Friday, January 30, through Thursday, February 5, 2015: Back In The Desert, Week 6:

Becky was due to leave for her annual blowout at Terranea, the resort in Palos Verdes, with her buddies from the Organization of Women Executives.  She dropped off the dogs at the Grand Paw Pet Resort at 9:00 AM and came home to pack for her trip. 

At 11:00, we picked up her car at the Enterprise office in Cathedral City and she was on her way.  I stopped at a nearby Best Buy on the way home and talked to someone who nearly convinced me that I would not be able to solve my home theater problem until I took a course in electronics.  I then did some food shopping that Becky had ordained and returned home.  Later I stopped at Dr. Czako's to get my stitches taken out. 

Everything's OK. After returning home, I did some more research for my electronic problem and located a professional installer who informed me that, for a number of very believable reasons, my best solution would be to simply go on ebay and get another of the same product I now had and stop trying to improve the situation beyond that.  I did just that.  The new unit should arrive in a couple of days.  I can sleep now.

Saturday was strange, waking up without dogs or Becky, and actually having little to do on the agenda.  I ended up doing a little more shopping, watched a few TV shows that Becky hates, including an awards show on the NFL Network that was just awful,

and spent the rest of the day relaxing.  In mid-afternoon, we had an unexplained power failure in the RV park that made everyone dread having no way to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday.  It was fixed in just a few minutes.  Whew!!!   After throwing away a box of bug-infested Kraft macaroni that I had been looking forward to eating (Becky had retrieved it from her dad's house; it could have been there for several years), I made myself a simple dinner out of a batch of spicy marinara spaghetti that was wonderful, and looked forward to watching the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Sunday morning, I tidied up the "house" then headed for The Grand Paw to pick up Ramsey and Kelsey.  On the way, I stopped to have the truck washed for the first time in months.  It looks pretty good, considering it has almost 260,000 miles and a number of incidental bumps and bruises on it.

Becky returned at 2:00 PM and we settled in to watch the Super Bowl game.  It was one of the best ever.  I have always liked the Seahawks, tempered a bit because I don't like Pete Carroll at all, and I really don't like the Patriots.  So, I was forced to root for Seattle.  It was a disappointment that the Seahawks lost the game, but it was nice to see that Pete Carroll is being roundly criticized for the boneheaded play he called that lost a game that was clearly in Seattle's hands. 

Monday was a day to dry out after all the food and booze we (rather, I) consumed over the weekend, and I just relaxed.  Becky played pickleball, of course, and we walked the dogs, and we returned the rental car.  After my workout on Tuesday at Gold's Gym (now called EOS Fitness, by the way) we went to an actual theater an saw American Sniper.  Terrific film. 

 

 

Wednesday evening was Ramsey's obedience class, and he did very well.   Thursday was Becky's day to go to Pasadena to meet with the family again, and I tended the dogs while she was gone.  All went well, except that Ramsey is an annoying pest when Becky's not here.  He thinks my sole function is to take him out for walks.  Since Becky had the truck, I rode my bike to the gym. (It's all of a mile away.)

 

I had sent my left-ear hearing aid to the factory for repair, and it came back on Thursday---except that they had replaced it with a new one rather than repairing it.  That's fine with me.        

 

Friday, January 23, through Thursday, January 29, 2015: Back In The Desert, Week 5:

Friday afternoon I returned to Dr. Czako's to see how my wrist was healing.  All was well.  Otherwise, Friday was a very casual day.

Saturday morning, we met with Chuck Conway, one of Becky's former bosses, to tour Sunnylands, a landmark in nearby Rancho Mirage.  Sunnylands is the former home of Walter Annenberg and his wife, Lee.  It is now a combination museum and conference center. 

The home itself is 25,000 square feet and there are several outbuildings to house guests, as well as a large visitor center with appropriate displays.  The main part of the property consists of 200 acres and there are 200 more acres almost surrounding the property.  (Someone was able to squeeze in a small adjacent housing development before the Annenbergs were able to buy up everything around their property.)

The house and grounds complex, built in the '60s, is absolutely amazing.  They took bare desert and made an oasis out of it.  There is a nine-hole golf course, available only to guests staying on the property.  They planted 6,000 trees, only two of which are palm trees.  (Those two were planted at the suggestion of Dwight Eisenhower, who thought it strange that a place in the desert did not have any palm trees.)  There is an aquifer under the property which supplies all of the water used on the estate---including feeding the eleven lakes that have been created there.  And the artwork and objets d'art in the house can only be described as phenomenal.  When they were living there, the Annenbergs hosted presidents, royalty, and a zillion other notables, and pictures of everyone adorn the place.

