Category Archives: Beer

Hiking and Sightseeing

Donna and I hit the pickleball courts in the morning again on Thursday. We joined others on the court and played four or five games. I’m becoming obsessed with the game. Our goal is to play at least three times a week.

Here at Orangewood Shadows RV Resort, our monthly rate doesn’t include electricity. The electricity is metered and billed separately. Thursday was the end of our first month here and the maintenance guy came by to read our meter. When we first set up in site 22, I took a picture of the electric meter. On Thursday, I shot another photo after the maintenance guy read the meter. I think this is a good idea, I had a problem with our bill at another park in the past and I’ve heard others complain that they think they were overcharged. With photos of the meter, you can open the photo properties and the meta data will show the date and time the photo was taken.

Our electric meter on the 12th. I'll take another photo when we check out.

Our electric meter on the 12th. I’ll take another photo when we check out.

I spent the rest of the day puttering around. I started reading a Tony Hillerman novel. He’s written a large series of novels set in the Navajo country of northern Arizona, western New Mexico and southern Utah. They’re fun mystery stories that are easy to read and entertaining.

Friday was more of the same. I went to play pickleball, but Donna passed this time. I played hard for an hour and a half. One of the things I noticed is that the more experienced players are more relaxed and don’t work nearly as hard as I do. They rely on experience to be in the proper position most of the time while I’m constantly on the move chasing the ball. I’ll get this! I just need to keep at it and learn to anticipate my opponents’ moves. I finished reading The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman in the afternoon. My legs and hips were sore from playing pickleball three days in a row.

On Friday evening, I grilled chicken breasts. I haven’t made brick-grilled chicken in a long time. I think the last time was in San Diego, October 2013. It’s a great way to grill chicken breasts – I wrote about it in this post.

Turning the chicken breasts - the bricks will go back on top

Turning the chicken breasts – the bricks will go back on top

Donna served it with lemon and herb butter, baked yam slices and asparagus.

Brick grilled chicken with baked yams and asparagus

Brick-grilled chicken with baked yam and asparagus

I mentioned in my last post that our friends, Brett Miller and his wife Cheri Alguire, are staying at an RV park near us. Yesterday morning, they swung by our place at 8:30am and picked us up in their Ford F350 Super Duty crew cab pickup truck. We drove to Usery Regional Park and paid the $6 daily use fee. Our intention was to hike up the Wind Cave trail.

Brett, Donna and Cheri at the trailhead

Brett, Donna and Cheri at the trailhead

Although the trail is just over one and a half miles long, it’s challenging as it climbs over 800 feet in elevation up Pass Mountain. Most of the elevation gain comes in a steep section about two-thirds of the way up.

Lichen covered cliffs on Pass Mountain

Lichen-covered cliffs on Pass Mountain

As we climbed up the trail, I began suffering from pollen allergies. I’ve been taking daily doses of local honey as an immunotherapy, but it was no match for the blooming brittlebush on the mountain.

Look closely - you'll see a bee collecting pollen from the brittlebush flower

Look closely – you’ll see a bee collecting pollen from the brittlebush flower

My eyes were burning and watering while my throat dried out. My sinuses were clogging and I had to breathe through my mouth. About ten minutes from the top, I called it good. Donna, Cheri and Brett continued up. I made my way slowly back down the mountain. I stopped several times to enjoy the view. I expected them to catch up with me near the trailhead, which they did.

Wind erosion on a cliff by the Wind Cave trail

Wind erosion on a cliff by the Wind Cave trail

View to the south from the Wind Cave trail - you can barely make out the cars in the parking lot below

View to the south from the Wind Cave trail – you can barely make out the cars in the parking lot below by the first hill

We left Usery Regional Park and did some sightseeing. We directed Brett and Cheri to Saguaro Lake where we stopped for ice cream. Then we backtracked on Bush Highway to Phon D Sutton recreational area. We boondocked there last year. I wrote several posts about the place, beginning with this one. The header photo for our blog was shot by Mark Fagan at Phon D Sutton with Red Mountain the background. The first parking area at Phon D Sutton was packed with RVs, including two Alpine Coaches. The back lot had more available space although it was more crowded than last year. We stopped and chatted with the owner of one of the Alpine Coaches. He was there with the same singles group that showed up last year. That’s why the first lot was so full – they had about 40 rigs in their group.

From there, we drove over to Singh Farms on Thomas Road in East Scottsdale. Singh Farms is an operational farm that has a market on Saturday from 9am to 2pm. They have groomed trails through the farm and garden areas. It’s a cool place and you can get the freshest produce around as well as fresh-baked breads, goat cheese, and a variety of jams and preserves. They also sell compost. Donna purchased a chia seed pudding with pineapple, cardamon and coconut.

Brett, Donna and Cheri at Singh Farms

Brett, Donna and Cheri at the entrance to Singh Farms

We thought about having lunch there, but decided to go to a restaurant. We found Baja Joe’s at McKellips and Gilbert Road. I enjoyed a margarita while Donna, Cheri and Brett had Pacifico beer with their entrees. We sat out on the patio. It was warmer than I expected even though we sat in the shade. The food was good – I’d go back there again.

