04/12/2020

Oh where to start today? The world in general seems to be upside down right now. The headlines around the world offer glimpses of hope, some counties are tentatively reopening or planning a reopening. But at the same time there are other countries that are in the midst of crisis. Here in the US, where there is no unified methodology so there are 50 ways this could go. 50 states doing things 50 different ways. Honestly, in lieu of any real presidential leadership, at least we have Dr. Fauci. Not sure how he is surviving the ever threatening Trump axe but thankfully for now his opinions are being heeded.

Dr. Fauci on Sunday called for a “rolling reentry” and a solution “that is not one size fits all” to prevent a potential rebound in Covid-19 cases from a premature reopening.

“It is not going to be a light switch that we say, ‘OK, it is now June, July, or whatever, click, the light switch goes back on,’” Fauci told CNN host Jake Tapper. “It’s going to be depending where you are in the country, the nature of the outbreak that you already experienced, and the threat of an outbreak that you may not have experienced.” (OKAY, I am gasping WTF…June or July???)

Sigh, yes acceptance and anger are mixed emotions in my mind. Coupled with all the stress of my mothers continuing cognitive decline in a time I can’t be there to help her. Did I tell you about her standing in her living room with the front door open…buck naked. She is a least keeping the screen door closed. Lots of exercise and wine is keeping me sane!!!

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

• Not sure what happened today, but I was up before 8:00 am and had to make my own damn coffee, feed the fur bags and take Bentley for his constitutional. This will not go unforgotten!!!

• Another Sunday so it’s fertilizer day – whoo-hoo!!! The flowers, herbs and plants thanked me. I’ve been trying to start some cilantro in my existing herb pot but the spindly seedlings are not thriving so I am trying a new batch in a cardboard insert that was part of a wifi booster package. How’s that for getting creative!!!

• My SIP bestie, Kristen and I got in a 4 mile walk around the resort. We really mixed it up and did all the side streets too – crazy times!!!

• Laundry – yawn!!!

• A couple of Easter Bunnies dropped off some treats!!! Thanks Bunnies…chocolate cures everything.

• Wally has been helping some friends diagnose why their golf cart won’t start. He earned a bottle of wine for his efforts today – Thanks Dawn and Fran!!!

• The other big event of the day happened when Wally took the garbage to the resort dumpsters. We have daily garbage pick up service but we just prefer to do it ourselves. A perfectly good, barely used 8 quart Instant Pot was left in the “adoptable” area by the dumpsters. The engineer thought it would be a fun project to fix, but it wasn’t broken…only unwanted. I have a smaller 6 quart which will find its permanent home on the boat and I will keep this big boy on the coach. Best dumpster find ever…LOL!!!

• We Facetimed with friends from Scottsdale AZ today for happy hour. It’s amazing how much more connected we are since we can’t actually see anyone. Sandi and Gerry were here in February and we had a blast with them. Today they regaled us with all the house projects they have been crossing off under quarantine. Impressive… especially painting the kitchen cabinets.

• I tried a new recipe for dinner tonight…just tweaked a few things and added some additional herbs but it will definitely make it back in the rotation. Warm Quinoa Salad with Cumin Spiced Carrots and Grilled Chicken Thighs.

• The fridge is looking quite empty but we have a Costco delivery tomorrow. There are three other people who have jumped in on the order so the Instacart shopper is getting a very nice tip!

• Worked on this blog post and edited pictures.

Day twenty four was another roller coaster ride … but we stayed home.

04/11/2020

Well, here we are in day twenty three of this semi-isolation, COVID-19 pandemic, world shutdown.

I was talking with a friend tonight about where we were emotionally twenty three days into our radically altered lives. We are both planners, travelers, love adventure and the loss of these things is real and we grieve them. It got me thinking about the 5 stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance which are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with the one we lost or in our case the thing we lost. They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling.

Denial – oh yeah baby…this isn’t happening, can’t happen to us, won’t affect us… was where I was most of February and into early March. Anger…yep, started the first week into this crazy lockdown. Bargaining…We want life returned to what is was, we want to go back in time…if only, if only, if only. Depression…absolutely, I felt abject depression. So here we are at Acceptance… begrudgingly, I would say I am there. Not happy about it but at the same time, very grateful we are healthy, financially okay and haven’t lost anyone to this monster virus. It doesn’t mean I am okay with this current/new reality or not knowing what the future looks like it, but trying to learn to live with it. Instead of denying our feelings, we should all be listening to our needs; we change, we grow, we evolve. Perhaps in this altered universe you have started to reach out to others and become involved in their lives. Or perhaps, with all this extra time you are reinvesting in friendships or in your relationship with yourself. None the less, don’t discount that you too may be feeling grief and may be somewhere in one of these stages.

