The Summer of 2012

Summing up a three month vacation is going to be a challenge but I will do my best. On June 4th we packed up and headed north. Our first stop, other than gas, was in La Mesa, San Diego. After getting settled in the hotel, we contacted both my Bahia friends, Penny and Ruth. Penny had been in San Diego with Ruth while Ruth is going through chemo treatments. Long story short, we got to see both of them and had a nice visit. Ruth looked really well for just having treatment that day. Next morning bright and early we headed out ahead of traffic and stopped for the night at Kettlemen City which is north of Los Angeles. Next stop was Ukiah where my sister Colleen and Hig live. We had a wonderful visit and little did we know it would be the only one of the summer. We then traveled to Crescent City and stopped for the night. Then it was on to Newport, Oregon. Since it didn’t take the whole day to get from Crescent City to Newport, we were able to stop early enough to enjoy the view, have lunch and walk on the beach. Shortly after we had lunch I took a walk on the beach while Dave just chilled from driving. Walking north on the beach away from the hotel, I saw a bunch of people standing around a huge object on the beach. As I got closer I found it was part of the dock that washed ashore from the Japanese tsunami. It was awesome to see it in person. Of course I didn’t have my camera with me so I didn’t get pictures. Due to the coverage of it on the news, you know what it looks like. There was a beautiful sunset to be enjoyed that night and we were looking forward to our last leg of the trip, ending it in Brownsville, Washington on the 12th. It has been a good trip and lots of sunshine, but I can see it won’t last all the way to Washington as the clouds are beginning to gather. We have arrived at the Brownsville Marina where we will be staying with our really good friends, Ron and Noreen, on their 45 foot Bayliner. Being it is a Tuesday, Ron was there to greet us but Noreen was working. Now starts the fun stuff. Doctor visits and Dave’s eye surgery. Friday the 15th, Dave went to see his physician to get a well checkup. It is required now before eye surgery. All was good. Clean bill of health. I got a clean bill of health when I saw my doctor on the 18th. Yippee!!!! On the16th Ernie, his girlfriend Brooke, and E.J. invited me to a Mariners game. I got to meet Brooke for the first time and she is a lovely lady!!!!! She does talk more than Ernie I have to admit, but she is fun!!!! Good choice Son!!! E.J. of course had grown quite a bit and now is just a hair taller than I am. Of course he is growing and I am shrinking!!! What is up with that???? Somehow that doesn’t seem fair! I got the biggest hug from all three of them. That was really nice. We had a ball at the game. No pun intended. Fun! Fun! Dave and I had dinner at his daughter, Kristen’s house. We had a great meal and good conversation and after dinner we taught them how to play the cruiser Mexican Train. Fun was had by all and it was good to spend some time with our oldest grandsons and get to know them a little more. They certainly are growing up!! Dave had an appointment on the 25th with the eye doctor that will perform the surgery, to discuss things and check the cataract eye one more time. All looks good for surgery. We had dinner with Jon and his girlfriend Susannah at Tommy C’s in Port Orchard. The restaurant is owned and run by Tom Cash and his wife. Tom was a Star of the Sea school classmate of Jon’s and also one of the boys in my Cub Scout den. We had a great dinner and I enjoyed visiting with Susannah. Tom and Jon hadn’t seen each other for a long time so they were catching up. Jon is very serious about Susannah and I think they will end up getting married. It was really good to see Jon and meet the love of his life. She is a very pretty lady! Dave had his pre-op check-up on July 2nd and now he has to start eye drops to prepare the eye for surgery. Jon sent Dave and I Sounder tickets for the game on Saturday, July 7th, which will be fun as Dave has never been to a Sounder game. The Brownsville Yacht club had a cruise to Bremerton Yacht club. The park they had been working on is finished and it is very nice. We enjoyed good food, music and games. Dave and I had to leave early on Saturday to take the ferry to Seattle for the Sounder game. The game was awesome and Dave and I had a lot of fun. The sounders won of course so it was an added plus to the day. When we got back to the Bremerton Yacht club, there was a party on Ron and Noreen’s boat so we joined