Christmas In November?????

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!!!