November hasn’t brought a lot of relief from the no-see-um bugs yet. Sometimes they are really thick in the morning and then other mornings you can barely see them. No pun intended!!!! We have sprayed the bushes around the house with bug spray and even soapy water but it doesn’t seem to deter them much. Pretty soon the weather should be getting colder (I hope) and the little buggers will go away!! With any luck! It has been an unusually warm fall because the Whale Sharks are still here and they are usually gone by now. I guess we are experiencing the weird weather to come. They say every 10 years the weather patterns change and we are seeing them do so with more cold to the north and east and even Midwest and hotter climates to the south. Well can’t fight nature. It is nice to have sunny skies and 80 degree temperatures with a nice cool north breeze blowing. At least the breeze keeps the bugs away.
Dave finished filling in the front yard where the soil was eroded and I think I mentioned our road behind our house has been filled in. So things are good.
The Baja 1000 is coming through here (on the road behind our house) but we won’t get to see the vehicles as they come in around 11:00pm. They start in Ensenada and go straight through Bahia on their way to La Paz. We will definitely hear them though. When the pre-runners are on the road the days before the race, it gets a little scary driving on the road as they are going top speed and you have to really be careful going around the corners. Our neighbor almost got hit the other morning as she couldn’t see them around the corner. Even though she was all the way to the right, the race car went around the corner so fast he skidded and almost hit her. She complained to the SCORE people, who put the race on, and there has been a helicopter down here twice keeping an eye on the speed and handling of the race cars. We still have to be careful and very attentive going and coming from town. Just lately, we have seen a lot of the racers racing at nigh when most everyone is off the road so SCORE must have put out a bulletin. I have seen a couple of the race cars and they look awesome but all we will see on Thursday and Friday evening will be their bright lights.
In another week most of the Americans that are here will start heading back to the states to spend Thanksgiving with family and friends. So it will be pretty quiet here.
Saturday, the 15th is the opening of the Christmas Arts and Craft Show and it will run until the 24th. There aren’t too many artists this time but that makes it better for table arrangements. The room we have is small and when there are a lot of artists displaying their wares it gets pretty tight. I have entered this year and hope I do better than I did the last time I was in it. I have a variety of things this time which should make a difference. We shall see. This is the first time we have tried a Christmas show. Usually we have the show in the spring. So we will see how we do.
All the things I have made for the show are all packed and ready to transport to town on Friday. That is setup day. I finished my item and price list so I can keep track of what was sold. We each get sheets to write down what was sold and for how much. We offer prices in U.S. dollars and pesos. Thursday I will be going into town with my neighbor to help clean the Museum social hall in preparation for the show.
Our gate guard resigned a week ago. He is 29 years old, still single but in a relationship, and his mom and dad are running what we have named ‘Home Depot’ here in Bahia. They sell all kinds of hardware and building supplies. When Ramon (the gate guard) accepted the vacancy when the other gate guard left, his mom was taking over the financial and selling part of the ‘Home Depot’ job while his dad was delivering supplies. But mom is having trouble with doing that job so they asked if Ramon could come back and work with them. So he resigned and is now running the ‘Home Depot’. I think it is a good job for him but we will miss him here. He spoke pretty good English which was nice. Our new guard (Macreno) starts work on Saturday the 15th and we understand he does speak a little English. It is always hard to start over with a new guard, but I think it will work out great. We haven’t met him yet but will soon.
Our old truck has a problem. Dave went to check the brake fluid the other day and found that the gasket was all blown out of shape. It looked like someone blew it up. He has never seen anything like it. Soooo. I can’t drive the truck because I have no brakes. Although it could be interesting to say the least traveling down the hills!!!! No! I’m not serious!!! Dave and I both went to town and checked out all the places that might have this gasket, but no one had it. They would have to get it from an old junker because they don’t have those kind of parts in town. So since we couldn’t get what we needed in town, Dave ordered the part and is having it sent to a Bahia friend and neighbor and right now is at her house in San Diego. She will be coming down in another week. In the meantime, our neighbor George let Dave borrow some kind of sealant so he put the gasket back in the truck and after letting it sit for a while, tried it out and no leaks and the truck stopped. But the real test will be actually driving it on the road behind our house to see if it stops. As long as the truck gets me where I need to go safely, all is good!
I drove the truck a little bit just in our yard and made a couple stops. I have to press lightly on the brake and the truck slowly comes to a stop. I don’t want to use the brake too often because we don’t know how long that sealant will work so when I drive it I will have to shift to 1st or 2nd when going down the hills. No worries, as I am use to doing that especially when we hauled water. The real test is Friday when I go into town to set up for the Christmas Arts and Craft show.
Today is the 13th and it is the birthday of our grandson David who turned 5!!!! Happy birthday!!! It also is my dear friend Creela’s birthday!!!! And it was my father’s birthday. Such a popular day!
I drove the truck into town for setup for the Arts and Craft show and the truck did well. I went slowly enough so I could shift down when needed and used the brake very little. I borrowed a small table from a friend here to put my art work on. I hung some of my shell art on the lattice they provide for paintings, photos and anything else that needs to be hung. Tomorrow is opening day and I have been asked to make the announcements for the show. Everyone says how clear my voice is and upbeat. I have to say that the two women that have done it in the past weren’t that upbeat and they said the same thing every day. I want to change it up a little and make people listen!!! We’ll see how that goes.
Today is opening day and it is very festive and Christmassy. We have a fake 6’ Christmas tree in the middle of the museum salon with everyone’s handmade ornaments on it which are for sale. We have 6 Mexican lady artists and 9 American artists. There is such a variety of things to choose from for gifts. We had a successful opening and first day. I made more money today than I did the last time I entered in the show. So I was really pleased. The first day is the biggest and then it gets slow after that. I signed up to work the Monday, Wednesday and Friday after the opening. That way I don’t come into town too often. The gas mileage isn’t the greatest on our dirt road and less ware and tear on the vehicles.
Monday was a very, very slow day. We had one person come in and they bought from the Mexican Artists. That was a good thing. The show hours are from 10:00am to 4:00pm but on the slow days we close around 3:30pm. I brought my crochet project with me so I wouldn’t be bored. I am making another afghan for Eian. Unfortunately the one I made him a year ago got left behind when he and his mom had to move out of his mom’s significant others house. So I told him I would make another one for him since he is living with his dad and he will be able to keep the things he gets from now on. It was very sad. Poor kid.
Wednesday was the next time I worked the show and we did have more people and I did sell a couple of things so that made it worth the drive in. While I was in town I checked at the discount grocery store to see if I could get a turkey delivered before Thanksgiving. It took a couple tries before I was able to get a hold of the owner and talk to him. Unfortunately if they ordered a turkey for our Thanksgiving (they don’t celebrate thanksgiving) it is considered a specialty item and it costs more. He was guessing but said for a 15 pound turkey it would cost me 339 pesos which is about $26.00 U.S. Ouch!!!! I told him I wasn’t ordering one but he will have some for Christmas as that is when they have a big turkey meal. So I told him I would buy one in December. Usually our friends Creela and Phil come down here and have their nephew bring a turkey down for them and us but they had a bunch of stuff going on this time in the states so couldn’t make it down. No worries. I figure we will have a pork roast or something.
Friday was the next time to work the show and there were a few more people but not a lot. In the meantime I am having fun making announcements about the show and changing it up every morning and night. I have gotten a lot of nice comments about them. People say I make them laugh!!!! That is awesome because I want it to be fun!!! I now have a permanent job as the show announcer!!! The pay isn’t much ($0) but it makes it worthwhile if people are listening and come to the show. I was also asked to arrange the luncheon for after the show is over which is the 24th. I hadn’t done that before so I figured I’d try it. It was great to at least have an English speaking gal at the restaurant so I could plan the menu. So for 75 pesos ($5.76 U.S.) the artists and helpers would have a choice of 3 Tacos (Fish, Beef, or Chicken) which includes rice and beans OR 3 Tostados (Beef or Chicken). The tostados are served with salsa and beans. That is a lot of food believe me. It also included water, tea, or lemonade to drink and coke and alcohol beverages were extra. The tip wasn’t included. All the American artists paid $10.00 U.S. as an entry fee to the show and our lunch and tip came out of that. The Mexican artists don’t pay an entrance fee so I had to collect money from them and get a count of how many were coming. I got that all taken care of with the restaurant and the artists.
The next time for me to be at the show was the last day and the show was only open from 10:00am to 12:00pm as 12:00pm was breakdown and cleanup. I couldn’t believe how many people came in for the last day to shop. It was as though they were coming out of the woodwork. The artist gals said it was because of my announcements. Well I don’t know about that but we all sold a bunch of our art. It was great. When the show was closed we started putting our things away and breaking down the tables and cleaning up. Then we had a meeting and we decided to do it again next year around this time. Next year it will be from November 21 to the 30th and closed for Thanksgiving. All of us except the Mexican artists had to give 10% of what we made to the museum since we used the museum salon to hold the show. That is good as it also helps keep the museum going. So I did pretty well this time and I was very pleased!!!! The next show will be in April around Easter but it is too early for me to know if I will be in it. We may have to take the boat back to Seattle so we can sell it. So I didn’t commit to being in the show for Easter but did for November of 2015.
Our neighbor, Leysl came down to visit for a few days and brought the brake part with her. Dave put the part in and the truck stops good. Wonderful!!!! The windshield wipers, the gas gauge, tachometer and miles per hour, radio, air conditioning and the driver’s window don’t work!!! At least the passenger side window opens and closes. So as long as it runs and the breaks work we are good!!!! Ha!!! It is a baja truck. What can I say?
Now that the hub bub of the show is over, it is Thanksgiving time. We are having a quiet day at home and I am fixing Asparagus and Chicken Dijon fettuccine for dinner. They didn’t have any pork roasts. We will have our thanksgiving in December with all the fixings. I did make an apple pie to at least have something traditional to celebrate the day. A lot of the Americans have returned to the states to have Thanksgiving with family and friends. This isn’t the first Thanksgiving we have had without a turkey or with others. It is nice to just chill on this day!!! Happy Thanks giving everyone!!!! May you all have a Blessed one!!
Our new gate guard hasn’t started working for us yet. He doesn’t have a running vehicle so until that happens he can’t work. Our neighbors Jay and George went together on maintaining a Datsun pick up and have loaned it to the last gate guard and Ramon. He didn’t know how to drive a stick shift so he had trouble, plus he didn’t take care of it and it is in bad shape. It is a vehicle the gate guard can use while he is employed but has to give it back if they leave. The guard was responsible in maintaining it but even though Ramon is a nice guy he unfortunately didn’t maintain anything and the truck was only the beginning of what we found out how he lived. The trailer on our property is to be used by the guard as a place of residence and he is supposed to take care of it and keep it clean on the inside and outside. Well this didn’t happen and my neighbors Smiley, John, George and Mary started the clean up after Ramon moved out. Oh boy!!!! It was really bad inside. I only saw it after they had spent days cleaning. I got in on the end of the cleaning but it had been filthy. There had been cockroaches, pack rats, mice and who knows what else came to visit. We had to wash down the walls and scrub and disinfect the bathroom and fix windows and etc. I couldn’t believe he lived like that. He had chosen to wash his dishes outside but got lazy and just left dirty dishes around so those had to be thrown away. To look at Ramon he was always cleanly dressed and of course none of us had been in the trailer while he lived there so we had no idea. It was amazing that the stove didn’t catch on fire as he never wiped off the burners and the grease dripped down the wires and under the stove. It took my neighbor 4.5 hours to clean 4 burners. Dave re-screened the windows and screen door and repaired some of the windows. Well now it is clean and ready for the new guard if and when he gets a car. All of us in our community chipped in money to help George buy parts for the Datsun truck and when he gets it running then Macreno will have transportation. So hopefully in a few weeks the truck will be running and we will have a gate guard. Life is an adventure isn’t it?????
We left this morning for La Paz. We will stop overnight in Loreto at a motel. Robert and Kristi are back in Oregon so we can’t stop in like we usually do when we come to Loreto.
We stayed in a nice motel which was clean and had everything we needed for the night. We walked around to find some place to eat and came upon a rotisserie chicken place. We got the food to go and went back to our motel room and ate our dinner. It was good. It had been a long drive and we were both very tired. Tomorrow is a shorter day. From Bahia to Loreto it is about an 8 hour drive.
Today is Sunday so there shouldn’t be a lot of truck traffic today on our way to La Paz. We are going down to take care of work to be done on the boat. The road construction we ran into last time we drove down wasn’t going on. It looks like they have finished with the road. That was nice as before we had to wait an hour to get through one point after leaving Loreto.
We left Loreto around 7:30am and made it into La Paz around noon. We went to the boat and noticed she was filthy. It didn’t look like it had been cleaned in a month. We were not happy. We thought we might have had some cockroaches in the boat because I thought I vacuumed up the one I saw before we left last time, but when I got home and emptied the vacuum, the bugger wasn’t there. Ooops!!! Yes! I put tape over the end of the hose so it couldn't get out. After opening the boat I went below and looked around in cupboards and lifted the floor boards searching for the critters but found none. I did, however, find evidence there had been at least one because of a few little droppings left in the galley and stains on a paper towel. Even Dave looked in and under everything but never found anything. Yay!!!! So that was good news. The bad news we found out was the batteries on the boat (4 house), were dead. So we didn’t have any DC which means no inside boat lights, stove, sump pump, water pump, heads or refrigerator and freezer work. We do have an electrical lamp in the boat which runs off of AC so we did have that light. So Dave disconnected the batteries and we put them on the dock so we can take them to a battery place tomorrow, Monday, when they open. Oh the joys of it all!!! But WAIT----there is more----Good news is Dave talked to a different man here at the marina about hauling the boat and painting the rubbed spot. He gave us an estimate which was way cheaper than the last man and so we agreed to have the boat hauled on Wednesday!!! So some good, some bad, some good!!! Apparently the other guy we had gotten a quote from has had some difficulties with the marina so they told him to leave. So you see------it all works out. It is all good!
We stopped and saw John and Sandy Eltrich, our friends from Washington and the cruising community, and they said they had 40 knot winds for a couple days so that is probably why the boat looked so filthy. The diver had been there and the bottom was clean and the zincs changed. It was amazing how little was left of the zincs as it has only been since May. They have been lasting longer than that before. Hmmm!!! Maybe the big tour boat beside us is hot!!! We have spares but it is just unnerving to have the zincs go away so quickly. We are thinking of moving the boat. We talked to several of the guys that live on their boats here which are further in from where we moor and some said their zincs have lasted 18 months and others maybe 4. When we had the boat in Santa Rosalia our zincs lasted 18 months. Doesn't look like that will be the case here. Oh well!!!
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Getting Back To Normal
Let’s hope October is a better month for Baja California. Our town, Bahia is recuperating nicely and all systems are working except one water place. Pipes were broken in the storm so it will be a while to get it back up and running, but there is another water place in town at the south end that is still running so that is awesome. Also trucks have been going out to the Agua Marco sight, where the other water source that has the broken pipes comes from, and they are filling tanks and bringing it to town. Not a lot of Americans here yet. Most of them are waiting so the town can recover before they come down.
The bugs are still hanging around and are a problem. Or to be more frank------annoying!!
Dave has been working on filling the washout in our front yard where we have access to the beach.
