Land Adventure Continues

Thursday, April 1, 2010.
April Fool’s Day!!!!! Hope nobody played any cruel games on you.

It was cloudy when we got up. It doesn’t look too promising for the solar panel today. I took the jeep into town to get some groceries, stopping to take a couple pictures of a cactus flower.


Once in town I stopped at my usual places and I was able to get quite a few things as it seemed everyone was replenished. I even got milk. Yahoo!!

I stopped at the Museum on my way out of town to say hello to the gals that were working the art show. It didn’t seem as though there were many people there, but there were quite a few in the Museum. After I visited a little I left and went to the yellow store and then went home. It had sprinkled while I was in town and then it stopped. The sun is trying to come out but it isn’t going to make it all the way from behind the clouds. When I got home Dave helped take the groceries upstairs while I parked the jeep in the garage. We have to back it in and it isn’t easy as we have posts to watch out for and then there is a slanted cement ramp you go up before you are in the garage. But I did it with Dave’s help.

After the groceries were put away, Dave and I had lunch. I left before 9:00am and got back close to noon.

After lunch I went out to the rocks at the entrance to the driveway and had to put two of my stone people back together as the wind blew the rocks off the top. When I was finished doing that I watered my plants and then came back inside. I sure don’t have any energy at all. What is up with THAT!! I guess I worked so hard digging rocks that now that I’m not, my body doesn’t know what to do. Ha!! Maybe it was just the weather. Anyway---I cross stitched and Dave was in the kitchen making dough for bread. He put it together and then let it sit to rise. After an hour or so it wasn’t rising. He tried moving it to a different part of the kitchen and it still hasn’t risen and it has been hours. He is going to leave it overnight and see if it does anything. We doubt it but it never hurts to try. He doesn’t know what happened. He will either try again tomorrow or Saturday. Bummer!!! We were looking forward to some warm sourdough bread. Another day.

The clams we got yesterday are going to be steamed tonight for dinner. We aren’t really hungry so I sliced some cheese and we had cheese and crackers with clams. The broth turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself!! Tomorrow we will have linguine with clam sauce---numm!!

Not much going on. The wind did blow pretty good this afternoon and early evening, but it has died down now. I hope it stays that way. We heard some clunking on the roof and we think the T.V. dish is loose. We are going to have to go on the roof tomorrow to check it out. We don’t want that blowing off the roof. That wouldn’t be good. So it’s on the roof tomorrow. Oh yea!!!

Friday, April 2.
Today was a wonderful sunny day. Only whispy clouds in the sky and it is pleasant outside. Not to hot or cold.

We went over to borrow Georges’ ladder so we can get on the roof, and the guys started talking about parts and I told Dave I was going to go over to our neighbors place that have just arrived and live on the other side of Smiley and John. I went over and introduced myself. Dave met them yesterday. Nice people. Their trailer got broken into so they had a mess to clean up yesterday. That was really too bad. We hadn’t heard a thing so we figured Mary, George and us had to be gone when it happened. They threw a rock through their trailer window and managed to get in. They took an old VHF radio, a couple of new truck batteries and that was about it. They had papers strewn all over the trailer as if they were looking for money. They didn’t take anything else. They would have had to come over the fence and not through the gate, as Nasario won’t let anyone in unless he knows they live here or they specify who they are visiting. They had to have been on foot and carried the batteries to a vehicle that was parked so no one could see it. Creela said it had to have happened during the day as it would have been hard to see what they were doing otherwise. Whenever it happened, it is a shame. It is like in the states, people watch your place and wait until you aren’t home and then try to break in. Sometimes they are successful and other times not. I can see why people put bars over their windows now. I still feel safe here but it is like anywhere where you are away from a lot of people, you have to keep an eye out and keep things locked up. Luckily for Creela and Phil it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. When Dave was finished talking to George he came over to Creela and Phil’s place to get me so we could carry Georges’ ladder over to our place. Creela and Phil were on their way to visit someone so we said goodbye and we welcomed them back home. They say they are staying until July, but George says they end up here for only a month. We shall see. I do know Phil loves to fish and he mentioned he was looking for a fishing partner. I spoke up right away and said Davey was his man. He’s been waiting to go fishing. So after Easter week is over, they will go fishing. That is when all the Mexican people that are visiting here will be gone. That is cool. I did remind Dave we have a small freezer so he can’t do what he did last summer on the boat and keep catching fish for me to freeze. When we buy this place we are buying a full size refrigerator/freezer and maybe a freezer to put down in the garage. That will be nice. Right now I have a small refrigerator and freezer that Larry and Lois switched from the house they bought and took their full size refrigerator and freezer to their new home and put the small one in this house. For right now it is fine but later we will need bigger.

We got Georges’ ladder to our house and Dave and I had trouble getting it upright. Or should I say I was having trouble helping him but it all worked out even though he got a little frustrated with me. We got the job done and that is what matters. He went up on the roof and took a look at the dish. Everything was bolted down good but he did notice the pop rivets were loose. So I got him a hammer and brought it up to him and he banged on the rivets to drive them in where they were supposed to be and that fixed the problem. He was not looking forward to scrapping the paint off the trim of the house, so I suggested I could do it and then I would paint. He really doesn’t like going up and down a ladder. I think it has to do with when he was a toddler; falling out of a 2 story window and landing on his feet. He was really lucky he didn’t die or break his bones. But that memory has stayed with him all his life. He isn’t bothered by flying as he did that in Nom, but when he climbs the ladder he can only look straight ahead not up or down, otherwise things start spinning. So I told him I didn’t mind getting on the roof and scrapping and then painting. So that is what I did. I changed my clothes to my painting ones, put my ball cap on and got a large towel to kneel and lay on because the roof is rough. I climbed the ladder and got on the roof and started scrapping the trim on the house. Then Dave mixed the paint and brought it up to me. I painted all the trim with green. When I was done, Dave mixed some white paint and brought it up the ladder and gave it to me, then I helped him move the ladder to the south side of the house where he was going to paint the board that needed white paint. He started painting with the brush as it was smaller at one end and then we noticed above the window needed to be caulked. So he got off the ladder and got the caulking gun. I told him I would paint while he was doing that. So I used the brush to get the top part of the board and then the roller to get the face of it. Then Dave came back and caulked above the window. This way we won’t have any leaks. He had to do the same thing on the north side of the house above our bedroom window. When he finished he got off the ladder and I told him I thought I might be able to paint most if not all of the board. Actually I ended up painting all of it. I could reach enough to where I could give a good coating. When I finished with the first coat I put another coat on then I was done. Yea!!!!!! We finally painted the white board and the trim. Now we are done with the house. I’m sure we will have to paint again next year, but for now the wood is protected from the elements. Yahoo!!!!! I tied the towel around my waist and then started down the ladder with the paint pan in hand. I was done!!!!! Dave took the pan and put water in it to soak everything. He did the same for the pan that had the green paint in it. I will clean them tomorrow. I was done for today. All I wanted to do is go upstairs and take an ibuprofen and have a beer. But first I had to help Dave take the ladder down and then back over to Georges’. Once that was done I went upstairs, took my ibuprofen with beer then sat down in my chair and stared out the window looking out on the beach and Sea. I did have a snack as it was too late to have lunch. It was almost 3:00pm. Dave had a coke and some nuts and I had a piece of carrot left over from making a salad the night before, some cheetos, and then some dry roasted peanuts. After that I decided it was time for me to light the water heater. I got the clicker bicker (lighter) and went down and it took me about 10 minutes before it made a poof sound and I knew I could turn it on and it would light. Yahoo!!!! I said I would do it and I did!!!! I came in from doing that and fixed Dave and I rum and coke. I squeezed limes to cover the chopped clams Dave chopped yesterday to make ceviche. Then I put them back in the refrigerator. Then I chopped some onion and added that to the clams then squeezed more limes to cover. I am letting that sit all night and tomorrow then I will make ceviche.

I played a couple of games on my computer and then I took a hot shower. Boy did that feel good!!! Then Dave turned off the water heater for me. He started playing his sub game and I started to fix dinner. I am making linguine and clam sauce. Dave had worked on his sourdough bread while I was painting and then he put it in the oven to bake. It didn’t rise very much but we decided to cook it anyway. When that was done and cooling, I went ahead and made dinner. The linguine was very good and so was the bread. I have lots of broth left over from the steamed clams so I will probably give some to Mary and George if they want it and freeze whatever is left. I am having fun creating new dishes we haven’t had before. I like having a kitchen that I can move around in. And of course lots of storage for everything.

After dinner Dave went back to his game and I turned the solar panel to face the morning sun and lock the electrical room. When I got back I heated water for dishes and washed everything then dried them and put everything away. I was finally done. Dave was just about at the end of his game when it went dead. It must be a glitch in the program. He said he was winning too! Oh well. He said he was done and I could have the computer now for my journal/blog. So Dave went to get cleaned up and then to his computer to play solitaire and he also called his son to see how he was doing. We saw where Kitsap County got snow and then high winds. It is nasty back home. We are sure glad we are here!!!! Michael is doing well and so are little Davey and Dani. Good to hear.

Well I am done here so now I will probably play a game or two and then read before bed. It was a busy day today but a good one. It is really neat on the roof of the house. It is like being hauled up the mast on the boat and seeing far away. Cool!!! I am glad that chore is behind us now. The only thing we haven’t painted yet is the garage door trim. The door is crooked so it rubs on both sides so even if we paint it, it will get scrapped off. Not sure what we are going to do yet. That is for another day.

Saturday, April 3.
It is a beautiful day. We are seeing less people on the beach now that the tide doesn’t go out so far.

After coffee and breakfast I went to the trailer and opened the windows and then to the bamboo room to open the sliding glass doors. There was a gentle breeze blowing and I don’t think it is suppose to get really windy today. When I finished doing that I went upstairs and got the burnable trash and took it down to the burn barrel and burned it while Dave was tearing up the last cardboard box we have so he could burn that. We only do a little at a time. I got the shovel and went on my rounds for scooping up dog poop and checked my plants to see if they needed water which some of them did and then I went upstairs and washed clothes and brought them down to hang on the line outside the bamboo room. After that I took a walk to see if my rock people were still standing after the wind yesterday and they were. I came inside, sat down at my computer and started proofing the March blog. Then I got a call from Mary on the VHF and she wanted to let me know she sent me a couple of emails. So I read them and one of them was an email for another couple I had asked for, and the second one was to ask if I wanted leaf lettuce. I called her back and told her it was a yes to her email and she said anytime I want to come get it feel free. I asked her when would be a good time and she said-now! So I walked over to her house and got the lettuce and we chatted for a few minutes. She asked if I had seen Creelas’ paintings and I told her no and Mary suggested I go see them before they went to the art show. So I said goodbye to Mary and walked to Creela and Phils’ home. I told Creela I was there to see her paintings but I wasn’t going to buy. She is a wonderful artist. She paints a lot of the pictures I would buy of the Mexican people and Baja area. I looked through the prints she had as she already had her framed paintings packed up for the art show. I told her her paintings were beautiful and wished her luck at the show. Then I took my lettuce and went home. When I got home Dave wasn’t in the yard and the garage door was closed so I knew he wasn’t in there. I figured he might be in the bamboo room. I didn’t go look for him because I figured I would see him soon. So I went back to proofing the blog. He called up to the house and asked if I was home and I told him yes. So I went down and asked what he was doing and he said he was working on his fishing lures. I told him of my visit with Creela and her paintings. I asked him if he was hungry and he said yes so I went to the house and fixed lunch. Then I made him some juice and took his juice and sandwich to the bamboo room. Then I told him I was going to check to see if the clothes were dry and go back the house. The clothes were pretty much dry except for my shorts in one spot and a couple other things were just damp but I took them down anyway and brought them in and laid them on the bed because the sun shines on it in the afternoon and they will finish drying. I proofed some more of the blog, and then I moved to my comfortable chair and read a couple of chapters from my book. Then I cross stitched for the rest of the afternoon.

