Winter is on it's way

Happy November!!! Fall has arrived in Bahia!!! So have the winds. It is typical weather for fall. The days are cooler and we have resorted to wearing sweats again. It’s nice to have the cool weather. Creela and Phil have arrived so Dave and I went over to help them unload their truck. Their nephew and wife followed them down so with all of us helping it didn’t take long to get them unpacked. Creela and Phil are staying for Thanksgiving, but the nephew is leaving before then. Phil’a Cousin and wife (Lee and Sheryl) will come down to spend Thanksgiving with them. Dave and I have been invited to Mary and Georges for Thanksgiving dinner. They have will have Mary’s sister and niece and our small community of neighbors. It should be fun. I am making pies, a pumpkin and apple, and other people have been assigned a dish to bring with George BBQing the turkey. YUM!!!!! It has been a busy month already!! Twice a week I play games with the gals. Then there is shopping on Saturdays with Penny, Mary Ann and Annie. Mary Ann drives us to town and we stop at all the stores to buy what we need. Sometimes we have lunch in town, but most of the time we just head home when we are done. There is a vegetable truck that comes to town every Saturday with fresh broccoli, green beans, onions, carrots, lettuce, bananas, apples, swiss chard, cilantro, radishes, cucumbers and more. I buy lots of green beans then blanch and freeze them so I can have them when the season is done. It is cheaper to buy vegetables from him than the stores. Plus it is a lot of fun. The guys get a kick out of us trying to speak Spanish, but it is all fun!!! We all learn from each other. Today, Monday the 7th, Dave and I drove to Ensenada to go to Costco and Walmart. When we got into town we headed for the hotel first, got a room then took off for Walmart. I had a few things to get at Walmart while Dave visited the ATM and then went to Home Depot to pick up some liquid nails for Mary Ann. The bank, Home Depot and Walmart are in the same plaza. When we returned to the hotel, Santo Thomas, we went downstairs to the restaurant and had a great meal. The next morning we went to see our insurance man to take care of the insurance for the boat. When we left there we headed to Costco. After Costco we left Ensenada and headed for San Quintin to spend the night. With the time change we wouldn’t have made it home from Ensenada before dark so we stopped at Jardines (Garden) Hotel. What a great place. It is like a tropical Oasis!!! There are all types of succulent plants, trees, birds everywhere chirping and flying about. We love it there. We had dinner at the restaurant and then relaxed in our room. Wednesday morning we got up and drove to town to make one more stop at an ATM. We need to have enough pesos for Bahia since there isn’t a bank in town. After that we headed for Bahia. In some places it was slow due to road construction and lots of trucks, but we made it to the house early that afternoon. I have been giving exercise classes to a couple of the women that asked me to work with them. We have set Sunday, Tuesday and Thursdays as our exercise days. So far so good. We stretch, work with weights, and motivate each other. Tomorrow, Friday the 11th, we have been invited to a Full Moon party. It is just like the one we went to in September when Lois and Larry hosted it. We get to guess where the moon will come up over the mountains and what time. It will be fun to get together with those people we don’t see very often. There is a birthday party this afternoon in Rincon (across the bay from us) this afternoon, but Dave and I aren’t attending. After the drive from Ensenada, we just want to stay home. We enjoyed our quiet evening. Tomorrow I play Hand and Foot with the gals and then Dave and I will attend the Full Moon party. Busy time!!! It is also the day my youngest son, Jonathan has knee surgery. Bummer!!! I hope and pray all goes well for him tomorrow and during his recovery!!! He tore his ACL playing soccer. Things here will start to quiet down after Thanksgiving when most of the people go back to San Diego for Christmas and New Year’s. The full moon party was fun and the only thing that didn’t make an appearance was the moon. We had cloud cover all day and it never went away, so even though we guessed where the moon would rise over the mountains and at what time, we didn’t see a hint of it until later on. So the people that had the closest time to seeing it that night and guessed the correct position got a prize. It was fun. This fall has been quite different from last year. We have had more clouds and rain. I’m not complaining as we always welcome the rain, but it is just interesting to compare one year’s weather to the next. Happy, Happy Birthday to our youngest grandson, David. He is two years old today, the 13th. It is times like this when I miss not being home. It is a sad day today, the 22nd, as Dave lost his youngest sister Kathy, to cancer. It goes to show you that life is short and live it to the fullest!! Be happy!!! We had Phil, Creela, Phil’s cousins, Lee and Sheryl over for dinner. Dave made carbonara and Creela brought a salad and wine. We had a wonderful dinner and great conversation. Unfortunately the 4 of them are leaving to go back to their homes in San Diego on Saturday. It was nice to see and spend some time with them. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!! It is a beautiful sunny day with some wind from the west. It’s not too cold or hot. Wonderful!!! Dave is helping Phil bring his boat in from the buoy in front of their house. Phil is taking the boat home with him to do some repairs and bright work then bring it back the next time they come down. I made 4 pies yesterday. 2 apple, 2 pumpkin. We are having dinner at Mary and George’s house, joined by her sister, niece and another neighbor Joanne and Mary Ann. I am bringing one apple and one pumpkin pie, plus the whip cream!!! Yum!!! Today I am cooking our turkey to have tomorrow night. The house smells good!!! I started ordering on line for the grandboys for Christmas. Have to do it early to get the good buys. Plus Dave and I are going down to San Jose Del Cabo for Christmas, meeting Ron, Noreen, J.T., Carolyn, and their 2 sons Christian and Nathan, at the time share. It will be a blast and I can hardly wait. We have a free week so we figured now is the time to use it. We are trying to either sell or rent it, but no luck so far on either. I look forward to being with our good friends at Christmas. Jonathan, my youngest son, came through the knee surgery with flying colors and he is healing nicely. He has started therapy and doing very well. He almost has full range of motion which is excellent!!!! Kudos to Jon!!! I can’t believe in three weeks we will be in San Jose del Cabo enjoying great food, lots of booze and friendship!!! I have vowed to stay on my exercise program through that week we are there. Speaking of exercise programs, the two gals aren’t exercising anymore with me. One of them is experiencing really high blood pressure and I have told her not to do much until she sees her doctor and they find out what is going on. She is on high blood pressure medicine, but it isn’t working to well. I told her we can start again after the first of the year when she has a clean bill of health. Mary Ann won’t come without her so I’m getting more me time!!!! I am reading books, crocheting a scarf, and trying to learn Spanish. The learning of Spanish is such a slow process!! I am determined to learn it if it kills me!!!!! I have to remember that I have come a long way since entering in Mexico and knowing virtually nothing. So I have to keep positive about it. Little by little it is starting to sink in. My friend Penny is the one with the high blood pressure. For a while her blood pressure was scary and we were all concerned about her. She increased her medication and it is finally starting to work and her blood pressure is coming down. I am relieved and really glad she will be seeing her doctor soon. Mary Ann is driving to the states to visit her family for Christmas so Penny will ride up with her, stay with a friend until she is finished with the doctor visits, then walk across the border and catch a bus back to Bahia. The day after Thanksgiving I went on a hike to the top of Red Mountain not far from where I live. Emma organized the hike and at first it sounded like we would have a lot of women going, but as the day got closer, most of the gals fizzled out. So it ended up being Emma, myself, Pam, and Peggy. Here is a picture of, Pam, myself and Peggy.

The day was beautiful and hardly a breeze. We are supposed to get some winds later in the morning but for now it is perfect for hiking. I went to Emma’s house and she drove to the mountain which is about 2 miles or so. We met up with Pam and Peggy and started our hike. The hike was a gradual climb to the top of what everyone calls Red Mountain. We would stop from time to time to take advantage of the beautiful scenery and photo ops!! Here are some pictures looking to the north and seeing the town of Bahia and the bay.

Here are some pictures of the surrounding area and as you can see it is mostly desert and very barren. I love it!!! Also as you look at one of the pictures you can see like a line that curves, that is part of the road we travel into town and back. It is filled with tiny sharp rocks and bigger rocks which make for a very slow and bumpy ride. Hard on the cars but I guess those who have quads enjoy the ride.

The beauty of our little community and bay is astounding!!! You can’t really see where we live but we are close to where the bay curves around to the south.

Rincon, which is the next picture down, is another gated community which is across the bay and very hard to see from this far away.

