Getting Out of Bahia And Heading To Washington State For The Summer

Dave and Murray went to Guerrero Negro this morning. Dave to get meds for me; a toilet seat and money. He was looking forward to not driving this time. Murray needed diesel and money. Our town is out of Diesel. There is only one station in town that carries it and they are out. Word is they may have it on Friday of this week, the 7th. The guys left about 10:00am and didn’t get back until around 6:00pm. During the day I was busy and it was a really good day. I put coats of lacquer on the turtle I am making, I did cross stitch, dug up an annoying plant in the yard (a wild Mexican tobacco plant). I blackened Anaheim chilies on the stove and put them in a plastic zip lock bag so later when they cool I can peel the skin off. When they had cooled and were peeled I took the seeds and veins out and cut them up to make a Ranchero Sauce. If you have ever had Huevos Ranchero in a restaurant, that is the sauce they put on top. If you aren’t familiar with Huevos Ranchero, it is what the Mexican people call ranch eggs. A tortilla is heated, an egg is cooked sunny side up and placed on the tortilla and the sauce is added. It is very good. I have never made it before but Dave loves them so I thought I would make this sauce (first time) and that dish for breakfast one morning. Around 5:00pm I started preparing dinner. I am trying a new recipe out of the Bahia cookbook the ladies here put together. I have a couple recipes in it too. I am making Chicken Piccata which is flattened chicken breasts cooked in olive oil in a pan and browned. Then a sauce of lemon juice, capers, chicken broth and wine is made to pour on top of the chicken. I also made a side dish of noodles Romanoff. It was 5:30pm and the guys still weren’t back yet. I called Penny to see if she had heard from them and she said no but expected them anytime. A few minutes later they showed up at Murray and Penny’s. Dave got home close to 7:00pm and dinner was ready. I fixed him a drink so he could relax and then we ate dinner. He said he had a good time and we finally got a new toilet seat!!! We were sitting lopsided on the existing one. Ha!! He could only get one box of the cholesterol medicine so I will end up trying to stretch it out until we get to the boat where the rest of my pills are. It was a good day for both of us.

I had such a good day yesterday that I actually think I am out of my mental slump. I am feeling good today and was busy washing the sliding glass doors of the bamboo room and put another coat of lacquer on the turtle. One more coat and I will be finished with it.

We went to Phil and Creela’s the other night for dinner. Our other neighbors, Tom and Lynn were there too. We had chicken fajitas. They were good and we had a good time.

I am setting up a neighborhood potluck at our house on Sunday so I have to do some cleaning of the bamboo room. I decided to have everyone down there so they don’t have to climb the steps to the house. Because the steps are so steep and narrow I worry about people going down them after they have had a bit to drink. So I will alleviate the worry factor by having it on grown level. It should be fun. Everyone is to bring something to BBQ and a side dish. Everyone was able to make it except our gate guard. He has been helping the Museum gal with not only working the museum but other projects too. Right now we have people from the Monterey Aquarium here trying to collect some large manta rays for the aquarium. So Ramon has been helping with that. The other day we heard there were some Mexican men from La Paz with the aquarium group in a panga looking for rays and came upon a school of yellowtail. The La Paz men asked if they could net them and the aquarium guys said yes. So the La Paz men proceeded to net about 100 yellowtail to sell in town. It is illegal to net fish here but unfortunately the law isn’t enforced so our fish numbers are being depleted. Our landlord Larry and his neighbor Elwyn live on the shore where these guys were netting so they helped and when it was all done they each got a nice fish for their efforts. I was very unhappy about this as the fishermen in town and the gringos here have been going out almost every day to try and catch some yellowtail and come up with nothing. Then to have them netted just yards away from where we live made us upset. The other thing too was them wanting to sell the fish in town. That doesn’t go over well with the fishermen here. So I think it was a bad thing but I don’t have a say as to what happens so we just live with it. After all-----we are in another country!!

Dave and Phil did get 3 nice yellowtail a couple days ago so that was cool. They were very nice size and we were able to put some in our freezer. The rest will get smoked. Phil doesn’t eat fish unless it is smoked so that is what he does with his. Here are pictures of the fish and the fishermen!!!!

They have gone out a couple times since and nothing. It is feast or famine sometimes. We got enough fillets and smoked fish to enjoy and also take some smoked fish to Washington to share with Ron and Noreen.

