

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.

Spring has Sprung in Pahrump

Hello, our last chapter ended on Easter Sunday, March 31^st.  Monday was pretty much a stay at home day.  I had a lot of office work to do in conjunction with my being the Chair of the By Laws Committee.  We are putting the finishing touches on our amendment proposals for this year.  We went to happy hour at 4:00 and then came home for dinner.  I had my first shift of security duty for the month, after which we just watched TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, April 2^nd, I had a noon appointment with my dermatologist to cut out a basil cell carcinoma that he had found a couple weeks ago during my checkup.  They numbed me up and the doctor came in and took a pretty good size chunk out of my upper right chest.  It didn’t hurt though.  After I went home I just spent the rest of the day doing office work and some chores.  We went to happy hour at 4:00 and I did my second tour of security at 8:00.  Then we watched TV and went to bed.  Wednesday we went over to the clubhouse at 11:00 for a luncheon put on by MASA, the emergency medical transport insurance that we have.  We listened to his presentation and then had a lunch from Panda Express that he had delivered to the clubhouse.  After lunch Jackie played Pokeno with the girls and I went with my friend Len to a house elsewhere in Pahrump for our guitar practice.  This was an older couple (like I should be saying that) named Merlin and Linda, that Len had met at karaoke at the Elks.  He learned that they played music, mostly guitars, and were looking for jam partners.  So Len made arrangements for us to go over to their house to see if we could get something going.  They are a nice couple that appear to be at least eight or ten years older than us.  Both are not in real good health, Merlin is on oxygen, and Linda has trouble walking.  They have been guitar players for many years and lived in Quartzsite, Arizona for years.  They had a lot of experience with jam sessions.  We set up and had a two hour session that was a lot of fun.  After we were done Len dropped me off at home.  We were home the rest of the night and I did my last security tour.

Thursday, April 4^th, I had another meeting with the By Laws Committee at 9:00 which went a couple of hours.  When I got home our housekeeper was there cleaning the house, so I went to my office and worked.  Jackie went over to the clubhouse to play cards and I did chores and office work.  We went to happy hour, then home for a light dinner of leftovers from lunch.  We watched TV and went to bed.  Friday I had a meeting at 10:00 with some other members about board business.  At 10:30 we left and went to the China Wok buffet for another MASA presentation and free lunch.  We try not to miss any free lunch!!  After the lunch we did some grocery shopping and then headed home.  I spent the afternoon making up about 2 gallons of chili.  Tomorrow the Silver Seekers are holding the annual chili cookoff.  Since I am a board member of the Silver Seekers, I didn’t want to participate in the contest.  I volunteered to make the “house” chili, which would be available after judging for everyone to eat.  It turned out pretty good.  We went to happy at 4:00, then came home and had dinner and another night with the TV.

Saturday, April 6^th, I put my chili into a couple of crockpots at lunch time to heat up.  About 3:30 we went over to the clubhouse to help set up the cookoff.  At 4:00 they had the contest.  There were five chilis in the cookoff.  After the voting and prize presentation was over everyone had dinner, mostly my chili, and we had a nice time.  We were done by about 5:30, so we went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Sunday we went to the ice cream social at 1:00.  After the social we went out and did some shopping.  We came home and I spent some time in the office doing paperwork.  We had dinner later and then watched TV for the rest of the night.

Monday, April 8^th, we went to the Living Free Café on the North side of town for the monthly Lucky Rollers lunch.  There were probably 30 or so people there.  The Lucky Rollers is the travel club of the Co-op and also the name for Chapter 14 or the

Escapees National RV Club.  After lunch we went back to the clubhouse for a meeting of the Lucky Rollers.  It was mostly discussing the upcoming campout for the Group.  We are going to the town of Beatty, about 80 miles North of Pahrump, but still in Nye County.  Since we no longer have an RV we are staying in the hotel next door to the campground.  We will be there three nights.  After the meeting I did some chores and office work.  We had dinner and then watched TV until bedtime.  Tuesday we had a workshop meeting with the Silver Seekers at 1:00.  After the meeting we went home and did few chores.  We did happy hour at 4:00, then came home for dinner.  Jackie made a very good casserole that could best be titled, “deconstructed stuffed green peppers”.  It’s a keeper.  We spent the rest of the evening with the TV.

