We’ve had a relatively quiet week here at Mission Bay RV Resort. Most of my days were consumed with pickleball. I played from 10am until noon or 1pm Monday through Thursday. Monday and Wednesday I played at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center. Tuesday and Thursday Donna joined me at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center. By Friday, my legs were heavy – I’m not used to this much time on the courts – so I took a day off.

On Wednesday morning, Donna went out for breakfast with her friend Jana. While I was at pickleball and she was at breakfast, we had a delivery. I wasn’t expecting anything and Donna sent me a text saying she picked up the package at the office. When I came home from Ocean Beach, I had a surprise. Donna gave me my birthday present a few days early. She and Jana had set up a flat screen TV in one of the basement compartments. Donna figured I would enjoy sitting outside in the evening to watch football and enjoy a cigar – great idea!

New outdoor TV

Friday evening Donna made a variation of the pizza chicken dish called Sheet Pan Chicken with mozzarella, grape tomatoes, red onion and pepperoncinis. She served it over spaghetti squash and with steamed baby spinach.

Sheet pan chicken

Saturday was my birthday. I’m officially an old guy – I qualify for Social Security and I can get a senior lifetime National Parks Pass since I’m 62 years old now. Donna ran in a 5k race in the morning benefiting the Wounded Warriors Project. We’d planned to spend the afternoon at the beach, but sometimes the best laid plans go awry. The day kind of got away from us. Around 2:30pm we set out to find rental electric scooters. There are a few companies providing these in San Diego and they are usually plentiful around Mission Bay and the beach areas.

I downloaded an App from a company called Bird. We found one scooter right here in the RV park after searching around for a bit. Then I found another one by the Mission Bay Boat Club. Donna had activated the first scooter with her phone and I tried to activate the second one. For some reason, my phone wouldn’t connect with the scooter and I couldn’t activate the rental. I found another scooter near Campland where someone had left it off the path in weeds. I couldn’t activate this one either – my phone wouldn’t read the bar code. By then it was 3:30pm and we gave up on the scooter and beach idea.

The weather for the last week hasn’t really been beach weather. Usually at this time of year, there’s a marine layer of moisture that creates cloudy mornings. It’ll burn off by noon and the afternoons at the beach are nice. So far this year, the cloudy skies have lingered on most days and it’s been breezy. The weather pattern is being affected by hurricane storms south of here. The humidity has been much higher than normal.

Donna grilled bacon-wrapped filet mignon for my birthday dinner. She smothered them with sauteed mushrooms and onions. It was delicious with a side of grilled broccolini with tomatoes and roasted delicata squash with feta cheese.

Bacon-wrapped filet mignon with mushrooms and onions

After dinner, I treated myself to a glass of 20-year-old Speyside Single Malt Scotch paired with a Perdomo 20th Anniversary Epicure Connecticut cigar. I sat outside and enjoyed the smoke and drink while I watched TV. Donna’s out for a training run this morning – she’s running in a 10k in a few weeks. I’m going to watch Moto GP racing from Thailand, then NFL action.