4 June: Thursday

La Quinta, California: Another 111-degree day in the desert. At least the construction crew next-door woke me just before 6a, so I could listen to the news on NPR (via an earbud) before waking for coffee and exercise. There is nothing more annoying (besides a jackhammer... or a concrete saw) than someone driving a screw into steel mesh behind your headboard at 6 o'clock in the morning. Fun times.

Here is an interesting story. (Or not.) Every day on my walk or jog or bike ride, I pass by the campsite owned by our friend, Tom. Tom is now living in a condo in Palm Springs. His lot is for sale. Since Dave and I pass by Tom's lot several times a day, we note if things are looking good/bad and we can report to Tom.

Every time we pass by Tom's lot, we notice the cover over his golf cart has slipped forward, and the back tires are exposed to the sun (damage!) all morning. Every day I pull the golf cart cover down to cover the back tires. By the next day, the tires are again exposed.

For a while, I thought maybe a fellow camper was capering me. Maybe they were watching me (or Dave) continually pulling the canvas cover over the rear tires and would teasingly redistribute the cover, and watch and laugh, as we pulled the tarp down over and over again.

The past few weeks, I realized no one is even HERE. No one is capering us. No one is watching. So, I devised a scheme to add weight to the lower back cover - stones tucked under the back hem of the cover - so the canvas cover could not slip back towards the front of the cart.

So I sent this (above) photo to Tom after my walk today. My three-rock system did not hold. Compared to this shitty poorly designed golf cart cover, I am just an amateur. Tom's golf cart cover hates me. Today, I added two more stones under the rear part of the cover - tucked under to hold it down... and then, a bit of genius, if I do say so myself... placed two really big stones on the top of the golf cart. Will this stop the forward slide?

Stay tuned.

The palm tree barbers are still dominating many of the roads inside this resort. It was difficult today to plan a good exercise route in order to avoid the trimmers (or the dreaded noisy chipper truck). I stayed mostly on the golf cart paths as there are no golfers (maybe 30 people are now residing inside the Motorcoach Country Club).

A beautiful morning in the Coachella Valley. 111° at five o'clock, but we both finished our workouts before it was 90 degrees.

While walking along the cart paths on the golf course, I scared (or did they scare me?) a Green Heron and a crane. Both birds were standing less than a foot apart, watching over a waterfall for a little sushi. When my shadow fell, they both flew a few feet away to the side of another pond. 

They get along. Why can't we?

There was a pretty photo of our appetizer plate this evening, but it has somehow disappeared from my photo stream. Old People Problems. Just the usual: cheese, crackers, olives.

Dinner was quite delayed due to phone calls from several brothers (we each have three!) - and the fact it was way too hot to cook... or eat. At nine o'clock, I served Chicken Paillard - over arugula - with a lovely tomato and basil salsa over the chicken. One plate meal.

Wait a minute. Didn't I serve chicken last night? Indeed, this is true, but all menu plans have been tossed out the window/switched around, as we are having unplanned weekend guests. The kids are coming!

I will be baking cookies. Leo always wants chocolate chip, but with these temps, he is getting oatmeal raisin. Don't worry, Lucy is getting her favorite buttermilk rolls. No one suffers at Bubbe's.

Until my next update, which probably will feature photos of adorable children, I remain, your problem-solving correspondent.