Getting Closer To The Sell Of Wave Sweeper

Here we are in April and there are no fool’s today!!!!! Being it is the 1st of April. HA!!! O.K.!
We are on the boat in Santa Rosalia. We didn’t have much traffic as we thought we would for after Easter vacationers. It was nice!! A lot of cars heading north though!

Today was a good day as we accomplished quite a bit on the boat. I cleaned the leather seats below, dusted, cleaned and polished the stainless steel on the stern of the boat and washed the shower curtain. The shower curtain actually turned out not to be as dirty as I thought it was. That was a plus!!!! Dave washed off the bird doo on the deck and took our poor worn and torn tarp off. We will look for another one tonight when we go to town for dinner. The Santa Rosalia famous hot dogs are calling us!!!! They are sooooo good but pack a whollop for cholesterol. I only have one. Dave eats 2. The hot dog is wrapped with bacon and fried and then they put mustard, ketchup, onions, cheese, and tomatoes on it. YUMMMMM!!!!

While I was working on the stainless steel, Dave went to the immigration office just to see how things were progressing and when he returned he had our permanent resident cards!!!!! Yahooooo!!!!! We will never have to do this again!!!!! Praise the Lord!!! Next is the boat!!!

Speaking of that, we have heard from Robert and Kristi and they will be here to see the boat around the 25th of this month. We are planning on coming down about a week before they get here to spiff up the boat and make sure the stainless is shiny and the boat is clean. It will be nice to meet these people as we’ve been conversing with them for months now. They too have had their share of financial problems so hopefully that is coming to an end not only for them but us too!!!! The Lord has a plan and it is in place. Whatever transpires will be a good thing no matter what!!

There are about 8 or 9 sailboats in the marina now. They are heading north in a few days for San Carlos (which is on the mainland, across the sea from where we are). They will haul the boat out of the water and put it on the hard for the summer months. We were able to see a couple that had cruised on their boat with us and they are crewing on another couples boat. They, like us, are going to sell their boat and move on land. Eventually the old timers choose land as it does get harder to maneuver around on a boat. There are plenty of new cruisers out there to take our place. The only bad thing is they don’t know a lot about cruising, their boats or navigation. THAT is scary!!!! We were talking to our cruising friends today and they said the cruising isn’t like it used to be. It’s fun for a while and then it is time to get out!! The other thing is the new cruisers tend to THINK they know it ALL and don’t want to listen to us old folks!!! O.K. FINE!!!!

Alberto, who washes our boat, asked if he could work on the stainless steel. Another guy named Edgar, who also works at the marina, said he and Alberto could do it together. I say YES!!!! It will be easy for them as one will do one side while the other does the other side. I think it is awesome. Just doing the aft stainless is hard on my back. They are much younger!!! We were able to get a tarp for the boat and we put it on the day before leaving for Bahia. The boat looks nice but we will have to spiff it up the next time we come down.

Shortly after getting back to Bahia we were hit with a freak wind storm. We had sand everywhere. So guess what I got to do? I had to vacuum the blinds and all around the windows and sills, cupboard tops, etc. Then wipe down the counters and vacuum the floor. It is like a spring cleaning until the next big wind comes. It was unusual because it changed direction. First it would be out of the north, then south, then west, and east. It was coming every which way!!! A couple times we couldn’t see our neighbor’s house on either side of us due to the sand blowing. Winds got up to 60+. The screens in the windows rattled along with the windows. We tried putting a wood clothes pin between the window and frame but with the vibration it didn’t stay. We heard that thin cardboard works pretty well so we’ll have to try that. We were lucky though, we didn’t have to sleep in the trailer as it calmed down by bed time. A couple gusts happened during the night but nothing like we experienced during the day. We thought the roof was going to blow off. I’m NOT KIDDING!!!! Also we were concerned with the skylights. Well we made it through and no damage. Dave went on the roof and checked the T.V. antenna and the skylights the next day and all was good. The only thing that needs to be done is to put some cold tar around one of the skylights. Since he hates heights, he will ask our gate guard if he would go up on the roof and fix it for us. He is always willing to help and earn extra money. The wind was still blowing enough not to be safe on a ladder so we will have to wait and do that project later.

I was going to wash my windows, but settled for just the solar panels. The windows will have to wait.
We were having trouble getting our internet working and tried readjusting our antenna and we still couldn’t get a strong signal. Larry, our landlord had an old antenna that he got to work so we got that one and tried it and it is wonderful with a strong signal. Apparently where we are in Bahia the signal isn’t strong because they change the position of the one in the states. So the new antennas don’t work. Dave finally was able to get a hold of a guy that has an old antenna on his roof in Bufedora, Ensenada and it is free as long as the person that wants it takes it down. Larry has tried several times to connect with the guy but either the guy was not home or Larry wasn’t home. We got lucky and so we made the trip to get it off his roof. The drive up was very windy and I was concerned we wouldn’t be able to get the antenna due to the wind, but the next day was wonderful. We stopped at Walmart and got a few things and then Costco for a couple of things then off to Bufedora. There is a very large population on ex-pats there who have large homes overlooking the Pacific and Ensenada. Wouldn’t want to live there as it is always windy!! And it isn’t really warm either. Anyway----we have the antenna.

Just the other day Dave switched out the antenna Larry let us borrow for the one we got in Ensenada. Things weren’t going so well. It was looking like it wasn’t going to work and we thought it was a dud but as it turned out, Larry came over (since he is the Bahia cable guy) and toyed with it and it works!!! We now have a stronger signal than ever before so we are good to go and internet is up and running!!! Larry has his old antenna back and our new antenna sits in the garage. Because Star Band internet (which is what most people have down here) is in the San Diego area, the main antenna that services the San Diego, Los Angeles area doesn’t point to where we can pick it up down here, so reception is weak for us. A lot of the people are experiencing problems. I’m just glad we have ours up and running again.

We heard from Robert about coming down to look at the boat. He and a friend are driving down in Roberts truck and will be at the boat on the 26th. Robert’s wife, Kristi is flying to Loreto that day so she won’t be coming. Both Robert and his wife have seen pictures of the inside of the boat and Robert saw the outside at the marina but he wants to see the inside in person. So mid afternoon on Friday he and his friend will stopping at the marina in Santa Rosalia. FINALLY!!! If all goes well we will have to make some more trips down so we can take Kristi and Robert on a sea trial and get them familiar with the boat. But I am getting the cart before the horse. We will see what happens. In the meantime the threads that hold the zippers on the canvas are rotting and coming loose. We have new zippers coming down which we hope to get by next month. We may have to take all the screens from the cockpit off the boat and take them; the zippers and thread to La Paz to get them sewn, but we will deal with that later. Robert knew about what shape the zippers were in so there won’t be any surprises.

We are back on the boat, 24th and today the 25th are faced with the chore of cleaning the cockpit, get the water spots off the stainless steel around the main hatch and polish it afterwards. My job was easy compared to Dave’s. He has been working on the forward head all day. It is still losing pressure. He found one of the pieces, that work the flusher pedal, broken and he took the head apart again and discovered that the last time he put it together he did it incorrectly for the seals. So with the new part in and doing all the other stuff we hope it works. All that is left is to wash the windshield and straighten up the guest state room. I have been leaving the cover on the windshield because it too needs sewing and I hate to take it off but I’m hoping if I am really careful taking it off tomorrow, I will be able to clean it and the windshield and replace it again. Cross your fingers it works!!!

Dave finished working on the forward head but it still is losing pressure. It has Dave baffled. We can’t do anything more now, but it will need to be resolved before we sell the boat. He is putting all his tools and parts away in the guest stateroom and then I will make the bed. Right now I have to walk to town and visit the ATM, the pharmacy and tienda (store).
On our way down to Santa Rosalia we had to stop in Guerrero Negro to have Dave see the dentist. The gum to his front tooth is sore which indicated an infection. Luckily we had the antibiotic, Amoxicillin to start him on. Dr. says he is going to need a root canal and along with taking the Amoxicillin he will need to get a pain killer. We are hoping to get an appointment so we can stop on our way home from Santa Rosalia and get it done. There is always something to add to the adventure right?????!!!! Well I am off to town.

I made it to the ATM, pharmacy for Dave’s pain pills and mine and the only thing I couldn’t do was shop at the store as they were closed and wouldn’t open again until 5:00pm. It was after 4:00pm so I decided to either try tomorrow before 2:00pm or stop after we have dinner tomorrow night. My back was really hurting but I took my pain pill and the combination of walking and the medicine made it feel better.

