Author: Rudy

Man, the pool was FULL of leaves this morning! And another 30 or 40 lemons were lying below the lemon tree. We had big wind here last night, and it was still blowing pretty good when I woke up at 7. So after a quick breakfast I was out there screening the debris out of the pool while Sue gathered lemons. We had some cleaning up to do today — we’re expecting visitors from Goodyear this afternoon. So that meant we had to do some more cleaning up. Sue swept the patio, the entrance, the driveway. I carried out garbage and got out the vacuum cleaner. It seems the more we clean, the more places that need cleaning appear. I got a break from the vacuuming when Max skyped. We had a lovely visit. Then back to work! It seemed a lot warmer than the 77 degrees the thermometer read. When we were all done cleaning we showered and had lunch. Sue started making appetizers and supper. I went back to work on the computer. Then at about 4:00 Robert and Arlene arrived. I just happened to spot them on the driveway across the bay — hmmm.. that looks like Robert. And it was! Quick tour of the house. We had drinks outside on the patio — joined by a few flies which must have come down here from Arizona. We moved inside for appetizers and more visiting. It turns out that the Dycks know nearly everything there is to know about our lives, courtesy of this blog. That meant that whenever I got a fact wrong in one of my stories they could correct me! Keeps the BS to a minimum!

Robert insisted that he didn’t want to do any of the fun and exciting things I had planned for them — he preferred to just do the everyday boring things that Rudy and Sue do when they’re home alone. That ruled out the foreign film and the visit to the art gallery across the street. And we learned that Arlene knows more about Palm Dessert than we do, thanks to the many times she’s been here with the Coleman family. I guess touring around the area wouldn’t be that interesting for her. So there we were, the four of us sitting on the couch, doing what we normally do when we’re home alone — watching ‘our shows’ — Colbert and Jon Stewart.

Sue served a mexican torte thing for supper. We discussed our lives. What good children we have. A little dispute about who had the cuter grandchild was finally resolved with a showdown of who had the MOST photos.

Tonight, for once, the Scrabble game on the ipad had a night off. Right now everyone except me is fast asleep, but I’m sitting here updating the journal. I better head off to bed — I’ve got an important golf date tomorrow.

Well, the title says it all. In the evening Sue and I played Scrabble on our ipads.

Woke up in time to watch our Sunday morning news shows. Lots of leaves in the swimming pool so I cleaned that up. French toast for breakfast. Worked on the computer until it was time for lunch. In the afternoon we went to Rancho Mirage for our 2 o’clock tee time. I got myself dressed up in green for St Paddy’s Day, hoping for a bit of good luck too. The day was perfect for golf, but the course was as unbusy as we’ve ever seen it — I guess the tennis finals have their share of fans today. The thing about our golf game is that, just like the stock market, it goes in cycles. And right now that cycle is in the 2008 phase. But you know what they say: you have to stay in it and believe that over the long haul you’ll be ahead. We joined up with another couple (from Alberta) for the last 9 holes. We got home at 5:30 and had a little happy hour. Great! Worked on the computer for a bit, then watched the news and had supper — Sue’s ‘best’ supper so far (but not mine!). I did a bit more work on the computer — trying to figure out SASS (a computer programming language) — and then one more episode of ‘Restaurant Impossible’ before going to bed.

Well, the title says it all. While I ate my bacon and eggs I noticed that the pool was just about full to overflowing! I called Teddy and he instructed me to turn the pool’s water tap off — he seemed to know what the problem was and presumably it’ll get repaired sometime soon. I Skyped with Koop for a while — he toured me around his office and kitchen renovations — and we talked about some web projects. After breakfast I cleaned the leaves out of the pool (apparently we had a big wind last night) and then spent most of the rest of the day on my iMac, trying to work through some SASS tutorials. Sue did some laundry and sat outside and read her new book. At one point in the afternoon Tim Snider skyped — so we got to meet Martina, who is 3 months old. Later we skyped with our kids — Max was looking as fine as ever, despite his cold. I was about to go light the barbecue when I noticed a missed Skype call from Ed Peters — so I called him back and we visited for a bit. Then it was time to get supper going. Sue had trimmed the steaks and made rice and an avocado salad — so our supper was fantastic (as usual). We spent the evening watching some old reruns of Dateline and Restaurant Impossible. It’s been hot here now for 4 days in a row, but the temperature in our house stays comfortable — although today we had most of the ceiling fans going.