in. It ended up being a late night, but fun. Nice way to celebrate the win of the Sounders and be with our friends. Monday, July 9th Dave had his surgery. All went well and now he has a routine of putting drops in his eyes for a few weeks. Then he gets another check up and he is done!!! I have been cross stitching a soccer boy for E.J. I want to give it to him before we go home. I will make one for Eian too, but not enough time to do another one. It takes about a month or so to do. Spent a couple days at Ernie and Brookes and enjoyed seeing Dominick, Brody, and E.J. Brody is our new grandson, since Brooke and Ernie have been together. So I had fun with them all. Before Ernie, Brooke, E.J. and Eian went on vacation; we got to spend another time with E.J. and Eian. Brody was with his dad. We played corn hole which is a fun game. Here is a picture of the finished corn hole box that Ernie and E.J. worked on. The object of the game is to throw bean bags and make it into the hole. Needless to say I never won. The boys have a big advantage over Dave and me. They play it a lot. It was fun to have this special time with everyone and get to know Brooke better. I really enjoyed spending time with Eian too!!!! Because he lives with his mother, we never know when we will get to see him. On the 28th Dave, me, Noreen and Ron went to the Mariners game to see Dan Wilson and Randy Johnson inducted into the baseball hall of fame. It was an awesome ceremony and game. The mariners won!!!!! Each of us received a Dan and Randy bobble head. We gave them to Eian and E.J. They were stoked!!!! This was the weekend I was suppose to travel down with Jon to California, having Ernie, Brooke, Eian and E.J. come a day later. E.J. had a soccer tournament that Friday and Saturday. Well as it turns out, Hig had knee surgery and he wasn’t doing so well and he wasn’t feeling good enough to have company so he asked that we not come. So we canceled the trip. Hig developed a rapid heart rate which couldn’t be lowered for a while, which scared everyone. He was seeing the doctor a lot and trying different medications that put him out of commission. It just wasn’t a good time for a visit. Hopefully next year. That is why I said earlier I was glad we had a great visit with my sis and Hig on our way to Washington. The boys and grandboys were bummed but that is the way it goes sometimes. As it turned out, Jon took Susannah to the beach in Lincoln City, Oregon for the weekend and Ernie, Brooke, Eian and E.J. went to the Cor d lane theme park for the week. They had a really good time. The weather was absolutely beautiful, hot inland and warm on the coast. We had dinner with Gary, Laurie, and Ruth on August 3rd. Also Gary and Laurie’s daughter and son-in-law were at the table right next to us. We had a great visit. It is a new restaurant in Silverdale, named Hop Jacks which use to be the old Sandpiper restaurant on the Silverdale waterfront. Nice place and good food. The next day, Saturday, I went kayaking with 3 of the Brownsville Babes. Noreen, Fleeta, and Terry. The guys were in the dinghy with refreshment!!! Wine of course!!! Us gals paddled all over the marina and then up the estuary. I had always wanted to go there so I am glad I had a chance this time. It was late afternoon and we were all having fun. The guys left after awhile and I started heading back to Ron and Noreen’s boat to get out of the kayak. I got to the dock and tied the kayak to the cleat and put the paddle on the dock, proceeding to carefully get up and out of the kayak. Well before I knew it I was in the water and the kayak was upside down. Luckily I had the sense to tie it up and put the paddle on the dock. As I am trying to get out of the water, picture me hanging onto a cleat and trying to get some foothold on the slippery dock. It was much too high for me to jump up on. I started to laugh and the gals came by and were scurrying to get me out. There was no ladder to climb out on so Noreen and Fleeta tried to pull me up, but I could see they would be joining me in the water. So I told them forget it. We didn’t know where the guys were so they weren’t there to help. So finally I made my way along the dock to the back of Ron and Noreen’s boat and climbed up the swim ladder to safety!!!!! Fleeta was so worried I was super cold but I was comfortable. It was good it had been a hot day because the water was refreshing. I rinsed off the salt water and changed while Noreen went and righted the kayak. Dave had been onboard preparing dinner and he said he had heard a bunch of laughing, but no cries for help