Category Archives: Health

Guests for a Month?

When I started blogging, I had no idea of the number of spammers that post comments on blog sites. I have software (Akismet) to block spam and it’s pretty effective most of the time. Every once in a while though, a clever spammer will get a comment through.

The Akismet program has identified and blocked nearly 50,000 spam comments (49,591 to be precise) since I installed it. It has also blocked nearly 5,000 malicious log in attempts. These are cases where someone is trying to take control of the site by logging in as an administrator.

When someone is clever enough to get their comment past the spam software, the comment is held in limbo for moderation. If the person posting the comment has never had a comment approved before, I have to approve the comment before it’s published.

I’ve been hoodwinked a few times and approved comments that turned out to be spam. When I realize I’ve been had, I go back and remove the comments. I think this is important for the integrity of the site and to protect readers from being redirected to unwanted sites.

Yesterday one got by me. I believed the comment was a legitimate request. I posted the comment on a Facebook RV group and had a number of responses that led me to believe it was a spammer. The request did seem a little over the top, but believeable. Here’s the comment with the link removed:

We are producing a web series project that features Full Time RVers in the US.  We are looking for those with RVs that would be willing to host a couple on your travels for one month for USD$1,000.00 plus fuel costs.  During that month, we will be documenting your experiences as a Full Time RVer. If you are interested, or know of someone that would be, please email us at…

The first clue is the reference to USD$. Maybe this is coming from a foreigner looking for a cheap, monthlong tour of the states. I don’t know what the angle is, but in hindsight, it doesn’t seem legitimate.

On another note, I mentioned in my last post how Donna and I enjoyed good food and happy hour at Sardina’s Italian Restaurant. I’ve said before that Donna is the queen of networking. Well she proved it again at Sardina’s. While we were dining, Donna noticed two women drinking wine at a table near us. She asked me if I thought one of them was a woman we met at Sardina’s when were came here in the fall of 2013. I couldn’t tell if it was or not. Donna seemed sure it was the same woman we talked with at the bar over a year ago.

As we were preparing to leave, I made a quick pit stop in the men’s room. Donna went to the other table and introduced herself to the two women. It turns out she wasn’t the woman Donna was thinking of. We had one thing in common though. She was a Clairemont High School alumni, class of ’73 – one year before I graduated. Her name is Dianne Brittingham (nee Zinser). She is the president of the Pacific Beach Woman’s Club. By the time we left, Donna had an invitation to speak at the woman’s club the next time we’re in town.

Yesterday was another day of rest and recuperation for Donna. Her idea of rest and recuperation was to do a thorough deep cleaning of the coach while I was out playing pickleball. Later, she had dinner with her sister, Sheila, in Point Loma.

I went over to Dan Diego’s European Bistro to sample a couple of beers and a bowl of their Irish stew. I had a beer brewed by Stift Engelszell – a brewery at a Trappist monastery in Austria. There’s only one Trappist monastery in Austria. There are two in the Netherlands, six in Belgium and one in the United States. Trappist beers are strong with complex flavor. The Engelszell I had is called Gregorius. It’s a quadruppel style beer with 9.7% ABV. Unlike most quadruppels, it isn’t brewed with candy sugar. The ABV is pumped up by adding honey to the wort instead. It’s a great brew with a rum raisin flavor.

Gregorius

Gregorius

While I was there, Bob Schmitt joined me for a beer. He had a Latitude 33 IPA. Lattitude 33 is a San Diego County brewery. Their IPA is easy to drink despite it’s 7.3% ABV. Bob’s wife Sini is away for the next 10 days, so Bob is living the bachelor life at Mission Bay RV Resort a few sites away from us. I’ve mentioned Bob’s vehicle before and I need to correct myself. I called it a vintage Chevy Blazer – well, it’s actually a GMC Jimmy – nearly identical, but I wanted point out the error.

We had a rain shower again this morning. There’s a 20% chance of another shower at mid-day and the high will only reach the mid-60s. The weather guessers are calling for continued cool temperatures through the weekend. Then we’ll see upper 70s next week.

 

Tiny House Intervention

Although we didn’t really have a plan yesterday, Donna had a few things to do. First on her list was an appointment with her doctor. She had a minor procedure scheduled and the appointment was a pre-surgery consultation. Her doctor noticed the recent road rash scars on Donna’s leg and asked her what happened.

Donna told her about her bike crash and said, “I had a concussion too.”  Donna went on to tell her about an odd thing that happened on Friday and Saturday. Her speech was scrambled a few times. At one point she was talking to someone and said, “I see you got the memo.” What came out was, “I see you got the menu.” She repeated it twice, then with much effort was able to say the word “memo.”

Later, she ran into Deann Bolinder at lunch. They had chatted on the phone when Deann heard about her bike crash. Her husband had a bike crash 11 months ago and is still experiencing issues related to concussion. Donna was telling Deann about her word issue the day before and asked her if that was a symptom. What came out was, “Is that a system?” Again, she repeated it twice before she could say with great effort “symptom.”

That evening, Donna phoned me. She was telling me about her word issues. She said she thought it might be due to stress and the busy, noisy conference setting. Except what she said instead of “noisy conference” was “noisy concert.” Then she laughed and said, “I can’t believe I said concert – I meant to say concert.” She able to say conference on the third try.

After telling her doctor this, the doctor asked if Donna had seen her primary care physician (PCP). Donna told her that she went to the emergency room the day of her crash and had a CT scan that was negative. Her doctor told her to see her PCP before she could schedule the procedure, which requires anesthesia.

