Category Archives: Grilling

Shut the Door

Things are getting curiouser and curiouser around here – and all across the country. Last Thursday, I made a trip to Costco at opening time. Usually if I arrive at 10am, the parking lot is only half full and shopping is quick and easy. Not now! At 10am, the parking lot was nearly full. As I grabbed a cart and headed to the entrance, I was told by employees at the door I had to enter from the left by walking past a long line of carts they used to create a barrier. It seemed strange to have to walk halfway across the parking lot just to turn around and head back toward the entrance.

I noticed a steady stream of shoppers exiting the store with full carts. It appeared that people were leaving at about the same rate as we were entering. Just as the guy in front of me got to the entrance, an employee stopped him and they shut the door! There were only about a dozen of us near the entrance. They kept the door shut for about 15 minutes, which created a line of people the length of the building. When they opened the door, I was the second person in and saw an empty store. Of course, everyone waiting in line was impatient to get what they needed and a mad rush up the aisles ensued.

Waiting for the door to reopen at Costco

It seemed to me that the process was creating more misery than it solved. The flow of people exiting seemed to be about equal to those entering. Shutting down the entrance and waiting for the store to clear out was just creating a series of rushes into the store. They were out of paper products and limited bottle water purchases to one case.

On Saturday, we planned to visit Mike and Jodi Hall for a barbeque. The plan changed when Mike and Jodi were invited to go to Frank Burk’s place. We were included and met Frank and his wife Kelly and another couple, Victor and Sherry. There were eight of us and we maintained social distance. We had drinks on the patio and up on the upper gazebo deck. Frank and Kelly’s place is a couple of miles east of where we used to live. Frank had the place built on desert property and it’s very nice with great views from the deck.

We had a great time with good food and great company.

Monday morning, Donna and I played pickleball. All of the organized pickleball activities were cancelled, but open play was still happening. The pickleball club provided hand sanitizer and placed buckets of water with dish soap at each court entrance to wash the balls between games. Everyone was mindful of keeping their distance. Pickleball, tennis and golf were just about the only things left to do here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. Everything else, including the swimming pools, is closed.

On our way back from the pickleball courts, we saw a saguaro cactus that had been felled and partially cut up. I asked a woman on the front porch of the park model across the street what was going on. She told us the cactus had been damaged by a golf cart when a woman’s dog jumped from her cart and she lost control trying to keep the dog in. I asked her if they realized it’s illegal to cut down a saguaro in Arizona. She said it was private property and the owner was concerned about the cactus falling over and causing damage to his home.

To satisfy my curiosity, I looked up the law. Private property or not, you have to obtain a permit from the Arizona Department of Agriculture before you can cut down a saguaro. If you don’t get a permit, you can be charged with a felony! They don’t issue many permits and usually require a saguaro to be relocated instead of cut down.

Donna found a two-pound package of large wild Argentine red shrimp for just $11.98 when she rode her bicycle to Basha’s grocery last week. What a deal. She grilled some shrimp with asparagus, peppers and onions and added pesto then served it over cauliflower rice. Excellent!

Tuesday Donna made a dish called Skinny Burrito Bowl. It was Mexican spiced chicken breast with black beans, corn and salsa over cauliflower rice and topped with cotija cheese and cilantro. Cauliflower rice is a staple of Donna’s Bright Line Eating plan – so that makes it a staple for me. I don’t mind – cauliflower rice is quite good.

We played pickleball again on Tuesday and Wednesday morning. A rumor was going around on Wednesday about the park closing the pickleball, tennis and shuffleboard courts. It turned out to be more than just a rumor – a guy stopped by the courts and showed us a notice from the Viewpoint management advising that all activities are closed. I find it hard to understand as the pickleball club was taking prudent precautions with the sanitizer, ball washing and no physical contact. People are continuing to leave the park as activity ceases. Many of the Canadians have been told by their health insurance carriers that they will not be covered for coronavirus if they are in the USA.

I heard that Costco had a senior hour from 8am to 9am where only members over 60 years old could shop. This morning I went to restock our bottled water, toilet paper and booze. I got there at 7:40am and was shocked once again. They had half of the lot taped off into what looked like a TSA security check point at an airport. An employee was handing out tickets to enter the line which snaked across the parking lot. Again they were closing the door to clear the store out – they were closing it at 10-minute intervals this time.

Line snaking across the Costco parking lot

There was a second line for people under 60 that had to wait there until 9am! I finally handed over my ticket and entered the store at 8:40am. They had pallets of toilet paper in the first aisle with employees asking if you wanted Kirkland brand or Charmin and they would hand out one package per shopping cart. The bottled water situation has obviously improved as they had a five-case limit instead of one.

I believe the number of cases of coronavirus in Arizona was – and is – under reported. I’ve been watching the data on this website and found that only 793 tests have been performed to date in Arizona. I think the most important data to track is the number of new cases under historical data.

The weather over the last week has been great. We’ve had mostly clear skies and the temperature reached the mid-to-upper 70s each day. Today and tomorrow are forecast to be cooler – in the 60s. We’ll be back into the 70s by Sunday and will see 80 degrees next week. We’ll continue to sit tight – we don’t have anything better to go to.

*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!

Daylight Saving – and the Apocalypse?

It’s been over a week since I wrote my last post. Time keeps getting away from me. We’ve settled into a routine here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort in Mesa, Arizona and it’s keeping us busy. Donna is managing to practice clarinet daily and has a two-hour weekly session with the Viewpoint Concert Band along with tennis lessons and pickleball. Last week, she also volunteered to sit in on presentations by employees of a local company and critique them. The ladies pickleball tournament that was cancelled due to weather will be held this Saturday and Donna is in it.

I play pickleball on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and sometimes on the weekend. Wednesdays are long days for me. I play in the 3.0+ group in the morning, then I coach the Refined Skills class from noon to 2pm. Sometimes I’ll play another game or two after giving the lesson. Wednesdays are also Concert on the Green day here at Viewpoint. Musicians come to the park and set up in the pavilion between the golf practice green and the pickleball courts from 3pm to 5pm. Lots of people here watch and listen from their golf carts, others spread blankets on the grass and sit or dance. Donna used to hoop dance there, but now she has band practice from 3pm to 5pm on Wednesdays.