Reaching the top of Red Mountain, we found a cement grave with a wood cross lying on top. Emma and Pam, who have lived here for many years, said it was a lady who used to live in the village but didn’t want to be buried there. She wanted to be buried on the mountain. They believe her son is also buried with her. Here are a couple pictures. The last one is a picture of Pam, Emma and Peggy.

The islands that surround our bay and town are beautiful.

Bahia and the surrounding area is beautiful and somewhat remote.

A lot of tourists come in the fall and spring to fish and hire guides to take them to see the Whale Sharks. Speaking of Whale Sharks, they are still here. As the water cools more, they will be moving on. They are awesome creatures.

October is always a fun!!

Wow!!! It is October already!!! Where does the time go? The coyotes have been fairly quiet lately. What is up with that? They were serenading us just about every night for a while. Our neighbor Joanne has a cat so the coyotes like to visit her house a lot. Pour Duffy. He can’t go outside on his own anymore. Well it beats getting eaten. Monday, the 3rd, the gals and I went to Ruth’s to play train. When we broke for lunch, Ruth cooked some hot dogs and the rest of us had brought some food to share. Dave joined us for lunch then when we were finished, Ruth sent a pork roast and a package of cut up chicken pieces home with Dave. She is trying to get rid of some food because she and Ernest will be going back to Big Bear soon. She wanted to do something to thank Dave for all the electrical work he did for her to get her lights working again so she gave us the meat. That was really nice. Ruth and Ernest have been coming down to Bahia for 25 plus years and Ernest isn’t doing so well anymore which means Ruth ends up doing everything herself. They are in their 70’s and it is getting harder for Ruth each time they come down so they don’t know if they will be back again. I hope so, but there comes a time for all of us that live here, to be faced with that dilemma. Before Dave came for lunch, he tried to start our little generator and it wouldn’t. Plus it was backfiring like the one did on the boat. So Dave checked the carburetor and some other things, so he wasn’t having the best of days. We are back on the boat for a couple days. Our cruiser friends, Lynn and Cliff are going to be arriving in Santa Rosalia from San Carlos this week so we will be able to give them the items we have been holding for them. It will be nice to see them again. They spent the summer in San Carlos, on the mainland, and now will be heading south for winter cruising. The electricity is back on in the marina again which is good. But there is no water. They are working on getting that fixed. We need to wash the boat as we don’t have anyone yet to wash it due to the personnel changes that were made to the marina. So the plan is to pressure wash the boat tomorrow, hopefully the water will be back on, clean the stainless steel and do more waxing. The weather is cooler for doing those chores. The water has been turned on and we are in business now. So the work begins. Oh yea!!! Have I told you I hope the boat sells soon????? I know------patience!!!! I was looking forward to washing my dirty laundry and then drying it when I found out I can wash but can’t dry them due to any propane for the dryers. So I will have to hang my clothes on the boat. Some things don’t change. I’m back to doing what I always did when we were cruising and that was hanging the laundry to dry on the lifelines of the boat. I did two loads of laundry and took them down to the boat and we rigged a clothes line from the headsail (forward sail) to the mast. I had sheets and a mattress cover so I hung those on the clothes line and the rest of the laundry on the lifelines. The wind picked up so I added more clothes pins and kept an eye on everything to make sure my clothes didn’t blow away. We worked our fingers, hands, shoulders and a bunch of other muscles today cleaning stainless steel. I rinsed the cockpit then started on the stainless. It was pretty bad. Dave ended up having to go behind me and rub even harder to get the rust and water spots off. The boat is starting to look better, but it is taking a lot of rubbing and scrubbing. Dave pressure washed the deck and after he was done I wiped down the stainless around the boat. Tomorrow we will try to finish the stainless. We got all the inside of the cockpit done and one aft side of the boat on deck. Tomorrow is the other side aft then the stanchions around the deck. Dave also waxed the back of the boat, but it had been so long since the last time it was done the wax soaked in very quickly. We will have to do another coat. We have more waxing to do in other areas too. Our job isn’t done. We have hired a different man to wash our boat. I think he will do a much better job than Arturo. Dave told Arturo to wash the boat then wipe down the stainless steel when he was finished. Unfortunately it never happened. Dave and I feel better about Alberto washing the boat because we have seen him wash other boats in the marina. He does a really nice job. He will also contact the diver to clean the bottom of our boat once a month. So maybe all of this is a blessing in disguise. The boat will be better cared for. Lynn and Cliff arrived in the marina tonight. It was good to see them again. They had a rough trip over from San Carlos and their cat and Lynn got seasick. Yuck!!! They will be busy tomorrow washing their boat as it is covered in salt!!!! Oh the good ole days!!!!! We remember it well! After they got checked in, the four of us went up to a shop above the marina that makes crepes, milkshakes and more. Dave and I had a crepe filled with cream cheese and strawberries. Dave also got a chocolate milk shake. I just had the crepe. It was yummy!!!! The cruisers that have been in the Bay of L.A. for the summer are heading down to Santa Rosalia and they will love this place! The shop will do good business with the cruisers. This morning I walked to town and got some groceries and when I returned to the boat I took the last of the laundry up, washed it, brought it back to the boat and hung them to dry. It looked like a Chinese laundry, but what can I do? The wind is suppose to blow pretty good today so I wanted to make sure I got an early start so the clothes would dry before the wind picked up. Actually I did well in that department because they were either almost dry or dry enough to bring them in when the wind picked up. We are talking 20-25 knots of wind here! The stainless steel and some waxing have been done. She looks good again. I have been icing my right shoulder and putting heat on it to keep it from getting stiff. My mobility has been hindered a bit, but if I continue with the ice and heat treatment and moving it around, I should be alright. Just some of those old aches and pains you get from doing too much at one time. Oh well. Sometimes you just don’t have a choice. Dave was a big help when he came behind me and rubbed more on the stainless. We will need to do it again the next time we visit the boat, but it should be easier and take less time. We are headed for the house tomorrow so we have started packing up and putting things away. The wind has blown steady today. It was a good thing I did my laundry early. This evening, Cliff, Lynn, Dave and I went to have Chinese food. There are a couple restaurants in town and the one we are going to tonight is the better of the two. Cliff and Lynn will be heading south to La Paz and then to the mainland in a week, along with the other cruisers who have been in the Sea of Cortez all summer. Some will stay in La Paz; others will go back to the mainland and cruise south of Mazatlan. We said our goodbyes to our cruiser friends and headed back to the house. The weather has cooled nicely and we are finally able to sleep soundly. That is until the coyotes start to holler and yip outside our windows. We have counted 6 so far and they are youngsters. The people that live down here for 6 months or so in the winter are starting to arrive in droves. Pretty soon most of the people will be here until the holidays. Our neighbors, George and Mary just got home yesterday, the 12th. So the neighborhood isn’t going to be quiet anymore!! It was nice while it lasted. Monday I joined the gals to play train. There were 8 of us who played train and 4 who played hand and foot. It was fun. Dave took the head off the small generator and noticed the valves need cleaning. Nothing major. So tomorrow when he goes to town to get water, he will take the head over to Philipe to see if he could clean it up. Dave ended up having to leave the head with Philipe because his friend borrowed some of his tools so instead of waiting around; Dave just told Philipe he would come back tomorrow. I went into town to get some groceries, dump garbage, get gas in the truck, and pick up the head for the generator. I had perfect timing as when I was heading to Philipe’s shop, he was leaving and saw me and went back home. He had the head ready and I asked how much I owed him and he said nothing. He was happy to do it for his friend/customer. That was really nice. The next time we have work done; we will give him a little more so he can treat himself to a beer or whatever. When I got back to the house, Dave put the generator back together and started it and it ran nicely. Glad that was an easy fix. We have the really big generator, but it runs off propane, but for just vacuuming we don’t need to run it. The weather, during the day has heated up just a little, due to San Diego getting a big high pressure and heat. It will only last a couple more days and then it will start to cool down. The nights have been wonderful!!!! Something is in bloom which is driving my allergies crazy. I wondered why I was getting so tired and sleepy, and then realized that’s what happens to me when I am allergic to some plant blooming or whatever. So I take naps and my allergy medication. No worries!! Lois and Larry had an impromptu full moon party the other night. We had to guess where and when the moon was going to come up. I tied with Mary Ann so both of us won a prize for guessing the closest time it rose. I got a neat battery operated lamp and Mary Ann got some dish towels with cherries on them. That was cool. There were a couple other people that got prizes too for their answers. We had snacks and sat around and visited. This afternoon, Thursday, the 13th, I am playing hand and foot. There are going to be enough ladies where we can play partners. The game goes faster when we can do that. It will be fun. Here are pictures of my Train and Hand and Foot game ladies!!! They are a fun group.

