Monday, Febuary 1, 2010. Estancia Macuyu.
Estancia Macuyu is the area in which we live. Everyone knows it as Gecko Beach though. It is kind of a catchy name huh?! I like it.

It is overcast today and it even looks like we might get a few sprinkles. Of course I washed clothes and hung them to dry. Go figure!!! They did dry a little with the little sun we had and the breeze, but I ended up bringing them to the house to hang in the bathroom to finish drying. Not real good for the solar panels either.

Dave is outside scraping the old paint off from around the door and window frames of the electrical building where the generator is. There is leftover green paint in the garage so Dave wanted to start getting the wood areas that the paint is peeling off for right now. So that is keeping him busy. It has turned cold out with the breeze coming up so I am in the house keeping warm. We have been invited to dinner at Mary and Georges’ tonight so I don’t have to worry about dinner. All I need to bring are chips (totopos) and salsa. We might be going over to Larry and Lois’ on Wednesday, but we don’t know that for sure. Lois was going to call Alan and Barb to see if that would be a good day for them. So she will let us know.

After Dave scrapped the paint he took his sander and sanded all but the eaves of the roof. He will have to get on the roof and sand it from that angle. Tomorrow I think is a trip to the ‘Home Depot’ which is about half way between us and town. It’s a small Mexican version of it. Tomorrow I need to wash the windows on the outside of the laundry room as Dave will be painting there and it needs to be clean.

It never rained today, but we sure didn’t have a lot of sunshine. It was hazy sunshine all day. Tomorrow we will be back to normal sunshine.

While Dave was finishing up with the sanding, I was inside making salsa to take to Mary and Georges’ tonight and then I sat at the dining room table and tried to figure out the counted cross stitch stuff. This is a bigger project than I have done in the past and a little more complicated so it will take me a while to figure out what to do. When Dave was finished outside, he came in and sat in his chair and eventually fell asleep. He did a lot of work today. I helped pick up the large chunks of paint off the ground, but that was all. While he was napping, I was at the dining room table figuring out the cross stitch stuff. Then it got to the point I didn’t have good light anymore so I put everything away. I went out on the deck to shoo the doves away and hopefully discourage them from wanting to nest here. When I came back inside, Dave was awake. Shortly after that we changed clothes and I got the salsa and chips ready and at 5:25pm we walked over to Mary and Georges’ house. Alan and Barb were on their way. We could see them coming. We got to visit with Mary and George a little bit while we waited for Alan and Barb to arrive. When they did we had some appetizers and the eventually had dinner. The fish tacos were really good. Everything was good. We visited a while and then Alan and Barb had to get home. So when they got up to leave we did too. It was a nice evening. We told Mary and George thank you and said goodnight to them and Alan and Barb. Then we walked over to our house.

Now we are relaxing before we go to bed. We were going to watch another movie, but decided we would do computer stuff and read instead.

Tuesday, February 2.
Yesterday I said because it was cloudy that we would have a beautiful sunshiny day today, right? Wrong!!! Obviously I didn’t check with the weather man first. It was pretty cloudy all day today and we didn’t know if it was going to rain or not. But it didn’t. Dave talked to George, our neighbor about the weather and George said it should be nice tomorrow. A front was moving in and should be moved out by morning. I hope so. It was really cold today.

Dave borrowed scaffolding from George, which George borrowed from someone else, and Dave peeled off the old paint off the window frames on the south side of the house, and then sanded them. When he finished with that and brushed off the dust, he started painting. It is a lighter green than what was originally put on, but it looks good. It didn’t cost us anything as Larry had 2 cans of it in the garage. I couldn’t do much to help except get stuff he needed while he was on the scaffolding. Then when he was finished with the roller, I washed that out and then I could start painting the south side window frame of the electrical room. There is another window on the north side I will paint tomorrow. Dave ended up finishing the little bit of window frame I had to do because I had company. This morning I called Mary, my neighbor to see if she did counted cross stitch and she didn’t but she said to call Maryann as she does lots of cross stitching. So I did and explained I was having trouble figuring out how to get it set up, so she said she would be over sometime today. I know where she lives, which is across from Lois and Larry, but the truck isn’t running. The battery was dead. We are going to have to replace it as it isn’t holding a charge for long. Anyway, as I was painting, Maryann drove up so we went upstairs and worked on helping me understand what to do. It baffled her too the way it was, but we figured if I did counting of the squares, the picture should fit on the cloth I had. We visited a little and then I had to go back to painting. I thanked her for coming out and helping me, and told her I would let her know how it goes. As Maryann was walking to her truck, Dave told me he had to finish the frame as he needed the paint pan and brush. No worries. It was getting really cold since the clouds were getting thicker and the wind had picked up. So I was glad to call it quits. Maryann left and I helped Dave move the scaffolding to the back of the house so he could sand the window frame on the west side. I put the ladder away and as he was sanding I took the paint pan that still had paint in it and the brush inside the garage and poured the paint back into the can, put the lid on it and punched it down then took the pan and brush upstairs to clean them. When that was done Dave was finished with his job and we locked up everything and went inside. We were done for the day. Dave cleaned up and put sweats on, and sat down in his chair. After a few minutes of sitting he got up and got his computer and took the satellite phone outside to see if he could get any satellites. Unfortunately nothing came up. So he put everything away and came inside. We had a cocktail and then I started dinner. He played solitaire on his computer until dinner time. After dinner, he went back to playing games while I cleaned up. When I was finished in the kitchen I sat in my chair and started to crochet. I am making a hat for my youngest sons’ friend. He asked Jon if I could make him one, as he saw the one I made for him for Christmas. So when I couldn’t do much this morning to help with the painting, I started the hat.

I think we will watch a movie tonight and then retire for the night. I sure hope we have sunshine tomorrow. Today I can honestly say I wish I had had a gas fireplace. I even had soup for lunch to warm me up.

Wednesday, February 3.
We woke up really early as it was raining. It rained pretty well and thoughts went through my head of having the rocks we just put in to start a wall, washing away. Well that didn’t happen. We didn’t have that much rain, just enough to get everything wet.

Dave was up at 7:00am, but I didn’t want to get up yet so I stayed in bed. He made coffee and looked out the windows to see if there was any soil that got washed away and there wasn’t. So that is a good thing. I don’t think we will be doing any painting today as it looks pretty cloudy. But wait!!!! I see clearing to the north. That is a good sign and we should have sunshine before too long. So we will wait and let things dry out and then see if we can do some painting.

Dave went down to the garage and got the battery that was in the truck he had been charging, and put it in the truck. Then he started it up and ran it for a while. Then he shut off the engine and tried starting it a little later and it did start to our amazement. Larry has a battery already coming from the states that he ordered for the truck and it should be here pretty soon. That will be good if we can have a battery that won’t go dead all the time.

When I got up I found we had no running water. So I asked Dave about it and he said he hadn’t run the water yet so he wasn’t aware of the problem. So he dinked around with the water pump and found the switch is bad. So he called Larry to see if he happened to have an extra water pump. He said he would be over to take a look at it and try to determine exactly what the problem is. So when he came over, I was upstairs making the bed and then crocheting. Dave and Larry worked on getting the pump out and Larry said he would take it home with him and rebuild it. So he didn’t have a spare water pump on hand. So there was to be no water for a couple of hours. No worries. We were able to get water from the pila, so Dave filled a bucket and brought it upstairs to the bathroom so we could pour it in the toilet to help flush it. Pretty primitive eh? Ha!! Well you do what you gotta do. After Larry left, Dave was accessing whether or not to sand the wood at the back of the house. Larry suggested he wait for the wood to dry some more before doing that. So he waited. In the meantime, he said I could paint the inside of the south window frame, and then the door frame and last the north window frame. So I got my step stool, paint brush and opened the can of paint, stirred it then went to work. It really didn’t take much time to do. They hadn’t gotten wet. When I finished that, I got the ladder and started to paint the eve on the south side of the electrical room. When I was almost done, Dave told me, which I forgot, that he hadn’t sanded that yet and so he didn’t want it painted. Oops!! Well I went ahead and finished what I started and then Dave will sand it a little and then use the roller on it as it puts a thicker coat on than the brush. So no worries. While I finished painting, he went to the deck upstairs and sanded the window frame and the frame around the sliding glass door. When he finished sanding, he came down to where I was and said that if I wanted to paint some more I could do the wood he just sanded. So off I went with brush and paint in hand. The sky was getting cloudy and dark and we were thinking it was going to rain, so I finished my painting and Dave finished what he was doing and put everything away. He went to the truck and started it and then mentioned he was going to Larry and Lois’ to check email. He wanted to know if I wanted to go and I said no. So he left and went to their house, and I changed clothes and started working on the counted cross stitch. I figured it out with Maryann’s help and now I can get started. The sky grew darker and the light wasn’t good anymore to do the cross stitch so I put it away and started back working on the hat I am making. I heard Dave coming in the truck so I went to the window. It looked like it was raining already in the mountains and it wouldn’t be long before we got it. As Dave finished parking the truck in the carport, it started to rain. So we were definitely finished outside for the day. Dave came in and sat at the table and played a couple games of a form of solitaire. He knows a lot of card games. I sat and crocheted. Then I fixed us a cocktail and when that was finished I started dinner. We ate dinner, cleaned up and now just doing whatever we feel like. Dave has been outside and he said it is nice. No wind and the stars are out. Maybe we will have sunshine all day tomorrow and we can get more painting and sanding done. Dave felt he didn’t accomplish much today, but he was able to get the water pump fixed and the truck running and he did some sanding. He got some things accomplished.

It didn’t rain for long and it looked as though up north it was clearing so I am not surprised we have a starry sky right now. It looks promising for a nice day tomorrow.

Thursday, Febuary 4.
We woke to sunshine!!! It is a beautiful morning and the sunshine felt good and warm. We have to wait for the wood to dry before we can do anything.

Dave had stayed up until about 2:00am playing the sub game. He was on a mission and needed to finish it. I heard him getting ready for bed and then I heard “we have no water”!!!! Oh boy! Here we go again!! He got a flashlight and went outside to where the trailer is, to the box that has the water pump in it, and he tried to get it to work, while I stood at the kitchen sink turning the faucet on and off as he requested. Well it was dead. Dave couldn’t bring it to life for anything. So he said he would call Larry later on after we got up. So we went to bed, and when Dave got up at 7:30am, he went outside to check a couple of things and nothing worked. So he ended up calling Larry asking him if he had that spare pump. He did. He wanted to rebuild the switch on the old one first to see if that would work. Well it did until after I went to bed. So Larry told Dave he would be over in a while. So we were without water again. I had planned on washing a few clothes, but that will have to wait. While Dave was waiting for Larry, he got a different battery for the truck from the charger and tried to put it in but it wouldn’t fit. So again, no working truck. Larry has all kinds of batteries here, but none of them work as he never put water in them. He figured if it said maintenance free on them, then he didn’t have to do anything with them. So he never maintained them. He is a smart man, don’t get me wrong, there is just something about maintaining batteries that he has an aversion to.

Since we didn’t really have much sunshine for the last couple of days, the house batteries were low so they were being recharged by the solar panels. Today will be a good day for charging them.

While Dave was working on the truck, I decided to work on the counted cross stitch. Then I did some stretching and then Larry showed up. The guys put the new pump in and it is quieter and we now have water. Larry is going to take the old one and see what he can do to make it work again. George was out on the beach gathering up something. I had seen some red fins come out of the water right up on shore and I wondered what they were. I didn’t want to say anything to Dave at the time as he and Larry were trying to get the pump installed. So when Larry was ready to leave and Dave was still talking to him, I yelled out to George and asked him what he was catching and he said squid. SQUID!!! Calamari!!!! I told Dave and he and Larry ended their conversation and Larry left and Dave went out to the beach to investigate. He and George were out there for a few minutes when Dave hollered up to the house to have me bring him his fillet knife. So I went down to the garage and got it and took it to him. There in front of Dave was a large Humboldt squid!!! George was getting the tentacles for bate and Dave wanted the meat for calamari. The squid were beaching themselves and they would die so it was easy catching. They are so large that one or two are enough to feed several people. I went back to the garage and got a bucket to put the meat in, and then Dave took it to a table that is on the beach that is used for cleaning fish, and carved the thick sides off to reveal nice tender meat. When that was all done, we took what was waste to us, back to the water and dumped it in so the birds could have what was left over. So guess what we are having for dinner tonight????