Setting up for Concert on the Green – pickleball courts in the background

We expect to continue our daily routines – meanwhile the routines for most people are about to be disrupted. Daylight Saving Time will begin this weekend – it’s correctly called Daylight Saving Time, not savings. As the clocks “spring forward” it will mean getting up an hour earlier – at least that’s what the clocks will tell them.

By law, each state in the USA can choose to participate in Daylight Saving Time or not. Currently, Arizona and Hawaii are the only states that don’t change their clocks. However, the territory of the Navajo Nation in the northeast portion of Arizona does observe Daylight Saving Time, which can be confusing when traveling through the area. Parts of Indiana didn’t observe Daylight Saving Time but that changed in 2006 – Indiana already has two time zones, so counties that didn’t change the clock made time very confusing there.

Daylight Saving Time is longer now than it was before 2007. It runs from March to November – it used to be April to October. What do you think about resetting clocks? I think there’s some truth to the old adage, “Only the government would believe that cutting one foot off the top of a blanket and sewing it onto the bottom makes the blanket longer.”

With the lack of Daylight Saving Time in Arizona, our clocks are equal to Mountain Standard Time from November to March. Then, when everyone else changes their clocks, Arizona is the same as Pacific Daylight Time.

On Sunday morning, I went to Costco. Getting there at opening time, 10am, on Sunday usually means no crowds and easy shopping and checkout. Not this time! I arrived just before 10am and found the parking lot nearly full. There was a line of people stretching over 100 yards with shopping carts waiting to enter the store. It took me over five minutes just to get in! I couldn’t figure it out. Then one of the store employees told me people were panicking over the Wuhan coronavirus and stocking up like the apocalypse was imminent. Seems a little extreme to me, but there’s definitely fear among the general public.

The weather for the past week has been mostly agreeable. The daily highs hit the upper 60s to low 70s and we only had a few raindrops last Monday. Otherwise, it’s been mostly clear to partly cloudy. Today we expect to reach the lower 80s and the warm temperature will continue through Saturday. I think we’re near the end of wintry weather in central Arizona. The weather forecast looks favorable although the weather guessers say we may have a few raindrops by the middle of next week .

I’ll close this post with a couple of dinner plates from the past week. First up was walnut-crusted tilapia with southern fried cabbage – with bacon. Everything is better with bacon!

Donna also grilled shrimp – she’s become quite the grill master. The shrimp were seasoned with adobo and grilled on skewers. She served the shrimp with a side of curried cauliflower, zucchini, onion and tomato (and brown rice for me).

Shrimp with curried cauliflower, zucchini, onion and tomato

Minor Maintenance Tasks

We enjoyed another week as temporary residents of Mesa, Arizona. We’ve been coming here every year for the winter months since we hit the road – this is our fourth year here at Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort. From 2006 to 2009, we lived here in Mesa full-time in a sticks-and-bricks home about 3 miles away from Viewpoint.

I had a couple of minor projects to attend to last week. When I dumped our gray water tank, I noticed a slow drip coming out of the bottom of the plastic pan in the wet bay. Later, I went to see about taking the cover plate off the wet bay to inspect the water lines, but the drip had stopped and all was dry. The next day, I saw the drip again. Taking the cover plate off the wet bay involved removing 14 screws. Once I did that, I saw that I really only needed to remove 11 of the 14 screws. Three screws were attached to a stiffener board that came off with the plate. Next time I’ll know.

I found the source of the water drip. There’s a plastic fitting in the PEX fresh water line with a small valve and connector to supply the ice maker in our freezer. This fitting had a hairline crack and was leaking. I made a trip to Ace hardware and bought a new fitting. I had to replace a short section of PEX tubing and it was job done. I neglected to take any photos while I worked.

The other minor project was routine maintenance on Midget-San. Modern cars make it easy to forget how much maintenance we once had to perform on automobiles. Unlike modern cars with sealed bearings and lifetime lubricated ball joints, our 1972 MG Midget requires chassis lube on the front suspension components. There are zerk fittings on the ball joints and king pin links and trunnions. These need to be greased with NLGI #2 bearing grease.

To do this, I needed to raise the Midget – it sits only a few inches above ground level making it impossible for me to get underneath the car. I jacked the car up and supported the four corners with jack stands. I used a grease gun and a cartridge of grease to inject grease into the zerk fittings.

I also had ordered a new distributor cap and rotor along with an ignition wire set from RockAuto. Nowadays, cars have separate coils mounted directly on the spark plug, eliminating the distributor and ignition wires. Modern platinum or iridium spark plugs can last 50,000 miles or more. Not so on the 1982 Nissan A15 engine in Midget-San. It is equipped with an electronic ignition module, so there isn’t a set of breaker points to replace. This is the only electronically controlled item on the car. The distributor is otherwise an old-fashioned device with a vacuum advance mechanism to control ignition timing. The single ignition coil is a Bosch blue coil feeding high voltage to the center terminal of the distributor cap where the current then travels through the rotor to each ignition wire and on to the appropriate spark plug.

These parts can wear and need periodic replacement. The high voltage arcs from the rotor to the distributor cap terminals resulting in wear on both components. The ignition wires delivering high voltage to the spark plugs can break down, allowing the current to arc to ground rather than firing the spark plugs. As part of my preventive maintenance schedule, I replaced the cap, rotor and ignition wires. It’s a fairly easy and straightforward job.

New distributor cap, rotor and NGK ignition wire set

Overall, the maintenance work was easy and didn’t take a lot of time or effort. These are the things you need to do to keep a 48-year-old car with a 38-year-old engine running smooth.

In my last post, I mentioned a new recipe I wanted to try. It was Smoked Paprika Chicken Legs with Chimichurri. I made a rub with paprika, coriander seeds, lime zest, salt and pepper and two tablespoons of olive oil. This created a paste-like rub that I massaged into the chicken leg quarters.

I set the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker-grill to high (450 degrees). The chicken leg quarters cooked on the smoker for 45 minutes.

While the chicken leg quarters were cooking i made the chimichurri by putting a cup of parsley and a cup of cilantro along with jalapeno, onion, garlic cloves, fresh squeezed lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulsed it until it was creamy. This was served directly on the chicken.

Thigh portion of chicken leg quarter with chimichurri, mashed potato, corn and asparagus

The result was tasty and it’s a recipe worth repeating. Next time, I think I’ll use bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. The high setting on the Traeger made a pleasantly crispy and tasty skin on the chicken.