Donna came home and spoke with her PCP’s office. Her PCP was concerned about brain injury and instructed her to go immediately to a hospital emergency room for another CT scan. Because of the trouble with words, Donna’s doctor was concerned that she might have a late subdural hematoma. I drove Donna to Scripps Mercy Hospital on Washington Street. While she was being admitted, I drove over to O’Reilly Auto Parts and dropped off the old chassis batteries from our coach for recycling. That was something I needed to do while we still had the rental car and O’Reilly was just down the street from the hospital. They actually gave me a $10 store gift card for recycling the batteries!

I came back to the hospital and found Donna in an exam room in the ER. She went through a few questions and an exam with a nurse practitioner, then waited for about an hour before someone came and took her away for the CT scan. After the scan, we waited for another hour before the nurse practitioner came back and said her scan was negative – no sign of brain bleed or stroke. We had to wait another 15 minutes before a doctor came into the room and went over the results. The consensus is that Donna was exhausted from preparing for and working at the conference. That coupled with a lack of sleep at the hotel and the noisy environment caused post concussive symptoms where her brain was misfiring. A period of rest should allow her to fully recover. She has a follow-up appointment with her PCP next Monday. At that time, Donna and her doctors will decide if she should have the surgery next or postpone it to allow her brain time to heal.

Meanwhile, I had phoned Enterprise Rental Car and told them that we were at the Scripps ER and wouldn’t be able to return the rental car by 4pm as scheduled. They were very good about it and told me it would be okay If we could get there by 6pm, there would be no additional charge on the weekend special rate. When we returned the car at 4:40pm, we were also a few miles over the 300-mile limit. They waived that as well.

We walked back to Mission Bay RV Resort along the Rose Creek Trail. Donna wanted to go with me to return the car because she felt like taking a walk after spending the afternoon cooped up in a small exam room in the ER. I showed her how to access the trail from the neighborhood to the south of Garnet Avenue.

When we walked back into the RV park, I saw a cool looking travel trailer in the overflow area. It has a riveted aluminum skin like an Airstream but it’s painted, not polished. It was all closed up with the windows shuttered. I don’t know for sure what it was.

Cool looking travel trailer

Cool looking travel trailer

Another cool trailer came into the park Sunday night. We found it parked on the west end. It’s a tiny house on a trailer chassis. We met the owner and builder, Jen, last night. She bought plans for the tiny house and attended construction classes before she built it. Jen was in town for a tiny house Earth Day show. She towed her tiny house down from Salt Lake City. Her house isn’t quite complete – it’s a work in progress. She gave us a tour of the interior. I would guess it’s no more than 130 square feet plus a sleeping loft and a small storage loft.

Front door at the rear of the tiny house trailer

Front door at the rear of the tiny house trailer

Tiny house on wheels

Tiny house on wheels

Jen said this was her first trip with the trailer. I looked the trailer over and asked her if she had checked the lug nuts. She said she didn’t, but planned to go to a tire store to have them done. I told her I had a torque wrench and would check the lug nuts for tightness. This is important on trailers. The lug nuts loosen from undamped vibration. Most trailers aren’t equipped with shock absorbers, just stiff spring suspension. Jen was leaving to go to a meeting of tiny home enthusiasts. I told her I would check the lug nuts and check her tire pressure as well while she was out.

While I was tightening the lug nuts, her neighbor came out of her Airstream trailer and asked if I was supposed to be messing with the tiny house. This woman was well into her 70s and looking out for Jen. I told her what I was doing and she said she had an air compressor if I wanted to use it to air up the tires. We chatted for a few minutes. She’s a widow and as it turns out, went to Point Loma High School here in San Diego in the 1950s and travels alone with her Airstream full-time. She has kids in San Diego, Monterey and Seattle. So she travels up and down the west coast from San Diego to Seattle. We meet the most interesting people in our travels.

Back to the trailer lug nuts. I had the torque wrench set to 100 ft-lbs. All 24 lug nuts needed to be tightened. Some of them were very loose and needed more than a quarter turn to tighten properly. After setting them at 100 ft-lbs, I went over them again at 110 ft-lbs. Both Dexter Axle and Lippert (the two biggest suppliers of trailer axles) call for 90 to 120 ft-lbs torque on 1/2 inch axle studs. I don’t understand why they specify such a wide range instead of giving a number and a plus/minus range. I go for the middle of the specification.

Her tires call for 66 psi. I found all four tires were 14-15 psi too low and reset the pressure. Low pressure is a killer – it’s the leading cause of tire failure such as blowouts. With that done, Jen is ready to hit the road and head home to Salt Lake City this morning.

Last night, Donna prepared walnut-crusted tilapia. We haven’t had tilapia for a while because 90% of the frozen tilapia on the market is farmed raised in China. From reports I’ve read, it’s questionable whether this is a healthy choice because of the farming practices in China. Donna found fresh tilapia from Mexico at Sprouts. Again from reading, I learned that 70% of the fresh tilapia on the market comes from modern Mexican facilities such as Regal Springs. Most of the rest comes from Equador. We feel better about eating this fish than Chinese farm-raised tilapia.

Walnut crusted tilapia

Walnut-crusted tilapia with asparagus & red onion saute

The fresh tilapia was delicious. It’s Tuesday, so that means pickleball this afternoon at the rec center. Donna is planning to stay home and rest.

 

Face Plant in the Night

Donna left with Sini at 9:30am to go to the yoga class in Pacific Beach. The class was outdoors in a grassy park above the beach at the foot of Law Street. They estimated more than 100 participants showed up for the 90-minute class. Donna found the class through Meetup.com, a great way to search for local events and group activities.

