Living the Dream

Today Mexico is celebrating Mariner’s Day. It’s a big deal since there are a lot of fishermen and the Navy here. Since the wind isn’t blowing, we left our slip to go out of the marina to make water. Our neighbors put a line across our slip so no one else would come into it while we were gone. Once we got out and away from the marina, in 200 feet of water, we turned the engine off and Dave went down to start the generator so we could make water. He opened the sea valves and warmed the plugs and tried to crank the generator engine. The only sound it made was a clicking noise which is not what you want to hear. He tried it again with the same results. He checked the water strainer to the generator and it was fine. He checked a couple other things, but nothing helped. I started the engine and we idled while Dave got his tools out to see what was going on. Unfortunately he doesn’t have all his tools here. After about ½ hour, we had to give up and we hailed our neighbor at the dock to let him know we were on our way in so he could remove the line from across our slip. He and a couple other guys helped us into our slip and now Dave is taking the generator apart. There is another American guy here helping Dave brainstorm. He has worked on refrigeration and diesel engines, so hopefully they can figure out what the problem is. So far, Dave found a bent rocker arm. Not something we wanted to deal with, but can’t sell the boat without the generator working. So here we sit. We started and ran the generator when we were here last month and it ran great. We never thought we would have to check it before going out. Well-----guess again. So much for trying to make water. Welcome to the world of boating/cruising!!

To stay out of the way, unless Dave needed me to do something, I played games on my computer. There isn’t anything I can do. I figured it was better just to stay in one spot. There wasn’t any room to look over his shoulder anyway.

I will go into town this afternoon, when the stores open and do some food shopping. I don’t have much to get. Tomorrow I will get fruits and vegetables.

I never made it to town. I was so bummed about the generator I just didn’t feel like doing anything. Being it was such a shitty day----and both of us were feeling down, our wonderful cruising neighbors, Lynn and Cliff off s/v Taya, invited us to come to their boat for margaritas and then go with them and some other cruising couples to dinner in town. It was nice to get our minds off of the generator for a while. We had a great time visiting with everyone, had a wonderful dinner and we were able to walk around town and enjoy the festivities. They had a carnival set up and the kids were having a ball. There was a band that played (LOUD) and Lynn wanted to do some dancing, but in the end, we all went back to our boats. We had more fun watching the kids run around and the music really wasn’t much to dance to.

Today, June 2, promises to be a better day. Dave spent the whole day taking the generator apart to get the exhaust manifold/expansion tank off, and when he got that loose, he noticed the dry exhaust elbow was cracked.


Not good. Once all that was removed, he could get to the head and take the injector plugs out and take a look at no. 3 rocker arm shaft. We found out no seawater had gotten in, which is a good thing, but the valve and injector plug got so hot, it welded shut. So we have lots of parts to bring back to Washington with us to get replacement pieces for and the injectors and tank will need to be steam cleaned. Dave said that once we get all the parts it will be easy to put back together. It usually is. We did our normal maintenance on the generator and don’t have a clue why it was so gunked up. An end of the mixing elbow was almost clogged shut. Hmmmm!!! Dave finally finished with that job around 5:30pm. Thank goodness we had some nice cruisers who let him borrow some tools to do the job. We were planning on going back to the house tomorrow, but I think we will head back on Saturday morning. This morning when Dave first started the ‘JOB’, I went to town to pick up a few groceries and get some medicine from the pharmacy. When I returned to the boat, Dave had the ladder that goes below, bungee corded up so he could access the generator better, but I couldn’t go below yet. Eventually, I was able to. In the meantime, we had our starboard and port water tanks filled. A Mexican man was bringing down 5 gallon jugs of drinking water to fill the water tanks on all the cruising boats. Not a good idea to use the water from the tap as it has a lot of chemicals in it and it doesn’t taste good. We always buy drinking water when we come down to use for making coffee and drinking. It took 12, 5 gallon jugs to fill the starboard and port tanks. Now we can back flush the water maker. Since we didn’t get to that today, we will do it tomorrow morning. I will also do laundry and then we will be ready to leave on Saturday. Dave feels good about getting the generator apart and accessing the damage which he was relieved wasn’t major. It can only get better from here!!! RIGHT?!

Friday was a little more relaxing for Dave and I was going to get fruits and vegetables today, but with all the generator parts we have to take back with us, there was no more room for anything else. Such is life. We back flushed the water-maker and I packed things up and took a lot of the stuff to the jeep so we don’t have that much to do in the morning before leaving. It actually got a little warm this trip as the wind didn’t blow much. We only turned the air conditioner on once while we’ve been here.

We made it home safely. Now Dave is looking on line to price what we have to replace and find out where we can have the head magna-fluxed. He did check with the mechanic here in town and he was able to tell Dave who he could see in Ensenada to have that done. All the repairs aren’t going to cost us as much as we thought initially. That is a good thing.

Today- June 8 is my sister Colleen’s birthday!!! Happy, Happy. She’d kill me if I mentioned her age so I won’t. She’s just my eldest sister!!