so he just ignored it. All was well and we had a great laugh over it all!!!! I have learned to get in a kayak but still need to work on getting out of one. Ha!!!!! The Ron, Dave and Fleeta went crabbing quite often and brought back some big guys. Since we gathered so much crab Noreen decided to make her really good Choppino. Dock party!!!!! The soccer boy cross stitch is finished just in time to take it to Brooke and Ernie’s this weekend, August 17-19. Ernie and Brooke left Friday morning early and left E.J. at home. They didn’t want him by himself all weekend so asked if we could come up to Marysville to keep him company. Ernie tried to get a hold of Eian so he could be there too, but it never happened. Friday afternoon we arrived at the house and were greeted by E.J., his dog Diego, and Brookes little bulldog Petie!! We had pizza for dinner and we played corn hole, which of course E.J. won!!! Then when it got dark E.J. made a fire in the firepit in the backyard. He did a great job and I was very impressed!!!! We watched Diego chase the sparks. He is a pretty dog, but oh so dumb!!! He stares at shadows and keeps us entertained!!! Saturday I made breakfast for us and then I soaked the finished soccer boy cross stitch in water to clean it. E.J. asked me what that was so I showed him and said it was going to be his. After it was dry, he helped me stretch it and tape it to the back of a frame I brought with me. We got all done and looked at it and E.J. was very happy. Then he looked at the back and found that the hook to hang it from was upside down!!!! Ooops!!! I wasn’t going to take it out and redo it so I ended up going to the store to get a package of picture hangers. When I got back E.J. put the hook on it and found a nail in the garage to hang it on his bedroom wall. Looks pretty good if I say so myself. Here is a picture with him holding it and then on his bedroom wall. Sunday we had to leave E.J. and head for Jon’s. Ernie and Brooke were to be home that evening. Ernie had aady soccer tournament in Spokane over the weekend so they combined it with some fun time for the two of them. They were celebrating their 1 year together anniversary which was special. We got to Jon and Susannah’s that afternoon. We had a very nice visit and dinner. Oh yeah----Dave and I are going to be grandparents again. Another grandson due in January. CONGRATULATIONS to Jon and Susannah. We are very happy for them!!! We thought for sure Jon would have a girl, but no. He will carry on with a boy!! The Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain came to Brownsville Marina. I took Brooke, E.J. and Brody on board the Chieftain. The Lady wasn't giving tours this time. It was a quick look through but I think Brody and Brooke enjoyed it. E.J. was bored!!!! Of course----he is 15!!!! It was a fun day!!!! Noreen and Ron threw me a mini birthday party. It was just Carolyn, Fleeta, Ron and Noreen's neighbor, Dave and of course Ron and Noreen. It was a nice surprise!!!! Wooohoo!!!! I'm 60!!!! Life gets better. Well that is the way I'm looking at it now. When I'm 70 I may change my tune! Ha!! I'm still young and full of life!!! The guys BBQ'd oysters on the half shell and Noreen made rice and a salad. It was yummy. Everything was going great until I couldn't breathe and I was choking!!!! No one knew I was choking because I went to get a glass of water and it wouldn't go down. Panic!!!! I started to go out where everybody was but then I felt like throwing up so I went to the galley and did just that. I finally got the oyster up and then I could flush the rest down with water. I could breathe again!!!!! What happened was I had rice and then an oyster after and it got stuck. It happens sometimes when I eat rice and chicken. But I could always wash it down with liquid. Not this time. So I lived to tell about it!!!! I guess God isn't done with me yet!! Ha!!! I am glad it turned out good. My life is going to get interesting the next few months as we may be bringing the boat back to Seattle to sell. Hopefully it will sell here, but we aren't holding our breath!!! The market for used boats is picking up a little in Mexico, but our boat is going to be for someone who is specifically looking for our type of boat. God has a plan and I am leaving it up to Him!!! No worries!!!! Time is getting short and we will be leaving on the 4th of September. We are going to Everett on Ron and Noreen’s boat to join the Brownsville yacht club there. Dave and I never have been to Everett by boat so it should be fun. The weather looks as though it will be warm and beautiful.