The arroyo on the south side of the house has a lot of rocks in it so Dave is loading up the wheel barrow and positioning rocks in such a way that when soil is dumped on top and another layer of rocks are positioned and more soil, it will eventually hold through water runoff. He isn’t finished yet as we are leaving tomorrow, Friday, for La Paz and he will finish it when we get back. Actually we are hoping to stop in Loreto, if we can get a hold of Robert and Kristi, to stay at their home overnight. They invited us to stop on our way to La Paz. We have no idea how long it is going to take us to get to La Paz as we heard the road was damaged. Our boat broker said there have been people traveling from the northern part of the state and coming down so there are probably detours. We will see firsthand tomorrow. We are a little nervous going to see the boat and we really don’t know what we will find, but hopefully if all accounts are true from the insurance guy and the broker, there is minimal damage. Dave has packed as many tools as he thinks we will need if something needs fixing.
We had been trying to get a hold of Robert and Kristi all morning but they don’t answer their phones. We just wanted to give them a heads up we were on our way. For the most part the road was in good shape and there wasn’t a lot of traffic. We arrived in Loreto around 12:30-1:00pm and found Kristi and Robert at home. They had just gotten there around noon so they had been running around trying to get water to the house. There was a Mexican man working on it when we arrived. Kristi was a bit on the frazzled side as she was wondering what they were going to do if they couldn’t get water. I told her we could go to a hotel to make things easier and she said no-----the water will be fixed. Then we found out why they weren’t answering their phones. No phone or internet service. Kristi likes being ‘connected’ so she wasn’t happy about not having internet or phone. While we were there she called the phone and internet offices and it will take a couple days for them to get the service up and running. The water was running to the house shortly after we arrived but there needed to be more work done on it so the man was going to come back tomorrow morning. At least they had water which was a good thing. We had cocktails and snacks then they took us to a Taco stand in town and paid for dinner. That was a nice surprise. After dinner we drove around town checking it out and most of the debris had been cleaned up and things looked good. Kristi and Robert had a little damage to their house but nothing major. We all retired early as we were road weary.
Next morning we were up at 6:00pm and it was still dark outside. We don’t like driving in the dark on the Mexican roads especially when they have been torn up, so we decided to wait until after 7:00am when there was a little more light to travel by. We said goodbye to Kristi and Robert and we will see them when we return to Bahia as they will still be in Loreto.
We had to wait an hour once we got out of Loreto as road construction was going on. This wasn’t due to the hurricane they had started it way before that. We had to wait the last time we traveled to La Paz. After we got through there were spots in the road that had been filled in due to the water runoff, but nothing major. The closer we got to La Paz the more road construction there was but that also was a planned project. We got to the marina and went down to check out the boat. It was very hot and humid! We noticed the bimini had ripped in half and one of the bows that helps secure the bimini to the boat was gone. It must have blown away when the bimini let loose. The guys got the head sail down, and the side screens to the cockpit enclosure, and had started to work on the bimini when a huge gust came up and took it out of their hands. They waited too long to prepare our boat. We had been tracking the hurricane and wrote to the broker on Tuesday, the 9th of September, knowing Odile was headed for La Paz, and asked them to take the head sail, screens to the cockpit, bimini, BBQ, and dinghy engine off. Plus Dave gave explicit instructions on tying the lines taking them from a cleat on one side of the boat, crossing over the solar panels and hard dodger and connecting to a cleat on the other side of the boat, using 2 lines so there is an X on the top of the solar panels that are on the hard dodger. We had prepared for hurricane Jimana in 2009 so we knew what had to be done. Well, like I said------they waited too long and the hurricane hit on Saturday, the 20th and they were rushing around trying to get all the stuff off the boat and down below and secure. Needless to say we are not happy with their performance and it looks as though our broker isn’t getting his commission paid!!!! We did have a large scuff mark on the port (left) side of the boat where the paint had been worn off due to it rubbing on the dock.
One good thing is we do have all the side screens with the new zippers that were replaced last summer, so we are saving them and when we have a cockpit enclosure made they can possibly be used. We do have to have a bow (the one that blew away from the bimini) made and hopefully that won’t cost a lot. We have to wait until Monday to see the broker and find out who does canvas and painting work and get some estimates and then send those to the insurance company.
We worked out in the hot humid weather fixing the hard dodger shortly after arriving on the boat, as the wind had lifted it out of the holders. It was a struggle to get it repositioned as the hard dodger had been torked a bit, but we managed to get it all put together. Dave was afraid that if there was any kind of strong wind, and we didn’t fix it it could lift the hard dodger and we would lose that and the solar panels!! So that was the number one priority! The next thing we had to do was hook up electricity. Now we can run the air conditioner. But WAIT!!! There is no water coming to the unit! WHAT???? The inside of the boat was 97 degrees and muggy and it wasn’t showing any signs of cooling down!!! We said we would sleep outside in the cockpit but then thunder clouds were building and it started to sprinkle. We didn’t do anything with closing hatches as we figured it wouldn’t amount to much. As it turned out it didn’t rain and we did sleep outside for a while. Then my back couldn’t take it anymore so I told Dave I was going down below. We had the fans running and it had cooled down a little. Dave joined me and even though we didn’t sleep all night we at least got some rest.
Dave finally figured out there was an air bubble in the line so once that was cleared we had AC. Yay!!!! Then he started messing with the interface and inverter readings trying to get the batteries to quit charging and go from accept to float. There was a big problem. He couldn’t get them to float. He did some trouble shooting and we added water to the house batteries (4 large ones) and checked the start battery (small like a car battery) which was fine. Dave noticed the house batteries were really hot to touch and a wire had been corroded and a new connector needs to be replaced. That wasn’t good because when batteries get too hot they don’t work and with the connector being corroded the proper amount of current isn’t getting back to the electrical panel on the boat. With much testing and trial and error, he couldn’t bring the temperature down in the batteries. He did hydro them to see if they were good and they read no. Uh oh!!!! Dave replaced the connector which helped but didn’t solve the problem. It is so frustrating right now to think we may have to replace 4 batteries at $135 a battery plus the I.V.A. tax Mexico charges, which ends up being around $600. The paint being scrapped off the hull and battery acid leaking from the house batteries which caused damage to the terminal on a battery, was all due to the boat being heeled over 40 degrees for several hours. It is so discouraging for us right now as our money is being depleted to take care of the things we have to in order to sell the boat. With that said-----I still believe she will sell and this all will be a mute point. Dave has done all he can do and hopes with the air conditioner running and the weather starting to cool down we might still have some success with the batteries.
We got very over heated while we were working outside so we took a break and went to a restaurant and ate lunch then went to Walmart to get dinner fixings for a couple nights, along with Gatorade, water and a couple other things. Then we came back to the boat. We drank both our Gatorades and stood in the shade to enjoy the cool breeze. Then I went and took a shower to get all the sweat off and of course not long after I got down to the boat I was sweating again.
The morning brought sunny skies but still hot and humid. It is going to take a while for all the dampness to go away. Since it is Monday we had some running around to do. First stop was to the brokers’ office, but he wasn’t in. We asked Cindy, the gal that runs the office, if there was anyone we could contact for canvas work. She gave us a couple phone numbers to call. She said that Danny, who was the first number on the list, just finished Shelly’s boat and it looks good. Shelly is the other broker in the office. Cindy told us where Shelly’s boat was so we said we would take a look. The next stop was to the boat yard where we had the hull waxed and the bottom painted. We asked Alejandro if he could come to the boat and give us an estimate on painting the scuff mark on the side of the boat. He said he would come out at around 4:00pm. Then we walked to the San Jose Marina next door to the boat yard looking for Shelly’s boat but couldn’t find it. Eventually we gave up!!! It was way too hot to be walking all over the place. We walked back to the jeep and headed for Lopez Marine to price some items for the boat. We got the price for batteries and dock lines as we will need to replace the ones we have on the boat. They were getting a bit worn before the storm. We left there with $$$$ signs dancing in our heads and went back to the marina.
We got the head sail from down below where it was stowed, out on deck and then carried it off the boat to a grocery cart that was at the marina, and rolled it to the big area by the office. We unrolled and inspected it for rips or tears and it was in great shape. It was surprisingly clean so we were satisfied. We rolled the sail up and took it back to the boat and put it in a sail bag to stow it until we can get it attached to the boat. We put all the screens for the cockpit into a bag as well to keep things neat and tidy.
The next morning I cleaned and polished the stainless steel stantions that support the front of the hard dodger as they were a bit rusted. Then I took all the seat cushions and other things off the boat that would get in the way of washing out the cockpit and put it all on the dock. Then I proceeded to rinse and scrub the seat cushions and set them aside to dry while I got back on the boat and rinsed the cockpit and washed the top part of the boat that was hard to clean when the windshield was in place. When everything was dry I put the seat cushions back on the boat and left some things on the dock for now. Because the sun is so hot Dave thought it would be a good idea to put up the side screens on each side of the cockpit to give us a little shade. So that was done and now it was starting to feel like home again. Here are pictures of what the boat looks like now.
We were so very lucky to not have more damage than we did. God was definitely looking out for us! I had read and saw pictures of what Odile did to La Paz and found us to be very, very lucky. There are still a few boats out in the magoata (body of water just out from the malécon) that are belly up and/or stranded on the other shore side of the magoata. Sad to see so many boats damaged and sunk. A couple people were on their boats when the storm hit and for whatever reason were drowned. One of the guys that died was the last person to show our boat to a couple driving around Mexico shopping for one. I sure hope that couple checks back about our boat if they are still interested.
The next thing on my list is to vacuum under the deck plates as cob webs, hair and dust collect. Since that job is finished I now have laundry to do. I brought laundry from the house so I washed those items and the clothes we had used since we have been on the boat.
Alejandro didn’t show up at 4:00pm as promised. We do remember we are in Mexico and so the time they give you isn’t necessarily the time they will show. A lot of the time it is much later or the next day. We figured when it got dark he wasn’t coming so the next morning Dave called the office and they said he had to go to Cabo. So Dave went in search to find someone else. We are trying to get quotes of repairs so we can turn it into the insurance company. Dave did find someone here at the marina and it turned out to be Alejandro’s brother. He hauls boats and paints them for the Fonatur Marina. He came down to look at the boat and then wrote a quote. It is interesting to find out that no one in Mexico is allowed to paint their boat while it is in the water. If there is any painting to be done the boat has to be hauled out of the water and then painted. That costs a bunch of money but if the insurance will pay-----no worries. Dave got a hold of Danny, the canvas guy, and he said he would be down to the boat around 7:00pm. We got a call from him around that time and he changed it to 7:30am. So we will see him tomorrow.
We have a Bahia couple that has their boat for sale down at this marina and we were in contact with them telling them what we saw on their boat from the dock. They asked us to take pictures so I did but I couldn’t get on their boat without written permission from them to the office. Once that was taken care of, Dave and I went aboard and checked the inside out and it is dry as a bone. Their bimini also ripped down the middle and got wrapped in the frame of the bimini. They lost a TV antenna and one of the radio antennas came loose. But all in all there wasn’t a lot of damage to the boat. So once we got all the pictures sent, they at least know what to expect when they get down here.
Dave called Alejandro today and made an appointment for him to come to the boat this afternoon around 4. Dave pressure washed the cockpit floor as the paint is coming up. I washed it with the hose yesterday but the paint flecks are still coming up. At least with the pressure washer it will get up more of the loose paint. Now that it is dry I will vacuum the cockpit as a lot of paint flecks blew all over the place and then I will start to tape along the edges of where Dave will paint. Oh yeah----we aren’t suppose to paint remember???? But we will do that when the office and workers are gone. We aren’t going to pay someone to do it when we can do it ourselves. So there!!!!
The taping is done so now we can paint but not until tomorrow. We have a dinner date tomorrow night with John and Sandy Eltrich. They were the second ones to leave Brownsville Marina and go cruising. Then we left 4 years after they had. We have known each other for a long time as my youngest son played soccer with their youngest son in school. Small world!! They have settled here in La Paz on their boat but now are house sitting. We got in contact with them and mentioned we would like to get together. It will be good to see them and catch up.
We had a wonderful time with John and Sandy. There is a pool where they are house sitting so we were in it before dinner. It was nice and warm due to all the hot weather. Sandy made a delicious lasagna with salad. It was good to see them again and catch up with what family is doing.
Things are cooling down weather wise and battery wise too. We have been floating now with the batteries for a couple days and the batteries are much, much cooler. They still hydro not good, but if we can stretch them out for a while that would be good. Hooray!!
There has been so much moisture in the air that the air conditioners have been running a lot and I am collecting water from the trays about 3 or 4 times a day. Not fun but it has to be done. The one air conditioner that is under the settee has a hose hooked up to the tray so the water will drain into the sump pump however; it isn’t doing the job so we might have a clog. I decided to clean the sump pump thinking there might be something that got stuck in the hose from that end. I took the hose which is attached to the sump pump off and cleaned inside the end and then blew through the hose to hopefully unclog anything that might be restricting the flow of water. It seemed to be clear. I proceeded to clean the other hose ends that connect from the sink to the sump pump with a tooth brush and ran water to help move anything that might be restricting the flow of water there. Everything seems fine and the hose to the air conditioning tray is draining!!!! We have success!!! I put everything back together and we haven’t had any problems since. Not the same with the other air conditioner under the aft bed. Dave couldn’t get a hose hooked up so if the pan over flows it goes into the bilge. We don’t like that because the water sits and gets stagnant and when the boat is closed up for a while it doesn’t smell so good. So we just keep an eye on things and even though it is a pain in the back to do that (I use a turkey baster to suck the water out into a bowl) and it takes a long time.
This morning after breakfast I got the lucky job of going up the mast. Well maybe I WAS lucky as Dave had to haul me up there. Heheheheh! We had tied string across the spreaders while we were in Santo Rosalia to keep the birds off them but when hurricane Odile blew through, the string broke and the remnants were still tied on the turnbuckles. So my job was to go up and get all the string remnants off. It was hot and humid with little breeze and Dave was sweating it out down below cranking me up the mast and I was sweating just sitting in the harness being raised up the mast. The job got done and when we were through we took a rest and had some Gatorade!!! Once we caught our breath and everything was put away and back to normal, we went to Kmart to get a bottle of wine for tonight at John and Sandy’s place and then went down to the brokers’ office to pay money for the guys that wash and dive the boat to clean it. We will have to come back in December to pay more but I’m hoping the boat will be sold by then!!!!! I will never give up hope!!!!! We stopped at the boat yard to look for Alejandro but he wasn’t there. He never showed up last night but he is extremely busy traveling to Cabo salvaging million dollar boats that were damaged in the hurricane. So we are like chump change to him. We are the low people on the totem pole. So if he doesn’t show up today, we will just send in the estimates we have to the insurance company and then wait to see what they say. All that is left to do on the boat is paint the cockpit floor, and put up the head sail.
We are hoping to be leaving in the next day or two. I will vacuum inside and clean the bathroom and do a load of laundry then we’ll close her up for another couple months. At least the weather is much cooler and the humidity is going down.
Luckily the large tour boat that is on the other side of the dock from us went out for the day and there wasn’t anyone else at the marina so we took that opportunity to paint. The color matches the deck color which when dry looks nice. The paint is called ‘Seattle Gray’ so it is a light gray color. The color that was painted in the cockpit was a darker gray. I think when we have the boat hauled out of the water to get the side painted we will paint over the dark areas with the light gray color. While the paint was drying we went to Walmart to get a few items. When we got back Dave went down below and noticed the air conditioners were not running and with some investigating noticed the main B bus breaker switched was off. Then I heard Dave yell for me to turn the power off on the electrical pedestal on the dock. Because the main bus switch was off Dave turned it back on and there were a few arks and sparks so that is why he needed it off. Upon further examination he found there were about 3 wires that had gotten hot enough to melt the outer covering on the wires. Not good at all. They somehow shorted out. Dave took the junction box out which houses the A & B breaker switches, located inside the large aft guest cabin, and like everything else on the boat, when things were installed they didn’t leave hardly any wiggle room. So Dave now has to cut away the burned wire and re-crimp wires together but there wasn’t enough of the existing wires to do that. So he would have to go to Lopez Marine and get wire and some electrical connectors so he can do the job. He did call our friend John to see if he had the necessary wire and parts. Fortunately for us he did so Dave got to skip going to the marine store. When Dave returned from seeing John, he did his electrical repairs and all systems are working now. The way it looks is that this problem had been brewing ever since we had the boat. Thank goodness we were somewhere we could get parts and fix it. God IS good!!!! Because of this we weren’t sure we were going to be able to leave on Sunday but it all worked out.
