Who said retired life is boring?
Now that the Covid-19 pandemic has abated (in this community, where 90 percent of the old codgers have been vaccinated), life is resuming normal speed. People are out and about, smiles are back on folks’ faces, and everyone is either hunkering down for a hot Summer or planning to hit the road toward cooler climes.
Last week, I helped a neighbor widow install some chicken wire fencing. That all-morning chore left me with sore hamstrings and leg muscles for a week.
I followed that up with a long day in my own yard, repotting a half dozen shrubs and cacti and drip irrigating the whole mess. More sore legs.
For some reason, I agreed to play tennis with my buddy Lloyd the next day. I never was a tennis player, so my skills are negligible. Of course, I can now supplement that ineptitude with the sore legs (from yard work) and the general atrophy that my lower limbs have suffered in the past couple of years courtesy of two hip replacements. Needless to say, the tennis outing was embarrassing, as I lumbered about with my Redwood tree-like legs, chasing tennis balls to no avail. Lloyd got a good laugh, particularly when I fell backward and crunched my noggin on the concrete court surface.
Charlie and I visited our new neighbor “Dale” at his home the other day. The layout and size of his home is virtually identical to ours; however, he is a 70-something-year-old bachelor whose home is decorated rather sparsely…with the exception of his 85” HDTV, which he uses to watch sporting events at all hours of the day. Dale also has a 26’ travel trailer, which he will use to absent himself from the Mesquite hot plate starting in mid-June. I think he’s heading north to Wyoming.
(Dale is a character. He is an interesting, outgoing guy with lots of stories. However, he has a very annoying habit when he talks: he pauses seemingly every ten seconds to ask, “Okay?”, as if the listener is having trouble following him or doubts the bullshit that he’s spreading. It’s a bad habit that reminds me of a lousy public speaker who interrupts his patter with scores of “uhs”, pauses that allow the fellow to collect his thoughts (I guess). Lots of professional athletes, who aren’t trained speakers, have this annoying habit while being interviewed.)
My hiking/golf/tennis buddy Lloyd is now doing Nutrisystem with Charlie and I. He wants to lose 15 pounds or so, which should be easy since he will supplement the reduced calories with a lot of exercise. He dropped by the other day to play cards with us and mentioned that he’d lost 5 pounds in the first week.
Another neighbor, “Kenny-J”, came by on Friday to talk with us about a landscaping project that he will be doing for us in the next month or so. He will be building us an artificial “mountain-scape” to shield our large cactus plant from southerly winds. He makes these things out of slabs of multicolored sandstone: quite beautiful. Kenny charges $20/hour for his time, works hard and good, and most people that we know use him for various landscaping chores that they’re too lazy (or lack the skills) to do themselves.
Our good friend “Sandy” also dropped by on Friday for drinks and snacks while we played cards for a couple of hours. Sandy is divorced and is an IT tech who used to work for IBM. She does “gig” work now out of her house, hosting “change management” seminars for corporations. I don’t exactly know what she does, but she’s making a few grand a month doing this…so someone’s pleased with her contribution. Sandy will be joining us up in Coos Bay for a week in July, so I may be doing some biking and hiking with her up there.
Earlier today (Saturday), I went over to the marijuana dispensary to pick up some distillate to enhance my Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookies (for our RV trip). That place has to be the most thriving business in Mesquite; loads of cars in the parking lot, lots of customers inside, and the cheapest thing they sell costs $25 CASH. My little container of RSO cost me $75; however, I saw a number of people filling up grocery bags with product…mucho dinero, Senor.
In the evening, Lloyd, Charlie and I went out to dinner at Worden’s (“casual fine dining”) Restaurant here in town. We’d never been there before (it just opened a few months ago). Nice restaurants are scarce here in Mesquite, so we were hoping that we could add this joint to our skimpy list of acceptable dining opportunities. That hope ended early in the evening when our Calimari appetizer arrived at the table: it was terrible, easily the worst that I’ve ever eaten (and I order Calimari often whenever it is on a menu). Then, we waited and waited for our dinner. After an hour, we complained to the owner. She came up with a variety of excuses, ending that pathetic display by throwing her waitress under the bus. Another half hour ensued until Charlie and Lloyd’s entrees arrived. The owner materialized again to explain that they got my order wrong (chicken wings!) and offered me some Buffalo shrimp as a peace offering in lieu of my tardy chicken wings, which were now on the boil in the kitchen. I did not like the owner/lady, who was in our face making excuses and got testy with Charlie for a minute. About 1-1/2 hours into the ordeal, my chicken wings arrived: they were terrible, the worst I’ve ever had at any restaurant and certainly not “fine dining” by any stretch. We left the restaurant after two hours of crappy service and lousy food. Thankfully, we have a McDonalds in this town.
Making matters worse, Lloyd (my best friend in Mesquite and someone whom Charlie adores) announced that evening that he is going to sell his house and move to Merida, Mexico. I think he is bored and misses his girlfriend, Juanita, who is having problems visiting him from South Africa. Evidently, she can easily travel to Mexico City without the American immigration/visa issue. Lloyd needs some adventure in his life and has just about exhausted the possibilities here in the Sun City area of Nevada. I can’t blame him: I get bored easily and would do the same thing if I was in his boat. Unfortunately, his leaving will leave a void in my life, as we hike, golf, play tennis, enjoy card games, and bullshit a lot. Bummer.
Next week will be busy: Memorial Day on Monday; a pedicure for me on Tuesday; pick up the rig in St. George, Utah on Wednesday; BonBon has surgery (a biopsy) on Thursday morning; and, Charlie will also be having an out-patient procedure that same day at the offices of the local vein doctor.
Our neighbors, the Carnicellis, just bought a motorhome (their first) and have asked us to hit the road with them (in our RV) to break it in. So, we’re leaving on June 7th for a 3-nighter up in Cedar City, Utah, which is about 100 miles north of us on Interstate 15.
Other than that, Charlie, the dogs, and I are just sitting here absorbing heat, counting down the minutes before we can head off to the cool seaside of Oregon on June 28th.