We ended an excellent day by grilling lobster tails that Donna found at Sprouts Market.

Grilled lobster tail

Grilled lobster tail

 

Pickleball-Weary Legs

On Tuesday, I rode the scooter over to Donna’s doctor’s office to pick a prescription for her. She has a procedure scheduled and needed a sedative. While I was out, I stopped at the NAPA auto parts and picked up spray sealant for the battery terminals and tray on our coach. It was lunch time, so I stopped for a taco before I returned home. I stopped at an old favorite, Seňor Taco. I stopped here once a few weeks ago and ordered the two taco plate. I’d forgotten how big the tacos were. This time I ordered one carnitas taco and it was more than enough.

Carnitas soft taco

Carnitas soft taco

By the time I returned, Donna was back from her bike ride. She had to remove her right foot from her shoe while it was still attached to the pedal because she couldn’t get the cleat to release. I adjusted the tension on the pedal, then I took care of the batteries in our coach. I think the sealant I bought should work fine.

We were on the last day of our data plan cycle and had five gigabytes to spare. So, I downloaded and installed Microsoft Office. I found a good deal online and purchased Office Home and Student for one PC for $86.89. Downloading and setting up the program used about a gig of data. Later, in the evening, I could see we had more than three gigabytes left on our plan, so I downloaded Adobe Photoshop Elements 2013. I purchased it on special for $74.19 –  a savings of about $15. I remembered seeing this was a three-gigabyte download. I had problems with the download and had to restart it. In the end, the download was more than 3GB and I went over our data limit. This will cost me $15 – so much for the discount price I found!

Donna prepared glazed drumsticks with rice noodles and shredded cabbage for dinner. You might wonder why I describe and photograph so many of our meals. It gives me something to write about, but it also allows me to illustrate the fact that full-time RVing doesn’t mean burgers on the grill or eating out all the time. This particular dish was yummier than it looks.

Glazed drumsticks with rice noodles and shredded cabbage

Glazed drumsticks with rice noodles and shredded cabbage

We hit the pickleball courts at 9am yesterday. There were people playing doubles on one court, the other court was empty. From 8am to 11am the courts are open for people who know the rules and are capable of sustaining a rally.  From 11am to 2pm, court time is set aside for people just learning the rules and practicing. We took the open court and warmed up by dinking the ball back and forth. We were ready to start a singles game when two other players came over and asked if they could join us. They were experienced players. We played three games with them. Donna was a little intimidated by their level of play, but we had fun.

At 10am, Donna had to leave to prepare for appointments she had scheduled. I hung around and played four more games. These were more or less scramble games where we switched partners. I had a blast, but playing a total of seven games wore me out. I came back to the coach at 11am.

Pickleball action at Venture Out

Pickleball action at Venture Out

I scootered Donna over to Lana Jansen’s house. Lana lent her car to Donna so she could drive to Scottsdale for a meeting with Joshua Becker, the author of Clutter Free with Kids among other titles. They had lunch together at Wildflower Bread Company and talked about their shared interest in spreading the word about minimalism and how less stuff creates space for more of what’s really important in life.

I rested my pickleball-weary legs and read while she was out. After Donna returned, we headed over to Red, White and Brew to meet our friends, Brett Miller and Cheri Alguire. We met them over a year ago when they visited us at Mission Bay. I wrote about that in this post. They hit the road in May last year and have been traveling in their Ford F350 pulling a Montana fifth-wheel trailer. Currently they’re at the Sun Life RV Park a couple of miles away from our site. This is the second time our paths have crossed on the road – I hooked up with them in Salt Lake City while Donna was at a convention in Phoenix.

We caught up with each other over appetizers. I also enjoyed a couple of Black and Tans made with Guinness Stout over 8th Street Pale Ale. We had a surprise visitor at our table. My friend from my high school days, Andy King, was at the restaurant with his wife Donna and her dad. It was pleasant surprise! We lingered at the Red, White and Brew for about two and half hours before calling it a night.

Cheri snapped this photo of me, Donna and Brett

Cheri snapped this photo of me, Donna and Brett

I’m a glutton for punishment, so we’re going to hit the pickleball court again this morning.

 

Getting into Pickleball

After being out all day on Saturday, Donna wanted to catch up on some work on Sunday. She went for a 25-mile bike ride up to Usery Park in the morning, then buckled down at her computer for a few hours before finally taking a break to read. She’s now well into reading North to the Night, the book I just finished.

I took the rental car and drove to the Pavilions in Scottsdale where I met up with Ed and Martha King. Ed is an old friend, former colleague and fellow Volkswagen of America retiree. We worked together for 15 years in the Pacific Northwest. They were visiting a friend in Scottsdale. Ed, Martha and I had lunch together at YC’s Mongolian Grill – thanks again Ed for treating me to lunch!

