La Quinta, California: So much going on this past week. As planned, I had a steroid shot in my knee Monday afternoon. The vial was filled with half cortisone and half pain killer, and the injection didn't hurt too much, though the needle was definitely longer than the teeny one for our Moderna boosters. Mostly there was just a feeling of pressure as the liquid was released into the knee. By Tuesday morning, I was ready to run a marathon... until the pain med wore off. It still hurts, but not as much, the pain is lessening every day, and the swelling has almost disappeared. I am still icing and doing PT, and will return to my usual exercise routine Monday. Well, kinda. I'm going to walk ONE mile Monday instead of my usual four. Baby steps.
THURSDAY: Our next crisis-o-the-moment was getting our motorhome registered in California. We went to our RV storage facility to do a quick inventory in preparation for our up-coming vacay and to drive the bus to the DMV. (For some reason, the DMV need to read/see the VIN number themownselves.) Inventory complete, and the *&$# bus won't start. Dead batteries. No matter that we had all new batteries installed last month by the service department at the RV storage facility and our motorhome had been plugged into 50 amp power.
Y'all know I am going to say Rat Farts.
The on-site tech came out and put our dead RV on a charger and we hung around for thirty minutes, at which time the motor turned over. Then we pulled the bus out of the storage bay and let her idle for another 30 minutes before heading over to the DMV. Wait time at the vehicle registration line was 90 minutes (or so said the sign), but we could quicken the task by immediately driving over to the inspection area so a clerk could witness our VIN in real life. We waited. We waited. We waited. And we were waiting with the engine running, afraid it wouldn't start again! Finally, I popped (okay, limped) next door to a café and grabbed a sandwich to share. We had finished our lunch by the time someone appeared to behold our VIN. Funny thing: this guy also had a torn meniscus and our VIN is very near the brake pedal. He could not physically get himself under the steering column. He was not a happy DMV employee. (Wait, is there such a thing?) Not able to wedge himself under the console, he crammed his cell phone near the metal VIN tag, and snapped a blurry photo. He made the official call: that was our vehicle identification number. Then he asked us to turn off the engine so he could look at some-sort of exhaust something in the engine compartment. Gulp. Dave turned the key left, all information needed was obtained, a fat check was written, and the Magna Peregrinus is now licensed in California. The RV started on first try.
On the way back to the storage garage, I sent a text to our RV guru, Brian Van De Walker. He answered immediately, asking us to call him when we had the RV back in storage, because he had a suspicion about why our new batteries were dead. Brian asked Dave to crawl into the inverter bay (not DT's favorite task and it was 105°). Brian told Dave to push a breaker and voila! Brian figures the genius tech installing our new batteries didn't reset the breaker. This was information was relayed to the storage facility and if our batteries are damaged due to their neglect, they will give us new batteries. It's always something when you own a recreational vehicle.
FRIDAY: And its always something when you own a swimming pool! Our filter pump died. Can't really blame the poor thing. It ran from 8-5 seven days a week for 15 years. New pump will be installed Monday.
SATURDAY: A lovely day! Our beautiful goddaughter, Natalie, was in town with her husband to attend a wedding. They came for brunch and spent four hours with us. What a treat. You may recall we attended Natalie and Jake's wedding in September.
I prepared the traditional Coachella brunch menu as Natalie could not attend the festival this year. Food was devoured!
Other News Around the Island:
Our CSA box had a huge portion of egg-sized eggplant, so I made the lamb-eggplant marinara again. Except I cheat and open a jar of Rao's instead of making marinara. Hey, I have a torn meniscus! (Chop the eggplant, chop an onion, drizzle with EVOO, salt and pepper, and give it a toss. Then drop clumps of ground lamb over and roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Give it a good stir, smash-up the clumps of lamb, and roast it for another 20 minutes of so. When cooled, add it to a jar of your favorite marinara sauce in a large bowl. Done. It made over six cups - enough to feed us several times. It freezes well. I served the sauce with penne Saturday, but have also used it in lasagna.)
Buried down in the veggie box were a pound of the most perfect gorgeous okra! Going to try to recreate my Mother-in-Law's famous fried okra. The box also included a bag of grapes, Armenian cucumbers, corn-on-the-cob, living basil, Easter Egg radishes, zucchini, and sweet potatoes. Also, two beefsteak tomatoes... not going to need tomatoes this week! Look at our little garden pot:
All this color is attracting the hummingbirds! So many hummers hang around our feeder. Saturday evening, one even took a little nap on the head of our roadrunner "art" in the courtyard:
The Four L's invade Friday! We are so excited to see everyone.
Until my next update, I remain, your recovering correspondent.
I’m so glad the shots are helping. Prayers that you stay pain free 🙂
I too have a torn meniscus but am also bone on bone meaning I could have a total knee replacement if I so choose but hey, I’m ONLY 66 years old!!! Steroid injections did not help me but the hyaluronic acid gel injections help tremendously. I can get one of those injections every six months and as long as they help I’m going to avoid that knee replacement I’m thinking! Glad you are feeling better!!
Getting old isn’t for weenies!
Trusting for your knee to get progressively better. We need
our knees! Janna’s comment sounds like another option
to consider.
Your marinara sounds good. My husband isn’t a fan of egg plant but I think
this will work. Thanks!
So fortunate you have your wonderful RV fix it man.🤗
Glad the knee is doing better. You should get the storage place to cover the gas for the hour you had to warm it up and sit in line waiting to get the VIN number inspected. Gas ow days is too expensive to waste because they screwed up.
Even worse: it’s diesel!