Spring Is Here With a Touch of Summer

May is here and the temperature is warming up. It hasn’t been too hot yet. We have been having nice breezes during the day and it is cool enough for sleeping at night. Our neighbors Creela and Phil have arrived and it is good to have them back down here for a while. They will stay until June. They are planning a trip on a charter sailboat in July to Belize. Fun!!! So what has been going on so far this month? We had Eian, one of our grandsons turn 13 on the 5th!!! Oh Lordly he is a teenager now!!! Ha!! Happy Birthday!!!! I had 10 gals over to play the card game Hand and Foot. It was fun. Then my step son, Michael turned 40 on the 9th!!!! May he have many, many more!!! The truck has too bad tires on the front. They both have been slit by sharp rocks traveling on our road. The back tires are all terrain but the front ones aren’t so they aren’t taking the abuse very well. We have to go even slower with the tires the way they are and are trying not to drive it much. We are going to have to buy 4, 16 inch tires on rims, or just 16 inch rims either in the states or Ensenada and put them on the truck after we get back from Washington. We can’t get 16.5 inch tires down here but we can get 16 inch ones. We got our new instructions on whom to call in an emergency and all that goes with it. The Commandant was supposed come out to meet us but he was a no show. We had a potluck planned for after the meeting so since he didn’t show we went ahead and ate and visited. Monday the 14th we took off to Santa Rosalia to the boat. Our friend, Murray, drove down and meet us there. He is staying with us on the boat. His wife Penny is in the States so she will have to wait until the next time we go down. Murray was a lot of help to us. He mostly helped Dave which freed me up to do things I needed to get done. I managed to clean and condition the leather seats down below, then wash out the cockpit. It was hot and very humid this trip so we couldn’t do much outside after 1:00pm. We are so glad we have air conditioning. We pretty much got everything done on the boat we needed to do before we leave for Washington for the summer. Dave pickled the water maker, changed the engine oil, washed the starboard side of the hull and soaked some lines to get bird poop off along with dirt and salt. The only thing Dave didn’t get a chance to do is change the oil in the generator, but that is an easy job when we return. The guys hoisted me up the mast so I could tie line across the first spread as you go up the mast and after tying the line I tied danger tape onto it so it will flap in the breeze and scare the birds away. The cormorants can’t land on a small diameter line so that is why we put the line across. Then on the smaller spreaders above the big ones I just tied the danger tape onto the spreader. Hopefully that will work. There is a sailboat in the marina that the owners have left and the cormorants have used that as a home base at night. At least they are not landing on our boat. But when the owners come back and it leaves, they will be searching for a night roosting place. Unfortunately the owner of the boat didn’t make arrangements to have someone clean his boat and it is a bird poop mess. The boat has teak decks and they are going to be ruined!!! It is really sad as it is a nice boat. It is going to take a lot of work to get that boat back in shape again. I don’t envy them coming back to their boat!!! They are in for a real shock!! Alberto still washing our boat 2 times a month and having the divers come once a month to clean the bottom, so we are in good hands. We left our pressure washer onboard so he could use it to clean the decks. That will save him a lot of work and keep our boat cleaner. He’s a good guy!!! Murray had a good time on the boat. He used to be a commercial fisherman and fished in Alaska and off the coast of Washington and Oregon. He was comfortable being on-board. When we got back home on the 18th, we went to dinner at Phil and Creela’s house. It was nice not having to figure out what to fix for dinner. We had a nice visit. Sunday, the 20th I took my dirty clothes over to Murray’s to wash as they have a washing machine. Once a month I usually wash my clothes and large towels and sheets at their house since washing the big items are hard by hand. Unfortunately the marina didn’t have enough water for people to wash clothes so I didn’t get a chance to do that so Murray offered to have me come over. That was really nice. Dave came along and as my clothes were being washed I went looking for rocks on the beach in front of Murray and Penny’s house and Dave and Murray changed one of our front tires on the truck. Murray had a 16 inch tire on a rim that was all terrain he let us have. We have a spare A/T which Dave will change out the other front tire soon so I can drive the truck to town to get groceries. The people down here are like the cruisers. They will help you when you need it. Then that evening Dave and I went to Larry and Lois’s for dinner and had a great time. There were several other friends there too. We were lucky see a little of the partial eclipse before the sun went behind the mountain. Larry has 3 welding masks to view it with. Awesome!!! Dave and I went to a Memorial Day party and had fun. The majority of people who are still here came to enjoy good food, fun and each other. Today, Monday, was Hand and Foot card game. I didn’t win, but came close. It was fun. We laughed a lot and commiserated over our card hands. Ha!! Happy Memorial Day!!! Thank you to all who served and blessings on those who died and were wounded. You sacrificed so much so we can be free!!!! Thank you!!! God Bless you all!!! Dave and Phil went fishing this afternoon. Phil couldn’t stand it any longer listening to the guys that were fishing this morning catching fish. So right after lunch they took off and I just heard they caught quite a bit of fish. Yahoo!!!! They will be back close to 7:00pm. They left a little after 1:00pm this afternoon. Dave is going to be hungry and tired!!! Oh no----not another snoring night!!!!! YIKES!! I tease him about his snoring, but he does and he isn’t quiet about it. We laugh a lot and he gave me ear plugs to wear when it gets to where I can’t stand it anymore. You do what you have to do!!!! As long as it works----no worries. This month is passing quickly and I can’t believe we are leaving here in 14 days to go north. I am looking forward to seeing the family and spending some time with them. I have made a couple more creatures. One is a pelican and the other is a whale. Here are the pictures of the pelican and whale.

The temperatures are climbing and it is getting hot. At least it is still cool at night. I really think it is going to be a hot summer. Because of the heat we now have bees, mosquitoes, and lots of bobo flies that are everywhere. They are tiny and get in your nose, food, drinks, garbage!!! I have to put whatever I am throwing out in plastic bags and seal them well to keep the flies from hatching and creating a huge problem. I have 2 fly strips hanging, one near the garbage and one in the living room, which has helped but it is just the time of the season for those critters. Speaking of critters, I made a couple more. I made a blow fish and a couple lizards. The lizard tails are made from gourd seeds! My neighbor gave a bunch to me so I was playing around and thought it would look cool to put them on their backs and tails. Here are the pictures.

Since the weather is getting hot a lot of the gringos are leaving to go back to the states. We will be one of them soon. I have already packed clothes and necessities and my craft projects to keep me busy. This will be the last blog for a while as I will write it on vacation but not post it until we get back home to Bahia. Enjoy your summer!!!