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

• So my new reality seems to be sleeping until 9:00am or 9:30 am. It could also be I am staying up until midnight or perhaps it’s the new edible I am taking for sleep. None the less, not sure why I would be feeling any guilt about it.

• Bentley and Wally went to the desert for their walk and also made a drive – thru stop for french fries. I am starting to think this outing is all about the fries and less about the walk!

• I puttered around outside, pulling all the covers off the furniture and blowing all the debris off the patio. It felt really great to relax in the sun again today.

• It was finally warm and sunny today so Kristen and I got in 2.8 miles walking around the resort. The face mask thing is really hard to get used to but we are trying to be good and wear the damn things. I took a few photos around the resort…it is so quiet at club houses and pools. It certainly feels strange not to see anyone on the golf courses or at the restaurant by the pool.

• We had a nice Sesame, Black Bean And Avocado Salad for lunch on the patio.

• After lunch, I took an 8 mile bike ride with some friends. I was able to sneak up on my duckling friends and get another picture. It’s kinda blurry and another reason I need a new camera with better zoom capabilities.

• Dinner tonite went un-photographed again. We sat out on our shelter in place friends patio for cocktails and decided to order dinner from Tony’s Burgers. After my disappointing burger bun baking episode I was still in the mood for a burger. The Food Network loves this place and that’s how our friends Kristen and John found it. The Mini Blue Moon Burger with garlic and sweet potatoes fries was d’bomb!

• The veggie selection in the fridge has taken a big hit. The chicken I took out of the freezer is thawing so I am still planning to make a Warm Quinoa Salad with Carrots and Grilled Chicken for dinner on Sunday.

• A friend told us that the local farmers market is going again and was very well done. There were no long lines, people were required to wear a mask, stand 6 feet apart, the vendors wore masks, you could point at what you wanted and the vendors bagged it, cash was handled with gloves and they said the produce was awesome. Sounds great so we may venture out next Saturday and check it out.

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• Worked on this blog post and edited pictures.

Day twenty three was a very nice day indeed … we stayed home and it felt great to be back outside in the sun.

04/10/2020

Okay, I know I said that being from the PNW, rain for a few days wasn’t a big deal. Well, today it was drippy most of the day and this is day four of PNW weather. SO, Mother Nature…I am over it…cut it out okay!!!

Given the wet conditions, I declared it to be a pet hair eradication day. No need to be idle here. There was a lot of vacuuming going on at the Road House… Sucia was not impressed.

There was not any new photography today so again you are going to be subjected to my whims. I did get a cute video of the 10 mallard duckling family making a mad dash for the pond. We didn’t see Mrs. Mallard anywhere and Mr. Mallard was clearly paying the brood no attention.

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

• Wow, I got up early…9:25 am! I was actually awake earlier, but by delaying my actually exit from bed meant I didn’t have to take Bentley out, feed the pets or make coffee. Score!! My bad behavior was rewarded by a simple smoothie for breakfast. Seems expecting the breakfast chef to show up at work three days in a row and take care of all the morning chores is asking too much!

• Wally and I got in a couple of miles around the resort before the rain drove us inside to clean.

• Yep, we are leading an exciting life these days. The coach has tile floors and some carpet so cleaning isn’t terribly difficult or long but today I added “deep cleaning” to the chore list. The in-house vacuum makes pet hair eradication (PHE) easier. Trust me, I have tried going directly to the source and just vacuuming the pets but they weren’t amused. We have a washer and dryer on board so most laundry is done at our leisure but today as part of the great PHE exercise, Wally took all of our bedding to the laundry facility here in the resort. Huge washers and dryers make PHE a breeze. The desert is a constant source of dust and since we most often have all of our windows and doors open, dust happens. So dusting happened today too as did cleaning the inside windows and mirrors.

• After all that cleaning I decided to make a big juicing mess. The fridge was completely empty of fresh orange and grapefruit juice plus the kitchen just looked too clean!