Wednesday, April 10^th, we had our usual Wednesday schedule.  Jackie went to play Pokeno at 1:00 and Len picked me up to go to our new jam friends house for guitar practice.  We had a good time and Jackie won a few nickels.  We went to happy hour, then came home for dinner and a night with the TV.  Thursday I had to be in the clubhouse about 8:00 a.m. to set up the Zoom for the monthly Town Hall meeting.  I was then back to do the Zoom for the monthly meeting of the Silver Seekers Board.  I am also the Vice President of the Silver Seekers, so I was also at the dais doing double duty.  After the meetings I went home and did some chores.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home for dinner and an evening with the TV.

Friday, April 12^th, Jackie went over to the clubhouse to play cards.  I did some chores and office work while she was gone.  We went to happy hour and then stayed for Bingo.  I won one of the regular games, and I was the only winner, so I got the whole $20.  Jackie didn’t hit anything.  After Bingo we went home and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.  Saturday Jackie had a ladies luncheon at 11:00 and I stayed home and did chores.  Some laundry and stuff.  While I was working in the shed office in the afternoon I heard I suddenly heard a rushing sound and a lot of noise from just outside the shed.  I went out just in time to see our canopy we have over the outside patio lift up in the air and tear apart.  I felt the high wind and realized that a big dust devil had just passed over our yard.  The fabric on the canopy was several years old and brittle, so the sudden super high wind just ripped it apart.  Didn’t hurt the metal frame, just the canopy.  Now we have to find a new canopy.  We spent the whole day at home, went to happy hour at 4:00 and then relaxed with the TV the rest of the day.

Sunday, April 14^th, we went to the ice cream social at 2:00 and then stayed to play the left-right-center dice game.  We had a dozen players today, so the payoff was pretty good.  I won one of the three rounds.  After LCR we went home and stayed in the rest of the day.  Monday was another stay at home day for me.  Jackie went to get a mani at 1:00 and I went over the clubhouse and listened in on the Board’s workshop meeting.  I did a few chores, including removing and discarding the remains of the canopy over the patio.  I did find a company that sells replacement canopies, so I ordered a new one. We had dinner and spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Tuesday, April 16^th, I went out in the morning and drove to the Nye County Assessors office to finally apply for the tax exemption that the County provides to honorably discharged veterans.  The exemption is currently $138, although it is higher for those who are also disabled veterans, and can be used to offset either County property taxes, or MVD vehicle license fees.  I never bothered with applying in the past because our vehicles were “company” vehicles registered out of state and we never owned any property.  However, now that both our vehicles belong to us and are registered in Nevada, we can use the exemption.  After I was done with that I went home and did some chores.  After lunch we went out and did some shopping.  We went to happy hour at 4:00 and then came home for dinner and a night with the TV.  Wednesday we relaxed in the morning.  Jackie went to play Pokeno at 1:00 and I left about the same time with Len to go play guitar with our friends in town.  After we both got home we went to happy hour, then came home and I made tuna casserole for dinner.  We watched TV for the rest of the night.