Once back at the house, I took the fillets and cleaned them well and then Dave cut the meat in strips. Then we put it in a zip lock bag and put it in the refrigerator. All was cleaned up and now we can get back to doing other things. As Dave was going down the stairs to the garage, he managed to put his finger through the handrail, close to the bottom of the stairs. That wasn’t good. So he started poking and prodding and found that most of that railing had termites in it. We had questioned that when we first talked to Larry the last time we were here. Dave took off the railing and inspected the rest of the stairs and then the deck, and that seems to be the only place the termites were. Apparently there were eggs in the wood when he bought it. Everything else is good. You don’t find termites in the desert. So that was a job Dave hadn’t planned on doing. He cut up the wood and put it in our burn barrel and burned it. He asked Larry if he had another 8 foot 2 x 4, but he said he didn’t think he did. At least Dave caught it before it spread to the other wood. Now that little chore is done, Dave can concentrate on sanding the window frames at the back of the house. George needs to return the scaffolding on Monday, so we only have the weekend to get the painting done that we need the scaffolding for. So time is of the essence. Dave was able to sand the kitchen window frame on the west side of the house, and also the bathroom frame. He painted the kitchen window frame and then painted a window frame to the laundry room which faces the west. Now all he needs is to paint the bathroom window frame and sand the bedroom window frame and paint it then we will be able to give the scaffolding back to George. The rest of the painting can be done from the roof and with a ladder. While Dave was sanding and painting, I was working on my cross stitch while the light was still good. I helped Dave when he needed me but there wasn’t anything else I could do. I did wash clothes and hung them to dry, so at least I got that done.

Around 4:00pm Dave had to put things away as the sun would be going behind the mountain, therefore, losing the sunlight. I cleaned the paint pan and roller so it would be ready for another day of work.

That was all we could do today. Dave went over to George and Marys’ house for a few minutes and when he returned he had a bottle with yellow solution in it. I asked him what it was and he said George gave it to him for the battery to the truck. He said it was suppose to bring a battery back to life. So Dave is going to give it a try. So he had to do some converting and calculating to figure out how much to use per cell in the battery. He then marked it on the bottle. We will see if it will work.

It was cocktail hour so we had a margarita, and relaxed before dinner. Then I made some couscous to have with the calamari and Dave cooked the squid. It is different than the calamari we are use to, but it was still very good. Next time Dave will cut the strips a little thinner, and then they might brown a little. The squid we had left over, we put in the freezer.

After dinner and cleanup we went out on the deck to enjoy the evening starry sky. It was really beautiful. There was a slight breeze blowing but it wasn’t cold. So we had a cigar and sat and enjoyed the scenery. Then we came inside and settle down to watch a movie. I think we are going to watch ‘Eight Below’.

The movie was really good and it was based on a true story. It will soon be bedtime and then more painting tomorrow. Well that is after we make a run to town for some groceries and water. If we can’t get the truck to run, Larry said he would take us to town so we could get what we needed. That is really nice. We have to get the truck to be reliable as that is what will get us back and forth to town to get food and water. The jeep will be our major transportation. We don’t want to beat it up with the trips to and from town. Hope that new battery gets here soon!!

Friday, February 5.
Larry came by this morning between 8 and 8:30am with the water tank in the back of his truck. He was picking us up so we could get water and then stop at a couple of the stores and get a few items. He also had to get some groceries. We took off and went to the water place to fill the water tank first. There was a line so we waited our turn. There is a Bahia 200 race tomorrow and no one will be able to travel the road to or from our homes, so everyone is getting their running done today in town. Every February they have this race and it is a big deal here. The Mexicans love to race. The race is only one day and that is tomorrow. I’ll get back to the race part in a minute. When it was our turn to get our tank filled, we backed up to the pila and started filling the tank. The water comes from a natural stream. When the tank was filled we paid and took off to do some shopping. Larry stopped at David (pronounced Daveed). That is the community store. I got a few things there and so did Larry then we went to the gas station so he could get diesel in his truck and then we came back into town and went to Diaz to get eggs, and then to the yellow store to get milk and other stuff. We walked across the street to see if I could get a guitar string, but they didn’t have any. So I will have to see if Maryann, who is leaving Wednesday for the states, can pick me up one while she is there and bring it back for me. After that we got back in the truck and headed out of town. We stopped at the ‘home depot’ and got a couple of 2x4’s so Dave can replace that one railing that had termites, and he also got a couple of small paint brushes to paint the trim on the house and a light bulb for the garage. We left there and started for Larry’s house. All of a sudden Larry remembered he didn’t have the food he bought at the yellow store. He had left it on the counter. So we had to go back and get it. Luckily we weren’t that far out of town. He turned around and back to town we went. He got his groceries and we were back on the bumpy dirt road again. When we got to Larry’s house, we went upstairs to see Lois. She had hurt her back and I thought I would give her a few pointers on stretches to do. She was going to Yoga, but there were some stretches she couldn’t, or should I say, shouldn’t have done. When she is able to do the stretches I told her about, she will start on them. I also told her I would let her borrow my back magnetic brace which helps keep that lower back heated and flexible, and also my massager. The guys left Lois and me to talk while they went down to the garage to get a water pump. The one that was put in yesterday leaks badly. When they were done, they came back upstairs and said it was time to go. There was milk and eggs in the truck that were getting warm. We wished Lois well with her back and Larry for having to do his chores AND hers. We left there and were to our house in about 10 minutes. While the guys pumped the water from the tank in the back of the truck to the pila, I took the groceries upstairs and put them away. It didn’t take long before the water tank in the truck was empty. That gives us 300 gallons of water which only fills half the pila. We need to get another tank full next week. If we can get the truck running we will do that. Larry will let us borrow the tank and the pump. We thanked Larry for taking us to town and then he left and went home. While I was fixing lunch for Dave and me Dave took off the water pump that was leaking and put the one that Larry gave him on. Then he couldn’t get it to prime. Eventually he did get it to work and we have running water again. When he had finished that he came upstairs and had lunch. After lunch he went down to the electrical room to put some of that battery solution in the cells to see if it really makes a bad battery work better. With that job done he measured one of the 2x4’s for the railing, and then cut it. He did good as it fit perfectly. Then he sanded the wood and I will paint it tomorrow before we install it. I was upstairs most of the time working on my counted cross stitch and helped Dave when he needed it. After the wood project, Dave took the battery and put it back in the truck and started it up. Waalaa!! It started. Well it took 2 tries but he finally got it to run. So since he got it running he decided to go to Larry’s house to pick up some white paint and some termite guard stuff to put on the existing posts where the hand rail was, to prevent and keep termites away. So he left and I continued my cross stitch. Tomorrow will be the painting day.

When Dave returned from Larry’s, he painted the termite stuff onto the wood. The white paint is for a strip on the south side of the house, that he has to sand first and then he can paint it. With going to town and all, there wasn’t enough time to do any painting today. We hope to finish painting the high places with the scaffolding tomorrow and be able to give it back to George on Sunday.

Now back to the race. Like I said, the race tomorrow is the Bahia 200. It goes on the dirt road past our house, down close to La Mona and around a mountain and back again. At 7:00am the motor bikes race and at 10:00am the cars race. Dave and I want to watch some of the race, so I think we will go to the vacant airstrip close to the house and watch the cars go by for a little while and then we will have to come back to the house and get to work.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day so I better get to bed. We will definitely be woken up by the sound of motor bikes passing by. Yeehaw!!!

Saturday, February 6.
We hardly heard the motor bikes racing this morning. We took our coffee out on the deck and watched the dust fly and the spectator cars congregate. We weren’t too interested in watching the bikes, but we did want to see the cars. That race starts at 10:00am so we have time to get some things done before we do that. Dave sanded the 2x4 for the railing, and when we get back from the race I will paint it. Then we can put it up later this afternoon. I got some clothes washed out and hung to dry and then we were ready to go to the race. The road they were using is just on the other side of the landing strip near our house. So we walked out to the road to watch as the cars went by. As we were waiting, we saw a family setting up in the area not far from where we were standing. They parked the truck with the work trailer attached, and the kids and young adults climbed out of the trailer. They started unloading the trailer that had pieces of an awning they had to put together. Most of the family members got involved with trying to figure out how it went together. We watched them, and then when they were getting frustrated, they asked us to come and help. So we did. As it turns out they didn’t have all the connector pieces so they couldn’t put it together. They took some of the pieces and stuck them in the ground close to the truck so they could position a tarp over them for shade. They had 3 cars in the race and they were the pit crew. Another truck pulled up with an older gringo and 2 Mexican boys who was pit crew for a friend that was racing.

I had forgotten my camera, so I walked back to the house to get it and then went back to where Dave was. He had been talking to the family. Very nice people. I was able to get a few good pictures of some of the cars. Surprisingly there were more Volkswagen Bugs than any other kind of car. It was fun to watch and it was really dusty. The cars were in their 3rd round and it was time for the cars to come in for a pit stop to refuel. It was fun to watch the family offer water to the driver and passenger and fuel the tank and check tires and all that kind of good stuff and then watch them speed away for another round. They did four laps to the finish line. We couldn’t stay any longer. We had to leave to get painting. We said goodbye to the family and came back home. I made lunch and after that we went to work. I painted the 2x4 while Dave went up on the scaffolding to sand around the bathroom window frame. I got the paint and everything ready for him to paint and then took it to him. When he finished that he started to paint a ground level window frame to the laundry room. I took the paint that was left and finished painting the 2x4 so now it has to dry and then we can attach it to the existing posts.

When the bathroom window frame was done, we had to move the scaffolding over so Dave could sand and paint the bedroom window frame. Moving the scaffolding wasn’t an easy feat, as the ground was not level and we had to make sure it was by means of putting pieces of wood under the support feet. Once it was secure, Dave went up and sanded then painted. That was all the painting he could do today as it was getting late in the afternoon and the sun would be behind the mountain before too long. When Dave finished with the painting, I cleaned up all the utensils. Then I helped him move the scaffolding one more time so he can get the edge of the house tomorrow. Then it was time to put everything away. I gathered the clean dry clothes and brought them inside and put them away. Next job is to get the railing on. When Dave put his tools away it was time to attach the railing. It is done and it looks nice. Now it is margarita time!!!! We will be done with the scaffolding tomorrow but not the painting as we have the windows we can reach with a ladder to do and the edging on the roof which we will have to do from the roof. Dave has been a real trouper as he hates to get too far off the ground. He says he isn’t afraid of heights, he just doesn’t like them. I couldn’t do it because I’m short on one end and couldn’t reach up far enough. So he had to do it. I will help him with the roof edge though. He can do the sanding and I can paint. The house is looking much better and we like the light green that is on there now as opposed to the darker shade they had before.

The water pump is working well and no more problems AND the truck started first try this morning. Apparently the solution Dave added yesterday is helping do something for the battery.

I threw a few ingredients together for dinner and it wasn’t too bad. Then it was clean up and relax. I think Dave might turn in early tonight as he is really tired. I want to do some cross stitch before I turn in so I think I will start on that now.