We took the sheet lines off the headsail this morning and have been soaking and rinsing them all afternoon. I rinsed them well and now all that is needed is to soak them overnight with a little fabric softener. I use a bounce dryer sheet. It makes them softer and more pliable and they smell good too. Ha!! Tomorrow morning we will rinse them and then tie them to the headsail and let them dry. We have been talking about doing that for a long time. It’s amazing what you do when you know there are people coming to look at the boat. I guess it gives an incentive!!
The boat looks nice and when the windshield is cleaned it will almost look new!!!!! Ha!!! Actually we get nice comments on our boat all the time.

Well I am sitting here writing this with the heating pad on my back. Yeesh!!!! Hopefully it will feel much better tomorrow. Too much up and down action with the plunger to clean the sheet lines in the bucket!!!!
We paid our guys Alberto and Edgar for doing the stainless. It looks really nice.

My back is doing better today so I am going to wash the inside and outside of the windshield and the cover too. It cleaned up nicely. The cover and outer window was filthy and looks so much better now. There are water spots but the next time we come down I will use spot remover on it. The cover made the taking off the windshield just fine and now is back in place. I will need to bring my sewing machine down next time to sew the one of the edges on the cover. We were able to relax in the cockpit and enjoy a clean boat.

As we were waiting for Robert to show up, I did laundry. Unfortunately the marina hasn’t fixed the problem of washers being fixed so we usually have to guess which on is working. A cruiser had been doing his laundry that morning so I got the scoop from him of which washer and dryer worked. So when he was finished I took my turn in the laundry room. It took a long time for the clothes to wash as water just trickled in the tub, but after about an hour or so they were ready for the dryer. I transferred the clothes to the dryer and started it. Then I went back to the boat to return in about 20 minutes. I expected the clothes to be dry or almost dry and when I opened the door and felt the clothes they were still wet!!!! I didn’t feel any heat from the dryer and said------uh oh!!! We told Edgar and he discovered they were out of propane. So I took the clothes to the boat and hung them on the life and the clean sheet lines on the starboard side of the boat in true cruising style!!!! Right after that Robert showed up. Wouldn’t ya know it. We told him what happened and we all had a good laugh. So we went through the boat with Robert telling where everything was like batteries, etc. We ran the engine which sounded amazingly good. He likes what he sees and mentioned about having it hauled out in Escondido to get a survey done. He would have to pay for that. But the thing is--until he buys the boat there won’t be any of that going on. He has to wait for things to sell before he can buy the boat so it is a waiting game. He wants Kristi, his wife to see it but they won’t be able to come back to the boat until her mother leaves. They will let us know when they can be back.

We were able to schedule an appointment for Dave to get his root canal done tomorrow, on our way home to Bahia tomorrow.
Dave got the root canal done and all is well. Thank goodness we were able to get it done so quickly. We have to make one more trip to Guerrero Negro for a checkup but that is all. It is a 2-½ hour drive from Bahia to Gro. Negro. It’s 5 to Santa Rosalia. So not a bad trip and is done in one day!!

We are back in the bay again. I have been working on a mobile for our grandson David who is 4. He loves jelly fish so I decided I would make a mobile out of the bottoms of plastic tonic water bottles. They have five bubbles to help the bottle stand up so I cut just the bottom off the bottle, glued some clear glass beads (the ones you can buy for decorating glass vases and other things for show) in the indentations. Then I glued some fabric ribbon around the edge then gathered ribbon for the tentacles. Anyway----I think it turned out great and I’m sure David will love it. The breeze will allow the tentacles to sway which is cool. Here is a picture!! I’m thinking that might be a great project for the show next year. While we are in the states for the summer, I want to get some cellophane for the tentacles. That should be cool and very inexpensive. I am making a turtle out of rock and shells for my friend Noreen to give to her when we get to Washington. I promised I would make her one. I am also working on the dragon/wizard counted cross stitch and the afghan for Eian. So I am always busy doing projects. I still find time to read as well.

Life After Washington State

On Friday the 1st of March, Jon took me to meet Dave in Gig Harbor so I could spend the weekend with him; Ron and Noreen in Bremerton. I was going to see Jon again on Saturday for E.J.’s birthday party and the Sounder’s soccer game, but Susannah and Jonathan Jr. were not going to be there so I said my goodbyes and gave hugs and kisses. Jon got me to Gig Harbor and Dave and I took off for Bremerton. Carolyn, her husband J.T. and their son Christian were coming over for dinner to Ron and Noreen’s place. I had time to visit with Ron before Noreen got home from work then Noreen and I did some catching up before Caroline, J.T. and Christian arrived. The dinner was wonderful and so was the company. It was really good to see Carolyn and family!! Our time in Washington is coming to a close soon. E.J.’s 16th birthday is the 2nd of March and just the family is getting together to help him celebrate. We made plans with Eian, Teri (his mom) and Ben (her significant other) to meet us at Alderwood Mall in Everett, to pick up Eian so he could be there for E.J.’s party. We picked Eian up and gave hugs all around then Eian, Dave and I went to lunch at McDonalds. I gave Eian the soccer cross stitch which he really liked. Here is a picture. After lunch we went to Brooke and Ernie’s house where E.J. and a couple of his soccer buddies were playing a soccer tournament on Xbox. It was rather low keyed. E.J. opened his gifts and we had cup cakes then the guys went back to the tournament. Eian and I played some games on his phone and had a good time. He is growing into a nice young man. We were very happy to have the day to spend with him. Uncle Jon is sitting next to Eian. It was a good day. Ernie fed Eian and the rest of us who wanted dinner before Dave and Eian left. I was staying as Jon was taking me with him to the Souder’s Soccer game. Dave dropped Eian back at the mall where his mom and Ben picked him up, and then Dave headed back to Bremerton to the Condo. Because I knew Jonathan (my son) was taking me to the game it was easier to just go back to Bremerton afterwards then to go back to Jon’s house. That way Jon had a couple days with his wife and son before starting work on Monday. That evening Ernie, E.J. and his friends along with Jon and I went to the Sounders soccer game in Seattle. Jon is a season ticket holder so our seats were closer to the field. Ernie and the guys were seated behind and to the right of us. It had poured on the way to the game and we were hoping it would let up, which it did. It was on and off showers so we didn’t get drowned. Actually it wasn’t bad. Jon’s seats are out in the open where the seats Ernie got were under cover. We played against Canada and lost. We just couldn’t get the ball in the net. It kept hitting the coal post. It was very frustrating. We did get one goal but that was all. It was good to share the game with Jon. He missed not being with his family. He has become a very family oriented man and loves being with his wife and son. He would like to become a stay at home dad, but unless he gets laid off, he will be keeping his job. Susannah works at home most of the time, but does have to go into work sometimes 3 times a week. They will be juggling their work and home life like all newly married and with baby do. They will do just fine!! After the game I said goodbye to Jon and gave him a big hug then walked to the ferry to catch the 10:30 boat to Bremerton. Dave picked me up on the other side and because it was so late, Ron and Noreen were already in bed when we returned to the condo so we went to bed too. It is Sunday, our last day in Washington. We went to see Michael and David, (our son and grandson) in the afternoon. Unfortunately Dani (Michael’s wife) had to work so we missed seeing her. Darn work anyway!!!! That David is definitely a character!!! He is cute and very smart. He is a ham too!!! Here are some pictures. Somehow I managed to lose my driver’s license while I was staying at Jon’s house in Tacoma. I back tracked the places I went which were only three, and called them. Nope! No one had it. Now what!!! I must have put it in my jacket pouch and it fell out in the Costco parking lot. I had to show it at Costco to get some medication at the pharmacy. DARN!!!! Well not much I can do about it now. At least it wasn’t a credit card!!! I will call the DMV when we get to San Diego. I did search my bags, pants, coats, and everything I could think of but to no avail. That evening Noreen and Ron were having Ron’s nephew (Kevin) over for dinner at the condo. Ron made Kaluha Pork which is cooked in banana leaves over night. It was delicious!!! After Kevin left we watched some T.V. then said goodbye to Noreen as she would be at work when we got up. After getting up and having a cup of coffee, Monday morning, we finished packing and said goodbye to Ron. We fly out of SeaTac at 1:00pm so we had time to stop at the Tacoma Costco and go to the pharmacy to see if my license was there. When I called Costco a couple days before, the pharmacy was closed, but the office checked in their safe but didn’t find it. So I was really hoping the pharmacy still had it. Well to my dismay it wasn’t there. Bummer! I checked at the front office but it wasn’t there. So now I have to get a replacement. I must have dropped it in the parking lot on the way to the car. We got to the airport, checked our bags, stopped to check if our flight was on time and low and behold it had been delayed an hour. Great!!!! We went and had a bite to eat and called Phil and Creela to let them know we were delayed and what time to pick us up at the San Diego airport. I’m glad we were able to get first class seats this time so the wait wasn’t as bad. On the way up we had to ride in coach. First class is so much nicer. We had a good flight and it took a couple hours. We called Phil and Creela once we got our luggage and then waited outside baggage pickup for them. It didn’t take long before they were there and we were back at their house. We stayed with Phil and Creela a couple days then headed to Ensenada. We had to get car insurance papers from our insurance man, Tona, and then do a little shopping before heading home. The weather was nice and warm. We arrived at the house in Bahia on Thursday the 7th. It was good to be back. There was a yard sale on the 9th which we went to but didn’t find much. I did buy a couple table cloths for the art and craft show and I can use them on our tables at the house. Dave got a ride home with someone and I took the truck to town and did some food shopping. The people that are interested in the boat are delayed again. We were supposed to meet them on Monday the 11th in Santa Rosalia. They went back east in their motor home to visit their son and some family before heading back to Oregon. So they have put off seeing the boat until the end of March. A little disappointing as we were hoping it would be done and over with by now. They are trying to refinance their Oregon home so they will have money for the boat so things aren’t as sure as they were before. We thought we were going to get a reprieve from going to Santa Rosalia on the 11th since we weren’t meeting with Robert and his wife for the boat but got an email from Immigrations saying we had to come in and sign a couple more papers for our permanent residency. So we still had to go down! We went down, signed the papers, stayed on the boat overnight and came back the next day. Now all our immigration papers go to Mexico City to be processed so we wait some more. It could be months before we get our cards for residency. Oh well. e We are waiting to hear from Robert and his wife Kristi of their schedule to be in Santa Rosalia. They said they are trying to come down and be there on April 1. Well I hope so because that is when our moorage is due and we have to figure out what we are going to do. We definitely won’t do the six months. We have to decide if they don’t make it whether we take the boat to San Diego and have it brought back to Seattle to sell. We gave them a deadline of April 1because the timeframe to move the boat north is no later than May. So now we don’t know if we are going to have to pay on a month to month contract, which is more expensive than 6 months at a time. Everything is so up in the air. The last we heard they were in Texas and heading for Oregon. Then they would be heading south. So I guess we will see. We have only a week left. The art and craft show started on the 24th. There are a lot of neat things for sale. The first 2 tables are of my stuff. The rest are of the other artists. There are some very talented and creative artists here. Some of the Mexican ladies had things to sell as well. Their table is next to the last picture. I hope I do well in selling my critters. The show runs through April 2. There were a lot of people that went through and looked. Some bought others just looked. I sold 3 of my dragonflies and a mermaid the first day. I heard no one sold much on Monday which was yesterday. Darn. I really was hoping I would sell most of them so I wouldn’t have a lot to bring home. One good thing though, I talked to the lady who manages the Museum and asked if I could have a couple of my critters on display in the shop and she said yes. I told her I would leave about 4 in a box for her to display and if they sell I would give her more and if not, I would take them back. So we shall see. Maybe this summer they might sell as the cruisers come to town. One can only hope. I will have to leave the show early as Dave and I need to be in Santa Rosalia on the 1st. I work Thursday and again on Saturday at the show so will pack my things and break down the table before closing, Saturday. I am kind of bummed right now because I’m not doing as well as I had hoped. I get my hopes up thinking I will do well selling them, as everyone here said I should, and then I hardly sell anything and I am left with the dilemma of what to do with all the critters I made. I love making them but if I can’t sell them there isn’t any point of making a lot. Well as the saying goes “That’s the way the cookie crumbles.” HA!! It’s not the end of the world!!! I have been walking on the beach in the morning during low tide and found a lot of sting rays and puffer fish swimming close to shore. The weather is like summer here which is wonderful. It’s not real hot yet and the breeze we get keeps it comfortable. I am back working on Eians afghan, crocheting squares and then I am starting a counted cross stitch I bought a while back of a dragon and wizard. It’s going to be more of a challenge than the dragon and castle was but it will be beautiful when I am finished. I packed up all my rock and shell crtitters and left the 2 dragon flies and zipper pulls there on display. Hopefully I will sell a few. I left 4 with Carolina and took the rest home. I’ll see about selling the majority of them next year as Easter is later in April. Here is a scene of sunset behind our house. We are blessed with beauty everyday!!! Enjoy a little piece of our paradise!