We never did see Alejandro about getting his quote for painting the hull, so we decided to go ahead and send in the quotes we have. We can’t wait any longer as it is costing us money for water and electricity in addition to moorage.
We are leaving La Paz on Sunday and will stop in Loreto to see our friends again, and then be home on Monday. Yay!!!!
It is time to go home. We had contacted Kristi and Robert to tell them we were coming so they were expecting us. Sunday there is hardly any traffic but like Sundays in the States there are still Sunday drivers!!!!! When we arrived in Loreto we called Kristi and Robert on their home and cell phones but didn’t get an answer. We went to the house and no one was home. We figured they had gone fishing. As we drove back down to the malécon Dave spotted Roberts boat. They were pulling it out of the water on the trailer. So we parked and Dave went down to let them know we were here. They took their neighbors out snorkeling and fishing. We all headed back to the house. We met their neighbors and chatted for a while then they went home and we got cleaned up and went to dinner at a restaurant that serves stuffed clams on Saturday and Sundays only. They are really good. They have cheese and all kinds of good stuff in the shell and they are put in tin foil and cooked in a oven with hot coals. Nummmm!!! After dinner we went back to the house. We watched some T.V. then Robert and Kristi went to bed and Dave and I stayed up a little longer to watch a new show we hadn’t seen yet. I couldn’t make it past 10:00pm so I gave it up and went to bed. Dave stayed up long enough to watch the beginning of ‘The Good Wife’ then turned it off and headed to bed.
We had some fruit and yogurt for breakfast and Kristi gave us some breakfast bars to munch on the way. We said goodbye and then headed for home. We got home around 3 or so. We opened up the windows and skylights to get air flow thru the house and then started bringing our stuff up from the car. We aren’t planning on going anywhere for a while!!!!
Dave finished filling in the ground in the front yard where the rain eroded the soil away. This was a project he had started before we left. There were a couple smaller areas in the back he covered so now we are good.
While we were in La Paz we got an email from our neighbor saying our road behind our house was fixed so now we don’t have to travel via the run way anymore. This is a good thing.
I finally drove into town 4 days after we got home to get groceries. Usually I go in on Saturday but we needed to get food and gas. I got into town and dumped my garbage, went to Isla store and spent more money there than I wanted. Then fueled up the truck and a jerry can, went to Enrique’s store and got items that Isla didn’t have and then went to get my drinking 5 gallon water bottles filled but they were out. So I had to go back to Isla and get the water there. Then I stopped at Xilali to see if they had the items I needed and couldn’t get at the other 2 stores, then my last stop was at the craft store to buy some felt. I was successful in most of my shopping but I noticed there isn’t the number of fresh produce like they had before. The stores are still trying to get their supplies built up after the hurricane. I’m hoping I will have better luck next week.
There have been racers pre-running up and down our main dirt road behind our homes for the Baja 1000 race on November 12. When I went to town on Friday the road wasn’t too bad. There have been more pre-runners since so the road will be interesting come Saturday.
The girls had their first Train game on Tuesday and there were 13 of us. It is always good to see the gals again after being away for the summer.
We are holding our Art and Craft show in November this year. We thought we would try it at this time of year and see if we get any more sales. Usually it is in the spring around Easter. I have all kinds of things to sell this time around. I have my wine cork angel ornaments, shell and other ornaments I have made, bracelets, beach glass pendants, rock and shell critters, and shell wall hangings. So we will see how well I do this year. Since I have a variety of things I might do well. We shall see. We had a meeting the other day and I will be helping with the opening reception if they need it, and getting the luncheon organized for the end of the show.
We heard from the insurance company and we will be getting money to cover the cost of painting the side of the boat with haul out and getting all new canvas and a windshield for the dodger, plus new batteries and a cover for the outboard engine for the dinghy. That was very good news! Now we wait for the money to get into our bank account and then start arranging for work to be done. That means another trip to La Paz. Depending on when it is, Dave may have to go by himself as I am in the Art show starting November 15 and it runs to the 24th. I would like to go with him so I am hoping no one can do anything until after the 24th of November.
The whale sharks are abundant in the bay. I have heard reports, from those who have been out on their boats, they see more than just 2 or 3 at a time. That is awesome!! It is still in the 80’s here and the water is still warm so they are hanging around. So are those pesky no see ums!!!! It is still humid to some degree but it is getting better and it is cool at night which helps for sleeping. Because of stagnant water from the hurricane, there have been more mosquitoes and there have been reports of people contacting Dengue Fever in La Paz and Loreto. There hasn’t been any reports here of anyone with it so far. Everyone is trying to stay indoors at night and early in the morning to lessen the bites. There doesn’t seem to be much stagnant water in town or out our way which is good.
After we got home from La Paz I vacuumed my art room and I was disappointed to see that the straw wreath I made months ago was growing mold. I had it lying on the rug and when the hurricane came it got so humid that everything got damp. So with the wreath laying on the rug and not having air flow underneath it, it started mildewing. Bummer. I bought sealant when I was in Washington intending to spray the wreath when I got home. What I ended up doing was putting it out to dry in the sun for several days then sprayed the sealant on. The mold is not growing anymore but there is evidence it was there. I am now trying to figure out how I can cover the straw and then I will just keep it for myself instead of trying to sell it. I have one more of those wreaths so I will, this time, seal it first then work with it. Well it is a learning experience as I haven’t worked with wreaths before. I think I will like working with the plastic ones better. Ha!!!
Our good Bahia friends are having their annual Halloween Party the 31st. I made a cake in honor of Dave’s birthday but sliced off enough so we could have his birthday cake for a couple days. Usually there isn’t any left over to take home so I figured this year I would just keep some for just us. As it turned out, there wasn’t any cake left to take home so I am glad I did what I did. Dave was some type of ghoul and I was a clown. We had fun dressing up and the party was a lot of fun too.
A nice way to end October wouldn’t you say?????
The bugs are still hanging around and are a problem. Or to be more frank------annoying!!
Dave has been working on filling the washout in our front yard where we have access to the beach.
The arroyo on the south side of the house has a lot of rocks in it so Dave is loading up the wheel barrow and positioning rocks in such a way that when soil is dumped on top and another layer of rocks are positioned and more soil, it will eventually hold through water runoff. He isn’t finished yet as we are leaving tomorrow, Friday, for La Paz and he will finish it when we get back. Actually we are hoping to stop in Loreto, if we can get a hold of Robert and Kristi, to stay at their home overnight. They invited us to stop on our way to La Paz. We have no idea how long it is going to take us to get to La Paz as we heard the road was damaged. Our boat broker said there have been people traveling from the northern part of the state and coming down so there are probably detours. We will see firsthand tomorrow. We are a little nervous going to see the boat and we really don’t know what we will find, but hopefully if all accounts are true from the insurance guy and the broker, there is minimal damage. Dave has packed as many tools as he thinks we will need if something needs fixing.
We had been trying to get a hold of Robert and Kristi all morning but they don’t answer their phones. We just wanted to give them a heads up we were on our way. For the most part the road was in good shape and there wasn’t a lot of traffic. We arrived in Loreto around 12:30-1:00pm and found Kristi and Robert at home. They had just gotten there around noon so they had been running around trying to get water to the house. There was a Mexican man working on it when we arrived. Kristi was a bit on the frazzled side as she was wondering what they were going to do if they couldn’t get water. I told her we could go to a hotel to make things easier and she said no-----the water will be fixed. Then we found out why they weren’t answering their phones. No phone or internet service. Kristi likes being ‘connected’ so she wasn’t happy about not having internet or phone. While we were there she called the phone and internet offices and it will take a couple days for them to get the service up and running. The water was running to the house shortly after we arrived but there needed to be more work done on it so the man was going to come back tomorrow morning. At least they had water which was a good thing. We had cocktails and snacks then they took us to a Taco stand in town and paid for dinner. That was a nice surprise. After dinner we drove around town checking it out and most of the debris had been cleaned up and things looked good. Kristi and Robert had a little damage to their house but nothing major. We all retired early as we were road weary.
Next morning we were up at 6:00pm and it was still dark outside. We don’t like driving in the dark on the Mexican roads especially when they have been torn up, so we decided to wait until after 7:00am when there was a little more light to travel by. We said goodbye to Kristi and Robert and we will see them when we return to Bahia as they will still be in Loreto.
We had to wait an hour once we got out of Loreto as road construction was going on. This wasn’t due to the hurricane they had started it way before that. We had to wait the last time we traveled to La Paz. After we got through there were spots in the road that had been filled in due to the water runoff, but nothing major. The closer we got to La Paz the more road construction there was but that also was a planned project. We got to the marina and went down to check out the boat. It was very hot and humid! We noticed the bimini had ripped in half and one of the bows that helps secure the bimini to the boat was gone. It must have blown away when the bimini let loose. The guys got the head sail down, and the side screens to the cockpit enclosure, and had started to work on the bimini when a huge gust came up and took it out of their hands. They waited too long to prepare our boat. We had been tracking the hurricane and wrote to the broker on Tuesday, the 9th of September, knowing Odile was headed for La Paz, and asked them to take the head sail, screens to the cockpit, bimini, BBQ, and dinghy engine off. Plus Dave gave explicit instructions on tying the lines taking them from a cleat on one side of the boat, crossing over the solar panels and hard dodger and connecting to a cleat on the other side of the boat, using 2 lines so there is an X on the top of the solar panels that are on the hard dodger. We had prepared for hurricane Jimana in 2009 so we knew what had to be done. Well, like I said------they waited too long and the hurricane hit on Saturday, the 20th and they were rushing around trying to get all the stuff off the boat and down below and secure. Needless to say we are not happy with their performance and it looks as though our broker isn’t getting his commission paid!!!! We did have a large scuff mark on the port (left) side of the boat where the paint had been worn off due to it rubbing on the dock.
One good thing is we do have all the side screens with the new zippers that were replaced last summer, so we are saving them and when we have a cockpit enclosure made they can possibly be used. We do have to have a bow (the one that blew away from the bimini) made and hopefully that won’t cost a lot. We have to wait until Monday to see the broker and find out who does canvas and painting work and get some estimates and then send those to the insurance company.
We worked out in the hot humid weather fixing the hard dodger shortly after arriving on the boat, as the wind had lifted it out of the holders. It was a struggle to get it repositioned as the hard dodger had been torked a bit, but we managed to get it all put together. Dave was afraid that if there was any kind of strong wind, and we didn’t fix it it could lift the hard dodger and we would lose that and the solar panels!! So that was the number one priority! The next thing we had to do was hook up electricity. Now we can run the air conditioner. But WAIT!!! There is no water coming to the unit! WHAT???? The inside of the boat was 97 degrees and muggy and it wasn’t showing any signs of cooling down!!! We said we would sleep outside in the cockpit but then thunder clouds were building and it started to sprinkle. We didn’t do anything with closing hatches as we figured it wouldn’t amount to much. As it turned out it didn’t rain and we did sleep outside for a while. Then my back couldn’t take it anymore so I told Dave I was going down below. We had the fans running and it had cooled down a little. Dave joined me and even though we didn’t sleep all night we at least got some rest.
Dave finally figured out there was an air bubble in the line so once that was cleared we had AC. Yay!!!! Then he started messing with the interface and inverter readings trying to get the batteries to quit charging and go from accept to float. There was a big problem. He couldn’t get them to float. He did some trouble shooting and we added water to the house batteries (4 large ones) and checked the start battery (small like a car battery) which was fine. Dave noticed the house batteries were really hot to touch and a wire had been corroded and a new connector needs to be replaced. That wasn’t good because when batteries get too hot they don’t work and with the connector being corroded the proper amount of current isn’t getting back to the electrical panel on the boat. With much testing and trial and error, he couldn’t bring the temperature down in the batteries. He did hydro them to see if they were good and they read no. Uh oh!!!! Dave replaced the connector which helped but didn’t solve the problem. It is so frustrating right now to think we may have to replace 4 batteries at $135 a battery plus the I.V.A. tax Mexico charges, which ends up being around $600. The paint being scrapped off the hull and battery acid leaking from the house batteries which caused damage to the terminal on a battery, was all due to the boat being heeled over 40 degrees for several hours. It is so discouraging for us right now as our money is being depleted to take care of the things we have to in order to sell the boat. With that said-----I still believe she will sell and this all will be a mute point. Dave has done all he can do and hopes with the air conditioner running and the weather starting to cool down we might still have some success with the batteries.
We got very over heated while we were working outside so we took a break and went to a restaurant and ate lunch then went to Walmart to get dinner fixings for a couple nights, along with Gatorade, water and a couple other things. Then we came back to the boat. We drank both our Gatorades and stood in the shade to enjoy the cool breeze. Then I went and took a shower to get all the sweat off and of course not long after I got down to the boat I was sweating again.
The morning brought sunny skies but still hot and humid. It is going to take a while for all the dampness to go away. Since it is Monday we had some running around to do. First stop was to the brokers’ office, but he wasn’t in. We asked Cindy, the gal that runs the office, if there was anyone we could contact for canvas work. She gave us a couple phone numbers to call. She said that Danny, who was the first number on the list, just finished Shelly’s boat and it looks good. Shelly is the other broker in the office. Cindy told us where Shelly’s boat was so we said we would take a look. The next stop was to the boat yard where we had the hull waxed and the bottom painted. We asked Alejandro if he could come to the boat and give us an estimate on painting the scuff mark on the side of the boat. He said he would come out at around 4:00pm. Then we walked to the San Jose Marina next door to the boat yard looking for Shelly’s boat but couldn’t find it. Eventually we gave up!!! It was way too hot to be walking all over the place. We walked back to the jeep and headed for Lopez Marine to price some items for the boat. We got the price for batteries and dock lines as we will need to replace the ones we have on the boat. They were getting a bit worn before the storm. We left there with $$$$ signs dancing in our heads and went back to the marina.
We got the head sail from down below where it was stowed, out on deck and then carried it off the boat to a grocery cart that was at the marina, and rolled it to the big area by the office. We unrolled and inspected it for rips or tears and it was in great shape. It was surprisingly clean so we were satisfied. We rolled the sail up and took it back to the boat and put it in a sail bag to stow it until we can get it attached to the boat. We put all the screens for the cockpit into a bag as well to keep things neat and tidy.
The next morning I cleaned and polished the stainless steel stantions that support the front of the hard dodger as they were a bit rusted. Then I took all the seat cushions and other things off the boat that would get in the way of washing out the cockpit and put it all on the dock. Then I proceeded to rinse and scrub the seat cushions and set them aside to dry while I got back on the boat and rinsed the cockpit and washed the top part of the boat that was hard to clean when the windshield was in place. When everything was dry I put the seat cushions back on the boat and left some things on the dock for now. Because the sun is so hot Dave thought it would be a good idea to put up the side screens on each side of the cockpit to give us a little shade. So that was done and now it was starting to feel like home again. Here are pictures of what the boat looks like now.
We were so very lucky to not have more damage than we did. God was definitely looking out for us! I had read and saw pictures of what Odile did to La Paz and found us to be very, very lucky. There are still a few boats out in the magoata (body of water just out from the malécon) that are belly up and/or stranded on the other shore side of the magoata. Sad to see so many boats damaged and sunk. A couple people were on their boats when the storm hit and for whatever reason were drowned. One of the guys that died was the last person to show our boat to a couple driving around Mexico shopping for one. I sure hope that couple checks back about our boat if they are still interested.
