Life at Jojoba Hills SKP Resort

Succulents in our garden
We decided that unruly roses did not fit in our desert environment. One day we cut them down and then pulled out the roots. Our neighbor, Pete, saw us working and offered us a couple of succulents he had in pots to fill in the bed. We set them in and they seem to be thriving. The drip irrigation lines you see are turned off for the time being as the rains have been plentiful, too much so for some at lower elevations. There is much we could do on the site if we choose to, but so far we are content to maintain what we have and devote our energies to other activities. 
Carol is now an officer (Assistant Secretary) of Hilltoppers, our social organization. She also is co chairing a committee to provide support for 911 emergencies in the park for those who want such support. An ambulance is at least 20 minutes away so it is helpful to have someone meet them at the gate and provide escort to the site, also for someone to provide friendly support during the wait or even offer CPR or an AED if deemed necessary – this of course requires training which Carol has set up for tomorrow (the day after I am writing). This is a fairly intense project and needs to meet many regulatory requirements. She is busy. She is also baking and cooking up a storm in her spare time.

I have been active in stuff that is fun for me. Finance, Marketing and technical Future Planning are keeping me occupied when I am not playing Bridge. The other day I went down to our Boondock area with Bud, one of our lead tech gurus, to see  if changing out the modem on the wifi antenna serving the area would restore service. Mostly I watched him so I could do it myself should the need arise (first I had to know where it is). While we were working a visitor staying there stopped by with questions about the service. I reassured him that we were working on getting it restored. Shortly after that the last reboot took effect and the signal and the internet connection came up. I stopped by to tell him, but he had already started it up and said how happy he was. Later at our weekly Monday Meeting in the segment where we welcome visitors (as well as new members and returning members) the visitor finished his introduction by thanking me for fixing the wifi. I was embarrassed to say the least as Bud had done the work and I had just done the talking.

The scenery here is magnificent

Sunset last night walking toward our coach from the clubhouse
and the sites are spacious, but what makes Jojoba Hills a wonderful place to be is the community. Everybody waves when we pass on the streets and often we will stop to chat, just because. A hug is a common greeting and the hugs are emotional as well as physical because we all seem to care for each other and each other’s well being. As I took a tour group through the club house people looked up from their activities and greeted us warmly regardless of what they were doing. Even our Manager, Bob, who is immersed in a major project resurfacing our pool and patio deck, stopped to talk to the visitors to explain what we are doing. I know there are some unhappy people here, but I haven’t met them yet. 

Time Flies

I guess we have been having too much fun since our trip to San Diego. I seem to be making an effort to get in as much trouble as I can and Carol is playing right along. She is now Assistant Secretary of Hilltoppers, our social organization. Also she is chairing a 4911 committee which is to provide helping hands like guiding an ambulance or just sitting with the person until help comes, when someone needs 911 help. It seems she is having meetings someplace every day now.

I decided to get my hands dirty in a different way. I have started going to J-Cat meetings three mornings a week at 8 AM to get assignments to fix people’s phone’s, internet connections and even TV reception issues. We actually have wires to every site carrying all three services – well the phone lines also carry internet. This has also gotten me into the discussions regarding our upgrade to television in the park, both in the service provider and in the actual cables in the ground. My first solo call was a report of “no dial tone” I resolved that by moving the phone line from the non functional pair to the appropriate functional pair (I unplugged it from the wrong jack . . .). I have also volunteered for other committees involved in the connected future of the park and one mysterious committee called “S” Drive. I hope it has something to do with computers.

Just for laughs and giggles we have had a bout of “Perils of Paul” this week. I drove into town to complete my last interview with a prospect for Brown University (they are getting younger every year). After a delightful hour of conversation we parted and I returned to the Jeep which would not start, it was clear the battery was kaput. Being ever resourceful I had a set of jumper cables in the back and was able to recruit a friendly soul to let me use his battery to get me going. I wanted to call Carol to let her know why I was running a bit late. I discovered my phone had rebooted with out asking my permission. When I went to enter the password, the “Done” button at the bottom of the screen would not work! It turns out nothing on the bottom row of the screen would work, not even the space bar. I got back to Jojoba Hills with no further incident. I parked the Jeep by the shed so I could hook up the charger I somehow didn’t trash when we sold the townhouse. The following morning it was still dead and a neighbor came over with a jumper starter thing no bigger than a box of cigars. It worked! I now own one! I also own a brand new battery and new terminal clamp to go with it and everything is working. Oh I also have a new phone with twice the memory (still not enough I fear).

We are looking forward to driving the Jeep over the mountain to Palm Desert on Sunday to see my classmates from Brown, Toby and David.