At the Mongolian Grill, you fill a bowl with various sliced meats, vegetables and noodles. Then you add seasonings to make a sauce – they have recipes on a board for mixing a variety of sauces. The bowl is given to a cook who stir fries each individual order. I made sure I had my bowl packed full. The lunch also included soup and rice. I guess I packed my bowl too full – I could barely finish my meal. It was more than I usually eat for lunch. We spent a couple of hours together, talking about life in retirement.  Ed and Martha have a home on Camano Island, north of Everett, Washington. Next time we’re up there, we’ll have to pay them a visit.

I drove over to the Venture Out RV Resort yesterday morning. It’s about two miles from Orangewood Shadows RV Resort. We were told that we could buy pickleball supplies at Venture Out. I got a day pass from the security guy there and he told me where to find the pickleball stuff. They’re pretty serious about pickleball at Venture Out. They have six courts and an area where you can buy paddles, balls and clothing. The courts were full and there were about a dozen people sitting in a covered breezeway either waiting to play or visiting together after their match.

Donna and I have decided to pursue pickleball as a sport we can enjoy together. It’s a fun game and great exercise. I had already read reviews on various pickleball paddles. I wanted to buy paddles instead of using the wood loaner (beginner) paddles at the Orangewood Shadows courts. Venture Out has the best prices on pickleball gear, better than anything I found online. I bought a Pro Lite Magnum composite paddle for Donna. This paddle is lightweight at 7.4 ounces and well-balanced for easy manueverability. I bought a Pro Lite Rocket XL for myself. It’s slightly heavier than the Magnum and built for power.

We took our new paddles down to the pickleball courts and worked on drills. Then we played full-court games without keeping score. We just wanted to work on our technique. Donna loves her new paddle. I like mine as well, but I need to adjust to the power of this paddle. I hit the ball long several times.

Paddle pictures from the Pro Lite site - ours are yellow, not green

Paddle pictures from the Pro Lite site – ours are yellow, not green

rocket

We spent a full hour on the court with one five-minute break after the first 25 minutes. We had fun and it was a great workout. We plan to play at least three times a week.

Later, I returned the rental car to Enterprise. They gave me a ride down the street to Red, White and Brew where I enjoyed a couple of cold ones. I sat with Pat and shot the breeze with the guys. For a change of pace, Pamela, the bartender suggested a black and tan with 8th Street Pale Ale and Guinness Stout.

Guinness floating on 8th Street pale ale

Guinness floating on 8th Street pale ale

Pat dropped me off at the RV park on his way home.

Donna prepared pan-seared salmon – just like she made last week with a ginger-scallion topping. But this time, she served it over creamy avocado cauliflower mash. Delicious!

Pan seared salmon with creamy avocado cauliflower mash

Pan-seared salmon with creamy avocado cauliflower mash

We have another warm day ahead with the high temperature expected to reach 83 degrees. I have a few errands to run, but no big projects planned.

Greasewood Flats

Donna was up early yesterday. She had a table at the Orangewood Shadows RV Resort Country Store. The Country Store is a Saturday morning swap meet for the residents of the RV park. Donna had a table with some of her books. I stopped in for a plate of biscuits and gravy for breakfast.

After breakfast, I posted to the blog, then dumped and flushed our holding tanks. Before I knew it, it was noon and Donna had returned from the Country Store.

A few days ago, I wrote about meeting Mike and Kim at Lucky Lou’s. They’re in the process of selling their house and hitting the road in a fifth-wheel RV. One of the things they mentioned to me was fact they would be leaving their friends behind. They asked me how we cope with it.

We never looked at it as leaving our friends behind. We knew we’d be back for a visit. The cool thing is that we get to see friends all over the country that we may not have had a chance to see in previous years. We have also made many new friends in the RV community. It’s amazing how we cross paths with people we’ve met in our travels.

We took advantage of the rental car by driving up to Greasewood Flats in the DC Ranch area of Scottsdale. This area was originally settled around 1900 and was a large cattle ranch. The owner of the cattle ranch, E. O. Brown, used the DC brand on his cattle. The ranch eventually encompassed 43,000 acres. Thus the name DC Ranch.

Greasewood Flats was originally an old bunkhouse on DC Ranch. Around 1955, Doc Cavalliere bought 45 acres of land around the bunkhouse. He developed it into a hideaway to take retreats from downtown Scottsdale. Over the years, it was known by various names – it was called Pinnacle Peak Patio, then Reata Pass before becoming Greasewood Flats (the name was derived from all of the greasewood bushes on this flat area of desert). It’s one of the last rustic cowboy haunts in Scottsdale.

We went there to meet up with our friends, Bob and Sini. We first met them when we were neighbors at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego last year. Since then, we’ve kept track of their travels through Europe on their Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Then they drove their motorhome from Edmonds, Washington to Florida. They’ve crossed the south and are now parked west of Cave Creek. Greasewood Flats was a great place for us to meet up as it’s about halfway between their current site and ours.