The next thing on my list is to vacuum under the deck plates as cob webs, hair and dust collect. Since that job is finished I now have laundry to do. I brought laundry from the house so I washed those items and the clothes we had used since we have been on the boat.
Alejandro didn’t show up at 4:00pm as promised. We do remember we are in Mexico and so the time they give you isn’t necessarily the time they will show. A lot of the time it is much later or the next day. We figured when it got dark he wasn’t coming so the next morning Dave called the office and they said he had to go to Cabo. So Dave went in search to find someone else. We are trying to get quotes of repairs so we can turn it into the insurance company. Dave did find someone here at the marina and it turned out to be Alejandro’s brother. He hauls boats and paints them for the Fonatur Marina. He came down to look at the boat and then wrote a quote. It is interesting to find out that no one in Mexico is allowed to paint their boat while it is in the water. If there is any painting to be done the boat has to be hauled out of the water and then painted. That costs a bunch of money but if the insurance will pay-----no worries. Dave got a hold of Danny, the canvas guy, and he said he would be down to the boat around 7:00pm. We got a call from him around that time and he changed it to 7:30am. So we will see him tomorrow.
We have a Bahia couple that has their boat for sale down at this marina and we were in contact with them telling them what we saw on their boat from the dock. They asked us to take pictures so I did but I couldn’t get on their boat without written permission from them to the office. Once that was taken care of, Dave and I went aboard and checked the inside out and it is dry as a bone. Their bimini also ripped down the middle and got wrapped in the frame of the bimini. They lost a TV antenna and one of the radio antennas came loose. But all in all there wasn’t a lot of damage to the boat. So once we got all the pictures sent, they at least know what to expect when they get down here.
Dave called Alejandro today and made an appointment for him to come to the boat this afternoon around 4. Dave pressure washed the cockpit floor as the paint is coming up. I washed it with the hose yesterday but the paint flecks are still coming up. At least with the pressure washer it will get up more of the loose paint. Now that it is dry I will vacuum the cockpit as a lot of paint flecks blew all over the place and then I will start to tape along the edges of where Dave will paint. Oh yeah----we aren’t suppose to paint remember???? But we will do that when the office and workers are gone. We aren’t going to pay someone to do it when we can do it ourselves. So there!!!!
The taping is done so now we can paint but not until tomorrow. We have a dinner date tomorrow night with John and Sandy Eltrich. They were the second ones to leave Brownsville Marina and go cruising. Then we left 4 years after they had. We have known each other for a long time as my youngest son played soccer with their youngest son in school. Small world!! They have settled here in La Paz on their boat but now are house sitting. We got in contact with them and mentioned we would like to get together. It will be good to see them and catch up.
We had a wonderful time with John and Sandy. There is a pool where they are house sitting so we were in it before dinner. It was nice and warm due to all the hot weather. Sandy made a delicious lasagna with salad. It was good to see them again and catch up with what family is doing.
Things are cooling down weather wise and battery wise too. We have been floating now with the batteries for a couple days and the batteries are much, much cooler. They still hydro not good, but if we can stretch them out for a while that would be good. Hooray!!
There has been so much moisture in the air that the air conditioners have been running a lot and I am collecting water from the trays about 3 or 4 times a day. Not fun but it has to be done. The one air conditioner that is under the settee has a hose hooked up to the tray so the water will drain into the sump pump however; it isn’t doing the job so we might have a clog. I decided to clean the sump pump thinking there might be something that got stuck in the hose from that end. I took the hose which is attached to the sump pump off and cleaned inside the end and then blew through the hose to hopefully unclog anything that might be restricting the flow of water. It seemed to be clear. I proceeded to clean the other hose ends that connect from the sink to the sump pump with a tooth brush and ran water to help move anything that might be restricting the flow of water there. Everything seems fine and the hose to the air conditioning tray is draining!!!! We have success!!! I put everything back together and we haven’t had any problems since. Not the same with the other air conditioner under the aft bed. Dave couldn’t get a hose hooked up so if the pan over flows it goes into the bilge. We don’t like that because the water sits and gets stagnant and when the boat is closed up for a while it doesn’t smell so good. So we just keep an eye on things and even though it is a pain in the back to do that (I use a turkey baster to suck the water out into a bowl) and it takes a long time.
This morning after breakfast I got the lucky job of going up the mast. Well maybe I WAS lucky as Dave had to haul me up there. Heheheheh! We had tied string across the spreaders while we were in Santo Rosalia to keep the birds off them but when hurricane Odile blew through, the string broke and the remnants were still tied on the turnbuckles. So my job was to go up and get all the string remnants off. It was hot and humid with little breeze and Dave was sweating it out down below cranking me up the mast and I was sweating just sitting in the harness being raised up the mast. The job got done and when we were through we took a rest and had some Gatorade!!! Once we caught our breath and everything was put away and back to normal, we went to Kmart to get a bottle of wine for tonight at John and Sandy’s place and then went down to the brokers’ office to pay money for the guys that wash and dive the boat to clean it. We will have to come back in December to pay more but I’m hoping the boat will be sold by then!!!!! I will never give up hope!!!!! We stopped at the boat yard to look for Alejandro but he wasn’t there. He never showed up last night but he is extremely busy traveling to Cabo salvaging million dollar boats that were damaged in the hurricane. So we are like chump change to him. We are the low people on the totem pole. So if he doesn’t show up today, we will just send in the estimates we have to the insurance company and then wait to see what they say. All that is left to do on the boat is paint the cockpit floor, and put up the head sail.
We are hoping to be leaving in the next day or two. I will vacuum inside and clean the bathroom and do a load of laundry then we’ll close her up for another couple months. At least the weather is much cooler and the humidity is going down.
Luckily the large tour boat that is on the other side of the dock from us went out for the day and there wasn’t anyone else at the marina so we took that opportunity to paint. The color matches the deck color which when dry looks nice. The paint is called ‘Seattle Gray’ so it is a light gray color. The color that was painted in the cockpit was a darker gray. I think when we have the boat hauled out of the water to get the side painted we will paint over the dark areas with the light gray color. While the paint was drying we went to Walmart to get a few items. When we got back Dave went down below and noticed the air conditioners were not running and with some investigating noticed the main B bus breaker switched was off. Then I heard Dave yell for me to turn the power off on the electrical pedestal on the dock. Because the main bus switch was off Dave turned it back on and there were a few arks and sparks so that is why he needed it off. Upon further examination he found there were about 3 wires that had gotten hot enough to melt the outer covering on the wires. Not good at all. They somehow shorted out. Dave took the junction box out which houses the A & B breaker switches, located inside the large aft guest cabin, and like everything else on the boat, when things were installed they didn’t leave hardly any wiggle room. So Dave now has to cut away the burned wire and re-crimp wires together but there wasn’t enough of the existing wires to do that. So he would have to go to Lopez Marine and get wire and some electrical connectors so he can do the job. He did call our friend John to see if he had the necessary wire and parts. Fortunately for us he did so Dave got to skip going to the marine store. When Dave returned from seeing John, he did his electrical repairs and all systems are working now. The way it looks is that this problem had been brewing ever since we had the boat. Thank goodness we were somewhere we could get parts and fix it. God IS good!!!! Because of this we weren’t sure we were going to be able to leave on Sunday but it all worked out.
We never did see Alejandro about getting his quote for painting the hull, so we decided to go ahead and send in the quotes we have. We can’t wait any longer as it is costing us money for water and electricity in addition to moorage.
We are leaving La Paz on Sunday and will stop in Loreto to see our friends again, and then be home on Monday. Yay!!!!
It is time to go home. We had contacted Kristi and Robert to tell them we were coming so they were expecting us. Sunday there is hardly any traffic but like Sundays in the States there are still Sunday drivers!!!!! When we arrived in Loreto we called Kristi and Robert on their home and cell phones but didn’t get an answer. We went to the house and no one was home. We figured they had gone fishing. As we drove back down to the malécon Dave spotted Roberts boat. They were pulling it out of the water on the trailer. So we parked and Dave went down to let them know we were here. They took their neighbors out snorkeling and fishing. We all headed back to the house. We met their neighbors and chatted for a while then they went home and we got cleaned up and went to dinner at a restaurant that serves stuffed clams on Saturday and Sundays only. They are really good. They have cheese and all kinds of good stuff in the shell and they are put in tin foil and cooked in a oven with hot coals. Nummmm!!! After dinner we went back to the house. We watched some T.V. then Robert and Kristi went to bed and Dave and I stayed up a little longer to watch a new show we hadn’t seen yet. I couldn’t make it past 10:00pm so I gave it up and went to bed. Dave stayed up long enough to watch the beginning of ‘The Good Wife’ then turned it off and headed to bed.
We had some fruit and yogurt for breakfast and Kristi gave us some breakfast bars to munch on the way. We said goodbye and then headed for home. We got home around 3 or so. We opened up the windows and skylights to get air flow thru the house and then started bringing our stuff up from the car. We aren’t planning on going anywhere for a while!!!!
Dave finished filling in the ground in the front yard where the rain eroded the soil away. This was a project he had started before we left. There were a couple smaller areas in the back he covered so now we are good.
While we were in La Paz we got an email from our neighbor saying our road behind our house was fixed so now we don’t have to travel via the run way anymore. This is a good thing.
I finally drove into town 4 days after we got home to get groceries. Usually I go in on Saturday but we needed to get food and gas. I got into town and dumped my garbage, went to Isla store and spent more money there than I wanted. Then fueled up the truck and a jerry can, went to Enrique’s store and got items that Isla didn’t have and then went to get my drinking 5 gallon water bottles filled but they were out. So I had to go back to Isla and get the water there. Then I stopped at Xilali to see if they had the items I needed and couldn’t get at the other 2 stores, then my last stop was at the craft store to buy some felt. I was successful in most of my shopping but I noticed there isn’t the number of fresh produce like they had before. The stores are still trying to get their supplies built up after the hurricane. I’m hoping I will have better luck next week.
There have been racers pre-running up and down our main dirt road behind our homes for the Baja 1000 race on November 12. When I went to town on Friday the road wasn’t too bad. There have been more pre-runners since so the road will be interesting come Saturday.
The girls had their first Train game on Tuesday and there were 13 of us. It is always good to see the gals again after being away for the summer.
We are holding our Art and Craft show in November this year. We thought we would try it at this time of year and see if we get any more sales. Usually it is in the spring around Easter. I have all kinds of things to sell this time around. I have my wine cork angel ornaments, shell and other ornaments I have made, bracelets, beach glass pendants, rock and shell critters, and shell wall hangings. So we will see how well I do this year. Since I have a variety of things I might do well. We shall see. We had a meeting the other day and I will be helping with the opening reception if they need it, and getting the luncheon organized for the end of the show.
We heard from the insurance company and we will be getting money to cover the cost of painting the side of the boat with haul out and getting all new canvas and a windshield for the dodger, plus new batteries and a cover for the outboard engine for the dinghy. That was very good news! Now we wait for the money to get into our bank account and then start arranging for work to be done. That means another trip to La Paz. Depending on when it is, Dave may have to go by himself as I am in the Art show starting November 15 and it runs to the 24th. I would like to go with him so I am hoping no one can do anything until after the 24th of November.
The whale sharks are abundant in the bay. I have heard reports, from those who have been out on their boats, they see more than just 2 or 3 at a time. That is awesome!! It is still in the 80’s here and the water is still warm so they are hanging around. So are those pesky no see ums!!!! It is still humid to some degree but it is getting better and it is cool at night which helps for sleeping. Because of stagnant water from the hurricane, there have been more mosquitoes and there have been reports of people contacting Dengue Fever in La Paz and Loreto. There hasn’t been any reports here of anyone with it so far. Everyone is trying to stay indoors at night and early in the morning to lessen the bites. There doesn’t seem to be much stagnant water in town or out our way which is good.
After we got home from La Paz I vacuumed my art room and I was disappointed to see that the straw wreath I made months ago was growing mold. I had it lying on the rug and when the hurricane came it got so humid that everything got damp. So with the wreath laying on the rug and not having air flow underneath it, it started mildewing. Bummer. I bought sealant when I was in Washington intending to spray the wreath when I got home. What I ended up doing was putting it out to dry in the sun for several days then sprayed the sealant on. The mold is not growing anymore but there is evidence it was there. I am now trying to figure out how I can cover the straw and then I will just keep it for myself instead of trying to sell it. I have one more of those wreaths so I will, this time, seal it first then work with it. Well it is a learning experience as I haven’t worked with wreaths before. I think I will like working with the plastic ones better. Ha!!!
Our good Bahia friends are having their annual Halloween Party the 31st. I made a cake in honor of Dave’s birthday but sliced off enough so we could have his birthday cake for a couple days. Usually there isn’t any left over to take home so I figured this year I would just keep some for just us. As it turned out, there wasn’t any cake left to take home so I am glad I did what I did. Dave was some type of ghoul and I was a clown. We had fun dressing up and the party was a lot of fun too.
A nice way to end October wouldn’t you say?????
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Hurricane Odile Came To Visit
September is here and our time in Washington is getting short. We had a great summer and now we have to finish getting items off our wish lists. Dave and Ron went to Fisheries in Seattle one day as Dave had to get some zincs for the bow thruster on our sailboat. I finished getting the craft supplies I needed and then it was time to start packing. I had a large duffle size suitcase filled to the brim and couldn’t pack anything else in it. I ended up leaving unimportant stuff in our storage area to get when we come back next summer because it was bulky and we don’t have a lot of space in the jeep. We leave the back seat in our storage unit for the winter and spring.
Dave has been watching the forming of Odile hurricane and tracking its path and it doesn’t look good for Cabo or La Paz. Our boat is in the water at a marina in La Paz so we are a little concerned about it all.
Noreen and Ron had their annual Crab Bisque on Sunday the 14th and had a great turnout. And as always the Bisque was great.
We were planning on leaving on the 15th but Dave had ordered a part and it hadn’t come yet. Hopefully it will come tomorrow so we can leave on Tuesday. We are all packed and ready to leave. Ron and Noreen are moving to their condo on Monday as Ron leaves for Alaska on Wednesday to go Salmon fishing. So it is easier for Noreen to stay at the Condo, which is close to the ferry, as she works in Seattle. Then when Ron gets back from fishing they will be living at the condo until summer of next year.
The hurricane, Odile headed for Cabo San Lucas and they were hit straight on. We saw pictures of the aftermath and heard stories of people stranded and couldn’t fly out. The airport got badly damaged and the city doesn’t have electricity, water, gas/diesel and the stores are being looted, so the situation down there is not good. There was a lot of flooding in Cabo as well as in La Paz. La Paz got hit with 100 mph winds, but because of the boat being in a marina that is pretty well tucked in from the open water, there wasn’t a lot of damage to the boat. Dave got a hold of the broker on Tuesday to give him instructions of how to secure our boat and the things on it. After the hurricane passed the broker went back down to the marina to check on the boat but couldn’t get through the gate. There was major flooding to where water was up to the top of tires on trucks. All he could do was just look and told us it looked o.k. from a distance. Well with that over we started tracking Odile heading right up the middle of Baja California Sur, and then into Baja California, straight to Bahia de Los Angeles where our house is. Now we were concerned about the house. We were able to contact our gate guard through facebook and at the time I wrote him he said there hadn’t been much wind or rain. Then soon after that the hurricane turned into a tropical depression which dumped rain on the town and had winds up to 50 mph maybe more. It knocked out electricity in town and took down about 30 telephone poles; flooded the roads into town, and a lot of the cemented parts across the arroyos had been washed away. We have seen some pictures and it isn’t a pretty sight. The gate guard was able to connect to the internet at our neighbor’s computer so he told us all the houses were good in our area and we did have a small window open in the garage so we may have had some water in there but no big deal. So that was a relief to know.