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun and Retired

Happy March!!! I played Train with the gals today and guess who won the pot again?! Yep!! It was me!!! Wow!! Maybe this means my luck is changing and maybe the boat will sell!!! One can only hope!! I better stop winning so much or the gals will not want me playing anymore!! HA!!! It is a game of luck and little skill!! But fun!! Happy Birthday to E.J. today!!! The 2nd of March. He is 15 years old. Where have the years gone! I hope he has a great day. The wind has returned and it is suppose to blow 25-30 knots today and tomorrow. I had laundry to hang so I hope they dry quickly so I can get them out of the wind. I was going to vacuum and dust today, but changed my mind as the wind is blowing sand around. I won’t get my beach walk in today either. The last couple of days I have been walking the beach and ended up at the large estuary one day. It is a long walk to and back, but it felt good. I got some pictures of a heron and a couple starfish.

I also picked up some neat shells and rocks. I’ve starting to create ‘stuff’ again to give away. So far I have made door stops out of rocks and shells. I made a quail and gave it to a friend who only had a plain rock to hold her bathroom door open. I don’t have a picture of it as I forgot to take one. I made a duck and I gave it to my friend Penny, then made a cute dog which I kept, a baby quail and a Coyote head.

I am just playing around. I have also made shell and bead hanging decorations.

I finally finished my cross stitch of the Castle and Dragon and now need to iron and frame it. I have crochet projects lined up along with some other projects so I never get bored!!! Oh yeah----I also have a lot of books to read. We were watching T.V. one night and the wind started to blow from the southwest. By the time we were ready to go to bed it was blowing off and on but nothing too drastic. Dave got up at 1:00am and it was blowing pretty well. The screens weren’t rattling because I put pieces of paper towels between the frame and screen, but the wind was blowing so much the PVC pipes in the back of the house, that connect to the sink and toilet, were rattling and it just got too noisy. The beds are made up in the trailer so we went down there and slept for the rest of the night. Our neighbor said we had gusts to 40 so that wasn’t so bad. We had everything outside secured so we didn’t have anything blow away. The next morning it was calm and beautiful. We did get a couple days of 25-30 knots of wind, but it wasn’t really cold so it wasn’t that bad. Saturday, the 10th, there was a yard sale. I always look forward to it every year just to see what people are getting rid of. This year the only thing we bought was a gas BBQ and an empty small propane tank for it. We have to get the nozzle switched on it as it is of the old type, a female fitting instead of a male one. Even better would be to exchange it for a new tank that already has the proper fitting. I helped Penny sell some of her things and we gave away a lot of clothes to the young Mexican women. Everyone, Mexicans and gringos alike are all in the same financial bind. None of us have a lot of money to throw away on needless stuff. After the yard sale was over Penny and I went into town to buy groceries then headed home. It was a busy day. Dave and I were supposed to go to Penny’s for dinner tonight, but after being in the yard sale and shopping she was tired. So we will go tomorrow night. We had a wonderful dinner with Penny, Murrey and Jim, Murrey’s brother from California. Jim is leaving to go home on Thursday so Penny wanted us to meet him. It was fun. Played Hand and Foot card game today and Mary Ann was my partner, and we won! We each made 3 dollars. Yay!!!! I startled a coyote this morning when I went to the electrical room to open it up. I didn’t see him until he darted from the side of the building, running toward the hills. He must be a young one that isn’t use to humans. He didn’t stop to turn around and look behind him, he just kept running. I fired up the small generator so I could iron my cross stitch. Now it is framed and hanging on the wall. It looks pretty good if I do say so myself!! I have it in a black frame but while we are in Washington this summer I will look for a different color as I think it will bring out the colors better.

Last night our neighbors Mary and George had a dinner party. Dave and I were watching T.V. when we heard an engine revving and it sounded really close. I got up and looked out our dining room window and there was our other neighbors’ jeep in the arroyo trying to get up and over our rock wall. Joanne was inebriated and had made a wrong turn at George and Mary’s and ended up in the arroyo. Dave and I started laughing. We went out on the deck and George was at the jeep getting Joanne out and told her that the other couple that came for dinner would take her home. She buried the two back tires in the sand and George said he would see to getting it unstuck in the morning. In the meantime Joanne was a very happy camper and looked up at us on our deck and hollered hi. Dave said he should buy her a GPS system for her jeep!!!! HA!!! Anyway----Joanne got home safely and all was quiet again. The next morning Dave went down to the jeep and took a look at how far the wheels were buried and he said it would be nothing to get it out. So George and Dave did some digging and smoothing of sand and George had the keys and backed the jeep up and out onto their driveway. Mary took the jeep over to Joanne’s. Boy!!! Can our neighbors entertain the neighborhood or what!!! We all had a good laugh. Luckily Joanne lives just on the other side of us so she didn’t have far to go. I LOVE this place!!!!! The weather was beautiful today with just a little breeze. The tide was going out this morning so I took my beach walk and found some treasures. This is one of my favorite things, to walk the beach at low tide. When I got back I made lunch and went down to the art room and created another rock figure. A dog. This time I put a collar on it. I also had to repair my rock bear doorstop as its arm was falling off. What an exciting life I lead eh????! I am going to have to find some heavy duty glue for rocks as the glue from the glue gun isn’t strong enough to hold them together. I went to move it and the head fell off so it sits waiting to be repaired. I tried super glue but it is too thin and runs and I would need to use a lot of it. I had a creative couple of days as I created a bunny rabbit, a turtle, a lizard and a Mexican with his sombrero and poncho napping against a cactus.