When Dave was finished with his fishing lures he came back upstairs and played his sub game. The program booted him out yesterday afternoon just as he was getting close to the end of his mission. So he had to go back today and see where it took him back to. Unfortunately it took him further back than he wanted to be. But he finally finished his mission and the war.

I stopped cross stitching and made ceviche out of the chopped clams. I added the rest of the ingredients then put it back in the refrigerator to cool. It actually turned out pretty good. That was our snack before dinner. I sat and read some more of my book while Dave played on my computer. Then around 6:00pm I started fixing dinner. We had the leftover clam linguine, salad and Dave’s sourdough bread. Then after dinner the usual, washing dishes while Dave was on his computer. I was almost finished with the dishes and looked outside and it was already dark. I hadn’t turned the solar panel back for the morning time so I asked Dave if he would do that and then lock the electrical room. I told him I would take care of closing the windows in the trailer and doors in the bamboo room. I met him as he was coming back from the electrical room. I locked the garage door and then went and did my thing over at the guest house. I finished cleaning up the kitchen and was done for the night. Now I can read or do whatever before going to bed.

Sunday, April 4.
Hoppy Easter everyone!!!! Did the Easter Bunny visit you? He didn’t here as I think he got lost. Oh well.

Today was a laid back day------oh yeah!!!! All my days are laid back. Heheh!!!! Anyway, not much happened. I cleaned the 2 paint pans, the roller and brush. I planted the two ice plants I put in containers the other day, into the ground to see if they will multiply and do better. They didn’t like being in the containers. I watered my other plants and that was about it. There is one plant that is blooming and it is really pretty. I don’t know the name of it, but whatever I am doing, I must be doing it right as it has all kinds of buds on it. Look at the stamens!!!

I went back in the house and read some then cross stitched. Around the time the earthquake happened, I was in the kitchen preparing a whole chicken to roast in the oven. Dave was at the computer and he told me after he read the news about the earthquake tonight, he thought he felt the house sway a little, but didn’t think much of it. It was too far away from us for us to be affected by it.

I got my journal copied over to the blog site and added a few pictures, but I had started it too late so I saved what I did and I will work on it tomorrow with the intent to post it.

While I was blogging, Dave took a walk on the beach and collected some agates. He put them in a jar. He said he use to walk on the beach back home and collect a lot of agates and then display them in a jar. Cool!!!

We had a wonderful dinner of mashed potatoes, chicken gravy, roasted chicken and some cooked zucchini. I also made deviled eggs and gave 4 to George as he loves them too like Dave. I gave Mary some of our leftover seasoned clam juice.

The day was beautiful with a little wind, but not too bad. All in all it was a very good day!!

Monday, April 5.
There was very little wind today and it was warm. We are supposed to have winds tomorrow up to 20 knots and more on Wednesday.

There was a small wad of clothes to wash and hang to dry. Then I worked on my blog, putting pictures in. It takes a long time and Dave doesn’t understand why it should take so long. The pictures are good size so it takes a little time to download. Well that is just the way it is. He was concerned about using up all our band width. We are allotted a certain amount and if we exceed it they slow us down. The other thing too is he can’t be on his computer when I am doing my blogging so he has to wait. I don’t think he likes that too well. I decided I would stop at 12:00pm and put the rest of the pictures in tomorrow. I am almost done. That way I don’t have Dave hovering!!! No worries as I wanted to make banana bread. After the bread had been baked and sat and cooled, I had to have a warm piece of it with butter. Yumm!! After lunch I cross stitched and Dave was making phone calls to see why we were shorted money on our income tax refund. It turned out they made a mistake so we will be getting that money in about 3 weeks. That will be nice. Good for Dave!

Mary came over this afternoon bearing gifts. She is cleaning up her guest house and found a couple things she didn’t want there anymore so she brought them over. One was a print of all kinds of peppers in a red frame. It is perfect hung between the kitchen and dining room. Then she had ceramic vegetables and peppers hanging on twine which is really cute and I hung that in the space between the two kitchen windows. Perfect!!! It spruces up the place. Dave even liked them.

The terns are back. They are smaller than the seagull and have a very high screech when they call. It can be annoying, but we have learned to tune it out, sort of.

This morning just outside the sliding glass door to the bedroom side of the house, we saw a black bug flying around. It has a buzz when it flies but it doesn’t look like a bumble bee even though it is the size of one. It doesn’t look like a horse fly either. It has antennae on top of its head and we are intrigued by how it comes every day, when it isn’t really windy, and flies around the deck and never lands and it just goes back and forth for a long time. Dave is going to ask George if he knows what it is.

We have had a lot of flies. Dave asked George if that was usual and he said no. He suspects it is from all the seaweed that has been washed on the beach during the high tides. He said that hasn’t happened before. I am going to have to get a couple of fly strips. At night the moths like to sneak in and I will be reading my book and one will do a fly by. THAT is annoying!!! Sheesh!! Oh well. Such is life I guess.

I finished the Margaret Truman book last night and now I am reading ‘IKE’, by Michael Korda. It should be an interesting book. It is pretty thick so it will take me a while.

It was pleasant outside tonight so Dave and I had a cigar and enjoyed the starry sky and seeing some lights in the town and also from a couple of boats on the Sea. Just another quiet night in the desert.

Tuesday, April 6.
Today we had 20 knots of wind to make up for the non windy day yesterday.

We had an interesting day. We left the house around 7:30am and got into town and dropped off our garbage then we went up the hill to sit in line for about 2 hours to get water. Everyone was there and some of them were making a second trip. We were afraid they might run out of water but there was plenty and we were able to fill our tank. Then we stopped at Xitali’s and bought milk and salad dressing. Then stopped at Larry and Lois’ to borrow the pump to get the water out of the tank and into the pila. While we were there Lois invited me to come back in the afternoon to watch ‘Dancing with The Stars’ she had taped last night. She said Creela and Kathy were coming and I might be able to hitch a ride with Creela because she was picking Kathy up. So I told her that sounded like fun. When Dave and I got home I called Creela and asked if I could get a ride and she said yes. She was leaving around 11:45am. I told her I would be ready. We are to bring our lunch too. Then I went down and helped Dave empty the water tank into the pila. When the water was just above the fitting the water flows out of, in the tank, he stopped the pump and used that water to rinse the bottom of the tank. It still had some sand in it. Then he unhooked the hoses and took the truck and tank over to the carport and I gave him the garden hose so he could squirt water on the sides to really rinse the inside of the tank out and then drained the tank. We took the tank off the truck, putting it under the carport and tied it to the wall so it wouldn’t blow away. So that job was done. I came upstairs and got a piece of banana bread and a cup of coffee and when I finished that it was around 11:30am so I made a peanut butter sandwich and packed some cheetos and water to take with me. I was looking out the window thinking Creela was going to use the truck they came down here in and just as I was looking out the window, Dave said she was here. She was in the old truck they have that stays here. So she pulled up and I got in and we went and picked Kathy up and off we went to Lois’. There were 6 of us gals, including me. We ate lunch and watched the show and then we sat and talked about T.V. shows, famous stars, books that have been read and ready to be passed on to the next person. Lois gave me three books for Dave which he will be happy to have. We finally left after 3:00pm. I had a good time. When I got home Dave was at his computer and we talked about the wind and said it is suppose to blow more tomorrow, and I told him about my time at Lois’ and showed the books to him. He is actually reading one of them now. It is too late to do cross stitching as I will be fixing dinner soon, but I did read a little and then decided I would get a head start on doing the journal instead of waiting until after dinner. I want to finish my blog tonight so I can post it. If I work on it after 9, it won’t take up any of the band width. From 9:00pm to 3:00am you don’t get charged for using the band width. I’m sure Dave will be reading so I will be able to finish and post my blog.

I finally got my pictures in the blog and now it is posted for all to read. It was 10:00pm and I was tired so I went to bed. Dave is still reading his book. I bet he finishes it tonight!!

I didn’t get much accomplished today, but it was nice spending some time with the other ladies.

Wednesday, April 7.
Wow!!! It is Wednesday already. I kept thinking it was Tuesday. Well the wind prediction was correct for today. It blew up to 25-30 knots all day and finally around dinner time calmed down. There were some pretty good sized white caps on the Sea with the waves crashing on shore. There wasn’t much you could do outside as the wind kicked up the sand. So we spent the day inside. Dave didn’t finish his book last night so we sat this morning drinking our coffee and reading our books until around 10:00am. I did manage to eat breakfast. I went down and unlocked the electrical room and turned the solar panel a little to keep up with the sun. Then I read some more and around 12:00pm I started cross stitching. Dave finished his book and he wanted to see how much it was blowing outside so he got his battery operated hand held wind machine, but the batteries were dead so he put new ones in and it still didn’t work. The terminals were a little corroded so he cleaned them off and replaced the new batteries and it worked. He went out in the yard and was out there for quite a while. When he finally came in he said it was blowing consistently 20 knots. It actually blew stronger after that. The forecast said it was suppose to let up this afternoon and be calm tonight. It never let up all afternoon. We couldn’t have the sliding glass doors open because the wind would make them rattle. The house shook a couple of times too. No worries though. The house is solid!!!! We do get some strong winds through here. It has been known to blow 100 miles per hour sometimes here. I guess it doesn’t happen often, but wow!!! So the house is still in one piece so it is solid.

Around 4:00pm I stopped cross stitching and decided to look through the other 2 books I brought to Dave from Lois. They are of Baja California back when there was hardly anything here. They look really interesting and I will probably want to read them before giving them back to Lois. After Dave gets finished with one I will put the book I am reading now aside to read Baja history.

The waves are still crashing on shore and probably will be for a few more hours. Then it will be really quiet again. Earlier Dave and I heard what sounded like footsteps. We couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. I went outside on the deck and looked around without any lights on, and then I turned on the porch light and didn’t see anything. Then Dave said he could still hear it so I went inside to the bathroom and you could hear it in there. Dave said it sounded like it was coming from the back of the house. So we went to the kitchen window and I raised the blinds and we couldn’t see anything so I got our big flashlight and shone it outside on the solar panel, the pila roof, the electrical room roof and then on the ground and didn’t see anything. Then it stopped and we haven’t heard it since. I told Dave it might have been a bird walking on the roof. We must have scared it away as we aren’t hearing the thunk thunk thunk thunk sound like a seagull walks. All kinds of strange sounds we hear. Now except for the surf, it is quiet. It is time for me to read my book. Dave has started reading about the Baja. I’m sure he will be done with that book in about an hour. It did look like fast reading plus there are a lot of pictures. I went through both books and looked at the pictures and read the captions this afternoon.