The BBQ gathering at our house was nice. It was warm so we sat outside and those who brought something to BBQ threw their stuff on the grill. We sat around and drank, ate and got to know each other more. It was a fun time and before it got dark everyone went home. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

People are starting to pack and head to the states. Lois and Larry will be leaving soon so they had a bacon wrapped BBQ at their place to celebrate summer. It was a great party and there were a lot of people there. Dave didn’t go with me as he was having some intestinal problems. He actually had it for 3 days. I looked in our Marine Medical kit to see what we had and we did have some Imodium AD which he took right away. The next day he was doing better. We were suppose to go to Santa Rosalia on Friday but Dave still wasn’t doing well enough to drive for 5 hours so we gave it another day and left on Saturday. All we had to do was go to the boat and get the screens and bimini off to take up with us when we go to Washington. Mike, our canvas guy said he would make us a new bimini and put new zippers in for us free!!!! He owes us so thousands of dollars worth of work we sent his way last summer. It was so hot and humid in Santa Rosalia it was awful. You could just stand still and you would just drip with sweat that’s how hot and humid it was. We didn’t start taking the screens off until the sun went down and it got cooler. We got them all off and rolled them up and put them in bags. Now we have to pay moorage for the summer and we can go home. We left the next morning.

Now we are back at the house and packing for Washington. Our plan is to leave on Thursday the 27th. The Monday before leaving we were invited to Creela and Phil’s house for dinner. Phil’s nephew and his wife were visiting so we had them, our neighbors Smiley and John and us. We had meatballs and spaghetti and salad. It was a wonderful dinner and it was great to get together again. In another week or so everyone will be heading north to their homes in the states.

We are packed and ready to go. The truck is in the garage and the jeep is outside so all we need to do is put our stuff in and go. We asked the guard to water our plants and so that will be taken care of.

JUNE 27-Left Bahia at around 4:30am. Crossed the border from Tecate Mexico, to San Diego around 3:30pm. It was a long drive and it was a real pleasure to see there were only a handful of cars waiting to cross. It took us about 20-25 minutes until we were through customs. The guys were kind of bored so they had us go through secondary. It was more like a practice for the guy. It didn’t take long and we had a nice conversation with the guy doing the search and his boss. His boss graduated from Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington. What a small world. We drove to La Mesa in San Diego and stayed in the Holiday Inn that night. We were really tired. After checking in we walked across the street to Costco to get a couple of things and then went back to our room to change for dinner. Afterwards we went back to our room and tried watching T.V. and ended up falling asleep. We got a good night sleep!!! In the morning we were up at 4:00am again and on the road to get through L.A. before rush hour traffic. We made it through L.A. smoothly and in record time. We treated ourselves to breakfast at Denny’s and then hit the road again. It was a very long day but we made it to Hayward, California and stopped for the night. We are relaxing and catching up with emails and then we are heading to McDonald’s for dinner. Milkshake here I come!!!! It is around 95 degrees but it is a hot dry heat so it doesn’t really bother us. Not like the hot and humid Bahia we came from!!! I think we got out of Bahia just in time as it was getting pretty hot.

Tomorrow we will be in Oregon. We left the hotel before around 7:00am. I still had breakfast bars for us for breakfast. So we didn’t wait around for the breakfast room to open as we wanted to get on the road before it got hot. The temperatures are suppose to be in the 100’s so we are heading to Brookings Oregon.

We had a good drive and we are out of the heat. It is 80 degrees, but it is breezy so I got cold!! We stopped in Eureka for lunch at Applebee’s. We had good sandwiches. We left there and headed for the Oregon border. Robert told us about a liquor place where you can save a lot of money before crossing the border so we found it and stopped. I had spoken to Ron before that and got his list so we went shopping. Then it was on to Brookings. We found Robert and Kristi’s house (which belonged to her parents) and it is lovely with beach access. After we were shown to our room and shown downstairs where they are piling all their stuff from the house they sold, we sat on the deck. They had some friends visiting, Kathy and Ted from Medford, and were camping in their front yard in their camper. They were on the beach when we arrived so Krisiti and Robert visited with us for a while then Kathy came up from the beach. She said Ted was still down there trying to catch fish. The salmon are running so he was hoping to catch one. After talking to Kathy for a bit, we decided to go down to the beach and see how Ted was doing. Well he didn’t catch any fish but he was having fun. There was a cool breeze at the house but when we got down on the beach it was rather warm and pleasant. Robert told us that yesterday they had grey whales scratching the rocks just off shore and they could watch them from their deck. How cool!!!! They didn’t show up today unfortunately. Ted packed up and we headed back to the house and started preparing dinner. We had white fish, sweet potatoes and salad. For dessert we had brownies. Everything was really good. After dinner when the table was cleared and dishes put in the dishwasher, we sat in the living room with the gas fireplace lit. The wind came up this afternoon and cooled things down considerably. We ate outside but it got cold after we finished so we came inside and refreshed our drinks and sat in the living room and got warm and talked. It was a good day. We will leave tomorrow and go up the Oregon coast and stay somewhere for the night then get to Washington the next day. We are so acclimated to Bahia that I am actually cold here!!! That’s o.k. I packed warm clothes. I am actually wearing socks right now!!!! We have thoroughly enjoyed out visit!!!! They are very nice people.