Fishing is picking up. Dave and our neighbor Phil went out several times, but had no luck until the other day. They caught yellow tail and bonita. Phil is smoking the bonita. Even if they don’t catch fish, they have fun. The Whale Sharks have returned earlier than last year which is a sign the water is warming and the fish are coming. In another month or so dorado will be here. Now THAT is a good eating fish! We are starting to see pods of dolphins too.

We went to dinner at Anne and Elwins’ house last night, Friday, June 10 and had a wonderful time. Creela and Phil joined us. Then this morning, we went back to have key lime pie and coffee for breakfast. I had made the pie but everyone was so full Creela came up with the idea of having it for breakfast. So this morning at 9:00am we went to Anne and Elwins’, had breakfast and Larry and Lois came over to visit as well. It was fun! Then we left and Dave and Phil are smoking fish and I am baking chocolate chip cookies for Dave. The guys are going on a road trip Monday to Ensenada. Phil needs to pick up his FM3 and Dave needs to have the generator head magna fluxed and get a couple other things. They will return on Wednesday. So Monday afternoon I will have the ladies over to play the card game, Hand and Foot. Party Time!!!! Waahoo!!!!

Today, Sunday, June 12, we had another person come look at the house. A man and his grandson. When they left, Dave said he thinks it is sold. So now we wait to hear what Larry and Lois have to say. I think this man is looking for a summer house, not to live here year round. Right now I am glad if it sells so we won’t be in the state of limbo any more. But we’ll see.

The guys left this morning for Ensenada.

I have had some coral plants drying for a while. I found them on the beach a few months ago and last week I lightly sprayed each of them blue, leaving some of the white to show through. This morning I hung them and added a shell and they look great.

This afternoon I had 4 ladies over to play, Hand and Foot. I am getting better at playing. It was fun. I found out that the guy that came to look at the house yesterday isn’t serious about any of the houses he looked at so far. He is still looking around. So that made me feel better.

After the gals left I sat outside, had a drink, smoked a cigar and enjoyed the view. It was a warm day with not much breeze. Actually right now there isn’t any breeze and I am hearing the coyotes yip back and forth to each other. I guess I will need to get the fan out to keep me cool until the breeze picks up. It usually does that around 10-10:30pm or so. The coyotes are quite vocal tonight!

The guys have returned and Dave was able to get everything done he needed and Phil got his FM3. So all is well. Now Dave is going to order the rest of the parts for the generator and have them shipped to the bus station next to the marina in Santa Rosalia. This way we won’t have to take any parts with us or bring any back when we go to Washington. When the parts arrive, we will go to the boat and put the generator back together, test it and then come back to the house to pack for our trip to Washington State.

The weather is getting warmer and we are having to run some fans to keep cool. The breeze blows most of the time during the day, but when you really want it, which is at night, it doesn’t. Summer is truly here!!!

Dave and Phil have been going out looking for fish and have caught some which is a surprise because Phil doesn’t like to stay in one spot for long, it is hard to catch anything. Thankfully we have some yellowtail fillets in the freezer.

For the first time since I have played the Train game, I won 3 games!!! That was remarkable. So now I don’t need to buy quarters. It is all a game of chance!!