We had to start heading south on the 16th and decided we would just take our time getting to Mexico. I tried to get a hold of my niece who lives in McMinnville, Oregon, but she wasn’t home. So we had to keep going. We ended up spending the night in Albany, Oregon and then traveled to Brookings, Oregon the next day to visit our friends, Robert and Kristi. The weather was cloudy but warm. We had a nice visit and they had had information on Loreto, where their house is, saying the same thing as there was some damage and no electricity and all that. But by the time we left, they had had word that electricity was back up so that was a good sign. I know the Mexicans are scrambling to get the roads fixed so food and gas can be delivered. The military is out in force to keep looters out of the stores. We had heard that the water supply in Bahia was broken so it will put a strain on where a lot of the people get spring water. They are rationing it so you can only get 150 gallons of water at a time. No worries as we have been in the situation before. We have a large tank at the house and we never run it down to nothing. So when we get home we will have water. We are hoping the solar panels are still standing and water didn’t get into the generator room where the batteries for the solar panels are. We really won’t know anything until we get there. We don’t want to impact the town since food can’t be delivered until the roads are fixed so we will just take our time. We can’t get to La Paz either due to road conditions.
We left Robert and Kristi’s house headed for Fort Bragg. We were told it is the best glass beach in the world. I am excited. The trip from Brookings to Fort Bragg was not a good one as it rained really hard in spots. But we made it and saw that the skies were clearing and it wasn’t raining so life was good. We stayed in the Beachcomber motel which was right above the beach. The entrance to glass beach was blocked due to construction so I walked down to where the construction fence was and there were trails to the beach. Robert told us how to get down on the beach. At first all I saw was sand and I was disappointed and thought I was in the wrong place but as I walked further and followed people I ended up on the glass beach. I again was a little disappointed as the glass was just as small as it was on North Beach in Port Townsend. Well I wasn’t going to give up yet so I collected some pretty smooth small pieces and then I walked further and ended up getting some larger pieces and some unusual shapes. I had a zip lock bag with me and filled it about ¼ inches full which doesn’t seem like a lot, but I was thrilled anyway. When I get home and get them cleaned up I will have fun creating.
The next morning we headed for Santa Cruz to visit with our friends, Dennis and Rainy. They are supposed to be crushing grapes tomorrow. The weather is warm and it was sunny where their house is but foggy in town. We had a wonderful dinner that night and the next morning I met some of their friends who came to the house to wait for the delivery of grapes. They make their own Malbec plus other red wine. Luckily the grapes arrived and the crushing began. We had never seen the process let alone be part of it so it was exciting. We had so many people helping it didn’t take long to get the grapes crushed and everything.
Afterwards most of the people went home but a couple people stayed and we shared snacks and had beer and coke. After everyone was gone we got cleaned up and Dennis told us we were invited to a friend’s house for a BBQ. I made a salad and Rainy made a tomato plate and off we went. What fun we had and I met more great people. Most of the people we have met are partners with Dennis and Rainy and make their own wine and enter it in fairs. We had great food and conversation. We said goodbye and went back to Dennis and Rainys’ place. We stayed up for a while then called it a night.
It is Sunday and we are on our way to the flea market in Santa Cruz. Rainy drove by herself there as she had an appointment to go to later. So Dave and I rode with Dennis in his truck. The flea market was great! I found a lot of neat stuff but not able to get anything as we have no room in the jeep. Maybe next year I can take some treasures home. After we left the flea market we went to West Marine and I got a shirt that was on sale for $4. Can you believe that!!!!! What a steal! The shirt says ‘Don’t Worry Beach Happy’ with three surf boards in the middle. Dave got some really nice sandals on sale so we both lucked out. Then we came back to the house and Dave had to create another profile on my computer for whatever reason. There is something imbedded in my computer that goes belly up once in a while. We have a friend in Washington who could have fixed it but unfortunately his and our timing was off. So maybe next year. While Dave was working on my computer Dennis was out sorting through the firewood that was delivered yesterday. I offered to help but he was doing his thing and there wasn’t much room for another body. So after Dave got my computer up and running I worked on my blog.
Monday I walked up the hill from Rainy and Dennis’ place and the road forked to where if I took the road on my left it would go up a steep hill. The other road was more flat and straighter but I wanted a challenge so I decided to take the steep hill. I had to stop 2 times as I am out of shape and I only made it half way. I didn’t see a need to kill myself on the first walk in a while so I headed back down after I caught my breath. Once down the hill I took the lower road until it ended as I wasn’t ready to give up my walk yet and I really need the exercise. When I got back to Rainy and Dennis’ house the guys were working on trying to get one of the props off Dennis’ boat that was in his driveway. Since Rainy was golfing with friends and the guys were occupied with the boat, I decided to take a shower outside in their backyard as the sun was just beginning to shine back there to warm it up. It was my first outside shower ever taken and it was awesome!!!! It really brings you back to nature. I wouldn’t mind having one at our house. After that I washed clothes and watched the kittens play and sprint around and try to catch flies. Dennis and Rainy had just gotten two kitten from the SPCA. One is a female, part Siamese with beautiful blue eyes, the other is a male with orange stripes. They named the female Boog because she has a dark spot under her nose that looks like a booger, and the male was named Jellybelly but they call him J. They are really cute and fun to watch. They crack me up and I’m not a cat person!
Before Rainy came home she called and asked if I would make Chicken Dijon Parmesan and of course I told her yes. She had already taken chicken out of the freezer to thaw. All she needed to do was pick up butter. She had never made it before so she wanted me to make it to show her and then she would have the recipe. It was a good dinner.
The day before we left Rainy wanted to take me window shopping in Capitola on the beach of Santa Cruz. It is a popular place for people to come and shop and stay in the summer. Rainy took me to a nice restaurant and we sat outside and enjoyed the beach and water view. Lunch was delicious and we needed to do some walking to burn it off. So we started looking in stores. What fun and I even saw some of the jewelry made from sea glass like I make and rock characters too!!!! I was really surprised and know that if I want to sell some of my stuff in the states I could make some money!!! Hmmmm!!!! Once we had gone through most of the stores we came back to the house. I had a really good time and it was fun!!!! Just a girls day out!!! Dennis had taken Dave to see a couple of his friends and did guy stuff while we were doing our thing.
We finally left on Wednesday the 17th to head to San Diego. We thanked Rainy and Dennis for a wonderful time and for housing and feeding us, then we were left. We stopped around 2:30-3:00pm for the night just north of Los Angeles on Highway 5. We will start again in the morning and try to get through L.A. after rush hour. Dave was tired so he stayed in the room while I went for a walk to check out the stores and restaurants near the hotel. I made the circle back to the hotel (as there wasn’t much) but kept going to check out what was down at the other end of the street. I walked quite a while and it was hot. I was getting worn out so decided to start walking back to the hotel. There was a fire station and a Famous Footwear store but nothing else. When I got back to the hotel I was beat and I had gotten overheated. So I got some ice and drank ice water until I cooled down. Then showered and relaxed. Dave and I walked to the Iron Skillet for dinner. It was an interesting place inside a small mall. The food was good and when we were finished we walked around the small mall past Baskin Robins and a tempting yummy chocolate stand. We were so full we couldn’t eat anything more so we passed on dessert! Somehow that’s got to be wrong-------right??????!
The next morning we were up at 6:30-7:00am, had a continental breakfast and by 8:00am we were on the road again. Whenever I write ‘On the Road Again’ I think of the Johnny Cash song!!! O.K.------so we had a long day as we did get stuck in L.A. traffic but it was due to an accident. Pretty soon we were out of L.A. and heading toward the ocean to Carlsbad to stop and see another one of our Bahia friends. Unfortunately they weren’t home so we had to move on. We decided to call Creela and Phil to see if they were home and Phil answered and said they were heading home as they were coming from the doctors. He just had cataract surgery. When we arrived they were having lunch. We had stopped for lunch before getting to their house so they wouldn’t have to feed us. It was sure nice to see them and Phil was doing well. He was amazed how much brighter and colorful everything was in the eye that got fixed. He will have his other eye done in about 5 weeks. I remember Dave telling me that everything looked yellow and he couldn’t make out colors and it was dull. After living with seeing like that I bet it is a revelation!!! Creela made a pot roast and it was funny because she hadn’t thought about the weather as it was 90 degrees outside and a bit warm inside. But we lived through it with the help from a large fan!!!!! Ha!! We asked if we could stay until Sunday and she said yes. We have a couple people we want to see while in San Diego and one of them is our ex landlord. Lois found out a couple months ago she has breast cancer and had under gone 2 chemo treatments so far and says she is feeling good so far. The other couple we want to see are our neighbors just 3 houses north of ours in Bahia. We wanted to stop and see another friend that lives in Encinitas, San Diego but they were further to travel to so we decided we had better just visit the two closer to Creela and Phil.
We had a very nice visit with Larry while Lois was at the store. When she came in she was sporting a short hairstyle wig that is free to all cancer patients. It looked really cute and much shorter than she had worn her own hair. She thinks she will keep it that short when her hair starts growing in again. It was so good to see and talk to her and know she is doing so well. She is getting tired more since her white cell count is higher, but her spirits are high and she hasn’t let anything stop her yet. I think of my oldest niece, Kathy, whenever I know someone who is close to me that has or did have cancer. She was a real trooper and had a positive attitude and a strong will. The 3 friends I have were strong and positive; unfortunately I lost one of them as she was 73 and just let it go too long before detection. My good friend, Ruthie!!!! I think attitude and fighting as best as you can does make a difference for most. I am so thankful Kathy made it through the ugly process and is still living life on her terms!!!! I love you!!! Awareness is the key!
We had a nice but short visit with our other friends Lynn and Tom. Our Bahia neighbors. They had a party to go to that evening, but it was nice to have had the time to visit and catch up.
While at Creelas’ I helped her with yard work. They have several fruit trees with leaves and weeds needing to be rid of so I raked and pulled weeds. She worked in one area of the yard and I in another. We did pretty well in a short period of time and it was looking pretty darn good!!! Still more weeds left but Creela said she would get those another day as it was hot and our backs were getting sore. She is in her 70’s so I was happy to help out. After a shower, Creela dropped us off at Lysel’s house just down the street from Creela and Phil’s house. She used to be the land landlord but recently gave that job to her nephew since she is getting up in age. We had a nice visit with her and then we walked back to Creela and Phil’s house. Creela had gone to see her daughter. I did a load of laundry so we would have all clean clothes for our trip home.
Sunday morning we said goodbye to Creela and Phil and thanked them for their hospitality. We will hopefully see them in a month down in Bahia. We decided to cross the Mexicali border. We have been told by several people who have gone that way that it cuts the travel time by at least an hour and there are few or no trucks on the road and it isn’t switchbacks through the mountains. We crossed the border with a green light and were on our way home!!!! We are anxious to get home and see the house and if there was any damage anywhere on the property. The drive was pretty uneventful and we only saw a couple of trucks. We came to San Felipe and it was too early to stop for the night, so we decided we would make it home that day. It was not a really scenic drive until we came to San Felipe and was able to see the Sea of Cortez. There were a lot of desert and hills made up of boulders it looked like. It was interesting to say the least. We saw several lots where gated communities were being built. It looks like a nice place to live, but unfortunately it gets hotter than Bahia in the summer and they get stronger winds there too. We did consider living there at one time. Glad we live where we are now. The last time we got gas was in San Felipe and it was several miles to the next town, Gonzaga. Dave was running low in gas and was concerned about running out if we didn’t get to a gas station pretty soon. We got to Gonzaga and the only Pemex station there was closed. Uh oh!!! We continued down the road and came to another Pemex station and they were closed also. Now we had a problem. We stopped and asked a couple people about gas and they said we could check across the street at the mini market. Well they weren’t open yet so we waited and waited. During this time Dave walked across the street to talk to the guards at a gate to a gringo community. No luck. After Dave came back the store opened but they didn’t have any gas and knew of no one who did. Well we had thoughts of sleeping in the car and we saw a gringo drive up to the store. We asked if he knew of anyone in the community across the street that might have some gas we could buy. He said he just came from there and the guys at the gate would let us in. So we thanked him and drove across the street to the gate. We explained to the Mexican guard what our intentions were and if we couldn’t find gas we may stay at the motel that was in the community. We got in and stopped at a place we thought was the motel but ended up a private residence. An American man and his wife greeted us and we proceeded to tell them our plight and he was able to sell us 5 gallons of gas for $20.00. Yay!!!! The good Lord, as usual is watching out for us!!! We thanked the couple and went on our merry way. Just shortly after leaving Gonzaga the paved road ended. The government is redoing the road by paving it and building a bridge and the work isn’t finished yet. So we traveled on a fairly smooth dirt road past the construction of the new road and the bridge. Then the smooth road ended and we were on the original road which was rocky, dusty with washouts that had been filled in, thank goodness. Let’s just say it was not a pleasant road and we thought we would never get off it to join the paved highway 1. We did, however, stop at Coco’s Corner which is famous with all the Baja racer people. The man that runs it is Mexican and he use to race until he got hurt. Now he is wheelchair bound but makes his money selling beer for the thirsty travelers coming down from Mexicali. He also gave us a couple stickers and was looking to sell us shirts but he didn’t have our size. It was interesting and I am glad I got pictures because I think it will be a long time before we go that way again!!!!!
After leaving Coco’s corner we bounced and jarred our way to the main highway. It was getting late but luckily the sun doesn’t go down until around 7:30pm or so. It was so nice to be on paved road again!!! Everything was fine and we turned off highway 1 to the road leading to Bahia de Los Angeles. As we got to the top of the hill where you can finally see the Sea of Cortez, we saw what Odile had done to the road. It wiped out the highway in a couple places and they had made detours around it. A couple pictures were taken through the windshield. The power poles you could tell had been replaced, which was quite a few.
Then coming down the hill to the town of Bahia the main road was blocked off with a detour around it. The force of the water from the mountains came as a rushing torrent and washed out the road and filled the town on the north end with mud and debris. It was amazing.
There was a huge mud slide from the north of town over to the Sea of Cortez but we couldn’t see all of the devastation it caused due to not being able to get there. In town the road and stores were fine and it looked like it did before we left. Luckily few homes were damaged and no lives were lost. The military came in to help people clean up and get them back on their feet again. We had waited to come home because we had seen pictures of the flooding and all on U-Tube and knew it would be a while before they could get supplies in and electricity. When we arrived the electricity was on, they had water, ice, gas, and propane. We stopped at one of our favorite tiendas for milk, bread and ice. I asked about the owner’s casa and he said it was fine. You could tell they were just starting to fill the shelves again. It will be a couple more weeks before the shelves are completely filled. We left town and headed for home. We had heard the road from town to our place got washed out in several places but they had filled in the arroyos and graded the road. It wasn’t as good as before we left for Washington, but it wasn’t bad. For the most part it was good except where Baja race runners made the road a washboard!!!! As people come down with their heavy trucks and trailers, it will all smooth out again. The sad part is the Baja 1000 is supposed to race on that road in November. Oh yay!!!! It is what it is. We arrived at the gate to our little community and the guard wasn’t there so we unlocked the gate, drove in and relocked it. We had heard the road to our house was bad but we thought with the jeep we could make it to the house with no trouble. Little did we know we couldn’t cross the road as there was a deep rut in it. So by this time it was dark and Dave was having trouble seeing to back up. I was standing outside on the road to help guide him. We eventually got to our next door neighbors place and used their access to their house and then had to drive across the arroyo to get to our house. We had to get a flashlight and go explore to see how our buildings were and land and we saw some very eye opening things. But we decided we would have to wait until daylight to really take note of what happened. It was about 7:30 or so and we were tired and hungry. We parked the jeep outside as the truck was in the garage, and came upstairs with just our overnight bags and stuff for the night. We would unload in the morning. The inside of the house looked great. A neighbor of ours who had been down in their house already for a while had opened a couple windows to air it out. The windows and doors were swollen due to the humidity but all in all everything looked great. The house must have shook really hard as I noticed one of my dishes that was above one of the sliding glass doors was perched on the edge of the shelf and had there have been more shaking it would have fallen. So I took it down for now only to put it back later. Just making sure it didn’t come down when we opened and closed the sliding glass door. We ate something and a little later went to bed. What surprises will there be in the morning?