While Donna was away, I got cracking on a few things I needed to do. It’s been breezy here lately. When our front door is open, a check rod locks it in the open position. There’s a set screw that adjusts the amount of free play in the door when it’s locked open. I wrote about the door rod assembly in this post. Over time, the amount of free play has gradually increased. When it’s windy and the door is open, it can rock back and forth slightly. It isn’t much, but it drives me crazy and I don’t want the door check to become damaged. So yesterday I set up the ladder and adjusted it.

Door check assembly

Door check assembly

While I had the ladder out, I set up our hummingbird feeder and our finch feeder.

In the afternoon, Donna had a visitor. Laurie Beth Jones, an author and pickleball player Donna met at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center stopped by. While they were chatting inside, I sat outside and read a book in the sun. I saw an Alpine Coach pull into the park – that makes four of us here now. He was having a little trouble maneuvering into his site because of the way a couple of cars were parked. I walked down to his site and assisted him and his wife so he wouldn’t hit anything.

Since I was up, I took a stroll through the RV park. There are sites located on the west end of the park that have unobstructed views of the bay. These sites cost more than the regular sites – $400 per month more! I saw an interesting rig set up in one of the view sites on the northwest corner of the RV park.

Small travel trailer with a view

Small travel trailer with a view

I’m not sure who manufactured this small travel trailer. I think it’s new with a retro look – I don’t think it’s a restoration. The people situated it sideways in the site giving them a nice view and lots of room.

In my last post I mentioned a new prescription for high blood pressure I picked up on Friday. I took it for the first time Friday night at bedtime. I slept well and felt good in the morning. Last night I took the medicine at bedtime again. Donna stayed up to watch a TV program. I had the DVR set up to record the Formula One race. Our DISH Network receiver has an auto shut-off feature. If no activity is detected in a certain amount of time, it shuts itself off. I went into the set-up menu and disabled this feature. The problem is, when the receiver shuts down, the satellite dish antenna goes into a sleep mode and loses the satellite signal. When the receiver is turned back on, it takes a few minutes for the satellite dish antenna to acquire the signal again. If I’m trying to record and the receiver shuts down, when the recording time comes and the receiver turns itself back on, there’s no signal to record for a few minutes.

Disabling the auto shut-off in the settings menu doesn’t seem to work. Sometimes, the receiver still turns itself off. Last night, after I had fallen asleep and Donna was getting ready to go to bed, she heard the satellite dish rumble as it went into sleep mode, meaning the receiver had just shut down. She knew this can cause recording problems and also knew that I would be unhappy if the Formula One race didn’t record. So she woke me up to tell me about the issue. I sat up quickly and got out of bed. I started walking to the living room when I suddenly found myself face down on the floor.

I think the blood pressure medication had lowered my blood pressure to a level that I’m not accustomed to. When I got up quickly and started walking, my brain was momentarily starved for blood flow and I collapsed. I did a total face plant. I didn’t pass out. I remember hitting the floor and wondering what that was all about. Then I saw blood dripping on my arm and the floor. I smacked my right cheek bone and forehead. A small cut on my forehead was bleeding profusely. Head wounds always bleed worse than other parts of the body.

Donna brought me a wet wash cloth to clean up and an ice pack. I iced for about twenty minutes and went back to bed. This morning, I’m a little sore and yes, it left a mark.

Ooops - that hurt

Ooops – that hurt

A clear, sunny day is forecast today. The weather guessers have pushed back the warming trend a few days. We won’t see highs in the upper 70s until Wednesday, if they’re correct. I’ll kick back and watch the Formula One and Moto GP races and take it easy today. Donna is planning to take a bike ride and then go shopping with my daughter, Shauna.

Diverging Plans

We haven’t had beach weather, but I can’t complain. The daytime high is in the mid to upper 60s and overnight the low is in the upper 50s. In the afternoon, the wind blows 10-15 mph from the west/southwest. The wind makes it feel cooler than the thermometer shows. That will change over the next few days as the temperature will climb to the upper 70s and maybe hit 80 degrees.

I scootered over to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center on Thursday for more pickleball. Donna stayed home and worked on final preparations for her booth at the upcoming annual conference of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO). She and her friend Ramona Creel are setting up a bookstore to sell books written by NAPO members.

Our plans diverged again yesterday. I had a doctor appointment in the morning. It was a follow-up visit after being diagnosed with high blood pressure late last year. I’ve been checking my blood pressure periodically. It seems to be erratic. I see variances of as much as 30mm Hg on the systolic (high) reading. Doctor Ryan thought I needed another medication to control my blood pressure better. He said it’s most likely a hereditary condition. Although regular exercise and proper nutrition can help (I already do this), I need medication. So now I take lisinopril every morning and atenolol at bedtime.

When I returned from the doctor, Donna was working on responding to a bid for speakers. Before I went to the doctor, I unpacked our Sea Eagle kayak and pumped it up. Donna’s sister, Sheila, and Sheila’s son Connor came over around 11:30am. The three of them went out on the bay in the Sea Eagle. I went to get my prescription filled at CVS. Then I rode to Chase Bank to deposit a check. From there I went to Costco. I bought a few 22-ounce bottles of craft beers and a bottle of wine. I also bought a case of bottled water which I strapped on the back seat of the scooter. When I got home it was after 1pm and Donna had left for a late lunch with Sheila and Connor.