Sini, Bob and Donna at Greasewood Flat

Sini, Bob and Donna at Greasewood Flats

We arrived late. Road construction had the ramp from Gilbert Road to the Loop 202 closed. We had to take a zig-zag detour route that put us about a half hour behind schedule. We eventually got there and saw Bob’s vintage Chevy K5 Blazer in the parking lot. We found them seated at a table near the outdoor dance floor.

We caught up with each other and dined on green chili cheese burgers at the table. A musician was playing on the bandstand and a couple of people hit the dance floor. It was a little hot for dancing if you ask me.

Bandstand at Greasewood Flat

Bandstand at Greasewood Flats

After lunch, we took a walking tour of the area. The place is packed with old ranch implements, mining equipment and even an old 50-caliber quad anti-aircraft gun. There’s a corral in back with horses and burros.

Cafe and bar at Greasewood Flat

Cafe and bar at Greasewood Flats

Old tractor with two PTOs

Old tractor with two PTOs

Fire tanker next to wood chopping area

Fire tanker next to wood chopping area

The area around Greasewood Flats has grown into an affluent residential development. This will be the end of Greasewood Flats. They will be closing down in a couple of months and the land will be developed into more housing. Progress kills another cool hangout.

We followed Bob and Sini to the small community of Cave Creek. We parked in the old downtown area and walked through the shops looking at all of the tourist trinkets and also looked at antique furniture. We stopped at the Rare Earth gallery and looked at gem stones, petrified wood and huge rock art displays. The rock garden in the back featured a huge rock crystal that was split in half and serves as a pair of tables with a glass table top. It’s yours for the bargain price of $175,000!

 

Rock tables - $175,000 price tag

Rock tables – $175,000 price tag

After walking and shopping for a few miles, we stopped for liquid refreshment (coffee and espresso for everyone but me – I had a beer). Then we drove to the outskirts of town and had dinner at Harold’s Cave Creek Corral. This is a western-themed restaurant and saloon featuring barbeque meats. I had the half rack of babyback ribs. Donna had tilapia poached in salsa. Bob and Sini split a huge barbeque combination plate. It was a lot of food and we had leftovers to bring home.

Half-rack of babyback ribs

Half-rack of babyback ribs

As it turns out, we’ll be meeting up down the road again. Bob and Sini should be at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego when we arrive there in April.

 

Shady Upgrade

The past two days have been pretty low-key for me. Donna, on the other hand, was up early on Thursday and spoke to a gathering of a few hundred residents here at the Orangewood Shadows RV Resort about maximizing storage in a small space.  She’s kept herself busy doing final prep to re-release an update of her book How to Declutter and Make Money Now.

I read outside for a while on Wednesday. Donna managed to tear herself away from her laptop and went out for a bike ride. I rode the scooter over to the Apache Wells RV Resort, where we stayed last year. I was looking for our former neighbor, George, from Wisconsin. I found his rig in the same space as last year, but he wasn’t home. I left a card on the windshield of his Jeep. I hope we can connect again soon. While I was at Apache Wells, I helped myself to some of the citrus fruit they put out (I made a small donation). I brought home grapefruit, oranges and lemons.

Wednesday evening Donna made Asian-inspired baked chicken thighs. It was a tasty dish.

Baked chicken thighs with organic baby spinach

Baked chicken thighs with organic baby spinach

Thursday was more of the same. I finished reading North to the Night by Alvah Simon. It’s a gripping tale of an incredible voyage to the Arctic Circle that Alvah and his wife, Diana, made aboard their 36′ sailboat. The winter was spent trapped in ice with months of extreme cold and darkness. Alvah bares his soul in his account of that winter. I don’t think I could ever write that honestly and expose all my fears, darkest thoughts and inner feelings. He doesn’t pull any punches.

Pat from Sun Dancer Shades stopped by at 2pm. We had an appointment for him to measure our windshield and front side windows. He made a pattern and will use it to create custom shades for our coach. The material he uses is a heavy-duty shade cloth that will block 90% of the UV from sunlight. This will keep the coach cooler and protect the interior. The shades allow you to see out in the daytime, but you can’t see in from the outside. I opted to have the shades mounted with twist locks on the coach, rather than with snaps. Most people go for snaps – I think they like the low profile. The twist locks look more utilitarian. I like the twist locks because they’re secure and you don’t have to tug at snaps every time you remove the shades. He’ll come back in a couple of weeks to install the twist locks on the coach and mount the shades.

After Pat left, I scootered over to Lucky Lou’s and had a cold one with the guys. There was a couple there, Mike and Kim, that  Donna and I met there last year. They were interested in hearing about full-timing. They bought a 1-ton Dodge Ram 3500 and are planning to hit the road with a fifth- wheel trailer as soon as they sell their house here in Mesa. We talked for a while before I headed back home.

Donna prepared another new recipe for dinner. She made Thai pork and squash soup. It was made with ground pork, cubed butternut squash, red curry paste, and fresh ginger and coconut milk and topped with fresh basil and jalapeno. It was a hearty soup and quite filling. Donna said she wished she had made it spicier, but I thought it was just right.