Thursday, April 18^th, we were both at the monthly Board of Directors meeting in the clubhouse at 9:00.  I had to give a presentation to the Board regarding the proposed amendments to the governing documents that came out of the By Laws Committee, which I chair.  While we were at the meeting our housekeeper was cleaning the house.  After the meeting we went out for lunch at Taco Fiesta, one of the local Mexican restaurants, and then ran a few errands.  About 1:40 we went to my dermatologist’s office so I could get the stitches taken out from the minor skin cancer excision I had a couple weeks ago.  I had already gotten the report that the margins on the excised area were clean, so no more cancer there.  The wound was nicely healed and the stitches came right out.  I was in and out of the office in five minutes.  After that we went back home and relaxed until happy hour.  After happy hour we went home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Friday Jackie went to a girls lunch at the local wine bar.  I did some chores and my friend Len came over about 1:00 and we had some guitar practice.  I did get the newly purchased cover for our gazebo put up, so our patio looks nice again.  We went to happy hour at 4:00 and then had dinner.  We spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Saturday, April 20^th, we went over to the clubhouse at noon for lunch.  Don O, our Silver Seekers President, had made a Mexican lunch, with enchilada style burritos, refried beans, Mexican rice, and chips and salsa.  It was a great lunch and we had about 35 people from the park, including some who are just guests staying here in rental sites.  After lunch we went home and did a few chores.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home and watched TV for the rest of the night.  Sunday was pretty much a stay at home day.  We went to the ice cream social at 2:00, then went back home and did some chores.  We spent the rest of the day at home.

Monday, April 22^nd, was a chores and errands day.  Our first task was we went to a local independent insurance agency here in Pahrump to re-do our insurance policies on the trailer and the car.  We currently have Progressive insurance through the FMCA Insurance group, which is handled by an agency in Iowa.  We decided that we could reduce our insurance a little bit because we no longer need the high coverage limits that we have had for years.  We always carried large policies because we were operating a 16 ton motorhome, which could cause a lot of damage in an accident, and we traveled continuously, increasing the opportunities for accidents.  Now we mostly travel local and drive a small car.  I also wanted to change to a local insurance agent since we are now full time in Pahrump.  The agent wrote new policies for us with lower coverage limits, but we were still with Progressive.  The reason for this is that we still live in an RV full time, we just don’t travel with it.  Progressive is one of the few insurance companies that will write a full timers RV policy.  We saved a couple of hundred dollars and now have a local agent.  Ater that we went had lunch at Teriyaki Madness and then went to Walmart for supplies.  After we got home we did some packing for our trip tomorrow to Beatty with the camping group.  We went to happy hour at 4:00.  It was pretty quiet at happy hour because a big percentage of the regular attendees had already left for Beatty.  The people with RVs were arriving on Monday and leaving on Thursday.  Since we are staying in a hotel in Beatty, we don’t leave until tomorrow.  After happy hour we went home, had leftovers for dinner, and watched TV until bedtime.

Tuesday, April 23^rd, we finished packing in the morning and by about 10:30 we were on the road headed for Beatty.  It is only 85 miles or so and we arrived in Beatty about noon.  We had lunch at Denny’s, which happens to be in the hotel we are staying at.  After lunch we checked and found our room was available, so we checked in and took our luggage into the hotel room.  We then drove our to the campground to meet with the rest of the camping club.  For this trip we have 24 people at the campout, with three of us staying in the hotel.  We hung out with the group and had happy hour.  After happy hour most of the group left to go have dinner, so we went back to the hotel.  We went into the casino and

gambled for a while, but didn’t win anything.  About 7:00 or so we went back to the room and spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Wednesday we relaxed in the hotel most of the morning and went to the campground a little before noon.  Our friend Max was cooking ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch for the group.  We had a great time visiting.  We hung around with the camping most of the day, playing games.  Jackie did a craft decorating soap bars.  There was a pot luck for dinner after happy hour.  After dinner I set up and played guitar and sang for about 45 minutes.  We were still having fun with music when a storm rolled in and the winds were so high that we decided we needed to take down the two pop up canopies we had set up and get everything tied down.  Everyone scrambled and got everything put away and safe. So much for music night.  We then left and went back to the hotel where we spent the rest of the night in the room.  We also did a few geocaches today.