Saturday, we have been invited to a birthday party in Rincon. Dennis, the birthday boy, is turning 70. He and Rainy are great people and we are looking forward to attending. The party was great!! He handed out small plastic shot glasses that lit up when liquid was put in them. Fun!!! His favorite saying is “Bite Me” so that was written on the outside along with the year. They had a huge piñata filled with candy which we didn’t stay to see Dennis bust it open, but we heard it was fun. Dennis made sure that whoever had the shot glasses got tequila in them. There was a Mexican band and dancing, lots of food and drinks. A fun time was had by all. Our gate guard walked off the job the other day. When the Mexican people get pissed at you, they don’t confront, they just leave and will not talk to you again. There was a misunderstanding on his part and instead of waiting for his boss, who lives in San Diego to come down and straighten things out, he just walked away. So now Leysl, the lady we pay the land fee too, is coming down to interview and hopefully hire a new guard. I sure hope the next one speaks some English and speaks Spanish where we can understand him. Nasario was hard to understand by even the locals. That’s how bad it was. We liked Nasario and thought he did a great job, but things started going sour the last couple weeks so now it is time to move on. Ruth and Ernest left Tuesday for their home in Big Bear. Pretty soon she will be teaching ski lessons again. She hopes she can come back down here next April, but it all depends on how Ernest is doing. Annie and Elwyn had their Halloween party on the 31st. Here is a picture of them.

What fun that was!!! Happy Birthday to Davey!!! I dressed as a bag lady-----and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Dave came as a Parrot Head (Jimmy Buffet fan) with his parrot shirt. There were a great group of people, lots of food and music and dancing!!! Annie and Elwyn throw this party every year. It always is a lot of fun. Their friend made the grave yard at the back of their house. It was neat. It was better when it got dark as he had green lights that showed dots all over the grave yard area. I didn’t get a picture of that, but did manage the day light picture. There was a San Diego Charger game airing that evening so some of the guys didn’t stay long but the wives stayed and had fun. Annie was so tickled the weather cooperated. It was a little breezy, but it was warm. Last year it was blustery and cool. We thanked Annie and Elwyn for having this party for Dave!!!! HA!!!

September Continuing to Bring Hot Temps

It has cooled down some from the heat of the past couple days. I rinsed and scrubbed the port side of the boat to try and get more of the bird crap off. A little more was removed but not all of it. Oh well. That is the way it goes. After that job I rinsed out the cockpit while Dave went to town to price car batteries. We need to replace our start battery now. We have known it for a long time, but we can’t wait any longer in replacing it because it is on its last leg. I was almost finished with the cockpit when he got back with battery in hand. I finished my job and let everything dry. Dave hooked up the new battery and now it is charging. We will have to buy another one later on, because this doesn’t have a lot of amp hours, but it will do for now. Clouds started coming in and it looked like it was going to rain. After lunch I went out and waxed the port top side of the boat. Just the smooth parts. Dave took the old battery back to the hardware store while I polished. I finished polishing and had to quit. I have had enough of the sun for today. I had been sweating a lot and I needed to cool down and get some water in me. Dave returned and checked on the weather. We have a small storm cell above us passing by. I think it is moving south so we won’t see any rain. Dave is also keeping an eye on a tropical storm south of us on the mainland. It was churning and then headed inland and we thought that was going to be the end of it, but it is reviving and does not look too good for us here. Carlos, the marina manager, says that most of the hurricanes develop and come this way around September 1-15. He has lived here all his life so he should know what he is talking about. The tropical storm could generate itself again if it goes out to sea as the waters are warm enough to help it along. We were planning on heading back to the house tomorrow morning, but depending on what this storm is doing south of us, we may have to stay. Dave will take another look at it around 5:00pm when it is updated again. No sense leaving if we have to turn around and come back again right away. Dave and I made a decision about the man wanting to lease our boat for a year. We said no. Dave wrote our broker and told him that if he had enough money to pay the boat payment each month and the moorage fees, he would be able to buy it. The broker thinks this man just wants a cheap place to live for a year. I don’t think it has much to do with selling his boat. It sounds as if he has money. So we wait for the next offer to come along. We have plans to work a lot on the boat in the next 3 months to get her looking nice and protecting her from the elements. The weather should be much cooler. We have just scratched the surface in waxing her. Dave also is waxing the starboard hull where the fender has rubbed the wax off, leaving a black mark. As suspected, the little storm cell has blown away from us. The cloud cover has definitely cooled us off. Well it is time for a beer before I have to do a load of laundry. Toodles. We had dinner in town and when we returned we packed up for leaving tomorrow. We noticed the sky was getting grayer again and looked like it really might rain this time. We got everything packed and ready for transport tomorrow morning to the jeep. Before going to bed we heard thunder and looked out and saw lightning. We didn’t think much of it until it intensified and we had to put the computer in the oven to keep it away from the electrical charges the lightning creates. There is no pilot light on the boat stove so it’s o.k. That is the safest place for electronic devices during a storm. For about 3 hours or so, we heard it thunder and saw the flashes. You thought it was the 4th of July celebration!!!! It seemed as though there were several storm cells converging over us. It rained like crazy and all I could think about was having the jeep and foresail on the boat rinsed as we had a lot of dust flying last week in a 50-55 knot wind chubasco. Then we wondered how the road was going to be in the mountains. We had thoughts of roads being washed out. That is what happens when it rains hard here. We didn’t get a lot of sleep, but we did get up early to head back to Bahia. After securing the boat and saying goodbye to our fellow cruisers, we loaded the jeep. Then we found out that Carlos wasn’t going to be in until 9:30am. Dave forgot to give Carlos money for the diver and boat washer so we had an hour and a half to wait. We drove to town, parked and I waited in the jeep as Dave went to the bank to get pesos. When we returned to the marina, Carlos was just getting there. That was great timing!!! Carlos told Dave the roads were fine once we got out of Santa Rosalia. The majority of the rain fell in town. So that was good news. With all the heavy rain last night, the mud from the hills came down through town and they had backhoes and dump trucks taking the mud away. It made a big mess. We said goodbye to Carlos and headed home. He was right about the roads. No problems after getting through Santa Rosalia. We stopped to do some shopping on the way home in San Vizcaino and then came home. It was pretty warm coming into Bahia. We stopped for gas and then one more store and came home. The house was 106 degrees!!!! We opened all the windows and skylights. It took a while for everything to cool down, but it was just hot. We are back to normal again, in our home. It has been hot and humid, with the wind blowing during the day, but when you need it to keep you cool at night there is nothing. Good thing we have a big fan above the bed!!!!  We have had 2 thunder and lightning storms in the mountains south of us, but no rain here. While we were in Santa Rosalia getting all that rain, Bahia here, got a lot of wind. They had 50 plus knots of wind from a chubasco. It was enough force to blow some items off our storage shed where we keep the garbage can, and one of my rock formations at the beginning of the driveway, which never gets blown over, did!!! Everything else was fine. We seem to fair very well with the weather so far here. I heard from a couple people chairs came blowing off decks and all. Today, the 6th, Dave launched the boat and went fishing but didn’t catch anything this time. He did get a couple hits, but they didn’t latch onto the hook. The wind started picking up so he headed in. I met him at the boat ramp and helped him get the boat on the trailer. This time I resigned myself to getting wet!!! You just can’t fight it. The surf was up a little, but Dave said it was nothing compared to the way it was off the town. So no fish today. We relaxed for the rest of the day. Dave played his computer game and I read. There has been a nice breeze blowing but it is slacking off. We have gotten clouds over the mountains and we are hearing the rumbling of thunder. The clouds have covered the sun so we aren’t getting as much solar power any more. This happened yesterday and then around 4 or so the clouds went away and we had enough power to last all night. Just typical summer weather. We were invited to a birthday party at a friend’s house in Rincon. One of the cruising ladies was having a birthday so Mary invited all those cruisers that wanted to come and us too. Mary knows we use to cruise and we know some of them. So that was nice. It was a potluck and there was lots of food. It was nice to see those cruisers we had cruised with for a while and also to meet new ones and hear of their adventures and plans. It was a fun time. There is going to be a full moon party next weekend in La Gringa, which is north of Bahia and we have been invited to it. Happy 6th birthday Dominick!!!!! Our next to the youngest grandson is going to be starting 1st grade this fall. We were blessed to be able to see him while we were in Washington State. He didn’t remember us because he hadn’t seen us since he was about 2, but we had a fun time at Point Defiance Park with his dad, mom and step brother. Dave and I attended the La Gringa full moon party. We didn’t stay for the potluck, but we did get to see the floaties the cruisers had put together to float in and out of the estuary. They were all great and some were very, very creative. Every year they have this competition of who can make the best floatie and they are judged and prizes are handed out at the potluck dinner later that evening. I wore my bathing suit and got into the water with my noodle to join the fun and talk to some of the people. It was a hot day and the water was cool!!! I floated out of the estuary prior to everyone else so I wouldn’t be among them when the judging started. It was a fun afternoon. Just when you think the weather is cooling, you get another blast of heat. It has gone back up to the upper 90’s and even 100. Dave and I don’t exert much energy when it is that hot. So we’ve been reading and working on jigsaw puzzles. I’ve been trying to walk on the beach after the sun goes behind the mountains as it seems to be a little cooler. Dave has always wanted me to learn cribbage but it just seemed so complicated. But Mary Ann and another gal, named Penny, and I are learning together. As soon as I get a little more comfortable about the game, Dave and I will be able to play. That would make him happy. The gals and I have been playing hand and foot and also train to pass the time. It has been fun. Pretty soon the rest of the gals will be down here so there will be more people to join in. There are just 4 of us that are here all summer, give or take a month for vacation. Ruth, Mary Ann, Penny, and myself. Now we have 5 gals since Joanne has returned. The first part of October there will be more people returning to spend time here until the holidays, then they will go home to the states to be with family and then come back in January or February until it gets too hot for them. So the Bahia shuffle will start soon.  There isn’t going to be a pre-Christmas craft show this year. There wasn’t enough interest to go through all the trouble to put it on, but we are going to have a huge Spring Show. That should be interesting. We had a bunch of people last year and it was pretty crowded. Don’t know where we will fit all the tables-----but wait!!!! I’m not in charge so I don’t have to worry about it!  That feels so good to say!!!! Ha!! The weather is starting to get cooler again. I hope this time it stays cool. Our refrigerator is having a hard time trying to keep things cold. Just a couple days ago we got a west wind which blew very hot air down the mountains and across our area. The temp in the refrigerator was 57 which needless to say spoiled the milk. The inside house temperature was 107 and outside the temperature was 109. That is too hot! Running the fans really didn’t help much but we had to circulate the air somehow. The next house we have I want it to be cement. It is the best type of construction for this heat. Wood absorbs the heat and it takes a long time for it to cool down. If we don’t get a cooling breeze during the day or evening the house never cools down. Just when you think you can’t take it anymore, the weather changes. Just two nights ago it got cool enough that Dave and I had to pull the covers up over us. So maybe the cooling trend is starting. We have had some cooling breezes both in the day and night which is cooling the house down nicely and the refrigerator. I think the weather forecast for next week is to start getting into the 80’s. That will be soooo nice!!! Maybe then I can get back to my cross stitching craft. We got some news from a couple that has a boat in the same marina as we do and they live across the bay from us. They said they heard the marina was changing hands, which we knew, and Carlos, who is the harbor master right now, will be resigning on Friday, the end of the month. That saddened us as he was so good to us. His partner was offered a job at the mine so he left a couple weeks prior. There is no power to the facility so the boats that need power can’t get it unless they run their generator or engines. We are good because we have the solar panels working for us while we are off the boat, but we are going to the boat October 4, and I sure hope the power will be back on by then. It will be interesting to see how the marina will run in the next few months. All the personnel that worked there under Carlos and Evan are being laid off and being replaced with Mexico City personnel. If it gets too bad, we may take the boat down to La Paz, or bring it back to Washington State, in the spring of next year, if we haven’t sold it yet. Time will tell. Always an adventure!!! What would life be without all these ups and downs? Dave and I took the truck into town to the mechanic to have him take a look at the breaks. They are not holding like they should. Every time Dave launches the boat he worries if the breaks will hold. I followed Dave in the jeep and did some grocery shopping while he was talking to Philippe. Then I picked him up when I was done and headed home. Philippe said he would give us a call to let us know about the truck. Our gate guard, Nasario came by and tried to tell me the truck was done and asked if I needed a ride into town to pick it up. I really didn’t understand the truck was ready until after he had left and I was telling Dave about it. Ruth was over for a visit so Dave went to see Nasario and figure out if that is what he was saying, while Ruth and I visited. Sure enough, Philippe told Nasario to tell us the truck was ready. Dave told Nasario we would go into town tomorrow. The next morning we went into town and picked up the truck. Dave drove it while I drove the jeep. Dave said the truck runs really well. Philippe adjusted the breaks, changed 2 spark plug wires and plugs added brake fluid and it only cost $300 pesos. That is pretty cheap!!! Especially with the exchange rate at around 13.7. I played cribbage on Wednesday and hand and foot on Friday. Keeps my mind active and also gives me something else to do. Not doing much crafting stuff right now. Just reading and working on my cross stitch again. We heard the power is back on in the marina in Santa Rosalia so we will be heading down on October 4. I am glad that has worked out because I have some bedding and towels to bring down to wash. So life is good. It should be interesting to see what changes have been made.