Baby Jonathan-----Here We Come!!!!

We survived winter in Mexico!!!!!! Don’t laugh. Truly we have a couple months of cold and then February comes and it starts to warm up. It is still chilly at night but where else can you go to dinner in a sweater!!!! Our friends, Larry and Judy invited us to a dinner party at Alejandrina’s to celebrate Larry’s 70th birthday. It was a fun time and a lot of our friends were there. It also happened to be the Baja 200 race today as well. Dave and I didn’t stand along the roadside waiting for the motorcycles and cars to come by but we could watch a little from our kitchen window. Some of the cars were cool!! When we went into town the race cars were parading down the street to cheers and smiling faces. It brings a lot of money in town which is a good thing. Some of the racers were having dinner at Alejandrinas when we arrived. We met a man named George who raced his car and the gal that rode with him. Nice people. After we had dinner and watched Larry open his gifts, we left and I did some grocery shopping for the week. Then it was on the bumpy road to home. I was surprised the road wasn’t all torn up after the race. It was bad to begin with but figured it would be worse. Just a few stones thrown out in the road but for the most part it wasn’t any worse. Lois and Larry are back and they had our water heater. It is a ten gallon propane heater. Wow!!! We have moved up in the world. The nice thing is they didn’t charge us for it. We offered to pay half. We got our blind too. It took Dave a couple days working on the installation of the water heater before he got it working. He had to change the way the pipes went so they could connect to the fittings to the new water heater. Anyway, we fired it up today and it seems to be working. Haven’t taken a hot shower yet but it won’t be long. Dave went to return some tools to Larry so while he was gone I put up the blind in the kitchen. One less thing for him to do. He was surprised and pleased it was done. So things are in working order again. Remember I said they are putting a road in from town past our house? Well they haven’t started yet. Of course they were waiting for the race to be done. The word now is they will start in March. We shall see. We started out the morning with clouds and had a few sprinkles but now the sun is shining and it is warm. It is very comfortable. We were finally able to take a hot shower!!!!! It was wonderful!! I guess the old water heater had been dying for some time because the water didn’t stay hot through a quick shower. So we are very happy!!! Now I am working on the baby cross stitch announcement. I won’t have it done before I leave but hopefully I will get to finish it while I am in Washington. We received very sad news this morning. Ruth died this morning, the 4th. She will be sorely missed!!!! Christopher, her son, is going to have a celebration of her life on March 2nd in La Mesa, California, for those friends up there and then have another one in Bahia where he will scatter her ashes on the bay. My good friend Penny had been with her close to her dying. She had to come home due to being ill and didn’t want to give anything to Ruth or Christopher so she wasn’t there when Ruth died. But she did reassure me that Ruth was ready and prepared to die and she went in piece. I am glad about that. It just goes to show us all that we need to take care of ourselves and get regular physicals. If Ruth had seen a doctor when she started feeling ill, they may have been able to catch the cancer before it spread. It is what it is but it is definitely a lesson to be learned. When we are young we think we are invincible and no harm will befall us. But when we get older the way we treated our bodies catches up with us. In her case she smoked a lot and she definitely liked her wine and liquor. I’m not naive enough to think that is all that caused the cancer, but it didn’t help. I was at Lois’ watching the 2nd series of Downton Abbey when the announcement came over the VHF that Ruth had died. We shed some tears and then opened a bottle of white German wine and gave a toast to Ruth!!! She will live in our hearts and mind forever. O.K. Now to continue on a brighter note. It is getting closer to the time when we will be leaving to go north. I can hardly wait. Our plan is to drive to Ensenada on the 16th and cross the border the next day and be at our friend’s house, Phil and Creela that afternoon. They are letting us stay there overnight and will drive us to the airport so we can keep our jeep at their house. They are such good people. Then on our return they will pick us up at the airport and we will stay with them overnight then leave for Ensenada the following day and be home on the 6th. While in Washington we will hopefully get to see David, our 3 year old grandson, Eian who is 13 years old, E.J. who is to be 16 years old, and Brody who will be 5 years old. Dave will probably see his daughter and her two sons, Ethan and Sammy. Ethan just turned 18 and Sammy is 15. They sure are growing up. We are in Santa Rosalia to see about getting our residency cards, but unfortunately they aren’t back yet. We did find out we don’t need a letter to go north as we aren’t flying from Mexico to the States. So that was a relief. As we were walking back to the boat and from the immigration office, Dave noticed we had a flat tire on the front passenger side of the jeep. Bummer!!! We just can’t seem to get ahead money wise these days. Whenever we think we will be able to save some bucks, something else happens!! BUT on the positive side, at least the tire got flat here instead of blowing on the road going home. So there are blessings in disguise! There is an auto shop across the street from t he marina so Dave walked over there and had them take off the tire to see what was causing the problem. That was the tire that Sammy, in Bahia patched, however, he never removed the rock that caused the first leak so now the rock is so far imbedded in the tire there is no patching it. We need a new tire. Alberto sprayed some of the flat fix stuff in it but it won’t last long. So now Dave is on the hunt for a new tire. I pray he will be able to get one. Our life is full of excitement!!!!! Ha!! Well like I said----never a dull moment. We are suppose to go back home tomorrow so I hope we can get all of this resolved. While he is searching for a tire, I will do laundry that I brought from the house. Oops! Can’t do laundry as he has the jeep with the clothes in the back. Ha!! Well good news. He got a new tire put on and it was not that expensive. A couple hundred dollars so for the jeep it is pretty inexpensive. So we are heading to the house tomorrow. I got the laundry done and all that is to be done now is measure the zippers for the cockpit enclosure so Dave can pick up new ones in Washington. Well the day arrived finally to head north. We decided to leave really early and go to Phil and Creela’s house and stay 2 days with them before flying out. We had a great visit. Then on Monday the 18th they drove us to the airport and we flew to Washington where we rented a car and Dave drove to Jon and Susannah’s in Tacoma to see the little guy then leave me there. He will be staying with Ron and Noreen in their condo for the 2 weeks. Dave didn’t get a chance to hold Jon Jr as he was asleep in his swing. The two weeks went quickly and during that time I got to have lots of grandma time with my new grandson and help mom and dad get some sleep and get errands done before they both have to go back to work. Jon starts work the day we fly home. He and Susannah are not looking forward to putting little Jon in day care, but they have no choice right now. They did a lot of searching for one while I was there and finally found one close to home, but they want to find one they can just pay on a drop in basis as Susannah works from home a lot. They have a lot of challenges with work, baby, day care and all that goes with it but they are handling it well. They are still sleep deprived and that won’t change for a while. Lots of caffeine!!!! Ha!! Jon Jr. is smiling a lot and starting to coo which is always fun to hear. He is a really good baby and a doll!!! Mom and Dad call him Bug and grandma right now calls him boo!!! Why? I don't know. It just sounded good at the time! He tends to sleep a lot during the day which is unfortunate for mom and dad and wants to feel every 3 hours at night. He is hard to burp as well which doesn’t help matters. He is a diner rather than a eater. What I mean by that is he takes his time eating. He will eat a little then stop and take a break then eat some more and take a break and so on until he is finished which usually takes about an hour maybe more. He is like his dad in that respect because Jon was a diner. Grandma got to give Jonathan Jr. a bath but he was more interested in the light under the counter. I finally got his attention though. While we were in Washington we got to go to Brody’s 5th birthday party. Dave and I met Brooke’s mom and her grandparents. The party was at a jungle gym in Mount Vernon. The kids had fun climbing through the tubes and sliding down the sides and having cake and Brody opening his gifts. He is into Power Rangers and Ninja turtles and the like so here are a couple pictures showing some of the stuff he got. E.J. was totally bored but that is a teenager for you!! After the party, Dave dropped me back to Jon and Susannah’s house where he got to hold Jonathan Jr. for a while. We had a short visit but nice. He is planning on coming back on Friday to get me so I can spend some time with Ron and Noreen and Jonathan can spend the weekend with his family before he starts work on Monday. The last night of my stay with Jon and family I volunteered for the night duty with Jon Jr. and he was a little fussy as he had gotten shots the day before. So I ended up putting him in my bed and we slept pretty well. I have NEVER done that before not even for my own kids. I guess I am getting soft in my old age. Ha!!! He did sleep longer that way and Grandma wasn’t so tired the next morning. Before Jon took me to Gig Harbor to meet Dave, I said my goodbyes to Susannah and Jonathan Jr. as I wasn’t going to see them again before going back to Mexico. She was staying home with Jon Jr. and Jonathan was the only one going because he was taking me to the Sounders game that evening. When we return in the summer Jon Jr. will be so big. But it will be fun. Dave met us at the shopping center in Gig Harbor and I told Jonathan I’d see him tomorrow, Saturday at his brothers. Dave took us to Ron and Noreen's condo. We went out for dinner. It was good to see them again. Then we came back watched some T.V. and went to bed.