Sunday, February 7.
Have you ever been woken by a sound that makes your heart thump loudly in your chest? Well we had that feeling this morning about 1:30am. We were sleeping and all of a sudden we heard a loud thud, and Dave asked me what that was. Before I could answer there was a huge thud and it was the garage door being opened and closed. The person that was trying to get into the garage heard us get out of bed and closed the door quick. We turned on the outside light that leads down to the garage and Dave opened the screen door quick and hollered “you better run buddy”!! Whoever it was, was on foot because, we didn’t hear a vehicle. Dave went downstairs to check out the garage and nothing was taken. We surprised them so they didn’t have time to do anything. The garage door when opened and closed makes a big noise so we were lucky. We have heard of break-ins happening in La Mona area which is across the bay from us, but there hasn’t been much activity over in our neck of the desert until this morning. I got on the VHF and called our neighbor Mary and George to let them know someone was out there lurking. They got up and shined a light all around their property and George checked all his doors to make sure no one tried to get into their home or garage. Mary said their dog, Terry ran down the stairs which made her wonder what was going on. Dave walked around our yard and over to the guest house but found no one. In his search, he picked up a 1x1 and had it with him in case there was someone he ran into. Luckily there wasn’t anyone out there that we could see. Dave put the lock on the garage and then we turned the lights out and came up to the deck to keep an eye on things. Dave paced the deck with board in hand, and I went inside and sat in my chair thinking about what had just happened. It was scary. After being on watch for 30 minutes or so, Dave figured whoever it was was gone. So I went back to bed and Dave came inside and sat in his chair for a while before coming back to bed. We hadn’t been locking the garage door with the padlocks only because there is a bar that goes over a notch which secures the door. Well from now on the garage door gets padlocked. When the houses are full in the summer there isn’t a problem. It is just during the winter that someone scouts out the empty places and then comes back to get the loot. The surprising thing about this is they picked our house, which if they had been watch the place would have known someone was living here. There was a robbery in La Mona just last week and the guys were caught red handed. They got away, but were caught later by the police just sitting by the side of the road. Unfortunately, the criminals don’t stay long in the jail as they don’t have the money to keep them there. So they keep them a day or two and then they are let go. All of us that are here year round keep an eye on the houses around us. Since there was a race yesterday, we figure there was someone who had scoped out the area and targeted our house to come back to. George said that our land lease holder got broken into either the day or evening after the race last year. We have a security guard, but if they come in from the runway side of the land, the guard doesn’t know about it. We were able to go back to sleep and all was well again.

When we got up, I fixed breakfast and then we started painting. Dave sanded the north corner of the wood on the house, and then he painted it. I then started sanding the window frames on the north side of the laundry room. I hardly took any of the old paint off, so I asked Dave if he would use the sander, which he did. Then I was ready to paint. I did the trim on the roof of the laundry room and then the window frames. When that was done, I got on the scaffolding and painted the trim on the west side of the house. When that was finished, we were preparing another piece of trim which had to be scraped, so I took the scraper to it and found that there were termites in the wood. So another piece of wood has to be replaced. Dave took that piece of wood off the house and proceeded to check the wood behind it to see if there were anymore termites. He didn’t find anymore. He took that piece of wood and cut it up and burned it. While he did that, I started painting the trim on the electrical room. I did 2 sides, and then the side facing the house needed to be done and I was wondering how I could do it without getting on the roof. Dave was in the garage tinkering, and I asked if he would come help me. I needed for him to hold the ladder so I could climb up the ladder and then get on the roof of the metal storage shed to paint the rest of the trim. He wasn’t too sure about what I wanted to do, but he let me do it. I got on the tin roof of the storage shed and sat down and proceeded to paint the rest of the trim. That was all that was left and I wanted to get it done. So I inched my way across the roof painting the trim of the electrical room. When I got to the other end of the roof, I called for Dave to bring the ladder around so I could step from the storage roof to the top of the pila and finish the job. It took some maneuvering, but I did it and finished what I set out to do. So now that building is all done. We are done with the scaffolding so George will take it away tomorrow. The rest of the painting jobs can be reached with a ladder except the house trim. That is going to be the tricky one. Dave isn’t looking forward to sanding from the roof, but if he can do that I will paint. As long as you don’t hang over too far it will be o.k. After I finished my job, I called it quits and cleaned up. Dave went over to the truck to see if it would start and it did. He had trouble starting it this morning so we jump started it and left it running for a long time so to charge it. Then he turned it off and started it up later in the afternoon. Well that solution didn’t work as well as we thought it did. Oh well.

We locked up everything and then I came inside and cleaned up all the painting stuff. Dave came in and took a shower and then I took one. After that we had a cocktail and discussed what the plan was for tomorrow. We have to get a board from Larry to replace the one that had the termites in it. Dave has been going around and checking all the wood, tapping here and there for any hint of hollow sounds. So far none other than this one and the railing have been found.

It was dinner time and then time for cleanup. While I was in the kitchen cleaning up, he went to his computer to play solitaire. After I get done I will update the journal and then we will watch a movie and relax. Tomorrow is another work day but it is looking better and we are finding things that needed attending to. We are glad we are leasing for a year as we don’t have to pay for this stuff, Larry does. Little by little the house will be good as new. I sure hope the boat sells as we like it here. But it is what it is and we have until January of 2011 before we have to do anything.

Monday, February 8.
Not much exciting happened today. We had breakfast on the deck and when the spirit moved us we started to work. Dave went down and started sanding the wood door frame to the laundry/art room and then some other trim pieces getting it ready for me to paint. I washed out some clothes and hung them to dry and then I got the things ready to paint. The wind had come up and there was no sunshine where I was painting so it was cold. A couple of times I had to stand in the sun to warm up and then go back to painting again. The only thing we have left to paint right now are the two window frames facing north which one is a bedroom window and the other goes to part of the living room and the trim around the house. I think if we borrow our neighbor Georges’ ladder we may be able to forgo the roof part of it and get the sanding and painting done from the ladder. I hope so.

While I was giving the window and sliding glass door frames on the deck a second coat, Dave took the truck (yes! It actually started) and drove to Larry’s to pick up a 1x2 8 footer (well almost) to replace the board we burned with the termites in it yesterday. When he returned he sanded and painted the board and it is now drying. He will sand it tomorrow. It was mid afternoon and I called it quits on painting, plus we were finished with the one gallon of green paint and didn’t want to open the other one. That will be for tomorrow. I cleaned up all the paint stuff and then I sat and worked on my cross stitch. Dave finished putting his tools away and the ladders then came upstairs and sat down for a few minutes and nodded off. When he awoke he got his book and started to read. So he read and I did cross stitch. As the sun set, we had our cocktail and then I started dinner. After the dishes were washed and put away, Dave went back to his book and I am typing this. Then I will do some more cross stitch and maybe read a little and then it will be bed time.

Tuesday, February 9.
The sky was hazy but there was still sunshine so another good painting day. We relaxed with our coffee before starting that project then Dave went on the roof of the laundry room to sand the windows on the side of the house, but he could only sand part of the window frame closest to the deck. So he went ahead and sanded what he could and then painted our bedroom window frame then he had to figure out how he was going to paint the other window frame. When the house was painted before the laundry room wasn’t there. We ended up borrowing Georges’ extension ladder and with that and our 8 foot ladder he was able to get the job done. The wind came up and it was cold. Since there isn’t any sun on the north side of the house, Dave got the joy of sanding and painting in the cold. At least he didn’t have that much to do. All that is left to do right now is the trim around the roof, the frame around the garage door, and to sand and paint the white boards on the south side of the house that are peeling. Then the rest can wait. We are just doing what is needed now to protect it from the elements.

We are going to Larry and Lois’ tonight for dinner and I am bringing a dessert so I chose to make a cream cheese pound cake by scratch. It turned out really nice. It was too cold to start painting anything else so we stopped for the rest of the day. It was early afternoon and George had been watching the weather and he said it is suppose to rain tonight and tomorrow. So we are done for today. I got a chance to work on my counted cross stitch and Dave finished his book, and also checked his satellite email. Good news, we heard from Shelly the yacht broker in La Paz and she got a call from a guy that lives in the states and has a Hunter 40 and wants to move up to a 46. That is good news for us. He was looking online and saw it. So there is hope. The only thing is he will have to sell his boat, but in the states I don’t think that will be a problem. So we shall see what happens. At least we know they are working on getting it sold. I had finished with using the stove and later in the afternoon I smelled gas. I told Dave and he checked it out and the pilot lights were out on the stove, the oven and the refrigerator. He went down to the where the propane tanks are and he had shut off the full tank. There are two tanks connected with a regulator, and when one tank empties it is suppose to switch to the full one. Well Dave had closed that full tank so there was no gas to feed up to the house. So he opened up the valve on the full tank and closed the empty one and then I lit the stove pilot lights, and he lit the broiler/oven one and the refrigerator. So we are back in business again. Larry thought the tank that was just emptied had ½ to ¾ of propane in it. After using it for 2-1/2 weeks it didn’t last long. Hmmm!!! I hope we don’t go through propane that quickly because that will be expensive. Each one of the large bottles is 500 pesos. Dave is going to ask Larry if he knows how much propane he used when he lived in the house.

We are suppose to be at Larry and Lois’ at 5:00pm but Dave wanted to be there earlier so we could get the water tank and get the tires pumped up to hold the extra load tomorrow when we get water. Unfortunately we were too early. We got there at 4:30pm and Larry was in the shower and Lois was doing dishes. They had company earlier and of course it wasn’t at a good time so it set her behind in what she had to do. So we chitchatted a little and then I went outside to let her get the salad made and anything else she needed to get done. Larry came out and Dave and he went and loaded the water tank and pumped up the tires and then Larry played with his dog Buddy (pup) to wear him out before the rest of the company got there. Dave asked Larry about the propane and Larry really didn’t know how much was used as he had a really large tank that they ran the house stuff off of. So that didn’t help us figure anything out. Barb and Alan and Maryann were also coming to dinner. When Alan and Barb drove up we all went upstairs to visit and Maryann came over from next door to Lois and Larry’s’. We had drinks and appetizers and talked for a bit and then it was dinner time. We had a wonderful meal of Lasagna, homemade bread and salad. We sat around after dinner for a little while and then had dessert. It was between 7:30pm and 8:00pm when Barb asked Alan if he was ready to go. They have to travel to La Mona on the dark bumpy road and they go to bed early so they wanted to get going. So we all thanked Lois and Larry for the dinner, and said our goodbyes. We weren’t sure if the headlights in the truck would work, but they did. We followed Alan out to the big road and then Alan kept on going and we turned to go to our house. It was a fun evening. Once we got home, we were deciding what to do, whether read or watch a movie and we chose the movie. We watched ‘The Journey to the Center of The Earth’. We forgot to charge the handheld VHF radio so I plugged it in and thought it wouldn’t take too long to charge up so I did some counted cross stitch. Dave went to his computer and was playing some games to pass the time. Around 11:00pm, it had been an hour and the radio still wasn’t fully charged, but I wanted to go to bed so I just unplugged it and left it off for the night. Then we went to bed.

Wednesday, February 10.
Early this morning we were woke up by the wind. It was really howling and there was a bunch of noise outside. At first I thought it was someone trying to get in the garage again, but Dave reassured me it was the deck chairs scooting across the deck from the wind. We eventually were able to go back to sleep. When Dave got up at 7:30am it was cloudy and foggy and it was raining south of us but clear to the north. Then it clouded up and started to rain a little. Dave went down to start the truck and waalaa!!! It started!! We needed to go into town and get water and take our large items to Yolanda to wash and dry. So I stripped the bed of its sheets, gathered a few the heavier clothes and towels, putting them in the laundry basket then brought them downstairs to the truck. With doors locked and the dirty clothes in the truck and the water tank in the truck bed, we were off to town. This is our first trip to town for water. When we got to town, we drove through town and just before leaving town we got to Yolanda’s laundry place. She also sells propane so we needed to ask if they would have two filled bottles in exchange for two empty ones and they said yes. So we dropped off the laundry and told them we would be back tomorrow for propane. Then we left and stopped at the yellow store to get a box of wine, however, the kind we wanted they didn’t have. So in the process of looking behind the boxes in from of the other ones to see if there was one hiding behind the rest, I managed to knock off a bottle of Boone’s Farm wine and broke it. Bummer!!! So I ended up paying for the bottle I broke and 3 small boxes of wine. They probably won’t get any burgundy in until next week or so. Oh well. After leaving the yellow store we went up the hill to get water. When our tank was full we paid and then it was the trek home. It was really slow going but we made it to Larry’s to pick up the pump to pump the water from the water tank to the pila. We left there and got home and started the process of pumping the water into the pila. It didn’t take very long, and Dave is going to see if we can keep the tank and pump until Friday, as he wants to get another tank full of water which is 300 gallons. That should fill the pila really well and then we will get water once a week after that. We always want to keep a lot of water in the pila just in case we can’t get water for whatever reason in town. Always have to think ahead. Just like in boating. So we had the adventure of getting water, but most of all to keep the truck running long enough to get it home. After we pumped the water and got things put away, Dave tried to start the truck again so he could move it around to the electrical room to get the propane tanks but it wouldn’t start. So we will wait and he will try again later. Where else can you have fun doing this stuff?? It is definitely a Bahia adventure!!!