After the tour, the three of us had a wonderful lunch at the Rancho Las Palmas resort.  I chose the mussels, which were delicious.  We always enjoy spending time with Chuck, and this was no exception.

Saturday evening, we watched The Good Lie from the redbox.  It's about some refugees from the Sudan civil war.  Good movie. 

Sunday afternoon, we headed for Desert Hot Springs and the home of Stephanie and Joe Raffel to have dinner.  Stephanie was in Becky's class at San Marino High. 

They last saw each other three years ago at a reunion.  I had never met either of them, and Becky had never met Joe.  Stephanie and Joe have a very large property in DHS, which they have owned for 25 years.  They actually live in Sandia Park, New Mexico, and this is just a getaway place for them.  We had a great time together.

On Monday we first dropped off  Ramsey and Kelsey at a new kennel we are trying, called Mission Inn Pet Resort, then ventured the 140 miles (roundtrip) to Riverside to meet Priscilla and Dick Offhaus for lunch at the historic (and quite coincidental) Mission Inn.

Priscilla and Dick are a delightful couple from Montgomery, Illinois (near Chicago) we met on our trip to France last year.  They are in the west visiting their children.  We had not been at the inn for several years and the Offhauses had never been there.  The place is awesome, of course, and we all had a terrific time there, including a nice buffet lunch.

It was not the warmest day, and I had worn shorts and a Hawaiian shirt.  Frankly, I was cold.  So, after lunch, while the ladies were searching the gift shop for exotic items, I bought a sweatshirt.  I was much more comfortable after that. 

The ride back to the desert was uneventful, and the dogs were exhausted when we picked them up.  That's good.  All of us spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Becky went to Pasadena late on Tuesday for more work at her dad's home, spending the night at the Jonathan Club and "working" on Wednesday.  I had dog duty while she was gone.  All went pretty well, including the early morning wakeup walk.  Becky returned in the late afternoon on Wednesday and we took Ramsey to a group obedience class with Valerie Masi at 6:00.  He did very well.

We picked up dinner at the Panda Express on the way home.  Delicious, as usual.

Thursday was a very odd day.  We have been considering replacing the "home theater" machine in our RV because we learned that the CD/DVD player portion did not work.  (We've had the machine for four years but never previously tried to use it for playing movies through our TV set;  we've used it only to for our satellite radio.)  And we saw some neato carry-on luggage at Costco the other day that we've decided to buy. 

Thursday morning, I went to Best Buy to discuss the home theater situation.  After 15 minutes of having no one pay any attention to me, I gave up and headed to the nearest Costco to buy the luggage, only to discover that particular store did not carry the luggage we had seen earlier in a different Costco.  So, I returned home completely frustrated.

That afternoon had even more strangeness.  First, Kurt failed to show for our scheduled workout at the gym, and, because Becky had the truck and was delayed at an appointment, I decided to walk the near-mile to our RV park.  That is not something I normally do.  Becky picked me up less than a block from home. 

Second, we attended a 3:00 PM spaghetti dinner for the pickleball crown (and spouses) at the adult lodge, thrown by one of the new players as a means of getting acquainted.  Thanks, Larry. 

Third, we had another dinner at 6:30 with Steve Gore (an old LA Junior Chamber buddy of Becky's) and his wife, Lucy.  They have only been married for 5 years and we had never met Lucy before. 

They are staying at the J W Marriott Desert Springs Resort, and that's where we had dinner (in The Grill).  I had very nice fish & chips.  We had a fun time with Steve and Lucy, talking long enough to close the place.  We were exhausted when we got home---well past our usual bedtime.

Thus ended our current week in the desert.  

Friday, January 16, through Thursday, January 22, 2015: Back In The Desert, Week 4:

Friday morning, I went to see Kurt at the gym, after which we awaited the arrival of Barbara Coad for the weekend.  We had arranged for her to stay in one of the neat Getaway Cabins in our park.   She had the day off from work and had been warned to leave the LA area before afternoon---to avoid horrendous traffic.  She tried, but didn't get out until after 2:00.  She arrived just before 6:00, after dark, that is, so she was unable to see how our park is laid out, etc.  That had to wait until morning. 

We decided that it would be easier to eat at her place since it had a bigger dining area than our rig.  I was dispatched to Panda Express to get our meal.  As usual, it was delicious, and we even had leftovers. 
 
The RV repair people never showed up, of course.  Saturday morning, the girls headed for the desert with Ramsey and Kelsey for their morning walk.  So Barbara had a chance to see how much fun Kelsey has playing in the sand.  After lunch, we went to the movies and saw Birdman, with Michael Keaton and Edward Norton.  It was a fascinating film, and Michael Keaton deserves serious Oscar consideration.