Our Superbowl Sunday plan had a bit of a hectic schedule. Donna had tennis in the morning and a clarinet lesson in the afternoon before we drove to Mike and Jodi Hall’s for food, drink and the game – and cigars for Mike and me. The day before, we went shopping at Winco foods. I looked at the babyback ribs there, but wasn’t impressed. The only babybacks they had were Hormel brand, frozen rock hard and they didn’t look very meaty. We tried Fry’s grocery and they didn’t have any at all! We then went to Basha’s where I found nice looking fresh (not frozen) babybacks.

I did my usual thing with two racks of ribs on the Traeger Sunday afternoon. We took them to Mike and Jodi’s place around 3:30pm. Jeff and Chrissy Van Deren were there along with Mike’s sister, Connie, and Jodi’s sister Jackie. Donna made stuffed mushrooms and a vegetable tray. Mike had a whole chicken on his smoker grill. We had plenty of food for all. It was a good time and we enjoyed the game.

The weather had been great all week with daily highs in the low 70s. The weekend was warmer and we hit 78 degrees on Sunday! But on Monday, a cold front moved over the area and we had a partly cloudy day with the high only reaching the low 60s. I think the warmest part of the day was late morning, then it got colder as the day wore on. Last night, the temperature dropped to 34 degrees and we have a freeze warning tonight. Cold temperatures with the highs only in the 50s are forecast for the next few days. As I type this, it’s clear and sunny outside but the temperature is only 50 degrees. This cold spell should break by Friday and we’ll be back in the 70s.

Reeling in the Years

Another week has flown by since I last posted. I wrote that post on a wet and dreary day. It’s been the opposite of that since then. Glorious, sunny days with blue skies and cool evenings. It’s hard to believe the first month of 2020 is coming to a close already. I have a theory about the perception of time accelerating as we grow older.

When we were 12 years old, our lifetime experience could be broken down into 12 increments, each spanning one year (this isn’t exactly true – most of us have little or no recollection of the first few years of our life). So, our internal perception of time revolves around a year being 1/12th of everything we know.

When we reach the age of 60, our lifetime experience can be broken into 60 equal intervals, each spanning one year. These intervals are now 1/5th of the perceived interval when we were 12 years old. A year represents a much smaller portion of our life experience, thus we perceive a year as a much shorter span of time. Therefore, for us old people, time really flies.

After the rain cleared up, Scott started working on our coach on Wednesday. A painter’s work revolves around prep. The quality of the work is a reflection of the preparation. I’ve had car painters tell me that actually shooting the paint is the easy part. Getting the surface prepared and the final cut and buff are what make the job come out great. Scott spent three days preparing the surface for paint. He had to remove the clear coat from the areas where it was failing. To get the new finish to adhere, the old clear coat had to be cut back to provide a good, solid margin. He did this with a razor blade and sand paper. It looked like tedious work.

To match the paint color, he had to remove one of the basement compartment doors that had all four colors on it. He took it to a paint shop where they could color match with a special camera and computer program. He was ready to start applying paint on Friday.

Saturday afternoon he was ready to start the finish work. He had to block-sand the clear coat, then buff it with a polishing wheel. He ran out of daylight and had to finish up Sunday morning. The finished job looks great.

Meanwhile, we went about our business. Donna started practicing new music on her clarinet. The next Viewpoint Concert Band performance is February 16th and they have a whole new repertoire to learn for that performance.

I learned something new about UPS deliveries. Apparently, they have a new protocol where they only make one attempt to deliver a package in some areas. If you aren’t home, they take the package to a UPS Access Point. I had a package come on Thursday while we were out. There was a note left on our door. After I deciphered the driver’s chicken scratch note, I figured out that I had to wait until the next day to pick up my package at a nearby CVS pharmacy. Seems a little crazy to me, but I suppose the agreement to accept packages at CVS will bring customers into the store to potentially shop while they’re there.

On Saturday morning, Donna and I drove Midget-San to Gilbert where we were meeting our friends, Sara and Howard Graff, for the farmers’ market. They actually pulled up next to us at a stoplight on Gilbert Road at Baseline on the way there. What timing!

Gilbert used to be little more than a crossroads in the desert. Urban sprawl has made it part of metro Phoenix today. Everything from Glendale to Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe, Mesa, Gilbert and Chandler is one big area of development. It’s hard to tell when you cross into another city limit. Gilbert has gone from being a one-horse cowboy town to a trendy place to shop and eat. There are numerous restaurants along the old Main Street.

We strolled and shopped at the farmers’ market. They had a fairly large number of vendors there with plenty of fresh produce.

There was a separate market place on the north side of the old town for arts and crafts. After walking through all of the markets, we checked out a few places to eat and settled on OHSO Brewery and Distillery. We had a short wait, then were seated out on the covered patio. Their food was excellent – we were all very happy with the meals we ordered. On the weekends, brunch from 10am to 2pm includes a 10-ounce beer or a mimosa when specific menu entrees are ordered. My entree included a drink, but Donna commandeered my mimosa when I ordered a Bloody Mary. The Bloody Mary was made with half jalapeno vodka and half horseradish vodka. It was spicy and it included a stick of house-made beef jerky.

Speaking of beef jerky, on Friday, I trimmed and cut beef top-round steaks across the grain into strips. I had them marinating in the refrigerator overnight. Saturday afternoon I set up the Traeger wood-pellet fired smoker-grill and set it to 180 degrees. I started with two pounds of beef. Four and a half hours later, I had one pound of beef jerky after the meat had smoked and dehydrated. It’s pretty good. I’ll make an adjustment or two to the recipe and reduce the smoke time to four hours when I make it again.

On Sunday evening, my middle daughter, Jamie, and her man, Francisco came over from the west side to go to dinner. Francisco’s birthday is today, but we celebrated early with dinner at the Black Angus. I worked at Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus back in the ’70s in San Diego. That’s where I met my first wife – Jamie’s mother. The Black Angus isn’t what it used to be, but we enjoyed the meal and had a good time together.

Here are a few other good meals we enjoyed over the last week courtesy of Donna’s culinary skills. First up is coconut curry wild Alaskan sockeye salmon with bok choy served with forbidden rice. A favorite for sure.

Coconut curry salmon with bok choy and forbidden rice on the side

Another seafood dish was served up Thursday night. Donna grilled shrimp with pesto served with grilled mushrooms, onions, peppers and zucchini with cauliflower risotto on the side.

