The cold weather continued – Tuesday and Wednesday the thermometer barely reached 50 degrees after overnight lows in the 30s. I didn’t get out and do much, but Donna took advantage of the gym here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort.

Even though I haven’t taken the Weber Q grill or the Traeger out of the trailer yet, we still enjoyed good meals. Donna made medallions of pork loin with roasted butternut squash and green beans Tuesday night.

Thursday the weather warmed up to the mid-60s and Friday we hit 70. Donna and I played pickleball Friday morning with the 3.0+ group and had a lot of fun. We hadn’t played on outdoor courts for several months.

Friday afternoon we hit happy hour at Lucky Lou’s and met up with the usual crowd. We had fun sitting on the patio with Jeff and Chrissy Van Deren, Jodi and Mike Hall, Kim and Mike Childs and Jodi’s sister Jackie. Mike Hall and I puffed cigars and compared notes on some of our favorites.

Friday night Donna made another favorite dish – walnut crusted tilapia served with sauteed corn, red peppers and spinach plus spaghetti squash gratin on the side.

We’re pretty careful about the seafood we buy. We always prefer wild caught fish over farmed, but with tilapia, farmed is all you ever find. We avoid tilapia from Asia as some of the fish farm practices there aren’t the best. We prefer tilapia sourced from more modern facilities found in Mexico or Central America.

On Saturday morning, I received a package from The RV Water Filter Store that I had ordered after finding out that Al’s RV and Marine in Yuma had closed shop. I got new filter cartridges for our dual canister water filtration unit. I had the delivery by 11am and got busy. I wanted to get a couple of things done before the NFL playoff games which started at 2:30pm.

The first task was to replace the anode rod in our 10-gallon Suburban water heater tank. The last time I replaced the anode rod was April of 2016. It’s a good idea to at least pull the anode rod once a year to inspect it and drain any sediment from the hot water tank. The last time I replaced the anode rod, I used an aluminum rod instead of the magnesium rod I’d used previously. The aluminum rods last much longer than the magnesium.

After removing the cover panel to access the hot water tank, the first step was to tape a plastic bag I had split open to create a curtain for the water to drain out of the compartment and down the side of the coach.

With the water heater turned off, I shut off the fresh water supply and removed the anode rod with a 1-1/16″ socket. The rod was still in decent condition, but I replaced with a new one anyway.

I wrapped the threads with teflon tape to seal them. With the rod out, I watched for sediment or anything unusual, but the water in the tank was clear and I didn’t have much in the way of deposits. I opened the pressure relief valve at the top of the tank to vent it while the water ran out. Once I had the new rod in, I left the pressure relief valve open while I turned on the fresh water supply and filled the tank. The open pressure relief valve allowed the air to vent out of the tank while it filled with water. If you don’t do this, the tank will only partially fill as head space is taken up by air trapped in the tank.

Next up was replacement of the water filter cartridges. I bought the dual stage water filtration system we have at the FMCA rally in Redmond, Oregon from the folks at The RV Water Filter Store. It uses standard 10″ x 2.5″ cartridges. In the first canister, we have a five-micron sediment filter to remove any solids from the water. The last cartridge I bought at Al’s was made from wound polyester string. The new cartridge is spun polyester. I don’t think there’s any difference between the two other than how they look.

The second stage of our filtration is a carbon block filter to remove chlorine, chemicals and odors and improve the taste of the water. It’s also five microns.

We also have a third filter under our sink for the purified water dispenser. This filter removes bacteria. I change the sediment filter every three months and the carbon block filter every six months – this was the recommendation by the owner of The RV Water Filter Store. The under sink filter is good for at least two years.

With that job done, it was time to sit in front of the outdoor TV and watch football. It was sunny and about 70 degrees outside. A little before kickoff of the first game, I had a visitor. Mike and Joan Targett were our neighbors in the site next to us last year. This year they’re a couple of streets down from us. Mike stopped by in his golf cart to drop off a present for us. He made a sign for Donna and I to place in our site.

Mike captured some of our activities – pickleball, hoop dancing for Donna and an image of the Spyder. He did a great job and it was very nice of him to take the time to make this for us. We much appreciate the effort. Mike has made over 200 signs over the years for RVers.

Rain moved into the area overnight and it was wet and cold Sunday morning. I stayed indoors and watched the Chargers vs. Ravens wildcard game. The Chargers came up with an innovative defensive scheme that stymied the Ravens and they’ll move on to face the Patriots after winning in Baltimore.

Donna bought some wild gulf shrimp and made shrimp with fennel and feta for dinner with sides of steamed asparagus and butternut squash risotto.

This morning I played in the round robin pickleball matches. We started at 8am, so I was up early and really got off to a slow start on the courts. Hopefully I’ll acclimate to the early play and pick up my game.

The forecast for the week ahead looks good – highs in the 70s. Today will be a littler cooler – mid 60s, but I won’t complain about that.