I spent the afternoon reading a book in a chair outside in the sun. My daughter, Jamie, called from Texas. She’s having issues with her heart – something about a valve not operating properly. She wanted to know family history of heart disease. Unfortunately, I wasn’t much help. I haven’t talked to my biological father in more than thirty years and haven’t had contact with his family either. I know my paternal grandfather died of a heart attack, but he was in his 80s at the time. My mother is Japanese. She came to the USA after she married my dad. I never met her mother or father although I did meet her brother and sisters when I was a kid. It’s a long story, but I don’t know anything of the medical history on my mother’s side either.

While I was reading, I saw our neighbors across the way come out of their Lazy Daze class C motor home. I recognized them from their blog. It was Jim and Gayle (their blog is Life’s Little Adventures). They’ve been full-time RVers since 2008. We chatted briefly before they had to dash off to meet up with friends. Turned out they knew all about our trailer being stolen last year from my blog and I knew about their mountain bikes being stolen in Salinas last year from their blog.

Donna’s lunch with Sheila stretched out all afternoon. By 5pm, I was ready for liquid refreshment. I opened a bottle of Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Milk Stout. It is a tasty concoction – sort of a liquid peanut butter cup.

Liquid peanut butter cup

Liquid peanut butter cup

I didn’t think I would have any issues with milk stout. I’m lactose intolerant and milk stout has lactose in it, but not that much. I was wrong. The last two times I had milk stout, my stomach was rumbling soon after. I need to cross it off my list of beers.

Donna, Sheila and Connor returned around 6pm. We sat outside and chatted. Their late lunch had turned into an afternoon margarita fest for the adults. I ordered a pizza for delivery from Woodstock Pizza in Pacific Beach. While we were waiting for the pizza, Connor took up a hula-hoop challenge. The challenge was to spin the hoop around his body and drop to his knees without stopping the hoop. It took a few attempts, but he got it. The next step was to drop to his knees and continue hooping while he stood up. It took several attempts, but he stayed with it and finally got it.

Dropping to his knees while hooping

Dropping to his knees while hooping

Now stand up without losing the hoop

Now stand up without losing the hoop

By then the pizza arrived and we ate at the table outside.

I have a couple of projects to attend to today. Donna is going with our friend, Sini, to a yoga class by the beach at the foot of Law Street in Pacific Beach this morning. Another friend we met at the PB rec center, Laurie Beth Jones, is coming over to visit this afternoon. Like Donna, Laurie is an author – she writes about spirituality and leadership and has published 14 books, the same number as Donna.

 

Getting Into Hot Water

I checked a few items off my “to do” list yesterday. Donna’s number one item was a follow-up visit to her doctor on 4th Avenue. I would have taken her there on the scooter, but I had an RV tech from RV Pros coming over to help out with the hot water situation at 11:30am. Donna’s appointment was at 11am. So, Donna took an Ūber car to her appointment.

Jorge from RV Pros arrived on time. I explained how our hot water flow was restricted – it had suddenly been reduced to a trickle while the cold water side had good flow and pressure. I told him about the corroded anode rod and how I had flushed the hot water tank twice. He looked at the back of tank through an access panel in our kitchen and diagnosed a bad check valve. The hot water outlet of the tank has a check valve that only allows water to flow out and prevents backflow into the tank. Jorge didn’t have the part with him.

To replace the check valve, the tank would have to be drained. I told Jorge I had a new anode rod. He said we should install it since the old one would be taken out to drain and flush the tank. I also showed him the pressure relief valve which was stuck. He said he would come back by 5pm with a new check valve and pressure relief valve.

After Jorge left, I rode the scooter to the Ben Bridge Jeweler at the Fashion Valley Mall in Mission Valley. I had talked to the watch maker there earlier. In 2007, I bought Donna a nice watch with a mechanical automatic movement at the Ben Bridge store in Scottsdale, Arizona. Her watch stopped when we were in Hemet. I suspected a set lever problem because the stem didn’t feel right. The watch was about eight years old and could use a complete servicing. I was once a watch idiot savant (WIS) – I had a collection of mechanical watches. I kept them on automatic winders – these are devices that rotate the watch so the auto-winding mechanism would keep the mainspring tensioned. I also had a collection of railroad pocket watches. I reduced my collection over the years – I only have one railroad pocket watch now and five wrist watches.

Israel, the watch maker at Ben Bridge confirmed my suspicion of a broken set lever. The set lever is selector that allows the watch to be manually wound or the date to be set or the time adjusted. He will do a complete overhaul of the watch including a new set lever, mainspring, seals and gaskets and polish the case and bracelet. Our goal is to have the work completed before we leave San Diego in four weeks.

While I was at the mall, I had lunch. I ordered teriyaki chicken with rice and vegetables at the food court and sat at a table in the sun. The meal was served in a flat styrofoam container. The day was breezy with sustained 12 to 15 mph wind. I ate a little over half of the meal when a sudden wind gust picked up the container and deposited the contents in my lap! Oh well.

Jorge came back around 3:30pm with the parts needed. I had talked to Thomas, the security supervisor here, and told him I would be draining the hot water tank. They are very sensitive to water spills here at Mission Bay RV Resort due to the proximity of the bay. Contaminated water run-off into the bay is frowned upon and could result in fines. Since I was draining fresh water and only expected to drain 10 gallons, he told me not to worry about it.

Jorge removed the old anode rod and he had a 1-1/8″ socket to remove the adapter from the tank. Now we could install the new genuine Suburban anode rod once the tank was drained. He used a wand on the end of a water hose to clean the inside of the tank. He also pulled the pressure relief valve.