Thursday, April 25^th, the last full day of the campout.  We left the hotel around 10:30 again, then did a few local geocaches before we went to the campground.  We had some lunch at the campground with leftovers from the pot luck.  At 1:00 we had the official meeting of the Lucky Rollers, which is the name of the camping group.  They usually do three different drawings, with ticket sales going to the Lucky Rollers treasury.  We didn’t win the 50/50 drawing,

which was nice at $86.  We did win one of the brown bag gifts, which was a 12 pack of Blue Moon beer.  It will go to good use.  I also ended up with a bottle of Canadian Mist whisky which was won by our friend Jon, who happens to not drink.  Yea, score for us.  We also won one of the door prizes, which was a $15 gift card for Little Ceasar’s pizza.  We left the campground around 2:30 and went out to do some caching and explore.  About 4:00 we went to a local bar in Beatty for a drink, then went across the street to meet with the rest of the group at a restaurant called Smokin J’s Barbeque.  Everyone raved about this place and the group decided to have our dinner here.  The food was very good, if a little on the expensive side.  We had a nice time eating and visiting with the group.  After dinner the campers all went back to the campground and we went back to the hotel.  We gamed in the Casino for a while, then went back to the room and relaxed with the TV.

Friday, April 26^th, we were packed up and on the road by about 10:30, heading back to Pahrump.  We had rain the entire trip.  We got home around 11:15 or so and unpacked the car and got stuff put away.  While we were in Beatty we heard from some old friends from FMCA, Mike and Darlene Neighbours.  Mike and I were in various positions on executive board of the Full Timers Chapter of FMCA for about 10 years.  Both of us served at various times as Vice President, President, and Newsletter Editor, over those years.  We had not seen Mike and Darlene since the Summer 2022 FMCA rally in Tucson.  We met them about 2:00 at our favorite Thai food restaurant, Chatthai Bistro.  We had a nice lunch, then they came over to our place.  They had never been to the Escapees park here, so we gave them a tour.  We stopped in at happy hour for a little bit, then went back to our place and visited until they left around 6:00.  After they left we spent the rest of the evening with the TV.  Saturday was a stay at home day.  I did some chores and spent some time working on the golf cart, mostly just checking the basic stuff to see what the repair shop had done.  I also did some research and found the one thing the golf cart shop guy had said they couldn’t find, a wiring diagram for this cart.  Actually, it was a wiring diagram for the controller in this cart, which is all of the wires that actually make it move.  It doesn’t include the lights and other accessories, but those still work anyway.  Now I have a firm starting point.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then came home, had dinner and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Sunday, April 28^th, we had our usual relaxing morning.  After coffee and the paper I did some office work.  After lunch we went to the ice cream social and stayed after for a while playing Left-Right-Center.  After the games we did some grocery shopping and then came home.  We had dinner and then spent the rest of the evening with the TV.  Monday we left the park around noon and went to the Artesian Cellars winery restaurant for a birthday party for our friends Julie and Ginny.  Julie had won a prize at a charity silent action a while back which was a party for 20 people at the Artesian Cellars and included a wine slushy drink for everyone and a large charcuterie board.  We only had 16 people because a couple of the people Julie had invited couldn’t come for some last minute reason.  We had a really good time and actually spent almost three hours in the back room eating and drinking.  After the party we went to Walmart to return something from yesterday’s trip.  After our errands we went back home just in time to go to happy hour and sit and talk to many of the same people we had lunch with.  After happy hour we went home and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.

Tuesday, April 30^th, the last day of April.  We had a meeting at 11:00 with the Silver Seekers Board.  We needed to have a special meeting to begin thinking about what we as a group are going to do during “homecoming week” as it is called.  This is the week before the Annual Membership Meeting of the Co-op, which is traditionally the first Saturday in November.  Since the week prior includes Halloween, a party for that was, of course, included.  We made up a rough schedule which we will adjust through the summer as we think of things.  We needed to have at least started on planning this early because in the next few weeks a number of the Co-op members are going to start leaving the park for their summer travels.  After the meeting we went back home and spent the rest of the doing some chores..  We went to happy hour and then came home for dinner and spent the remainder of the night with the TV.