Late Saturday afternoon, we headed for La Quinta to have adult beverages at the La Quinta Resort, but they were having a special event and the place was mobbed---so we went to the Sandbar restaurant instead.  After a round or two, we skipped to the La Brasserie restaurant where we pigged out on wonderful mussels and escargot.  How decadent!

After I served Ebbert Fizzes on Sunday morning, Barbara left for home and the rest of the day was devoted to NFL football playoff games.  Both games were a big disappointment to me.  I don't like the Seattle and New England teams.  Of course, Becky played pickleball most of the time.

On Monday, Becky headed to Pasadena to meet with her family to attack the problem of emptying the house of all of the stuff her father had there. 

I stayed home with the dogs.

Early Tuesday afternoon I had another session with Kurt at the gym, after which we introduced him to Ramsey and Kelsey.  We then met with Dr. Eric Freeman, a hand specialist recommended by my regular doctor, Dr. Robert Czako, to talk about a growth developing on the ring finger of my left hand.  I had taken off my wedding ring since I was concerned if I waited any longer I would not be able to get it by the growth.  Dr. Freeman (a Bruin, by the way)

concluded that the scar from the surgery would likely be as large as the growth---and recommended using the corresponding finger on my right hand as the place for my ring and leaving my left hand alone.  It was a simple solution that I adopted.

Wednesday morning, we met Valerie Masi again for more Ramsey training, this time at the dog park in the University area of Palm Desert. 

We followed that with exciting stops at Kohls and Walmart.

After taking the dogs on a walk late Thursday morning, I had a run-in with Ramsey that ended up with his biting me on the hand.  It's no big deal but annoying nonetheless.  But I was so bummed I blew off my meeting with Kurt at the gym.  That afternoon, I had an appointment with Dr. Robert Czako to remove a growth on my right wrist.  (This seems to be my time for strange growths.)  The surgery went without a hitch.

We then stopped at Bristol Farms to pick up sushi for dinner.  It was wonderful, as expected.  Thus ended our current week.

 
 

     

Friday, January 9, through Thursday, January 15, 2015: Back In the Desert, Week 3:

Late Friday morning, we went to the Family Motor Coach Association rally at the Indio Fairground.  Since we are fifth-wheelers, not motor coach people, we are frowned on by the snoots at the FMCA, but we go to their rallies anyway if we are in the mood.  We specifically went to this one for two reasons:  First, to buy new pillows that we have seen advertised on TV, and Second, to say hello to Pam and Walt McQueston, some RV friends of ours who came from Arizona to the rally to represent the company that runs the RV park where they are spending the winter.  It was fun seeing them again. 

After buying some goodies at the rally, we went to the Pueblo Viejo restaurant for some much-needed Mexican food and Margaritas.  Yum!  That became the principal meal of the day.

Saturday was mostly NFL football until late afternoon.  I was very disappointed that the Broncos lost to the Colts and mildly so that Carolina lost to the Seahawks.  Then we watched Boyhood from the redbox.  It was a very interesting film, though quite long and with a somewhat disappointing finale.  But it clearly will gather some accolades due at least in part to the fact that it took twelve years to make it---with the same cast throughout.    

Sunday was all NFL games.  The Packers/Cowboys game was very satisfying.  The Patriots/Ravens game didn't interest me particularly, though of course I watched it.   

Monday morning I went to Dr. Czako for a review of my blood tests.  It was a generally upbeat session;  that is, I'm no worse off than I was last year at this time. I spent the rest of the day preparing for the Oregon/Ohio State game to determine the national championship.  I had trouble deciding which team for whom to root.  I don't particularly like or dislike either one, but decided on balance to root for the west coast team.  Boy, was I disappointed .  After an impressive opening drive, Oregon went to sleep for the next 55 minutes and got their butts kicked.

On Tuesday we had a mobile dental person, Donna Mullaney, come to clean Kelsey's teeth.  She was amazing.  After calming Kelsey down without any drugs, she proceeded to clean Kelsey's teeth while Kelsey seemed in a hypnotic haze. 

 

 

We decided to not risk trying to clean Ramsey's teeth.  He's not as "flexible" as Kelsey.  I had a nice afternoon session at the gym with Kurt.

Wednesday was dedicated to driving to Pasadena for a meeting with the Shelton family and resuming the task of getting rid of all the "stuff" in Bill's house.  Becky's (second) cousin Jim Chantler was also due into SoCal for a meeting of the biggies in the international Lincoln Owners Club---of which he is the President.  We had arranged to meet him at Bill's house in the middle of the afternoon.  He arrived after suffering through some horrendous traffic on the west side of LA.  He was coming from the airport area (where he was staying) after driving in from Seattle.  It was fun to see him again after about 3 1/2 years. 