• We Zoomed with friends Tom and Laurie in Mesa Arizona for happy hour chit-chat. These two are such great friends that they actually took some of their TP stash to my Mom last week. I know, those are good friends indeed.

• Dinner tonite went un-photographed. Guess I was hungry and just forgot – sorry. It was a simple meal of Blackened Hangar Steak finished with Chimmchurri served with a Broccoli, Red Onion and Blue Cheese Salad. Wally opened a very nice bottle of 2016 Isenhower Grenache.

• The veggie selection in the fridge has taken a big hit but I have all the ingredients to make a Warm Quinoa Salad with Carrots and Grilled Chicken for dinner tomorrow.

• Worked on this blog post.

Day twenty two was a bit boring but the coach is sparkling clean! Hoping for a sunny day tomorrow so we can get outside again.

04/09/2020

More sprinkles and mostly gray skies here today. That didn’t stop us from getting out and going for a drive. Bentley was happy to tag along and got a bit of play time along the Whitewater River. We didn’t hike, it was too drippy but we did do some rock hunting and found a few pretties for the landscaping beds. Next time we will take gloves and get some bigger ones.

We drove back though Palm Springs and Cathedral City. Palm Springs proper was a ghost town while parts of Cathedral City looked like business as usual. Not sure why the difference but PS is really enforcing the masks on while out in public and Cat City…not so much.

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

• The breakfast chef was feeling his oats AGAIN this morning and whipped up a delicious Chorizo, Brussel Sprout and Potato Skillet Breakfast. It really was more like brunch because someone, ok me…didn’t get up until almost 10:30. Sucia Kitty technically wasn’t up either, so there!!! The amazing aroma woke me up and certainly did lure me out of bed.

• One of our neighbors, Carolyn, stopped by and brought us these sweet masks she made. She was worried our face gaiters weren’t enough protection.

• Wally, Bentley and I headed out for a drive to Whitewater Preserve. It’s about a 17 mile drive that takes you up Whitewater Canyon. We love this area, exploring the canyon and its history is fascinating. The area has a long history, dating to just before the pass became a road to the Arizona gold mines. The temptation to strike it rich must have coursed through so many a man …guess it still does. Gold mining however was a hard life as was staking a claim and farming. History makes me appreciate how easy our lives are now. Whitewater Preserve is closed because of this damn virus so we spent our time poking around the river and exploring a few rustic roads.

• We used the House Party app to have cocktail hour with 4 other couples and play some games. Normally, this foursome would all be together hooting and hollering, chatting and having fun together. We are all here in the resort and this is our only way to get together for awhile yet. This crazy crisis is forcing us all to find ways to connect and stay sane.

• Fixed Ginger and Green Onion Crab Ramen for dinner. Every summer we have a crab harvesting weekend when we crab ourselves silly, cook, clean and vacuum seal crab which goes in the freezer for the winter months when crabbing is just a distant memory. We LOVE fresh crab and honestly my favorite part of crabbing is jumping in our 13 ft boston whaler which we tow behind our bigger boat, zipping out to where our crab pots are sitting on the bottom of some bay, pulling the pots and waiting, breath held as the pot hits the surface of the water. It’s like playing the lottery, sometime you hit the jackpot and the crab pots are heavy and loaded with vicious crustaceans and sometimes its a bust.

• The fridge has possibilities but I am fantasizing about sitting in a restaurant, poring over the menu while sipping a cocktail. If nothing else comes out of these troubled times, lets not forget to appreciate the small pleasures in life that perhaps we had been taking for granted.

• Worked on this blog post and edited pictures from our drive to Whitewater.

Day twenty one felt almost normal. We actually went somewhere…granted we didn’t see a soul and only had one human interaction at a distance.

04/08/2020

The temperature here today was a balmy 65 degrees. A few sprinkles, a lot of big fluffy clouds with beautiful blue skies peeking through at times. Apparently we are in for another couple days of rain which is really unusual here in the Coachella Valley. Having spent the majority of my life in the Pacific Northwest, a few days of rain are nothing.

We are looking for a short drive to do tomorrow if the big rains don’t materialize. I have not left the resort in weeks and am itching to go for a drive.

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

• The breakfast chef was feeling his oats this morning and whipped up a delicious Southwest Frittata finished with Red Chile Sauce. It’s was so delicious….