Thursday, April 8.
We went to Larry and Lois’ house this morning to drop off the pump and then we went to Cindy and Howies’ home to pick up the bamboo chair and pay them. When we got there she was cooking dinner for tonight. She says she usually has dinner guests almost every night. I wanted to find out more but was afraid I’d be prying so I didn’t ask. I was wondering if she feeds the guard and his family. They also have a gate with a guard. Cindy finished what she was doing in the kitchen and got the chair for us. She gave us a blanket to cover it and I told her I would get it back to her. We paid her half of what we owed as Dave only had 200 pesos and I didn’t grab any money before we left. But I told her I would get it to her tomorrow along with the blanket. She didn’t seem to be too worried about it. So off we went with the chair and ottoman in the back of the truck. As we were going down the rocky bumpy road the chair was bouncing and the blanket had fallen off from over it so we decided I would sit in the chair to keep it from bouncing around. So I got to be Queen of the chair this time in my own truck!!!! Woohoo!!! It was a little bouncy but not a bad ride. Dave was really careful going over the big rocks. We are anyway when we drive the truck or the jeep. We finally made it home and it only took 2 hours. We left a little after 9:00am and got back to the house around 11:00am. We unloaded the chair and ottoman and put it in front of the garage. George was outside working and Dave asked if he could help him move the recliner that is upstairs down to the laundry/art room. He said sure and the guys carried the recliner down the steep stairs and put it in the laundry/art room. We thanked George and then Dave and George stood and talked for a little bit while I took the chair inside the garage and vacuumed the cushion and dusted the wood. Then I vacuumed the cushion of the ottoman and dusted it. When Dave and George were finished talking Dave carried the chair upstairs to the living room and I carried the ottoman. Then Dave came back downstairs and started checking all the vitals on the truck to make sure it didn’t lack for anything while I rearranged the furniture. The chair I had been sitting in I moved to where the recliner had been and I am now sitting in the new chair. Without the recliner in the room, it has a more open feeling to it. I like it.

Before I was finished rearranging the chairs, Dave needed me to come down and step on the brake so he could see where the brake fluid level was. I stepped down on like I would if I was driving but that was too fast as some of the fluid sloshed out. So then Dave had me do it again but slower and the fluid was at the top so he didn’t have to add any. I went back upstairs and finished what I was doing. Dave parked the truck and came upstairs and I fixed lunch. I have set the book ‘IKE’ I am reading now, aside so I can read about Baja. The book is titled ‘Hovering over Baja’, by Erle Stanley Gardner. It is neat because I know about some of the people they mention in the book and we can see what it looked like before the houses were here. It will be a fun book to read and a quick one too. Dave finished that book last night and he will be reading the other one probably tonight or tomorrow titled, ‘Off the Beaten Track in Baja’. Once I finish both of those books, I can then go back to reading ‘IKE’.

The wind was suppose to blow 5-10 knots today, but it ended up around 15 which wasn’t bad but it still got windy enough I had to close the sliding glass doors. We had the skylights open so that was enough to get air flow through the house. One of my rock people lost its head in the last wind storm so I had to fix it. After doing that I watered my plants and discovered that one of the branches from the Bougainvillea plant is taking root and leaves are forming. Yahoo!!! I planted another one but no signs of life yet. If I can get some started, eventually I will plant them other places in the yard to have some color. They are very hardy plants. They just need TLC.

I think we have the mystery of the noise we heard last night solved. When I went out to move the solar panel this morning, I saw horse hoof prints in the dirt. That would explain the thunk thunk thunk sound. We couldn’t see them because they stayed close to the house and it was dark. Even shining the light didn’t reveal them. They must have moved on by that time. It did seem strange that a bird was moving around on the roof in pitch black. They are normally where they will be sleeping for the night by dark unless they are hunting. Dave was surprised the horses were moving around at night but I told him they obviously were searching for water. Things that go bump in the night!!!!

I got quite a bit of cross stitching done today. The dragons’ wing is forming and it looks good. I still have a long way to go, as Dave pointed out, but if I work on it every day I might be done with it by next year!!! Dave read news and checked email and played a little solitaire then he took a nap.

We had a cocktail and I read a little and then it was time to fix dinner. I did that, we ate, I washed dishes, and walaa!!! Here I am writing this. Dave is closing the skylights and then we will be settling in reading before we go to bed.

Tomorrow we are going to explore a place called Los Flores. It has some history and when I read about it in the Baja book I will share it with you. I am looking forward to going somewhere and seeing something different and getting some pictures. Fun! Fun!

Friday, April 9.
We didn’t go to Los Flores, but what I read about it is it use to be a mining town and there were two kinds of people that lived there, the rich and the poor and when they died they were segregated in burial too. There was a graveyard for the rich and another one for the poor. They had brought in a little train to help with mining and built a track for it so it could haul ore which they hoped had gold in them. They built a jail and that is still standing today where the rest of the town is in shambles. It sounds interesting. We instead went to see if we could find petroglyphs that the Indians left in the hills just north of town. We didn’t quite make it. We went on a road that was to take us to the Borja Mission but we drove and drove and drove on some rough terrain, but able to use our 4 wheel drive, when we finally decided we would turn around and head back and see if we could find the petroglyphs. So we found a spot to turn around and started heading back the way we came. All during our ride in the desert we saw a forest of Cardon cactus and weird Cirio trees. The Cirio trees grow tall and then most of them start curving every which way. I have seen ones curved all the way back to the ground near its base. They are very different and unique and you can only find them here in Baja California.
It was really neat to see all this for miles and then there were wild Black Eyed Susan daisies everywhere in bloom. At one point when we were high enough to look out over the desert, in the distance we saw a sea of purple wild flowers with the contrasting mountains behind it. Really beautiful. The cactus’ were in every stage of bud to bloom and we saw Agave plants as well. Once we got back to the main road we came to where the road forked and we turned right hoping that was the one that would take us to the petroglyphs. We drove along a one lane sand road and we knew other cars had been there since we could see the tread from their tires, so we kept going. About 3-4 miles in we wondered if we were on the right road or if we were going in the right direction. We saw hills but it didn’t look too promising for us getting anywhere there were petroglyphs. We still had plenty of gas in the jeep, but not knowing how much further we would have to drive, we didn’t want to run out of gas, so we ended up turning around where we had room and headed back to the road that would take us to the main highway. Once we were on the road that would lead us to the highway, we turned off onto another road that headed north, and stopped to eat lunch in the jeep with the air conditioner on. We saw a couple of jack rabbits hopping around. We were disappointed we didn’t get to see the petroglyphs but we said we will find out how far it is and then come back another time. It isn’t far from where we live. So it is a doable thing. We had a wonderful time looking at everything growing, even a tree that had orange blossoms, however, when you got closer to it they weren’t blossoms at all but what looked like orange horse hair tangled on the branches. Here is a couple of pictures.


It is a little difficult to see in this picture, but I took it of a Cardon cactus that is dying. As it dies the outside bark, if you will, comes off and what is left is a very hard wood that is of course called Cardon wood. All the Mexicans use them for fences or to put up on an overhang over their porches for shade. Our garbage area is made from that very wood. It is unique looking and decorative.

Once we finished lunch we headed back to the main highway toward town. When we got into town, we filled our gas tank and our large drinking water bottle for the house, got some bread and then went to Dos Piños to see if they had Squirt so we could have Mexican margaritas, but they didn’t. However, I did end up buying some chicken breasts. We left there and stopped at the art show at the Museum and Mary was working so we chatted for a few minutes. Then Ron, one of the artists who make little Mexican trains from the corks of wine bottles, came in, and we asked him where the petroglyphs were since he had just been there yesterday. He said from town to the petroglyphs it was 21 miles and from the road that leads to them is about 5 miles. DARN!!!! We were almost there. Had we continued the road would have ended right at them! Oh well. The Mission is much further away from the pertroglyphs which ends up being a full day, with getting back into town late in the afternoon. I guess there isn’t much left of the mission, but it would have been neat to see anyway. Maybe another time. We did see a group of cows which wanted to lie in the middle of the road until we were right up on them. They moved but very slowly. So we had a little adventure today which was nice. We left the museum and went to the community store, David’s (pronounced Daveeds) to get the cleaning solution, Awesome. We bought 2 bottles of it so we can take it to the boat and wash it. We ran out the last time we were there. After we bought the Awesome we went home. When we arrived we took all our stuff out of the jeep, unlocked the garage door and then Dave went and unlocked the electrical room to get the wrench so he could move the solar panel. The bolts are loosened to move it and then tightened so if wind comes up the panel won’t move. During this time I got everything upstairs except the bottled water and waited for Dave to bring the keys so I could unlock the sliding glass door. It took him a while but he finally showed up and brought the water up. I put things away and Dave went to check emails on his computer. When I was finished I sat down and cross stitched. Then Dave came over to the table and sat next to me and played his sub game. We had a cocktail and I went outside to finish my drink and smoke a cigar. After that I came in and started dinner. Dave parked the jeep in the garage and came back upstairs. We had dinner and afterwards I did dishes and Dave finished his sub game. Now it is just relax time.

Saturday, April 10.
What a gorgeous day today. We had a nice warm breeze all day which helped to dry the clothes I washed and hung. I opened the sliding glass doors in the bamboo room and the windows in the trailer. I rinsed off the solar panels because they were really dusty and then I went around the yard on my pooper scooper mission. Only one today!! I watered my plants and I think the other shoot I planted of the bougainvillea is starting to grow. After all that I got the vacuum out of the garage and took it to the trailer as I was stripping the bedding off the two twin bunks and then I was going to vacuum the mattresses and underneath them. It wasn’t as dirty as I thought it would be, just dusty. I am taking all the sheets and towels that haven’t been washed yet with us to Santa Rosalia to wash since I can use the washers and dryers. Then most everything will have been washed except throw rugs. That will have to be another time. Little by little I am getting everything clean. I still have more cleaning to do in the trailer, but that can wait for now. I took the load of sheets and towels from the trailer and loaded them in a laundry bag and put them in the back of the jeep. I have another laundry bag in our bathroom that has more sheets and towels for washing. When I finished that chore, I put the vacuum back in the garage and closed the door and went upstairs. It was lunch time so I made Dave and I a sandwich and then I read for a while. I got sleepy so I laid down and took a rest. I didn’t really sleep, I just rested. Then I got up and washed my hair, then sat and cross stitched.

I went over to see Mary as she was working in their guest house getting it ready for company. I wanted to see their handiwork as they put walls up and covered the ceiling and George is working on the electrical right now. They have the shower in and shortly they will be testing it to see if they get water. They have done a great job and it looks really nice. It is cozy. They have just a couple more things to do and then it will be done.

Dave fixed the hardware on the skylights as they were getting loose and threatening to come down each time we would open and close them. He took them off and put lock tight on the set screw so it won’t come loose for a long time.

He did some reading and finished the other Baja book and he read the news on his computer. He talked to one of our neighbors that came to visit. It was a good day.

As I was getting dishes ready to be washed after dinner, I was looking out the kitchen window when I heard coyotes howling up a storm and then I saw three dogs running as fast as they could go away from where the coyotes were howling. Two of the dogs belong to Phil and Creela, and the other dog belongs to Phil’s nephew who is visiting. It was pretty interesting to watch. I never did see the coyotes but we heard them loud and clear!!!! Dave saw the cows again this morning wandering around. As long as they stay out in the desert and away from the houses it is fine.

We have had a lot of seaweed wash on shore and we need to get rid of it as it is starting to smell and drawing lots of flies. George suggested we burn it when it dries, but I would think that would smell pretty bad. Don’t know what we are going to do. We need to get it off the beach and far, far away!!!

We found out what that big black bug I told you about with the antennae and flies (buzzes) around the porch all the time is. Mary said it is a flying termite beetle. Oh yea!!!! That is all we need!! She said they are hard to kill too. We also saw a different type of fly. Well it resembles an ant but with wings. There were tons of them on the roof above the deck. Dave stood and watched them for quite a while. I came out and started watching them too and noticed they kill the flies that come near them but also each other. It was amazing. Not nice bugs at all!!!!! Once the breeze comes up they leave. Very strange things here!! So there you go.