A Promising New Year

Happy New Year!!!!! May 2013, be a wonderful year filled with love, health, prosperity, and faith. It has been cold here. Not as cold as the NW but cold for Mexico. We have had many cloudy days to where we have to run the generator a couple times a day to recharge the batteries. That’s what happens when you are solar only. No electricity. It is just the way it is when you live off the grid. We have had a lot of north wind which makes it really cold. We have no heat in the house so we have been wearing sweats, sweatshirts, socks and even wrap in a blanket when the other isn’t enough. I wish I had more warm winter sweaters. If you told me, when we were preparing to cruise south, that I would need warmer clothes for winter, I would have laughed and said “RIGHT” Well folks—it’s true. From time to time it does get cold. But now that we have been here for 3 years I think most of it is due to being acclimated!! So there ya go. Good news!!!! We have a new grandson!! He was born January 6th at 6:15am, weighing in at 8lbs 4 oz and 19.5 inches long. Yahoo!!! He is the son of my youngest son and his wife, Susannah. They have named him after my son. Jonathan William Adcock Jr. We are very excited and I can’t wait to see him in February. My plan is to fly from San Diego to Seattle on February 18th and stay 3 weeks with Jon and Susannah to help with Jon Jr. then come home on March 4th. Here is a picture of our sweet boy.