Since we can’t paint today, we are just relaxing. I will do some cross stitch and reading and Davey right now is taking a snooze. The sun comes and goes and the wind picked up enough to blow the plastic chairs on the deck around. The skies are clearing and that is a good thing as then the solar panels can work.

As we were riding home from getting the water tank filled, we talked about ways to save on propane. I think we may have to do what we did on the boat and keep the water heater off until we need it. We think that is drawing a lot from the propane tanks. We can’t do anything about the refrigerator or stove, but I think if we try to control the water heater we will conserve propane. Dave just hates lighting it because it is hard to do. It is in a building by the guest house and is exposed to the breeze so it is hard to light and once it is lit, to see that it is. The pilot light went out shortly after we got here and Dave had a heck of a time getting it going again. It is what it is and we are doing what we can to conserve.

Dave went out later this afternoon and started up the truck. It doesn’t like to get hot, but seems to start when you let it cool a little. So he moved the truck over in front of the electrical room and put the 2 propane bottles in the back of the truck and secured them from rolling around. Then he pulled the truck up to the front of the house, shut it off and came upstairs. He said he was thinking about taking the tanks in to town and trading them in for full ones and asked if I wanted to go. I didn’t so he thought about how long the trip would take and it was already 2:00pm. It is about a 45 minute drive to town, then another 10 minutes or so to the propane/laundry place. Then by the time the empty tanks got off loaded and the full ones loaded, it would be a while then a 45 minute ride back to the house. So he figured he wouldn’t get back until about 4:30pm. So he decided to wait and go in the morning. I told him I would ride in with him in the morning. So he went downstairs and parked the truck under the carport then turned the solar panel to face where the sun was and came back upstairs. He then went to his computer and played his submarine game while I cross stitched. It was a rather lazy afternoon. I got up a couple of times to stretch and move around. I did some stretching and watched out the window to see if I could see any animals, but I didn’t. I ate an apple and then went back to cross stitching.

Mary called on the VHF radio and asked if we were home. I told her we were and she said it didn’t look like it. That was because everything was all closed up. She wanted to come over for a few minutes. She came over and we chatted for a few minutes and she told us they were going to be gone all day tomorrow and just wanted to let us know. So we told her we would keep an eye on things at her place. We told her we would be gone in the morning to get propane but after that we would be home all day. I think she is happy to have neighbors again. When she left I went back to cross stitching before it got dark and Dave played a little more of his game. Then it was time to fix dinner. Dave went down to the bamboo room after dinner and got a book from the bookshelf to read. Lois and Larry left some books and Dave hadn’t read some of them so that is good as he already finished the books we brought. Then he locked up the garage and electrical room and turned the solar panel to face east for the morning sun. Then he came back upstairs, sat down and started reading. I think I will watch a chick flick titled ‘Notebook’. Dave wasn’t interested in watching it and I didn’t want to watch it this afternoon as I wanted to cross stitch in the daylight. The wind has finally died down and it is quiet again. The sky was partly cloudy this afternoon and then just before sunset more clouds moved in. I think by morning they will be all gone. Mary said the outlook for the next 10 days is for 80 degree weather. Woohoo!!! It is starting to warm up!!

Thursday, February 11.
What a gorgeous morning. The sky is blue with no clouds and it isn’t too hot or cold outside. It is going to be a wonderful day.

The truck started this morning so we took the empty propane tanks (2) into town. The road seemed to be more rocky for whatever reason. So we bounced and bumped all the way to town. When we arrived at Yolanda’s it didn’t look like anyone was there, but then her husband came out and asked that I wait a minute. He went back in the house and came back outside with my laundry. That was a pleasant surprise as we didn’t think it would be ready until Friday. So we were able to get the propane and the laundry. We still have to come to town again tomorrow for some groceries, drinking water and another tank full of water for the pila, but at least we won’t have to worry about getting the laundry now. We were also shocked to find out it only cost 70 pesos as opposed to the 120 pesos 2 weeks ago. My basket wasn’t as full this time so that is probably why. Anyway, I don’t mind having her do it. I wash out our underwear, socks, small towels and shirts and give her the heavier things to do. So it works out.

We left for town a 9:30am and got back to the house around 11:00am or so. When we got home we off loaded the propane tanks and Dave hooked one up to the house system and the other one went into the electrical room as a spare. Then I took the laundry upstairs while Dave parked the truck. He then proceeded to fix the glass window on his side as it wouldn’t roll up or down while we were coming home. The windows are electric which is bad because it uses a lot of juice from the battery. Everything was fine when he rolled it down but when he went to roll it up again we heard this clunk. We thought the glass had broken inside the door but as he found out it came off the rollers. So he was trying to fix it. I kept hearing thunk, and Dave would say a few words, and then a few minutes later another thunk, and some more choice words. Every time he thought he had a hold of the window and on the rollers, he would move or something and the glass would go into the door. Let’s just say he wasn’t having any fun. While he was working on that I decided to roll up the area rug and take it outside and beat it to death. It has a jute backing and all kinds of sand and dirt has gathered in there and it hasn’t been cleaned for a long time. So I decided I wanted to get rid of the sand and dust so I took it out on the deck, flung it over the railing and beat it with the broom. I managed to get some of the dust and sand out, but I will never get it all out. I want to replace it with another rug when we can. It is just the large rolled up area rugs you can buy at Walmart. After I beat the rug I went back inside and swept the floor and shook the throw rugs. After I got the sand up I took a damp cloth and went over the floor with it to get the dust up. It looks much better now. I moved the chairs in the living room area to make room for the rug. I went outside and got the rug and placed it in the living room where we sit and put it there. Then put the chairs on it. The rug was not under our chairs before. It gives the living room a more warm feeling. Then I swept the kitchen and shook the rugs and moved the dining room chairs out from under the table as I was going to take the rug from under the table outside and beat it too. But before I did that, Dave came in from getting the window fixed on the truck and I fixed us lunch. After lunch he helped me take the glass top off the dining room table so I could wash it on the underside. Then I moved the rest of the table off the rug and rolled the rug up and took it outside and hung it over the railing on the deck and beat it. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the other rug. So when that was done, I came back inside to sweep the floor and then I went back outside, got the rug and put it back into place. Dave helped me put the glass top on the table and center it. I put the chairs back and then proceeded to wipe off the chair legs as they were really dusty. When all that was done I was done. Whew!!! I felt much better about getting those rugs cleaned, well at least the dust and sand beat out of them. There are several other cleaning jobs I need to do in the house and the bamboo room so I will do them a little at a time. I read for a while after that then took a nap. Dave went over to Larry’s to get his creeper that rolls under the car to repair them from the ground up. When he got back he got under the truck to take a look and tightened up a couple of bolts to the oil pan and looked at the ignition switch and it was new so there wasn’t anything wrong there. He is just checking things out to see what may need repairing. Of course the whole truck needs to be repaired but that is beside the point. We just want it to keep running, getting us to town and back. When he was done he asked me to come down and brush him off and then he parked the truck and came upstairs to clean up. Then he sat down and read.

At 5:00pm we had our cocktail while Dave was outside with his computer and satellite phone checking emails and answered them. Then we sat and enjoyed the sun setting behind the mountain behind us. It gave the mountains across the bay from us a red glow. Very beautiful.

Well the day is done and we got quite a lot accomplished I think. Tomorrow is the water tank run and groceries then we can give the water tank and pump back to Larry.

We ate dinner and now are just relaxing for the evening.

Friday, February 12.
Dave was up early and I stayed in bed. We got a call from Mary, next door, asking if I wanted to go with her to town to get some fresh vegetables. We were going into town to get water, but this way Dave can get the water and I can go with Mary. So Dave told her I wanted to go. So she said to be ready by 10:00am. No problem! I got out of bed and had my coffee and relaxed. I know----what is up with the relax thing when you have just gotten up?? I guess I should say I am enjoying my coffee time. Anyway—Dave started the truck and it started again after a couple of tries. Then he was off to get water. We figured we would pass each other on the road when he was heading home from town and Mary and I were heading to town. At 10:00am Mary came over in her truck and gave me some halibut they had caught yesterday. I took it upstairs and put it in the refrigerator and off we went to town. She has a little Toyota pickup. She definitely drove faster than I would on the bumpy road, but she has been here for several years so I guess you just get use to it. We did pass Dave and we waved and stopped for a moment to say hi. Once in town, we got our drinking water jugs filled, she had 3 and I,1. Then we were off to Miguels, then David’s. Between those two places I got most of my groceries. Then it was off to Dos Piños, and last the yellow store. Most of the gringos spread their money between all those stores instead of just favoring on particular one. Then we headed for home. It was fun. She dropped me home and invited me to come over and see what she has been making to sell in the art show at the end of March. So I told her as soon as I got my groceries put away I would be over. I noticed the truck was gone which told me Dave took the water tank and pump back to Larry. Mary left and I went upstairs and put everything away, then walked over to her house. Dave was just getting back from Larry’s so I told him I was going over to see Mary’s art stuff. She has an art room downstairs where she paints with water colors, and she also makes things out of gourds, and paints on canvas tool bags. It is really neat and she has some beautiful items. I invited her and George to come over at 5:00pm for cocktails. She said they would be there. I said goodbye and went back home. I fixed Dave and me lunch and then I made salsa to have when Mary and George come over. The rest of the afternoon I spent doing cross stitch and Dave read. He finished a book last night and is now reading a new Clive Cussler book and will have it done probably before I finish typing this journal.

Mary and George came over and we had margaritas and salsa and chips and wonderful conversation. Then they said they had to go home and fix dinner which they were having halibut. We said we were too, thanks to them. After they left Dave and I went in the kitchen. He prepared a sauce for the halibut and I was making some noodles to go with it. We broiled the fish as we don’t have a BBQ, and when all was done we sat down and enjoyed. It was fabulous. Then Dave went back to reading his book and I cleaned up. After I am done here with the journal, I will probably do some cross stitch for a while then read. I am reading ‘Eragon’. It’s pretty good.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that George has gone to Larry’s to get some parts that came in for him and he brought us our battery for the truck. Yahoooooo!!!! Dave will put it in tomorrow. Now I am hoping we won’t have as much trouble getting it to hold a charge. We shall see. We should also be getting the internet stuff too this weekend. That will be nice as I can email everyone and let them know what is going on. So here is to a good relaxing evening.

Saturday, February 13.
It was a little hazy this morning but still a sunny day. The days are getting warmer and you can tell spring is around the corner as little birds are chirping all around and even hummingbirds have come for a visit. We don’t have any feeders right now, but if we stay here, eventually we will. It took me a while to get motivated but when I did I was busy. I took on the job of cleaning the blinds in the kitchen. I also took the valances down and soaked them and rinsed them and hung them on the back side of the deck chairs to drip dry while I washed the blinds. Everything was so dusty. I wiped down the ceiling fan and then proceeded to wash the blinds. The one over the sink was the worst and it took me a while to get it clean. But now you can tell they are white. The other one didn’t take as long because it wasn’t as dusty. When the valances had been out long enough to get most of the moisture out of them, I brought them in and hung them. Unfortunately I will have to make new valances as the sun has started to deteriorate the material and holes are starting to show. That is o.k. because I would prefer to have something Dave and I like and then we can pick a color to paint the walls with. Tomorrow I will tackle the dining room valances and blinds. They don’t look like much work. I hope. Just a little bit everyday and the house will be pretty clean.

Dave put a little water in the new battery and charged it up then put it in the truck. It started without a hitch. Dave pulled the truck out from under the carport and around to where the solar panel is and opened the hood and checked the oil and other vitals. Then he went to Larry’s to take back the creeper. When he got back he said they weren’t home so he will have to return it another day.