Last of Vacation then back to Bahia

It is going to be a busy week. Monday we had dinner with Laurie CoyKendall in Poulsbo at a new restaurant ‘The Hair and Hound’. We had a nice visit and the food was pretty good. We both came back to the marina as Laurie wanted Dave to check to see what type of batteries she had. Dave is going to be talking to our dealer friend, Tori, to see where the best place is to buy batteries for our and Laurie’s boat. We said goodbye to Laurie and came back to Ron and Noreen’s boat.

Tuesday I did some grocery shopping so I could make my Mexican lasagna for Ron, Noreen, Fleeta, Carolyn, J.T., and SaraNell and Clark. Clark is getting ready to pack up and drive to Florida where he and SaraNell will be making their home. SaraNell will follow in about a month. So it was nice to have dinner with everyone. It was my fairwell dinner as I am leaving Thursday night for California.

Wednesday I ran around getting the last of the things on my list before I have to pack. When I got back to the boat, Dave said he talked to Kristen and we are invited to her house for dinner tonight. I didn’t expect that, but I am glad we could do it before I left. She made a nice dinner and afterwards we played the game, Scattagories. We got a chance to get to know Ethan and Sam more and them us. Hopefully, Kristen and Dave will be able to get together one more time before he leaves to meet me at my sister’s house.

Today is packing day and then Dave is driving me to Jon’s house where Ernie and Eian, and E.J. will be waiting. I packed everything I thought I would need at my sister’s and then everything else went into my suitcase and to storage until Dave got ready to pack the jeep. Last night I said goodbye to Noreen as she has to work today. We are so thankful to have such good friends like them!!! We always enjoy staying with them!!! Dave and I needed to be on our way to Tacoma by 4:30 to avoid the heavy traffic from the shipyard in Bremerton. I gave Ron a big hug and thanked him for everything, then took off. Dave and I stopped at McDonald’s for dinner in Port Orchard then carried on to Jon’s house in Tacoma. When we arrived, the boys were eating pizza and Jon was packing. No one was looking forward to the long drive, but was excited to be going to California. Dave said goodbye and the rest of us were on the road a little after 7. The weather was nice and the back seat of Jon’s car, a VW Jetta, was uncomfortable in the middle as the drive shaft goes under the center of the back seat. Because I have a bad back, the boys took turns sitting in the middle. That was so nice of them. Eian got the middle for a long time to start and when we stopped for gas in Oregon, E.J. switched with Eian. There were no other stops and the grandboys slept most of the time, and I slept a little. Jon drove until Oregon and then Ern drove until we gassed up in California close to my sister’s house. We stopped at a restaurant near there and had breakfast and then Jon drove to my sister’s. We made it in 11 hours. That was a record I guess from last year. The boys said it took about 13-14 hours last year so they were stoked!!! My sister and Hig were waiting at the kitchen table when we arrived. After all the hugs and some talking, we all took a nap. Then the guys played pool and my sister and I caught up. During my stay at my sister’s, I got to spend a lot of quality time with my sons and grandsons. It was really nice. I went to the fair one night with them and watched E.J. play a couple games and Eian too. The water gun game was played by everyone but Ernie. He stood back and watched.