We are in Santa Rosalia to repair the sump pumps and forward head and also get our FM3’s renewed. We got here on Monday, January 7 and Tuesday we went in to the immigration office to get er done!! Well we were definitely shocked when they told us we had to apply for residency as we were at the end of our FM3 time frame. Dave mentioned that when he was in last month Enrique said we wouldn’t have to worry about the new rules as we were in our last year for FM3. Next year we could apply for residency. Well like everything else in Mexico, things change. Can’t depend on anything being what they tell you. Sooooo we had to get new pictures taken which cost 250 pesos each, and then we had to go to the ATM to get money then back to pick up our pictures then back to immigrations. There we turned in our forms and they gave us a paper to take to the bank so it was back to the bank. We paid them 9,630 pesos for both applications and signed the receipts then headed back to immigrations. They checked everything out and told us to come back on Monday. We asked if it could be done sooner, like Friday and they said maybe. Of course there was a fee involved to get it done by Friday. So we will go back on Friday to hopefully finish the process. We have to be finger printed and sign more papers. Then those papers are sent to Mexico City and no one knows how long it will take for them to process and send them back here. At least becoming a resident means we don’t have to renew any more so this is the last time to do all this stuff and pay. And there are no restrictions as to how long we can be out of the country and we can even work if we want too. That means I can sell my critters and not get in trouble. So even though it is a lot of money to put down (about $750.00 for both of us) it is worth it to not have to do it again. We just weren’t expecting to have to come up with that much money yet. Everything works out and we will be glad when it is all over. We heard from the buyers of the boat. Yes!!!! You heard me correctly. The couple emailed us and said they have been delayed as her father had to have surgery to remove a blood clot and have stints put in. Plus they are trying to sell their home in Bandon, Oregon and would prefer to have that done so they can pay cash for the boat without having to sell anything else. So I guess they are serious. They haven’t seen the inside of the boat yet but have seen the pictures we have online. Plus Dave has been filling them in on what equipment and amenities we have on board. They were supposed to meet us down here the first week in January but then just before Christmas her dad got ill. So once he is recuperated they will head down. We have no idea if they have anyone interested in their house, but Dave did tell them that if the boat hasn’t sold by March/April time frame it goes to Seattle. We are really hoping they get here before February. The reason for that is if the boat sells before I go north, Dave might be able to go with me so he can take care of switching from where we bank, due to the boat loan, to a Credit Union. So we are still on hold. I have to say though that this year so far is looking very promising!!!! I still say that God is in charge and everything will work out for the best of everyone. Today, being Wednesday, Dave changed out the float switch in the aft sump pump, changed the pressure unit and motor for the forward head. It was an all day project. The head sounds better but there is a delay for the motor to work when the toilet is flushed. It isn’t supposed to do that but we will use it and maybe it just needs to get broken in. Dave said he called the company and asked them about the delay and they were baffled. So we shall see what happens with use. While Dave was working on those lovely projects, I walked to town to get a few things. I went into a lot of the stores I haven’t been in just to see what they have. I saw a lot of nice things and enjoyed just looking. When I finished shopping I came back to the boat and helped Dave, which meant I held the flashlight and got tools for him. I helped clean parts and then I did some laundry. I had sheets and towels from the house I brought down with us. Today was a warm beautiful day. There were blue skies and no wind. It was awesome. It is supposed to be warmer tomorrow and partly cloudy. The temperature should be in the low 70’s. Perfect!! I’ve been working on the Wedding record cross stitch and posted the December blog. Tomorrow there isn’t much to do. There is some cleaning to do and I already wiped down the cockpit area. It was windy and cold so I didn’t rinse it this time. I just damp mopped. It wasn’t that dirty. So I might get to work a lot on my cross stitch. Today is when we go back to immigrations to see if we can finish the process of finger printing and signing forms, but before we do that Dave is still trying to figure out what is wrong with the forward head. The motor has been replaced and a new pressure switch put in. Well about the only thing to do now is to take the whole unit apart and see if there Theis anything clogging the hoses. Yuck what a job!!! I got the job of cleaning the fittings and we actually did have an almost clogged hose. We cleaned that out and put it back together which wasn’t an easy chore. Then we tried it and guess what???? It worked!!!! It has vacuum when flushed and everything is draining and working!!!!! High Five!!!! There was some whooping n hollering going on after that!!!!! FINALLY!!! It is 2:00pm and we need to get to immigrations. We were able to get our fingerprints done and sign forms. Now we wait!!! Once they are sent to Mexico City no one knows how long it will be before we get our final cards. We are going to have to come back here around the 14th of February to get a letter saying we are waiting for our residency cards from Mexico City and we can travel to the United States. That is if the cards haven’t arrived yet. One morning we watched from our deck, dolphins feeding close to shore. It was awesome to see that. The whale sharks are gone so now all we see are pilot whales and dolphins once in a while. Here are some pictures of the zipper pulls I am making for the show. It’s been pretty quiet and not much going on. I finished the baby afghan and the wedding cross stitch and have started on the baby announcement cross stitch. I’m right on schedule!!!! Here is a picture of the afghan. They say bad luck comes in 3’s!!! Well our water heater finally quit working. So Dave had to jimmy rig it until we get a new one. We called Larry, our landlord and asked him to pick one up for us. They are coming down soon so they will be able to bring it with them. The water heater we were using came from the trailer and it is about 25 years old if not older. So it isn’t surprising it finally died. Then the second thing was the blinds in the south window broke. They are cheap so don’t last long. So Larry is bringing a blind down also. Then the 3rd thing is the truck battery. It went belly up. We were able to borrow one from a friend here and when we go to the states we will get one at Costco. Good news is Dave is flying up with me on February 18. Yippee!! No we haven’t sold the boat. The couple interested lost the dad so their trip has been postponed until March. So Dave figured he would fly up with me, rent a car, drop me at Jon and Susannah’s and then go to Bremerton and stay somewhere. Ron and Noreen’s boat is available for him to stay on or there are other places so he will figure it out. He has to get zippers for the boat from our canvas guy and so some other things while I am helping with the grandboy. We will fly home on March 4th. Just a short visit this time but we get to see the new boy and help celebrate 2 of our grandsons’ birthdays. One to be 5 and the other 16. Time flies!! Remember back when we were cruising and I wrote about elephanties? They are west winds and can pack a wallop for wind. Well we finally saw a TRUE elephant the other morning. We have heard people describe the clouds looking like an elephant trunk but never saw that until this morning!!! It was awesome!!! Most of the time we know west winds are coming because the clouds stack up on top of the mountain range and then blows all day and night or until they go away. It is neat to see and experience all this stuff. I have been walking the beach at low tide about every other day and one day I was thrilled to find a nautilus shell on the beach. You just don’t see them often so it was amazing. I actually found about 5 or 6 that day. Then I went walking the next day to find more. This time I got about 20. They range in size from medium to small size. Here is a picture. I went online and found out that octopus live in the shells. That is awesome!! The high winds we had for a couple days caused the sea to push them to the surface and to shore. They are definitely a rare sight. My neighbor Mary got some too. I have found just a couple small ones lying on the beach but I have enough so I didn’t pick them up. Let someone else find them. Today is Super Bowl Sunday and the game starts around 3 so we are going to watch it. We are rooting for San Francisco to win. Should be an interesting game. We got word this morning that our friend Ruth, the one who has cancer, is in the hospital again. Just a week ago we heard the doctors took her off the chemo and are just administering radiation. She has one collapsed lung so they thought the radiation might help her breathe better. They have given her about 2 months to live. They called Hospice but they won’t come out to care for her because she is still getting treatment. So when the radiation treatments are finished then they will come out. Ruth was still planning on coming down this month for the last time but I don’t know if she will make it. The last time she was here it took a lot out of her. She has remained very strong in what she wants to do and fighting the cancer, so who is to say she won’t make it down. Time will only tell. Well the time has told because my neighbor Mary came over to tell us Ruth was in the hospital and on life support. She is unconscious right now but she has made it known to her son, Christopher, she doesn’t want to be kept alive on a machine. The other thing is the doctor found a tumor in her head which was a good size one. Christopher was very angry that with all the tests she has had they never saw it. He loves his mom very much and is having a real hard time dealing with her illness. So the news is not good and we suspect she will die soon. It is so hard when the person going through the pain and anguish doesn’t want to die and still wants to do things. I hope she goes peacefully. God be with her and her family when it is finished. Dave and I were planning on stopping to see her after we flew back to San Diego, but it doesn’t sound like she will last that long. Darn. She is a wonderful lady and we all here in Bahia will miss her.

Another Year to Reflect and Be Thankful

Can you believe it is December already? Well thank goodness I have my shopping done. I finished shopping for the grandsons just before Thanksgiving. I shop online and have it sent to their homes. Unfortunately the adults have to wait for their birthdays to get something. Money just doesn’t spread as far as it once did. Dave has measured the spot where the house will be built. It is pretty amazing. Like I said, he is having fun. I am having fun just watching him!!!! I have been making wreaths from beads and wire to give as gifts this year. I have finished 6 so far. I was telling Mary, my neighbor, we only had a small string of lights but we were going to put them out anyway. I went over to her house the other day to borrow some spray paint for a whale I was making and she gave us 2 strands of Christmas lights, one red and the other green. That was very nice and I was excited to have more lights to display. I want to put them up so when Creela and Phil come over for dinner on the 1st it will look Christmassy. We got them up and when it got dark I turned them on. To our dismay only half of the red and green strands worked. Bummer. We’ll have to investigate tomorrow in the daylight. It is pretty with the ones that are working. We examined all the bulbs and made sure they were tightly in all the way but they still didn’t work. I took off the green strand and worked with it to no avail. Then Dave tried his hand at it and determined the wiring was wrong on half the strand on both. So we will just have to live with it. Next year we will get some good ones and toss these. Hey!!!! They were free so I’m not complaining. At least we have enough lit to make it festive. I gave all my aluminum can ornaments to our gate guard and he has decorated 2 trees outside his trailer. It looks rather festive. Mary put a green wreath and garland on the gate with a solar light attached to the gate so we can find the lock to unlock the gate when Ramon is not there in the night. We had Creela and Phil over for dinner as they are leaving on the 2nd and we gave them their wreath made of beads and wire. They loved it!!! We had a nice dinner and we said our goodbyes until next time when they come back. Creela left her sweatshirt at our house last night so I took it over to them this morning. It was good timing as they were getting ready to leave. We hugged and said goodbye again and I gave Creela back her sweatshirt. Ron and Diane are throwing a big birthday bash for Ron’s 80th at Alejandrina restaurant in town tonight, Sunday, the 2nd and we were invited. Just about everyone who has known Ron through the years showed up. It was a nice party and the amazing part about it was they paid for everything. They supplied the wine for the tables and we had 2 entrees to choose from. One was a chicken dish and the other a beef soup. Dave got the chicken and I got the beef. It was all very good. Then there was cake. We not only had the birthday cake but some of the gals brought other cakes. Everyone had a wonderful time and Ron was a happy camper. May he have many more good ones. I have been busy making new critters and made some new dragon flies. I am almost finished making ones for the Art/Craft show in March. It is getting cold in the art room and the glue isn't drying as fast as I would like it. Time to take a break for a while. I have plenty for the show. Here are some new critters.

