26 May: Tuesday

Nogales, Sonora, Mexico: What a day in The Bubble! At least 110°. This morning we returned from our work-outs before we usually leave for our work-outs. This could have been aided by the construction workers outside our RV living area sawing concrete at 6:19a, followed by a cement truck pouring for several hours early in the morning.

While I cycled this morning, I had to dodge a small stream along the interior roads in the resort: a crew were draining the beautiful waterfall at the entrance to our resort. In the summer, the falls do not flow in the Motorcoach Country Club. Too expensive? Too much water wasted? Not sure, but we still pay the same HOAs every month, but do not receive the same amenities. Several water features are no longer flowing. (Insert sad face here, but we would have never noticed this previously, as we have never been here this late.)

We may reside in the Best RV Resort in America, but once the “season” is over, it is a a free-for-all for the construction and landscaping crews. Yesterday, Dave counted 68 motorcoaches on the premises, but only 29 of them were occupied, so 60-ish people are here. While I was out bicycling this morning, I saw three more buses leave.

I must add: last week the construction crews were either wearing face masks, or had face masks around their necks. This week: nada. What the Hell? Restaurants have opened for dine-in service. Social-distancing. Masks. Every-other table closed. Servers wearing masks. Still, no thank you.

Which brings us to NIGHT 72-in-a-freaking-row I have prepared dinner. This statistic sounds extreme, but honestly, if there were no pandemic, it would probably be night 60 of me preparing dinner. We just don’t go out that much for dinner. Lunch, yes. Dinner, not so much.

Riverside County has reached no plateau. Cases are on the rise. We remain hunkered-down, and will remain hunkered-down until statistics change.

Ya’ know, science.

We had one bad thing happen today. Our #1 roof air conditioner decided to stop working. Piece of crap. 11 years of faithful service. Thankfully, we still have air conditioners in the mid-and-rear sections of the coach. If more air conditioners fail, we can sleep in our icy cold casita. Save that, we can drive to LA to sleep in Lisa and Lenny’s guest house.

Repair people have been called.

We had a good thing happen today. I ordered a set of vintage Limoges appetizer plates (circa 1980) from a dealer and they finally arrived today.

The set of six features three female, and three male, golfers.

How adorable - and how much fun if we ever again can invite people over after a round. Six different designs. I will show them over the next few weeks of appetizers.

Pimento cheese on crackers, pickled asparagus spears, olives, grape tomatoes and cashews. Something for everyone.

And then, when you finish your plate, you get to see a beautiful vintage golf scene! Though the plates are made in Limoges, France, methinks the scenes are very English.

No matter our appetizers, we went to Mexico tonight for dinner. The meal plan was for bean enchiladas, but we didn’t cook the entire pound of beef last night for our burgers, so I sautéed the remainder with onions and garlic, cumin, and dried oregano - added a can of pinto beans, smashed it all up a bit with a potato masher and rolled it into corn tortillas (that had been softened in oil in a pan). Oops, I forgot to add cheese to the enchiladas, so just added a bit to the top as it baked, smothered in red enchilada sauce.

Really good. Canned enchilada sauce is your friend.

Our salad tonight was also very good - and super easy. Avocado and orange segments. (Again, I will wait while you go fetch a pen and paper.) Prior to serving, segment an orange into a small bowl and squeeze any juice remaining in the orange pith/skin over the orange segments. When ready to serve, slice the avocado onto a serving dish, then sprinkle orange segments over. Add a Tablespoon or so of olive oil to the orange juice left in the bottom of the bowl that was holding the orange segments, and drizzle this over the salad. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, and serve.

Again tonight, My Thief scoured the neighborhood with his trusty scissors. Not only did he raid our neighbors, he also had to raid our olive tree and rosemary bush for greenery.

Until my next update, I remain, your “it takes a thief” correspondent.