Since then the rocks I collected to make things with don’t hold any creative sides so I will need to scout out some different ones. I would love to make another turtle and lizard!!! I’m thinking of talking to the gal that runs the Museum here to see if I can put my creatures on display to sell. She is in the states right now but will be back in April so I will see what she says. I could make some money maybe. That would be great!! There are other people who have their work for sale there so it’s a possibility. Of course the museum would get a percentage of my sales. Probably about 10%. It’s worth a try anyway. I would be helping me and the museum!! Where has the month of March gone? It seems it was just the first of the month a day or two ago. We have already changed to daylight savings time. We are close to the boarder so we change when the U.S. does. The rest of Mexico will change on April 1. It is nice to have longer days. I finally got an appointment to have a mold made for my molar so we left the house at 7:00am to be in Guerrero Negro for my appointment at 10:00am. It is Friday, the 23rd. It took an hour and a half for the dentist to file down the tooth and make an imprint and mold to be sent away to be made. Then he fashioned a temporary cap until my other one comes back. It will be about 2 weeks before we have to go back to pick it up. It cost $250 for everything!! That is really inexpensive and the dentist is good. Until we get a dentist here full time, we will continue to go to the one in Guerrero Negro. Remember me writing about Ruth and Ernest. They come down every year around April time frame and spend the summer then go back home in Big Bear for winter. They are an elderly couple, both German and very stubborn, but really nice people. Ruth is a sweetheart. Well we just found out she has lung cancer. She is moving in with her son in San Diego to start treatments. She is 73 so I hope she will make it through the treatment and live a few years longer. Ernest refuses to leave his home in Big Bear so she will visit him on weekends if she is feeling well. Otherwise they have good neighbors to look in on him from time to time. He has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t have a good disposition and is very negative. I did say they were nice people didn’t I! Well he is at times. I’m glad Ruth will be in a positive place for her treatment and recovery. Happy Birthday Jon!!! My youngest son is 35 today, the 25th. We just found out that our friends, Creela and Phil will be coming down next month for a while. They were planning a trip with their Granddaughter to Europe, but Creela’s back can’t take all the traveling. So we are happy they will be coming here. Dave will have his fishing buddy back!!! Yahoo!!! I’m creating again. I found some different rocks and now have made another lizard, turtle, 2 cranes, a snail, and repaired the dog that lost its head. The super glue I put on did take in some spots and I filled in the gaps with hot glue. He’s good to go!

One of the gals that just arrived to spend a couple months here bought my first lizard. That was cool. She is taking my rabbit to the craft show to add to her display since it will be close to Easter. I told her if someone really likes it and wants to buy it-----sell it!!! We are back in Santa Rosalia. The boat doesn’t look too bad, but the cormorants have found it and make a mess. Their guano stains the gel coat which makes it hard to get out. We are facing strubbing with baking soda after pressure washing and washing it again with a brush and soap. I cleaned the cockpit really well this time and got most of the dirt out. We had the boat looking pretty well and then that very afternoon after cleaning, a stupid cormorant sat on our top spreader and pooped!!! Where is a BB gun when you need it? I hate those birds!! It is soooo discouraging to spend so much time and efforts to clean the boat and then have those stupid birds crap all over it again. It never ends!! I am seeing threads on the canvas work disintegrate; zippers are getting brittle from the sun. We just can’t keep up!!! We would have to move back onboard in order to keep it all clean. One good thing and a little ray of hope, Dave talked to our good friend Tori, who is a boat broker in Seattle. She works at Signature Yachts where we bought our boat. Anyway---she wants to help us sell the boat so she said she would like to work with our broker here and share the commission. Dave talked to La Paz yachts and Mike said sure. Tori said people are letting go of their money and boats are selling again. I know Tori will do everything in her power to help us. So I feel good about that. We are still thinking we will have to take the boat to La Paz to have the bottom painted and also the canvas screening repaired. Unless someone wants to buy her as is. Everything else is in good shape like the engine, generator, water maker, and air conditioner. The things that really matter for running the boat. There is still hope. Always!!!

