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.

Happy Valentine’s Day. I’m not a big fan of Hallmark holidays – we don’t plan special activities or buy special candies and such. Today our plan was to play as a team together in the Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort Valentine’s Day pickleball tournament. That plan was dashed last night when I received an e-mail that the tournament had been cancelled due to inclement weather in the forecast. We heard a few raindrops on the roof of the coach at bedtime last night, but it’s dry so far this morning. The forecast and the weather radar both indicate rain on the way though.

I started our morning as usual – my morning ritual includes grinding coffee beans and making a pot of coffee. I prefer and use a burr grinder and we brew with a thermal pot so the coffee doesn’t require a heat source to stay warm. Our coffee maker brews at a high temperature – 200 to 205 degrees – and the insulated thermal pot keeps the coffee hot for a couple of hours. Keeping a pot of coffee on an external source of heat will create changes in chemistry after 40 minutes or so – the coffee often acquires a burnt, bitter taste.

We’ve been buying whole coffee beans from Costco. At the Costco we go to in San Diego, I found some of my preferred beans. I like single-source coffee beans because I know what I’m getting. Blended coffee beans can be excellent, but you have to know the blend beforehand to know if it is something you really like. My preference is dark roasted coffee of African origin like coffee from Ethiopia, Kenya or Rwanda. I also favor Indonesian coffee from Sumatra, Sulawesi or Java. By the way, when I was a kid, Sulawesi was called Celebes. Coffee flavor like wine or tobacco is greatly influenced by terroir.

The Costco here in Mesa, Arizona doesn’t have any of the single-source varieties I like so I had to find an alternative. I saw whole bean coffee at Winco Foods and decided to try a pound of their Sumatra coffee beans.

Coffee from Sumatra is unique. Indonesia is the fourth largest coffee producer on the planet with most of their high-quality arabica beans grown for export. Most of the production comes from small farms – average size is only two to three acres – instead of the large plantations found in Central America. Sumatra coffee flavor is further influenced by the processing technique.

What we call coffee beans are actually the seeds found in the coffee fruit or cherries. In most places, once the cherries are picked, they’re stripped of the fruit and laid out to dry in the sun to reach a moisture content of 11% or so. In Sumatra this isn’t possible because it rains daily. There they take the the skin off the cherries, but leave the mucilage on the seed. They’ll lay the fruits out on a covered patio or cover them with a tarp if it’s raining. Later they wash the mucilage and ship the beans through cooperatives with other farmers in the area at a moisture content of around 50%.

The broker or exporter completes the drying process by running the beans through a machine that strips the remaining tissues from the seed called parchment and creating friction to dry what is now called a coffee bean. This lengthy period of high moisture and unique fermentation creates a coffee unlike any other. I’m told Sumatra coffee is a “love it or hate it” affair. Donna and I love it. It has a sweet, earthy flavor and is very full-bodied with low acidity. This morning, I brewed the Sumatra that I bought at Winco and we both agree it’s a winner.

It’s still dry outside as I type this at 10am, but the radar shows rain is coming from the west-southwest. The forecast calls for rain overnight before we have dry days again, but the temperature will be below normal with the highs in the 60s tomorrow and Saturday but we might not even reach 60 degrees next week.

I added an edit to last week’s post when Donna told me Sheila’s surgery was moved ahead of the schedule. The surgery went as expected, but Sheila wasn’t discharged from the hospital until Thursday. She’s not mobile, so Donna has been her nursemaid, cook and is running errands for her. I don’t know at this point how long Donna will be needed – I’m guessing another week.

Meanwhile I’ve been keeping busy mostly with domestic chores. I’m not the meal planner or cook that Donna is, but I did some grocery shopping and pre-cooked chicken thighs on the grill to have on hand to use in simple lunch or dinner plates.

Wednesday I taught my first pickleball lesson. The lead instructor, Lorraine, gave me an overview of the day’s objectives and I took it from there. It went well and I had fun doing it. The class ran long – over an hour and a half. I’ll keep giving the weekly lessons while we’re here.

Most of the sites here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort have citrus trees – lots of orange trees with some grapefruit. The orange tree in our site is overgrown and unruly. We asked one of the groundskeepers about having it trimmed. She said they trim the trees every year in late February or March. Well, we were in this site last year in February, March and even early April – it didn’t get trimmed. We’ll see if they get to it this year. Our overgrown tree is loaded with oranges. Normally I would think this is a good thing, but here’s the rub. The oranges are sour and inedible!

Lots of birds come to the tree during the day and a few of them pick at the fruit. Ozark the cat loves to watch them. I put a quail block out to feed the birds and it attracts lots of Gambel’s quail along with doves, sparrows, wrens and even flickers. The quail block is basically a variety of seeds pressed into a block with molasses. I put it under the front of the cargo trailer in our site to give the birds some security and to shelter the block from the weather.

Speaking of weather, rain moved in the area late last night and it continued to rain this morning. You can see the wet concrete pad in the photo above. We’ve had a great run of warm weather and clear skies this week with the high temperatures in the low 70s and overnight lows in the 50s. The week ahead looks much cooler – we may struggle to reach 60 by mid-week.

I didn’t make any plans for the Superbowl this evening. I’ll probably watch it with a few snacks and an IPA or two. My only interest in the game is to see if I win anything in the pool I entered. I don’t care much about the teams – I’m really dissatisfied with the way the NFL handled the playoff games. I don’t think either team earned their way into the Superbowl.

We always say we need to be flexible and ready to roll with whatever comes our way. This week, I’ve become an unexpected temporary bachelor. Donna had a phone call Sunday morning from her sister, Sheila, with bad news. Sheila had been downhill skiing in Deer Valley, Utah and had a mishap resulting in a badly broken leg. She was flying home to San Diego and needed help.

Donna found a flight that would get her to San Diego by 1pm on Sunday – around the time Sheila, Jeff and Sheila’s son Connor would be coming in. Jeff has to work and Sheila would need assistance. Jeff’s house in La Jolla has multiple levels and stairs. Sheila will be in surgery Tuesday. I don’t know how long Donna will be away helping her.

Meanwhile life goes on here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. To pass the time, I’ve volunteered to instruct a group of pickleball players that are ready to move up from the beginner classes. I’ve always enjoyed teaching and my level of play and understanding of the strategies and tactics are good enough for me to instruct at this level. I’ll start on Wednesday afternoon.

Ozark the cat and I will certainly be missing Donna, but we’ll get by. I’m hoping the best for Sheila’s recovery.

Edit – I just got a message from Donna. Sheila’s surgery has been pushed forward to tonight.