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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And fajita spiced, grilled chicken breast over grilled veggies.

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

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

*Just so you know, if you use this  link to shop on Amazon and decide to purchase anything, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!