I know I said my last post would probably be the end, but old habits die hard. So, I’ll add a quick update. We’ve really settled in to the Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort lifestyle. The summer months can be a bit tough in central Arizona, but we’re adapting. The pickleballers here play very early in the morning to beat the heat.

I don’t like playing pickleball before 6am. By the time I’ve loosened up and feel like I’m starting to play well, they’re quitting for the day. Donna found indoor pickleball a couple of miles away from us at the Red Mountain Multigenerational Center. It’s air-conditioned! We paid the $4 daily fee and played a few times to try it out. Then I found out that my Medicare Part G supplemental medical policy through Untied Health has a provision called Renew Active. The Multigenerational Center participates in this program, so I get a free membership and can go there anytime for free! This will be our summertime pickleball place – Donna and I have been a successful team winning most of our matches there.

Another way we’ve embraced the Viewpoint lifestyle is through another purchase we made. We’ve joined the majority of residents here by buying a golf car for convenient travel inside the park. They’re especially useful in the summer – it’s too hot to walk or bike in the afternoons and a regular car isn’t convenient. I’ve always called them golf carts, but now I’m told they are referred to as “golf cars,” I think this is because many are street legal low speed vehicles – most people here don’t use them for golf! We bought a Yamaha G19 electric golf car. It is a pre-owned unit that was always stored indoors by only one previous owner up in Fountain Hills.

It’s well-equipped with full lights including turn signals, brake lights and flashers. It has the optional horn. It also has a folding, two-piece windshield. It’s powered with a 48-volt electric motor powered by six 8-cell, deep cycle Trojan batteries. Batteries for these things are a big deal – they’re expensive to replace and are something to consider when shopping for a used golf car.

The first time I charged the batteries, I monitored the voltage. Typically these are charged with “smart chargers” that use a three-stage charging algorithm. They start with a high, constant current charge and build voltage as it charges – this is called the bulk charging stage. At a pre-determined voltage point, it switches to a constant voltage as current slowly drops as the internal resistance of the battery goes up – this is the absorption stage. Finally it reaches a point of nearly 100% charge and goes into the finish stage which is low current and lower voltage than the second stage.

I found the original charger that came with the golf car had a problem. It wouldn’t complete the second charging stage – it would set an error and quit charging with the batteries at about a 90% state of charge.

The original Yamaha charger is built with an old-school design with heavy components – it weighs about 35 pounds. I shopped online and decided to replace it with a 48-volt charger from a company based in Minnesota called Formcharge.

The Formcharge charger is built with more modern components and technology. It weighs about seven pounds and charges the battery bank perfectly. It further refines the three-stage charging with a seven-step algorithm. Trojan battery says a 100% charge of a 48-volt battery bank should show an open circuit voltage of 50.93 volts when resting at full charge. My volt-meter doesn’t read in hundredths of a volt, only tenths, but it bounces between 50.9 and 51 volts after charging with the Formcharge. Just right.

We don’t have room in the carport with our Nissan Frontier and MG Midget already in there, so we have to store the golf car out front. I bought a cover for it to avoid sun damage as well as water damage from rain.

Yesterday we beat the heat by going to a matinee at the AMC Superstition East movie theater. This facility features 12 small theaters which seat about 44 people each. The seats are roomy electric recliners – a very comfortable experience. We saw Top Gun Maverick. It was entertaining, but there were too many holes in the storyline for me.

Our granddaughter Gabi up in Washington injured her knee playing volleyball and had surgery to replace her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). This is a major surgery and the recovery time is long. On Monday, Donna will be celebrating Independence Day by flying up to Everett, Washington to keep Gabi company until the 15th. I’ll be here keeping Ozark the cat company.

I haven’t taken many dinner plate pictures lately, but there’s one I’d like to mention. A couple of weeks ago, Donna grilled salmon. We had about half of the filet left over. Donna often makes salmon patties, but she usually makes them from canned salmon. This time, she flaked the left over salmon and mixed it with red onion, celery, capers and few other ingredients before coating it with wheat panko bread crumbs. It was excellent, definitely superior to making it from canned salmon.

We’ve had triple-digit heat for several weeks now. The swamp cooler has been effective and it’s keeping the Arizona room about 25 degrees cooler than the outside ambient temperature. This morning, I replaced the batting in the cooler to increase its efficiency. The long-range forecast calls for daily highs between 100 and 109 degrees. We’re in the monsoon season here, so high winds, heavy thundershowers and flash flooding are possibilities at any time.