• Spent the morning doing mundane things like reviewing a boat insurance policy and adding a few things to my Instacart Costco order for a friend. Friends don’t let friends run out of vodka or basil pesto!

• Wally and I headed out for a 3 mile walk around the resort. Interesting how much better my allergies are when wearing a mask. That is the upside, I really don’t like wearing it but and have to take a breather (LOL) occasionally.

• Lunch was a simple fruit smoothie. I accidentally got a chocolate protein powder recently but it actually turned out to be delicious with the fresh fruit juice and frozen berries. This new protein powder, OrGain is plant based, has no added sugar and is organic.

• Bentley took a much needed trip to the desert for his walk with Wally. No old man crow today which is a disappointment for Bentley and no snakes which was not a disappointment for Wally.

• We both had a mini spa treatment with my fancy electronic foot tool and a soak in eucalyptus epsom salt. Maybe we are being held captive but our feet should still be treated with love!!

• With soft tootsies, I donned my fancy face gaiter, helmet and took a bicycle ride with my friend Kristen. We rode about 5 miles before it started to spit rain.

• We used Zoom again to have cocktail hour with friends. Sadly, we are just four miles apart and under normal circumstances we would be sitting together drinking wine, cooking dinner and solving all the world problems. This is just soooo weird…

• Tonight was support your favorite sushi restaurant by getting take-out. We love Otori Sushi Restaurant and really hope they make it through this craziness. The only weird thing about getting take out sushi is that all of the sauces come in separate little containers and we don’t know what goes on what – oh well, its sushi adventure!

• The fridge is full of possibilities, still thinking about making Crab Ramen Noodles for dinner tomorrow… we’ll see!

• Worked on this blog post.

Day twenty – what?? Well, day twenty was kinda like day nineteen which was kinda like day eighteen….we just stayed home.

04/7/2020

Our beautiful mountain view was obscured again today by those dark, brooding clouds. The San Joaquin Mountains are definitely getting some snow out of todays rain dump.

The world news today while a bit dark and brooding too did bring a few glimmers of light. After more than 10 weeks, China on Wednesday ended its lockdown of Wuhan. The city where the coronavirus first emerged, the city that has shaken the global economy and thrown daily life into upheaval across the planet is starting to come back to life. If you haven’t already seen the article in the link, its well worth the read.

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

• The only new picture I took today was the dinner shot. Hey priorities right!!! Does it count that I am researching a new DSLR camera? My top favorite so far is the Nikon D5600 . What I really want is more zoom capability than we currently have on the Panasonic Lumix point and shoot which actually has a great lens so the image quality is pretty darn good. I use my iphone camera the majority of the time so I am hoping all you photographers out there will chime in here with your suggestions or thoughts.

• Donned my fancy face gaiter, helmet and took a bicycle ride with my friend Kristen. We rode about 8 miles again today and I wanted to go longer but my hiney and “girl bones” declined to continue….whiny hiney! Good news, I may have actually burned the calories I consumed during happy hour tonight – YAY!!!

• Ralphs Grocery via Instacart delivered a few bags of goods we needed. What’s cool is that I can shop for friends and save us all the exposure of going into a grocery store. Upon delivery to our door, we bleach wiped the plastic bags, brought the bags inside the coach and bleach wiped everything in the bags that we could. I divided the goods and Wally took 2 bags of groceries over to our friends Kristen and John.

• We used Zoom to have cocktail hour today with friends Dave and Tanya who live in Portland Oregon. There have been many an evening spend sitting around their kitchen island, sipping wine and chatting while Dave cooks. While it doesn’t replace being there with them, it was great to see their smiling faces.

• Tonights dinner was Pork Mole Tamales with a Red Chile Sauce, Cumin Spiced Black Beans and a Cabbage Salad with Fresh Oranges. I did not make the tamales because why would I when I can get the best ones ever from the Tamale Store in Phoenix AZ. They do ship, but so far I have been able to get personal deliveries when we have friends from AZ come visit …Thanks Laurie and Tom!!! The red chile sauce is easy to make using good quality red chile powder. If you have some from Hatch NM…you are a serious red chili fan! I was all out of my hatch blend but Penzeys Spices red chili powder is a fine substitute.

• The fridge is full of possibilities, thinking about making Crab Ramen Noodles for dinner tomorrow… we’ll see!

• Worked on this blog post.

Day nineteen was mellow and uneventful, the rain pattering outside felt cleansing while we just stayed at home.