Time to read.

Sunday, April 11.
A beautiful calm morning with wonderful sunshine and it is going to be warm today if we don’t get any breeze. Usually if we are going to get any it will be around 10:00am.

Today is the last day of the Art Show. The artists will be breaking down around 12:00pm and then they will gather for a meeting. Next week the ladies can get back into their schedule of crafts on Tuesdays and Mexican Train on Thursdays. I’m not involved with either of those activities, besides Dave and I are leaving for Santa Rosalia in the morning. I sure hope the boat isn’t as dirty as it was last time we were there.

I baked 2 batches of cookies so we can take them with us to Santa Rosalia and 4 will go to our guard, Nasario.

There is a couple who is house sitting for a gal named Ruth, until she gets down here sometime at the end of this month. Anyway, the couple is Bev and Greg and he snorkels in front of the house once in a while and today we saw Greg in the water and Bev walked on the beach to keep an eye on him. Bev said he was spear fishing for corbina, which I understand are some good eating. Later Dave talked to Greg and Greg asked Dave if he wanted him to get him one and Dave said “sure”. So off Greg went to catch another one, as he had 4 in his bag already and was going to stop. About an hour later, Greg came back with a fish and gave it to Dave. Dave filleted it down on the beach in a little shack that is there with a table. The same place we cleaned the squid. Anyway, Dave brought the fillets to the house. I washed them and put them in a zip lock bag and placed them in the refrigerator. We will have the fish with potato salad. Dave said the fish wasn’t corbina. It was different and was very hard to clean. We thought we would see how it tasted. He said he wouldn’t go looking for those fish just because they are so hard to clean, but it was nice of Greg to give us one. Dave didn’t have the heart to tell Greg that what he caught wasn’t corbina. Since we actually have the fish now, I will start the process for making potato salad.

When the potatoes cooled enough for me to take the skins off, I cut them up and added onion, celery and grated carrots to it. I didn’t use up all the carrots, but I did use up the onion and celery I had in the refrigerator. I seasoned and made the dressing for the salad and mixed it up and put it in the refrigerator.

Now with the cooking and baking out of the way, I packed and got things together we might need on the boat while we are there. Then I cross stitched all afternoon. I did walk around the yard checking out my plants. The twigs I planted in the ground hoping they would take, haven’t yet. Here I thought they had. Well that is o.k. because the bougainvillea has to be trimmed again so I can plant fresh ones.

Dave changed out one of our propane tanks and put the empty one in the electrical room to store until take it to town to get it filled. He then went to the garage and gathered tools and whatever else he might need on the boat, and loaded them in the jeep. So basically we are ready to go tomorrow.

I cooked the fish in some olive oil, garlic, lime juice, and cilantro and it turned out really good. Nice white firm fish. Too bad they are so hard to clean.

I finished the Baja book and am taking the other one with me to read on the boat.

I am planning on getting my blood taken and tested for cholesterol on Tuesday, and if we have time and the money, we will both get our teeth cleaned. Then I will do some grocery shopping the day before we leave to come back home.

Well that is all the excitement of my day. The breeze did come up this morning and it was nice. We opened all the skylights and the house stayed cool.

Monday, April 12.
We burned our trash and I took the garbage out, and then started bringing stuff down to put in the jeep. We were packed and ready to go before 8:00am. There is a time change when we get to Santa Rosalia of an hour. So we leave here at 8 we will get there 2:00pm. It is a beautiful day and we hope when we get to our boat it will be clean.

We had an uneventful drive, stopping at the check points, and being waved through. There was only one gentleman that asked for our immigration papers. All was o.k. and we were told to proceed. When we arrived at the marina we went down to the boat first to unlock it and hook up power and water. The boat looked really well. We don’t have a lot of scrubbing to do as we did last time. I do have a couple spots that need to be scrubbed and the cockpit needs to be rinsed and the stainless steel on the bow and port and starboard sides need to be cleaned and polished. But that is a whole lot better than last time. We won’t have to spend 2 days just scrubbing. After the water and power were hooked up I brought my cart to the jeep and we loaded it to its copacity and what was left was easily carried between the two of us. Once back on the boat we transferred all the stuff to the main salon and called it good. We had some potato salad for lunch and then walked to the small store across from the marina and got some ice, coke and milk. When those items were put away, Dave and I got our computers out and hooked up to the internet.

As the sun was setting we went on bird duty and Dave chased off one from the mast head. Around 6:30pm we left for dinner and we went to our favorite chicken restaurant. After our bellies were full we walked back to the boat and now we are just chillin. We did have about 4 or 5 birds on our boat which Dave promptly gave them the boot!!! They circled around a couple times thinking they could land again, but Dave made sure they didn’t. Arturo washed the boat this morning before we arrived and already had bird doo on it. What a pain in the patouey!!!!

I think Dave and I will sleep well tonight. We are both pretty tired. Tomorrow morning I get my blood drawn and cholesterol tested. I sure hope it is good news this time and the statin is working.

Tuesday, April 13.
We slept well last night, but already I miss not being in the king size bed back at the house. Dave got up around 8:00am and I got up at 8:30am, got dressed and left for the clinic to get my blood drawn. I got there and told them what I needed and they drew my blood and told me to come back at 1:00pm. I left there and walked back to the boat, poured myself a cup of coffee then went outside and watched as Dave and Carlos helped a boat in to the dock. I talked with Carlos a little bit and then he left. We talked to the people that just arrived for a short time and then let them get settled. Another boat was heading in which are traveling companions of the boat that just arrived, as they are both heading for San Carlos to haul their boats out.

I went back on our boat and went below to have breakfast and some more coffee. I didn’t want to scrub the boat today as it was already close to 10:00am. So I decided I would do laundry and when I go back to town to get my results I will walk around and stop and get a few items from the store that I need. I was heading up to do laundry when Jane from the boat that arrived at the dock first, said they didn’t have any more tokens. She was able to get the last 2 so she was going up to do her laundry. I said no problem. I did go to the office to tell them I needed some tokens and Ivan was going to go and get some out of the machines, but I told him not to hurry as there was a lady doing laundry right now so I would come back. They just hadn’t collected the tokens out of the machines yet. So I went back to the boat and checked email.

Dave fixed the aft sump pump because when he turned on the sump pump switch the aft one wouldn’t stop after water was pumped out. This was just before he went to bed last night so he shut off the switch on the control panel and said he would fix it in the morning. It didn’t take him long to fix it as he just had to clean under the switch where stagnant water had collected and needed to be rinse away. So that was an easy fix.

So we were both reading news and looking on the internet all morning, and then we had lunch and I was off to town to get my results and do a little shopping. I stopped at the pharmacy to see how much Amoxicillin cost and then went and picked up my results and paid. The price had gone up from 200 to 300 pesos. I didn’t expect that, but it is worth it. I looked at my results and was very pleased as my total cholesterol was down from 462 to 252!!!! I know the doctor will be happy with the report I have to give him. So the statin is working. Yahoo!!!! From the clinic I walked through town and went all the way up the street since I hadn’t been there before. I saw houses that were mere shacks built right on the face of the hill. They were lucky the hill didn’t slide down on their house during the hurricane. Wow!!! The town has rebuilt the steps going up to the hospital, museum and the Frances Hotel. All the steps slid down the hill from the rain in the last hurricane. They have done a remarkable job in rebuilding parts of the town that were hard hit by hurricane Jimena.

I stopped at the fabric store to have a look around, and then went to a couple of grocery stores and got some items. Then I walked back to the boat. It was lunch break for most everyone, so I wasn’t able to get tokens until after 2:00pm. Carlos was in the office when I returned so he got 8 tokens so I could do my laundry. I did 4 loads today, which were mostly sheets and towels with a few clothing items. I now have all the towels washed and sheets that were in the house and trailer. Next time we go to Santa Rosalia I am bringing the rugs with me so all the dirt/sand can be washed out.

Tomorrow we are planning on washing the boat and will decide if we are leaving on Thursday or Friday. When we finish washing the boat we will know if we want to stay another day. If we do I will clean and polish the stainless. Once it is decided what day we are leaving, I will go to the vegetable/fruit stand in town to get some items the afternoon before we leave.

After I finished laundry, I put it in the jeep and then came back to the boat and read some more of my book. Dave was playing his sub game on my computer. We had a rum and coke and were on bird watch. Dave had said he had to chase a couple off this afternoon, and I chased a couple off before we went to dinner. It was between 6:30 and 7:00pm before we left for dinner. We walked to town and went to the bank and then we stopped at the other restaurant we like and had Carne Asada, which is thin steak. It was really good and flavorful. The T.V. was on with a Mexican soap opera. It was funny. When we finished dinner and paid we left and walked back to the boat. Dave and I had a cigar and now Dave is on his computer and I am on mine. Nice!!!! We did have to shoo away another bird when we got back from dinner but now he is gone and no more will land since it is dark. Life is good.

Wednesday, April 14.
There were a couple times during the night we got subtly rocks by some boats wave. Nothing real hard but I’m not use to my bed rocking. HA!! Then I heard the ferry come in early. We slept in again this morning. It was 8:30am when we got up. We got up and had our coffee, I had some cereal and then I started washing the boat. There were a few yellow spots on the top part which I had to scrub and scrub to get off, but at least it was better than last time. Dave did some scrubbing and finished the starboard side of the boat as I was working on getting the spots up on the port side. Then he cleaned the dodger on the starboard side and I scrubbed the windshield cover and the port side of the dodger. Then I washed the deck on the port side. When I was done with that, I went into the cockpit and rinsed everything off. Then I called it a day. I left the brushes in the sun to dry before putting them away. So the boat looks pretty good. No sooner had I finished and went below, I look out the starboard side window and saw bird crap on it. Darn!!!! They just never quit!! I went out and washed it off before it had time to dry. When I came back down below I fixed Dave and I a peanut butter sandwich. Then I sat and searched the internet for gifts for my grandson whose birthday is coming up, May 5. He will be 11. Then I took a shower, washed the dishes that were in the sink and got my cushion and book and went out in the cockpit to read. I was getting sleepy so I decided I would have to get up and move around. I went back down below and checked email. We had a cocktail and then walked to town for dinner. We went into a couple of hardware stores looking for end caps that fit in stantions. We lose them all the time when the hose rubs over them and since they aren’t in the stantions tight they pop off and go into the water. No one had any and I mentioned to Dave we should try the hardware store at the end of town. I thought he had been there before with another cruiser friend, Pete, but when we got there he didn’t recognize it and said he hadn’t been there before. So we asked if they had any of those caps and they didn’t but Dave had fun looking around and in the process he found a pressure washer. What a great find!!! We sure can use that on the boat to get the bird crap off. So we got the price and we said we would be back tomorrow to get it. We didn’t get any caps, but we found something we needed at a good price, which was 889 pesos or about $80 dollars. It is a 1200 psi unit. What is nice about it is it is small and will fit on the boat for now and then we can use it at the house too. Tomorrow will be a busy day. I am shopping for fruit, vegetables, and meat. Then I will go to the bakery and get bread rolls. Dave wants to get the pressure washer and some Amoxicillin and blood pressure medicine. If I can I want to work on the stainless steel. I probably don’t want to get my groceries too early anyway, so after 2:00pm when the stores open back up after lunch, I can get what I need and it will still be fresh after I get back to the house. We are leaving early Friday morning.