This is the end of April, time to get this episode closed out.  Until next time, be calm and live on.  Bye.

March - The Start of Spring in Pahrump

Hi there, welcome back.  Our last episode concluded on Thursday, February 29^th.  On Friday, March 1^st, Jackie had a 10:00 card game in the clubhouse that went for about 5 hours.  I was doing some chores and also had a 2:00 appointment with the President and Vice President of our Co-op Board of Directors to help them with conducting meetings.  They have been having some issues with disorganized meetings and I was teaching a little bit of basic Roberts Rules of Order.  We went to happy hour at 4:00, then went home for dinner and a night with the TV.

Saturday, March 2^nd, Jackie and some of the other ladies from the park went out to a craft sale and then some other girl’s day out stuff.  I was doing some office work and other chores around the house.  We were having a major wind storm and at one point I heard a huge crash and went outside to find that a four by eight piece of two inch Styrofoam had blown from somewhere and hit our trailer.  Fortunately, it hit our garden flag pole first, bending it about 30 degrees, which slowed it down some.  It didn’t do any damage, other than bend the pole, which I straightened out.  We went to happy hour and then had dinner.  We spent the remainder of the night watching TV.  Sunday I had an appointment at Desert Radiology at 2:00 for an ultrasound of my testicles.  I had gone to the Urologist last week to have them check a lump, which he said was a common benign cyst which would not be any problem or need to be removed.  He did order an ultrasound just to be sure.  After the ultrasound we went to Smith’s to do some shopping and then came home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Monday, March 4^th, we left the trailer about 11:00 and  went into Las Vegas to go see my brother Russ and his wife Zen, who live in North Las Vegas.  Even though we live fairly close, we only get to see each other every few months.  He is still working as a floor manager at the Golden Nugget Casino in downtown Las Vegas.  He has been there about 30 years now working the craps tables.  Zen is Philippino and loves to cook, so we had a wonderful meal and had some time to sit and talk and catch up.  We left about 3:30 and on the way home we stopped at Valley Hospital, near downtown, to see our friend Millie Duffin.  She has some health issues and ended up having to spend some time in the Pahrump hospital first, then transferred down here to Las Vegas.  She was surprised and happy to see us and we spent about 40 minutes visiting.  We then left and headed home, getting back home about 6:30.  We spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Tuesday was a stay at home day.  We got a lot of little chores done but stayed home most of the day.  I did go out in the morning to take my Pre-op Clearance checklist to my primary care doctor here in Pahrump.  This is the list of stuff that the Orthopedist in Las Vegas needs checked before I can schedule my hip replacement.  I was concerned that I might not be able to get all the stuff done before our cruise, but it turned out well.  The nurse took the checklist back to Dr Wiggins and he immediately made out an order for the chest Xray, as well as for all the required labs.  I was able to go to the other end of the building and get the Xray done and the blood drawn for the labs.  I also have an appointment in a week and a half with the doctor for the physical and the EKG and then he should give me a letter of clearance and I can schedule the hip replacement, hopefully shortly after we return from our May cruise.  Yea.  We did go to happy hour and then came home and had dinner with the leftovers from Zen’s lunch yesterday.  After dinner we watched TV and went to bed.