Old corroded aftermarket anode rod

Old corroded aftermarket anode rod

File photo of a new Suburban anode rod for comparison

File photo of a new Suburban anode rod for comparison

Once the tank was empty, Jorge went inside and removed the check valve from the tank outlet. His diagnosis was correct – the check valve was faulty. The check valve has a brass housing which screws into the tank. Inside this housing is a spring-loaded plastic stopper. The spring seats the stopper inside the housing in the opposite direction of normal flow, thus preventing backflow into the tank. When a faucet is opened, the water pressure on the downstream side of the check valve drops and water pressure from the tank overcomes the spring and opens the valve, allowing hot water to flow to the faucet. The plastic stopper has a piece behind the spring that limits the amount of travel of the stopper. In our valve, this plastic piece was broken off and the stopper was floating inside the housing. Water flow would move the stopper against the outlet of the housing, restricting the flow.

Old broken check valve

Old broken check valve

With the check valve replaced and the new pressure relief and anode rod installed, we refilled the hot water tank. Voila, we had good hot water flow! I paid Jorge $170 for his time and materials and learned about our hot water system while he was at it.

With the tank working correctly, I had the electric heating element and the propane burner heating the water. I had hot water for a shower within 10 minutes. I showered and rode the scooter over to the Offshore Tavern and Grill to meet up with my school mates, Gary Stemple and Jim Birditt. Jim was in town on business and Gary set up the meet. We had a few beers and laughs while the bar filled with people wanting to watch the NCAA men’s baskeball championship. It was noisier in there than ever.

Jim and I had dinner there while Gary had to leave for a softball game in Kearny Mesa. I ordered the SD Cheesesteak sandwich – sliced beef, jalapenos, mushrooms, spicy jack cheese sauce and guacamole on an amoroso bun. I don’t know why I felt compelled to eat the whole thing. I was uncomfortably stuffed, but it was tasty.

That's a lot of sandwich

That’s a lot of sandwich

Today Donna and I will go to the Pacific Beach Recreational Center to see about getting into the open pickleball games.

Two for One in Casa Grande

We’ve settled in at the Casa Grande RV Resort. It’s relatively quiet. We’re near a busy road but it’s nowhere as noisy as our location in Mesa.

When we visited the Casa Grande ruins and arrived here on Wednesday, we dodged a few rain showers. The rain continued Thursday through most of the day with a few breaks here and there. I left the scooter and grill in the trailer until Thursday afternoon when the skies started to clear a bit. I mentioned in my last post how accommodating the management was here at Casa Grande RV Resort. They gave us two back-to-back sites for the price of one so we wouldn’t have to drop our trailer!

Spacious site(s) 310/305

Spacious site(s) 310/305

Donna made meatloaf for dinner. Her meatloaf is always sensational – I think it’s mainly due to the way she manages to get the meat really fine by “whisking” it with a fork. I enjoyed a bottle of Rough Draft Eraser IPA with dinner.

Rough Draft Eraser IPA

Rough Draft Eraser IPA

Meatloaf served with steamed Kale and bacon and mashed sweet potato

Meatloaf served with steamed kale and carmelized bacon and mashed sweet potato

The skies were partly cloudy with cooler weather on Friday. I think the high was in the lower 70s. I went to the pickleball courts in the morning. They have four courts here. When I arrived, all four courts had games in progress and 11 people were waiting to play. They have a good system here to rotate players in. There’s a rack for paddles. Placing your paddle in the rack serves as a placeholder. When a game is finished, all four players leave the court. The next four paddles in line are retrieved by their owners and that makes up the next foursome. I played several games and I’m beginning to move better now. I still have some tightness in my right leg, but it’s definitely improving.

On Friday evening, Donna prepared green chili turkey burgers. They’re really good, but these have been bothersome to grill in the past. The turkey burgers tend to fall apart because of the wetness of the diced green chilis in them. So I tried something different this time. I used a grill mat on our Weber grill and it worked perfectly. Now I just have to figure out how to clean the grill mat.

Grill mat on our Weber grill

Grill mat on our Weber grill

The clouds had moved to the east while I was grilling. I shot a photo of the sunset reflecting off the clouds looking east from our site.

Sunset reflecting off the clouds in the east

Sunset reflecting off the clouds in the east

Donna has been taking walks for exercise while her road rash heals. She pulled a groin muscle when she crashed and that’s preventing her from jumping back into pickleball. But her injuries are getting better every day.

We had warmer weather on Saturday. I started the day with pickleball again. Donna continued formatting one of her books which she recently updated and will re-release shortly. I had a lazy day. I spent most of the afternoon reading another Vince Flynn thriller – Protect and Defend. I managed to break away from relaxation time long enough to replace the filter bag in the central vacuum cleaner system and try it out. We haven’t been using the central vacuum cleaner, just our Dyson DC44 cordless vacuum. Donna wanted to try the central vacuum cleaner so I got it up and running. It seems to work really well.

Central vacuum cleaner

Central vacuum cleaner

In the afternoon, we joined our neighbors, Bill and Cris Filby for happy hour. They are snowbirds from Michigan planning to go full-time soon. Right now they have a fifth-wheel RV, but they’re planning to move to a 40′ motor home when they hit the road full-time. They are also avid pickleball players and provide lessons for new players.

This morning I went to the pickleball courts early. I was there by 8:30 and played for three hours! I’m whipped. We expect the temperature to reach the mid-80s today. It looks like another good day for rest and relaxation.

St. Paddy’s at Orangewood

Donna was feeling sore and moving slowly on Monday. She had a dentist appointment at 9:40am and drove herself to the dentist office in Lana’s Toyota Highlander. Thankfully we still have Lana’s car and didn’t have to scooter over to the dentist office. That would have been a bit uncomfortable. After her dental appointment, Donna took pain medication. Unfortunately, the medication made her nauseous. So she took it easy for the rest of the day.