Thai pork and butternut squash soup

Thai pork and butternut squash soup

The weather has been warm and sunny with light winds of less than 8 mph. Today should be more of the same with the temperature reaching the low 80s. Donna and I have a pickleball lesson scheduled at 1pm. We got rained out last week!

Horseradish, Vodka and Pickle Chips

Light but steady rain fell all day on Friday. We went out for breakfast, a rare treat. We went to Crackers and Company on Greenfield, north of Brown Road. We arrived at 9:30am at the tail end of their morning rush. It seems that they’re understaffed for the number of patrons. The receptionist told us we would have a 15-minute wait. I could see at least three open tables that were already bussed and cleaned. She was holding up on seating people to allow the servers to catch up.

We were seated after 10 minutes or so. It was another 10 minutes before a server came by our table and asked if we wanted coffee. We were ready to order. They had three versions of Eggs Benedict on the menu – classic Eggs Benedict, California Eggs Benedict (with spinach, avocado and bacon) and Southwest Eggs Benedict (with chorizo and pico de gallo). Even before getting to the restaurant, I knew I wanted classic Eggs Benedict. Donna went for the southwestern version minus the english muffin.

About 15 minutes later, our breakfast arrived. We had been there over half an hour at this point. Imagine my disappointment when I was served California Eggs Benedict! They offered to replace it with what I’d ordered, but I didn’t want to wait another 10 minutes or more for breakfast, so I kept it. The food was very tasty, but the poor service will keep me away.

I spent the rest of the rainy day hanging out and reading a book. Donna had a book signing at the Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe in the evening. She had also invited her readers to join her for an informal supper chat at Wildflower Bread Company right next door. Our friend, Sara Graff, picked her up and went to these events with her.

Yesterday, the rain continued to fall in the morning. Donna went grocery shopping at Sprouts before returning the rental car. I was expecting a package, so once the rain let up after 11am, I went to the mailbox and found my package waiting for me there.

Genuine WRV parts from Aubrey's

Genuine WRV parts from Aubrey’s

When we decided to replace our old coach with something more suitable for full-time use, one of the things I took into consideration was the quality of the cabinetry. The overhead storage cabinets and kitchen drawers get heavy use when you live full-time in your rig. I looked for quality metal hinges and latches along with good, solid wood. Many coach builders cut corners on these items. If you are only using the coach for weekend tailgating and occasional vacation time, it isn’t a big deal. But when you use your coach as your home, these things need to be robust enough to withstand daily use. When I was searching for our new home, I paid attention to the woodwork and hardware used. I felt that if a coach builder used care and quality in these areas, it probably used care and quality in other, unseen areas.

Western Recreational Vehicles (WRV), the builder of our Alpine Coach understood this. The woodwork in the cabinets and drawers is first-rate. The bottoms of the drawers are solid with tongue-and-grove construction – not the cheap, stapled lauan panels found in many RV drawers. The overhead cabinets have nice metal hinges, latches and pulls. The doors are held open with spring-loaded metal struts. Of course, over time, even the best materials will suffer some wear and tear.

One of the struts on the door of the cabinet housing our electrical and tank monitoring panels had a bad strut. I needed to find a replacement. When WRV closed shop in April of 2008, an RV dealer near the factory in Union Gap, Washington bought much of their parts inventory. We stopped at Aubrey’s RV in Union Gap last summer. I thought of them when I needed the strut.  Sure enough, they had the struts – they sell them in pairs for about four bucks and they had more than 90 pairs in stock! They are original equipment from WRV. The only difference in our case was the color. Our hardware has a bronze finish. In 2008, WRV was using a pewter finish on the hardware. No big deal. I ordered four pairs of struts so I’ll have spares on hand. The shipping cost was six dollars whether I ordered one pair or four, so I figured I would get the extras.

Old strut on bottom, new pewter finished strut above

Old strut on bottom, new pewter finished strut above

Job done

Job done

The rain finally stopped just before noon. I dumped and flushed our holding tanks, then started another book, North to the Night. It’s a fascinating tale – a true adventure about a couple who deliberately sailed to the Arctic Circle in Greenland to spend a winter trapped in ice in the darkness and learn to live in the inhospitable environment like the Inuits. The book was recommended to Donna by one of the women who attended her informal supper chat and Changing Hands gave her the book as a thank you for doing the book signing.

Around 4:30pm, our friends, Howard and Sara Graff, picked us up. Our destination was the Beer Research Institute (BRI) located at Stapley and Baseline Road. We enjoyed beer and food and caught up with each other a bit. Then we headed out to a birthday party for their friend, Mike. Mike and his wife Dana live in Mesa. They had a nice group of people at their house and a really fun party was well underway when we arrived.