The morning brought sunshine and hot temperatures with a lot of humidity. Ugh!! That is for the humidity! We walked around the house and grounds and to our surprise found most everything undamaged. We did have some run off from the roof of the house which made a couple holes in the soil along the new rock wall but nothing we can’t fill in quickly. We walked toward the beginning of the driveway to the house and the trench that Roger made for us, so mountain water runoff would be diverted into the arroyo, worked like a charm. Thank goodness otherwise the water would have come straight down the driveway into the electrical room where we have the batteries for the solar panel. God was looking out for us again.
Then we walked to the edge of the driveway and surveyed the road from there to the gate to get out and oh my goodness!!!!! There wasn’t just one washout but 3.
What a mess and it will take a while to get that all filled in and smooth again. The land landlord has been contacted and he is getting money together to have the road fixed. That is good. There is another gate we can go in and out of which is good and it takes us onto the airstrip, which is closed, but allows us access to the main road to town. So we can still get in and out of our little community. I walked the neighborhood and took pictures of homes because I knew everyone was concerned about damage to their homes. Fortunately all was well. A trailer with a cover over it had a piece of the metal roofing curled up but all the solar panels on the houses and antennas and all are still standing!!!! Amazing! We gained a lot of sandy beach in front of the house from where water rushed down from the mountains into the arroyos. It is kind of nice looking out to a sandy beach as there were many rocks before.
The force of the water running down the arroyos had to have been something to cover those rocks! In a way I am sorry we weren’t here to witness it in person, but on the other hand glad we weren’t as it would have been scary and they didn’t need more people in town. We walked in the front yard to view our new beach and noticed we had a huge washout where there was access to the beach. The stairs were still there but the soil had been washed away and left a large trench.
That was caused by the water runoff from the roof of the bamboo room. It can be filled in with rocks and sand as there are plenty of those around. I went back upstairs to put things away and Dave went to the garage. As he was checking things out and moving things around he noticed containers filled with water. That was from the garage window being left open. For the most part nothing got ruined, well at least we don’t think so. So some clean up was made and things dried out and now we are pretty much back to normal. With all the humidity caused from the torrential downpours there are a lot of tiny little bugs that buzz in your ears and think your ear is a cool little tunnel!!!!! We have bunches of flies but that isn’t surprising as there is a lot of debris on the beach still. We have put up fly strips around the house but pretty soon all those bugs will die as we will be gone to La Paz and the house will be closed up. Thank goodness we have a breeze blowing basically everyday which keeps them away. The worst part is at night and early in the morning when the wind isn’t blowing. Those little buggers also like to get a ride on whoever has been outside bringing them in on their clothes! Oh well. This too shall pass!!! I do have to say that the desert is a beautiful green and I am seeing plants with foliage that haven’t had any since we lived in the house. Flowers start to pop up and show their faces.
The desert can be beautiful!!!!
All the suitcases have been unpacked and things put away and it is looking like home again. We will stick around for awhile then head south to La Paz. That should be an interesting ride to say the least. Luckily we will be able to stop in Loreto half way between us and La Paz to see our friends.
Dave has been watching the forming of Odile hurricane and tracking its path and it doesn’t look good for Cabo or La Paz. Our boat is in the water at a marina in La Paz so we are a little concerned about it all.
Noreen and Ron had their annual Crab Bisque on Sunday the 14th and had a great turnout. And as always the Bisque was great.
We were planning on leaving on the 15th but Dave had ordered a part and it hadn’t come yet. Hopefully it will come tomorrow so we can leave on Tuesday. We are all packed and ready to leave. Ron and Noreen are moving to their condo on Monday as Ron leaves for Alaska on Wednesday to go Salmon fishing. So it is easier for Noreen to stay at the Condo, which is close to the ferry, as she works in Seattle. Then when Ron gets back from fishing they will be living at the condo until summer of next year.
The hurricane, Odile headed for Cabo San Lucas and they were hit straight on. We saw pictures of the aftermath and heard stories of people stranded and couldn’t fly out. The airport got badly damaged and the city doesn’t have electricity, water, gas/diesel and the stores are being looted, so the situation down there is not good. There was a lot of flooding in Cabo as well as in La Paz. La Paz got hit with 100 mph winds, but because of the boat being in a marina that is pretty well tucked in from the open water, there wasn’t a lot of damage to the boat. Dave got a hold of the broker on Tuesday to give him instructions of how to secure our boat and the things on it. After the hurricane passed the broker went back down to the marina to check on the boat but couldn’t get through the gate. There was major flooding to where water was up to the top of tires on trucks. All he could do was just look and told us it looked o.k. from a distance. Well with that over we started tracking Odile heading right up the middle of Baja California Sur, and then into Baja California, straight to Bahia de Los Angeles where our house is. Now we were concerned about the house. We were able to contact our gate guard through facebook and at the time I wrote him he said there hadn’t been much wind or rain. Then soon after that the hurricane turned into a tropical depression which dumped rain on the town and had winds up to 50 mph maybe more. It knocked out electricity in town and took down about 30 telephone poles; flooded the roads into town, and a lot of the cemented parts across the arroyos had been washed away. We have seen some pictures and it isn’t a pretty sight. The gate guard was able to connect to the internet at our neighbor’s computer so he told us all the houses were good in our area and we did have a small window open in the garage so we may have had some water in there but no big deal. So that was a relief to know.
We had to start heading south on the 16th and decided we would just take our time getting to Mexico. I tried to get a hold of my niece who lives in McMinnville, Oregon, but she wasn’t home. So we had to keep going. We ended up spending the night in Albany, Oregon and then traveled to Brookings, Oregon the next day to visit our friends, Robert and Kristi. The weather was cloudy but warm. We had a nice visit and they had had information on Loreto, where their house is, saying the same thing as there was some damage and no electricity and all that. But by the time we left, they had had word that electricity was back up so that was a good sign. I know the Mexicans are scrambling to get the roads fixed so food and gas can be delivered. The military is out in force to keep looters out of the stores. We had heard that the water supply in Bahia was broken so it will put a strain on where a lot of the people get spring water. They are rationing it so you can only get 150 gallons of water at a time. No worries as we have been in the situation before. We have a large tank at the house and we never run it down to nothing. So when we get home we will have water. We are hoping the solar panels are still standing and water didn’t get into the generator room where the batteries for the solar panels are. We really won’t know anything until we get there. We don’t want to impact the town since food can’t be delivered until the roads are fixed so we will just take our time. We can’t get to La Paz either due to road conditions.
We left Robert and Kristi’s house headed for Fort Bragg. We were told it is the best glass beach in the world. I am excited. The trip from Brookings to Fort Bragg was not a good one as it rained really hard in spots. But we made it and saw that the skies were clearing and it wasn’t raining so life was good. We stayed in the Beachcomber motel which was right above the beach. The entrance to glass beach was blocked due to construction so I walked down to where the construction fence was and there were trails to the beach. Robert told us how to get down on the beach. At first all I saw was sand and I was disappointed and thought I was in the wrong place but as I walked further and followed people I ended up on the glass beach. I again was a little disappointed as the glass was just as small as it was on North Beach in Port Townsend. Well I wasn’t going to give up yet so I collected some pretty smooth small pieces and then I walked further and ended up getting some larger pieces and some unusual shapes. I had a zip lock bag with me and filled it about ¼ inches full which doesn’t seem like a lot, but I was thrilled anyway. When I get home and get them cleaned up I will have fun creating.
The next morning we headed for Santa Cruz to visit with our friends, Dennis and Rainy. They are supposed to be crushing grapes tomorrow. The weather is warm and it was sunny where their house is but foggy in town. We had a wonderful dinner that night and the next morning I met some of their friends who came to the house to wait for the delivery of grapes. They make their own Malbec plus other red wine. Luckily the grapes arrived and the crushing began. We had never seen the process let alone be part of it so it was exciting. We had so many people helping it didn’t take long to get the grapes crushed and everything.
Afterwards most of the people went home but a couple people stayed and we shared snacks and had beer and coke. After everyone was gone we got cleaned up and Dennis told us we were invited to a friend’s house for a BBQ. I made a salad and Rainy made a tomato plate and off we went. What fun we had and I met more great people. Most of the people we have met are partners with Dennis and Rainy and make their own wine and enter it in fairs. We had great food and conversation. We said goodbye and went back to Dennis and Rainys’ place. We stayed up for a while then called it a night.
It is Sunday and we are on our way to the flea market in Santa Cruz. Rainy drove by herself there as she had an appointment to go to later. So Dave and I rode with Dennis in his truck. The flea market was great! I found a lot of neat stuff but not able to get anything as we have no room in the jeep. Maybe next year I can take some treasures home. After we left the flea market we went to West Marine and I got a shirt that was on sale for $4. Can you believe that!!!!! What a steal! The shirt says ‘Don’t Worry Beach Happy’ with three surf boards in the middle. Dave got some really nice sandals on sale so we both lucked out. Then we came back to the house and Dave had to create another profile on my computer for whatever reason. There is something imbedded in my computer that goes belly up once in a while. We have a friend in Washington who could have fixed it but unfortunately his and our timing was off. So maybe next year. While Dave was working on my computer Dennis was out sorting through the firewood that was delivered yesterday. I offered to help but he was doing his thing and there wasn’t much room for another body. So after Dave got my computer up and running I worked on my blog.
Monday I walked up the hill from Rainy and Dennis’ place and the road forked to where if I took the road on my left it would go up a steep hill. The other road was more flat and straighter but I wanted a challenge so I decided to take the steep hill. I had to stop 2 times as I am out of shape and I only made it half way. I didn’t see a need to kill myself on the first walk in a while so I headed back down after I caught my breath. Once down the hill I took the lower road until it ended as I wasn’t ready to give up my walk yet and I really need the exercise. When I got back to Rainy and Dennis’ house the guys were working on trying to get one of the props off Dennis’ boat that was in his driveway. Since Rainy was golfing with friends and the guys were occupied with the boat, I decided to take a shower outside in their backyard as the sun was just beginning to shine back there to warm it up. It was my first outside shower ever taken and it was awesome!!!! It really brings you back to nature. I wouldn’t mind having one at our house. After that I washed clothes and watched the kittens play and sprint around and try to catch flies. Dennis and Rainy had just gotten two kitten from the SPCA. One is a female, part Siamese with beautiful blue eyes, the other is a male with orange stripes. They named the female Boog because she has a dark spot under her nose that looks like a booger, and the male was named Jellybelly but they call him J. They are really cute and fun to watch. They crack me up and I’m not a cat person!
Before Rainy came home she called and asked if I would make Chicken Dijon Parmesan and of course I told her yes. She had already taken chicken out of the freezer to thaw. All she needed to do was pick up butter. She had never made it before so she wanted me to make it to show her and then she would have the recipe. It was a good dinner.
The day before we left Rainy wanted to take me window shopping in Capitola on the beach of Santa Cruz. It is a popular place for people to come and shop and stay in the summer. Rainy took me to a nice restaurant and we sat outside and enjoyed the beach and water view. Lunch was delicious and we needed to do some walking to burn it off. So we started looking in stores. What fun and I even saw some of the jewelry made from sea glass like I make and rock characters too!!!! I was really surprised and know that if I want to sell some of my stuff in the states I could make some money!!! Hmmmm!!!! Once we had gone through most of the stores we came back to the house. I had a really good time and it was fun!!!! Just a girls day out!!! Dennis had taken Dave to see a couple of his friends and did guy stuff while we were doing our thing.
We finally left on Wednesday the 17th to head to San Diego. We thanked Rainy and Dennis for a wonderful time and for housing and feeding us, then we were left. We stopped around 2:30-3:00pm for the night just north of Los Angeles on Highway 5. We will start again in the morning and try to get through L.A. after rush hour. Dave was tired so he stayed in the room while I went for a walk to check out the stores and restaurants near the hotel. I made the circle back to the hotel (as there wasn’t much) but kept going to check out what was down at the other end of the street. I walked quite a while and it was hot. I was getting worn out so decided to start walking back to the hotel. There was a fire station and a Famous Footwear store but nothing else. When I got back to the hotel I was beat and I had gotten overheated. So I got some ice and drank ice water until I cooled down. Then showered and relaxed. Dave and I walked to the Iron Skillet for dinner. It was an interesting place inside a small mall. The food was good and when we were finished we walked around the small mall past Baskin Robins and a tempting yummy chocolate stand. We were so full we couldn’t eat anything more so we passed on dessert! Somehow that’s got to be wrong-------right??????!
The next morning we were up at 6:30-7:00am, had a continental breakfast and by 8:00am we were on the road again. Whenever I write ‘On the Road Again’ I think of the Johnny Cash song!!! O.K.------so we had a long day as we did get stuck in L.A. traffic but it was due to an accident. Pretty soon we were out of L.A. and heading toward the ocean to Carlsbad to stop and see another one of our Bahia friends. Unfortunately they weren’t home so we had to move on. We decided to call Creela and Phil to see if they were home and Phil answered and said they were heading home as they were coming from the doctors. He just had cataract surgery. When we arrived they were having lunch. We had stopped for lunch before getting to their house so they wouldn’t have to feed us. It was sure nice to see them and Phil was doing well. He was amazed how much brighter and colorful everything was in the eye that got fixed. He will have his other eye done in about 5 weeks. I remember Dave telling me that everything looked yellow and he couldn’t make out colors and it was dull. After living with seeing like that I bet it is a revelation!!! Creela made a pot roast and it was funny because she hadn’t thought about the weather as it was 90 degrees outside and a bit warm inside. But we lived through it with the help from a large fan!!!!! Ha!! We asked if we could stay until Sunday and she said yes. We have a couple people we want to see while in San Diego and one of them is our ex landlord. Lois found out a couple months ago she has breast cancer and had under gone 2 chemo treatments so far and says she is feeling good so far. The other couple we want to see are our neighbors just 3 houses north of ours in Bahia. We wanted to stop and see another friend that lives in Encinitas, San Diego but they were further to travel to so we decided we had better just visit the two closer to Creela and Phil.
We had a very nice visit with Larry while Lois was at the store. When she came in she was sporting a short hairstyle wig that is free to all cancer patients. It looked really cute and much shorter than she had worn her own hair. She thinks she will keep it that short when her hair starts growing in again. It was so good to see and talk to her and know she is doing so well. She is getting tired more since her white cell count is higher, but her spirits are high and she hasn’t let anything stop her yet. I think of my oldest niece, Kathy, whenever I know someone who is close to me that has or did have cancer. She was a real trooper and had a positive attitude and a strong will. The 3 friends I have were strong and positive; unfortunately I lost one of them as she was 73 and just let it go too long before detection. My good friend, Ruthie!!!! I think attitude and fighting as best as you can does make a difference for most. I am so thankful Kathy made it through the ugly process and is still living life on her terms!!!! I love you!!! Awareness is the key!