When my cleaning job was done I put together some meatloaf and put it in the refrigerator until later when I am ready to cook it. Lois called and wanted to invite us to go with them to dinner tomorrow night in town as it is Valentine’s Day and she didn’t want to cook. We said that would be fun so we are driving to their place at 5:00pm and then they will take us to the restaurant. So I won’t have to cook either.

Dave finished another book last night and started another one this morning and is already finished with it. Wow!!!! I wish I could read that fast!!! Oh well—each of us has our own talents.

I did some cross stitching today and then went down to the bamboo room and sat in the chair next to the sliding glass door facing the water and enjoyed the view. It was really windy today so it was chilly outside, but nice and cozy inside. After about 20 minutes or so, I went back to the house and put the meatloaf in the oven, did some reading and when the meatloaf was done, made mashed potatoes, gravy and cooked zucchini. It was a wonderful meal.

After dinner I went outside on the deck and sat with a glass of wine and a cigar and enjoyed the starry sky. Hardly a breeze now and it is just wonderful. Well that is my exciting day. Oh yeah, I washed out some clothes this morning and hung them to dry. Woohoo!!! Pretty exciting stuff huh?! Yeh right!!!

Sunday, February 14.
Happy Valentine’s Day!! For Dave and I it is just another day. We never have celebrated it so it doesn’t matter.

Since spring is around the corner, I have decided to do my spring cleaning. I have already cleaned the blinds and valances in the kitchen. Today I will start in the dining room. Fortunately they aren’t as dirty as the ones in the kitchen were so it won’t take a long time to do. I started first with taking the valances down and soaking them and then started on the blinds. When I finished one window, I rinsed out the valance for that window and hung them outside to drip dry enough I can hang them up to finish drying inside. Then I took down the next valance and repeated the process. Once both window blinds were cleaned and the valances hung back up, I moved to the living room and started the process for the window facing east. After that was done I decided it was time to quit, so I did. Tomorrow I will finish the other 3 window blinds and valances.

While I was doing all of this stuff Dave was doing his thing downstairs in the garage and also figuring out how he wants to build up the wall that is next to the arroyo. He started the truck and we went looking for nice size rocks for the wall. We got quite a few and came back and Dave strategically placed them where he wanted them to go. It looks really good. We are hoping it will keep the soil in place. We have another section we need to do but that will have to wait for another day.

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading some and doing cross stitch.

Dave tried to light the water heater but had a hard time because where it is outside it isn’t protected from the wind very well so the flame goes out. He finally got it going and we were able to take warm showers. Then it was time to get ready to go to Lois and Larry’s house. We are riding with them to one of their friends’ house to have cocktails and then we are all going to dinner.

When we got to Lois and Larry’s we got into their ford Explorer and off we went. We ended up at Ron and Diane’s home, which is a lovely place and they have several cactus gardens and bird feeders. It is a warm welcome outside and also when you go inside. It is neat to see how people decorate their homes and I like the style they use. We had margaritas and visited for a while. Diane showed me what she is making on her loom. What fun. Then another friend of theirs, Carolina, came by and she is the director of the Museum in town. We spent most of the time talking to each other. She’s an interesting lady. The sun had set so it was time to go to dinner. Dave and I road with Lois and Larry and the others went in Ron and Diane’s truck. We went to a neat place right outside of town. It is a hotel with a restaurant and we loved the layout and décor. The restaurant had tables together for us so we sat down and visited with each other. There were some other folks that came in after we did and they sat down at a table next to ours. They were staying there. We had a nice conversation. It took a long time for them to prepare and serve dinner. Thank goodness we had totopos (chips) and salsa to munch. When we finally got served dinner, the vegetables and rice were cold but my chicken was hot just not much flavor to it. Diane had the chicken also and the rest had seafood. It wasn’t the best meal we have had unfortunately. I’ve been told that the people at this place are trying to bring in visitors, and are having a hard time getting things going. It is a pretty place with a palapa and bar, pool, hot tub, and cute little rooms all around the courtyard. They are off the beat and path from town so you have to know about this place. I hope they can get it together so it will be successful. Dave and I won’t go back there for dinner though. After dinner Lois shared her chocolate cupcakes with us that she had made. They were very nummy!!! Then it was time to pay the bill and leave. When we got back to Larry and Lois’ place, we thanked them for inviting us along and said goodnight. The truck started and the headlights even worked. How about that!!! When we got home and the truck was parked and we were in the living room, we just kind of sat in our chairs. We were pretty tired. Well it didn’t help having some wine at dinner either!! Pretty soon I was nodding off so I decided to go to bed. It was around 9:30pm. Dave stayed in his chair and catnapped a little bit then went to the dining room table and played his sub game on my computer.

Monday, February 15.
Both Dave and I were up early this morning. Dave usually gets up around 7:00am and I usually start moving around 8:00am but this morning it was almost 7:30am when I got up. It is a beautiful morning. Dave asked me what I had planned for the day and I told him to finish cleaning the rest of the blinds and valances. He said he was going to scrape the board around the house that is white and then sand it. So I did my cleaning while he did his scraping of old paint off the wood. What a mess. When I had finished my job, I went down to the garage to get the ladder as I needed it to take the curtains down in the bathroom so I could wash them. While I was downstairs, Dave was sweeping up the mess that was made when he scraped the paint off the wood so I thought I would help him. I went and got another broom and started sweeping. Then he left me to sweep the rest as he needed to go back on the roof of the laundry room to scrap the wood there. I finished the sweeping and then got the ladder and took it upstairs. I then proceeded to clean the top of the cabinets in the kitchen, the skylight and moved to the dining room to clean the lights and fan, then the shelf above the sliding glass door. Then I cleaned the skylight just above that area, and last the fan and light above my chair in the living room. Now I am done with the cleaning for today. I hung the curtains in the bathroom and cleaned the light fixture on the ceiling and THEN I was done. Dave came in from outside and told me there are termites in the wood on the north side of the house. That isn’t something that is a good thing. He told Larry about it and he wasn’t too thrilled with the news either. Dave was trying to figure out how we could get that bad board out of there and it won’t be an easy job. Well we broke for lunch and after that I put the ladder away and Dave took a break. He was hoping to see Larry this afternoon but maybe not. No sooner had he spoke about Larry we saw his white truck. That was good because that means he is coming to install our star band internet. So we should have internet service after he leaves. When Larry got to the house, Dave told him about the termites and showed him where he saw them. I was inside the house so I didn’t hear what was determined. Larry took all the stuff out of the boxes. It is suppose to be a used system, but everything looked new. That is cool. So after everything was unpacked, Larry installed the satellite dish for the internet and then came inside to hook up the computer. It works and now we can email people and find out what the weather is doing and all that kind of good stuff. Larry brought his puppy, Buddy with him, and he was getting Dave’s shoes to chew on and my socks. He is funny and he definitely is a puppy. We finally had to keep him outside as he wouldn’t leave the shoes and socks alone. Dave paid Larry for the star band and thanked him and then Larry left with Buddy. It is nice to have internet again.

While Larry was still here, Dave was on the computer and Larry was standing by the desk and they mentioned about the termites and how to fix the problem. Larry said we could probably contact someone in Guerrero Negro as there was a time when a truck came around asking if anyone needed termite control. Of course Larry said no at the time and now he wishes he had had the house treated. Oh well. I was sitting in the dining room listening to the conversation and I didn’t like the sound of us having to take care of the problem. We don’t own the house and any time you lease from someone, they are responsible for anything that comes up. When Larry left, Dave said he gets the feeling that Larry wants to wash his hands of the house and let us deal with it. So I asked Dave if Larry expects us to pay for the termite problem and he said he thinks so. Well I wasn’t happy to hear that!!! Dave said he will talk to George, our neighbor to see what he says.

Dave is trying to figure out which is the best way to travel to Seattle from San Diego so he went online to look at bus, train, and air. It is cheaper to fly to Seattle than take the bus or the train. Go figure. And it is faster too. Now he just has to figure out if he can catch a ride with someone from here that is going to San Diego soon. Then I think Ron and Dave will drive it down to San Diego and Ron will fly home from there.

Our oldest grandson is 15 today. Wow! Hard to believe he is that old now and it won’t be long before he will be out on his own.

The sun has set and we had dinner and Dave is on the internet checking out sports and sending emails and whatever. Probably reading the news too while I am typing this.

It’s another quiet night.

Tuesday, February 16.
Mary and I went to the craft gathering with some of the other ladies. There were 6 of us including me. I met 2 new gals and the other 3 I knew. I took some crocheting and we talked a little and everyone did the project they brought with them. It was fun but a little long for me. The gals get together from 9:00am to 12:00pm. About an hour and a half I was ready to go, but Mary didn’t leave until almost 12:00pm. Then we went to town so she could get some grocery items and I was able to get a paint pan and roller for Dave. After we were done with shopping Mary took me home. I gave her a couple sticks of butter for her husband George because he was making something for the guys this evening when he went to play poker. While I was at Judy’s house, she asked if there was anyone interested in reading a series of three books by Vince Flynn. They are thrillers, and I said that Dave would like to read them. He has finished all the books we had and a little of what Larry and Lois left behind and also the 2 books she gave him the other day. So I am sure he will be happy.

After Mary left and went home, I fixed Dave and me some lunch and then I started cleaning the shelf above the sliding glass door in the bedroom half of the house and the 2 skylights and door trim around the sliding glass door. I wiped off the two fans, one above Dave’s chair and the other above the bed and I was done. Now pretty much everything is clean. Next the walls will need to be washed but we will do that before we paint. I rearranged some of the wall hangings that Lois left behind and put them where I wanted them. Now I am finished with the major cleaning of the house. Next will be to sweep the floor again, shake rugs and clean the bathroom. We have invited Mary and George over for dinner, Friday, as a thank you to them for helping us with paint supplies and other stuff. They are leaving on Wednesday of next week to go to San Diego but will be back a week later. Dave is still trying to figure out who is going north so he can hitch a ride with them. There is a garage sale on March 6th which I would really like him here to see if there is anything we would need for the house. But it would be good if he could get to the states and get back before then and bring more money as our supply is dwindling. It will all work out. I was told today that if we help Maryann move the stuff she is selling, we will be able to have a look at the stuff on Friday, the day before the sale. I know I will be helping and hopefully Dave will too with the truck. So we shall see.

Dave had been doing a little more paint removal while I was crafting, and when I got home he didn’t have any energy, so he got online and read emails and checked sports and whatever else while I did my cleaning. After I cleaned, I hooked my computer up to the internet and read emails then turned the computer off. I took the ladder back down stairs to the garage and decided to walk on the beach. It was such a nice afternoon with a little breeze blowing I couldn’t resist. I didn’t walk very far and turned around and headed back to the house. As I was getting closer I saw Dave come out of the house and down the stairs and it was like he was looking for me. So I hollered at him and he said he was going to Larry’s to take back the old car battery and borrow his ladder. So off he went and I went upstairs and started to cross stitch. When Dave got back he was outside checking the ladder out to see if it would reach what he needed it to for painting, and then asked what I was doing. I told him I was cross stitching and asked why? He said he was just wondering. So when he put the ladder away and came upstairs, I asked him what the difference between George’s ladder was to Larry’s and he said the height. Larry’s is a little shorter and will be easier to do the board around the deck and the house. We are almost done with painting. We still have the eaves around the house to do and then we can relax. Well that is until we get the termite problem taken care of. I think we are going to have to have a powwow with Lois and Larry to let them know that we shouldn’t have to pay to get that taken care of and we need to come up with a plan. As far as we have heard, no one knows of a termite exterminator here or in Guerrero Negro. When Larry saw the truck go by the house, it was a long time ago so there may not have been enough business to keep a company like that going. Don’t know.

Dave was done for the day and started reading the first book of the 3 that I got from Judy today. Pretty soon it was dinner time so I got that prepared and after dinner Dave went back to reading and I washed the dishes and now catching up the journal. I need to proof the January journal so I can get that into the blog in the next day or two.