The next morning we were rested and after visited with everyone at breakfast we decided it was time to head out. It was close to 10:00am. We had a wonderful time and Robert said he would buy the boat. Things won’t happen until toward the end of September. But it is going to happen!!!!! We drove Hwy 101 north and went through the little towns and had a nice drive. The weather is beautiful and breezy. We decided to try and find a place to stay for the night, maybe even two. We kept looking for a place as we entered the towns but nothing looked worth staying in. We finally ended up at the Best Western Agate Beach hotel in Newport, Oregon. We stayed there last year and enjoyed our visit. We decided to stay 2 nights so Dave could have a break from driving and me sitting and navigating!!! The sun was shining and it was around 80 degrees. It was comfortable outside. Once we checked in and got all our stuff in the room I changed clothes and headed for the exercise room. I worked some weights then walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes. After that I stretched and returned to the room. I grabbed my computer and went to the lobby to type a letter to my eldest son and check emails. Around 6 or so Dave came down to ask how much longer and I wasn’t finished yet but it was already after 6 so I quit. I will finish tomorrow. When I got back to the room I changed my clothes and we headed downstairs for dinner. We sat in the sport bar and had ordered sandwiches for dinner. I had a vegetarian wrap which was delicious and hit the spot and Dave had a deli sandwich of shredded prime rib and cheese. Then it was back to the room to watch T.V. and bed. I was able to get a few pictures of the sunset and the light house on the point. It was a beautiful day!!!!!

Wave Sweeper Is Still In Limbo

May has brought us some very nice weather. Blue skies and temperatures in the upper 80’s.

Well here is what is going on this month. I have gotten together with the gals to play hand and foot and Mexican train. In a couple weeks almost everyone will be heading back to the states for summer, to return in the fall around October. So it will be pretty quiet here.

A couple of us gals have been getting together at my friend Annie’s house to exercise with Zumba Gold. It is fun and that is just what I needed to rev up my exercise program. The gold is for us old gals because it is a lower pace than the original but you still get to dance and work the pounds off. Right now I have the DVD as Annie let me borrow it while her and her husband, and 3 other couples take off for 2 weeks of camping.

Our friends Creela and Phil invited us and some other people to a birthday celebration for Phil last night, the 16th. We went to Alejandrina’s restaurant in town and I made a cake for desert. We had a good time.

Today---the 17th we arrived in Santa Rosalia. Robert and Kristi are coming to see the boat tomorrow and will stay overnight. We can take our time showing the boat to them. They still aren’t in a position to buy it yet, but it is only a matter of time. They will leave on Sunday to go back to their house in Loreto, south of Santa Rosalia, and we leave on Monday heading to Bahia.

We were suppose to get zippers and thread for the boat screens but unfortunately our canvas guy didn’t mail them in time to get to a friends house so he could bring them with him to Bahia when he came. Bummer. I guess we will just get them when we go to Washington this summer and see about getting the zippers replaced when we get back to Mexico.

The sun is eating away the thread on the bimini over the helm station. I am using sail tape to keep it together. We are definitely going to have to do something about that.

Usually the next day after arrival to Santa Rosalia I rinse out the cockpit, but didn’t have a chance as Robert and Kristi are coming tomorrow. Actually it was a little dusty but not bad so all is well. It is a little warmer here then Bahia, but there is a nice breeze.