I resealed the seams on the left bedroom slide-out after a few games of pickleball. On Monday evening, we walked down to the grassy common area by the pickleball courts for the Orangewood Shadows memorial pizza dinner. Residents decorated luminaria bags memorializing those who have passed on. Since we’re newcomers to this park, we didn’t know the proper etiquette.  We found a spot on the grass, set up our chairs and got in line for pizza. Then we figured out that we were set up in an area reserved for VIPs. I’m still not clear what constitutes an Orangewood Shadows VIP. We ate our pizza slices and decided to re-locate. The folks around us told us not to worry about it and stay where we were. We didn’t feel right, so we moved. Then we figured out that the grass had been divided into zones. They were calling people up to get in line for pizza by zone. Oh well, we didn’t mean to jump the line.

We sat with Jim, one of the guys we often play pickleball with, and met his wife Kay. We enjoyed their company and chatted for a while. We learned that they came to Orangewood for the first three years in a motorhome, then rented a park model for two years before deciding to buy one this year. All in all, 90 pizzas were served that night! Donna and I had two slices each, not a bad deal for a two-dollar ticket.

On Tuesday morning, I hit the pickleball court for the last time before we pull out of here. We quit early as the Orangewood Shadows St. Patrick’s Day parade was scheduled to begin at 10am. Some of the residents went all out for the parade. Donna and I sat in chairs in front of our site as the parade came by. It was fun.

Bag pipes

Bagpipes

Our neighbor Al driving a golf cart converted to a fire engine

Our neighbor Al driving a golf cart converted to a fire engine

Orangewood Shadows band. Our neighbor Brian in front with the saxophone

Orangewood Shadows band – our neighbor Brian in front with the saxophone

Another musical group from the park

Another musical group from the park

After the parade, I started working on organizing the trailer. The longer we sit in one place, the more work it takes to get the trailer ready for travel. I removed the tire covers from the coach and checked the tire pressure. I also tackled another chore on my to-do list. I wanted to sanitize our fresh water tank and lines. It’s been more than a year since I’ve done this and I think it’s a good idea to make this an annual maintenance item.

The last time I sanitized the fresh water tank, I used household bleach. Two ounces per 15 gallons is the proper mixture. Household bleach has about 3% available chlorine. It also has other components that make it smell and taste awful. When I sanitized with bleach, I had to flush the stuff out of the system a couple of times and it still took a while before the odor was gone.

This time I used a chlorine concentrate called sodium dichlor. It’s available at pool supply stores. I bought a pound of granulated sodium dichlor at Leslie’s Pool for five bucks. It contains 62% available chlorine, so a little bit goes a long way. It only takes a teaspoon of sodium dichlor to treat 100 gallons of water. I put a teaspoon of sodium dichlor into the fresh water supply line and filled our fresh water tank with 100 gallons of water. The solution needs to be in the tanks for three hours or longer to ensure all bacteria are eliminated. I also opened all of the taps and shower head to distribute chlorinated water throughout the fresh water system. With the tank filled, Donna and I went to the recreation hall for the fish fry lunch.

The park was having its annual fish fry with Alaskan halibut, French fries and cole slaw. Our ticket also included our choice of beer or soda. They served a large plate of fish and chips. I managed to eat all of the halibut, but couldn’t eat all of the fries. The halibut was good!

Fish and chips plate

Fish and chips plate

The fish fry lunch was running a little behind schedule. Apparently only two of the three fryers they rented were working. We had to scoot out of there so Donna could make it back to the dentist at 2pm. She had an appointment to have her retainer adjusted to fit the new crown that was put in on Monday.

After the dentist, I drove Donna to her friend’s house. Dara lives in Las Sendas a couple of miles from the dentist office. Dara is into essential oils and she had several she wanted to give to Donna to help her road rash heal. Dara and Donna sometimes ride together and she’s had her share of road rash. Some years back, she was hit by a car and seriously injured. She founded Not One More, a non-profit foundation committed to making roads safer for cyclists and helping those who have been injured to meet their medial and personal bills.

From Dara’s house, we drove to Lana’s to return her car. Lana dropped us back at the RV park. Lana also had my old laptop, which her fiance Joel had repaired. He took the laptop completely apart and replaced the cooling fan. It works like new. He said it was a difficult unit to disassemble. When I looked for someone to fix it, I was told the labor would be over $200. I paid Joel for the part – he fixed it gratis. Now I have a back-up laptop. Thanks, Lana and Joel, for your generosity.

I made one last trip to Lucky Lou’s to say my goodbyes to the gang. When I returned, I dumped the chlorinated water from the fresh water tank – it had been in there for nearly six hours. I had turned off the water heater earlier in the day. I dumped the water from the water heater and flushed it out. I refilled our fresh water tank and ran water through all of the taps. I can barely smell the chlorine. Sodium dichlor will be my method of choice from now on.

I made a few more preparations for our departure. I removed and stored our front window covers before I fired up the grill. I grilled Trader Joe’s chicken jalapeno sausages while Donna prepared creamy avocado cauliflower – steamed cauliflower blended with avocado, olive oil, garlic, lemon and parsley in the food processor. It paired perfectly with the sausage and the color was in the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day.

Non-traditional St Paddy's Day fare

Non-traditional St Paddy’s Day fare

I have a few more things to load into the trailer before we kick the tires and light the fires. We’re heading back to Casa Grande.

Donna Gets Her Bell Rung!