We met some fellow cruisers today. We started out with them in Ensenada and from time to time saw them on the mainland and now we see them again. They have spent most of their time in Mazatlan. They were house sitting. They are Canadian so they have to go back home during the summer due to their health care plan. They wanted to see what it was like on the Baja side so they came as far as Santa Rosalia then will head to Loreto for Loreto Fest in May and then go back to Mazatlan to keep the boat there and go home, then come back in the fall. It was nice to see them again and share what we have been doing since the last time we saw each other.

When we got back from dinner, which was a famous Santa Rosalia Hot Dog, we found 3 birds on the spreaders. Dave went down and shooed them away but not before they left a mess on the deck. I got the tea kettle full of water and rinsed down 2 places on the deck. It is just never ending.

Now we are relaxing, listening to music. It is a little chilly tonight but it is nice and comfortable on the boat.

Thursday, April 15.
Today will be a busy day. I worked on cleaning the stainless steel, but briefly. I just did from the bow back to the last stantion just before the gates on each side of the boat. I wanted to get the rust spots off and only worked on the ones that really were bad. Next time I will do a more thorough job. While I was finishing up with the stainless, Dave took some spot remover and wiped part of the starboard side of the hull down and it really made a difference. There are a lot of water spots and he was able to get them to fade. We will have to keep working on it to get rid of them, but at least it looks better for now. After we finished, we walked to town and went to the hardware store to buy the pressure washer. Then I stopped at a couple tiendas (stores) and got meat and some other items. We walked back to the boat and ate lunch then Dave tried out the pressure washer. It works well. It will be a life saver with taking the bird crap off the boat. It has helped having Arturo washing it twice a month though. I was really tired so I laid on the settee and tried to take a short nap. I did snooze a little and then I had to get up and do a load of laundry. While the clothes were drying Dave and I walked over to the little store across from the marina to get ice, gin, tonic water, and a couple bottles of water for the ride home. We put the tonic water in the back of the jeep and then Dave took the other stuff to the boat while I got the clothes out of the dryer and folded them. When I got back to the boat I put the clothes away and started to pack since we are leaving tomorrow morning. I got things together and put other things away. Then I decided to walk to the outdoor market that isn’t far from the marina and get some fruit and vegetables. I bought zucchini, onion, potatoes, a small squash, fresh green beans, celery, apples, bananas, and cilantro for 157 pesos which is about 10-15 dollars U.S. The only thing I have to get when we get back to B. of L.A. is milk, eggs and coffee. The coffee was expensive and I don’t need it right now, but soon. So I will just wait. I got back to the boat and put most of the groceries in a thermal bag so it will be ready to put in the jeep tomorrow morning.

Around 6:30pm we went to town again and stopped at the pharmacy to get amoxicillin, since he didn’t want to do that after getting the pressure washer. We just want to have some in case Dave needs it again. He also bought his blood pressure medicine. Then we stopped, had dinner and after that we walked back to the boat. Now we are just relaxing listening to music. We will be going to bed soon. It is an hour later here than B. of L.A. so we usually aren’t ready to go to bed until it is around 11:00 or 12:00 here where it would be an hour earlier at the house. It messes up your body clock!!!

We will be on the road probably by 8:00 in the morning and get home around 12:00pm. We are supposed to get some clouds and maybe a little rain at the house. Nothing too drastic. Most of the time we just get a sprinkling. The moisture is good for the desert and it makes everything green and bloom.

Friday, April 16.
We got up this morning and started to get everything packed and moved to the cockpit so all we would have to do is carry it to the jeep. We turned the water off at the dock and bled the line that goes to the boat. We turned off all electricity and unplugged and put the cord away. We filled the cart and Dave and I carried what we could on the first trip to the jeep. Then we came back down and double checked to see we weren’t leaving anything behind, locked up the boat and put the cart away and carried the rest of the stuff to the jeep. We were ready to leave but couldn’t as the military was practicing out in front of the marina parking lot. So instead of leaving at 8:00am we left around 8:30-8:45am. It was interesting to watch them. I guess soon there is a military day and they will be performing. When they were done we were out of there.

It was a sunny day in Santa Rosalia, but there were clouds and haze north and so we got into some filtered sunshine and the wind was blowing which made it cold. It got warmer as we got closer to B. of L.A. We had a good ride back to the house and it didn’t seem as long this time. Maybe because we had music to listen to. Who knows. We had some cows cross the road in front of us, and we saw more cows along the road side. We even saw a Vaquero which is a Mexican cowboy and he herds cows or goats. Then we saw burros and horses. The country side was alive with animals, oh; we saw a herd of goats too.

When we got into town, we stopped at Diaz store to get eggs and I was able to not only get eggs, but sour cream and milk too so we didn’t have to make any more stops. So with those things bought, we got back into the jeep and headed for the house. Dave parked the jeep in front of the driveway and we unloaded it and carried the stuff upstairs. We turned the solar panel so it would get most of the sun rays and went upstairs. We are both really tired and sleepy. I figured Dave would be because he drives going and coming from Santa Rosalia, since I fell asleep at the wheel in the rental car on our way back to La Paz from Bahia de Los Angeles. I scared the beegeeburs out of both of us and was thankful the Lord kept us safe. For some reason when I am in the car I get sleepy and can hardly keep my eyes open. I never use to get like that. Things change. It is spring so maybe it is allergies. I did notice as soon as we got back in the dust I was clearing my throat a lot. I didn’t do that on the boat. We both wanted to take a nap but it was 4:00pm and we wouldn’t sleep if we did so we just relaxed and had a cocktail. Around 5:30pm I started dinner. We just had simple sandwiches, called Tortas. They are made with French rolls (the type that have points at each end) and the points get cut off then the bread is placed in a skillet with melted butter and cooked until brown. You take the bread out of the pan and place them brown side up, put a little mayonnaise on the bread. While the bread was browning I put some shredded beef with onions in another skillet and cooked that until the onions were transparent then grated white cheese on top of the meat mixture and once the cheese melted I put some filling on the bread. It was very filling dinner. Now we are just relaxing. A westerly has started blowing. It was pretty calm until about a half hour ago. I had planned on going out on the deck to have a cigar, but not now. With the wind blowing it is cold. No big deal!! Maybe if the wind stops I might. You never know.

We will definitely sleep well tonight!!!

Saturday, April 17.
We did get a good night’s sleep and it was nice to wake up and see the view from our house.

We don’t have as many flies right now and I think it is because the seaweed that was on the beach in front of our house has been buried by the sand so it cuts down on the flies. It is pleasant to go outside now and not have those pesky little flies trying to get up your nose and buzz in your ear.

We walked over to Smiley and Johns’ house so Dave could meet John. They invited us to sit on their patio and visit for a few minutes. They are getting their house cleaned up and ready for company. Their daughter, son-in-law and the 2 grandkids are arriving on Tuesday. It should be fun to watch the kids as they are 8 and 6.

I put the towels and sheets I washed in Santa Rosalia away and the sheets that go on the beds in the trailer I put in a plastic bag with a dryer sheet to keep them smelling fresh and keep the dust out. I put the mattress covers back on and then put a Mexican blanket on top so it looks nice. Then I took the old piece of rug that was in between the beds out and swept the floor of the whole trailer. I will put a throw rug between the beds after I wash them the next time we go to Santa Rosalia. I washed the curtains that were in the room with the two twin beds and they shrunk. So now I will need to buy some material and make new curtains and have them come down below the window frame. But for now at least it keeps some of the sun from beating on the beds. I need to do a little more cleaning in the trailer and then that will be done.

It looks like the twigs I cut from the bougainvillea plant are taking. There are leaves growing. My two ice plants are still alive which is good. I dug up a couple more and planted them in front of the bougainvillea. I hope they take and grow.

Dave was in the bamboo room working with his fishing hooks. I delivered lunch to him and came back up to the house and ate lunch and read some of my book. I was going to cross stitch, but decided not to. It was a beautiful day and hardly any wind. There was a breeze which kept it cool.

We had shrimp Scampi Fettuccini for dinner with fresh green beans and a salad. After I washed the dishes I went outside and had a cigar and enjoyed the calm evening. No bugs, no wind---it was perfect!!!! After I finished my cigar I sat on the deck for awhile longer just looking around and enjoying the lights that I can see of town, and the sliver of moon and a few stars. There are clouds to the north so I don’t know if we are going to have clouds in the morning or not.

One of the people that have a house near ours came down on Tuesday. Since we were gone, I didn’t get to meet her, so I walked over to her house, as she was outside, so I could introduce myself. When I got over there Lois and Buddy, her dog, was there along with Kathy. We had a nice visit and then Lois and Buddy left to go home, and Joanne, invited Kathy and me in to her house to visit. We had a nice talk and then I said goodbye and Kathy went home too. Joanne is giving Kathy and me a ride to Lois’ Tuesday so we can watch ‘Dancing with the Stars’. Lois is going to tape it. So it should be fun and I will get to know the ladies a little more. We don’t have T.V yet and the other gals can’t watch it since their husbands don’t want to watch it.

Dave is following the Mariner’s game on his computer and letting me know how they are doing while I am typing this.

Not much else going on.

Sunday, April 18.
We woke to overcast skies this morning. Dave said a system was coming through today and then it would be nice tomorrow. We actually had hazy sunshine all morning and part of the afternoon and then it started clouding up to where it looks like it might rain. We think it sprinkled north of us as it looked like fog.

Phil, our neighbor came over this morning to tell us about the presentation that was going to be held at the museum tonight. A slide show of parts of Indonesia and then some diving pictures of the Soccorro Islands in the pacific southwest from Cabo San Lucas. Dave and I weren’t interested in going. We had heard the announcement on the radio this morning but Phil didn’t know if we heard it or not. Dave and he talked a little bit and then Phil asked Dave to go fishing with him tomorrow morning early. Of course Dave said he would go. So that is cool. It will give me a chance to clean the house while he is fishing. After Phil left, Dave and I had some toast and a banana for breakfast and then I went for a hike. Dave and I can see a white roof from our kitchen window and wondered what it was so I was on a mission to find out. I love walking in the desert. I carry my PVC pipe with me just in case since I don’t have a staff. Once I crossed over the air strip, behind our house, I walked for a little bit then crossed over the main road that goes to La Mona to the south and town to the north. My goal was to reach the hill I haven’t been to yet. Of course there are a lot of them I haven’t been too, but this one isn’t far from the house. As I walked closer to the hill I found more and more rocks and arroyos where the water has rushed down from the mountains. There were flowering cactus and I saw bobcat tracks and of course horse and cow tracks. Just before getting to the hill I found 2 trailers. One had a hand built cover over it for shade and someone had taken the time to make a road and garden, but it didn’t look as though there had been anyone there for a long time. There was another trailer close by which looked like it was used as storage. I kept walking and came upon a framed teepee with no cover. The teepee was put together from long pieces of Cardon wood. Then just a few steps from that was an outhouse. Interesting stuff you find here. I finally made it to the hill and was awed by the way the rocks were stacked on top of each other and thought that if there was a big earthquake all of that would tumble down. As I headed back to the house I looked at the rocks that were on the ground trying to find some interesting ones, like the ones that have layers, but no such luck. I did manage to pick up a cactus stick that is the wood that looks like worm wood. I plan on putting it in the garden. I came back to the trailers and the one that looked like a homestead had some cardon wood laying on the ground and so I took a piece that looked like it would fit our fence that is enclosing the garbage. The wind blew one off one of ours and it looks funny so I have been looking for a replacement. After getting the wood I looked around and found an old saddle lying in the sand. It is made of wood and you could see where the termites had gotten to it. There was still some leather around the horn and a couple of straps. It was cool so I picked it up and brought it back with me. It appears, since it was a small saddle, that it probably fit a burro. I plan on putting that in the garden also. I was gone about an hour and a half and when I got home I told Dave I found a saddle so he came and had a look. He thought it was neat as it was an old one. It was a perfect day to explore with the hazy skies and a little breeze to keep it cool.