Jon won a rasta banana. That is a reggae looking banana. Bud, his cousins husband one one also. Here are some pictures.

We had 10 wonderful days with my sister and family and it was great!!! I hope I can be there again next year.

Dave arrived at my sister’s on Saturday the 13th, just in time for the family reunion. We had a family photo taken when we could round everyone up. Handsome family don’t you think?

An added bonus was a picture taken of my boys and the grandboys with Dave and I. Very special indeed.

From the left back to the right is Jon Dave and Ernie. Then front is me, Eian and E.J. The grandboys are handsome dudes!!! Sunday evening, the 14th, the boys left for the return trip to Washington and back to their everyday life. I will miss them terribly, but am so glad I was able to spend this time with them. My sister’s house was really quiet (whew) after that, because the rest of the family wasn’t popping in to see the boys.

Got a message from the boys saying they made it home safe. They had a good smooth trip back. Now it is back to work for Ern and Jon and the grandboys will be getting ready for school. Dave and I stayed until Thursday, the 18th, then headed for home. I was glad to have so many days visiting with my sister. She and Hig have health issues and they are getting up there in age so any time spent with them is good.

Our first stop after leaving my sister’s house was just north of Los Angeles. Tomorrow we will leave for Lois and Larry’s house in San Diego to pick up Dave’s computer. It was finally fixed so now we will be a 2 computer household again.

We arrived at Lois’ in time for lunch. She fed us soup and sandwiches and we had a nice visit. Dave checked out his computer to make sure it was actually fixed and running well, then we all left and Lois took us to the Costco since she had to get gas and we had to get some groceries. We said goodbye and went on with our shopping. After that we decided to stay in San Diego for the night as it was getting late to cross the border and drive to Ensenada. So we found a Quality Inn and relaxed. We had hoped to walk to a place for dinner, but when we ventured out, there was nothing within the 3 block radius so we drove to Denney’s.

We left for the border after breakfast and made it across without waiting. We stopped in Ensenada to use the ATM machine and to get a couple things at Walmart before heading south to home. It was a long drive as there were three places of road construction, that slowed us down considerably, but after that we made up the time and got home around 5:30pm, the 20th. Finally!!!! We unpacked the car and brought most of the stuff upstairs and then I made something quick for dinner. We had to start up the refrigerator and stove again since they run on propane. It took overnight for the refrigerator to get cold enough to put things in it. The house, being closed up for a month and a half, was very hot. The thermometer read 100 degrees. Everything was hot to the touch. It was a little over 100 outside. After a couple of days with the windows open and a breeze, the house will start cooling down.

Things are put away and we can assume life as usual in Bahia. While walking around the yard last night we noticed it had rained and one of my rock sculptures head was missing by the driveway which indicated some heafty winds. We must have had a storm come in with a micro burst of wind and short period of rain. We also noticed the head of the turtle was missing. Apparently the coyotes got hungry and the head still had some meat on it so it was a meal for them. Life for them in the desert!! None of our neighbors are here so it is nice to have the place all to ourselves. The guard, Nassario is happy to have someone here. He took a mini vacation after we got home.

The weather has been hot with some breezes during the day and a couple nights there hasn’t been any to speak of so we have had to run fans. No Worries. It won’t last long as it should start cooling down next month.

Dave got water on Monday, 22nd, so now our pila is full. We had a visitor toward the late evening. Dave spotted what looked like large cat on top of the carport. He called me to look at it. I told him it wasn’t a house cat it was a Bobcat!!!! What a beautiful animal. He was just lying around but he was very aware we were there. He left sometime after dark. Then the next evening he came back again to visit in the same place. I got several pictures of him but here are three. The first one I hope turns out because it shows his eyes from the flash.

It’s a good thing I took pictures as we haven’t seen him since. He must have found a new home. He looked young and he was skinny.

I went in to town on Wednesday and did some grocery shopping. The laundry is caught up and now I am spending my days reading and trying to learn Spanish. Lois and Larry left some Berlitz Spanish tapes behind when they moved out so I am listening to them and following the book. It is a slow process but I am confident as I talk and listen to the people in town I will be able to pick up more of the language and be able to communicate better. At least that is what I am hoping for.

I finally got in the water the other day. Boy! Did it feel good!!! It was lukewarm so with 90 degree weather it felt refreshing. Dave was on shore trying to catch fish.

Dave launched Mary Ann’s boat. The aluminum one she lent us, and went out in search of fish. The first time he didn’t catch anything but the second time he caught a 10lb dorado. He said there were a lot of them swimming around. So the fishing is good!

We got some clouds last night on the east side with thunder and lightning. That usually means a Cubasco with strong winds. We closed down the skylights in preparation for the winds, but we didn’t get much. That is alright. It is better to be prepared than not. We ran the fan above our bed most of the night since there wasn’t any breeze until the Cubasco came.

Dave is making bread this morning. We bought some bread flour in the states since you can’t buy it here in Bahia. So we will see how it turns out. I hope better then the last time. It was good just not a large fluffy loaf.

The bread did turn out really good. He made an Italian loaf. What a difference the right kind of flour makes.

It remains hot and the wind blows pretty good in the day time but when we want to go to bed there isn’t any to speak of. Thank goodness for the large fan above the bed. We are looking forward to it cooling down at night. Hopefully next month.

Dave went fishing yesterday, the 28th and caught another dorado. Not as large but enough to freeze some and give some to Mary Ann and our guard. I like to eat fish, I just don’t like all the other stuff that goes along with it. Like what you ask? Well launching the boat. It is light so when it is put in the water and there is any kind of surf, it is hard to keep the stern of the boat with the huge engine from turning toward shore. The same as when we are taking it out to put it on the trailer. With all of that Dave and I end up dripping wet because you have to get into the water to make sure the stern of the boat is straight when pulling it on the trailer. Getting in the water isn’t the problem---it’s the laundry I have to do later which uses lots of fresh water. Then------there is the fact of getting all the tools ready to fillet the fish. I guess I don’t have to help with this, but when we started cleaning fish on the boat I got involved so I’m stuck now. No worries!!  Actually I am learning when I help. It is just messy. Then there is the cleanup of the board, knife and fish along with vacu packing and putting it in the freezer. I guess I just needed to bitch for a bit about something. It is a pain in the butt, but looking on the bright side, we have good eating fish. Even in paradise there are times when you don’t like doing something. Actually if that is all I have to bitch about------I can’t be doing to bad!!! 

Happy Birthday to me today, the 29th. Next year is the big ‘60’!! We aren’t doing anything special. Just another day. It is nice to be remembered through Facebook!!!

Tomorrow we are taking off to Santa Rosalia to the boat. We need to remove the old batteries and put new ones in, pay moorage and make sure everything is running properly. We will be able to use our air conditioning, which will be wonderful, as it is hotter there than here in Bahia.

The other day, Dave got an email about a man in Canada, saying he is interested in the boat but the price is too high. Dave wrote the broker and said to convey to him to make an offer. Right now the payoff on the boat is 214,000.00. We haven’t heard back so I guess he isn’t that interested. At least we are starting to get some action on it. I hope and pray we will be able to sell it this year. It sure would be nice.

We headed out this morning for Santa Rosalia. It was promising to be a hot day in Bahia and after arriving in Santa Rosalia, it was as hot as home. At least it isn’t hotter. We are running the air conditioner which is really nice after carting all the stuff down from the jeep to the boat. It was like Dave and I ran through water, we were so dripping wet.

We found out the rates in the marina are going up $200 which means we will be paying close to $700 a month. YIKES!!! Dave is going to talk to Carlos and see what he has to say. Carlos is the marina manager. Well good news. Dave came back and said that if we put the amount on our credit card we can still have the rate we had been paying. So we decided to do that until January 1 of 2012. We will just pay on the credit card bill and not have to come to the marina each month to do that. That saves us some money and time. After January, if the boat is still here, we will have to pay the going rate of $700. Let’s hope we don’t have to worry about it.

Dave got an answer back from the broker in La Paz about the Canadian who is interested in our boat. He is interested in leasing the boat for a year with the option to buy and he would pay to keep the boat here in Santa Rosalia. He has a C&C 36 foot sail boat in Canada that he wants to sell. So he wants to have our boat for a year in hopes his boat sells and then he will buy our boat. At first we thought –Hmmmm!! Maybe that will work. Then I start thinking about the what ifs!! What about insurance in the event something happens to the boat while in his possession. And then if he can’t keep the boat then it is back in our hands again, plus while the boat is leased by this man, no one else can buy it. So I don’t think it would be a good idea. Dave is going to sleep on it, but I think he is thinking the same way I am. We don’t want to get screwed. I’d rather sell the boat outright and be done with it. We will mull it over and make a decision in a few days.