Last night, she kept it simple with a chicken stir-fry.

Yesterday, I prepped chicken leg quarters. Later today, I’ll put them on the Traeger. I’m trying something new to me – smoked paprika chicken legs with spicy herb chimichurri. I’ll let you how that works out.

Although a cooler day with clouds are in the forecast for tomorrow, we can expect the favorable weather to continue with highs in the 70s through the weekend. We’re getting plenty of exercise – one day last week I had almost 18,00 steps on the pickleball court!

My Frugal Side

We’re more than halfway through January already and I’m behind on posting. It’s not that I don’t have anything to write about – we’ve been busy. Between scheduled pickleball time and coaching the refined skills class, I’m staying busy. Donna has a lot on her plate – she’s rehearsing with the Viewpoint Concert band weekly and practicing clarinet daily. She’s also hitting the pickleball and tennis courts and doing strength training. The concert band has a performance on Sunday – Donna’s first public performance in about 45 years! I have a pickleball tournament tomorrow.

This is one of the things we love about Viewpoint Golf and RV Resort – the activities and amenities. One of the amenities is free landline phone service. We have an old-fashioned telephone with a curly cord on the handset in the coach. Donna bought it at a garage sale for $5 a few years ago. This year, she set up an answering machine to receive calls when we’re not home! I’m sure some of you must remember answering machines! To dial within the park, you only need to know the site number you want to reach. Punch in four digits and you are connected. You can also dial outside of the park and receive outside calls. Pretty handy.

There’s another reason I haven’t posted lately and it’s a real peeve. Microsoft has a Windows 10 update that’s flawed. I’ve researched it a bit, but haven’t come up with a suitable workaround. The update was automatically uploaded to my computer by Microsoft, but when the update tries to run – which it does at random intervals – my computer locks up. Apparently, I have a program or app I installed that’s not compatible with the update. But, the update doesn’t identify the issue, it just shuts down the hard drive. It’s frustrating. Am I supposed to uninstall every program or app until I discover the compatibility issue? I think Microsoft just wants me to buy a new laptop with their latest whizbang operating system. End of rant.

Awhile back, a blog reader, Tanya Faidley, made a recommendation. Donna’s clarinet is a reed instrument. Having good, balanced reeds is essential for good tone and playability. Unfortunately, many reeds out of the box are not very good. I experimented with adjusting the reeds and managed to slice my finger. Tanya is a clarinet player and she recommended Tom Ridenour’s ATG reed balancing system. I’d read about this system before but was reluctant to order it.

The reason I was reluctant, although it had many positive reviews, was my sometimes frugal nature. The kit costs close to $90 and the hardware is just a small sheet of tempered glass, a special sanding block and some wet or dry sandpaper. Maybe $10 worth of hardware. But it also includes an instruction book and DVD. That’s where the real value is. Tom Ridenour is a clarinet expert – he designed clarinets in the past for Leblanc and has his own line of clarinets now. His technique for balancing reeds is simple and effective. It’s also counter to most instructions I’ve read. Now I’m Donna’s reed technician and I rework all of her reeds. They play much better, she’s able to play without making changes to her technique to compensate for bad reeds.

Speaking of my sometimes frugal nature, I had another small project. The air filter assembly on Midget-San’s Weber carburetor is supposed to be stainless steel. Well, the clips holding the top of the assembly to the base were pitted with rust spots. Every time I opened the hood, my eye was immediately drawn to the unsightly pits. A replacement assembly – base, cover, clips and filter element costs about $35-$40. Instead of replacing the whole thing, I sanded the rust pits out and painted the clips. I’ll probably end up replacing it sooner or later anyway.

This leads me to the next topic – paint. I saw a guy repairing some damaged bodywork on a coach in the park and he painted the repaired area right at the site. I talked to him. His name is Andy Crespin and his business is called Perfect Touchup & Recondition. He has a small cargo trailer that’s his mobile workshop and it has a large air compressor. We have a few paint issues on our coach. On the passenger side, one of the basement compartment doors was heavily scratched by a short bush at a narrow site we moved into in Hemet, California. The bush was only a few feet tall and I couldn’t see it and ran the side of the coach into it. There’s also a compartment door that has sun damage – the base coat is faded. The bigger issue is clear coat failing on a couple of panels on the right rear and back of the coach. I had Andy take a look at our coach and give me an estimate. We agreed to schedule to work in a couple of weeks – he’ll do the paint work right here at our site.

I mentioned in my last post that Donna’s diligently following the Bright Line Eating (BLE) program this month. The plan excludes sugar and flour and includes weighed portions of protein, fat, veggies and fruits. So, I’m not exactly on the same plan, but I do end up having some different meals than usual. That’s okay – I could stand to lose a few pounds.

That doesn’t mean she isn’t feeding me well though. Here are a few examples of the dinners she made. First up is a Greek pork stew.

And a New York strip steak smothered in sauteed mushrooms and onions with broccoli and cheese sauce (and a side of mashed sweet potato for me).

And fajita spiced, grilled chicken breast over grilled veggies.

Fajita spiced, grilled chicken with grilled veggies

And a dish called Pork Diane that’s served with a mustard-lemon sauce with sides of fresh green beans and garlic mashed cauliflower.

Pork Diane with garlic cauliflower mash and green beans

The weather has been fantastic. The days are warm with temperatures near 70 degrees. The nights are cool – down to the 40s. Yesterday was cloudy and cooler with gusty winds, but we’re back to nice sunny weather today with clear skies and it looks like much of the same for the coming week. This afternoon, I’ll be heading out to Scottsdale with my friend, Mike Hall. Mike has VIP passes for the Gooding and Company Auto Auction. This is an exclusive, high-end auto auction. This week is known as auction week in Scottsdale. The well-known Barrett-Jackson auction is taking place as well as the Russo and Steele auction. These are big events with hundreds of cars. The RM Sotheby, Bonhams and Gooding auctions are much more exclusive and smaller with many rare vehicles. Many of the cars at Gooding are expected to fetch one to three million dollars!

Florence, Oregon

We settled in to our site at the Florence Elk’s RV park Thursday afternoon. I got Midget-San out of the trailer and covered it, then set up the Weber Q grill. Donna took a walk to reconnoiter the area and found a trail to Mercer Lake.