Wednesday, February 17.
There is something really nice about sitting in your chair in the morning with a cup of coffee being able to look out on water and mountains and watch birds dive for fish and hear song birds singing. The mornings are warm now and I just didn’t feel like sitting out on the deck in the sun, but the sliding glass door was open with the screen closed so I could enjoy the sights and sounds of the Sea.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do today when I got finished washing out some clothes and then hanging them to dry. I won’t have to worry about them not drying today. It is a glorious day. Doesn’t look like we are going to get a lot of wind today and Dave said it is suppose to be like this for a couple of days. That will be nice.

While I washed clothes, Dave went outside and got the ladder out and started to get his painting stuff together to do the board that goes around the house and deck with white paint. He has already sanded it so it is just a matter of painting. The ladder he borrowed doesn’t have a paint pan holder so he was trying to figure out how he was going to paint. He couldn’t hold the pan and paint so while he was thinking about it I had come down to hang the clothes on the line. I went ahead and hung them then came back and offered a couple suggestions. One was to put the other tall wood ladder we have and set the paint pan on the very top of it. Well Dave pointed out that it is too narrow because part of one of the boards is missing. So then I suggested putting a piece of a board we have lying around across the top and tie it down so it won’t move. Well he didn’t like that suggestion either. Then I told him I didn’t know what else to tell him. I was fresh out of ideas. Well he did listen and take to heart about using the ladder and the board. He didn’t put it on the very top of the ladder but one down from the top and then put the paint pan on the board. That seemed to work out for him. Otherwise he would have had to come down the ladder to get paint on the roller and then climb back up to paint and then down again several times. Even I wouldn’t want to do THAT!!! So he got it to where he could paint and I went back upstairs to clean the bathroom. The sun was shining fully on the side of the house he was painting and it was rather warm. I hope it doesn’t get too hot for him. He finished the one board on the south side of the house and then he moved to the west side to paint that board. I was cleaning the wide vertical blinds that hang in front of both sliding glass doors. Before I finished cleaning one of the blinds, Dave mentioned that if I was so inclined I could start scraping the paint on the stairs and then paint them. I told him I would be glad to do it when I finished cleaning the blinds. It was lunch time and neither one of us had anything for breakfast so we were hungry and Dave needed nourishment before doing anymore painting. So I finished the one set of vertical blinds and made lunch and then after that Dave went back outside and started to paint on the north side of the house. I finished the second set of vertical blinds in front of our other sliding glass door then went outside to help Dave. I scraped the old paint off the boards that the steps are attached to. Then I brushed away the dust and got some paint in a container and a brush to start my project. Before I could paint, Dave needed help so I helped him and when he didn’t need my help anymore I started painting the boards that hold up the steps. Dave had only a couple more places he had to paint, but he needed to go to Larry’s to get the termite paint so he can treat the bad board to kill the ones that are in it. So I said I would continue painting around the steps while he was gone. He tried starting the truck and it wouldn’t start. He couldn’t think what the problem was unless there was no gas in the truck. So he took the 5 gallon jerry can and poured the gas into the tank and the truck started. Now we have to get into town and get gas. So he left for Larry’s and I continued painting. By the time he returned I was all done with the stairs. The only thing that needed to be done as far as the stairs was the side board that faces the house. Dave is going to scrape that and then we can paint it. After the stairs I helped Dave point out places he needed to cover better as he was laying on his stomach looking over the side of the deck to paint. When that was done, he scraped the back board to the stairs and painted it. The house looks so much better. There is a lot more painting to do, like the deck, but we don’t have enough light green paint to do that so we are going to wait. The next thing that needs painting is a strip of 1x2 that is covering the siding seem on the south and north side of the house. It is close to the roof so he will need to borrow Georges’ ladder to reach that. Then he will sand it and paint it. On the north side he will have to seal around that board as when it rains hard the window leaks on the inside. So when that is done it is the dreaded roof edge. I told Dave if he sands I will paint. I’m just afraid I will drop the sander so that is why I want him to do that part. The roof isn’t very steep so it will be just fine. Plus it has roofing paper on it which adds traction while walking on it.

So we have our work cut out for us, but we are making progress. We finally finished painting and now it was cleanup time. We also had to sweep up all the paint that was scraped off the wood. I started sweeping and when Dave got finished putting his painting tools away he took the broom so I could get the clothes off the line and bring them in. I took the clothes upstairs and set them down then went back down stairs to help Dave finish up the sweeping. When we were all done, we looked at the house and were pleased at our handiwork. It really does look good. I know Mary and George are glad we are fixing the place up.

It was time to have a cocktail and relax and that is what we did. Dave went to his computer to check email and news and I sat in my chair and read. I looked out the window a couple times as the sun was going behind the mountain behind us, and looking at how the sun was shining on the other mountains across the bay, turning them red. It was really pretty. The birds had been singing all day and flying around but now they were getting ready to settle down for the night.

When the sun went down, I started dinner. After we ate, Dave sat in his chair and started reading the second book to the 3 I gave him yesterday, while I did dishes. After I was done in the kitchen I sat down to do my journal so I don’t get behind. It is too hard to remember what you did and what happened if you miss too many days. I think after this I may read as I am trying to finish ‘Eragon’.

Tomorrow will be another wonderful day of sunshine and gorgeous weather, and Dave will be painting and I will be sweeping the floor, mopping it and vacuuming the two rugs and dusting. We have invited Mary and George over for dinner on Friday and with all my cleaning of the skylights and cupboards, the floor needs to be cleaned and things dusted. Then everything will be clean. I like that. This place is definitely becoming our home. I hope it will be permanent.

The house actually got a little warm to where I needed to open both screen doors and all 4 skylights. That was wonderful!!

Thursday, February 18.
Dave and I didn’t do a lot today. The energy is just not there for us today. Dave went downstairs and sprayed the infected board and surrounding wood with termite control. He sprayed it really well and will do it again tomorrow. He said he didn’t see any live termites which is a good thing. Eventually something will have to be done about the wood that is soft, but if we can kill the termites now the other part we can take care of when we buy the place. Dave did ask our friend Alan if he knew of anyone that tents houses. He wasn’t familiar with any right off hand but if he hears of anything he will let us know.

Dave sent an email to Ron and Diane to see if he could get a ride to San Diego since they are leaving on Monday. I hope so. The sooner he leaves the sooner we get our jeep down here. He is also looking on Craig’s list for a utility trailer. There were a few listed in San Diego. He would like to be able to pick one up, but it will have to wait for now. After he finished the spraying, he said he was done for the day. He went online and looked at emails and read news.

I washed out some more clothes and hung them, then swept and mopped the floor, vacuumed the rugs and shook the throw rugs and dusted. Then I was done for the day.

I made lunch and afterwards I got the journal saved to the blog and tomorrow I will put in pictures and post it. I am only a month behind. Oh well!!! Then the end of next week I get to do it again but this time I will be caught up to the month that is current. After I worked with the blog, I copied pictures from my camera to where I save my pictures then I was done. Dave all this time was waiting for me to get finished so he played solitaire at the dining room table. I answered some emails and sent a couple then I was done on the computer. Next I am going to work on my cross stitch. The dragon head is forming nicely.

Dave got back on the computer and I cross stitched. It was another beautiful day and more and more birds are showing up and singing. They are getting bolder and coming on the deck and are looking for a place to make a nest. Well unfortunately we don’t want them making nests so we are going to discourage that.

Dave has finished the second book of the series he is reading and now has started the third and final. He will be finished with that one tomorrow.

We have been invited to a gathering at a house we haven’t met the people yet. The man is Ray and his wife, Jo, who is in Hawaii right now. So Ray is making Cioppino and inviting everyone that live close to him. We are going to go so we can meet some more people. Since it is in the mid afternoon, they will probably play bocce ball or horse shoes. That will be fun.

In another month or two the summer people will be arriving and they will be here until October so we will have neighbors on both sides of us and it will be a busy place with trucks and quads going back and forth.

We are going into town tomorrow morning to get a few grocery items and gas for the truck and then return home.

Dave said he is thinking about having one of the mechanics, that the gringos say is good, look at the truck and see what kind of shape it is really in and if any of it can be fixed.

It is a warm evening. The breeze has stopped and the sky is full of stars. Nice!!!

Friday, February 19.
The sun was shining but it was a little hazy. We have to go into town to get gas in the truck and pick up a few groceries. Dave sent an email to Ron and Diane, asking if they would accept a rider to San Diego. They said they are stopping north of San Quintin but he said it didn’t matter to him. Ron was out clamming at the time so Diane needed to talk to Ron about it. In the meantime we went to town. We heard there was going to be a funeral this morning for a local Mexican, as his dad died. The service was at 10:00am. We left the house between 9-9:30am and stopped at Larry’s to give him his termite stuff back and a couple of cables and then we went to town. We stopped at Miguel’s first and got a couple things and then we went to the co-op store, David’s, then went to the gas station. As we were filling the tank, we saw the procession of people and cars going to the church for the funeral service. There was a police car leading them and then parked in the middle of the road to keep people from driving into the procession and another police car to be a backup. There were a few cars and I suspect the people walking behind the truck with the casket in it was the family. We were finished with filling the tank but we couldn’t go anywhere yet so we watched. Pretty soon everyone in the procession was out of the street and on their way to the church so we could go. We headed back into town and stopped at another store, Dos Piños to get a few groceries and some oil and transmission fluid and the like for the truck. Then we went to another store and got eggs and last we went to the yellow store and got a couple more things and then we were on our way back home. We wanted to get past the cemetery so we wouldn’t get stuck having to wait for them to bury the casket.

I swear the road keeps getting worse. There are a lot more pot holes and bigger rocks than there were before so it is really a bouncy ride. Since we had the race the road is worse. Oh well. There isn’t anything we can do about it.

After we returned home I took the groceries upstairs and started putting things away while Dave parked the truck. When he came upstairs we had lunch and the rest of the afternoon was waiting for Ron and Diane to get back to him about riding with them to San Diego. Pretty soon we did get an email and they said it would be fine if he didn’t mind stopping for the night. So Dave told them it was no problem and he was going to make flight reservations. He was able to get a flight out on Tuesday around 6:00pm to arrive in Seattle at 9:00pm. Then he will take the shuttle from the airport to the Silverdale Hotel where Ron will pick him up. Then Wednesday Dave will go and get the jeep and do the running around he needs to for a cover and a few other things he wants to put on the jeep. He should be home in a week. It will be so nice to finally be able to have good transportation down here. After he made his reservations he emailed Ron and Diane and told them and asked if they could get him to the airport at 4:00pm Tuesday. They said that shouldn’t be a problem. So we are finally making getting our jeep a reality. Yea!!!!

Mary and George came over at 4:30pm and we had a drink and a snack and then Dave started fixing carbanara. You make it with bacon, eggs, milk and noodles. It is sooooo good. He does such an excellent job and that is his specialty. I don’t make it because he loves to do it and he does it so well, I don’t want to even try. It does take both of us, one to pour the egg mixture while he stirs. Mary and George went out on the deck and sat while we were in the kitchen. When Dave didn’t need me anymore I went out and visited with them. Then it was time to serve and eat. So Mary, George and I came in from the outside and they sat at the table while I helped Dave dish and serve our guests. Mary brought a salad so we had that. One thing with the carbanara is once it is served you have to eat it while it is hot otherwise it becomes like an egg omelet. So we told Mary and George to start without us. We joined them shortly after that. We had a wonderful meal and conversation. After dinner we sat and talked a little bit then they went home. It was fun. Oh I forgot. Dave cooked some fresh shrimp in olive oil and garlic to serve with the carbanara. It was sooo good. After George and Mary left I washed dishes. Then it was relax time. I had finished the ‘Eragon’ book and now am reading “Pirate Latitudes’ by Michael Crichton. I think it will be a fairly quick read. Then I have to give it back to Lois when I’m done. I read a little and was so sleepy I went to bed and it was only 9:30pm. Dave came to bed a lot later as he was finishing the last book in the series he was reading. Now we can give those back to Judy to pass on to someone else.