On the way to Mike and Dana’s place, we stopped at the Graff residence for an important item stashed in their freezer. Sara had made a bottle of horseradish-infused vodka. I know it sounds strange, but I was willing to give it a shot! She served it in a shot glass. You drink the shooter, feel the sinus-cleansing horseradish and then eat a dill pickle chip. The pickle chip completely neutralizes the horseradish. She brought the infused vodka, pickle chips and four shot glasses to the party.

Horseradish infused vodka and pickle chips

Horseradish infused vodka and pickle chips

I almost forgot to mention, Sara is a big fan of Breaking Bad. When we stopped by the Graff residence, she showed us her new kitchen towels.

Breaking Bad kitchen towels

Breaking Bad kitchen towels

We had a great time at the party. I won’t say how much vodka we drank, but there wasn’t any left by the time we got out of there at midnight.

Selfie with Donna, Howard and Sara

Selfie with Donna, Howard and Sara

Today is February 1st. Wow, January is already in the rear view mirror. The sun is once again shining and it’s Super Bowl Sunday. I plan to hang out and watch some football!

The Monastery

Donna has had a number of projects tying her to her computer lately. While she worked on Friday, I attended a fun event. My friend, Leendert Hartoog is retiring from Boeing after 30 years of service next month.

Boeing is downsizing their helicopter division here in Mesa, Arizona. They’ve offered early retirement packages to a number of employees. These retirements will take place in January, February and March of this year. The soon-to-be retirees organized a get-together on Friday afternoon for the guys leaving and a number of previously retired colleagues also attended. Leendert invited me to join them at The Monastery at Falcon Field at 3pm.

The Monastery is a unique place. They have an indoor restaurant/bar and an outdoor one. You can order food off the menu or grill it yourself outdoors! The property includes a large outdoor barbeque area with a sand volleyball court.  While we were there, a group of college-age kids were playing volleyball and enjoying beer in the sun.

Sand volleyball court at The Monasery

Sand volleyball court at The Monastery

We sat at a table with Patrick, another Boeing employee and one of the Red, White and Brew regulars. Patrick didn’t get a retirement package and plans to work for another five years. We enjoyed good local draft beer and I heard stories of “the old days” at Boeing. It sounded a lot like some of the experiences I had in the corporate world at Volkswagen of America.

Leendert on the left with the Boeing group

Leendert on the left with the Boeing group

Friday night, Donna prepared a cast iron pan-seared garlicky flank steak served over bok choy and carrots. I really like bok choy, especially when it retains a bit of crunch after cooking. The flank steak was prepared with a quick marinade and a pan sauce made with the steak drippings, beef broth and soy sauce. Very tasty! We enjoyed leftover steak on a salad the next day.

Beef with bok choy

Garlicky beef with bok choy

We had clear, blue skies and temperatures in the mid to upper 70s on Saturday, but it was windy. The wind was from the northeast at 10-15mph with gusts over 20mph. We scrapped bicycling plans and spent most of the day as homebodies. Donna spent the day catching up on work after taking a few days off this week – she did a 7.4-mile hike with a group of park residents on Tuesday morning and we were out most of the day on Wednesday.

While she worked, I dumped and flushed our tanks and did a little clean-up. I relocated our hummingbird feeder to the bedroom window on the passenger side. It was at the left front of the coach, but I think there was too much activity in that area from our neighbors, keeping the hummingbirds away. We’ll see if they come to the feeder now.

After lunch, we went for a walk around the park and stopped at the pickleball courts. The courts were empty. Donna and I found paddles in the equipment box and a ball and knocked the ball back and forth for a while. We think pickleball might be fun. We signed up for lessons next Friday.

Last night, Donna prepared flax and almond crusted chicken. She pounded the chicken breasts before spreading a thick marinade of almond butter, olive oil, and spices over the breasts. After resting for 30 minutes, she patted the mixture of ground flax seed and almond meal over both sides of the chicken breasts then baked them. Another great recipe – and more leftovers for salad today!

Flax and almond crusted chicken

Flax and almond crusted chicken

The weather guessers are calling for fine weather today with a high of 80 degrees. We might head over to the Mesa Marketplace – it’s a big outdoor flea market in east Mesa that’s open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Not the Healthiest Food Day

I continued to work on setting up my new computer yesterday in the morning. I was able to add the device to my Norton anti-virus subscription. I was afraid I would have to start a new subscription even though the old one has a couple of months left. I called the Norton support number, but they were no help. English was obviously a second language for the support person and I could only catch about every third word he spoke.

I went back to the Norton site and after clicking around, I found that I had the ability to add another device to my current license at no cost. Bingo! Now I have to buy and load Microsoft Office and Photoshop. I’m undecided on how to go about doing that. The new PC doesn’t have a DVD reader, so it seems I’ll have to download the programs. They’re big downloads, meaning they’ll really eat up my data plan. I’m looking for an alternative way to do it.

We headed out at 11am. I scootered Donna over to the Hertz car rental agency on McKellips. She wanted a car to drive to her hair appointment with our friend, Jodi Hall, at Total Bliss in Gilbert. Donna didn’t want to ride the scooter to the salon and show up with “helmet head.”