The Dream Continues

The months just keep clicking by. We have had such nice weather it doesn’t seem like winter at all. I am finally over my cold but still have some sinus problems. Since we are having a mild and warm winter, things have started blooming early. So it is a good thing I have The dreamallergy medicine. Birds are arriving and chirping in the morning and before the sun sets. Pretty soon they will be looking for a place to build a nest. The white tail doves are coming back and we hear their monotonous call. So far it hasn’t been bad, but when they start to mate they will be calling to each other all day long and will be waking us up as the sun comes up. We attended the Super Bowl party at a friend’s house and stayed for most of it. Then when Dave figured who the winners were going to be, we left. He added to the football pool, but didn’t win anything. It was fun and there was a lot of food! My friend Penny is back on her feet again so she was there. It was good to see and talk to her. We left this morning, the 6th, for Ensenada. Time to stock up on some needed supplies. It is suppose to rain in San Diego tomorrow which means Ensenada will probably get some rain too. As long as the roads stay decent it won’t matter. There is a section just south of Ensenada where they are repairing the road and there is a long section that is dirt so as long as that isn’t muddy it will be fine. It seemed to take us longer to get to Ensenada this time. We don’t know why. There wasn’t much traffic. Oh well. We arrived around 3:00pm and since we go right by the bank and WalMart, we stopped. Then we headed for the hotel. It was good timing as about an hour later the parking lot was filling up. We had thought about heading back to Home Depot after checking in, but once in our room, we decided we had enough road travel. We relaxed a little then went to McDonalds for dinner. I didn’t want much and the restaurant in the hotel was closed. We get our French fry fix this way. HA!!! Then it was back to the room to change clothes and relax. We watched T.V. then went to bed. We were up at 6:30am checked out by 7:00am and headed for Home Depot. We wanted to check out a couple things there and then we went across the street to Mega so I could get some of the items I couldn’t get at WalMart. Success!! Last stop Costco. It is fun to look at the outdoor furniture and whatever else Costco has on display for spring. It is fun to look and dream!! When we were finished at Costco, we fueled up and headed south to San Quintin. Dave made reservations for us at Jardines so we don’t have to worry about not getting a room. This place is wonderful and fills up quickly. No rain yet but it looks like it will tonight. Once at Jardines, we checked in then walked to the restaurant and had lunch. Afterward we came back to our room and Dave flipped through the channels to see what was available and I took a shower. Before long it was time to take part in Happy Hour at the restaurant so we walked over there and had a couple margaritas. We left the bar and went to the dining room and ordered dinner. I wasn’t very hungry as I had a big lunch so I ordered a chicken salad. By the time we were finished it had started raining so we got a little wet going to our room. Well we didn’t melt!!! Does that tell you anything about us??? Just kidding! We had turned the heater on in the room before we left for dinner so it was warming up nicely. We got comfy and watched T.V. When we went to bed we left the heater on low. The rooms are built with cement blocks and tile floors so they stay cold in the winter. In the morning we checked out and headed for the ATM one last time before leaving civilization! Then it was homeward bound. It was a beautiful sunny morning but we could see clouds south of us and wondered if it was going to be cloudy at home. We had a good trip but it was windy and we did hit some rain just north of Bahia. We got the jeep washed off which was good. It was cloudy in Bahia and it had rained but wasn’t at the time we arrived. It was starting to clear to the south. We fueled up, stopped to pick up milk, eggs and bread and headed for the house. We were told it rained here last night and this morning. Everything was wet and we had some puddles here and there. I don’t have to water plants for a while now which is good. We unloaded the jeep and carried everything upstairs and started putting it away. We had to run the generator later that afternoon to recharge the batteries and the great news is the windows I can’t reach to clean, got rinsed from the rain. Yahoo!!!! Looks like I need to get busy and wash the other windows now. I hadn’t washed them before going to Ensenada because the wind blew and it was cold. It’s on my list. We got back on a Wednesday and I played train on Friday with the gals. Some of the gals are starting to return so it is a fun big group!! After returning home from Train, I walked on the beach. There were all kinds of small fish coming to the shore. Dave took his fishing pole to see if he could catch some bigger fish, but he didn’t. We found out they were grunions mating. The female digs a whole in the sand just above the surf and the male fertilizes them. There were thousands of them. I have never witnessed such a sight before. It was awesome!! You could see tiny little pink eggs coming to the surface for the tide to take them out into the water. Awesome!!! Grunions are like smelt and I guess they come ashore every couple years to spawn. It is so great to be able to witness sea life. The down part of that though is finding dead turtles and baby seals on the beach. But it is the cycle of life and when these animals die it is food for coyotes, birds and other creatures. Today was grocery