Wednesday, March 6^th, was also a stay at home day.  Jackie played Pokeno at 1:00 and I did some office work and other chores around the house.  We went to happy hour at 4:00 and then had pot roast for dinner that had been cooking all day in the crock pot.  After dinner we watched TV and went to bed.  Thursday we got up and cleaned up early to go to the clubhouse for breakfast.  The Silver Seekers did a French toast casserole for breakfast.  About 10:00 Jackie went over the clubhouse to play cards and I stayed home and did some chores.  The housekeeper came about 1:00 to clean.  About 3:00 we left to take Jackie to her ophthalmologist for a checkup.  He told her tat the floaters were normal, nothing to worry about and there was no way to make them go away.  After the eye doctor we went to happy hour, then came home, had dinner and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

Friday, March 8^th, we went out about 12:30 to Terrible’s Roadhouse for a late lunch.  We both had liver and onions, Yum.  We then stayed and gamed for an hour or so before heading home.  We did a few things around the house in the afternoon.  We went to happy hour about 4:30, then stayed at the clubhouse for bingo.  Again, neither of us won anything.  After bingo we went home and relaxed with the TV the rest of the night.  Saturday was a stay at home day for me.  Jackie went out about 11:00 for a ladies luncheon at a local Mexican restaurant.  Len came over about 1:00 for guitar practice.  I went to happy hour about 4:00.  Jackie was feeling poopy and didn’t go.  After I got home we had dinner and then watched TV until bedtime.

Sunday, March 10^th, we had a relaxing morning, then went to the ice cream social at 2:00 in the clubhouse.  After the social we spent about 45 minutes playing left-right-center, which was a lot of fun because we had a dozen people playing today, including some visitors.  After the game we went to Walmart for some supplies.  After we got home we had some hamburgers on the grill for dinner, then spent the rest of the night with the TV.  Monday we were dressed and out of the house by a little after 10:00, heading over the hill to Las Vegas.  We were headed to the Olive Garden restaurant in Summerlin, for the Lucky Rollers monthly dine out.  They try to do at least two a year in Las Vegas for those members of the travel club that do not live in Pahrump.  We had 26 people turn out for lunch and we had great service and great food.  After the lunch we drove to the nearby rehab facility that our friend Millie had been transferred to for a brief visit.  One other member of the park, Phyliss also went to visit Millie.  Millie is not very happy with the facility, which is really just a facility for people who are not sick enough to be in a hospital, but still need some medical care that they can’t do on their own at home.  She is scheduled to be here for 20 days and is about a third of the way through that now. After we saw Millie we made a quick run to the nearby CVS pharmacy for some supplies she needed.  We dropped them off to her, then drove to Costco for some heavy duty shopping.  All three of today’s destinations were within a quarter mile of each other.  Among other things, we bought about $100 worth of corn beef to cook for next Sunday’s St Patrick’s day dinner in the clubhouse.  After shopping we headed back to Pahrump.  We didn’t make it back in time for happy hour, so we just stayed in the rest of the evening watching TV.

Tuesday, March 12^th, we had pretty much a stay at home day.  We did some chores around the house and had a meeting of the Silver Seekers Board at 1:00.  After the meeting Jackie had a mani appointment and I did some more chores.  I did happy hour at 4:00 and Jackie came after her appointment at about 4:30.  After happy hour we went home and did some pork chops on the grill and then watched TV until bedtime.  March 13^th, my son Roy Jr’s birthday.  Jackie did Pokeno in the afternoon and I played some guitar with Len.  About 3:00 or so I got a call from Susan, my brother Ken’s wife, letting me know that Ken was not doing well in the hospital and doctor’s were not hopeful for a recovery.  After talking to Jackie, we decided that we would travel down to Phoenix to spend some time with Ken and Susan.  I made some hotel reservations for us leaving here on Thursday and arriving in Phoenix on Friday.  We went to happy hour and midway through happy hour I got a another call from Susan telling me that Ken had passed.  We were shocked and sad, but told Susan we would be coming down as planned to help in away we could.  After happy hour we had dinner and spent the rest of the night with the TV and packing.