We are in Santa Rosalia for the week. Moorage needs to be paid for the month and we have to do some repairs to the forward head as there isn’t any pressure when we flush it. We will replace the duckbills (they are rubber gaskets that allow the water to flow through one way. They expand and contract with the water pressure). Dave will also try to adjust the pressure. So that wonderful job is facing us. Then I need to clean both sump pumps. That is on the agenda for today, Dec 4. We also need to go to the immigration office to ask some questions about the new way they are doing visas. We have read that FM3’s and FM2’s are going away and for non citizens we will need to get a 180 day visa, but you can pay in advance so you don’t have to renew every year. So we will get the scoop. Hopefully they will be open. We have to come back in January to renew so we want to be sure we have all we need by then and all questions answered if possible. It is a beautiful morning, sun is shining and it is cool. It is nice not to have the heat. It makes it better for working on the boat. Tomorrow I need to rinse the cockpit. To our surprise it isn’t really dirty. So it will be a quick job. Then I have some shopping in town and if we are finished with all projects we may be leaving on Thursday, but I still have laundry to do so we shall see. Our plan was to leave on Friday unless we finished earlier. Dave walked down to the immigration office to see what they had to say about the new regulations, so while he was gone I cleaned the forward sump pump. Just as I finished Dave came back. He said nothing will change for us because we are on our last year of FM3. All the new regulations are for those who are new to Mexico. So this is a good thing for us. The only drawback is it will cost us twice as much this year. Then next year instead of going to an FM2 we will be able to apply for residency. Dave and I discussed the issue of going for citizenship, but said we really don’t need to do that. There is a lot of red tape involved and we really don’t have a desire to go through all of that. Being a resident will be enough. I tackled the other sump pump while Dave worked on the forward head. I cleaned the sump pump but the float switch wasn’t lifting high enough to drain the water. Dave took a look at it and we think the mechanism in the float that makes the level go up and down is being hampered in some way and it can’t be taken apart. So we need to order a new one. We have a complete sump system we tried putting in some time ago, when we were having similar issues, but it was too big for that space. Oh well. Dave will have to go online to see if they even carry the parts. I sure hope so because there isn’t any way to modify the space where it goes. After helping me he went back to working on the head. I helped hold the flashlight and give him the tools he needed but outside of that there wasn’t much for me to do. I decided I would walk to town and look for some disinfectant wipes. There is one store I know that carries them so I will go there and also to the government store to pick up a few grocery items. I walked to the craft/fabric store and looked for beads. They had them but in small quantities and there were a lot of people buying fabric and things for Christmas so I decided not to get anything. I can get some more beads when we get home. I needed to stop at the ATM but there was a line. Saturday was a holiday for Mexico as it was the inauguration of their President. So the banks were closed Monday. I’ll have to come back later. When I got back to the boat Dave was almost finished with the head. He took the old duckbills out and replaced them with new. They definitely needed to be replaced. Now he needs to work on the pressure switch. The head is working better and does have pressure but Dave thinks it needs a new motor. Dave will have to order that as well. Hopefully we will get the parts before January. Joanne’s son and family are coming down next week so we can ask if they will accept the parts at their home and bring them down with them. That is how we get things down here. That forward head has been used a lot more than the aft one so it doesn’t surprise us the motor is going on it. After lunch Dave and I relaxed. I read and Dave was on his computer. For some reason I don’t get as strong a signal as Dave so I can’t connect to the internet very often. That is alright. When I get it I do what I have to and then I’m done. I did post the October blog this morning. Thank goodness I got that done. I lost my internet signal after that and still haven’t gotten it back yet. I will try in the morning and hopefully my blog will be up to date. Back at the house our internet isn’t strong sometimes and it takes a long time to download pictures on the blog so I try to do it when we come to Santa Rosalia. I guess I just go with the flow and do it when I am able. No worries!!!! We had dinner on the boat last night and again tonight. I had leftover roast beef and vegetables so I brought it with us. It was nice to dine on the boat for a change. Tomorrow night I think we are going to Terco’s to have some roasted chicken. Our favorite. Before we went to Terco’s for dinner, Dave and I walked to the ATM and then to the grocery store to get a battery for our carbon monoxide unit. It was beeping when I opened the boat. Now it is working again and all is well. Tomorrow I plan on doing laundry, rinsing the cockpit and vacuuming. Depending on time I may have to wait on laundry but we’ll see. Looks like we leave Friday to go back to the house. Well we have a new development with the forward sump pump. It doesn’t work!!! It overflowed so water was going into the bilge instead of being drained overboard. Dave thinks water got inside the pump. CRAP!!!! The motor is contained in a box. he took it apart to see if he could fix it but when it was back together it ran but it wouldn’t shut off. This isn’t a good thing because we can’t run any water from the sink or the shower in there. The pump runs but doesn’t drain. Now what sportfans!!!!! Today is a figure out why the sump pump isn’t draining. Dave got online and did find out we can order parts for both sump pumps so that is a very good thing. I think the boat might be rebelling because it knows something is going on with us trying to sell it. HA!!!! If you believe that I have a bridge to sell!!!!! Things are just wearing out and eventually they would go belly up anyway. Now is a good time to get things in running order. Even if the boat doesn’t sell we would still need to have everything running. We both are frustrated with the internet here. We use to be able to get on without any problems but lately it is hit and miss. Plus they took away the room cruisers use to get on their computers and drop off and exchange books. The customs people are taking it over so now there isn’t any place for the cruisers to go. Dave told Isabela, the lady in the office, that the room the cruisers use to get on their computers to call home and check emails was taken away and if they can’t do that they won’t come. She said that wasn’t good so she will figure out another place for the cruisers to go. Internet is very important when you are cruising as that is the lifeline to family and friends and ordering parts. The boat is clean on the inside and out and we can’t do anything more with the head and sump pumps until we come back so we are heading home Friday. We had a safe trip home. The weather has finally turned cold with wind and we have had more rain and clouds than we have seen in the last 3 years. It is good for the plants but hard on the generator as we have to run it to charge up our batteries. There have been storms in San Diego and because of the way the jet stream is this year we are getting more weather from the south. That is because the lows move in a counter clockwise movement which pushes the air south. A few days Dave and I thought we were in Seattle with the grey all day!!!! Ha!!! Sorry guys!! We have been watching the weather and know Bremerton, well Kitsap County has gotten cold temperatures and snow. Looks like they will have a white Christmas. That will be fun for the kids. I miss my family and friends but sure don’t miss the weather!!! I’ll take the wind and a few cloudy days that we have. Most of the time the sun shines and at least brightens things up. The deck looks festive with the lights. I love seeing the colors and brightness it brings. I bought a paper tree and hung it on the wall for our Christmas tree. Still don’t have many decorations. I hung our stockings and tried to make it look festive. We invited our neighbors Joanne, George and Mary and Leysel over for dinner. It was fun. Joanne’s son, Ken and family arrived with our parts. Now we just wait to see when we are going down to the boat. We have to renew our FM3’s before the middle of January and the people interested in the boat want to see it first part of January so when we hear from them we will make our plans. Christmas was quiet. Just another day really. Not many people down here now so it is quiet. I finished the baby afghan finally and now am working on a cross stitch wedding pattern for my son Jon and his new wife Susannah. I also received the birth announcement cross stitch kit to do after the wedding one. So I have my projects lined up. I have finished working on all the critters for the Art/Craft show in March and it is too cold for the glue to set quickly so it is taking longer. Time to put it aside. I did manage to coat them with polyurethane so that is done and I attached my name tags to them. Now I need to price them in U.S. dollars and pesos. Then I will be ready for the show. I started making zipper pulls out of beads, animal trinkets and Angry Bird pogs. I found out the only way to get the pogs is to buy small bags of chips and then you get one in each bag. I went online to see about buying sets of pogs, especially Angry Birds, but they weren’t available. I will wait and see what I can find when I go home in February to help with the new baby. Not looking forward to the cold, rain and grey, but I am looking forward to seeing the family and our new grandson. Any day now!!! New Year’s Eve we went to a dinner in town and had a great time with our friends and had a lobster dinner that was delicious. Then we stopped at the Fiesta they were having in town for the first time in 3 or 4 years. We did some dancing and I got to dance with my friend Herman who is 93. He was having the time of his life and he was all decked out in his finest clothes and cowboy hat. What a kick he is. He was dancing with all the young pretty gals. That is Herman!!!!! Ha!! After dancing a couple dances and saying hello to our Mexican friends, we headed back to the house. Tom and Lynn, another one of our neighbors is having a bonfire and we have been invited. We went home and changed clothes and then joined our neighbors. Mary and George were there and our gate guard, Ramon too. It was a cold night but there wasn’t any wind which was great and the full moon was shining!! What a beautiful night. We made it to Midnight and wished everyone a Happy New Year then went home. We couldn’t believe how cold the house was and was glad to get under the covers and get warm!!!! Yeah! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!!!