Dave and I had lunch and after that I read my book for a while then ended up cross stitching the rest of the afternoon. I was tired of sitting so I got up and told Dave I was going to dig up a small cactus that was just on the other side of the north arroyo and plant it in the yard. Dave had pointed it out to me when I was digging up rocks. I got my gloves, shovel and a small bucket and headed off in the direction I thought the cactus was. I had a hard time finding it because I thought it was closer to the road than it was. As I walked around and away from the road, I found it. I dug it up, filled the bucket with the soil it came from and went to the yard and planted it. I hope it lives. I didn’t water it as the ground is damp plus it looks like we might get a little rain tonight. I will check on it tomorrow. After I planted the cactus, I went back upstairs and worked some more on my cross stitch until just before dinner. As dinner was warming in the oven I sat and read and then made salads for us and dinner was served. After dinner and cleanup, I went outside and heard a dog that sounded like it was hurt or something. It wasn’t a normal bark like I hear. It was coming in the direction of the guards’ trailer and I thought maybe Blanco, the guard’s dog was hurt or Nasario was. So I told Dave I was going to walk down there and check it out. When I was almost to the trailer I saw Blanco so I knew he was alright and then I saw Nasario. So all was well. Maybe Blanco was trying to get Nasario’s attention because he was hungry. Who knows? Nasario is very hard of hearing. At least I knew they were alright. I talked to Blanco and he came up to me with his tail wagging. He is a sweet dog. I petted him and walked up to Nasario to try and tell him I thought I heard a dog crying and thought it was Blanco. I don’t know if he understood what I said but none-the-less he knew I was checking on him and Blanco. I said goodbye and walked back to the house. Dave was playing his sub game and he asked if all was alright and I told him it was.

Dave is reading a Tom Clancy book and I soon will be reading mine. I hope to finish it tonight then I can give the two Baja history books back to Lois on Tuesday.

Monday, April 19.
Dave joked earlier about putting the jeep outside so it would get washed. Then he said it would probably rain around 3:00am. Just like on the boat when you have to make a mad dash outside to close hatches in a down pour. We laughed about it. The sky was getting darker and when I went out to turn the solar panel back to the morning position, I noticed a thickening of clouds above the mountain and knew sometime it was going to rain. It was pretty dark when you looked north too. Well to make a long story short---it rained but at 2:00am instead of 3. There was lightning so bright it lit the house up and the thunder was deafening. As soon as that was done then it started to rain. I thought it would gush but it rained for a little bit then quit. Needless to say we didn’t sleep much nor did we take the jeep out of the garage for a bath.

Every time when we have a hazy or cloudy day, it is usually nice the next day. Well my theory is all blown to smithereens! It was pretty grey this morning when we got up and it was promising to rain. It is supposed to clear out today and be nice tomorrow. Yeah right!!! We got a little rain, just enough to wet things so I don’t have to water my plants now, and then it started to clear up. We were seeing more and more blue sky. Around 10:00am the clouds had gone away and we had beautiful blue skies. I had started some house cleaning by dusting the fans, tops of the cupboards in the kitchen, the blinds, and the vertical blinds on the sliding glass doors. Then since the sun was out I washed out a few clothes and hung them. The wind was from the south and it was a warm day so it didn’t take them long to dry.

Just before lunch, Phil came over to ask Dave if he wanted to go fishing. They were suppose to leave at 7:00 this morning but due to the weather they cancelled, but when the weather cleared Phil thought it would be good to try and catch some fish. So about 1:00pm they were off. Phil keeps his little boat in the water and takes his dinghy from shore to the boat, tying it to the buoy the boat is tied too and when he leaves in the bigger boat the dinghy is there waiting for his return.

I cross stitched while he was gone, did some stretching exercises, then around 3:00pm I prepared the pork loin roast and put it in the oven. I cooked the squash I bought in Santa Rosalia, cut up some potatoes and added them to the roast.

Dave finally got back around 5:30pm. He had caught 2 spotted sea bass and Phil gave him the one he caught. Phil likes the sport of fishing just not the eating of the fish. Because the roast wasn’t done yet we had the fish for dinner with the squash. It was pretty good. They weren’t real big but it was enough to make a meal. It was around 7:00pm when we finally ate which is late for us. After dinner I cleaned up while Dave just mellowed. He was tired as he was up in time to go fishing at 7 and also awake with the storm that went through. So he didn’t get a lot of sleep. He is reading his book right now and then I suspect it will be an early night for both of us.

The days are getting warmer and today was probably around 85 degrees. The wind was out of the south so we didn’t get the advantage of the wind like we do when it is from the north, just the way the house sits on the lot, so the house was a little warm. Later in the afternoon it switched and came out of the north which helped cool the house.

I watched an osprey fly by the kitchen window with something in his claws and another osprey was in hot pursuit. The fish or whatever it was got dropped and they tried to find it but couldn’t so they went out and landed on a cactus. A little later I see the turkey buzzards looking for it and eventually found it. One was eating it while 2 others were waiting. Then another buzzard flew in and started to partake of the meal and the one that was eating before got upset and tried to shoo it away. Then the other two that had been patiently waiting decided since the food was unattended they would help themselves. Well they got chased off as well, but the one was pretty persistent and pretty soon there was a fight. Eventually everyone flew away. I don’t know who ended up with the rest of the meal but it sure was interesting watching the behavior of these birds.

Well that is all the excitement I have to tell for today!!!

Tuesday, April 20.
The skies were a little hazy and I wondered if it would be like that all day, but it eventually cleared out. We want all the sunshine we can get for the solar panels.

I started a new book last night titled ‘Wild Fire’ by Nelson DeMille. I have only read a few pages and I’m laughing already. The character is funny. After I read for a while, I ate breakfast. Dave finished the book he was reading so now we have to find more books for him. I decided I wasn’t going to start any cleaning since I was going to be leaving at 10:45am to catch a ride to Lois’ house for ‘Dancing with the Stars’. I made a peanut butter sandwich and filled my water bottle and headed over to Joanne’s house which is only two away from us. Kathy was riding with us too so we waited for her to arrive and off we went. There were 6 of us all together. We had a good time watching the show and afterwards enjoyed talking to each other. We left and were home by 2:00pm. Dave was on the computer and I told him about some of the things I found out about the people who lived and died here. Creela said our area should be called the Widows place. There have been 4 or 5 husbands die while they were down here. I told Dave I would never speak to him again if he died!!!! So there!!! Some died because they didn’t take care of themselves and others died of Parkinson’s or some other heredity ailment. Joanne lost her husband a year ago January, but they were in the states.

Before I left home to go to Lois’ Joanne was having trouble with her VHF. When I saw her I told her Dave would come over and fix it at her convenience. So after I shared my afternoon with Dave, we went over to her house and he took a look at it, but Joanne had figured out what was wrong and fixed it. She had a tote full of books she is trying to get rid of so Dave and I sat and looked through them, picking out the ones we wanted as we carried on a conversation with Joanne. We had a nice visit with her. We found out she is also having trouble getting the Evinrude motor for her boat to start so Dave offered to take a look at it sometime when she wants him to. He likes doing that sort of thing and it gives him something to do. When we got back to the house I cross stitched. Then it was cocktail time, then dinner. After dinner I cleared the table and went outside to enjoy a cigar. It was windy all afternoon, not bad though, and it had calmed down enough to enjoy being on the deck. When I came back in I washed the dishes and sat down to read my book. Dave was playing his sub game on my computer and when he finished he started a new book titled, ‘Cold Mountain’ by Charles Frazier. I proofed what I have written so far for the blog and then wrote for today. Now it is bedtime.

Wednesday, April 21.
We were told by Alan, who lives in La Mona, and the very one who helped us move, that when the clouds are above the mountains behind our house, there will be strong southerly winds. Sure enough as the clouds started gathering over the mountain, we got wind and some pretty good blasts. It blew around 25 knots and dust and sand were just flying. Of course I pick this day to sweep, vacuum, and shake rugs. Yeehaw!!! I read some of my book while I was enjoying my coffee this morning and then I went to work. Dave was getting the dough ready for bread. I started in the areas where he wasn’t going to be and then worked from there toward the kitchen. It worked out o.k. but I had to close the sliding glass doors when I swept because the breeze would blow my dirt pile around. When I got done I fixed a rug that was starting to come apart. Then we had lunch and after that I cross stitched. The wind blew quite well today and for most of the morning and we had to keep all the windows, skylights and doors closed to keep the sand and dirt out. As it settled down we opened the sliding glass doors but nothing else. Then it got quiet and we thought it was all done because the clouds were gone, but nope. The wind picked up again and blew for a while longer. Then it did the same thing all over again later on. It finally quit blowing before dinner. We had dinner and everything was quiet. Now while I am typing this the wind has come up again but much less than 25 knots. It comes up quick and goes away just as quick.

I had fun watching Smiley and John with their grandkids this afternoon. Their daughter, son-in-law and their two kids are visiting from the states for a couple weeks. Smiley and John were teaching them how to ride the quad. John had the boy who is 6 and Smiley the girl who is 8. Earlier this morning they had tried to go to the beach and get clams but the wind put an end to that. Pretty soon the boy and girl were driving the quad by themselves just around the house. That was neat. I thought of my grandkids and how much fun they would have down here. Hope they will get a chance to experience it.

Dave read most of the afternoon, paid a bill online, and tended to his bread dough. It is sitting right now and hopefully it will rise. Dave’s last loaf didn’t turn out so good as it hadn’t risen like it is suppose to. So he is hoping this batch is better. We shall see.

Soon I will be reading my book. Tomorrow morning I get to go into town for groceries. We are having Larry and Lois over for dinner on Friday and I need to get a few things. I was thinking about going today, but I am sure glad I didn’t with the sand and dirt blowing everywhere.

I’m going to play a couple computer games now and then go read.

Thursday, April 22.
It was cloudy this morning and windy. The wind died down before we went to bed last night, and then a couple times early in the morning I heard the screens rattle, but for the most part it was quiet. The wind was blowing when we got up and so we can’t burn today. Dave says this system is supposed to push through today and be nicer tomorrow.

