Like most folks, we’ve been lying low here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. Other than grocery – and beer – runs we haven’t left the park. Well, Donna’s been out for bicycle rides, but she doesn’t stop anywhere.

For entertainment, Donna and I have been watching a series called Narcos. My middle daughter, Jamie, gifted us access to her Netflix account, so we downloaded the series and saw the final episode last night. Donna has been taking her laptop to the deserted pool/office area where she can get free wifi to download Netflix. We’ll start on Narcos Mexico next.

Speaking of wifi, I had a rather strange message from Verizon on my phone. My plan includes 15GB of high speed mobile hot spot on my phone – it’s called an “Unlimited” plan, but it isn’t really as it throttles to low speed after 15GB. The message I received from Verizon said I would have an additional 15GB of high speed hotspot on my phone from March 25th to April 30th. But here’s where it gets weird – they also provided a link to their website page “Corona Virus FAQ.” This page says the free additional data will not be displayed in my account online. Okay, so I have more data but I can’t see how much I actually have. Furthermore, my data usage cycle runs from the 11th of each month to the following month ending on the 10th.

So how does the “extra” 15GB figure into my data cycle? I’m also confused about which devices get extra data. Reading the FAQ, it looks like we should have “extra” data on each of our lines – we have three – Donna’s phone, my phone and the Jetpack. The FAQ doesn’t seem clear to me if each line gets 15GB or is the 15GB shared over all three lines? Inquiring minds want to know.

I got a couple of things off of my “to do” list. Nothing too big – I replaced the 48″ flourescent bulbs in the galley, I cleaned and conditioned the leather Euro-recliner and ottoman, I did a deep clean of the Weber Q grill. My biggest project was re-stringing the day/night shade in the window at the head of our bed.

The shade on this window is 30 inches wide and has four strings – the other window in the bedroom has two strings. The four-string repair wasn’t much harder than the two-string, but having done the two-string before, I had some experience to draw upon this time. It all went fairly smooth. I still had the tool that came with the first kit to draw the strings through the shades, it’s handy. The new kit didn’t come with the tool.

The day/night shades have two pleated shades – one is for privacy but allows light to filter through – the day shade – the other blocks light completely – the night shade. There’s a draw bar at the bottom of the shade. Pulling it down puts the day shade in place. There’s a second draw bar, pulling it down folds the day shade pleats at the bottom of the shade while drawing the night shade down. The draw bars are held in place by friction due to the way the strings are routed.

Inside the top bar, the strings are attached to springs. Tension from these springs create the friction where the strings go through bushings in the draw bars, allowing the shade to be held at various opening positions. You can have the shade all the way up, exposing the whole window or you can position the day or night shade anywhere from all the way up to all the way down and every place in between.

We had a traditional Easter dinner last Sunday. Donna prepped a rack of lamb with a fennel crust and I cooked it on the Traeger wood pellet smoker/grill. She served it with Brussel sprouts and buttered egg noodles.

We followed that with another Traeger dinner on Monday – lemon and herb marinated chicken thighs. Donna served it with grilled bok choy and jasmine rice.

On my last Costco run, I bought one and a half racks of babyback ribs, so I did my famous Memphis-style smoked ribs on Tuesday. It was more than Donna and I could eat, so we invited our friend here in the park, Joe, to stop by for take-out ribs and gave him the half rack.

Donna has been picking citrus here at the RV park. Many people left in a hurry and she got permission to pick and take grapefruit, oranges and lemons from various sites. We put some out for neighbors walking by to take on Sunday. They didn’t last long. She plans to pick some more for us and to share.

It’s beginning to heat up out here in the desert valley. Other than Saturday, when we had clouds and a few intermittent sprinkles, it’s been clear and in the mid to upper 70s. Most afternoons have had winds from the south-southwest gusting up to 20 mph. The winds are calmer today and we should see temperatures reaching the mid to upper 80s for the next week.

We plan to head for higher ground in two weeks – we will leave on April 30th. The temperature here is forecast to reach the 90s by then – the average high in June here in Mesa is 102 degrees. If all goes according to plan, well be in Springerville, Arizona for the month of May. Springerville is at an elevation of 7,000 feet above sea level and will be 20 to 30 degrees cooler than here.

*Just so you know, if you use this  link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!