Thursday, March 14^th, we had our clothes and stuff packed for a weeks stay and headed out from the park about 10:30.  The first part of the drive was about 180 miles to Kingman, Arizona, where we checked into a Motel 6 near the airport for the night.  We were up early the next morning and on the road heading to Phoenix.  The weather was really bad, lots of rain and we roads, but we made it into Gilbert, Arizona, on the East side of the Phoenix valley, about 2:30 or so.  We got checked into our extended stay hotel for a week’s stay, then drove over to the hospital to meet with Susan.  For those who don’t know, Ken and Susan have been full time RVers for the last three years or so.  Last March Ken was not feeling well and went to an urgent care in Texas, near Dallas, to get checked.  They did some tests and found a mass in his chest that was causing the shortness of breath and weakness he was feeling.  They needed to get back to Arizona for more tests, but Ken was not up to the trip and Susan didn’t drive the coach.  I flew out to Texas and helped them get the coach back to Arizona.  He went to the hospital shortly after that and they found the mass was cancer and he started treatment.  They have been living in the hospital parking lot for nearly a year.  Fortunately, the hospital has 10 full hookup RV sites in the parking lot.  Ken was in and out of the hospital, but could never get away from the hospital because of the ongoing treatments.  He had chemo, stem cell transplants, all kinds of procedures, although they never did surgery because of the location of the mass.  At one point in the fall they thought the tumor was gone and he was getting better, but by the holidays it was showing it was back.  In the end, his body just couldn’t tolerate the treatments anymore.  We spent some time with Susan before heading back to the hotel for the night.

Saturday, March 16^th, we went back over to Susan’s and spent the afternoon with her talking next steps.  She asked us to go to the funeral home with her to make the arrangements for Ken.  She is just doing a simple cremation for the present and planning a Celebration of Life for later in a couple months.  We went there and spent an hour or so with the funeral director taking care of the papers.  They hope to be able to do the cremation and get the ashes back to Susan by the end of next week.  After spending the day with Susan we went back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the night.  The next couple of days, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, were all pretty much the same.  We spent some time with Susan, we did some sightseeing in the East valley and some shopping.  We also did some geocaching, something we haven't been doing a lot of.  In fact, we found enough caches that our finds for 2024 is already more than we got all last year.  Still only a few compared to the old days, but we did have one 10 cache day here in the Phoenix area.  We spent the nights with the TV at the hotel.  On Thursday, our last day there, we had to move the motor home.  Susan knew that the hospital was asking her to leave now that Ken was no longer a patient, and I had to drive the coach.  Fortunately, Susan has family in the Phoenix area and one of her older cousins has a small farm in Buckeye, on the far west side of Phoenix.  So about 9:30 on Thursday morning we went over and helped Susan get the coach packed up and I drove the coach about 60 miles from Gilbert, across the Phoenix metro area, to Buckeye and got her parked in her cousin’s yard.  She has some hookups there and will stay there for a month or so to get situated.  She and Ken had purchased an RV lot at a resort in Benson, Arizona, East of Tucson, but she wasn’t sure if she was going to keep the motor home and put it on the lot, or change to a park model.  We said our goodbyes and headed back to the motel.

Friday, March 22^nd, we were packed up and ready to leave Gilbert around 9:00.  Unlike the trip down the weather was good.  We made it across the City of Phoenix, East to West in good time and were on our way home.  We stopped in Wickenburg for lunch at a café called Spurs, which had great food and great service.  We had a little trouble navigating our way out of Wickenburg because of some major road construction on Highway 93, but we were finally on our way again.  We made a quick potty stop in Dolan Springs, about 30 miles South of the Nevada line and bought some tickets for the big PowerBall lottery.  We hit Vegas at the beginning of rush hour, but we finally pulled into our driveway in Pahrump about 5:30.  We got unpacked and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Saturday, March 23^rd, we did laundry and other chores related to being gone for a week.  In the early afternoon I took all my audio equipment over the clubhouse for an event tonight.  At 3:00 we went to the clubhouse to help set up for tonight’s pot luck dinner at 4:00.  We had a nice pot luck, with probably 30 people.  About 5:00 I started doing karaoke.  Tonight was originally supposed to be a lip sync night, but no one signed up, so we made it karaoke instead.  About two dozen members stayed for karaoke and for the first time since I have been doing this stuff at our park I had people come up and sing.  We had singing, dancing
and went until 7:30 with nonstop fun.  I was really pleased.  After the event I packed up the equipment and took everything home and we spent the rest of the evening watching TV.  