I really didn’t want to go to town this morning, but I needed to so I went. Dave was staying home to do whatever he wanted to. Actually it was a decent ride in and I stopped at all the stores and shared my money. I was home by 11:00am. I left around 8:30am. When I got home I unloaded the jeep and Dave helped me carry all of it upstairs and then I put everything away. While we were unloading, George was outside and he told Dave that Alan came by but no one was home. Dave said he was here all morning. Well Dave called Alan on the VHF but got no answer so we had lunch and I took my shopping bags, ice chest and books downstairs. I put the books in the bamboo room on the bookshelf and put the other stuff in the garage. When I came back upstairs Dave just got finished talking to Alan and he said that if we wanted to bring our T.V. receiver over he could get us hooked up to Direct T.V. So we gathered all the stuff we would need and got in the jeep and headed for Alan and Barb’s house. We have never driven over to La Mona, so it will be nice to see it from land. The road is a dirt road and much smoother than the road outside where we live. But the problem is when it rains the road becomes muddy and virtually impassable. That is what Alan had told us and a couple other people that live in that area. We now can see why. It is flat and it isn’t sand but clay and it doesn’t drain. When it gets wet it takes a long time for it to dry out. We had a nice ride to their house. There are no cactus’ along the way just a wide open field with scrub. We passed the estuary which had very little water in it due to the tide being out, and then we came to the Rincon, La Mona area. We found Barb and Alans’ house and as we drove up we saw Barbara in the driveway. She was talking to Alan who was in the garage. Barb took our receiver and went into the house and started to set us up. Dave stayed to talk to Alan and his dad, and I followed Barbara. I met Alan’s mother. Get this----her name is Alice which was my mother’s name, and her birthday was a day before my mothers’ birthday. That was pretty interesting. Very nice lady. I had a great time talking with her while Barb set up our system. The guys came in and I met Paul, Alan’s dad and then Alan helped Barb with getting us set up. Once that was done we all sat around and talked for a little while and then Dave and I left. His parents are really neat people. They are here until May 5th and then Alan and Barb are taking them back home. We had no trouble finding our way home and once we got there we took our stuff upstairs and Dave hooked it up and waalaa---we have T.V. While he was setting up everything I was ordering gifts over the internet for my grandson’s birthday, which is May 5. Dave had a movie on about the Loch Ness Monster with Ted Danson in it and we finished watching it then turned off the T.V. I did some cross stitching and Dave started playing his sub game on my computer. Around 5:30pm I started preparing dinner and when it was ready we ate. The wind is still blowing and the clouds are still here. There were some dark clouds and we thought we would get some rain, but it went south of us. It is still blowing outside but it comes and goes.

I read some of my book and then asked Dave when he would be done with his game and he said anytime. He would just save it and pick it up later. I told him I wanted to type about today’s events. So he saved it and now he is starting a new book. I thought for sure he would turn the T.V. on but didn’t. That is good. I did mention to him earlier that T.V. would cut into my reading time, but like I said before, if he is watching something I don’t want to, I will go to the bamboo room and read.

Well it is time to shut this down and read some more.

Friday, April 23.
Today will be a busy day for me as I have clothes to wash, clean the bathroom, make a cake and cook the chicken for chicken enchiladas. Larry and Lois are coming for dinner tonight. When I had all the prep work done for the enchiladas and the cake was done, I went outside and had to rebuild one of my rock people. Every time we get a lot of wind from the south, the second rock person on the left side of the drive as you are leaving the house, gets blown over. So I did a little restructuring and hope it works. Then I came inside and fixed Dave and I lunch, then I did a little cross stitching. The wind blew from the north so the clothes didn’t dry thoroughly so I brought them inside and hung them in the windows to finish drying. It works!! When they were finally dry I put them away and started setting the table and putting the enchiladas together with the sauce. Then I melted some canned frosting in the microwave and drizzled it over the cake. It is a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Yummmm!!! I know Larry and Lois like chocolate as we do so it was a perfect excuse to bake a chocolate cake. Everything was ready and Lois and Larry were suppose to be at our house at 5:30pm but were late. I thought they may have forgotten so I called them on the VHF radio and they didn’t answer so they weren’t at home. Hopefully they were on their way. Pretty soon we see them riding their quads. Lois had baked some snicker doodle and chocolate chip cookies for us which were nice. Larry brought his own drink and when I mentioned margaritas, Lois said she would take one of those. So Dave, Lois and I had margaritas. Larry had his rum and coke. We visited for a little bit then the enchiladas were done and we ate. It was a new recipe and everyone liked it which is good. We talked more then had cake, talked more and then they said they needed to go home to feed their dog, Buddy. So we said our goodbyes and I rinsed the dishes but saved them for tomorrow morning. It was already 8:00pm and I just didn’t want to do them. Then Dave and I sat down and watched the rest of the movie, ‘Dragon Heart’. One of my favorite movies! Then we watched another movie and finally went to bed. It IS nice to have T.V. Dave can watch the mariners play now on the bigger screen than his computer. HA!!

Saturday, April 24.
Dave got up around 7, had coffee, called Phil and asked when he would be leaving to go fishing and Phil said around 8:00am. So Dave had a bowl of cereal, gathered his fishing gear and then it was time to go so he said “see ya later” and walked over to Phil and Creelas’ house. I got up at 8:00 and poured a cup of coffee. I looked out of the window and noticed the boat was still there. They were waiting for the tide to come in a little more before they went to the boat. Pretty soon I see them in the skiff going toward the bigger boat. I gathered all the burning material, went to the burn barrel and burned it then stood around to watch it. There was a little breeze but nothing to really be worried about. Once the flames were down, I went and unlocked the electrical room so I wouldn’t have to do it later. We keep the wrench on the table in there to loosen the bolts on the solar panel so I can turn it. Then I went to the trailer and bamboo room. As I was on the deck, I looked out and Dave and Phil were leaving in the boat and Dave waved. I waved back then went and opened the windows in the trailer and bamboo room. Then I went back upstairs had my coffee, read a little more of my book, had toast for breakfast then washed the many dishes from last night. When that was done and they were dried and put away, I went down to the garage and got the vacuum and went to the trailer. I vacuumed all the cushions, then disinfected the counter top and table, and dusted. Then I was done. I put everything away and went back upstairs and stripped the bed of the dirty sheets and put clean ones on. Now what to do? I ate lunch and then worked on my cross stitch. Dave and Phil finally got back around 1:00 or so. They had caught some more of the bass and one white fish. The bass Dave didn’t want so Phil took them to the guard. After Phil left, Dave went down to the beach table and cleaned the white fish. That is what we will have for dinner tonight. While he was cleaning the fish I told him I was going to see Joanne and Kathy. I walked over to Joannes’ place and she was having George connect her new solar panels. Earlier I watched for when he was going to be home so I could walk over and give him a couple leftover enchiladas and some chocolate cake. His wife, Mary is gone until May 4, so he is batching it. Anyway when I saw Joanne she told me about the solar panels and Phil was there looking at them. He asked if I had seen Nasario and I told him I hadn’t seen him all day or Blano, the dog. Phil went to the trailer where he lives and the door was locked and he didn’t see Blanco. As it turned out, Nasario was with his niece, in town, buying food and Blanco was under the trailer. So Phil ended up giving fish Joanne and Tom and Kathy. I walked over to Kathy’s place, after seeing Joanne, and visited with Tom and Kathy for a while. I had a nice visit. Then I left and went back home, did a little more cross stitching.

I tried to light the hot water heater, but had trouble so I asked Dave for help. As it turned out, I did have it lit, but thought what I was hearing was the breeze blowing in the hole. So Dave got it going so we could have hot showers. The shower was nice and refreshing. When we were done I turned off the water heater to save propane. I did a little more cross stitching and then it was time to fix dinner. I broiled the fish and made some pasta. The fish was o.k. but it did have a stronger flavor to it than what I like, but it was still o.k. I wouldn’t want to eat it all the time. If Phil can find out how the guys, that have been fishing north of town, did, and if good, Dave and Phil may go out tomorrow and go north of town. Tomorrow I will cross stitch and read but probably not much else. Monday is the trip to town to get water and then either Tuesday or Wednesday we will go to Ensenada. I’m looking forward to that. It will be an overnighter.

It was a beautiful day today with a little breeze. Just perfect. There were a couple other boats that launched today and went fishing. Neat!!!

Sunday, April 25.
Today is a quiet day and I don’t plan on doing a whole lot. As I was having my morning coffee I read a little. Then I washed some clothes and hung them to dry. I couldn’t fit everything on the line so I brought those back to the house and put them on hangers and hung them on a chair outside on the deck.

I worked on my cross stitch, did more reading. I opened the sliding glass doors in the bamboo room and the windows in the trailer.

Dave didn’t go fishing today but Phil took his wife, Creela out instead. That was neat. They caught more of the same fish that Dave and Phil caught when they went out, so those fish went this time to the guard, Nasario.

It was a beautiful day and with a slight breeze it was nice.

Dave went to Joannes’ to get the motor she wanted fixed and brought it back to the house to work on it. Someone tightened the screws on the cover so hard it bend them. He had to consult with Phil a couple of times because Phil has the same type of engine. So he was able to fix it but would have to run it to see if it was really fixed.

For dinner we had leftover chicken enchiladas and I made Mexican Style rice which I had never made before. It was really good. After dinner we watched T.V. then went to bed.

Monday, April 26.
When Dave woke up it was already 7:30am, and he was later than he wanted to be in leaving the house to get water. He had wanted to be there by now. He got the tank in the back of the truck and left for town to get water. I was still in bed. I got up later and had my coffee and read a little of my book. I could hear the truck from a ways away, so I watched for him and when he got closer to the house I went down and unlocked the garage door and the electrical room door then waited for Dave to back the truck up so I could help him off load the hoses and pump and put it all together. I got him a cup of coffee as we were filling the pila. Once the tank was empty, we took everything apart and Dave moved the truck over to the carport and we came back upstairs, had breakfast then Dave said we were going to go to Ensenada tomorrow to get our provisions. After breakfast we walked over to see Lesil, our property landlord. Once we got to her house she was getting ready to leave so we said a quick hello, gave and received hugs, and she said she would see us later. We visited with our neighbor, Smiley and John and their daughter and family. On our way back from Lesils’ Dave went home and I stopped to visit with Creela. I had a nice visit then I came home. When I got home Dave wasn’t there and I figured he was either at Georges’ or Joannes’. He came back from Joannes’ house and he said he had returned her motor. He fixed it and it ran. Yeehaw!!!

So we let our neighbors know we were going to be going to Ensenada, leaving tomorrow, so they can keep an eye on the house. Dave took the pump back to Larry and Lois’ house but I forgot to get the bug spray Lois asked him to bring it that was down in the garage. When he came back from her house, I had the spray and told Dave I would take it over and also visit a little. So I took the truck and gave Lois her stuff and then I went to her art room and met another lady, Annie, and Maryann was there working on their stitching and Lois on her gourds. I brought my cross stitch and showed Maryann as she wanted to see it. After I visited, I said good-bye and came back home. Once home I started preparing for our trip to Ensenada. Then we had dinner and now Dave is watching T.V. but before that we found online the hotel where we will be staying in downtown Ensenada. I went out and had a cigar and now I am catching up my journal for the blog. I am ready for dessert, wine, T.V., then bed.

Tuesday, April 27.
We got up at 7:15am, got the garbage together, finished packing and we were ready for the road. We left the house before 8:00am and were on the main highway around 8:30am. The ride was long but interesting. There were hills made of nothing but loose rocks. We went through several little towns and as we got closer to Ensenada we came to fields of strawberries and grapes. There is a large winery called ‘Santo Thomas’ which sells a lot of wine in Mexico. We saw the Mexicans being dropped off from buses to the fields where they were to work all day either picking strawberries or tending fields. It was actually pretty to see the hills and then farm land stretched out for miles. They grow a lot of other things too, but strawberries seemed to be the big thing.