We have 50amp electrical service and fresh water at this site, but no sewer, so we’re being careful about the amount of gray water we put down the drain.

Donna manned the grill and cooked chicken thighs for dinner. She served it with sweet potato mash and roasted Brussel sprouts.

After dinner, I sat outside and puffed a cigar and caught a nice sunset through the trees.

Sunset through the trees on a clear night

I don’t take photos of breakfast plates usually, but Friday morning, Donna outdid herself. She cooked up a zucchini frittata with cherry tomatoes and served it with sausage patties and sliced avocado. A great start to the day.

After lunch, we drove south a couple of miles on US101 and turned off at Heceta Beach Road. We wandered west to a beach access, but didn’t stop there. We continued south on Rhododendron Drive through a beautiful neighborhood until we found public parking and beach access at the north jetty. This jetty marks the mouth of the Siuslaw (SIGH-you-slaw) River.

The Siuslaw River originates in the coastal mountain range east of Florence and passes south of town before it turns north and finally bends back west where it meets the Pacific Ocean.

Siuslaw River meets the Pacific – south jetty on the left, north jetty on the right

Looking upriver from North Jetty Park, the Siuslaw River bends south to Florence

The beaches in the area have fine, powdery sand held together in places with clumps of American Beach grass. The wind shapes dunes in the sand – some of them are quite large. We heard about sand boarding the dunes – it’s like snowboarding, but on sand dunes.

Sandy trail bordered by beach grass at the north jetty

The backside of some dunes – the windward side faces the ocean and has less beach grass

The population of Florence is about 10,000, but the town sprawls and feels larger. We drove to the Old Town district of Florence and cruised Bay Street, right on the water front. We parked at the public lot near the Boardwalk Market and got out to walk the market. The market is usually open on Saturdays and Sundays, but we were told that some stalls are open on Fridays in August. There’s also a marina on the river here and some nice restaurants. I’ll have to stop in the Beachcomber Pub next time – this pub was established in the 1960s by the father of our friend, Scott Hicks. Donna bought some yellow nectarines and cherry tomatoes sourced from northern California. The fruit was fresh and tasty.

Before we headed back, we made a stop at Fred Meyer – a northwest grocery store that also carries some household goods and clothing. Donna wanted to restock the pantry and we found some good deals. We bought T-bone steaks and I found a nice looking rack of babyback ribs for only $1.77/lb – deal! We had the steaks with baked potato and asparagus Friday evening.

On Friday afternoon, a guy with a travel trailer pulled into the meadow. He was looking at the site next to us and wanted to move the picnic table. I went out to help him. We discussed the best way to get his trailer where he wanted it. He told me wasn’t too good at reversing his trailer. I directed him into the site. He was right, he wasn’t too good at backing the trailer in. I instructed him by telling him which way to turn the steering wheel. The mistake he kept making – along with turning the wheel in the wrong direction – was turning the steering wheel too quickly. He would go from full lock one direction and then when I said to start straightening out, he would go to full lock in the other direction. After a few false attempts, we got him positioned.

Saturday we drove back north on US101 to sightsee. We went up around 15 miles to Ten Mile Creek and parked in a small lot at Stonefield Beach. There’s a short, sandy trail there to beach. The beach was nearly empty. One girl hiked in ahead of us with a beach chair and I could see a few people nearly a quarter of mile up the beach. It seems strange to me – I’m used to seeing crowds on the beach in southern California.

We made a few stops on the way back south. The first stop was at a scenic turnout just north of Sea Lion Caves. Looking to the north, the view included a small beach area bordered by cliffs at Devil’s Elbow and in the distance was Heceta Head with a lighthouse on the point.

Heceta Head lighthouse on the point on the left, Devil’s Elbow and beach

At the turnout, a young guy parked his old car by us. It was a 1952 Chevrolet DeLuxe painted pearl white. The pearlescent finish reminded me of the paint found on some Audi’s in the early ’90s. The guy said he liked old cars and Donna remarked to me that with his clothing and hair style, he looked like he just came from the ’50s.

Our next stop was at Sea Lion Caves. There’s a gift shop there and also you can buy tickets to ride an elevator down to the cave – billed as America’s largest sea cave. Tickets are $14 for an adult, $13 for seniors. Because the sea lions are out to sea, they were discounting tickets and offering a free return ticket for any time in the next 12 months. We opted not to go down.

View of beaches to the south of Sea Lion Caves

On Saturday evening, Donna made shrimp with peppers, tomatoes, basil and feta cheese. I had my dish over whole wheat spaghetti and Donna served hers over spaghetti squash.

The shrimp was another deal at Fred Meyer. Donna bought extra large wild Argentine red shrimp, peeled and de-veined for $9.99/lb. Have you noticed our new bowls? They were a gift from a member of the Buy Nothing group in Arlington – a set of 4 porcelain bowls still in the box.

The weather here has been more agreeable than Newport. It’s drier with warm, clear afternoons in the low 70s. The nights are cooler, dropping into the mid-50s. The afternoons have been windy though. Winds are supposed to continue with gusts up to 24mph today, then diminish tomorrow.

*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!

Earthquake!

We’re still mooch-docking in my daughter, Alana’s, driveway in Arlington, Washington. I’m still waiting for Lifestyles Recreational Products in Mount Vernon to repair the Spyder. As many of you know, my career was in the automotive service industry for over 30 years. At one point, I was the manager of the Volkswagen of America Technical Helpline call center. We provided technical assistance including repair advice and instructions to Volkswagen dealers across the country.

Apparently, Bombardier Recreation Products (BRP) – maker of the Can-Am brand – has a technical call center in Quebec. What I’m facing with the shop in Mount Vernon is a service department that’s unsure of their diagnosis. They think I need a new Engine Control Module and I agree. The thing is, it costs over $500 and it’s not returnable. So, they’ve opened a ticket with BRP’s technical call center and are waiting to hear them say to replace this part! It’s also apparent the BRP doesn’t run a very efficient call center – the ticket has been open for days without a response. So, we wait.

Another issue irritated me this week. One of the challenges we face on the road is high speed internet accessibility. We use Verizon and have good internet access 99% of the time. Lately, Verizon seems to be pushing us to change from our 30GB/month plan to something new with a contract renewal. I’m happy with the current plan. It’s always allowed me to add incremental data – a gigabyte at a time – for a reasonable rate if it looked like we may exceed our 30GB allowance.