The house batteries have been switched out and the new ones put in. Now we charge them up. Looks like tomorrow is a pressure wash day for the boat. We didn’t watch for the cormorants’ last night and we woke to a real mess on the deck. What fun. We had to wash the boat anyway since we were told there was a chubasco a few days ago with 50-55 knot winds which blew a lot of dirt on the boat. When we look at the stainless steel, it makes us want to cry as it is in dire need of polishing. It does no good to polish each time we come because when the boat is washed the water spots on it and we are back to square one again. This trip is too hot to be doing outside work, so I will wait until October, November to touch up the stainless steel. Just about everything inside and out needs cleaning so when it cools off, I will start to work. If we could only keep the damn birds from crapping on the boat!!!!! I’m seriously thinking about getting something to put on the spreaders. Dave and I will talk about it because we have to do something or the finish on the boat will deteriorate. We are sooooo ready to be done with the boat. It was a labor of love---now it is just a labor I’m afraid.

One thing I am glad about---not just living in paradise and not having a job, but having a husband who can do just about anything on the boat!!! He is a God send and I thank the Lord for sending him to me. We have had our moments, but all in all, we are good friends and respect and love each other. I do not have the knowledge about electrical things like batteries and the system on the boat. So I am glad I have someone who does. O.K. Enough of this sentimental stuff!!! I had a weak moment—sorry guys!!! ;-)

See you in September!!

Vacation to Washington

The wind has come up and is blowing pretty good. That is nice because it has been so hot and humid. We had to take our sun shade down because it got too windy and we have been running the air conditioner all the time which is so nice!! I’m glad we have it. Most of the other cruisers have one on their boat too. I walked to town this morning and got a few things and I was going to stop at the ATM but there was a long line. Today is payday for the Mexican people. So I went back this afternoon after we had lunch. Perfect timing as I was the second in line. We are leaving for the house tomorrow and then we get to start packing for Washington!!! Yahoo!!!

We made it back to the house. We didn’t do much until the next day. Riding and driving for 5 hours tires you out. Sunday was a busy day as I started to get things together and clean and all that kind of stuff. We are getting clouds and a lightning show to the south of us in the valley. It’s cool to watch. It is our first storm of the summer. We didn’t get any rain as it went to the east. I guess we will be having a couple cloudy days. It wouldn’t hurt if it rained. We need it. My windows need cleaning. Ha!

Dave and I are packed and things are put away that were outside. So we are leaving early Wednesday morning, the 5th. Creela and Phil invited us to stay overnight at their house in El Cajon, San Diego, so we will be at their house Thursday afternoon. We are looking forward to it.

We have left Bahia and arrived at Creela and Phil’s Thursday afternoon. Right after we arrived and went through hugs and handshakes, Creela took us on a tour of their lovely home. We took our stuff to the room we were going to sleep in then Creela and I spent part of the afternoon watching an episode of, “So You Think You Can Dance”. She taped it from last night. Dave and Phil went to town to do a couple errands. When they got back we all watched a little T.V. and then decided to take advantage of Happy Hour. Drinks were made and we took them outside on their deck and had a nice visit. Then we went to their favorite pizza place and had salad and pizza. It really tasted good. Mexico doesn’t make really good pizzas. Even though the pizzas in Mexico are edible, the States make them better!!! Yum!! After dinner we came back to the house and Creela showed me their garden and fruit trees. They don’t have a large yard, but it is big enough to grow what they want. That evening we sat and watched the next episode of, “So You Think You Can Dance”, then started watching another show and Creela and Phil decided to retire for the night. Dave and I watched a little T.V. but ended up going to bed early.

Friday morning Dave and I were up at 6:00am and packed. We loaded up the jeep and Creela and Phil weren’t up yet. We waited until 6:40am then wrote a note because we had to leave. We wanted to try to make it to Redding for the night. We left and called them at 8:00am. We had a really fun time and hated leaving before we said goodbye, but we didn’t want to wake them. No worries. They wished us a safe trip.

We didn’t make it to Redding. Instead we ended up in Woodland which is just north of Sacramento. Dave does the driving and he was a tired puppy!!! The weather was hot, but not as hot as Bahia. We relaxed for a while then went to Applebee Restaurant and had a good dinner. Then returned to the room, watched T.V. and went to bed.

On the road again and making good progress. We stopped just north of Eugene, Oregon for the night. The weather was cooling down but still nice. Tomorrow we will be at Ron and Noreen’s boat. We’ve had a great trip so far.

We made it to Ron and Noreen’s. Since we have been here the guys have gone out to set crab pots and then next day pull them. They have been getting a lot of crab.




Sunday’s seem to be our crab cracking day where Clark, SaraNell, Fleeta (who is the host on her boat), Ron, Noreen, us, and anyone else that wants to come. There is some drinking involved, a lot of fun and some sore cut hands and fingers but it is worth it. We’ve had crab fettuccini, crab quiche, and crab salad. Yummm!!! The weather has not been sunny, although the temperature has been in the low 70’s. There have been only a couple days of what we call cold.

All my doctor appointments have been done so I am in great health. My cholesterol is at 249 which the doctor was ecstatic about and me too. That is the lowest it has been for years!! Dave had an eye appointment for his cataract in his left eye and they are sending him for consultation on the 29th to see when he can have surgery. He is hoping he can get it done in August and not have to wait until next year. The cataract is growing and making it harder for him to see out of that eye. My fingers are crossed!!

Jonathan, my son, took me to a Sounders soccer game. I met him outside the stadium and went to our seats. What a great game and we won. There is a lot of interaction with the crowd, a lot of yelling, clapping and waving of scarves. I am now a proud owner of a Sounder hat! After the game Jon and I separated for home. I took the ferry back to Bremerton and Jon took the Sounder transit to Tacoma. I had a great time!!!

We have seen Michael, my step son, Dani, his wife and their son David. What a kick David is. He is almost 2 and constantly moving. He loves to play his guitar and dance. Notice the guitar is backwards?



We had a great time with them and hated to end the visit but that is how it goes.

On the 19th, Kristen, my stepdaughter, her two sons, Sam and Ethan, Dave and I went over to Ballard to a Norwegian Historical Museum. She is doing research for one of her papers for school. It was pretty interesting and it was fun to have spent the day with them. Those guys are getting big and growing up fast. We had a great time.



Our next visit was to Bre and Brent’s place in Anacortes. Jessica, their daughter just graduated from 2 years of college and high school on the same day!!!!! What an accomplishment!! Now she is readying herself for college at Western. Bre was diagnosed with breast cancer last December and has been undergoing treatment. Her chemo is ending soon and then she has radiation next. Not a great thought, but she is handling it very well and just taking a day at a time. She looks good and her hair is starting to grow in slowly leaving peach fuzz on top. Brent, Bre, and J.J. (Jessica) seem to be dealing with the difficulties well and going on with their lives. It was really good to see them and be able to spend time with them.

On our way back from Anacortes we stopped in Renton to see Teri, my ex-daughter-in-law, and our grandsons Eian, and E.J. The boys are getting tall. I got my needed hugs from them and gave them lots too. I’m looking forward to my trip down to my sister’s house in Ukiah, California with them soon. E.J. has braces and Eian’s hair is shorter. It was great to see them. We missed seeing Ben, however, Teri’s significant other, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. They will have to come and visit us!

We have been able to spend some time with our friends here at the Brownsville Marina, and I spent some time with my girlfriend Judy, so all is going well. The best part about being here in the states is I get to go shopping!!! Mostly I have just looked around because money is tight, but it is fun. I have picked up a few things that were on my list so that is good. Now Dave is going to get some of the things on his list, like zincs for the boat and other stuff. He will probably do that when I am in California. My sister and family are having a reunion and my sons and 2 grandsons wanted to go down there again. They went last year and I wasn’t able to be there so this time I will ride down with the ‘boys’, and Dave will get his stuff done and then come down to my sister’s to visit a day or two and then we will leave to go back to Mexico. That is if he can’t get his cataract surgery done. If he can get it done this month, I may be coming back with the ‘boys’ and then leave with Dave after the surgery. So we will know more tomorrow, the 29th. Speaking of tomorrow, Dave and I get to see our grandson, Dominick!! He is going to be 6 next month. It’s been a long time since we have seen him so it will be fun. Here is a picture of Dominick, and another one with his half brother, William.