Robert and Kristi arrived and we gave hugs all around. The first thing Kristi said was it felt like she knew us because of all the emails and phone calls back and forth. Very nice people. We spent the day going through the boat. Robert already saw it so I took Kristi and showed her all the storage pookas and everything. They asked questions and we supplied the answers. Neither one has sailed for a long time. Kristi took sailing lessons many years ago and Robert has his 100 ton license to operate boats. Kristi and Robert own a fishing boat (small) so they know about traveling on water. We suggested a boating class might be good to take when they go back to Oregon. She and Robert want to learn how to operate the boat. We had them unroll the mainsail and it is good we did because it hadn’t been done in so long we had some trouble getting it to roll. We finally did and unrolled and rolled it up about 3 times so all is good. Robert pretty much did the mainsail and Kristi unrolled and rolled the headsail. They got to get the feel of how hard or easy it is to do. They aren’t doing any long distance cruising right now until they get use to the boat. We offered to help them and they were grateful. Kristi was overwhelmed a bit with all the information but that is to be expected. We suggested also she read a couple books that talk about the basics of sailing. They actually have one of the books titled ‘Chapman Piloting’. We went to dinner and Robert and Kristi paid for our dinner which was nice. We will treat them to breakfast in the morning. Dave filled them with his stories of when he worked with NOAA and the adventures and places he got to go for work, in addition to corrections and things he fixed on our boat. Kristi asked me what my favorite memories were of places we have been. So we talked about that then around 10:00pm we went to bed.

Sunday morning everyone was up by 7:00am and we fixed coffee and sat in the cockpit and talked. We discussed more of the boat and Dave ran the engine, bow thruster and turned the max prop to show them how it moves the boat. All worked great. Then we ran the generator. So they know all systems on the boat work and are well maintained. They like the idea that the boat was well maintained and Dave did a lot of trouble shooting with problems we had. Like Robert and Kristi said---they are reaping the benefits of all our knowledge and careful care of the boat. I showed Kristi the provisioning list I made when we were cruising where it listed everything we had on the boat, the quantity and where to find it. Both of them thought it was a really great idea!! I shared with Kristi I read a lot of how to provision and sailing stories and all to prepare for our voyage. Dave and I will be able to share the knowledge we have with them so they will enjoy ownership of the boat.

We treated them to breakfast at our favorite place to eat, Tercos. We had never eaten breakfast there so we gave it a try. Wonderful food!!! We had a nice breakfast. After the bill was paid we stopped at the outdoor fruit and vegetable stand on our way back to the boat. Kristi and Robert got some fruit and veggies. They said they don’t get really good fruits and vegetables in Loreto which surprised me. I figured with the good sized community they have there that wouldn‘t be a problem. They said when they do get good veggies and fruit it is expensive. So I am glad we live where we do. We did think about finding a place in Loreto, but fell in love with Bahia instead. I’m glad we did. There are a lot of American and Canadian people living there. Having a large gringo community doesn’t interest us. We want to experience the life of the Mexican people. Plus if you are around a lot of the Mexican people you have to learn some Spanish!! That’s what I want! Anyway---Kristi and Robert had to get going so we got to their car and said our goodbyes. We don’t know when the next time we will see them, but they definitely want the boat. Robert said there are two prospective people who want to buy their house in Brookings, Oregon. So he really thinks his house will sell around July/August timeframe. He is going to contact the broker and tell him he is very interested in our boat and let him know what is going on with his finances. That way everyone is well informed. So who knows----by September we may have new owners of our boat. They want the 4 of us to take the boat to Escondido, which is south of Santa Rosalia, to get it hauled out and the bottom painted. He will make the arrangements for the paint and haul out when the time comes. While the boat is being worked on they invited us to stay with them at their house in Loreto. Loreto is really close to Escondido. Robert doesn’t see a need to have a survey done on the boat. After talking to us and Dave filling him in on all the maintenance he did, Robert knows the boat is sound. That is a good feeling. I think this is a start of a good relationship. Robert made the comment that when they take the boat over and go to Puerto Vallarta and something happens with the boat, Dave will be the first person he calls to tell us to board a plane and get down there!!!! Since we have owned 6 hunters, Dave knows pretty much everything about them and there isn’t much he can’t fix!!! I told Robert and Kristi we could be crew with them until they learn the boat!!! I think that would be fun!!!! I wouldn’t mind that at all!!! After they left, Dave shared with me that the house they were trying to get a reverse mortgage for went through. The only problem is when Kristi’s dad died, there were a lot of bills incurred and so most of that money went to pay off the debt and there wasn’t much left to make an offer on the boat. So now he thinks he has his house sold and we will go from there. I believe with all my heart and soul that it will happen and Robert and Kristi are the perfect owners for our boat. God has a plan and it is in the works. Hallelujah!!!! Good things are coming!!!

