Our son Jeff and wife Carol, the full-time RV “boondockers”, have been visiting us for a few weeks now, biding their time before they trek up I-15 on their way to Montana.
Normally, by this time of the year, the temperatures here in Mesquite would be something like 75 to 80 degrees high and maybe going down to around 50 degrees by dawn. Instead, we are a week into Spring with highs averaging about 65 and overnight lows still dipping into the upper 30’s. The ten-day projection calls for temps on April 7th to include a high of 59 and a low of 38.
Last year, on April 7th, the high temp was between 85 and 90 degrees and the overnight low was around 60 degrees. In fact, April high temps are typically in the 80 to 90 degree range. So, 2023 is a very unusual year, indeed. We’ve also received about 9 inches of rain thus far, which is about three times as much as we got in each of the past three years.
The desert plants are loving the unusual drenching that they’ve received this year. My two buddies Lloyd and Mac and I did a hike on Monday up in the Beaver Dam Mountains (in the southernmost part of Utah). Part of the hike took us through a very lush Joshua Tree forest. Many of the plants had big white blooms that we haven’t seen in four years due to the drought. There were many “free range” cattle out there, shamelessly munching on the Joshua Tree blooms.
Jeff and Carol were hoping to head up to Panguich, Utah next week. However, the ten-day forecast for Panguich calls for a high temp of 35 degrees and a low of 17 degrees on April 7th. So, I doubt that they’ll be leaving us in the near future.
We don’t mind at all, since we have a guest suite and Jeff and Carol help out by cooking great meals for us. They also play table games with us each day: our favorites are “Farkle” and “Sequence” and the card game known as “Spite and Malice”.
Jeff and Carol’s dog “Chongo” has been enjoying life here in Mesquite. He is an 80-lb Staffordshire Terrier with a very mellow disposition. Chongo is probably about ten years old and moves around quite gingerly, but he seems to enjoy our three Boston Terriers running all around him, playing fetch and tug-of-war, and trying to engage him in dog play. The four of them really get along great and even nap together on our huge sofa. Chongo’s presence relegates Baby to a Number Two status, but she doesn’t seem to mind. Little Vinnie seems challenged by another male in the house, and he and Chongo take turns over-peeing each other’s urine on our bushes and cacti. It is funny to watch them watch each other doing this.
On Sunday, Jeff, my friend Lloyd, and I had a “skins” game on the H.O.A. 18-hole putting course. We played two rounds, with Lloyd edging me out for the win. On one of the holes, there was a Road Runner with a small lizard in his mouth. We watched him entice another Road Runner over to him with that treat, whereupon he climbed about the gal and proceeded to do the nasty. This went on for about five minutes, when he hopped off his girlfriend and didn’t share the lizard with her. What a scuzzbag!
(Yesterday, the three of us had a repeat 36-hole match. Lloyd tanked with 5 skins, Jeff won 10, and I stomped them with 21 skins. HeeHee.)
Jeff, Carol, Baby, and I went for a hike in the local hills the other day. We headed out toward the mesa that borders Mesquite on the west, to a trail that was built by a retired guy named “Bill”. This guy has taken it upon himself to reorganize tons of rocks into trails, artistic creations, and rock structures out in B.L.M. land. I cannot imagine the effort it took for this 80-year-old guy to do this over a period of a few years: Bill is superhuman!
We also stopped at another 80-year-old guy’s sculpture creation adjacent to a local thoroughfare. It is an uncompleted miniature of the Statue of Liberty, carved into mudstone and sandstone. It’s very cool.
Last week, we all went up to St. George for Charlie’s nail salon visit and some shopping at Costco. I bought a new dog bed for our pups and gave the old one to Chongo, who likes to nap on it.
Today (Friday), our granddaughter Jessica, her boyfriend Abe, his two young kids, and our grandson Craig were supposed to arrive for a mini-reunion with Charlie, Jeff, Carol, and I, followed by grandson Joshua and girlfriend Andie on Saturday.
That didn’t happen.
On Thursday, Jessica, Craig, and Joahua’s mom Shanon developed life-threatening blood clots following a fairly routine orthoscopic debridement of a knee.
Shanon went to a local hospital and was diagnosed. She will require a highly specialized operation to clear her lungs of the clots… which they don’t perform at that hospital. Charlie got on the phone with one of her bookkeeping clients, Dr. Robert Steele, who is Chief of Staff at Temecula Valley Hospital, where they do perform this procedure. Dr. Stelle greased the skids to get Shanon a bed in I.C.U. and arranged for the regional specialist in this surgery to take on Shanon’s case.
Shanon is in the cath lab at Temecula Valley Hospital as I write this blog, getting prepped for her surgery. We are all hoping that the procedure is successful and that Shanon can put this ordeal behind her.
This is just one more example of the amazing reputation of my wife back in the Temecula/Murrieta Valley area where we used to live. Charlie was a mover and shaker in the community, which now contains about 250, 000 people. In addition to her bookkeeping and tax business, she was President of two organizations, the Assistance League of Temecula Valley and the LeTip business networking group. Lots of important people in that Valley know her, including the long-time Mayor of Temecula, who Charlie trained to later become President of the ALTV. One call from Charlie and Dr. Steele, who was vacationing in Mexico, jumped into action and made things happen.
My wonderful wife still has some pull in Southern California, some 400 miles from here!
Carol and Jeff and Chongo left Mesquite today for Cedar Pocket in the Virgin River Gorge area of southern Utah. They are going to camp there for a few days and see if the weather improves enough to justify heading north toward Salt Lake.
It’s hard to believe that, at the very end of March, our normal 80 degree days are still wishful thinking here in southern Nevada.
Who’d have thought?