While I was writing my post yesterday, Donna went out for a bicycle ride. She wanted to get some miles in early before it got too hot out. I dumped the gray water tank and was thinking about getting the ladder out of the trailer to reseal the trim on the bedroom slide-out. My cell phone started ringing, I saw that it was Donna on the caller ID. I thought she must be having bike trouble – a flat tire or something.

I was surprised to hear a male voice asking if I was Mike Kuper. The caller identified himself as a paramedic with the City of Mesa Fire Department. My first thought was, “Oh no, Donna’s been hit by a car.” I flashed back to 2005 when I was hit by a car while bicycling here in Mesa, Arizona. I was heading west on Guadalupe Road approaching the intersection for the Loop 202 on-ramp. This is a controlled intersection with stop lights. Cars coming from the west only enter the on-ramp on a green arrow. My light was green. I was cruising in the bike lane at 22 mph (I had just looked a my speed on my bike computer). Suddenly a car was in the intersection. The young male driver was coming from the west and had blown through the red light and turned left for the on-ramp right in front of me. I slammed on my brakes and went into a skid. There was no way I could avoid contact. I flew over the hood of the car and my left shoulder crushed into the roof pillar next to the windshield. I felt and heard my collar bone break. I fell to the ground. The driver got out of his car, still talking on his cell phone. He was shouting, “Oh my God, I just hit this dude on a bike.” The City of Mesa Fire Department responded.

I was jolted back into the present when the paramedic told me Donna was okay. She had crashed on Power Road and had her bell rung. A good Samaritan witnessed the crash and stopped to help her. He loaded her bike in his SUV and drove Donna to the fire station. The paramedic said her helmet was trashed and she was dazed. Other than that, he didn’t think she had any serious injuries. He told me that she would be transported by ambulance to the ER at Banner Baywood Hospital to have her head injury evaluated.

We still had Lana Jansen’s Toyota Highlander here, so I drove over to the hospital. I had to wait for a few minutes before they took me back to Donna’s room. I saw road rash on her legs and left arm, but she was in good spirits and didn’t seem to be in too much pain. She told me that when the guy stopped to help her, she thought she might be able to ride her bike home, but she couldn’t remember where home was! When the paramedics asked her what year it was, she said, “Can we circle back to that one?” She obviously had a concussion.

Donna in good spirits at the ER

Donna in good spirits at the ER

They took X-rays of her chest and left knee. Then she was wheeled away for a CT scan of her head. About an hour later, the doctor came in and said she would be fine. They gave her a prescription for pain medication, cleaned up the road rash and sent us on our way.

She didn’t remember much about the crash. She said the handlebars seem to be wrenched from her hands or her hands flew off the bars like she had hit something. We drove past the crash site on our way to pick up her bicycle at the fire station. The bike lane looked good. We didn’t see any pot holes or obstacles.

The firemen were very helpful. They showed me her helmet and said it really saved her. The left side of the helmet was scraped and the high density foam liner was crushed and cracked in multiple places. It absorbed the impact and saved her from serious injury.

The left side of her helmet hit the pavement

The left side of her helmet hit the pavement

Cracked liner

Cracked liner

More cracks

More cracks

Another broken part of the liner

Another broken part of the liner

The fire captain told me that the good Samaritan had witnessed the crash. He said there weren’t any cars ahead as he was approaching Donna from behind. He said she suddenly flew from the bike and he thought she may have caught the curb with her right pedal. They helped me load the bike into the back of the Toyota. Donna had told me her bike was damaged. She said the handlebars were askew and the wheel wouldn’t turn. I didn’t see much damage on the bike. The left brake lever and hood had some scrapes. The handle bar was straight and the wheels turned fine. A bang on the head can really play havoc with your mind. Donna insisted the bike had been damaged.

As we were driving home, I told Donna what the fire captain had told me. She didn’t believe she caught the curb with her pedal. When we got back to our coach, I examined her bike closely. She obviously went down on the left side. I also found fresh scrape marks on the right pedal. She told me that right before the crash, she had looked down at her speed readout and saw 17 mph, then bang! I think she must have drifted to the right of the bike lane, caught her pedal against the curb and lost control.

She’s sore this morning and has some road rash, but it could have been much worse.

Ouch!

Ouch!

Road rash and bruises on her arm

Road rash and bruises on her arm

Donna here: About 20-25 minutes before my crash, I witnessed what could have been a fatal wreck involving a motor home and a Jeep. I was cycling east on McDowell. A motor home came up from behind me and it was moving right along. As it approached the intersection, which is a four-way stop, I realized that it was not slowing down. The driver was going to blow right through! I was screaming, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” because just then, a red Jeep entered the intersection. I saw the motor home swerve at the last minute and then straighten up as it barreled through. Miraculously, the Jeep made it across. I stopped to talk to the driver, a young man, who had pulled over just beyond the intersection. I told him that he was one lucky guy. He said he saw the motor home coming and floored it. And then his engine died – probably blew a radiator hose. As I pedaled away, he said, “Have a safe ride!”

 

Orange Blossoms

We tend to follow nice weather. We try to avoid cold, wet climates and opt for warm, sunny weather. This means we are mostly in areas where flowers are blooming. I have severe pollen allergies – most tree and grass pollen really sets me off.

This year, I tried a form of immunotherapy that involves taking daily doses of local, minimally processed honey. The theory behind this is that the honey contains small amounts of local pollen. Taken daily, an immunity is built up in the body. I started doing this last fall in San Diego and continued here in Arizona.

Here in Arizona, I bought local honey that was labeled mesquite. It’s from bee colonies that are in the open desert and contains a mix of pollen. It seems to have helped. I’m not free of allergy symptoms, but they haven’t been as severe as last year. Recently I switched to orange blossom honey in anticipation of all the orange trees around here flowering.