This week, with a few days left in our cycle, I received a warning that we were going to exceed our data allowance. This took me by surprise – I monitor our data usage every morning. Somehow we suddenly used a large amount of data. The next day our increased usage rate continued – I can’t explain it. I went to the website to add a couple of gigabytes of data and couldn’t find the page I used in the past. Instead, when I clicked on “add more data,” it took me to page where the only choices were to change my plan to a new format and enter a new contract. Something smells rotten here.

Maybe it’s just a conspiracy theory, but Verizon is the one that measures my data usage. Suddenly, without explanation, my daily data usage jumps to a higher rate. Then, my ability to add incremental data is removed and new plans are rolled out for me to sign up. I didn’t go for it, so they charged me an extra $15 for going over our allowance by less than one gigabyte. I’ll be keeping a close eye on our usage as always.

One of the things I’m taking advantage of while we’re here is ordering parts for a few projects. I mentioned the gas spring for the basement compartment door I replaced. We also have a blown gas spring on our Dometic AE awning. It blew out when we were in Sutherlin and I haven’t had a chance to address it. The thing is, where we’re parked now I can’t open the awning due to a tree next to us. So, I couldn’t measure the extended and collapsed length of the gas spring. After doing some research, I found a website for Dyers RV Parts and Accessories. They had Dometic replacement parts and I found this statement:

Standard style hardware awnings – measure the back-channel (that is the arm that attaches to the coach) but do not count the mounting bracket. If it measures 65-66,” you have Standard hardware.

*Note: If the above measures 62-63″ you have Basement style hardware and need Dometic strut # 3310555.000 instead.

I measured our back channel and it was just over 65″. I ordered the standard hardware and got the gas spring in a few days. It included the star-washer style fasteners that Dometic uses – a nice touch. I’ll install it as soon as we’re in a position to open the awning.

There was something I wanted to do to Midget-San. The trunk (or boot as the British call it) was nicely painted inside, but unlined. I wanted to add a liner so things wouldn’t slide around and also to protect the finish.

Finding a trunk liner on Amazon required a bit of detective work. The descriptions often had contradictory dimensions stated. I had to read through reviews and figure out just how large each liner really was. The one I ended up ordering said it was very small – 17″ x 23″ – but the reviews revealed it was a much larger item. I needed about 25″ x 42″. What I received was about 48″ x 55″.

The trunk liner was easily trimmed with scissors.

Liner installed and collapsible boxes added

After I trimmed the liner to size, Donna added collapsible boxes to hold groceries or any other loose items we might pick up to keep them from rolling around in the back.

Donna found a great deal on chicken leg quarters – $0.99/lb. She made a marinade called Pretty Chicken Marinade – we don’t know if it’s called that because the chicken comes off the grill looking pretty with this marinade or if it’s because it’s pretty darn tasty! She served it with packaged cauliflower rice – we both agreed that the pre-packed cauliflower rice isn’t as good as the cauliflower rice she makes.

Ozark the cat spends most of her time in her window-mounted cat bed, watching the world go by. Our little kitty is getting husky – she’s chubby! Her exercise consists of madly dashing from her living room perch to the back of the coach where she flies up to the bedroom window to track something of interest. Then she runs back and repeats.

Another favorite activity is attacking a small burlap bag Donna wrapped around a piece of cardboard. Ozark will go to town scratching and tearing at it with all four paws.

When she’s done with her attack, she often rolls over and wants her chubby belly rubbed.

I’m sure everyone heard about the big earthquake in southern California last week. It was a real shaker with a magnitude near 7, centered by Ridgecrest in the desert. When we left San Diego, we boondocked that first night in the desert south of Inyokern near Ridgecrest. Donna wondered what it would have been like if we were there when the earthquake happened. I grew up in southern California and have experienced several earthquakes, so I had a pretty good idea of what it would be like in the coach.

We had a simple dinner of beef ragu over spaghetti squash and watched Tour de France coverage before going to bed.

Last night, I was awakened by our coach suddenly rocking and shaking. I said to Donna, “Earthquake!” She said, “Really?” I checked the clock – 2:55am. This morning I found out a 4.6 magnitude earthquake centered near Monroe – a few miles from here – was registered at 2:53am. Reports said it could be felt all the way to the Canadian border. This morning, it’s only a vague memory for Donna.

The weather has been typical western Washington – a few nice days followed by a few wet, dreary days. The temperature has ranged from the upper-60s to the mid-70s. The next few days are expected to be dry with mid-70s temperatures. I’d like to see that become a continuing trend.

*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!

No Camping in the Campground

We pulled out of Rolling Hills RV Park around 10am on Wednesday and headed north on I-5 from Corning, California. We intended to go to Lake Shastina to boondock on BLM land at a free campground there. The terrain soon changed after we passed through Red Bluff as we left the Sacramento Valley and started climbing. We drove past Shasta Lake which appears to be at full capacity – no more drought conditions here!

We climbed a series of summits ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 feet above sea level – some of them were 6% grades. Along the way, Donna researched a bit and found some depressing news. Lake Shastina campground had been closed to overnight camping in August of 2017. We only spent one night there before and were looking forward to spending several days there this time. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “The Lake Shastina campground, with no camp host or enforcement, was closed indefinitely last week after it had turned into a party pad for young locals.”

I also read that overnight restrictions were strictly enforced. This raises a question in my mind. If you can vigorously enforce a “no camping” restriction on public land, then why can’t you enforce alcohol restrictions instead of locking everyone out? Maybe it has something to do with the development of high-end housing nearby in the Lake Shastina community. Sounds like someone has the local powers-that-be in their pocket. No camping in the campground – what?

We pressed on to Yreka, California where we stayed at a Walmart several years ago – I wrote about that in this post. I wrote about how we ran into Clarke and Elaine Hockwald (Whatsnewell) at that time. We arrived at Walmart and were foiled again. Apparently, Yreka has banned overnight parking. We regrouped and went to the Rain Rock Casino which opened in the last year or so on the east side of I-5 in Yreka. There we were welcome to dry camp overnight.

After a quiet night at the casino, we were back on the road 10:30am Thursday. Our new destination was Sutherlin, Oregon. We stayed on I-5 and hit the Oregon Border just before mile marker 797. That’s right – I-5 traverses the length of California from the Mexico border to Oregon – nearly 800 miles! About four miles into Oregon, we crossed Siskiyou Pass at 4,315 feet above sea level – the highest point on I-5.

