04/2/2020

The warm days are bringing Painted Lady Butterfly’s by the droves. Last winter we had a lot of rain, a super bloom of flowers and Painted Ladies by the millions. Not exaggerating, millions…they floated, swooped and swished past our coach for days on end in March. This year we have had some rain, some flowers and now some Painted Ladies. They are late this year, here it is April and we are finally seeing them float through, coasting on the winds and headed for who knows where they finally land in their migration. While we were doing our resort walk today we passed by a lantana bush that was attracting dozens of these beauties. They were taking a break on the flowers, enjoying the nectar then moving on. Like they were visiting a coffee bar… I can kinda remember what that is like.

So here is how day fourteen of our sheltering in place went:

• Wally and I walked the resort looking for notable fruit producing trees. We took a spin through the orchard and came home with our pockets filled with Mexican limes. These tangy little numbers are growing in the middle of our orchard, surrounded by grapefruit, lemon and orange trees. We discovered them last week when we walked through but this week the ground was littered with them. So excited… I just used the last of my limes so these are a welcome addition to the kitchen. They start off green and are actually supposed to be yellow when they are ripe.

• Spent an enormous amount of time online looking at my mothers lab results, texting with my nurse friend Jane in Portland and trying to figure out how to get her prescription delivered.

• Sucia got a mani – pedi today. Sorry no pictures of that …its kinda hard to photograph this kitty spa treatment. She required two human attendants. I administer the spa treatment while Wally stuffs Temptation Treats in her mouth. The treats keep me from being handed my ass on a platter.

• Not doing much cooking today with my diced finger…Wally made eggs and toast for breakfast and then smoothies for lunch.

• Puttered around outside…it was really breezy today and my allergies are off the chart. Extra allergy meds, nasal allergy spray and hopefully some allergy eye drops that are in the Ralphs grocery delivery will do the trick.

• Met friends for golf cart cocktails in one of our big grassy common areas. We all parked 6-10 feet part, chatted, sipped beverages and played trivia.

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• Wally make Cubano Sandwiches with the left over pork tenderloin from last night. We had some coleslaw on the side so it was a tasty, simple dinner.

• We sat outside after dinner and Bentley entertained us with his new zesting skills. You have seen him in action with lemons but tonight he really put a hurting on a pink grapefruit and a small orange. He had us giggling with his “fruit” face but what was really impressive was his lovely citrus breath!

• The fridge is fat and happy …Alexis, our Instacart shopper came mid-afternoon with a order from Ralph’s Grocery store which is in the Kroger family of stores and is very similar to a Fred Meyer. I love this service and may honestly never shop again!!! We did give her a very nice cash tip in addition to the pre-assigned tip on the Instacart app.

• Worked on this blog post and thankfully I didn’t need my thumb to type.

Day fourteen. – WHAT – was fairly uneventful. I am really missing our hikes and day trips around the valley but am satisfied to stay home if it helps keep our little valley healthy. Wondering what all ya’ll are doing to stay healthy and sane? PS.. please tell me you are staying home too???

04/1/2020

We have a string of warm days ahead…it reached 88 degrees here today. The mornings are still cool but by 11:00 am today it was 81 degrees so we fired up the AC in the late afternoon. Once the sun went down we opened the coach back up and switched from AC to fans only which kept a nice cool air flow moving through the coach. Since we have a new coach this year there is a bit of a learning curve with how to keep us and the four-legged’s comfortable when the outdoor temperature’s go up.

There are always pros and cons with every coach and we definitely have things we really like about the new Entegra coach and things we really liked more about the Monaco coach. The windows open differently on the Entegra. Newer, high end coaches have frameless windows which aesthetically, look very nice. But, they open different, let in less air so we find it gets warmer faster in the new coach. Honestly, our older Monaco had better air circulation overall and more windows but with the upgraded living space the Entegra it is well worth the trade offs.

So here is how day thirteen of our sheltering in place went:

• Walked the resort with my SIP pal Kristen… 2.5 miles. We decided to mix it up and dusted off our bikes and rode around the resort for about thirty minutes to get the equivalent walking miles in.

• Made a curried chicken salad chicken for lunch which we enjoyed alfresco. 

• Chatted with a girlfriend in Portland, compared kitty poop stories and caught up on everything we have been doing to keep ourselves entertained while under siege.

• Had drinkies on the patio with fellow SIP friends while sitting 6 feet apart.

• Had the annual letting of blood in the kitchen while prepping dinner. Our razor sharp Santoku chef knife finally took a whack out of my left thumb. Admittedly, it was after happy hour but honestly I was a bit distracted after getting a worrisome text from one of my mothers caregivers. I managed to get the bleeding stopped while Wally drove to Rite-Aid for “WoundSeal”.

This isn’t the first time I have written about this fabulous product and I always keep this in our first aid kit. Well, except the first aid kit on the boat is apparently where I am keeping it these days. Anyhow, we had a bit of a late dinner, the first aid kit on the Roadhouse is now restocked with Wound Seal and my thumb is sporting a “Steri Strip. Boy do I have some stories about steri strips!!!

• The fridge has some room in it and we are expecting a delivery from Ralph’s tomorrow. Dinner tonight was Rice Noodles with Seared Pork, Carrots and Herbs.

• Worked on this blog post and thankfully I didn’t need my thumb to type.

Day thirteen had some unexpected excitement but alls well that ends well. Hope you enjoyed all of my first aid tips and really hope you are all healthy, sane and staying home!!!

03/31/2020

It was warm, muggy and overcast today but this made for a beautiful sunset.

So here is how day twelve of our sheltering in place went:

• Walked the resort and golf courses with my SIP pal Kristen…another 5 miles. We checked in on the 8th hole Mallard Duck family and I am sad to report we only counted nine ducklings today. Waahhhh…What was really cute and lifted my sad animal lovin heart was that mallard family had extra help protecting the ducklings from a group widgens. I almost didn’t post the picture below because its…well..so BAD. I asked Wally if he was sure that was the photo he took tonite and he said yes..so I tried to crop it and make it better, asked him again if he was sure that was tonite’s photo as upon closer inspection I counted TEN ducklings in the photos. It is still a crummy photo but Woohoo…hoping this is not a wine induced mirage.

• Wally took Bentley to the desert for their dude walk. No snakes thankfully and the old crow took a pass over but didn’t land today. Notice Bentley is sporting a new pair of bright red “running shoes” in the photo below. The desert isn’t easy on his feet and the thorns are really painful so he happily wears his booties. He had two years mileage on the first pair. All the running and skidding all over the desert finally wore out the heavy neoprene soles so he just got these bright red numbers. SASSY!!!

• Made a chopped salad with rotisserie chicken from Costco and all the newly acquired salad fixings in the fridge. 

• I vacuumed till I sweated today…good-bye cat and dog hair. It was warm enough today that I actually turned on the AC while I kicked ass on the pet filth. 

• Supported our favorite local sushi restaurant tonight by ordering take out….again.

• Fridge is plump but not full…I really had no excuse not to cook dinner tonite except pure laziness and there is a pork tenderloin on the menu tomorrow.

• Worked in this blog post, accidentally updated an old post with the new post and luckily used the revisions tab to undo my mistake. I knew better than to hit update instead of save…GRRRR. Its the wine…thats my story and I am sticking to it!!!

Day twelve just sped by. Hope all of you are healthy, sane and staying home!!!

PS… I am happy to report that Sucia pooped INSIDE the litter box yesterday. I know, not all of you may share in my over the top excitement but all you cat lovers will definitely be giving me a virtual high five. Fingers crossed the new litter and clean box will solve the mystery.