Progress is coming to Bahia

We are starting the month with going to Ensenada to provision. Today is All Saints Day and the Mexican people celebrate the passing of children. There is lots of candy, balloons and flowers. Tomorrow the 2nd is the Day of the Dead and the adults are celebrated. Shops close and you see flower and grave decoration booths all up and down the road. I think it is a good celebration to have. They honor the dead with lots of food, flowers, balloons, fancy grave markers and much more. We had a great ride to Ensenada and on the way we saw the farmers plowing fields and planting new crops for the winter. Some time I think it would be fun on one of our trips north, to stop and do a little wine tasting!! There are quite a few wineries here in Mexico. When we arrived in Ensenada we decided to get money and get my shopping at Walmart done. Then all we have to do tomorrow is stop at Home Depot and Costco. After I had finished at Walmart we went and checked into the hotel ‘Santo Tomas’. Once checked in we headed to Tonas’ office to get our boat insurance papers and pay. We had to wait a little bit but eventually we got the paperwork, paid Tona and sat and visited with him for a few minutes. He races his sailboat and so it is fun to listen to his stories. We thanked him for his service and said goodbye. We headed back to the hotel and relaxed. We went to dinner at Mc Donald’s which is our meal of choice on a budget. We decided to do that as we will have a big dinner at Jardine’s hotel on Friday. The next morning we ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Then we were off to Home Depot. I needed to get some Min-Wax polyurethane for the critters I make and a couple other things. Costco doesn’t open until 9:00 o’clock so we had some time to kill. We looked at refrigerators and washing machines. Then I browsed through all the isles just to see what they had and dream a little of what I want in my house, whether it is this one or another. When it was 9:00 o’clock we paid for our stuff and left Home Depot for Costco. It only took us an hour to get what we needed and then we headed south. We will spend the night in San Quintin at a wonderful hotel called Jardines. They have many beautiful flowers and chirping birds and cactus and behind the hotel is a garden filled with orange and lemon trees and a lot of other plants. After we checked in we relaxed. Dave was on the computer and I went outside to read. It was a beautiful day and the sun felt good. There was a little breeze which kept it cool. San Quintin is not far from the Pacific Ocean so they have cooler weather and more wind. That evening we walked over to the restaurant and had a couple margaritas then dinner. We celebrated Dave’s 65th birthday!! After dinner we went back to our room and watched some T.V. before going to bed. We left Jardines around 8:00 o’clock in the morning and stopped in town to get more money and then headed for home. It was a good trip. Our gate guard is celebrating his 27th birthday on the 8th so I made him chocolate chip cookies. He was thrilled to get them so he could have milk and cookies. Our youngest grandson, David, just turned 3 today, the 13th. Happy, happy birthday grandson!!!! It is also my friend Creela’s birthday. Creela, Mary and I walked a little bit this morning and then in the afternoon I went and played Hand and Foot with the gals. My partner Wendy and I won the pot. We each got $2. Awesome!! Then it was off to dinner in town to celebrate Creela’s birthday. Larry and Lois were there also and it was a fun night. Next year Creela wants a big celebration since it will be her 75th. I have volunteered to be in the Art and Craft show in March. So I am busy making things not only to sell to adults but children as well. I have been working madly on a baby Afghan for Jon Jr. Jon and Susannah’s first child. So when I’m not creating something from rock, shells and things, I am crocheting. I am also making a birthday gift for my girlfriend Penny which is in December. I keep busy doing things I love to do. The Baja 1000 race is coming through town on the 15th. The motorcycles start from Ensenada in the morning and get to Bahia around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. Then the trucks/cars come after that but unfortunately it is dark when they come through so we don’t get to see them. They race on the road behind our house and create a lot of dust so I’m putting off my cleaning until it is over. We have heard rumors that the money; survey and paperwork have been done for a paved road starting from town to past our housing complex. The rumor is they will start in January 2013 and be finished in a year. We will finally have a paved road instead of a rocky lumpy bumpy dusty road. The pre-runners for the race have been loosening rocks and tearing the road up even more than it was and now with over 400 motorcycles and cars coming here the road is really going to be fun to drive on. NOT!!!!! We all are looking forward to the road. There is a copper mine reopening south of us so it will bring people to the town and good business. So Bahia is changing. You can’t stop process. It was just a matter of time before someone wanted to develop this area. The town will definitely benefit from it and maybe we will have more shops and a bank!!!! The bank would definitely be a convience!!! Dave inflated our dinghy from off the boat and we went for a little ride in the bay looking for whale sharks. About the middle of the bay we saw a small one and it came close to the boat. Then it went away so we moved on. Dave happened to look back behind us and saw a whale shark come toward the boat. He was so close to the rear of the boat that we turned off the motor so we wouldn’t hurt it. Its tail hit the dinghy! It was really awesome and what a beautiful creature!!!! Then it swam away and we didn’t see any more. It was a beautiful day to be on the water and we enjoyed it! I wanted to walk the beach so I had Dave drop me off on the beach and he went out to continue looking for whale sharks. I had a nice walk back to the house and Dave made it in before I got home. The race is finished and the road is terrible!!!! It is worse than ever!!!!! Everyone hates to drive on it any more. Our truck bounces all over the place so I have to go slow and the Jeep has better suspension, but with all the washboard ruts in the road it too is a rough ride. We have been told that from the back of whatever we are driving we look like bobble heads. A quad is much better, so I’ve been told, but we don’t have one. We now have our water and propane delivered to keep from driving so much on that road. I do go in every Saturday to get groceries and gas when needed, but not any other time. We are sooooo looking forward to a paved road. Our wonderful friends, Phil and Creela arranged to have a turkey brought down with Phil’s nephew and wife, so we will have a 20 lb turkey for Thanksgiving. We have invited Penny and her husband Murrey and our gate guard, Ramon for dinner. I am looking forward to making the pies and cooking the meal. I’m sorry to say that Creela is having a lot of back pain and is uncomfortable so they don’t know how long they will be here. She has stenosis(sp?) of the spine. It affects the very lower part of the back and it is like calcium or something like that which is closing in around the spinal cord and putting pressure on the nerves. She had a cortisone shot shortly before they came down to Bahia, but unfortunately it didn’t last long. Nothing seems to help. I really feel sorry for her. Well today is pie making day. I made 2 pumpkin and 2 apple pies. Then I prepped the turkey and boiled the giblets for broth. Cut the celery, onion, and garlic, putting it in a container and placed it in the refrigerator. So everything is done and I can relax. Oooh!!! I over did the standing today, which was all day in the kitchen and now my back is complaining. Well it’s time for a pain killer! Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! It is a beautiful day in Bahia. The sun is out and it is about 75 degrees. Wonderful!!! The bird has been stuffed and is in the oven. We should eat about 4:00 this afternoon. Penny, Murrey and Ramon are coming over about 3:30pm. We had a wonderful dinner and sat around and talked. Ramon is learning English so we help him and he helps us with our Spanish. He is a funny guy and we thoroughly enjoy his company. Dave and I were supposed to go to Lois and Larry’s house for dessert around 6:00 but they had just finished dinner about that time so we ended up going around 7:00. Penny and Murrey left with leftovers and pie and so did Ramon. He was a happy camper. Once they were gone we hopped in the truck and drove to Lois and Larry’s bringing Penny’s pecan pie and my apple pie. Some of the people had left but there were still some other friends there we could chat with. Larry and Lois had invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner, but we had already made plans to have Penny and Murrey over. But at least we got together for dessert. Ummmm!!!! I’ll have to walk the beach twice tomorrow!!!! Ha! Dave and Phil are going fishing this morning so we decided we would have pie and coffee for breakfast. I made coffee and took the pecan and apple pie over to Phil and Creela’s around 6:00 am and had a wonderful breakfast. Then the guys were off to fish. That was fun!!! Creela stopped by in the afternoon and invited us to dinner. All I had to bring was something to drink and my pumpkin pie. I figured the guys would be home around 3:00pm so I decided to go for a walk on the beach and maybe meet them on my way back to the house. Lysel, the land landlord, was standing in her front yard watching her dog on the beach when she called to me. I was a little concerned about the guys not being home yet so I didn’t hear her at first. We said hi and she invited me to come and pick out the persimmons, pears and avocados that she brought down with her from her home in San Diego. She had a lot and wanted to get rid of them so I took some of each and thanked her and headed to Creela’s. I asked if she had heard from the guys and she said no. I told her I was a little concerned because I thought they would be back by now. I asked if she could give them a call. Before she did she looked through her binoculars and saw they were coming back and were almost to my house. So that was a good thing. Neither one of them knew dinner had been planned at Phil’s place. I went home and after the guys got the boat tied on the float and headed to shore, Creela gave Phil the good news of having company for dinner. Creela had a bunch of steaks and food she wanted to get rid of so she thought to invite her neighbors. So Lysel, Mary and George, Joann and us were coming to dinner. The guys barely had enough time to change clothes. They did catch some yellowtail and Dave will clean that up tomorrow and then it goes in the freezer. Yum! It was a good day for the fishermen and the women too!!!! Unfortunately Dave loses his fishing partner the 2nd of December as Creela has made an appointment to get another cortisone shot. I sure hope it lasts a lot longer than just a few weeks. We all gathered at Phil and Creela’s and had a wonderful steak dinner and great conversation. It was fun to get together like that. I have to tell you this story!!! I actually grossed all the ladies out. We were sitting at the table before dinner just waiting for Phil to finish cooking the steaks and Creela to finish the broccoli, and I kept feeling something tickle my toes. I was wearing sandals. I picked up my foot and moved it. It happened 2 more times and each time I lifted my foot and moved it. Then I wondered if it was a spider or something crossing over my toes so I looked under the table and there was a white little mouse I had accidently stepped on and crushed its head. I didn’t do it on purpose!!!!!! I looked up at the ladies and said they weren’t going to like what I had to tell them and proceeded to say I had killed a mouse. They didn’t believe me so I picked it up by the tail and showed them. No one screamed, but they made some funny faces. The guys asked if it was a white mouse and I said yes, and George said where there is one there are more!!! Then I tossed it out into the sand. Creela missed all that because she was inside cooking. She didn’t believe I actually killed a mouse so she wanted proof and told me to get it. I told her she’ll have to go find it herself. The gals vouched that it was true and I got a paper towel to clean up the blood. The gals couldn’t believe I was so calm about everything, and Dave told them that is how I am. Things like that don’t bother me. Hmmm! I guess it is all my time with my boys and how they use to bring in snakes and stuff to hopefully scare mom, but it didn’t work. Oh well! Needless to say we did enjoy our meal and had a good time. For the first time in years I boiled the turkey carcass for soup. The weather was cool enough and it just sounded like a good idea. I really hate to waste anything. I would have given some soup to Ramon, but I had put green beans and zucchini in it and he doesn’t like green vegetables. So instead I gave some to my neighbor Joann and some to Penny and Murrey. There was still some left over after we had a meal of it, so I froze the rest. Remember me telling you of a man named Kevin coming down to look at the house and took a lot of pictures to show his wife when he got back home. Larry and Lois have known him for a long time. He worked with Larry as a fireman. Anyway, Lois told us Kevin and his wife were coming down around Thanksgiving to look at the house. So I made sure the house was kept really clean and tidy. Thanksgiving came and went and no Kevin. Then we heard from Lois a couple days later that Kevin and his wife bought a house in Gonzoga Bay which is south of San Felipe in Mexico. It is close to the boarder. So we don’t have to worry about the house getting sold for a while. We did mention to Larry if the house didn’t sell by the time we sold the boat that maybe we could work out a rent to own and have the house paid off in 3 years. We haven’t talked seriously yet because the boat isn’t sold, but at least now we have some time to see what happens. So it looks like things are looking better. Time will tell. Oh and speaking of the boat, the gentleman that has been inquiring about our boat seems to still be interested. He thought he would be back in Baja by Christmas but won’t be so we have made plans to meet in Santa Rosalia after the 1st of January. We have to go back then anyway since our FM3’s have to be renewed. So we shall see. He has been reading my blog and it has helped him to know how we did things to get ready to cruise and the care the boat has had. All good stuff! It has been interesting as Dave has been spending a lot of time drawing up plans for our new house which will be built in front of the one we are living in now. We hope that everything works out to where we can fulfill that dream. He is having fun and I have to say I am too as it is always exciting to plan. The nice thing about planning a house is no matter where we end up, we can build it. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family. We miss our friends back home in Washington, but I really miss my family this time of year. To drive up in winter is not good, and flying is a madhouse. Plus the good thing is they are doing their own thing and creating their own memories and traditions!!! Maybe one day they can come and spend a Thanksgiving and maybe a Christmas with us in the sun and warmth!!!!