We had a nice but short visit with our other friends Lynn and Tom. Our Bahia neighbors. They had a party to go to that evening, but it was nice to have had the time to visit and catch up.
While at Creelas’ I helped her with yard work. They have several fruit trees with leaves and weeds needing to be rid of so I raked and pulled weeds. She worked in one area of the yard and I in another. We did pretty well in a short period of time and it was looking pretty darn good!!! Still more weeds left but Creela said she would get those another day as it was hot and our backs were getting sore. She is in her 70’s so I was happy to help out. After a shower, Creela dropped us off at Lysel’s house just down the street from Creela and Phil’s house. She used to be the land landlord but recently gave that job to her nephew since she is getting up in age. We had a nice visit with her and then we walked back to Creela and Phil’s house. Creela had gone to see her daughter. I did a load of laundry so we would have all clean clothes for our trip home.
Sunday morning we said goodbye to Creela and Phil and thanked them for their hospitality. We will hopefully see them in a month down in Bahia. We decided to cross the Mexicali border. We have been told by several people who have gone that way that it cuts the travel time by at least an hour and there are few or no trucks on the road and it isn’t switchbacks through the mountains. We crossed the border with a green light and were on our way home!!!! We are anxious to get home and see the house and if there was any damage anywhere on the property. The drive was pretty uneventful and we only saw a couple of trucks. We came to San Felipe and it was too early to stop for the night, so we decided we would make it home that day. It was not a really scenic drive until we came to San Felipe and was able to see the Sea of Cortez. There were a lot of desert and hills made up of boulders it looked like. It was interesting to say the least. We saw several lots where gated communities were being built. It looks like a nice place to live, but unfortunately it gets hotter than Bahia in the summer and they get stronger winds there too. We did consider living there at one time. Glad we live where we are now. The last time we got gas was in San Felipe and it was several miles to the next town, Gonzaga. Dave was running low in gas and was concerned about running out if we didn’t get to a gas station pretty soon. We got to Gonzaga and the only Pemex station there was closed. Uh oh!!! We continued down the road and came to another Pemex station and they were closed also. Now we had a problem. We stopped and asked a couple people about gas and they said we could check across the street at the mini market. Well they weren’t open yet so we waited and waited. During this time Dave walked across the street to talk to the guards at a gate to a gringo community. No luck. After Dave came back the store opened but they didn’t have any gas and knew of no one who did. Well we had thoughts of sleeping in the car and we saw a gringo drive up to the store. We asked if he knew of anyone in the community across the street that might have some gas we could buy. He said he just came from there and the guys at the gate would let us in. So we thanked him and drove across the street to the gate. We explained to the Mexican guard what our intentions were and if we couldn’t find gas we may stay at the motel that was in the community. We got in and stopped at a place we thought was the motel but ended up a private residence. An American man and his wife greeted us and we proceeded to tell them our plight and he was able to sell us 5 gallons of gas for $20.00. Yay!!!! The good Lord, as usual is watching out for us!!! We thanked the couple and went on our merry way. Just shortly after leaving Gonzaga the paved road ended. The government is redoing the road by paving it and building a bridge and the work isn’t finished yet. So we traveled on a fairly smooth dirt road past the construction of the new road and the bridge. Then the smooth road ended and we were on the original road which was rocky, dusty with washouts that had been filled in, thank goodness. Let’s just say it was not a pleasant road and we thought we would never get off it to join the paved highway 1. We did, however, stop at Coco’s Corner which is famous with all the Baja racer people. The man that runs it is Mexican and he use to race until he got hurt. Now he is wheelchair bound but makes his money selling beer for the thirsty travelers coming down from Mexicali. He also gave us a couple stickers and was looking to sell us shirts but he didn’t have our size. It was interesting and I am glad I got pictures because I think it will be a long time before we go that way again!!!!!
After leaving Coco’s corner we bounced and jarred our way to the main highway. It was getting late but luckily the sun doesn’t go down until around 7:30pm or so. It was so nice to be on paved road again!!! Everything was fine and we turned off highway 1 to the road leading to Bahia de Los Angeles. As we got to the top of the hill where you can finally see the Sea of Cortez, we saw what Odile had done to the road. It wiped out the highway in a couple places and they had made detours around it. A couple pictures were taken through the windshield. The power poles you could tell had been replaced, which was quite a few.
Then coming down the hill to the town of Bahia the main road was blocked off with a detour around it. The force of the water from the mountains came as a rushing torrent and washed out the road and filled the town on the north end with mud and debris. It was amazing.
There was a huge mud slide from the north of town over to the Sea of Cortez but we couldn’t see all of the devastation it caused due to not being able to get there. In town the road and stores were fine and it looked like it did before we left. Luckily few homes were damaged and no lives were lost. The military came in to help people clean up and get them back on their feet again. We had waited to come home because we had seen pictures of the flooding and all on U-Tube and knew it would be a while before they could get supplies in and electricity. When we arrived the electricity was on, they had water, ice, gas, and propane. We stopped at one of our favorite tiendas for milk, bread and ice. I asked about the owner’s casa and he said it was fine. You could tell they were just starting to fill the shelves again. It will be a couple more weeks before the shelves are completely filled. We left town and headed for home. We had heard the road from town to our place got washed out in several places but they had filled in the arroyos and graded the road. It wasn’t as good as before we left for Washington, but it wasn’t bad. For the most part it was good except where Baja race runners made the road a washboard!!!! As people come down with their heavy trucks and trailers, it will all smooth out again. The sad part is the Baja 1000 is supposed to race on that road in November. Oh yay!!!! It is what it is. We arrived at the gate to our little community and the guard wasn’t there so we unlocked the gate, drove in and relocked it. We had heard the road to our house was bad but we thought with the jeep we could make it to the house with no trouble. Little did we know we couldn’t cross the road as there was a deep rut in it. So by this time it was dark and Dave was having trouble seeing to back up. I was standing outside on the road to help guide him. We eventually got to our next door neighbors place and used their access to their house and then had to drive across the arroyo to get to our house. We had to get a flashlight and go explore to see how our buildings were and land and we saw some very eye opening things. But we decided we would have to wait until daylight to really take note of what happened. It was about 7:30 or so and we were tired and hungry. We parked the jeep outside as the truck was in the garage, and came upstairs with just our overnight bags and stuff for the night. We would unload in the morning. The inside of the house looked great. A neighbor of ours who had been down in their house already for a while had opened a couple windows to air it out. The windows and doors were swollen due to the humidity but all in all everything looked great. The house must have shook really hard as I noticed one of my dishes that was above one of the sliding glass doors was perched on the edge of the shelf and had there have been more shaking it would have fallen. So I took it down for now only to put it back later. Just making sure it didn’t come down when we opened and closed the sliding glass door. We ate something and a little later went to bed. What surprises will there be in the morning?
The morning brought sunshine and hot temperatures with a lot of humidity. Ugh!! That is for the humidity! We walked around the house and grounds and to our surprise found most everything undamaged. We did have some run off from the roof of the house which made a couple holes in the soil along the new rock wall but nothing we can’t fill in quickly. We walked toward the beginning of the driveway to the house and the trench that Roger made for us, so mountain water runoff would be diverted into the arroyo, worked like a charm. Thank goodness otherwise the water would have come straight down the driveway into the electrical room where we have the batteries for the solar panel. God was looking out for us again.
Then we walked to the edge of the driveway and surveyed the road from there to the gate to get out and oh my goodness!!!!! There wasn’t just one washout but 3.
What a mess and it will take a while to get that all filled in and smooth again. The land landlord has been contacted and he is getting money together to have the road fixed. That is good. There is another gate we can go in and out of which is good and it takes us onto the airstrip, which is closed, but allows us access to the main road to town. So we can still get in and out of our little community. I walked the neighborhood and took pictures of homes because I knew everyone was concerned about damage to their homes. Fortunately all was well. A trailer with a cover over it had a piece of the metal roofing curled up but all the solar panels on the houses and antennas and all are still standing!!!! Amazing! We gained a lot of sandy beach in front of the house from where water rushed down from the mountains into the arroyos. It is kind of nice looking out to a sandy beach as there were many rocks before.
The force of the water running down the arroyos had to have been something to cover those rocks! In a way I am sorry we weren’t here to witness it in person, but on the other hand glad we weren’t as it would have been scary and they didn’t need more people in town. We walked in the front yard to view our new beach and noticed we had a huge washout where there was access to the beach. The stairs were still there but the soil had been washed away and left a large trench.
That was caused by the water runoff from the roof of the bamboo room. It can be filled in with rocks and sand as there are plenty of those around. I went back upstairs to put things away and Dave went to the garage. As he was checking things out and moving things around he noticed containers filled with water. That was from the garage window being left open. For the most part nothing got ruined, well at least we don’t think so. So some clean up was made and things dried out and now we are pretty much back to normal. With all the humidity caused from the torrential downpours there are a lot of tiny little bugs that buzz in your ears and think your ear is a cool little tunnel!!!!! We have bunches of flies but that isn’t surprising as there is a lot of debris on the beach still. We have put up fly strips around the house but pretty soon all those bugs will die as we will be gone to La Paz and the house will be closed up. Thank goodness we have a breeze blowing basically everyday which keeps them away. The worst part is at night and early in the morning when the wind isn’t blowing. Those little buggers also like to get a ride on whoever has been outside bringing them in on their clothes! Oh well. This too shall pass!!! I do have to say that the desert is a beautiful green and I am seeing plants with foliage that haven’t had any since we lived in the house. Flowers start to pop up and show their faces.
The desert can be beautiful!!!!
All the suitcases have been unpacked and things put away and it is looking like home again. We will stick around for awhile then head south to La Paz. That should be an interesting ride to say the least. Luckily we will be able to stop in Loreto half way between us and La Paz to see our friends.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Another Summer In The Northwest
August is here and the Northwest has had some beautiful weather with only a few days of clouds and showers!!! Nothing like the northwest in the summer time!
Since Noreen couldn’t take vacation in July, she decided to take it the first week of August. Instead of taking the boat to the South Sound as they had planned for July, she and Ron decided to go to Ocean Shores. They invited us to join them but before we could make reservations in the same hotel I had to wait for instructions for my colonoscopy that was scheduled for the August 6th. Because the paperwork hadn’t arrived by the time Ron and Noreen made their reservations, when we went called the same hotel to reserve a room they told us they were full. So we booked a room with a hotel down the street. Ron and Noreen got a mini suite with living room, kitchen and bedroom which worked out well as we planned to cook our meals. We couldn’t get a room with a kitchen in the hotel we booked with so meals would be cooked at Ron and Noreen’s place. We all left on Sunday the 3rd with Ron and Noreen, for Ocean Shores. Dave and I had to come back on the 5th , a day earlier than Ron and Noreen, due to my colonoscopy appointment on the 6th, we took our jeep and they drove their car.
The weather was warm and beautiful when we left Bremerton and up until we were in Ocean Shores did we witness fog rolling in. Ron and Noreen drove to their hotel and we went to ours and after checking in and getting our stuff to the room went down to see Ron and Noreen. From their room you looked out toward the beach but could only see a small part of it due to the fog rolling in. It was misting which felt good!!! It had been hot in Bremerton so the cool down was nice.
The next morning we went to Ron and Noreen’s room and had breakfast, and then we went to some stores. We went to Galway’s Irish Restaurant and Pub and had good beer and onion rings and sat in their relaxing fireplace area in comfy big chairs watching an old movie. It was fun. Then we went back to Ron and Noreen’s room and sat around for a while. We woke to fog and even though it lifted enough to see part of the beach, it socked right back in late in the afternoon and was like that until we left.
Dave and I had to leave on Tuesday the 5th and it was very foggy you couldn’t see anything and very wet. Ron and Noreen get to play another day. Once we got back to the boat I had to fix my solution for drinking that night. Oh yay!!!! So you know where I spent my night!!!!
The morning of the 6th I had to drink the rest of the solution and then not eat or drink anything after 10:00am until after my appointment at 2:15pm. I got checked in and then had to wait as they were really busy. I finally got in and had the procedure and was cleared to go home. There were no polyps this time!!!!!! Yahoo!!!! I don’t have to do this again for another 5 years or so. That is wonderful!!!! Ron and Noreen were home by the time I returned from the doctor’s office I was still tired from the anesthesia I laid down and slept for a while. I felt so much better and my head was clearer when I got up.
Ernie, my eldest son, and his soon to be wife, Brooke, were taking care of getting things organized and ready for their wedding on the 16th. It was a really busy time for them as they just moved into their new home and trying to get things coordinated for the big day!! We traveled north to Anacortes on Tuesday the 12th to stay with our friends Bre and Brent for a couple days.
Dave and I visited Brent’s new shooting range and store. The last time we were there he was still working out of a storage unit. He made bullets (that is how it all started) then he bought some land and made a shooting range where the police could come and practice and it was also open to the public. Adjacent to the shooting range is store with all kinds of related items for sale. He has made a nice business for himself.
The wedding rehearsal was the evening of the 14th with a dinner at Ernie and Brooke’s new house. We attended the rehearsal and the dinner and Brooke and Ernie handed out gifts and said their thanks to all who were in the wedding.
We left there and went back to Brent and Bre’s place to stay for a couple more days. Since the wedding was scheduled to be at 5:30pm, the 16th, at a Country Club in Arlington, we were invited to come back to Brent and Bre’s after the reception. That was nice because we were thinking of driving all the way home to Bremerton from there and it would have been really late by the time we got home.
So Ernie and Brooke had a beautiful wedding, the weather was fantastic since the ceremony was outside, and they planned a fun time for all. There was a kids table with crayons, color books, paper, legos, etc., so there weren’t kids running all over the place. There was a photo booth to have silly pictures taken, and a really good DJ with wonderful song choices. It was a fun time.
We left around 8:30pm and got back to Brent and Bre’s around 9:30-10:00pm. Bre had gone to bed but Brent was still up. So we visited with him for a while and then we all went to bed.
Next morning Bre had a bon fire going as there was a chill in the air so we sat and enjoyed that then had breakfast then Dave and I had to say goodbye. I’m really glad we got a chance to visit with them and we even got to see J.J. their daughter who was home from college.
So we were back on the boat the 17th and 18th, then on the 19th we were headed back up north to Marysville to watch the grandsons, E.J., Eian, and Brody while Ernie and Brooke went on their honeymoon to the Dominican Republic for 10 days. We were looking forward to spending some quality time with the boys. When we arrived at the house, Brooke and Ernie had been grocery shopping and putting away the food and giving us the lowdown on what was going on with the boys for the time we were going to be there. Once all the important stuff was taken care of, they left for the airport and we were alone with a 5 year old, 17 year old, and a 15 year old. Brody was with us a couple days so we built a fort in the living room
and he rode his bike around the neighborhood while I walked, played kick ball in the community field behind their house, and watched him play the game Plants vs Zombies on the X-box. He also got to come with the boys while they went to their High School to get pictures taken for their ASB cards. Brody lost a front tooth so it was exciting for him. He spent that night with his other grandma, so the tooth fairy visited him there. Wow!!!! Can you believe the tooth fairy left him $5.00!!!! Times sure have changed!!! Then he spent a night with his dad, then his dad picked him up for the weekend to spend the rest of the time with him until Brooke and Ernie return from their honeymoon. It was a fun time and I got to know Brody (Brooke’s son) a little more and have some special time with him.
E.J. had his work schedule for McDonalds and also his Cross Country practice schedule to keep up with. He generally worked evenings so he would go to practice for a couple hours then come home and go to work. Eian had his own schedule for Football and before he started practice we got to take him to get pictures taken with his team. That was fun.