Saturday, the 30th, we are going to 3 parties. One is a Hunter Rendezvous in Port Ludlow, the other party is at a friend’s house, and the last one is at the Brownsville Deli. The Deli is celebrating their annual Anniversary of the opening. So we will party ON!!!! Waahooo!! We will make an appearance at the rendezvous and hang with Gary and Laurie CoyKendall for a while, then leave and go to Bill Bailey’s home, then to the deli party!! What a busy schedule we have!! Finally the weather is starting to warm up and we are getting more sunshine!!!! That is terrific.

Thursday, the 4th is when I leave for California, not the 5th like I thought. I am excited!!! I get to ride in the back seat with my grandsons, Eian and E.J. I have already told them that I have elbows and I’m not afraid to use them!!!!!! HA!!!

Dave had his consultation with the eye doctor and he can’t have surgery until next year some time so he was bummed. We will take it one step at a time. Stay tuned for more vacation pics and tales!!

Living the Dream

Today Mexico is celebrating Mariner’s Day. It’s a big deal since there are a lot of fishermen and the Navy here. Since the wind isn’t blowing, we left our slip to go out of the marina to make water. Our neighbors put a line across our slip so no one else would come into it while we were gone. Once we got out and away from the marina, in 200 feet of water, we turned the engine off and Dave went down to start the generator so we could make water. He opened the sea valves and warmed the plugs and tried to crank the generator engine. The only sound it made was a clicking noise which is not what you want to hear. He tried it again with the same results. He checked the water strainer to the generator and it was fine. He checked a couple other things, but nothing helped. I started the engine and we idled while Dave got his tools out to see what was going on. Unfortunately he doesn’t have all his tools here. After about ½ hour, we had to give up and we hailed our neighbor at the dock to let him know we were on our way in so he could remove the line from across our slip. He and a couple other guys helped us into our slip and now Dave is taking the generator apart. There is another American guy here helping Dave brainstorm. He has worked on refrigeration and diesel engines, so hopefully they can figure out what the problem is. So far, Dave found a bent rocker arm. Not something we wanted to deal with, but can’t sell the boat without the generator working. So here we sit. We started and ran the generator when we were here last month and it ran great. We never thought we would have to check it before going out. Well-----guess again. So much for trying to make water. Welcome to the world of boating/cruising!!

To stay out of the way, unless Dave needed me to do something, I played games on my computer. There isn’t anything I can do. I figured it was better just to stay in one spot. There wasn’t any room to look over his shoulder anyway.

I will go into town this afternoon, when the stores open and do some food shopping. I don’t have much to get. Tomorrow I will get fruits and vegetables.

I never made it to town. I was so bummed about the generator I just didn’t feel like doing anything. Being it was such a shitty day----and both of us were feeling down, our wonderful cruising neighbors, Lynn and Cliff off s/v Taya, invited us to come to their boat for margaritas and then go with them and some other cruising couples to dinner in town. It was nice to get our minds off of the generator for a while. We had a great time visiting with everyone, had a wonderful dinner and we were able to walk around town and enjoy the festivities. They had a carnival set up and the kids were having a ball. There was a band that played (LOUD) and Lynn wanted to do some dancing, but in the end, we all went back to our boats. We had more fun watching the kids run around and the music really wasn’t much to dance to.

Today, June 2, promises to be a better day. Dave spent the whole day taking the generator apart to get the exhaust manifold/expansion tank off, and when he got that loose, he noticed the dry exhaust elbow was cracked.


Not good. Once all that was removed, he could get to the head and take the injector plugs out and take a look at no. 3 rocker arm shaft. We found out no seawater had gotten in, which is a good thing, but the valve and injector plug got so hot, it welded shut. So we have lots of parts to bring back to Washington with us to get replacement pieces for and the injectors and tank will need to be steam cleaned. Dave said that once we get all the parts it will be easy to put back together. It usually is. We did our normal maintenance on the generator and don’t have a clue why it was so gunked up. An end of the mixing elbow was almost clogged shut. Hmmmm!!! Dave finally finished with that job around 5:30pm. Thank goodness we had some nice cruisers who let him borrow some tools to do the job. We were planning on going back to the house tomorrow, but I think we will head back on Saturday morning. This morning when Dave first started the ‘JOB’, I went to town to pick up a few groceries and get some medicine from the pharmacy. When I returned to the boat, Dave had the ladder that goes below, bungee corded up so he could access the generator better, but I couldn’t go below yet. Eventually, I was able to. In the meantime, we had our starboard and port water tanks filled. A Mexican man was bringing down 5 gallon jugs of drinking water to fill the water tanks on all the cruising boats. Not a good idea to use the water from the tap as it has a lot of chemicals in it and it doesn’t taste good. We always buy drinking water when we come down to use for making coffee and drinking. It took 12, 5 gallon jugs to fill the starboard and port tanks. Now we can back flush the water maker. Since we didn’t get to that today, we will do it tomorrow morning. I will also do laundry and then we will be ready to leave on Saturday. Dave feels good about getting the generator apart and accessing the damage which he was relieved wasn’t major. It can only get better from here!!! RIGHT?!

Friday was a little more relaxing for Dave and I was going to get fruits and vegetables today, but with all the generator parts we have to take back with us, there was no more room for anything else. Such is life. We back flushed the water-maker and I packed things up and took a lot of the stuff to the jeep so we don’t have that much to do in the morning before leaving. It actually got a little warm this trip as the wind didn’t blow much. We only turned the air conditioner on once while we’ve been here.

We made it home safely. Now Dave is looking on line to price what we have to replace and find out where we can have the head magna-fluxed. He did check with the mechanic here in town and he was able to tell Dave who he could see in Ensenada to have that done. All the repairs aren’t going to cost us as much as we thought initially. That is a good thing.

Today- June 8 is my sister Colleen’s birthday!!! Happy, Happy. She’d kill me if I mentioned her age so I won’t. She’s just my eldest sister!!

Fishing is picking up. Dave and our neighbor Phil went out several times, but had no luck until the other day. They caught yellow tail and bonita. Phil is smoking the bonita. Even if they don’t catch fish, they have fun. The Whale Sharks have returned earlier than last year which is a sign the water is warming and the fish are coming. In another month or so dorado will be here. Now THAT is a good eating fish! We are starting to see pods of dolphins too.

We went to dinner at Anne and Elwins’ house last night, Friday, June 10 and had a wonderful time. Creela and Phil joined us. Then this morning, we went back to have key lime pie and coffee for breakfast. I had made the pie but everyone was so full Creela came up with the idea of having it for breakfast. So this morning at 9:00am we went to Anne and Elwins’, had breakfast and Larry and Lois came over to visit as well. It was fun! Then we left and Dave and Phil are smoking fish and I am baking chocolate chip cookies for Dave. The guys are going on a road trip Monday to Ensenada. Phil needs to pick up his FM3 and Dave needs to have the generator head magna fluxed and get a couple other things. They will return on Wednesday. So Monday afternoon I will have the ladies over to play the card game, Hand and Foot. Party Time!!!! Waahoo!!!!

Today, Sunday, June 12, we had another person come look at the house. A man and his grandson. When they left, Dave said he thinks it is sold. So now we wait to hear what Larry and Lois have to say. I think this man is looking for a summer house, not to live here year round. Right now I am glad if it sells so we won’t be in the state of limbo any more. But we’ll see.

The guys left this morning for Ensenada.

I have had some coral plants drying for a while. I found them on the beach a few months ago and last week I lightly sprayed each of them blue, leaving some of the white to show through. This morning I hung them and added a shell and they look great.

This afternoon I had 4 ladies over to play, Hand and Foot. I am getting better at playing. It was fun. I found out that the guy that came to look at the house yesterday isn’t serious about any of the houses he looked at so far. He is still looking around. So that made me feel better.

After the gals left I sat outside, had a drink, smoked a cigar and enjoyed the view. It was a warm day with not much breeze. Actually right now there isn’t any breeze and I am hearing the coyotes yip back and forth to each other. I guess I will need to get the fan out to keep me cool until the breeze picks up. It usually does that around 10-10:30pm or so. The coyotes are quite vocal tonight!