Saturday, February 20.
We certainly didn’t get a restful sleep last night. Everything was quiet when I went to bed and when Dave was coming to bed we heard the wind pick up but thought nothing of it. Around 12:30am the wind was just howling and the screens in the windows were rattling. You could tell which direction the wind was blowing by what screens were rattling. Then here is a funny thing----the wind was blowing so hard it was making the toilet shake. Hmmmmm!!! It was a little funny but you had to have been there to appreciate the humor. The some of the pipes are exposed to the outside and they are only PVC pipe. Anyway---it blew and blew never letting up. We were wondering if the roof was going to blow off or something. We heard the chairs on the deck go sliding and Dave mentioned to me that they were going to blow off. I didn’t believe him and ignored it. Well just as we were almost asleep we heard this thud and loud crash. One of the chairs fell off the deck onto the cement ground below. Dave asked me if I was going to go get it, and I told him no. I still couldn’t believe a chair blew off the deck. Just after that another gust of wind came up and more chairs moved and we were both up and out of bed and to the door before you could count to 2. I went out and looked over the railing on the deck to the chair down below. It was folded and there were some broken pieces lying next to it. Dave went down and picked the chair up while I gathered the other chairs and table and brought them closer to the house where there was less wind. Dave said the chair was definitely broken but he wasn’t sure if it was still useable or not. We will find out later this morning when we get up again and the sun is up. Once the table and chairs had been secured we went back to bed. It took us a while to get to sleep because the wind was still howling but eventually we did manage to go to sleep finally and the next thing we knew it was morning. Dave was up at 8:00am and I got up at 8:30am. We are supposed to go to Ray’s house at 3:00pm this afternoon, but the weather sure doesn’t look promising. There are clouds and some of them are dark especially to the north. It is raining south of us and we can watch the weather blow in. So it was pretty much a gray day. We had some sun breaks but around 12:30pm or so it started to rain. Then after that the skies cleared enough to let the sunshine and it was good. It was defiantly a cool day today. I did some cross stitching and posted my blog and sent a couple emails. Dave did checking of emails and the weather and found the Bahia message board and read some of the stuff there was in it.

Then it was time for me to make deviled eggs and then time to go to Ray’s. By this time the sun was out and it was humid. We left the house about a quarter to 3 and when we arrived at Ray’s place Lois, Larry, Barb and Alan were already there. We walked in and met Ray and started chatting with everyone. Pretty soon others arrived. Everyone brought hors d’oeuvres and Dave and I met some new people. Pretty soon there was a house full and everyone was visiting and having a good time.

Then the Cioppino was served and was it ever delicious. When we had our fill, a game of bocce ball was organized and Dave and I were one team and there were 3 more people besides us. We had a good time, but Dave and I lost. Oh well. When the game was over, we said we would take a break and see if there was anyone else that wanted to play. There was another team formed and they were playing when we left. We said goodbye to everyone and thanked the host and left. We met some neat people. One lady we met is studying weather. She had fun talking to us and going through the stuff that she is going to be tested on. Her test is essay which I would think would be really hard. The squadron test was hard enough with multiple choices. I wish her luck. I’m sure she will do just fine. She also took Oceanography some time ago and she and Dave had a lot to talk about. She is a licensed captain as well. She has a 34 foot Catalina sailboat and we were trying to convince her that she needed a much bigger boat so she could charter it. Her husband was really into wanting to know more about our boat and she wasn’t sure she wanted to have that big of a boat. Anyway, who knows? They did talk about looking it up on Yacht World. So I think we will be seeing them again as she wants to talk to us about weather and to Dave about NOAA. She would like to work for NOAA. The afternoon was fun and when we got home it was just getting dark. Dave is on his computer and I was cross stitching until I remembered I needed to catch up the journal. So here I am. Then I will go back to cross stitching again, or reading. Haven’t decided yet. No wind tonight and I don’t think we will have any as the warm front has already moved through.

Dave leaves on Monday and my neighbors Mary and George leave on Wednesday. I won’t have any neighbors around me at all. That will be nice. I know that if I need something, Larry and Lois aren’t far away and the truck is running so I can bounce and bump my way to town. There is a shop I am interested in looking in as it has all kinds of craft stuff and more. I want to go explore.

Sunday, February 21.
Shortly after we got up we got a call on the VHF radio telling us the propane guy was coming. We have a stationery tank that can only be filled when the truck comes around. Several other people need to get theirs filled too. The propane truck started in La Mona which is across the bay from us and worked its way to our neighborhood. I am really glad he came today because otherwise I would have had to take care of not just our tank but two other neighbors because they are gone. Dave went out and bled the tank down because George told him no matter how much is in the tank they try to get the max in there. George went out on the road to meet the truck and guide him into our area. He took them first to our landlords house for the property we are on, and then to his and then they came to our house. So now all our tanks are full. All I have to do now is feed Mary’s birds (wild) while her and George are gone and then pay the gate keeper and have him sign a lease. I can handle that.

While Dave was waiting for the propane guys I washed some clothes and hung them to dry. We are supposed to get clouds later today so I wanted to take advantage of the sun while I had it. Even now I can see the clouds coming over the mountains.

After the propane guys came and went, Dave came upstairs and told me he saw that some of the solar panels were loose. Looks like some of the screws broke and when we had the last wind storm it blew the panels out a little. So Dave called Larry and asked if he had any of the screws he used for the solar panels and he did. Dave got in the truck and went to pick them up and when he got back I helped him with taking the old broken off screws out and putting new ones in. So now I don’t have to worry about the solar panels falling out. I’m sure glad he noticed that.

We never did really cloud up badly but the wind came up a couple of times. For the most part it was a nice day but cool. I brought in the dry clothes and fixed Dave and me some lunch and then it was a lazy afternoon from then on. I did cross stitch and reading and Dave was on the computer reading news and checking email and sending a few.

Then it was dinner time and time for Dave to pack. He needs to take a lunch with him for tomorrow and breakfast bars and fruit for breakfast for Tuesday morning. He will drive the truck tomorrow to the people’s house who is taking him with them, and I get to drive the truck back home. That should be interesting!!!

Dave just spoke to Ron and I guess he and Noreen are going to pick Dave up at the airport. That is really nice.

Dave heard from Carlos, at the Santa Rosalia Marina, that our boat is covered in bird crap. That is a welcoming thought! Dave is going to have one of the guys at the marina wash our boat so we don’t have that crap sitting a long time. We won’t be able to get there for another couple of weeks so it will help.

Not much else going on.

Monday, February 22.
Dave and I were up before 7:00am this morning. Dave went to the kitchen to start heating water for coffee and then when the water was heated he made the coffee and poured it into our cups. All of a sudden I heard something drop and then he swore. I asked him what happened and he said he dropped the sugar container. The lid came off in his hands and most of the sugar spilled on the rugs and floor. He was not happy, but I told him no worries. I would clean it up when I got back from getting him to his ride. So we enjoyed our coffee together and then he finished packing last minute stuff while I made him a sandwich for the road. Then it was time for truck starting 101. He grabbed his suitcase and computer and I grabbed the lunch bag and off we went. I got in on the passenger side and watched as Dave explained how to start the truck. Don’t laugh!!! It has a sticky ignition switch and you have to be sure that the mark is facing up otherwise the truck still thinks it is starting. So after that it was no problem. When we got to Ron and Diane’s house, they had company, neighbors that were saying goodbye to them. Dave got his gear and put it in the back of their Bronco and I thanked Ron and Diane for taking him and said goodbye to Dave. Then the test was to start the truck and drive it. Piece of cake!!!! I managed to do both. It was a slow go going home and a bumpy one but I made it. Once I got home it took me 3 tries to back it into the carport but I did it. Then I went upstairs and shook the rugs and swept up the sugar. When that was done I had to think of what I was going to do next. Well I still had some of Dave’s shirts and a pair of shorts to wash out so I did that and hung them up to dry. We are supposed to get clouds later so I wanted to dry them as much as I could while I could. Then I turned the solar panel so it was facing the sun. It needs to be turned about 3 times a day to get the full charge from the sun. When I finished with that I came back upstairs and hooked up my computer to the internet and answered emails and did some gift looking online for birthdays coming up. The wind had come up and clouds were moving in so I went down and checked on my clothes. The lighter items were dry but not the shirts so I left them hang. When I came back upstairs I had something to eat and then did some cross stitch. I was kind of restless so I went back to the computer and messed around on line for a while. Then I sat down and read. When 3:30pm rolled around I went over to Mary’s and she showed me where the bird feeders were and the bird seed and told gave me the money for our gate keeper, Nasario, and explained where he was suppose to sign and all that. When that was done, she asked me if I wanted to go with her tomorrow to a Birthday party for Carolina and I told her that sounded like fun. So I am doing that tomorrow. As I was leaving, George asked me to hear the alarm that he has on the house and his workshop/garage so I would be familiar with the sound and if I heard it to call the police. So after that I went home and had something to eat and then sat down and read. The wind has been blowing really hard today and the sky is getting darker clouds. I didn’t see where we are supposed to get any rain, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we did. The wind is supposed to be stronger tomorrow. Oh yea!!!! After I finish this I am going back to my book and then I will watch ‘Fools Gold’ and go to bed.

Lois called me tonight to see how I was doing and she is going to the party tomorrow too so I will see her there.

Well off to my book.

Tuesday, February 23.
It was windy all night so I didn’t sleep well, but this morning it is sunny and beautiful but quite windy still. Here is the view from our deck.




We are supposed to have wind like this all this week.

Mary called this morning and wanted to know if I had any garbage to take in and I told her I had more than one bag. She offered to pick mine up when she came and got me to go to Carolina’s birthday party. I told her it was alright that I would take it in when I went to town. Because she was taking her garbage in she needed to pick me up a little earlier than planned which was good. After I got to thinking about the garbage and she was willing to haul it for me, I called her back and told her since I thought about it I would take her up on her offer. So when she came to get me, I piled in my two bags and off we went. Once we got to town and dropped off the garbage we went to the Museum to meet anyone who was going to Carolina’s house but didn’t know where it was. I looked around and they have many more things than they had this summer which was neat. I didn’t have any money with me otherwise I would have bought a Mexican cookbook. Some other time. I talked with the couple that was working that morning at the museum and we had a very nice visit. Then it was time to go to Carolina’s so Mary and I left the museum and went up the street where she lives. She built that house on her own with help from the Mexican community. It is neat. I had a good time at the luncheon party and I met a couple of women I hadn’t before. One was a gal named Sandy who was the one who taught most of the women how to paint. She is on dialysis. She has a lot of health issues, but she remains cheerful and she didn’t look sick at all. Nice lady. I hope she can be healed.

Around 2:00pm everyone started leaving Carolina’s and Mary had to stop at a friend’s house, Howey and Cindy, because they will be watching their dogs while they are away for a week. Mary has been fostering a little cute dog and trying to find a home for it with no luck. He is very skiddish and it is hard for anyone to get near him. Mary and George are the only ones he lets near him. Mary is hoping that Howey and Cindy will fall in love with him and keep him because they won’t be taking him back home with them, just their own dog Alaura. It was interesting to see how the dogs reacted to being in Howey and Cindy’s home and Terry wasn’t too sure about any of it. These people are very gentle and they love animals so the dogs are in good hands. If they don’t keep Terry, there is a couple in New Mexico that would take him, but the problem is how to get him there. He’ll find a home one way or the other.

George met Mary at Howey and Cindy’s house with the dogs, food, and their beds. Then we just sat around long enough to where Terry wasn’t shaking so bad anymore and they had been fed. It was hard for Mary and George to leave him behind and Terry wanted to come with them, but Mary and George got out the door without Terry behind them. Mary and I talked a little on the way back home, and she said she had some lettuce and a couple other things to give me that she wouldn’t be able to eat. Once we got to her house she gave me the lettuce and the keys to the house and I wished them a safe trip and gave hugs to Mary and said goodbye.

I walked back to my house and put the lettuce in the refrigerator and went to the computer to check for emails. Dave is on his way to Seattle now to get the jeep. I will be hearing from him soon when he gets settled at Ron and Noreen’s.

