In my previous post, I said I would add some photos from Donna and Sini’s horseback trip and the Pass Mountain hike. A couple of the photos were transferred from Sini”s phone and the files were compressed and the images downsized. I couldn’t restore these very well, but I included them anyway.
They rode horses from Saguaro Lake Ranch Stables, located on the Salt River a short distance downstream from the Saguaro Lake dam. Sini is an experienced rider, but Donna hadn’t been on a horse in 30 years.
After their ride, they had a picnic lunch on the river.
They also made a side trip to Coon Bluff and saw wild horses.
The next day, last Tuesday, they hiked the Pass Mountain Loop Trail at Usery Regional Park. A light rain shower passed through the area in the afternoon – it was light enough not to be bothersome on their hike and it presented a nice rainbow!
They had a good time and it was a nice visit with Sini.
It’s been a fairly quiet week since then, I don’t have much to report. We had another repair/maintenance item here on our park model home. It seems like I’m spending more on repairs and maintenance here than I do on the motorhome!
When we had the new heat pump and ducting installed, they told me there was a water leak under the house. I took a look. It was a pipe leaking under the refrigerator about three or four feet from the crawl space entry. Monday morning, I called Jimmy Joe’s Plumbing and they said they could have a guy out that afternoon. Later, they called me and said he could be there by noon and he showed up a few minutes after 12:00.
I showed him where the leak was and he crawled under the house. He came out a minute later and said it was an elbow fitting that cracked. The pipe was capped off – it wasn’t attached to anything. He said he could cut the fitting off and re-cap the pipe. Sounded pretty straight forward and simple. Then he floored me when he said it would cost $265!
I asked him why so much? What’s the hourly rate? He said it wasn’t an hourly thing, the price was set because he had to crawl in the dirt under the house and work on his back. He said it’s something you don’t want to do, so you’ll have to pay me to do it. I wasn’t too happy, but he was right about me not wanting to crawl under the house. I couldn’t let the leak continue, so I told him to do it.
About 20 minutes later, I heard him closing off the crawl space entry. I went outside and found him standing out of sight behind his van, talking on his cell phone. He ended his call and said he would give me a break and “only” charge $205 for the work. Some break! He wasn’t even here for half an hour. I left a review for Jimmy Joe’s on Google and Yelp – maybe it’ll save someone else some coin.
On a happier note, I ordered a Yamaha soundbar for the TV in our Arizona room from Crutchfield on Sunday. It was listed at $199 with free 2-day shipping. It shipped Monday. Last night I noticed they had a price drop on this item – $20 off. I called their customer service this morning and asked about the discounted price. Kyle was the rep I spoke to and he said, “No problem, we have a 60-day price match guarantee – I’ll process a $20 refund.” Now that’s good customer service! Kudos to Crutchfield.
Donna bought a new slow cooker – it has all of the bells and whistles. She can program heat settings and timers. She used it on Thursday to make a new-to-us chicken dish – slow cooker brown sugar garlic chicken. She served it with crispy salt and pepper potatoes and fresh green beans. It was delicious!
Friday night she changed things up with a baked shrimp with fennel and feta dish. Another tasty treat.
It was the NFL Divisional playoff weekend, so we kept dinner simple so I could watch the games. It was still good food with carnitas (pulled pork) tacos Sunday night.
I bought a USDA Prime 2.3-pound tri tip roast – or is it a steak? – at Costco. I took a picture of it before I seasoned it as it’s important to know the grain orientation when you slice it. The tri tip cut has a change in grain direction from one end to the other and you always want to cut across the grain.
I seasoned it Sunday afternoon and put it on the Traeger Monday afternoon. I made a change in the way I smoked it. I dropped the temperature of the Traeger to 180 degrees instead of 225 and smoked it for 90 minutes. Then I increased the temperature to 225 degrees for another 30 minutes. At that point, I took it out of the Traeger and put it on a hot gas grill – 450 degrees. I seared each side for three minutes.
Donna served it with Brussel sprouts in a horseradish bacon cream sauce and baked potato with butter and chives. I love the tri tip flavor when it’s simply seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic.
The weather has been near perfect with daily highs around 70 degrees, clear skies and overnight lows in the 40s. The forecast calls for more of the same in the week ahead.
*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!