We head back to Bahia tomorrow morning. We are stopping in Vizcaino for groceries and I have to find a Similar Pharmacy either there or in Guerrero Negro to get more cholesterol pills. The pharmacy here was closed. I thought it might be since it is Sunday. No worries.

The evening is pleasant and it is cooling down. Yesterday was a warm one but with the air conditioner going it was nice. We all kept cool. Today we ran the air conditioner for a while and now we just have the fans going. The evening is cool so no problem sleeping. So on to my wine and relaxing!!! Life is very good!!!!!

We stopped in Vizcaino and did shopping. Picked up a couple of things for our neighbor and found no Similar pharmacy in town. So we shall stop in Guerrero Negro as we know they have one. I did a stupid thing------I forgot my cholesterol medicine on the boat. The container fell over and rolled next to the wall under the shelf in the galley and I should have gotten it then but didn’t so out of sight out of mind. Uh oh!!!! I didn’t realize I left it behind until we were half way home. So I am hoping I can get 2 packages of the medicine at Similars. Well Similars had it but only one package of 30 at 10mg each. I have to take 40mg a day so that means 4 tablets of the 10mg. It won’t last long. They said they would get more in on Saturday. This was Monday. Oh well. It is what it is. I walked just a couple buildings away to another pharmacy and they didn’t have any. So I was stuck. At this time Dave didn’t know I had forgotten my pills on the boat. I had enough to get me through this month and then would supplement with the 10 mg. So now what will I do. Dave asked me about the medicine and if I had enough and I had to tell him the stupid thing I did. So now I will have to figure something out. It is a 2-½ hour drive to Guerrero Negro and it makes for a long day.

We made it home safely, unloaded the car and put groceries and other things away then relaxed. We will be going back to Santa Rosalia at the end of June to pay moorage for the summer.

We heard from Robert a day or two after we got home and he said the sale of the house was good. We really don’t know any more than that, but something is in the works. Robert had contacted the broker in La Paz and Mike sent us an email stating that fact. So the ball is rolling. No offer yet. I’m sure we will hear from Robert when his business is taken care of. They are heading to Oregon in July to attend Kristi’s father’s funeral. We are heading to Washington in July so we figure nothing will be done about the boat until after summer. It would be nice to have an offer on it before we go though. We shall see.

We didn’t get our zippers and thread and won’t from our canvas guy in Washington. Looks like he is out of business!!!! The friend that was going to bring them down for us went back to his house yesterday and reported he never got them. So now we have a call in to Tori, a good friend who sells boats in Seattle, to contact a warehouse to see what the cost is for a box of zippers. So looks like we will get the zippers and thread when we go north. Oh well. It is what it is. At least we can get them.

There are 2 water pumps in town. The one in town has a pump broken so they can’t distribute water. The place where we get our water is at the south end of town and their water comes from a spring. When the water place in town breaks down, it puts a strain on the water supply from the spring so they have to limit how much water people can get a day. They are only open from 7am to noon every day except Sunday. We need water and asked our guy that brings it to come out. I usually send an email to his wife, Yolanda and request water and Andres generally comes out the next day. We waited and no water for a week. I had sent 2 emails to Yolanda but didn’t get a response. She goes to Ensenada to visit the doctor frequently. She has either a stomach or intestine problem that seems to be getting worse. Anyway----we asked our friend Penny & Murray to stop and see him when they went to town and send him out to our place. They live close to town so they are in town quite a bit. They passed the info on to Andres so I figured we would get water the next day. Nope!!! So when I went to town on Saturday to get groceries I stopped to see him. He said Yolanda was in Ensenada and he could deliver water to us on Monday. So I said o.k. Another day wouldn’t make much difference. Well Monday came and went and no water. We were getting pissed because now we have to think of who else to bring water and it would cost us more. We have a 1250 gallon tank we hold water in but only let the water get down so far before filling up. We know that the water pump situation in town happens a lot so we don’t want to drain the tank. In this case we would just almost empty it and then ask Pepe, he runs the ‘Home Depot’ here (figure of speech), and delivers water to many people, to come out and fill it. It is just more expensive. I was holding off doing laundry until we got more water, but decided to get it done.

Well guess who showed up Tuesday morning with water at 6:30am!!!! You got it!!!! Dave and I figured Yolanda was back from Ensenada and read her message from me. So we are good. We are still a little low but Andres will be back next Tuesday to bring more water and we will be totally full then.

Our friends Creela and Phil had a rock path put in on the south side of their house here. It looks really nice. Next year they will expand it to go around the east side of the house and around the fire pit. It will be awesome.