Sunday, March 24th, we planned to have a quiet day at home, but we got a call from Jackie’s cousins, Ron and Stphanie Kopf that they were in Las Vegas, heading back to Bullhead City, and wanted to know if they could come up to Pahrump for a visit.  We said yes and they came up.  They actually have a home in Fresno, California, but Ron is an electrician and has been working in Bullhead City for a while.  Stephanie came out to take a mini-vacation with Ron.  They got up here about 1:00 and we took them over the clubhouse at 2:00 for the ice cream social.  We then came back and sat and talked until almost 8:00.  We did take a break and Ron and I drove to the Pour House to get a pizza for dinner.  They left about 8:00 and we spent the remainder of the evening watching TV.

Monday, March 25^th, we had a fairly quiet day.  I did have an meeting in the clubhouse at 2:00 that lasted about an hour.  After the meeting we had 4:00 happy hour.  We left happy hour and went to Walmart for some supplies.  After Walmart we stopped at Chipotle for a quick dinner, which we took home to eat.  We spent the rest of the night watching TV.  Tuesday Jackie had a mani appointment at noon and I did some work in the office.  About 3:00 we left to go to the monthly park dine-out.  This month we went to Mom’s Diner.  We left early because Jackie’s favorite place to shop, Secret Sisters consignment store, is in the same strip mall.  There were ten people at the dine-out and we had a good time.  After the dinner we went home and watched TV until bedtime.

Wednesday, March 27^th, I had an 8:00 appointment with our primary care doctor, Dr. Wiggins, to get the final clearance for my hip replacement surgery.  He and his nurse did the usual basic checkup stuff, the doctor came in and talked to me for a while, then they did a brief EKG.  After it was all finished the nurse came in and said they would fax the surgery clearance to Desert Orthopedics and they would be in contact with me at some point to make appointments.  Jackie had Pokeno at 1:00 and my buddy Len came over at 1:00 and we had guitar practice.  We did happy hour at 4:00, then came home for dinner and a night with the TV.  Thursday was pretty much a stay at home day.  I had an open jam session in the clubhouse at 2:00 and had to go over a little early to get set up.  We still only had three people at the jam.  Len thought he had identified another couple, but they told him today that they couldn’t come because of illness.  We still had a good two hours or so with a few people in the audience.  After the jam I cleaned up all the equipment and went home.  We did happy hour, then went home for dinner and watched TV until bedtime.

Friday, March 29^th, I had a 10:00 meeting of the By Laws Committee, which went for a couple of hours.  After the meeting I went home for lunch and we went out to do some shopping.  We did happy hour, then dinner and the TV for the rest of the night.  Saturday, we had haircuts scheduled for noon.  After the haircuts we ran a couple of errands, then went home for the rest of the day.  It was rainy, so we skipped happy hour and just had dinner and watched TV.

Sunday, March 31^st, Happy Easter.  We had a relaxing morning and afternoon for the most part.  Jackie spent some time cooking sweet potatoes for the Easter dinner we were having at the clubhouse.  At 3:00 we went over to the clubhouse to help set up for the 4:00 dinner.  I was one of the ham carvers.  We had four big spiral hams that the Silver Seekers provided, and lots of side dishes brought by members.  We all had plenty to eat and we had about 40 people at the dinner.  We were pretty much done and cleaned up by 6:00, so we headed home and spent the rest of the night with the TV.

That is the end of March, and the end of this episode.  Until next time, be kind and stay safe.  See ya soon.