While Donna was getting her hair done, I drove over to Costco, about a mile away from the salon, and bought a few items. I grabbed lunch while I was out at a Mexican place by the salon. I asked about the burrito supreme on the menu. They said it was beef, beans and cheese with pico de gallo and sour cream on the side. I went for it. Bad choice for me. They neglected to mention the fact that it was also loaded with onions and peppers – overloaded in fact.

I picked up Donna at 1:30pm and we drove to the Harkins Theater at Superstition Springs. We watched American Sniper. It was one of the best movies I’ve seen in quite a while. Powerful story and it moves along so smoothly I could hardly believe 132 minutes had passed. I had a bag of popcorn and a large Coke during the movie. I rarely drink Coke or any other soft drink.

From the theater, we drove directly to the Handlebar Pub in Apache Junction. It was Andy King’s birthday. I went to school in San Diego with Andy King and we’ve been friends since our junior high days. He was at the Handlebar performing Bluegrass music with The String ‘Em Up Band. Andy plays the dobro (resonator guitar).

String 'Em Up Band

String ‘Em Up Band (that’s Andy in the back)

The place was packed. We had three tables pushed together in front of the band with about 10 people. I had a nice local milk stout and a couple of IPAs with a plate of wings and potato skins. Not the healthiest food day for me. Donna stayed sensible and had grilled salmon and veggies.

Donna with Sandy and Lana in the background

Donna with Sandy and Lana in the background

The music was good and we had a fun time. Our friends and former neighbor, Lana, and her fiance, Joel, joined us there. We cut out early, during the second set. I’d been sitting all afternoon at the theater and then at the pub. I needed to stretch a bit.

At bedtime, I paid the price for the large Coke and food choices. I had a hard time getting to sleep, then I slept fitfully. I woke up several times with heartburn. I’m dragging a bit this morning.

Speaking of food, I have a couple of food photos to share. I couldn’t post them earlier with all of the laptop woes. The first is a cauliflower cheese chowder with bacon that Donna prepared last weekend. It was absolutely delicious and much healthier than it sounds.

Cauliflower cheese chowder

Cauliflower cheese chowder

The other dish was a banana pancake breakfast plate with almond butter. The only ingredients are mashed bananas and egg. So good! (Note from Donna: Just mash one banana and one egg per person to make 2-3 pancakes. I used coconut oil to coat a nonstick pan. Top with nut butter and fresh berries, chopped walnuts and maple syrup, whipped cream or whatever you like on regular pancakes. You can also add chocolate chips or blueberries to the batter.)

Banana pancakes with almond butter

Banana pancakes with almond butter

It’s blustery this morning, but today promises to be another fine weather day with temperatures near 70. This weekend will warm up to the upper 70s, maybe 80 degrees. I have a few projects I should attend to, but I may go bicycling instead!

Friends from Ohio

Last week, Donna heard from her friend, Kris Downey. She and her husband, Tom, came up from Ohio and bought a lot of our books (for resale) and Donna’s huge book shelf when we were selling everything back in Michigan. Donna and Kris met through SendOut Cards.

Since then, after becoming empty-nesters, they sold their house and almost everything in it and hit the road this past November. They are also here in Mesa, so yesterday, we scootered east on University Drive to their site at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort.

Of course, after our initial greetings, we got the grand tour of their new Winnebago Journey motorhome. When they originally planned to sell their home and go nomadic, they bought a 2004 Itasca motorhome. But every time they took it out for a shakedown, something would fail. After several trips to the repair shop, they decided to trade it in for the new 2014 Winnebago before they left Ohio.

2014 Winnebago Journey

2014 Winnebago Journey

Brand new coaches often have a few teething problems at first. They had an issue with the heat pumps that kept them in Chattanooga and altered their travel plans. They made it to California after a cross-country dash and were in Menifee at Thanksgiving – the same time we were there!

We went out for lunch at the golf course clubhouse restaurant, Fat Willy’s. We lingered and talked for a couple of hours there, then returned to their coach. Tom and I talked RV stuff while Donna and Kris caught up with each other and enjoyed some girl talk.  Talking sports or gearhead stuff with me doesn’t do much for her.

Tom, Kris, Donna and me

Tom, Kris, Donna and me with their dog, Rigby

It was an enjoyable afternoon. Later, while Donna tried to catch up on some work, I scootered over to Lucky Lou’s where I found all the usual suspects. John Huff and Leendert Hartoog were there along with Mike and Jodi Hall and Stan. I enjoyed a cold oatmeal stout from Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, Colorado. Very tasty. We planned to meet up again today for an early Friday afternoon happy hour.

Donna prepared a new dish the other day. She made chicken breast stuffed with sun-dried tomato pesto. It’s a mouthful to say, but it sure adds a nice flavor to a chicken breast. Donna says it was easy to make and the recipe is a keeper.