Our other friends and neighbors, Lynn and Tom are having a garage built. Busy time. Lynn and Tom are only here for another month so they want to get that done before going back to San Diego.

Dave went fishing with Phil about a week ago. Caught a large sheeps head fish. I didn’t get to see it but I was told it was pretty. I guess it is a good eating white fish. No yellow tail yet.

Phil came over the other day and Dave mentioned he heard that Phil wanted to do some riding and exploring on the quad. Creela can’t go long distance on a quad due to her back, so Dave said he would love to go sometime with him. They couldn’t go that day because we were going to a Memorial Day dinner party, but they said the next day would be great. So Dave will ride Phil’s small quad and follow Phil on his new one he brought down. I was bummed as I wanted to go too-----but Dave is going to see if it is something we might be able to do together.

Well the guys just got home from quad riding. They went down to Los Flores. Dave and I and Noreen and Ron went down there in the truck about 3 years ago. It was fun. Anyway---Dave said it was a bit warm (further inland from the water it is warming up). They were on the tail end of the exploring season. No one goes hiking or exploring June on due to the hot weather and snakes. They had fun but the trail Phil wanted to take Dave on had been washed out and the going would have been rough. So they did some exploring and Dave brought back a deer antler for me!!!! Cool!! The guys were gone for about 3 hours. Dave told me it would have been hard on my back because the trail was rough. Darn. Well they had fun and that is all that matters. We’ll have to figure out a way to go sightseeing in the near future.

Today, Tuesday the 28th is Susannah’s birthday. That is Jons’ wife, our new daughter-in-law. He is so happy being a dad and husband. I am thrilled for him. Little munchkin, Jonathan is growing like a weed. Can’t wait to see him this summer.

I’ve been in a mental slump ever since the Art and Craft show. I was very disappointed in not selling much. I had envisioned making some money, but the Americans didn’t come down until after Easter because it was so early this year. So I had been struggling with being bummed and then not selling the boat-----So needless to say I needed to work harder on pulling myself up by my boot straps and move on. Life is full of ups and downs and this won’t be the last time I have to deal with disappointment. With that said------we got some discouraging news in an email from our boat broker (Mike) this morning. Seems as though Robert and Kristi went to La Paz to talk to him. While they were there Kristi wanted to look at a 50 foot power boat they had for sale. THOSE were the discouraging words!!! To even think they would consider a power boat. Kristi is a little apprehensive about starting to sail this late in life and so she is checking out other options. The boat they were looking at is a really nice one. Dave said if we had the option, it would be a consideration to live on. But that’s not going to happen. He said that after he looked at the pictures online. Anyway----they have to be comfortable in what they want. It is an investment. So we shall see.

The weather is absolutely wonderful!!!! Flat seas, calm breeze but no fish are biting. Dave and Phil went out last week and caught bait fish only!!!! The water is getting warmer so the Yellow Tail should be here soon!!! We saw a whale shark a week or so ago but apparently he was just scouting around and it is still too cold for them so we haven’t seen any more.

I’ve been trying to walk on the beach at low tide to get more exercise so today I started out and figured I would keep going if my back was up to it. Well it was and I had a wonderful walk to the large estuary. I wanted to see the baby grey whale the locals towed into the estuary a couple weeks ago. There was a huge uproar with a couple American ladies here in town that thought it would be disastrous to have the whale decompose letting all the oils and other things enter the water and soil. The estuary doesn’t get flushed out on a regular basis so they were concerned about the environment. Emails were put out by one of the women telling everyone to email the office in town that deals with the environment and wildlife. Phil went down shortly after getting the email to check on the whale and said it had already blown up and there was no moving it. The ladies wanted it taken out of the estuary. I didn’t respond because nature has a way of taking care of itself and I didn’t see the harm. Phil, who is a marine biologist, didn’t think it was a big deal either. So when I got to the whale, all that was left was bones and a little of the skin. The birds, coyotes and fiddle crabs have been feasting on the remains. As I walked on the dry estuary bed toward the whale I had to dodge a bazillion fiddle crabs on the way!!!! It was amazing. They were getting what they could that was left of the flesh and skin. Nature has cleaned it up. Just a few days ago there was another dead baby whale found floating in the bay. This time the guys towed it across the bay to an alcove where nature would take care of it. The word was it wasn’t a grey whale but another type. It is a shame that these little guys get lost and end up in here. It was a wonderful walk and I must have walked about 6 miles. I think it is 3 miles one way.

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.