Still Summer in October

Our neighbors George and Mary, John and Smiley returned from their vacation on the Pacific coast. The hurricane Marian was heading to Abreojos where they stay in their trailer at a camp ground. They wanted to be safe rather than sorry. As it turned out the hurricane fizzled out but it did bring rain to the coast. Mary had gathered up some dried seaweed, sand dollars and shells while she was there and gave some of them to me. It was awesome. I will have fun creating something out of them. I have already started making creatures since I have been back. Let’s see----I made another lizard, 2 fish, a hermit crab, a stingray and some others. I’m on a roll. I need to seal them with polyurethane and then they will be ready to sell. The gals want to have a small gathering before Christmas to sell some of their craft items for gifts. So I will have my creatures and some other things there also.

Just after Marian went away another hurricane was building south of Cabo San Lucas. It actually turned right and started heading up the Sea of Cortez. All the cruisers and us too were concerned. Dave kept a close eye on it and even gave reports to the cruisers that were anchored in the Bay of L.A. (Bahia de Los Angeles). Norman never traveled up the Sea and made landfall north of Mazatlan. Then it turned around and headed back the way it came and died out in the Pacific. We did have a little rain but nothing serious. The cruisers are getting ready to make their voyage south so they are very interested in keeping tabs on what the weather is doing. The cruisers that have been around while we were cruising know that Dave worked for Noah (Oops----I meant NOAA) and trust what he has to share. Dave looks at several different weather forecasts and goes with the ones that are known to be reliable. Hurricane season isn’t over until November and since it has been so hot the water is very warm and feeds the storms. Luckily the season is winding down. We are in Santa Rosalia checking on the boat. Actually she looks pretty good. The red danger tape I put on the spreaders are gone. The wind and heat probably got to them but it looks like they served the purpose of keeping the cormorants off the spreaders. It is hot and humid here and we are enjoying our air conditioner!!!! There are some cruisers here and some we have met before so it was good to talk to them. We arrived on Monday, and then Tuesday the cockpit got cleaned. The tarp we had covering our small solar panel for the start battery had been shredded and needed to be taken off. Dave did that and said it was really yucky underneath. There was a lot of dirt and some fish remains. He was going to power wash it. A quick job right? Well guess what!!!! It didn’t work! Dave ended up taking it apart and since he didn’t have the right tools with us this trip he will have to take it home to work on it. Hopefully he can get it to work. We hadn’t planned on spending $200 to buy a new one. That isn’t in the budget. The pressure washer does make light work of washing the boat, but we can still scrub it like we use to. Matter of fact that is what I did while Dave was taking the pressure washer apart. Now the boat is clean and we will buy another tarp to replace the one we took off. Because of the rain we have had plants are popping up all over the place. There is this one plant that has long white flowers. I have never seen it here before. It opens in the daytime and closes at night. It is nice to see flowers in this dry, for the most part, barren land. It has been like summer this month. We aren’t complaining but it is warm. I can remember last year it turning cold around the middle of the month. Comforters are too heavy and even sheets are too warm!!!! I know----those of you who are into the cold season wish you had such a problem eh?!!!!! The weather has changed all over so it is hard to predict what any given day or month is going to be like. That is alright. Just give me warm days, sunshine, and cool nights and I’m good!!! The water here is still warm and my neighbors have been swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding. I am back playing games with the girls. I played train for half a day and played Hand and Foot another day and won the money pot of $5 but of course that was with my dollar in there. We heard from our landlords, the man that came to look at the house is coming back next month and bringing his wife. Apparently she liked the pictures he took and how he described it. Dave and I are ready for it to be sold, but if not, we will talk to Larry and Lois about long term renting to own. When the boat sells we will be braking even so we won’t be getting any money from the sale, however we will be saving a bunch so things will be much better. My youngest son just got married on the 27th!!!!! Hooray!!! Susannah is a wonderful lady and they seem so very happy! They are expecting their first child (a boy) in January. I am very excited!!!! That will make 8 grandsons. I guess we weren’t meant to have any granddaughters. That’s o.k.!! Jon and Susannah went to the court house to get married and then this summer will have a reception or remarry in the church. Dave and I should be there for that!!! Here is some good news about the boat. Dave got an email from a man who lives in Loreto, south of Santa Rosalia where we moor the boat. He was heading north to the states and stopped at the marina to see if there were any boats for sale. He saw ours and liked it. He called the broker, but no one was there. It was about 4 o’clock in the afternoon and no one was there. He somehow got Dave’s email address and contacted him saying he is interested in seeing the boat. He was heading to Oregon for family business and wasn’t sure how long he would be but he would keep in touch. He asked Dave some questions which he answered and we shall see what happens. It sounds promising but we aren’t going to get too excited yet!!!! Things are starting to happen and I can see good coming to a long and frustrating wait!!!! God has a plan and I know it will be great when it comes together. It’s hard to wait though. In the meantime we have a great place to live and a beautiful view of the bay and mountains and the people are nice!!!! We definitely want to stay here in this area if we can but we shall see. Dave turned 65 today, Halloween!!!! Happy, Happy Day!!! May there be many more happy ones to come! Our friends Creela and Phil arrived from San Diego so we had them over for a pork roast dinner. It is good to have them back in the neighborhood!!!! Both guys are anxious to go fishing.