Chicken breast stuffed with sun-dried tomato pesto

Chicken breast stuffed with sun-dried tomato pesto

It was so good, I thought I should post a picture since I forgot to add it to my last post.

We’re in for another sunny day with clear skies. The temperature should reach the low- to mid-70s. Might be a good day for a bike ride.

 

Tumbleweed Connection

Let me start off by wishing a Merry Christmas to all on Boxing Day. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and were able to connect with family and friends.

I need to catch up on the happenings this week as I haven’t posted since Tuesday. After publishing Tuesday’s post, I headed to the beach on my mountain bike. I wanted to check out the surf, which was supposed to be big during the King Tide.

I rode into a light wind along Mission Bay. The bay seemed unusually calm. The sun was shining, the skies were blue and people were enjoying time on and around the water. I saw a strange looking boat. It had a low, flat deck and a small outboard motor. From my viewpoint, I couldn’t tell if it was a pontoon boat. In any case, it wasn’t what I’m accustomed to seeing on the bay. I snapped a quick photo.

Unusual boat on the bay

Unusual boat on the bay

I made my way to Pacific Beach. By the time I got there, it was after 1pm and the tide was receding. The biggest swells came earlier in the day on the rising tide. City workers made huge berms in the sand around the main Pacific Beach lifeguard station to prevent it from being flooded by the high tide and big surf.

Sand piled high in front of the lifeguard station

Sand piled high in front of the lifeguard station

I took a photo of the big waves crashing into Crystal Pier, but I accidentally deleted the file this morning. Doh!

Later, I took a photo of De Anza Cove at low tide. The King Tide creates very high tides and extreme low tides. The dock in the photo is usually floating with very little angle on the walkway. At this time, the dock is grounded and the walkway drops steeply.

Extreme low tide at De Anza

Extreme low tide at De Anza

On Christmas Eve last year, we joined my daughter, Shauna, for a sushi dinner downtown at Ra Sushi. We continued the tradition this year, but instead of going to Ra, we made a reservation at Sushi Ota on Mission Bay Drive. Donna and I enjoy Japanese lager with our sushi. She always orders Asahi beer while I prefer Kirin Ichiban. The sushi at Sushi Ota is superior – they serve some of the best I’ve ever had. If you’re a sushi lover, you must try Sushi Ota next time you’re in San Diego. The yellowtail (hamachi) was the freshest, best-tasting nigiri ever!

Sushi platter at Sushi Ota

Sushi platter at Sushi Ota

A toast with Japanese lager

A toast with Japanese lager

After dinner, Donna went to work in our kitchen preparing the side dishes for Christmas dinner. On Thursday morning, she was up early and had the spiral cut ham in the oven. Shauna picked us up at 10:30am and we drove up to my step-dad’s house in Menifee. Donna and Shauna finished the meal preparations there and we were seated at the table at 1:30pm with our first course. It was curry-butternut squash soup that Donna made from scratch. We had homemade corn muffins with it.

First course curry-butternut squash soup

First course – curry-butternut squash soup

The main course was the glazed spiral cut ham served with mashed sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts with marjoram and walnuts. Yummy!

Donna, Ken and Shauna ready for Christmas dinner

Donna, Ken and Shauna ready for Christmas dinner

We sat in the living room and talked for a while after dinner, then it was pie time. We had apple pie from the Julian Bakery, a local San Diego favorite. We lingered at the table after dessert and told stories. Well, I think I was the main story teller.

Eventually the time came to head back home. We really enjoyed the day together and look forward to spending time with Ken and Shauna again in the spring.

Our drive up to Menifee and back had a couple of moments of craziness on the road. On the way up, once we were north of Temecula, the wind picked up. It was blowing out of the north, I would guess at 20-25mph with higher gusts. On I-215, the traffic was moving along at 75mph when all of sudden everyone ahead of us was braking hard. We were almost stopped when I saw what caused the panic stops. The driver of a Chevy Silverado pick-up truck in the left lane slammed on his brakes and came to a stop on the interstate because a tumbleweed blew into his lane! This was one of the dumbest moves I’ve ever seen. Tumbleweeds are dry and light – that’s why they’re tumbling along. Hitting one with a car at speed blows it into a million pieces. There’s no reason to stop and endanger everyone else on the interstate.

After we left Ken’s place and were driving south on I-215, once again traffic went from a smooth 75mph to a screeching halt. This time it was really necessary to stop. A car was driving northbound in the left southbound lane of the interstate! Luckily, everyone was able to stop without a head-on collision. Like all interstate highways, the lanes for each direction of travel on I-215 are divided and completely separate from each other. I have no idea how this guy was driving north in the southbound lanes. Shauna immediately dialed 911 and I reported the location of the wrong way driver.

After we returned home, Donna took Shauna’s car to visit her sister, Sheila. Shauna and I hung out and had a cocktail while we collaborated on a couple of crossword puzzles from the San Diego Reader. We completed two puzzles. All in all, it a very enjoyable holiday.

Now, for today’s holiday trivia question – do you know where the title Tumbleweed Connection comes from?