I skyped with Alex and Max in the morning while Sue had her head reshaped and re-coloured. It took most of the morning too, and it was probably close to 2 o’clock by the time she got home and made lunch! Sue puttered around in the afternoon, finished her book, tried to get some sleep, while I worked over a logo for Oak Leaf. Sue hadn’t slept much last night so by the time it was happy hour, and after looking over the TV guide and finding NOTHING, she wasn’t feeling very ‘happy’ about anything. She’d gone to check out the new Wolfgang Puck Pizza Bar across from the hairdressers in the morning and was told that by 6:30 there was a 1-hour line-up. But since we’d had such a late lunch it didn’t really make sense to go for an early supper. Should we order in from the Italian restaurant across the road? Yeah, but then what? Well, can’t you find a good movie to rent on Redbox? Hmmm, not really. Maybe we should go out for a movie? No, I don’t want to order in a pizza and then go out for a movie. I checked the movies and to my surprise (delight?) I see that the Palme d’Or is running a whole bunch of foreign films, documentaries, Oscar nominees! Yeah, but now I’ve feshpaelt everything with all my farting around and Sue is NOT a happy camper. Oh boy. Okay, let’s go down to El Paseo and see if we can’t get a pizza at the California Pizza Kitchen, and then still make it to the cinema for an 8 o’clock movie. Whatever! So that’s what we did. And lickety-split we’re parked and get a table. Even got to see some of the cruisers still parading up and down the street. What kind of pizza should we order? I’m trying be as nice as I can — how about the special here on the front of the menu? It’s essentially a caesar salad on a thin crust. And some avocado rolls as an appetizer. I’m cheerleading as hard as I can here, but the other team is not going to be won over tonight. We enjoyed our meal, slowly finished the glass of wine, and still made it to the theatre with half an hour to spare. We sat in the empty theatre, waiting for the Chilean film No to begin. Slowly a few other couples join us. It’s already five after eight and still no film. Sue is a bit concerned. Plus she’s cold. I give her my sweater. Finally the movie begins. It’s Spanish, with subtitles. It’s about the 1988 plebiscite on the rule of dictator Pinochet, so the film feels very 1980s. And the story is riveting. I think it’s fantastic, the perfect film to keep Sue awake. We’re out a little after 10. I miss a couple of turns on the way home which gives us some extra time to discuss the movie. Sue has missed it all! What was that about anyway? So did that happen after Pinochet or during his presidency? Oh boy. We get home, Sue turns on the TV, checks her email, and goes to bed. I turn off the TV, turn out the lights, go finish up my project on the computer. I’m tired too. Crazy, eh? You do nothing all day and you fall into bed as tired as if you’d been splitting firewood in the bush all day.

After an early lunch we got into our air-conditioned van and headed west on Hwy 10 to the Desert Hills Premium Outlet mall, about half an hour from our place. It was already stinking hot outside and the forecast was for even hotter. We parked the van. As Sue made her way from store to store I did my best to find a bench in the shade along the way and watch people. I’d say that if it wasn’t for tourists from China and Asia, sales wouldn’t be 10% of what they are here — nearly every group of Asian tourists were carrying multiple bags from some of the high-end stores here. And after about 90 minutes Sue also had a shopping bag to carry back to the van.

We stopped for an ice cream at McDonalds before heading back east to Desert Hot Springs. Along the way we again passed the valley of the windmills. Thousands of them.

We’d booked a 3:00pm tee time at good old Desert Dunes — where twice before we’d been more or less blown around the course by the high winds. Although the winds were not a factor today, the 4:00pm temperature hit 97 degrees. And this is NOT an easy course. So once again, the first hole humbled us and more or less blew up any chance we had of finishing with a decent score. So let’s not mark that one. Let’s just have fun. Good idea, but even that didn’t last for long. By the seventh hole I was having a hard time keeping ‘Little Miss Grumpy’ from throwing her clubs into the desert. And although the thermometer read 97, it actually wasn’t too bad — lots of ice water to drink, shade in the golf cart, and a gentle breeze. And because the game is called ‘golf’ there were several occasions when we had terrific shots, or chips, or putts. Usually not all three on one hole, but sort of scattered about. By 6:20 we had completed 18 holes and were back in the white bake-oven that is our van. Open the windows. Head out on the highway. Looking for adventure. And whatever comes our way. Next stop? A ‘restaurant’ that Sue said I should not name in my (public) journal. Let’s just say that it is a favorite of mine, and the name rhymes with ‘Back in the Jocks’. Ordered a bacon-double burger and one of those new ‘Hot Mess’ burgers. Hurried home.

Sue made a fruit salad — there, now this is a ‘healthy’ meal — and poured herself a glass of wine while I opened one of those nice german St Pauli Girl brews. Man, that’s good eatin’. After supper Sue called Arlene (in Phoenix). We watched some TV and listened to our hot water tank rumbling away in the garage until it was time to close up this day and start thinking about that first cup of fresh coffee that will usher in tomorrow.