Eian also had practices in the afternoon and for about 4 days worth his practices were from 3-5, and 6-8. The first couple days he was a tired, sore and a bit dehydrated guy, but we bought Gatorade and made sure he had enough of that and water to drink and pretty soon he was feeling better and his throat and mouth wasn’t so dry anymore. E.J. was pretty tired and sore as well for the first 2 days. Now they are up to snuff and doing well. E.J. did injure his foot somehow on one of the practices, so he couldn’t participate for a while but now is back running again. It is going to be a busy year for all of them as Brody is due to start soccer soon, and is in 1st grade, E.J. being a Senior and having track meets; Eian being a Sophomore and football games; Brooke teaching High School English and being a Cheer Coach, and Ernie working and helping out with the busy schedule of the boys-phew!!!!! It will be a busy but fun year! Here are the other two handsome grandsons, E.J. and Eian.
Dave and I had to get back to Bremerton, to the boat as Noreen and Ron were going to Sucia Island in the San Juans for my birthday and Labor Day weekend. We had to leave on the 28th, a Thursday, and Ernie and Brooke were due home late on the 29th. So we arranged with Brooke’s mom to come and spend the night with the boys on Thursday, because we all know that if teenage boys are left to their own devises, not so good things can happen!!!!! We had to leave the boys in the late morning so we could catch the Edmond/Kingston ferry home. Ron was leaving that afternoon with the boat to pick Noreen up in Seattle then travel to Everett for the night. So we said our goodbyes to the boys and they had their practices and E.J. had work for that day and their chores (which they were excellent about doing) and we left. We got home just in time to help Ron with the boat and off we went. We met Noreen at Bell Harbor Marina in Seattle and once she was on board we were headed for Everett. When we arrived in Everett a lot of the slips were full and/or reserved but there was a couple left open so we grabbed one. It was about 8:30pm when we pulled into Everett and we had planned on going to the restaurant within walking distance of the marina but by the time we got settled and they took the dogs for a walk the restaurant was closed. So we thawed out something for dinner and then sat and enjoyed the evening then went to bed. The next morning we were on our way to Sucia around 9-9:30am and the weather was starting to cloud up. The weather report had been calling for thunder showers over the weekend and rain!!! We were hoping that wouldn’t be the case in the San Juans. We arrived at Sucia in the late afternoon and Ron and Noreen’s friends, Laurie and Rich were already up there and tied to one of the park docks. So we rafted off their port side and stayed that way for a couple days. Noreen didn’t have to be back to work until Wednesday so when Rich and Laurie left we would get the dock space. There was also another couple, Kathy and Phil, friends of Laurie, Rich, Noreen and Ron, who joined us shortly after we got in and they rafted off us for the night then were able to move to the dock behind us the next day.
I got to spend my birthday in Sucia, which is one of my favorite San Juan Island spots!!!! I was so happy I took a birthday selfie!!!!!
We had a wonderful time and the weather was absolutely phenomenal the whole time we were there. We did get a few clouds a couple late evenings with sprinkles, but otherwise it was grand!! We walked a trail where it took us atop of a hill looking out across the Straits and Lopez Island and a couple other San Juan Islands.
We went for a dinghy ride where Laurie and Rich towed Kathy and her husband Phil in kayaks behind their dinghy to Echo Bay, which is on the other side of Fossil Bay where we stayed at Sucia.
Then we came back and Kathy and Phil paddled back in the kayaks to their boat and Rich, Laurie, Ron, Noreen, Dave and I went to the beach to find fossils. Since there are signs all around the area about not taking fossils off the island, we all took pictures of them instead.
It was a lot of fun and when everyone was ready to go back to the boat, I decided to walk back instead of go by dinghy. I needed to get some exercise.
Kathy, Phil, Laurie and Rich left on Monday, Labor Day, after a great breakfast on the dock. After they left we moved over to the dock and tied up. Then we took a hike to Echo Bay. There are several trails but this one was about 3 miles. When we got back to the boat we relaxed. It was a great hike and the weather was great too. The mosquitoes were out in force so we had to burn the mosquito burners at night and lather up with bug spray. None-the-less it didn’t ruin our time there. We had beautiful sunsets and had fun watching the ferry drop of campers and kayakers to enjoy the island all day or all day and night and the ferry comes back to pick them up and take them to Lopez Island.
We left on Tuesday to go to La Conner for the night, hoping that we could find a moorage for the night. Once we got to La Conner, the boat was fueled and we were lucky enough to find a spot to tie up to for the night. The weather was warm and once the boat was secured to the dock we took a walk into town and stopped in a couple stores to snoop and then went to the grocery store to get what we wanted for dinner and came back to enjoy our dinner and the evening.
The next morning we left early and headed for home. The water was smooth and the weather sunny. As we got closer to Brownsville the wind picked up and the clouds were rolling in. Ron was a little nervous about getting into the new slip due to the wind, but surprisingly enough the wind had died down in the marina and was able to back the boat in perfectly. So we are back in the Brownsville Marina for the rest of our time here.
The summer was great and the weather couldn’t have been better and we got to spend time with family and friends!!!!! Looking forward to when we come back!!!!
Since Noreen couldn’t take vacation in July, she decided to take it the first week of August. Instead of taking the boat to the South Sound as they had planned for July, she and Ron decided to go to Ocean Shores. They invited us to join them but before we could make reservations in the same hotel I had to wait for instructions for my colonoscopy that was scheduled for the August 6th. Because the paperwork hadn’t arrived by the time Ron and Noreen made their reservations, when we went called the same hotel to reserve a room they told us they were full. So we booked a room with a hotel down the street. Ron and Noreen got a mini suite with living room, kitchen and bedroom which worked out well as we planned to cook our meals. We couldn’t get a room with a kitchen in the hotel we booked with so meals would be cooked at Ron and Noreen’s place. We all left on Sunday the 3rd with Ron and Noreen, for Ocean Shores. Dave and I had to come back on the 5th , a day earlier than Ron and Noreen, due to my colonoscopy appointment on the 6th, we took our jeep and they drove their car.
The weather was warm and beautiful when we left Bremerton and up until we were in Ocean Shores did we witness fog rolling in. Ron and Noreen drove to their hotel and we went to ours and after checking in and getting our stuff to the room went down to see Ron and Noreen. From their room you looked out toward the beach but could only see a small part of it due to the fog rolling in. It was misting which felt good!!! It had been hot in Bremerton so the cool down was nice.
The next morning we went to Ron and Noreen’s room and had breakfast, and then we went to some stores. We went to Galway’s Irish Restaurant and Pub and had good beer and onion rings and sat in their relaxing fireplace area in comfy big chairs watching an old movie. It was fun. Then we went back to Ron and Noreen’s room and sat around for a while. We woke to fog and even though it lifted enough to see part of the beach, it socked right back in late in the afternoon and was like that until we left.
Dave and I had to leave on Tuesday the 5th and it was very foggy you couldn’t see anything and very wet. Ron and Noreen get to play another day. Once we got back to the boat I had to fix my solution for drinking that night. Oh yay!!!! So you know where I spent my night!!!!
The morning of the 6th I had to drink the rest of the solution and then not eat or drink anything after 10:00am until after my appointment at 2:15pm. I got checked in and then had to wait as they were really busy. I finally got in and had the procedure and was cleared to go home. There were no polyps this time!!!!!! Yahoo!!!! I don’t have to do this again for another 5 years or so. That is wonderful!!!! Ron and Noreen were home by the time I returned from the doctor’s office I was still tired from the anesthesia I laid down and slept for a while. I felt so much better and my head was clearer when I got up.
Ernie, my eldest son, and his soon to be wife, Brooke, were taking care of getting things organized and ready for their wedding on the 16th. It was a really busy time for them as they just moved into their new home and trying to get things coordinated for the big day!! We traveled north to Anacortes on Tuesday the 12th to stay with our friends Bre and Brent for a couple days.
Dave and I visited Brent’s new shooting range and store. The last time we were there he was still working out of a storage unit. He made bullets (that is how it all started) then he bought some land and made a shooting range where the police could come and practice and it was also open to the public. Adjacent to the shooting range is store with all kinds of related items for sale. He has made a nice business for himself.
The wedding rehearsal was the evening of the 14th with a dinner at Ernie and Brooke’s new house. We attended the rehearsal and the dinner and Brooke and Ernie handed out gifts and said their thanks to all who were in the wedding.
We left there and went back to Brent and Bre’s place to stay for a couple more days. Since the wedding was scheduled to be at 5:30pm, the 16th, at a Country Club in Arlington, we were invited to come back to Brent and Bre’s after the reception. That was nice because we were thinking of driving all the way home to Bremerton from there and it would have been really late by the time we got home.
So Ernie and Brooke had a beautiful wedding, the weather was fantastic since the ceremony was outside, and they planned a fun time for all. There was a kids table with crayons, color books, paper, legos, etc., so there weren’t kids running all over the place. There was a photo booth to have silly pictures taken, and a really good DJ with wonderful song choices. It was a fun time.
We left around 8:30pm and got back to Brent and Bre’s around 9:30-10:00pm. Bre had gone to bed but Brent was still up. So we visited with him for a while and then we all went to bed.
Next morning Bre had a bon fire going as there was a chill in the air so we sat and enjoyed that then had breakfast then Dave and I had to say goodbye. I’m really glad we got a chance to visit with them and we even got to see J.J. their daughter who was home from college.
So we were back on the boat the 17th and 18th, then on the 19th we were headed back up north to Marysville to watch the grandsons, E.J., Eian, and Brody while Ernie and Brooke went on their honeymoon to the Dominican Republic for 10 days. We were looking forward to spending some quality time with the boys. When we arrived at the house, Brooke and Ernie had been grocery shopping and putting away the food and giving us the lowdown on what was going on with the boys for the time we were going to be there. Once all the important stuff was taken care of, they left for the airport and we were alone with a 5 year old, 17 year old, and a 15 year old. Brody was with us a couple days so we built a fort in the living room
and he rode his bike around the neighborhood while I walked, played kick ball in the community field behind their house, and watched him play the game Plants vs Zombies on the X-box. He also got to come with the boys while they went to their High School to get pictures taken for their ASB cards. Brody lost a front tooth so it was exciting for him. He spent that night with his other grandma, so the tooth fairy visited him there. Wow!!!! Can you believe the tooth fairy left him $5.00!!!! Times sure have changed!!! Then he spent a night with his dad, then his dad picked him up for the weekend to spend the rest of the time with him until Brooke and Ernie return from their honeymoon. It was a fun time and I got to know Brody (Brooke’s son) a little more and have some special time with him.
E.J. had his work schedule for McDonalds and also his Cross Country practice schedule to keep up with. He generally worked evenings so he would go to practice for a couple hours then come home and go to work. Eian had his own schedule for Football and before he started practice we got to take him to get pictures taken with his team. That was fun.
Eian also had practices in the afternoon and for about 4 days worth his practices were from 3-5, and 6-8. The first couple days he was a tired, sore and a bit dehydrated guy, but we bought Gatorade and made sure he had enough of that and water to drink and pretty soon he was feeling better and his throat and mouth wasn’t so dry anymore. E.J. was pretty tired and sore as well for the first 2 days. Now they are up to snuff and doing well. E.J. did injure his foot somehow on one of the practices, so he couldn’t participate for a while but now is back running again. It is going to be a busy year for all of them as Brody is due to start soccer soon, and is in 1st grade, E.J. being a Senior and having track meets; Eian being a Sophomore and football games; Brooke teaching High School English and being a Cheer Coach, and Ernie working and helping out with the busy schedule of the boys-phew!!!!! It will be a busy but fun year! Here are the other two handsome grandsons, E.J. and Eian.
Dave and I had to get back to Bremerton, to the boat as Noreen and Ron were going to Sucia Island in the San Juans for my birthday and Labor Day weekend. We had to leave on the 28th, a Thursday, and Ernie and Brooke were due home late on the 29th. So we arranged with Brooke’s mom to come and spend the night with the boys on Thursday, because we all know that if teenage boys are left to their own devises, not so good things can happen!!!!! We had to leave the boys in the late morning so we could catch the Edmond/Kingston ferry home. Ron was leaving that afternoon with the boat to pick Noreen up in Seattle then travel to Everett for the night. So we said our goodbyes to the boys and they had their practices and E.J. had work for that day and their chores (which they were excellent about doing) and we left. We got home just in time to help Ron with the boat and off we went. We met Noreen at Bell Harbor Marina in Seattle and once she was on board we were headed for Everett. When we arrived in Everett a lot of the slips were full and/or reserved but there was a couple left open so we grabbed one. It was about 8:30pm when we pulled into Everett and we had planned on going to the restaurant within walking distance of the marina but by the time we got settled and they took the dogs for a walk the restaurant was closed. So we thawed out something for dinner and then sat and enjoyed the evening then went to bed. The next morning we were on our way to Sucia around 9-9:30am and the weather was starting to cloud up. The weather report had been calling for thunder showers over the weekend and rain!!! We were hoping that wouldn’t be the case in the San Juans. We arrived at Sucia in the late afternoon and Ron and Noreen’s friends, Laurie and Rich were already up there and tied to one of the park docks. So we rafted off their port side and stayed that way for a couple days. Noreen didn’t have to be back to work until Wednesday so when Rich and Laurie left we would get the dock space. There was also another couple, Kathy and Phil, friends of Laurie, Rich, Noreen and Ron, who joined us shortly after we got in and they rafted off us for the night then were able to move to the dock behind us the next day.
I got to spend my birthday in Sucia, which is one of my favorite San Juan Island spots!!!! I was so happy I took a birthday selfie!!!!!
We had a wonderful time and the weather was absolutely phenomenal the whole time we were there. We did get a few clouds a couple late evenings with sprinkles, but otherwise it was grand!! We walked a trail where it took us atop of a hill looking out across the Straits and Lopez Island and a couple other San Juan Islands.
We went for a dinghy ride where Laurie and Rich towed Kathy and her husband Phil in kayaks behind their dinghy to Echo Bay, which is on the other side of Fossil Bay where we stayed at Sucia.
Then we came back and Kathy and Phil paddled back in the kayaks to their boat and Rich, Laurie, Ron, Noreen, Dave and I went to the beach to find fossils. Since there are signs all around the area about not taking fossils off the island, we all took pictures of them instead.
It was a lot of fun and when everyone was ready to go back to the boat, I decided to walk back instead of go by dinghy. I needed to get some exercise.
Kathy, Phil, Laurie and Rich left on Monday, Labor Day, after a great breakfast on the dock. After they left we moved over to the dock and tied up. Then we took a hike to Echo Bay. There are several trails but this one was about 3 miles. When we got back to the boat we relaxed. It was a great hike and the weather was great too. The mosquitoes were out in force so we had to burn the mosquito burners at night and lather up with bug spray. None-the-less it didn’t ruin our time there. We had beautiful sunsets and had fun watching the ferry drop of campers and kayakers to enjoy the island all day or all day and night and the ferry comes back to pick them up and take them to Lopez Island.
We left on Tuesday to go to La Conner for the night, hoping that we could find a moorage for the night. Once we got to La Conner, the boat was fueled and we were lucky enough to find a spot to tie up to for the night. The weather was warm and once the boat was secured to the dock we took a walk into town and stopped in a couple stores to snoop and then went to the grocery store to get what we wanted for dinner and came back to enjoy our dinner and the evening.
The next morning we left early and headed for home. The water was smooth and the weather sunny. As we got closer to Brownsville the wind picked up and the clouds were rolling in. Ron was a little nervous about getting into the new slip due to the wind, but surprisingly enough the wind had died down in the marina and was able to back the boat in perfectly. So we are back in the Brownsville Marina for the rest of our time here.
The summer was great and the weather couldn’t have been better and we got to spend time with family and friends!!!!! Looking forward to when we come back!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