We had to stop at a couple check points and the one just before entering Ensenada took a while as they looked thoroughly through each vehicle. Once we were inspected we were waved on and we got to the outskirts of Ensenada and wondered if we should stop at Walmart first and then go to Costco or go to Baja Naval Marina. Since I wanted to check out Costco first and what I couldn’t get there I would go to Walmart to finish. Since it was 2:00pm and we had to find out where an electronic and Napa store was we decided to visit our good friend Roger at Baja Naval. We drove up and there weren’t any parking places and I told Dave that if we stopped and talked to the guard and told him we have business with Baja Naval, he may open one of the parking places for us. They keep a pole at the end of each parking space to keep people from parking there who aren’t doing business with the marina. So when Dave drove around the block again and came up on the guard, I rolled down my window and told him we had business at Baja Naval and asked for a place to park. No problem. He went and removed a pole from a parking space and we got to park right out front of the office. As we were walking to the office we could see Roger and he looked at us and I could just hear him thinking that he knew us. When I got closer I waved and he came out from behind the desk and greeted us with big hugs. That was nice. We asked how he was and he did the same with us and then we asked him for directions to the places we needed to go. Roger was very helpful. Since he was working we only stayed for a short time and then we left and went to Hotel Santo Thomas, got a room and put our stuff down. It wasn’t a fancy place and it only cost us $35.00. Across the street there was a restaurant we had eaten in when we were living on our boat in the marina. We walked over to see the people and found out they were no longer there. They sold the restaurant to someone else. We tried to talk to the lady that runs it now but she didn’t understand English so she got the guy that has a shop next door, who could translate for us. We told her we would come back for dinner. So we walked back to see Roger to get some more information on an electronic store and Roger said we might try the marine store around the corner. We were looking for a connector that fits a cable for a VHF radio. We want to install a VHF radio in the house and when Dave was home in February he got cable and connectors, but West Marine gave him the wrong connectors and Dave didn’t realize it until he got home they were the wrong ones. The marine store sells the radios but not the hardware. At least we tried. They did give us the name and location of another store we could try. So we walked there. They didn’t have it either. Then we stopped at a dive shop and Dave looked at Dive masks. He needs to get a new one as the one he has is prescription and he no longer needs it since he has had eye surgery. He can’t see out of it any more. We found out prices and we said we might be back tomorrow. He found one he likes for 500 some odd pesos and if we had any money left over from shopping he would get it. So we left and I remembered I had the broken guitar string in my purse so I went back into the Dive shop and asked the man if he knew where a music store was. He told us and I thanked him and that was our next stop. Unfortunately they had A strings but not the one I needed for the Martin guitar. He told us of another store a couple blocks away and we said we would try there tomorrow. We left and walked back to the hotel and our room and chilled. The clock said 3:30pm so we had time to kill before dinner. The restaurant closes at 6:00pm so we watched T.V. and relaxed. It was now 5:00pm so we walked across the street from the hotel to the restaurant and it was closed. We wondered why she closed early. Well she didn’t. Our room clock was off an hour. So we didn’t get to eat there. I felt bad, but nothing we could do about it as we are leaving tomorrow. So we went back to the hotel and had dinner at their restaurant. We knew they had good food as we had eaten breakfast there a couple of times. So we ordered dinner. I had chicken mole while Dave had carne asada. It was very good. After dinner we went back to our room for the night. What is interesting about where this hotel is, it is surrounded by strip clubs. We asked for a room toward the back which overlooks the parking lot. Much more quiet than the front rooms as we have been told by friends and neighbors who had stayed there. We settled in for the night and watched T.V. and I went online to check emails. We watched two movies we hadn’t seen before so that was cool. Around 11:00pm we went to bed. It was actually quiet. Tomorrow will be a busy day.

Wednesday, April 28.
We were up by 7:30am, got packed and then went downstairs to have breakfast. I had a mushroom omelet and Dave had huevos rancheros. Once we finished we went upstairs got our stuff and checked out. Then we drove to an electronic store and they had a connector Dave thinks will work. Then our next stop was the music store but they were closed and not opening until 10:00am. Well we couldn’t wait because we had to stop at a Napa Auto store to get a water pump for one of our neighbors and then go to Costco and Walmart before leaving Ensenada. We found the Napa store and they had the right water pump so we were happy about that. Our next stop was Costco. Of course we saw a lot of things we could buy for the house, but if we did and we didn’t get the house, we would have to leave it behind. So we just said-----“DON’T LOOK”!!! I went ahead and started shopping for things on my list and Dave went to the electronics area. We met up later and he helped me look for stuff and I pretty much got what I needed so we were ready to leave. We checked out and found that our Costco membership had expired so we told him to go ahead and renew it. Then when everything was scanned I gave him my debit card, and got denied. WHAT!! I turned and looked at Dave and said ----“the bank isn’t going to let us use it because of the large amount”. So we ended up having to use the Credit Union debit card which we didn’t want to do but had no choice. When we left Costco, Dave called the bank. He told them he had just talked to them about accepting large amounts as we were in Mexico and it was o.k. The bank said they would remove the restrictions and everything would be fine. Then we use it in Costco and it doesn’t work. Neither of our cards did. They told Dave they would call him back in 30 minutes. Our next stop was Walmart and I needed to use my card there. So I told Dave lets go and hopefully by the time I was finished shopping they would have gotten back to him. So I am rushing around trying to get what we need as it was getting late and we were leaving Ensenada after we finished our shopping. I found a King size bedspread for our bed at Walmart. It was only 383 pesos which is around $30.00 at the current exchange rate of 12.6. So that was cool. It is striped with several bright colors. Dave was on the phone and I had a couple more things to get. He got it straightened out so we were able to use the card now, which I did and it worked. Thank goodness. We left Walmart and packed everything in the back of the jeep for the ride home. Dave still needed to stop at the ATM and Home Depot to see if they had an item he needed, and then gas and we would be on our way. Dave couldn’t withdraw money now because they said his pin didn’t work. So he called them back and talked to them and they tried again and it still didn’t work. He was using the right pin number and nothing was happening. Long story short, when they took care of the other snaffoo at Costco, they messed up the pin number. So they had to fix that which with all of this took an hour to clear everything up. They finally got it all straightened out and Dave was able to use the ATM. We went to Home Depot only to find out they didn’t have want he wanted so we left and stopped and got gas then headed out of town. It was now around 1:00pm and we planned on stopping at a place in San Quintin for the night. Dave was hoping they would have a room. We arrived at the hotel around 3:30pm and the room he wanted was available. He had stayed here when he road with Ron and Diane on their way to San Diego. He was catching a flight to Seattle to get the jeep. This place is called Posada Don Diego. It is a R.V. trailer park with about 6 small cabins that they rent out. We are in a room that has a king bed, an extra bedroom, of course a bathroom which is pretty good size, and a small refrigerator and microwave, with T.V. that only plays DVD’s, and a hide abed couch. There is a long dresser as well. Very comfortable. Nothing fancy though but it was great. Our bed last night was a double and small so it will be nice to have the king size tonight. I think I am getting spoiled with the king bed!! I took pictures.








As we were driving to the hotel we saw the fields and it reminded me of Eastern Washington with the brown mountains and the farm land. It was pretty. We also saw the Mexican workers being picked up from the fields by bus and taken to town. What a hard life. Can you image working in a strawberry field or any field for that matter all day long every day except probably Saturday and Sunday. The kids sure don’t have much to look forward to, growing up, unless they earn enough money to leave. These people do work hard and hardly get paid anything for it. It is sad. I guess that is how it has been for years and years. I guess my parents had to work in the fields all day too if they were growing things. But usually it was because they were growing things for their family. Here it is a job like anything else I guess.

Back to the place where we are staying. They serve dinner and breakfast here and Dave said it is really good food. The price is right. This place was built in the 1930’s and there have been a few upgrades to it, but mostly the buildings haven’t changed much and they keep them maintained.

Dave is taking a nap while I catch up my journal and when I am done I will find out when we will go to dinner. There will be no T.V. tonight so I can do a little crocheting to get a hat started, and then read. That will be nice. Tomorrow we will be home.

There is the Baja rally that is stopping in Bahia de Los Angeles on Thursday where they will have their vehicles on display. We will get to see that which will be cool. I want to get some pictures. Then on Friday they start out on the dirt road that goes past our house so we will get to see them all head south. This will be the only time we get to see the old Baja vehicles and their old timer drivers. This rally has been going since 1969. They don’t really race, just go through the towns to display their cars, and the people here love it.

Here is to a good dinner, relaxing night and a goodnight sleep. Chao!!!

Thursday, April 29.
We got up before 7:00am. Dave didn’t set his phone alarm but the birds managed to wake us. We slept well. We got up, packed and went to the office to tell them we were on our way. Then we were off for home. We needed to get through San Quintin (Quinteen) before the school and farm buses got on the road. We made it through and had a pretty easy drive as there were hardly any cars and trucks on the road going south. It took us 5 hours to get from San Quintin to home. When we got to town we fueled up the jeep and as we were doing that we saw one of the Baja cars parked off to the side away from the pumps. Here is a picture.

Then we went to Costa del Sol to get lunch and they were cleaning the restaurant so we decided to go to Guillermos’. There were some pit crew guys there having lunch and talking about the race. Dave talked to them and one of the guys showed Dave the schedule and found there were 88 cars entered in the Rally. The cars would be arriving in town late afternoon and evening. We needed to get home and get our groceries and cold food put away. We also had to stop at Lois and Larrys’ to drop off some items they asked us to pick up for them. So after we had lunch, we stopped at Xitali store for milk and then our next stop was Larry and Lois’ house.

We got to Larry and Lois’ and Ruth, whom just got here from Big Bear, California, was visiting so we got to see her. We met her last year while we were anchored in the Bay. She is here for the summer and then she will head back to Big Bear for winter as she likes to ski. So after we gave Lois her stuff and chatted with Ruth for a few minutes, we had to go. When we got home we unloaded the jeep and started taking things upstairs. I put things away and repackaged those things that came in cardboard boxes, as the cockroaches like the glue to lay their eggs. I don’t need them in the house. I worked until after 5:00pm and then I was done. I would finish the rest tomorrow. I fixed Dave and me a cocktail and we sat and watched T.V. I put together a quick dinner and didn’t do anything else the rest of the night. I will do dishes in the morning. I was out of steam and Dave was tired from all the driving. So we watched a movie called ‘The Rookie’ and then watched a couple programs then went to bed. Tomorrow we get to see the Rally cars come on the road by our house. That should be fun.

Friday, April 30.
The first car went by and when I finally realized that is what I heard, another one passed. Dave and I were still in bed. Dave and I got up, got dressed and I grabbed my camera and we walked over to the road where we met some of our neighbors, Kathy, Tom, Creela, Phil, and George. They had been taking pictures. At first it was kind of slow waiting for the cars to come by but then they started arriving. I took some pictures. Here are the best ones.


These are the original Baja cars with their original drivers. How cool. They created a lot of dust but it was worth it. 76 cars had passed by and there were suppose to be 88 all together. But since this isn’t a race, they can start at any time just as long as they get to Loreto for tonight. That was their next stop. After that they would stop in La Paz. Some of the cars didn’t sound as though they would make it that far. After we waited for a while and no more cars came, we all went back to our homes with a lot of pictures to sort through. Dave and I had coffee when we got back to the house and then breakfast. I read my book for a while and Dave read the news and sports. When I had read long enough, I started to put away the rest of the things from yesterday and then I needed to take wine down to the laundry room to store it. I ended up putting a towel in the window facing the West as the afternoon sun shines in and makes it warm in that room. There use to be a blind in that window but Larry and Lois took it with them. We don’t want the wine getting warm!!!! When I was finished with that I cut off the spent blooms on the Bird of Paradise plant, watered my plants then dug up a plant that was in our front yard close to the driveway and relocated it in the garden area out front of the Bamboo room. Hopefully it will live and add some greenery to the yard. After I watered the newly planted plant, I went upstairs and started washing dishes and repacking cheese and butter to freeze. When I was finished with that it was already 4:00pm so I quit and sat down and read my book for a little bit while Dave and I had a cocktail then I started dinner. After dinner and dishes it was journal time, then T.V. and bed.