While Becky met with the family just after we arrived, I first checked us into Le Reve, our Pasadena hotel, for the night, set up the dog crates and related in-room tasks, then returned to Bill's house.  The rest of the family gathered and (mostly) looked at pictures until it was time for all of us to meet for dinner at the Central Park restaurant in Pasadena.  A little earlier, Jim and I had left for the restaurant for a drink since we weren't central to what was going on at the house and, therefore, were bored. 

Thursday morning, after Becky had dashed to Burbank for a quick medical test that had been scheduled for a while, we loaded up the dogs and headed back to the desert.  It was a wholly uneventful trip, but we nevertheless returned rather tired from our whirlwind excursion to Pasadena.  I had dropped off our thermostat on Monday at a local RV place for analysis since it was doing odd things, and I had not heard back from them.  I decided they were too flaky and went to their shop to pick up the unit.  The place was closed.   I tracked them down by phone and arranged to pick up the item in the late afternoon.  They actually showed up and gave me the thermostat.  They promised to come to our RV park on Friday to assess the situation. 

That was all the excitement I could take this week.

 

Friday, January 2, through Thursday, January 8, 2015: Back In The Desert, Week 2:

Friday morning started well, with the temperature in the mid-40s.  We returned to our routine.  Becky played pickleball and I had a session with Kurt at Gold's Gym.  The college football highlight was UCLA beating Kansas State in the Alamo bowl.

Saturday was a pickleball tournament that Becky played in.  She didn't win anything.  For shame! 

Saturday afternoon, we dropped off the dogs at The Grand Paw again so we could leave early Sunday morning for the 138-mile trip to Gladstone's in Santa Monica.  On the way back from dropping off Ramsey and Kelsey, we opted for dinner from Panda Express.  The Panda Express in Indio was mobbed so we settled for the one in Palm Desert, which was, well, deserted.

Gladstone's was the selected site for lunch with Barbara Coad and Alan and Chris Buckelew.  We realized we hadn't seen Alan and Chris in more than a year.  We sat at an outside table facing the beach.  It was a glorious day.  And it was fun seeing everybody.

On the way to The Jonathan Club in downtown Los Angeles for the night, we stopped at The Jonathan Club at the beach for a drink and to watch a little of the Lions/Cowboys NFL wild card game, which, sadly, the Lions lost after leading for most of the game.  I'm not a big Lions fan, but:  a) I really dislike the Cowboys, and b) It would have been the first playoff game the Lions had won in 23 years.

We realized the downtown JC dining rooms were all closed, so we had to scrounge for something to eat.  (Lunch would not take us all the way to morning.)  By chance we learned that the bar was serving free sandwiches, advantage of which we took.  We slept well and long.  Monday morning, we left for our RV park at 8:00 and watched giddily as commuters heading the other way fought the bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-10.  We stopped for breakfast at the Bob's Big Boy in Calimesa,

then arrived at the RV park to drop off our stuff, and finally went to the Grand Paw to pick up Ramsey and Kelsey.  On the way back we stopped at the Indian Waters RV park so the dogs could relieve themselves in the dog run there.  Finally, we got home for good.

The first order of business was taking down the Christmas decorations, except for the lights on the oleander bushes that separate us from our neighbor to the north.  We'll leave them up for a while longer.

Tuesday morning, we had an RV detailing service show up to wash and wax our rig.  They did a great job. 

After playing a couple hours of pickleball, Becky gave blood Tuesday morning and I worked out with Kurt Tuesday afternoon.  Becky had given up on trying to find a copy of The Princess Bride locally, so she ordered a copy of it from Amazon.  It arrived on Tuesday.  We'll see how long it takes us to actually view it.

Wednesday morning I went to Dr. Czako's to have blood drawn for my annual physical.  That night I went to the Desert Sleep Institute for an apnea study.  I spent the night in a strange bed, without my usual "nightcap," and I didn't fall asleep until after one o'clock, and thereafter slept fitfully.  According to the tech, I "passed" the test, whatever that means.

Thursday morning, I arrived home at 6:30 and immediately fell asleep.  Not long after, I was roused by Becky, took a shower, and we left to meet Valerie Masi in La Quinta for another training session with Ramsey. 

I was exhausted from my night of little sleep, but we made progress, anyway.  I cancelled my visit to Kurt later that day due to exhaustion.       

That afternoon we got an email message from Nicole Rambaud, our guide when we were in France last fall, detailing the events in Paris earlier in the week.  She lives only seven minutes away from where the main terror attack took place.  She said it was quite frightening to be there.