Went golfing at the Oasis Golf & Country Club this afternoon. We had a 3:15 tee time — which meant we would be golfing during the hottest part of the day! We were partnered up with a couple from Victoria, BC. Tim and I had golfed this course earlier — it’s a pretty course, short, lots of water — not unlike the Chaparral Course. Started off with a bloop onto the 4th green! Hmmm… Second shot hit a nearby palm tree and fell straight down. Third shot into the lake. So only a couple of too short chip shots and I was on the green! Now if only I could putt.

Things improved (how could they NOT!) a bit after that. By the time we started the back nine my game had improved a bit and Sue’s was falling apart. We all kept telling each other ‘this is GOLF’. Although we weren’t golfing quickly, we easily finished all eighteen holes with plenty of sunshine left. Speaking of sunshine, did I mention that the temperature hit 95 degrees Fahrenheit today? So while my golf score didn’t break 100, the temperature nearly did. And it’s supposed to get even hotter tomorrow.

After golf we stopped at the Albertson’s on Monterey for more beer, ice cream, pop, and a movie. Back at the ranch we kicked off our shoes and sat down with a gin and tonic before starting supper. Whistle dogs on the barbecue, Moose Tracks ice cream for night snack. Watched my movie, ‘Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away’. Tried hard not to fall asleep — all that heat makes a guy downright tired! Finally shut ‘er down at 11:30 and fell asleep before the start of David Letterman — well, Sue may have seen it but not me.

Worked on a computer project in the morning. Read my book. After lunch we sat outside and ‘warmed up’ — it’s getting seriously warm here now — it was 91 on the way home from our afternoon matinee movie. We saw “Parental Guidance” with Billy Crystal — it was ‘entertaining’. Sue made a great supper — chicken and mashed potatoes and cauliflower and a tomato and avocado salad. Wow! Watched our comedy shows and then a 2-hour ‘Chef Ramsay’ show on Fox — yikes! that was a pretty dumb (scripted) ‘reality’ show. I think I just felt an ‘aftershock’ — yep, 3.5 magnitude, south of La Quinta. Well, we’ll ‘rock to sleep’, I guess.

Woke up before 7:00 — must be daylight savings time. Had toast and fruit and coffee. Skyped with Alex. Did a small computer project for Koop. Sue was doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen cupboards, and phoning all her friends back home and I was sitting in the can, reading my book on the iPad, when suddenly the whole room began to rumble. No, that wasn’t me. And no, that wasn’t the washer going nuts on the spin cycle. It was an earthquake! The biggest earthquake I’ve ever experienced. It lasted about 10 or 15 seconds and it shook the whole house, big time. It’s quite something to have big floor tiles and big patio doors and windows wobbling around violently for a few seconds. What was that? Sue was in the kitchen looking out the window at the yard and pool — and everything was shaking. We turned on the TV and listened to the local news desks report that it was a 5.2 quake centered just south of La Quinta, and because it was a deep quake it was felt for 100s of miles. Oh well, it’s all fun and games once it’s over and there’s no damage and everyone’s okay. Chalk it up as another new experience.
I skyped a bit with Max, who was sitting up all by himself. Sue made some lunch and we sat outside in the warm sun for a while, getting warmed up for the afternoon. It was about 85 degrees today, and it’s only supposed to get warmer every day this week. At around 2:00 we left for the golf course at Rancho Mirage. Booked it on golfnow for $25 each. We were paired up with two young guys from Arkansas. We had a great time. Finished 17 holes before we quit at around 7:00, when the sun went behind the mountains.
Back at the ranch we had some cool refreshments before Sue warmed up the leftover Chinese for supper. Checked the tv guide and decided to pick up a Redbox DVD instead, so I zipped over to Von’s to pick up “Taken 2”. It was so-so. After the movie Sue and I played a little “networked iPad” bridge until the start of David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon. Didn’t know we could stay up that late anymore.

Today’s journal entry will be short. Today was an hour shorter than usual. Thanks to my fancy-schmancy alarm clock I didn’t have to get up at 2 in the morning to moving the time ahead for Daylight Savings Time — no, the clock adjusted itself! And after what seems like quite a few Sundays of NOT watching our Sunday morning talk shows, today we watched Fareed and Reliable Sources. In bed. Before coffee. Sue made French toast with fruit and bacon for breakfast. I cleaned the leaves out of the pool. We went for a one-hour walk around the Victoria Falls neighbourhood. When we got home Sue went to sit by the pool and read. I switched on golf on TV. Tiger’s back — he won the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral for his 76th career PGA Tour win. Dave and Lois skyped for a bit in the afternoon. By late afternoon it was time for gin-and-tonics at the pool. Then Sue and I cycled across the street to pick up chinese food for supper. Watched 60 Minutes after supper. Watched more TV after that. Sue fell asleep shortly after 8:00 — too much sun, I guess. Plus, it’s really after 9:00 in ‘real time’.