Not much going on around here as we head into Fourth of July, 2020 (tomorrow).
It’s been hot, of course, but not bad. Low 90’s to single-digit 100’s, with low humidity. A few windy days here and there, but generally pleasant breezes. I’ve tried out my misting system on the big pergola in the backyard and it works great. Kudos to Dan Quinn for a great idea!
Tomorrow will mark our second full week with BonBon, our puppy Boston Terrier. She’s doing great, socializing nicely with Booger and Baby and enjoying our property, inside and out.
We let BonBon have the run of the house and, so far, she hasn’t destroyed anything. A few accidents have happened, pee- and poo-wise, but that is to be expected. She understands that she should do those things outside but “shit happens”!
Our general contractor friend “Adam” is accomplishing a few projects for us. He’s been working about two days a week on our patio and is about done with it. There’s an entertainment wall on the interior side and a lattice-work enhanced stucco wall on the exterior where we will entice some Bougainvilla vines to decorate the wall. Adam also installed a ceiling fan over the patio.
We’ve got a few minor aesthetic touch-ups to do with wiring and such. I’m using my RV Tailgater satellite dish plus Internet WiFi to provide broadcast programming out on the patio. Works good!
He is going to return in a week or so to replace our kitchen island sink with a white ceramic farmhouse apron sink. It’s something that Charlie has always wanted, but Pulte (our builder) didn’t offer it when we were specc’ing out our build. It will be a $1,000 improvement when Adam gets done.
Thank Goodness we had a handy guy around here today. I brought the RV over from storage to top-off the “house” batteries with distilled water. In the process of doing that, I somehow locked myself out of the RV right in front of our house. I’ve done it before, by closing the door too hard. Anyway, Adam and I spent an hour and a half figuring out a way to get in. Finally, he drilled a hole in the metal frame around one of the windows, pushed a stiff wire in the hole and released the window lock. Then, we were able to undo the locked door and free up the latch mechanism with graphite lubricant. What a pain!
Adam (Childress), our contractor, is a great guy. Not only is he a talented contractor, but he’s fun to talk with. Adam is married, lives in Las Vegas, has several building-related businesses, and is the “Executive Pastor” of a church in Vegas. In an earlier life, he spent 14 years working for Uncle Sam, first as an enlisted Special Ops guy, and later as a contract black ops specialist working covertly to extract American civilians and soldiers in the Middle East.
We’ve kind of adopted Adam as a sixth son (Jason Friedman is our fifth). He stays over at our house when he works here. Charlie also convinced him that she (and Jonathan) could do a great job for him on his bookkeeping and taxes, so we added a client, too. Adam is so talented and hard-working that we have already recommended him for some follow-up jobs in our community. He’s thinking of moving up to Mesquite in the future.
Speaking of that, my right hip is sore. Again, Thank Goodness that my orthopedic surgeon agreed to move up my surgery date to September 1st. I won’t be doing a lot until then. I don’t know if I can golf again; my hip issue certainly affected my game.
Tomorrow is July 4th. We had been invited, and accepted the invitation, to a backyard party with some neighbors, the Carnicelli’s, a couple of weeks ago. It was going to be a small event, with just a few couples that live in the neighborhood. Anyway, a few days ago Charlie found out that this “small” get-together had grown into 18 to 20 people, half of whom we didn’t know.
That’s bad form in the current Covid-19 world.
Two couples that we know talked to us about it, concerned about the size. We all agreed that it would make us uncomfortable to be around so many people at a small property, not knowing who had associated with whom over the past week. All we need is one “superspreader” to attend and, voila!, there could be a bunch of deaths in this community of geezers.
So, we bailed on the event after I talked to the hostess’ husband, my golfing buddy Galen. By the end of the day, a total of eight presumed guests had backed out and the hostess, Sherrie, was pissed. She ranted and raved and felt betrayed by her supposed friends. It was ugly.
However, today it seems like the storm has passed; no more nasty texts or phone calls. In fact, Sherrie sent out a conciliatory message to Charlie. So, we’ll see…
The reality of Covid-19 is beginning to sink in, particularly in light of the recent spike in infections and hospitalizations in Sun Belt states like Nevada. Lots of people (like the Carnicelli’s!) scoffed at the coronavirus “hoax”, but now it appears to be settling in for the long haul. Six weeks ago, half the people in stores around town were without facemasks. Now, everyone is wearing one. Some communities that “re-opened” business are now closing them again. It’s serious time.
I hope that things don’t get out of hand before I get my right hip replacement surgery. It is an elective surgery, and those procedures were halted in April and May when Covid-19 took off. Also, my son Jonathan is planning to fly out here from Kentucky just before my surgery (like he did for my left hip surgery in November) to help out. It would suck if the airlines got shut down again.
We’ll see…