After climbing the steep grade up Siskiyou Pass, we had a six-mile steep downgrade, descending 2,300 feet in that distance. The Interstate through southern Oregon is in the Siskiyou mountain range and has several steep climbs and descents. It’s only two lanes for the most part and I had to stay aware of slow trucks climbing ahead of us and fast moving cars coming from behind. I tried to judge the closing speeds so I could maintain momentum and pass the trucks which were only going about 30-35 mph while we maintained 50mph. I was able to shoot gaps in the car traffic which was moving at closer to 70mph.

We found the Timber Valley SKP Park in Sutherlin. This park is only open to members of the Escapees club – we’re members. We booked a week on full hook-ups for a bargain rate of $132. At check-in, the clerk suggested site 10 – she said it was large and had good satellite reception. We walked over to look at the site.

Site 10 is about 50 feet wide with a concrete pad in the center and a garden shed in the back. The rear of the site is bordered by Cooper Creek, making the rear boundary irregular. The depth of the site varies from about 50 feet to 75 feet. We agreed it was a great site for us. Walking back to the office, I noticed a Nexus class A diesel coach that checked in just ahead of us. They had disconnected the car they towed behind it. As we approached, the guy put the coach in gear and reversed with a bang into the car! I don’t know what he was thinking – maybe he thought he was in drive, not reverse. I guess he’ll have two insurance claims!

We dropped the trailer on one side of the concrete pad and set up the coach on the other side. It’s a nice site with lots of room.

In the evening, our neighbor in site 9 came over and introduced himself. His name is Mickey Thompson – I said, “That’s a famous name.” He said, “Yeah, he has all the fame and money, I have the good looks.”

We also had a visit from the Welcome Wagon here at the SKP park. Sandy gave us a few local brochures and a couple of gifts – two fabric coasters hand made by park members.

Donna grilled shrimp, bok choy and a medley of asparagus, baby bella mushrooms and peppers for dinner.

When we stayed here a couple of years ago, we dry-camped for one night only. At that time, we found wildlife in the park – wild turkeys and jack rabbits. They’re still in the area and I was told that bobcats and bears have been seen in the park at night. Donna was surprised to see a deer lying out in front of the clubhouse in the late afternoon.

This morning, Donna and I took the Spyder out and explored. We found a Visitor Center that was loaded with information and free maps of the western states. I like paper maps – most of ours were several years old though. I gathered a handful of new maps to replace them. We also found a small farmers’ market. However, fresh produce won’t be available here for another month or so, unlike northern California where the farmers’ market had plenty of local produce. We did pick up a jar of homemade apple cider vinaigrette after tasting a bit at the market.

We also took a ride out to Cooper Reservoir to check out fishing spots. This coming weekend is free fishing weekend in Oregon – no license required. The reservoir was stocked with 2,000 legal size trout last week. I think we’ll give it a try if I can figure out how to haul our fishing poles on the Spyder.

The weather is beautiful – afternoon highs near 80 degrees, clear skies and overnight lows in the 50s. The forecast calls for more of the same in the coming week. I’m thinking we might want to extend our stay beyond a week. I have an appointment to get some work done on the coach near Eugene on the 11th. So, we need to stay in this area until then.

I have a rack of babyback ribs on the Traeger wood pellet-fired smoker grill as I type this. We bought the ribs at the store in town and they weren’t trimmed very well. After removing the membrane from the underside of the ribs, I had to trim a fat cap from the meaty side – about a quarter-pound of fat. It’s all good now though and I’m looking forward to tonight’s dinner.

*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!

Oh Hail!

The Rolling Hills RV Park is only a few miles from downtown Corning. The city has a population of about 7,500 people and the town itself is quite compact. We rode the Spyder into town on Thursday and our first stop was the Olive Pit. This is a familiar place for us – I usually make a stop there any time we pass through this area. The Olive Pit, as you can imagine, specializes in olives. They have every type of olive including some unusual combinations. I sampled the blue cheese-jalapeno stuffed olives this time and they were great! They also have a good selection of wines and craft beers.

Donna bought some lime gose beer. Gose is an unusual beer that has gained popularity lately. It’s slightly sour and salty and very refreshing on a warm afternoon. It’s usually brewed to a relatively low strength with the ABV under 5%. I chose a couple of sour beers as well – a nectarine saison and a sour IPA.

We made a stop at the post office where Donna had a general delivery package sent by her sister, Linda. It was an assortment of olive oils and balsamic vinegars from Tarpon Springs, Florida – a birthday present for Donna. On the way out of town, we made a quick stop for a photo op at the giant olive on the city limit at the intersection of South Avenue and Hall Road.

Back at the RV park, Donna prepared a dish called saucy chicken. She sliced chicken breasts lengthwise – she uses the Spyderco Sentoku chef’s knife I bought for her to do this. It works like a charm on slicing chores like this. She marinated the chicken in a garlic-soy marinade and browned it in a pan, then a sauce with white wine, chicken broth, lemon juice, mustard and thyme. It was a bit of a complicated dish. It was tasty and she served it with sweet potato mash made with Greek yogurt.

Saucy chicken, sweet potato mash and asparagus

On Friday morning, we rode the Spyder through Corning and went northeast through the small town of Tehama where we crossed the Sacramento River. We followed CA99 north until we found Bianchi Orchards. We were there to learn something about walnuts and of course purchase some of them.

This walnut tree outside the Bianchi barn/store is over 100 years old

A barn on the property has been converted into a store/gift shop. We learned that more than a dozen English walnut varieties are grown in the area. California has more than 40 varieties in total but the most popular are Chandler, Hartley and Howard.

Chandler walnuts were developed by the University of California – Davis in 1978. The Chandler variety is the most popular and produces a large, well-sealed nut. The meat is a golden honey color. They are very uniform in color with a thin skin on the meat. Some people say they are on the bland side, but I found them to be creamy without any of the bitterness sometimes found in darker walnut meats.

California produces 98% of the walnuts consumed in the USA – 40% of the world’s consumption! The area from Tehama to Red Bluff is mostly walnut orchards, although we did see some pistachio groves as well.

Inside the Bianchi store, they have an interesting countertop/bar. It’s made from a flat-sawn walnut tree trunk. The finish on it is beautiful and somehow they managed to preserve the bark.

