We've been in Mesa for nearly three months now. Once we rid ourselves of food service duties, we've lived a relatively calm and stress-free existence. The weather has remained consistently on the not-so-warm side. Today, it's pouring rain and extremely windy; a good day to blog about weird sh&$.
Gross Encounters of the Third Kind
The days we install antennas, routers, and new cabling usually involves climbing ladders, crawling around on floors to pull cables, and sitting or kneeling in weird positions to configure devices. We definitely feel our aging bodies and are happy to head to yoga class to stretch out our aches and pains on our days off.
During installs, we also encounter some pretty revolting stuff. One day, Anne Marie was crawling behind a sofa to unplug a cable and came upon a pile of toenail clippings on a very filthy rug. She didn't throw up in her mouth, but it was a close call.
Another day, we were in a motor home troubleshooting a slow Wi-Fi connection. The customer sat on his sofa watching us while shoveling popcorn into his mouth like he was at the movies. When he would start talking, wet squishy popcorn bits would fly out of his lips and scatter down his shirt and onto the sofa and carpet. At one point, Popcorn Guy coughed and a blast of the buttery white stuff flew onto Anne Marie's lap. No apology. He just kept eating. It was very difficult to not run screaming out of the rig.
We were there for about a half hour. By the time we were done, there was so much popcorn on the floor that it crunched underneath our feet as we left.
When were in the car, Cliff said the guy coughed right in his face when he initially walked into the RV. At that point, we were both really thankful we got our flu, Covid, and RSV immunizations before leaving home.
Be Careful What You Stream
This week, we were in a resident's home once again troubleshooting a bad connection. Anne Marie asked what he was doing last to try to pinpoint the problem. He said he was watching a Donald Trump clip when the screen froze. We couldn't help it, but we both burst out laughing (normally, we NEVER talk about politics on the job). Fortunately, the guy laughed with us. Then he wondered why both parties are putting up "really old men" as candidates. "Why can't they find younger people with business acumen to run?" And Cliff asked, "Oh, someone like Taylor Swift?" The man and his wife both cracked up.
You've Got Mail
Our Wi-Fi Support office is located next to the post office, so we sometimes hear conversations between residents and the postal staff. One day a woman came into the post office and said, "I heard there is a new mail delivery service and I was wondering how it works." A staff member said she wasn't aware of a new service and asked the customer if she knew what it is called. The woman said, wait for it, "Snail Mail."
Single and Loving It
Our last call of the day yesterday was to fix a TV reception issue in a motor home. When we arrived, a woman let us in. She and her good friend were down for the season from Saskatchewan. As Cliff was trying to troubleshoot the TV, Anne Marie talked with the two women. They shared that one was divorced and the other widowed. They started talking about men and both were adamant about never getting married again. Said the RV owner, "We have no interest in being nurses with purses. I got a second dog instead."
Pining for Pasta
As usual, we keep ourselves entertained by cooking together.
Before we left for Mesa, Cliff purchased a hand crank style pasta press and cutter. At home, we use pasta attachments on our Kitchen Aid, but we didn't want to bring an appliance that large and heavy.
As it turns out, the press is easy to use and works really well. We made spaghetti and meatballs that night. Super yummy. We also have made fettucine noodles and we are going to make lasagna noodles this weekend.
Mangia!
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I guess using thr hand crank is like learning to use snail mail. Funny I was jus thinking of you two about 1/2 hour before I saw your blog. Glad to hear you are doing well. We miss you both.
I was just saying to Anne Marie that I miss Gerg and Cat… 😉
Look forward to seeing you guys, again. 🙂
I was just going to make popcorn but I think I’ll wait, a couple of years…
Who the hell hell saves nail clippings?! GROSS!!🤢🤮
Wayne, We’ll make sure to cook up a batch of popcorn for when you visit. But we’ll eat outside, just in case. 😆
Thanks for sharing! We didn't know you had gone on another long-term adventure, but I was wondering since we haven't seen you for so long. Hope you don't end up living on the road permanently!
The ways people live are so varied, it's kind of scary, for sure. A friend in Fort Bragg recently used that 'nurse with a purse' saying to describe rebuffing advances from a guy. We hadn't really heard it before, but it sure does make sense in a lot of cases!
We just finished over three weeks of dealing with our first Covid case.s While the symptoms remained mild, it just felt like it was taking forEVER to get better. We're finally testing negative, but Mike is still coughing and my sinuses are still less than perfect (even after an antibiotic, which did help some). Anyway, we were glad we were home. Next time (hoping there won't be one, of course), I'll definitely take the Paxlovid in hopes of shortening the recovery time.
We'll head back to the coast in a week, at last. Chilly and wet up there, too, for sure. But, you know, ocean waves!
Thanks, again, and we do hope we can meet up again one of these days!
When do you come home?
Sharon, we’re so sorry that you guys got hit with COVID. Seems like quite a number of our friends and family contracted it in the past month or so. Fortunately, the symptoms have been mild this go round.
Speaking of ocean waves, we hope to be heading your way again this summer when things heat up in Jackson. We’ll keep you posted!
We just spent the last week with 100's of old people and none acted like that. I did see one 20-30 year old standing at the bar in a bathing suit that was so tight, I thought she was wearing a g string.
They were probably on their best behavior because they know cruiseships have cameras. 😉