The guys have returned and Dave was able to get everything done he needed and Phil got his FM3. So all is well. Now Dave is going to order the rest of the parts for the generator and have them shipped to the bus station next to the marina in Santa Rosalia. This way we won’t have to take any parts with us or bring any back when we go to Washington. When the parts arrive, we will go to the boat and put the generator back together, test it and then come back to the house to pack for our trip to Washington State.

The weather is getting warmer and we are having to run some fans to keep cool. The breeze blows most of the time during the day, but when you really want it, which is at night, it doesn’t. Summer is truly here!!!

Dave and Phil have been going out looking for fish and have caught some which is a surprise because Phil doesn’t like to stay in one spot for long, it is hard to catch anything. Thankfully we have some yellowtail fillets in the freezer.

For the first time since I have played the Train game, I won 3 games!!! That was remarkable. So now I don’t need to buy quarters. It is all a game of chance!!

Dave and Phil went out fishing this morning, 18th. Dave had planned on getting water this morning, but when Phil asked if Dave would join him, you know Dave isn’t going to miss a chance to fish. I told Dave I would get the water. I need to learn to do it anyway by myself so around 7:30am I took off for town and when I got to the water place I had about 4 cars ahead of me. When it was my turn I backed the truck up to the hose and when the guy next to me had filled his tanks, he handed me the hose and I filled mine. I paid, and headed for home. I had to go real slow as there is a lot of weight in the truck and on the tires and I am going over rocks. I made it home around 10:00 or so, backed the truck up to the pila and figured I would wait for Dave and we could pump the water out of the tank in the truck into the tank inside the pila. As it got later in the afternoon, I decided to hook up the hoses and get everything ready for when Dave got there. When it got to be much later in the afternoon, I finally worked up enough courage to pump the water. I was nervous about doing this because if I didn’t do it right, I could blow the hose off the tank in the truck and cause us to lose lots of water. The other fear was losing the weights off the other hose that goes into the pila tank that keeps the hose from flying out of the pila. I knew when Dave got back he was going to be tired and really not looking forward to pumping the water so I decided it was time to learn. I attached the dive weights on the hose to the pila tank and tied the line from the weights to the ladder. Once that was secured, I got in the back of the truck and slowly opened the faucet on the tank so the water could run slowing to the pump. If you open it too much there is so much pressure on the hose that it can blow off. Once the water started to bubble out of the top of the pump, I opened the faucet all the way, got down out of the truck and started the pump. Waahoo!!! It worked. So I got up into the bed of the truck and took the lid off the water tank so I could keep an eye on the water level. Then all of a sudden the pump stopped. Oh no!!! Now what! I had to talk to myself and keep telling me to calm down and think!!! It took me a few minutes to realize that the lever to allow fuel to the pump was off. I flipped that up and started the pump again and all went well. I checked the other hose going into the pila and it was down far enough it wasn’t going to swirl its way out. I climbed back into the truck bed and kept an eye on the water level and when it was down far enough I moved the tank closer to the edge of the truck bed so I could tip the tank up to drain the water. When I couldn’t tip it anymore, I got down from the truck and tilted the tank more over the edge of the truck to drain more water. I couldn’t drain it all the way, but there was just a little left which I would take care of later. I turned the pump off, took the dive weights off the hose and drained both hoses and detached them from the pump. I rolled them up and put them back in the garage. I put the lid on the pila tank and turned the handle on the faucet to see where the water level came to on the site tube. Perfect! We have a black piece of tape which marks the full spot on the site tube and it was way above that. So we are good for a while. I turned off the faucet and walked back to the truck. I pushed the black tank back and closed the tail gate. I pulled the pump over to the bushes and let water drain out, then I capped it off and rolled the pump by the trailer in the shade. Then I backed the truck to where we normally park it, leaving enough room to drain the rest of the water out of the tank and then pull it off the truck to stow. I got almost a full bucket of water out of the tank which I will use to water plants. When the tank was stowed, I backed the truck to where it normally sits and I was done. I got the weights and put them away, then went upstairs to drink some gatorade. I was very pleased with myself that I was able to do that by myself. Unfortunately, I torked my back a little and got it out of alignment, but nothing that hasn’t happened before. I will just need to stretch and try to pop it back into place. When Dave got home he was surprised I did the water, but pleased. He really didn’t feel like doing that little chore. So we both were happy. I can’t remember if they caught any fish, but the guys had a good time on the water. Now I can call myself a true Baja gal as I can do things by myself!!

The other night Dave and I were watching T.V. and there were a couple bugs flying around. When I got up to smack them with the fly swatter, my eyes caught a shadow on the wall above the window close to where the T.V. sits on a desk. I had to really look to see what it was. Dave was out of his chair looking at it wondering what it was too. It ended up being a big hairy light brown spider. The two front legs curved out from the head and pointed toward each other and the other 6 legs curved back along the body. It had a lot of eyes. We didn’t waste much time looking at it because we didn’t want it to get away. We got the bug spray and Dave sprayed it, after we put our shoes on, and it bounced and fell down behind the window blind. We couldn’t see it from inside, so I went outside and looked in the window and saw it was up on the underside of the top of the blind. Dave sprayed again and it fell and was going in circles. Then I swatted it with the fly swatter until I knew it was dead. It was sure ugly and didn’t look as though it was a harmless spider. I cleaned up the mess and we both we relieved we found it before we went to bed!!!! I was still looking around after that to see if any more critters were going to come out and surprise us. None did thank goodness. We tried to find out what type of spider it was but when we looked up Baja spiders we didn’t see one like what we killed. I’ll keep looking. It was nasty!!!

Lois, Larry, Anne, Elwin, Creela and Phil are now gone. It is pretty quiet. Joanne is still here, and Mary and George went to the states until July 1. With the heat and humidity we’ve been having, I don’t think they will stay here long. They like to spend the summers at the Ocean.

We are back in Santa Rosalia, on the boat. Dave got his parts for the generator and is starting to put things together. He did forget a couple things from home, but luckily we have some cruisers here we know from before that can help us. It is not going together as easily as he thought it would, however, but little by little. We are hoping to leave before Saturday, but it all depends on how long it takes to put it back together.

It is hot and humid, more so here than at the house. We are getting some cloud cover which cuts the sun, but I think we will get more humidity. We’ve been running our air conditioner which is sooooo nice!!!

Dave was hoping he could put the head and parts together and put the whole assembly on the engine but that didn’t work. Not enough clearance. So he had to do it part by part which took much longer than anticipated. Tuesday night he had most of it put together and all that is left to do is connect some wires and put the cover back over the fan belts and start her. That is Wednesday’s job.

We were excited about finishing up the job of putting the generator together and starting her. Dave did some final things and then it was the moment of truth, we tried starting her. We have to warm the glow plugs for a few seconds and then push the start button. Dave did that but once he let go of the switches the generator stopped. Uh oh!!!! Well to make a long story short, he had some help from a fellow cruiser that has a Northern Lights generator so Dave did some trouble shooting with the oil censor thinking it wasn’t reading oil pressure. Well what happened was the nuts and bolts weren’t tightened down enough which caused everything to loosen up. So our fellow cruiser Jim, loaned Dave 3 lug nuts to help tighten the bolts to the head. Then Dave had to reset the heads and tighten down all the bolts and screws again. After all of that, he pushed the button and it sang!!!!! We were so happy we hollered “YES” and high fived each other. It sounded so smooth and nice!!! We loaded the generator up and ran it for a while to make sure it stayed running. It did. We are sooo happy that is over with!!! So now we clean up the mess and put the tools away. I walked over to the store and got a 6 pack of beer and took it to Jim and Diane’s boat to celebrate and thank them for their help!!! After that we left their boat and were invited to another cruisers boat for drinks which ended up having most of the cruisers on their boat. We had happy hour and then walked to town and got a hamburger at the plaza from a little stand that shows up every night. It was really good. One of the cruising ladies were taking pictures and she took a picture of the owners little boy eating a frozen ice cream and then showed the picture to him. It was priceless to see his smile. After a couple more pictures she asked if he wanted to try and take pictures so here you see him with a camera around his neck taking pictures of the cruisers and other people in the plaza. He was looking like a professional after a short time. It was so fun to watch him. He had a ball. I know what he would like to have for his Birthday or Christmas!!!!! After we were full of hamburger, we all walked back to our boats. What a fun night!!! It was nice to see the cruisers we haven’t seen for a while. What fun people!!!! Cruisers are a great bunch of people!!