Orange tree blossoming next to our site

Orange tree blossoming next to our site

But the honey treatment is no match for the current profusion of orange tree blossoms. I now have full-blown allergy symptoms – sinus congestion, runny nose, and puffy, watery eyes. I’m taking Flonase, but mornings are misery.

I mentioned meeting up with Dave Hobden at Tekris Power Electronics in yesterday’s post. While I was there, I made an impulse purchase of a device that seems somewhat controversial. It’s a battery desulfator that I installed on our bank of 6-volt house batteries. Sulfation is where the lead, lead oxide and sulfuric acid in the batteries combine and form crystals of lead sulfate. These crystals cling to the lead plates, diminishing capacity. Charging the battery removes these crystals, but it doesn’t remove them completely. Over time, they accumulate. Some crystals may fall to bottom of the battery where they can collect and eventually short the plates.

The device I bought is called Battery Life Saver BLS-12N. It’s connected to the battery bank and draws a small amount of current – I took measurements and averaged 23ma. It generates a high-frequency signal through the battery. The frequency it generates shatters the lead sulfate crystals so they can recombine into the lead, lead oxide and sulfuric acid components.

I say it’s controversial because an online search reveals two camps. One camp says it’s nothing more than snake oil or voodoo and does nothing. The other camp says they use it and it absolutely works. I haven’t found any evidence of valid testing by the nay-sayers to prove it doesn’t work. On the other hand, there are test results that show battery capacity can be restored with this device. I don’t know for sure and I don’t know how I can make a valid test on our batteries while they’re in use. I guess if our batteries need to be replaced in the next year or two, I’ll join the nay-sayer camp. If our batteries last for several years, who’s to say the BLS-12N helped or not? Like I said, it was an impulse buy.

Battery Life Saver mounted in the battery compartment

Battery Life Saver mounted in the battery compartment

We played pickleball yesterday morning. It’s such an addicting game and Donna and I love playing it. I took it easy and played four or five games. My calf was a little tight, but it feels fine today.

We had warm weather with low clouds yesterday. The temperature was in the upper 80s. If we didn’t have the cloud cover, it would have been a real cooker. As it was, we ran the air conditioners in the afternoon. I took a photo of the sky before sunset while I was outside grilling. We have the same low ceiling again today.

Low clouds near sunset

Low clouds near sunset

Donna and I enjoy Thai food. We don’t have to eat out to enjoy this type of food though. A week or so ago, Donna made a variation of Thai satay called Malaysian chicken sate. She marinates the chicken and I grill it on skewers. It’s served with a delightful peanut sauce. We liked it so much, Donna prepared it again last night.

Malaysian chicken sate skewers on the grill

Malaysian chicken sate skewers on the grill

Malaysian chicken sate with peanut sauce and sauteed veggies

Malaysian chicken sate with peanut sauce and sauteed veggies

I have a project to attend to today. I want to reseal the seams on the driver’s side bedroom slide-out with silicone sealant. When it rains, water is collecting behind the trim and leaves a stain as it runs down the side of the coach.

Back in the Game

After three weeks of rest and recovery, my leg was feeling much better on Sunday. I walked down to the pickleball courts and practiced serving. I wanted to see if hitting serves would put too much stress on my calf. It was fine. After about half an hour, Donna came down and joined me. We practiced dinking the ball back and forth. No hard shots and no running after the ball. My leg was fine.

On Sunday evening, our friends Lana and Joel picked us up around 5pm. We drove over to Baja Joe’s for margaritas and dinner. The place was packed with a 35-minute wait for a table. There were tables available in the bar though, so we opted to sit and order dinner in the bar. Conversation flowed as we enjoyed our dinner and two pitchers of margaritas over the next two hours. When we returned to our place, we sat outside and talked for another two hours. Joel took my old laptop – he thinks he can fix the cooling fan issue. He also took our entertainment hard drive to add more movies and TV series to it. Thanks, Joel!

My leg felt good Monday morning. Donna and I went to the pickleball courts to play a game or two. I planned to limit my effort to about 80% – no lunges for the ball or jumping. Donna left after five games, I ended up hanging around and played eight games.

Action on the Orangewood Shadows pickleball courts

Action on the Orangewood Shadows pickleball courts

When I walked back home, I could feel tightness in my right calf. I put my leg up and read for a while. Then I noticed I had bruising on my ankle and foot. Apparently there are still micro-tears in the calf and the activity caused some bleeding in the muscle. Gravity forced the blood down to my ankle and foot.

Blood pooling in my foot after pickleball

Blood pooling in my foot after pickleball

I spent most of the afternoon with my foot elevated, periodically icing my calf. I don’t think it’s a big deal. My leg feels fine this morning, but I think I will give it another day of rest before playing pickleball again.

I rode the scooter over to Red, White and Brew to join Mike Hall, John Huff and Pat Fitzpatrick for a cold one. Tom Brennan joined us at the bar. Tom is patriotic and has an interesting hobby. He has replicas of various cartridges made with one troy ounce of silver. When he meets a veteran, he presents him with a silver bullet. Each cartridge is engraved. He chooses the cartridge type and engraving to give the veterans based on their service history. He has Navy SEAL friends who helped him come up with the mottos engraved on the silver cartridges.

Silver bullets - 5.56mm, 45ACP and 9mm

Silver bullets – 5.56mm, 45ACP and 9mm

We have eight more days here at Orangewood Shadows RV Resort before we hit the road. I’m getting the hitch itch and I have to take care of a few projects over the next week before we leave.