day. Even though we just got back from Ensenada, I needed to pick up a few things for my menu plan for the week. Penny was going to come with me but her and her husband Murray went to Guerrero Negro. It was a quick trip for me to town and back. Penny and Murray are coming to dinner tomorrow night so I am making my Mexican Lasagna and Key Lime pie. When I returned to the house I put the groceries away that needed to be refrigerated then took a walk on the beach before it got too windy. The wind has come up a little so I am glad I took my walk when I did. Now it is back to putting groceries away, exercising, cleaning the bathroom and making lunch. The sun is back and we are having some beautiful picture perfect days. We had a great dinner and visit with Penny and Murray. She brought homemade French bread and I sent them home with some lasagna. Jo had the gals over for Hand and Foot and Pinnacle today, Monday the 13th. My partner and I didn’t win the pot but it was fun none-the-less. I got my walk in as I walked to Jo’s and home again. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! We have been invited by Penny and Murray to join them for dinner at Los Viento’s tonight. The dinner was o.k. but the night was great. We had a good time with Penny and Murray and we also saw some other friends that showed up. We got a rain storm finally. It rained off and on the whole day and washed more of my windows I can’t reach!!! Yay!! We have needed the rain and at least I don’t have to water any plants for a while. Tuesday, the 21st Dave and I are going to Guerrero Negro to get our teeth cleaned and also get my molar that broke looked at. There is an hour difference between here and there so we will have to leave at 6:30am to get there by 11:00am their time. It takes at least 2-1/2 hours to get there and hopefully there won’t be a lot of cars on the road. We got our teeth cleaned and got good reports. I had him look at my molar and he said if I didn’t care what it looked like I could just have a metal cap put on it. If I wanted porcelain I would have to have a root canal and then a crown made. I told him it didn’t have to be pretty so I will go with the metal cap. I have to come back to be fitted for it then 2 weeks after that return to have it put on. Finally getting dental stuff taken care of. For the teeth cleaning it only cost us $89. Pretty inexpensive!! He was gentle and nice. Glad we finally have a dentist. There is suppose to be a permanent dentist sometime in Bahia, but don’t know when yet. We already have 2 doctors full time which is really nice and comforting. Before the full time doctors arrived, we would have the Good Samaritans come every 3 months. Things are improving here which is really good. The town has enough gingos and locals to make it worthwhile to have full time doctors and a dentist. Now if they would only get phone service so we can have a bank and ATM that would be a dream come true!!! Little by little the town is making progress. After leaving the dentist we stopped at the Super Mercado and picked up some swiss chard for Lois and came home. Today ended up being a windy one from the southwest. It is warmer than it has been too. At least the sun is shining and I was smart enough to take my beach walk before it came up. My house is all clean for the week so now I am going to do some cross stitching. Still working on that dragon and castle cross stitch. It’s coming along. The other morning Dave and I watched 3 coyotes get food from the beach. We aren’t sure what food it was, all we saw is something in their mouths as they were carrying it inland to munch. Dave took the jeep into town to get the oil changed and I walked to my friends’ house. I wasn’t far from my house when a coyote passed in front of me with his prize. He ran a little bit away from me then we both stopped and watched each other for a few minutes then we continued on our way. After Dave was finished in town he stopped at Penny and Murray’s on his way back to help clean up her computer. She was going to bake Chocolate Chip cookies for him, as a thank you, but hadn’t yet. Murray was a little disappointed as he wanted some too!! She will bake them and bring them over when she is done. It took Dave pretty much all day working on Penny’s computer. She had a virus and a bunch of stuff that was taking up a lot of memory. Dave ended up bringing it home with him so he could do a diagnostic test and run some cleanup programs. It was with us for a couple days. He finally got the computer as clean as he can and it seems to be working a little faster. She still has pictures on her hard drive she needs to take off and put on a thumb drive, but other than that it seems to be working o.k. Penny finally made Dave’s chocolate chip cookies. I made my oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies and gave them a bag full. Dave doesn’t like them as much as just plain toll house chocolate chip cookies. I made a large batch so after giving a bunch to Penny and Murray, I gave some to our guard and our neighbor. That way I don’t have them in the house to eat!!!! Last week I won the money pot at Train which was a huge surprise because I usually don’t so now I have lots of quarters. Each game we play one quarter goes in from each of the gals that are at the table. When someone wins a game they give up one quarter to the pot and keep the rest. At the end of the game whoever has the lowest score wins the pot!! If we play with number 18 dominoes, that adds up to a lot of games and quarters. Yahoo!!! Will my luck continue for next week? Only time will tell. I leave you with a beautiful picture of a Blue Heron, taken on our beach. You don't see a lot of them down this way so it is always a pleasure to see them.