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!!!