In my last post, I mentioned that the Valentine’s Day pickleball tournament was cancelled. Donna and I looked forward to it as an opportunity to play as a team in a tournament. Here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort, they have monthly tournaments at this time of year. However, Donna and I play in different groups in these tournaments.

Pickleball players are rated from 1.0 (beginner) to 5.0 (Pro). Here at Viewpoint, they are fairly strict with their ratings – most people over-rate themselves – but that doesn’t work for long here. The powers that be will move you into a group commensurate with the expected level of play here. I think we would both be rated 0.5 higher than we are here at most places. Donna plays in the 3.0 group while I play in the 3.5 group.

The February tournament was held on Saturday. The play was very competitive and we played well. Donna made it through the elimination rounds and played in the championship round. She finished in second place for the 3.0 group. Likewise, I made it through to the championship round but lost and finished second in the 3.5 group.

Donna has been back for a week now and it’s flown by. I’m happy to report that the quality of my meals has improved greatly. Donna whips up meals that I wouldn’t dream of making on my own. I’m just not that into it, although I love eating. The grill is more my forte rather than elaborate meal planning and blending of flavors. Last Thursday, Donna made cioppino for our Valentine’s Day dinner with clams, calamari, shrimp and cod. It was delicious and a real treat. She served it over chickpea spaghetti and garlicky sauteed spinach.

Saturday afternoon we joined friends at Mike and Jodi Hall’s place for an impromptu barbeque. We actually had a plan the night before, but things don’t always go as planned. When we left Lucky Lou’s Friday night, I planned to pick up babyback ribs and cook them on the Traeger after Saturday’s pickleball tournament. But the Safeway supermarket next door was sold out of babyback ribs. No problem I thought, I’ll get them Saturday morning after the tournament and should have ample time to smoke them.

I thought we’d be done with the tournament around 10:30am. With both of us advancing all the way to the final round, we weren’t done until noon. That ended the possibility of me smoking ribs in time to get to the Hall’s by 2:30pm. Mike Hall said not to worry, Mike Childs was bringing meat and also he had beef ribs to grill. Jeff and Chrissy Van Deren were bringing salad and guacamole. Donna made prosciutto and boursin cheese wrapped asparagus for an appetizer. Then we heard Mike Childs was under the weather, so we had to make do with what was available.

It was no problem though – there turned out to be plenty of food for all. It was fun time and we all enjoyed the company and conversation. Mike Hall and I enjoyed stogies on the back patio by the koi pond.

I put out another quail block last week and the birds have been flocking to our site. I’ve had quail blocks out before – I even had them years ago when we lived in this area – but I never had such a variety of birds attracted to the seed block.

We had colorful visitors at our site this weekend. A couple of weeks ago, I saw what I thought was a Central or South American conure in our orange tree. He didn’t stay long enough for me to get a positive identification. On Sunday, he returned and perched on our window sill. I was able to photograph the bird and identify as a Lovebird – it’s either a Rosy-face Lovebird or a Fischer’s Lovebird. Both birds are very similar in appearance but I think this was a Rosy-faced Lovebird due to its size.

This morning, the Lovebird returned with its mate. Unlike most bird species, Lovebirds have the same plumage whether they’re male or female.

Rosy-faced Lovebirds are indigenous to southwest Africa – Namibia and Angola. But flocks of feral birds are known to inhabit Puerto Rico, Phoenix metro area and San Diego County. The origin of these feral flocks is most likely from the pet industry – birds either escaped or were let loose.

The fickle winter weather continues in the southwest. In the photo from Saturday, you can see we have jackets on. The high was only about 60 degrees. Sunday was cool and breezy with a high in the upper 50s. We had rain overnight and today we’ll only reach the mid 50s with breezy winds again. The week ahead doesn’t look much better with cool temperatures and rain moving in again on Thursday.