Walnut countertop at the back of the bar includes a walnut backsplash

We bought a three-pound bag of shelled Chandler walnuts for $15 – a deal!

Back at the park, I was sitting outside after dinner reading a book and puffing a cigar. I felt the wind pick up and when I looked up, I saw large, dark clouds approaching. No rain was in the forecast but it felt like rain was imminent. I looked at the Radar Express app on my phone. We were being straddled by two storm cells!

I quickly covered the Spyder, moved the chairs and table into the trailer and stayed in the trailer to finish my cigar. Within minutes, I heard sharp strikes on the roof of the trailer. We had hail! It was the size of large blueberries with some of the hail more like cherry size.

This wasn’t in the forecast, but I was glad I checked the radar app and got things put away.

Saturday morning we rode the Spyder back to Chico for the farmers’ market. In the past, we found some of the best produce and unbelievably low prices at this farmers’ market. Donna found the best looking baby bok choy we’ve ever seen and a large bundle was only $2.00!

Saturday evening, Donna lightly coated the fresh bok choy with sesame oil, then salted and peppered it and put it on the grill. Likewise, she prepared some baby bella mushrooms from the farmers’ market by lightly coating them with olive oil. After cooking the mushrooms she added a light dash of salt and pepper. By the way, I find the name baby bella confusing. These small mushrooms are called portabella – but they’re known as portobello when they’re full sized. They’re also known as cremini when small. They are full of nutrients and all I know for sure is these were delicious! Donna served leftover pork tenderloin kabobs over brown basmati rice with the fresh take from the market.

Rain showers developed again after dark Saturday night. We had showers off and on throughout the night and into this morning. We stayed indoors all morning – I watched the Formula One race from Monaco. I have the Indy 500 on the tube now.

The skies are supposed to clear this afternoon although it’ll remain cool – around 70 degrees. Tomorrow should be warmer for Memorial Day. We’ll pay our respects to those that sacrificed all while serving our country. Tomorrow is also Donna’s birthday – which coincides with my youngest daughter, Shauna’s birthday. We have dinner reservations at Timbers to celebrate tomorrow night.

Yoyos and Trees in Chico

The weatherman’s promise held true and we had mostly clear skies on Wednesday. The official high temperature here in Corning was 79 degrees. After a couple of wet, rainy days we wanted to get out and do something. So, how about a trip to the National Yoyo Museum? That’s right, there’s a yoyo museum in Chico.

We rode the Spyder out of Rolling Hills RV Park a little past 10am. It’s about a 30-mile ride to downtown Chico – we took a backroad route to CA32 which took us right into town. We parked the Spyder on Broadway between 2nd and 3rd Streets and took a walk through the area. There are numerous restaurants and cafes in the area and some cool shops. Chico is home to the California State University – Chico campus. The vibe downtown is trendy, youthful and fun.

I thought there was a Wednesday farmers’ market nearby – there used to be a few years ago. We walked by the farmers’ market lot and found out it’s Thursday and Saturday. We’ll go back on Saturday to check it out.

We walked back to 3rd and Broadway and found the Bird in Hand shop – that’s where the National Yoyo Museum is located. The museum is nothing more than a handful of display cabinets and a flat-screen video loop of competitors. The displays had memorabilia from national championships dating from the 1930s to 2017. I had no idea that yoyo championship competition was a thing.

Photo in upper right of this diaplay is from the National Championship in San Diego from the year 1956 – the year I was born

They had jacket patches from championships all the way up to 2017

Donna with the world’s largest yoyo – it weighs over 200 pounds

The video was running on a loop and it showed competitors in different categories strutting their stuff. These guys were like magicians making their yoyo’s float through the air and creating complex geometric shapes with the string – all while the yoyo kept spinning and they were able to reel it back in without touching anything but the string. I guess it’s kind of like hoop dancing – you don’t think much about hula hoops until you see someone who knows what they’re doing perform. These guys and gals with their yoyos were unbelievable.

The Bird in Hand shop is a rather unique toy and game store. It has the feel of a circa 1960 toy store. Lots of stuff there that you probably wouldn’t find anywhere else.

While we were in Chico, we went into the Broadway Heights building and had lunch upstairs at a restaurant with the same name. I ordered a 10″ brick oven-fired pizza while Donna had a salad bowl with wild salmon cakes with a Thai vinaigrette. The food was very good and we left with a slice of lemon-ginger cheese cake baked by our waitress, Dawn. She’s worked there for 17 years and it’s obvious that she loves her job. She bakes all the desserts for the restaurant.

The wind had really picked up and the ride home was rocked by a few gusts that were over 30mph. The Spyder is really stable, but the crosswind on CA32 had me weaving a bit in a couple of places where there were large, open fields with nothing to block the wind.

I should mention some of the trees in the area. The city of Chico itself has what they call an urban forest. The city was designated as a “Tree City USA” by the National Arbor Day Foundation. Trees on public right of ways in Chico date back to the 1870s when General John Bidwell founded the city.

Outside of town, there are large groves – mostly almonds. As we headed back toward Corning to the west, we rode through a few vineyards and walnut groves. As you get closer to Orland or Corning, the groves change to olive trees. Olive and nut farming and production are big business around here.

Donna whipped up a teriyaki baste and put together kabobs with pork tenderloin pieces, pineapple, portobello mushrooms, onions and cherry tomatoes. She grilled these on the Weber Q. She also sliced a Mexican gray squash – a summer squash similar to zucchini – and grilled it. My kabobs were served over white rice with the squash on the side – Donna opted for no rice.

Pork teriyaki kabobs over rice with Mexican gray squash

After a warm, sunny day, a few clouds rolled in before sundown. I thought we might get an unexpected rain shower as the dark clouds passed overhead. But it stayed dry and cleared up again right after sunset.

I don’t have a plan for today and that’s okay. We’ll definitely hit the farmers’ market on Saturday. We’ll see what else comes up.

*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!

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Grilling

Shut the Door

Daylight Saving – and the Apocalypse?

Minor Maintenance Tasks

Reeling in the Years

My Frugal Side

Florence, Oregon

*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!

Earthquake!

*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!

No Camping in the Campground

*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!

Oh Hail!

Yoyos and Trees in Chico

*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!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

*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!

Share this:

*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!

Share this:

*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!

Share this:

Share this:

*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!

Share this: