Home Again In Bahia de Los Angeles

It is October 1st and we said goodbye to Creela as she was on her way to see Phil and we were on our way to the border. We crossed the border early in the morning and didn’t have to stop at all at the border which was strange. We thought because we had a truck we would have to go into secondary and be searched but they just waved us through. That was a relief because we had batteries and internet equipment which they usually want to see receipts for the purchases. The only problem we had after crossing the border was trying to get to the main highway as a lot of the side streets were blocked due to construction. We managed to get onto the main road and traveled to Ensenada. We stopped at Costco, had lunch and bought a couple things then left and headed further south to San Quintin to see my friend Penny. It has been 6 months since her husband died and she is still having a hard time. It was good to see her and she seems to be doing better but still struggling. The landlord told her he is going to advertise the house again to try and get it sold so Penny will need to live somewhere else. She has been thinking about moving back to the states, preferably Oregon. Her family is there and that is where she met Murray. She has a lot of friends up there too that can help her so that is a good thing. I figure about January she will be back in the States. It was good to see her and visit. We talked a lot about Murray and his dreams, which was the house, but it isn’t her dream and we told her that was o.k. not to make it her dream. They enjoyed the house together and now she needs to move on if she wants. She has given away most of Murray’s tools and she still is holding on to his clothes. She said she is getting closer to getting rid of them but it isn’t time yet. When she can finally get rid of his clothes, then she will be ready to move on. She is still helping with the grandpa’s and keeping busy that way, but it is hard for her in that big house by herself and her two cats. We just stayed overnight and the next morning gave huge hugs and kisses and told her to come see us now she has a car. As we were driving home, I remembered the tools Dave had picked out from Murray’s things were left behind. We had traveled too far to turn around and go back so we called Penny and told her she will have to take a road trip and come see us and bring the tools. Ha!!!! She said she would load them in the car and when she got back from Oregon she would come see us. So there ya go.

We got home on the 2nd and surprisingly there were only about 3 dead cockroaches in the house and the place was as how we left it. No leaks or anything. It is good to be home and away from riding in the car for hours. By the way----the cortisone shot has worked wonders. I am in no pain and just feel stiff from all the sitting. Now and then I do still have some tingling and a little numbness in my right leg but it is subsiding. When I called the pain center to report on how I was doing the nurse said the pain goes away first then the tingling then numbness. So that is good news. Thank goodness.

Since we had to wait for the refrigerator and freezer to get cold, Dave and I had sandwiches for dinner last night then this morning I drove into town and got gas in the truck and bought groceries. The weather hasn’t cooled down at all yet. It is hot and humid. Usually about mid October the light switch (as we call it down here) flips and it gets cooler. After I got back from town I put the groceries away and vacuum sealed the meat and then I had no more energy. The road is still bumpy with a lot of washboards so I can’t drive too fast in the old rust bucket truck or my head will hit the ceiling!!!! It could just fall apart on me too!!!! Ha! Plus it doesn’t do my back any good either.

We have taken our Vermox Plus medicine to help the good bacteria stay in our intestines. Since a cruiser friend told us about it we have been taking it every six months and it works like a charm.

We couldn’t believe that the propane truck was in our area because they aren’t on a regular schedule to come here. We got a tank filled so that was good.

When our friends, Libby and Pete got back down here she called me on the radio to see if we still wanted her washing machine. We said yes and wanted to know how much she wanted for it. They told us a 6 pack of beer. SOLD!!!! The next time I went to town I got the beer and then we went over to their house to pick up the washer. Now it is ours and we have to clean out the sand from inside and see if it still runs. She couldn’t use it because it took too much water as they only have a small storage water tank. We have a bigger tank and we usually get water about every 9 days. We cleaned up the washer and ran it and it did great. We only put it through the rinse and spin cycle. Dave was checking out what we had to do to get it into the art room and he found out Larry took the faucet that went on the pipe where the washer hooks up to. So we searched for one and couldn’t find one in town so we said we would pick one up when we went to La Paz next month. Dave went over to see our neighbor, Joanne for something and came back with a faucet. So we will replace it for her after getting back from La Paz. We got the washing machine into the art room and got it in place. Then the day for using it came. I had a small load so I put the laundry detergent in and then the clothes, went and turned the generator on, came back and opened the water faucet and it was leaking. So Dave had to do some work on it to get it not to leak. Then we turned on the washing machine and it worked. For now the rinse water comes out through the back wall of the art room and drains into a bucket. Both of us have to be there when the machine goes into the rinse cycle as the buckets fill up with the soapy water pretty quick. We dump the water on plants and it takes about 3 bucket loads of water for a small load. When we go to La Paz we are going to look for some kind of a hose to hook up to the drain pipe so we don’t have to dump the buckets of water each time I do laundry. It will just drain into the arroyo and the plants. The hose will be one we can roll up when we are finished with it so we don’t have to dig a trench and put it in it. We may have to order one online and have it delivered to the address we have our mail delivered to in the States. It was so nice to have really clean clothes. They smell fresh! I won’t have to soak my clothes overnight; rinse them the next morning and wring the water out of them by hand. So much nicer and easier and the clothes dry so much faster too!!!

I am back playing Mexican train with the ladies. It was nice to see everyone after being away for the summer. Most of these people will be going back to the States for the holidays so they won’t be here that long.

Had to go into town today for groceries. I use to go in every Saturday but since the vegetable truck is in town on Fridays I changed my day. They have some really nice produce and it is cheap so I like to get it from them and then do the rest of my shopping after that. Well there was a glitch in my morning routine this morning going to town. I was going to stop and see a friend before I went shopping but I ran out of gas on the way to town. Dave had to bring the 3 gals of gasoline we had at the house and put it in the trucks gas tank. Then we couldn’t get it started so we were thinking it was something else like the carburetor. Well eventually it started and Dave followed me to the gas station and I filled up almost all the way. I was 6 gals short. Our pesos are getting low so I didn’t want to put more than 500 pesos in the truck. Once Dave knew I had gas he left me and went back home and I went on my merry way. We are going to La Paz on the 5th or 6th of November and wanted to make our money stretch. As it turns out we will have to go to the nearest town which is 2-1/2 hours one way to get pesos from the ATM. We almost made it.

Today is the 27th and it is my youngest sons wedding anniversary. It’s been 3 years. Time does fly and they have 2 beautiful boys.

We have good friends across the bay from us who spend the winter in Rome and summer here. They are leaving soon so they wanted to have a dinner party and they invited us to come. They always cook a 3 course meal and we have such a good time. We will miss them but they will return in April. We got home from the party around 11:30pm.

The next morning I had a hangover and I had to attend a meeting in town about the Crafts and Art show coming up soon. Needless to say I wasn’t feeling all that great. Thank goodness I don’t do that a lot. The Crafts and Art show will be held from the 22nd to the 30th and closed on Thanksgiving. I still have things left over from previous shows that I want to sell. Hope they will. The only thing new I am making are angels and ornaments for the Christmas tree.

This morning after I had my coffee and something to eat, I took a short walk on the beach and came back to do laundry. It wasn’t supposed to be windy until tomorrow but it came early. I had planned to burn this morning but that didn’t happen. I got the washer ready and Dave turned on our big generator and the water started flowing into the machine------then it stopped. We had to turn off the water pump and the faucet to the machine and look at the filter in the hose. It was clogged so once that was cleaned out the washer worked again. Everything was going well but the biggest problem was the wind. It was blowing so hard from all directions I had to chase the buckets and then had to have Dave come help so he could dump the bucket when it filled with water while I put the other bucket underneath the drain hose. I made a note to self------don’t do laundry when it is really windy. It didn’t take long for the clothes to dry that is for sure but as windy as it was the sand was blowing everywhere. We had gusts up to 35 miles an hour and ended up having to close most of our windows due to the flying sand. I was able to get the wash dried in record time and saved it from the sand storm. It is still hot here and the north winds are supposed to be coming so it should cool us down a bit. The wind blew off and on all night and we had to get up and close some windows due to the gusts. At least it didn’t blow as hard last night as it did this morning and early afternoon!!!! Now the wind is quiet with a few bursts of wind now and again but much nicer. I am afraid to open all our windows as it could start up again. We are supposed to get more winds tomorrow like we had today and I get to go into town to do shopping!!! Oh well.

Tomorrow is the 30th and I have to bake Daves’ birthday cake as we are going to a Halloween party on Saturday evening but are driving to Guerro Negro to get money that morning so the cake has to be done a day early.

Saturday morning came and Dave and I got up at 6:00am to get ready for our drive to Guerro Negro as it is an hour ahead time wise so have to plan it just right to be home by 2:00pm so we can get ready for the party. As Dave and I were sitting drinking coffee, Dave said------“I don’t want to go today.” I asked him if we really had to go as I wasn’t going to be buying any more groceries until we get back from La Paz and we didn’t have to worry about gas in the truck or propane until we got back so why go????? Well he thought about it and decided we didn’t have to so problem solved!!!!! I got some more coffee and we had a relaxing day!! After all it was his Birthday and should have an easy day of it. I fixed him some pancakes with bacon for breakfast and he went down to the bamboo room to continue putting together a jigsaw puzzle together and I did some crafts. The party was at 4:30pm and Dave didn’t know what he was going to be but I dressed in our old tie die Burke Bay Sailing Association t-shirts with ragged shorts and a band around my head to be a hippie. Dave decided he would also wear his shirt the same as mine and he would go as a beach bum. All he did was put a straw hat on his head and whala!!!

I cut up some jamacia, which is a very refreshing vegetable, and sprinkled lime juice and Mexican seasoning and that was it. The cake I made for Dave and the party was a Chocolate cake with strawberry jam in it. When it baked most of the jam went to the top of the cake (bundt) and so when I got it out of the pan it looked like blood and guts. Haaa! So that is what I told the people at the party. I cut about 4 pieces of the cake to save for Dave and myself later and arranged the rest of the slices in a circle. There was plenty to go around. The party was fun and there was so much food, I couldn’t even try a lot of the dishes. We came home around 9:00pm and watched a little TV then went to bed. So Davey had a good day and birthday!!!