I finished the book I was reading and am starting another one. A Clive Cussler book. By the time I got back to the house it was almost 5:00pm so it was too late to do any cross stitching as the good light was gone. I had a cocktail then some top ramen for dinner. Had a big lunch so wasn’t real hungry. Then I watched ‘Seven Pounds’ with Will Smith. Sad movie. After that I read a little then went to bed. But not much going on.

Wednesday, February 24.
I slept really well last night. Of course it helps when the wind isn’t rattling the screens and trying to blow the chairs off the deck. HA!! I woke up at 6:30am and wasn’t ready to get up yet so I dozed until 7:10am and got up. That is unusual for me as I usually get up around 8 or so. No worries. I had paper goods to burn before it got windy so I did that before coffee. We have a burn barrel in our yard that is a good distance from the house for burning all our paper waste. So I stood there and watched that the fire behaved itself and when all was good, I went back into the house. I made coffee and stood at the kitchen window just watching the burn barrel. Then I went downstairs to the garage and got the shovel and went to the burn barrel and spread out the ashes and still burning material so it would burn evenly and spread out the ashes a little. Now there was no flame so I felt everything was good and I could leave it. I put the shovel away and closed the garage door and went back upstairs. I poured another cup of coffee and connected to the internet and Davey had gone on line to chat. So we did a little of that and I sent him an email earlier to let him know how things were going.

My screen is getting flaky. It is acting like it wants to die. NOOOOOO!!!! I can’t have that. I will just have to baby it I guess. Eventually we are going to get a desk computer. Laptops aren’t meant for everyday hard use. Anyway---I had to sign off and turn off the computer as I could hardly see the screen.

I ate breakfast and then went down to the garage and got the vacuum and took it to the guest house, ‘bamboo room’ and sucked up the sand and dust out of the sliding glass door track and then vacuumed the carpet and the chair that is there. Then that was enough using of battery power. I opened the doors to get some air in there and then left and came back upstairs. It is a beautiful morning and the wind hasn’t come up yet so I thought it would be a nice time to take a walk. I closed up the house and the garage and the guest house and went on a walkabout. It was so nice. I walked all over and through the neighbors yards checking things out, and then found a dead cactus branch to bring back to my yard. The wind was picking up so I headed back to the house. When I got back I turned the solar panel to follow the sun and then went upstairs and typed this journal. I had to tap my screen for it to behave and so far so good. We have white caps on the water, but not like it was yesterday. I was told that we are supposed to have more wind tomorrow and strong gusts. Oh well. It still is winter here. At least the sun is shining and even though the wind cools it down a bit, it is still wonderful. I have some projects lined up to do today which are reading, cross stitch and crocheting. Of course that is after I stretch and do some exercises and have lunch. It’s a great day.

I got to chat with my eldest son online and then I spent most of the afternoon searching the internet for a birthday gift for my grandson, E.J. who is turning 13 on March 2. Hard to believe he is that old already.

I managed to do a little cross stitching and have done some reading. No great plans tonight. I might just sit and read or if I want, watch a movie. The wind has died down and it is a little chilly outside but not bad. I think it will be a quiet night.

Dave got the jeep today and was able to do some running around getting stuff for the jeep.

Tomorrow will be another busy day for him.

Thursday, February 25.
Not much going on so this will be short. I spent most of the day searching for birthday gifts to send online. Then I read some, did quite a bit counted cross stitch, grabbed some dinner and read before going to bed. Exciting huh?

Friday, February 26.
There were clouds this morning but they thinned out and it is nice and sunny and warm with a little breeze. I ordered online the last of the birthday gifts so far, and then I went on a walk in the desert. I walked all the way to the hills that are behind our house. It was a good walk and I saw lizards, flowering cactus and plants, lots of evidence of animals like either horses or burros, and cows. Last night, right outside the house, were some coyotes that howled for a little bit. That was kind of cool. Don’t know how many were there but it was definitely more than one.

There are a couple of birds that come and sit on the railing of the deck in the mornings and they are pretty. The male has a red head and chest where the female is all brown. It is fun to watch the birds here. Doves came and visited on the deck too this morning but I shooed them away. They leave big messes.

When I got back from my walk I made a sandwich and sat on the deck in the sun and enjoyed it. It is a really nice day today.

Have to go start the truck and run it for a little bit to charge the battery.

Dave is visiting Fisheries today looking for a small Honda generator. He wasn’t able to find one in Bremerton. Then tomorrow he gets to sit at Firestone to have tires put on the jeep and everything checked out. Busy time for him.

Well the truck didn’t start let alone turn over. There was no click---nothing. I have the feeling it is the starter. I sent Dave an email to let him know and to see if he had any suggestions. He too thought it might be the starter. So I will have to call Larry and see if he can come take a look at it. I tried to call him this afternoon on the VHF but they weren’t home. I’ll call him in the morning. I sure hope we can get it running. We need that old truck!!!!

I worked on my cross stitch and read some and checked emails and all that kind of exciting stuff.

The tide was way out tonight and there was a couple on the beach gathering clams.

I sat on the deck for a little while until the sun went down behind the mountains. Then I came inside and made dinner. After dinner I sat and read my book, played some computer games and now it’s time for bed.

Saturday, February 27.
It was overcast this morning so I didn’t wash any clothes afraid they wouldn’t dry. So I enjoyed my coffee and read my book. Then I called Larry about the truck and he said he would be over later. Late morning he came and put the volt meter on the battery and it was dead. It only read 2 volts. So he took the battery to his house to charge it and will bring it back tomorrow. Tomorrow he will pull fuses and see if any of them have any drain on the battery. Dave says he knows the ignition switch is bad and that could be the culprit. If we do get the truck to run, I will have to start and run it every day whether I take it to town or not. I just don’t trust it. Larry left and about an hour or two Lois, his wife came for a visit. She returned some things I loaned her and we had a nice chat. She invited me, as so did Larry, to taco Sunday. A bunch of people on Sundays, go in and have tacos and visit. Sounded like fun and I should get to meet new people. At least it gets me out of the house and away for a little while. When Lois left I worked on my cross stitch until the sun went behind the mountain. It gets darker in the dining room after that. So I set it aside to pick it up again tomorrow.

Got an email from Dave today and he should be heading back Tuesday afternoon or really early Wednesday morning. The jeep was serviced today and all is well with it and Dave said with the new tires it rides quieter. That is great.

It was time for a cocktail and then I stood watching a Mexican family dig for clams on the beach outside our house. The tide was way out. Then it got dark and the full moon came up over the mountains in the east.


It was really beautiful and with it shining on the water, I took advantage of the view and turned the lights out and sat and watched the moon rise. Then it was time to close the blinds and eat dinner and read.

When I got tired of reading I went to the computer and started playing with colors. I am trying to figure out what color I want to paint the walls. Whatever color I choose, it has to be for the whole inside as the rooms are not separated. I had fun messing around.

We are having some gusty winds tonight. There was one blast that blew one of the plastic lightweight deck chairs across the deck and if the rail hadn’t been there it too would have bit the big one. I brought it inside so I don’t have to worry about it going bye bye.

Read about the earthquake in Chile. That was really devastating! There are earthquakes happening more and more now a day. I’m glad that Hawaii and the U.S was spared from the tsunami and I hope Japan doesn’t get hit either.

Time for bed after I read a little more of my book. I am almost finished with it.

Sunday, February 28.
This morning Larry came by in his quad with the charged up battery. He put the battery in the truck and started it. It took a few minutes for it to start but it did start. After it was warmed up he drove it away. He is taking it to his house to see if he can find the culprit for the battery drain. He left his quad behind. I found a square piece of wood in the yard and wondered where it came from. I figured the wind blew it from maybe the neighbor’s house, so I took it over there and laid it down on the ground. After that I went upstairs, ate breakfast and finished my book. Now I can walk over to my neighbors house and put bird seed out for the birds and put water in a watering container for them. After that I came back to the house, moved the solar panel and then went upstairs to wash out some clothes and hang them to dry. The wind had subsided enough I could hang them without them blowing away. The clothes line I am using is one that was already there when we moved in. It is above the railing of the deck on the south side of the bamboo room. It works out pretty well. While I was there I opened up one of the sliding glass doors in the bamboo room to get some fresh air in there and also opened the door to the trailer which is across from the bamboo room.

Larry came back on Lois’ quad and I went down to greet him. He came to get a switch off of a battery box that isn’t being used any more. He is going to install the switch on the truck so it can be turned on for the truck to run but when it isn’t running the switch will allow the battery not to be drained of its power. As he was getting ready to get on the quad and leave he asked me if the wind blew off the cover to the water pump box. I looked and it dawned on me that the piece of wood that was in our yard belonged to us. I laughed and so did Larry. I told him I needed to retrieve it. So he left and I walked over to the neighbor’s yard and got the cover and placed it back on the water pump box. I would have never noticed it was gone if he hadn’t have said something. The box isn’t in plain sight so unless you were actually down by the trailer looking around you would never have known. I’m glad he spotted it.

I spend the afternoon cross stitching. I brought the clothes in and put them away and went back to cross stitching. Larry came back with the truck and parked it and when he got out he showed me where the switch was and explained how to use it. Now I can keep the battery charged and be able to drive the truck. Or can I??? As Larry was getting ready to leave, I noticed under the hood and through the grill that fluid was leaking out of the radiator. I mentioned it to Larry and he looked and the radiator was leaking radiator fluid. He popped the hook and loosened the radiator cap just enough to release the pressure. A bunch of fluid bubbled out around the radiator cap. Larry said if it wasn’t one thing it is another with that truck. He told me the alternator is dead so the battery won’t stay charged long when I ran it. Oh boy!!! So he mentioned that Dave might want to bring down and alternator with him. And now the radiator!!! Well the truck isn’t going to get me anywhere until after Davey gets home and he gets the alternator put in. Well we did say this was going to be a new adventure. Yeehaw!!! Well Larry left and he said he and Lois would be by at 4:30pm to pick me up to go in to town for tacos. So I went upstairs and got freshened up and dressed and then did my cross stitch while I waited for them to pick me up. Lois called me around 4:10pm and said they would be later as they had to walk the dog before they left so they will see me around 4:45pm. That was fine because then I locked the electrical room and closed up the bamboo room and trailer and locked everything. When I got back upstairs it was time to go as I saw them coming. So I gathered my stuff and locked the door and met them down stairs as they drove up to the house. Then we were off. The road was terrible as usual, but we made it to town and we were the only ones there. So we ordered what we wanted to eat and pretty soon another couple showed up. We had dinner together and nice conversation. By the time we got ready to leave it was dark and we watched the orange moon come up over the mountains in the east. It was awesome. We said goodbye and came back home. As we approached the gate we saw that Nasario, the gate keeper, wasn’t there. He was doing his rounds around the small neighborhood. We had to wait in the truck because he had locked the gate so we couldn’t get in. I saw a flash light waving around and I told Larry he was on his way back. Then I saw another flashlight but it was in a different area and near our house. Larry noticed it too. Hmmm. So what was the other light doing there? I saw a bright light which I assumed was from Nasario’s flashlight and it was bobbing up and down and getting closer to us. Nasario was moving quickly. I didn’t think he could move that fast. When we reached the gate and walked to the truck, he was speaking fast in Spanish and Larry was able to catch some of what he said. There were clammers and I guess Nasario was trying to keep them from coming up to the houses. Nasario let us in and Larry and I saw a light flash again by my house. We drove up and didn’t see anyone, but there was definitely someone that had walked from the beach up to the houses. I thanked Larry and Lois for inviting me to dinner and I turned on the porch light and went upstairs while they waited for me to get inside. Once I was inside they drove away. I turned off the porch lights and then looked outside to see if I could see anything but couldn’t. Houses have been broken into and the Mexicans know that most of the people that have homes here only come down for 6 months and the rest of the time the houses are vacant. So with that knowledge some of the Mexicans have been breaking into some homes. We have been lucky in our area since we have a guard, but we all still watch out for all the homes around us. After looking around for a little bit, I closed the blinds. The flashlight on the beach was gone and I never did see anyone else lurking.

There is no wind tonight so I am hoping it will stay that way and I will get a good rest.

Dave said he will probably be home on Saturday. I will just have to go to the garage sale by myself then. Heheh!!!!