Dave and Phil went out fishing this morning, 18th. Dave had planned on getting water this morning, but when Phil asked if Dave would join him, you know Dave isn’t going to miss a chance to fish. I told Dave I would get the water. I need to learn to do it anyway by myself so around 7:30am I took off for town and when I got to the water place I had about 4 cars ahead of me. When it was my turn I backed the truck up to the hose and when the guy next to me had filled his tanks, he handed me the hose and I filled mine. I paid, and headed for home. I had to go real slow as there is a lot of weight in the truck and on the tires and I am going over rocks. I made it home around 10:00 or so, backed the truck up to the pila and figured I would wait for Dave and we could pump the water out of the tank in the truck into the tank inside the pila. As it got later in the afternoon, I decided to hook up the hoses and get everything ready for when Dave got there. When it got to be much later in the afternoon, I finally worked up enough courage to pump the water. I was nervous about doing this because if I didn’t do it right, I could blow the hose off the tank in the truck and cause us to lose lots of water. The other fear was losing the weights off the other hose that goes into the pila tank that keeps the hose from flying out of the pila. I knew when Dave got back he was going to be tired and really not looking forward to pumping the water so I decided it was time to learn. I attached the dive weights on the hose to the pila tank and tied the line from the weights to the ladder. Once that was secured, I got in the back of the truck and slowly opened the faucet on the tank so the water could run slowing to the pump. If you open it too much there is so much pressure on the hose that it can blow off. Once the water started to bubble out of the top of the pump, I opened the faucet all the way, got down out of the truck and started the pump. Waahoo!!! It worked. So I got up into the bed of the truck and took the lid off the water tank so I could keep an eye on the water level. Then all of a sudden the pump stopped. Oh no!!! Now what! I had to talk to myself and keep telling me to calm down and think!!! It took me a few minutes to realize that the lever to allow fuel to the pump was off. I flipped that up and started the pump again and all went well. I checked the other hose going into the pila and it was down far enough it wasn’t going to swirl its way out. I climbed back into the truck bed and kept an eye on the water level and when it was down far enough I moved the tank closer to the edge of the truck bed so I could tip the tank up to drain the water. When I couldn’t tip it anymore, I got down from the truck and tilted the tank more over the edge of the truck to drain more water. I couldn’t drain it all the way, but there was just a little left which I would take care of later. I turned the pump off, took the dive weights off the hose and drained both hoses and detached them from the pump. I rolled them up and put them back in the garage. I put the lid on the pila tank and turned the handle on the faucet to see where the water level came to on the site tube. Perfect! We have a black piece of tape which marks the full spot on the site tube and it was way above that. So we are good for a while. I turned off the faucet and walked back to the truck. I pushed the black tank back and closed the tail gate. I pulled the pump over to the bushes and let water drain out, then I capped it off and rolled the pump by the trailer in the shade. Then I backed the truck to where we normally park it, leaving enough room to drain the rest of the water out of the tank and then pull it off the truck to stow. I got almost a full bucket of water out of the tank which I will use to water plants. When the tank was stowed, I backed the truck to where it normally sits and I was done. I got the weights and put them away, then went upstairs to drink some gatorade. I was very pleased with myself that I was able to do that by myself. Unfortunately, I torked my back a little and got it out of alignment, but nothing that hasn’t happened before. I will just need to stretch and try to pop it back into place. When Dave got home he was surprised I did the water, but pleased. He really didn’t feel like doing that little chore. So we both were happy. I can’t remember if they caught any fish, but the guys had a good time on the water. Now I can call myself a true Baja gal as I can do things by myself!!

The other night Dave and I were watching T.V. and there were a couple bugs flying around. When I got up to smack them with the fly swatter, my eyes caught a shadow on the wall above the window close to where the T.V. sits on a desk. I had to really look to see what it was. Dave was out of his chair looking at it wondering what it was too. It ended up being a big hairy light brown spider. The two front legs curved out from the head and pointed toward each other and the other 6 legs curved back along the body. It had a lot of eyes. We didn’t waste much time looking at it because we didn’t want it to get away. We got the bug spray and Dave sprayed it, after we put our shoes on, and it bounced and fell down behind the window blind. We couldn’t see it from inside, so I went outside and looked in the window and saw it was up on the underside of the top of the blind. Dave sprayed again and it fell and was going in circles. Then I swatted it with the fly swatter until I knew it was dead. It was sure ugly and didn’t look as though it was a harmless spider. I cleaned up the mess and we both we relieved we found it before we went to bed!!!! I was still looking around after that to see if any more critters were going to come out and surprise us. None did thank goodness. We tried to find out what type of spider it was but when we looked up Baja spiders we didn’t see one like what we killed. I’ll keep looking. It was nasty!!!

Lois, Larry, Anne, Elwin, Creela and Phil are now gone. It is pretty quiet. Joanne is still here, and Mary and George went to the states until July 1. With the heat and humidity we’ve been having, I don’t think they will stay here long. They like to spend the summers at the Ocean.

We are back in Santa Rosalia, on the boat. Dave got his parts for the generator and is starting to put things together. He did forget a couple things from home, but luckily we have some cruisers here we know from before that can help us. It is not going together as easily as he thought it would, however, but little by little. We are hoping to leave before Saturday, but it all depends on how long it takes to put it back together.

It is hot and humid, more so here than at the house. We are getting some cloud cover which cuts the sun, but I think we will get more humidity. We’ve been running our air conditioner which is sooooo nice!!!

Dave was hoping he could put the head and parts together and put the whole assembly on the engine but that didn’t work. Not enough clearance. So he had to do it part by part which took much longer than anticipated. Tuesday night he had most of it put together and all that is left to do is connect some wires and put the cover back over the fan belts and start her. That is Wednesday’s job.

We were excited about finishing up the job of putting the generator together and starting her. Dave did some final things and then it was the moment of truth, we tried starting her. We have to warm the glow plugs for a few seconds and then push the start button. Dave did that but once he let go of the switches the generator stopped. Uh oh!!!! Well to make a long story short, he had some help from a fellow cruiser that has a Northern Lights generator so Dave did some trouble shooting with the oil censor thinking it wasn’t reading oil pressure. Well what happened was the nuts and bolts weren’t tightened down enough which caused everything to loosen up. So our fellow cruiser Jim, loaned Dave 3 lug nuts to help tighten the bolts to the head. Then Dave had to reset the heads and tighten down all the bolts and screws again. After all of that, he pushed the button and it sang!!!!! We were so happy we hollered “YES” and high fived each other. It sounded so smooth and nice!!! We loaded the generator up and ran it for a while to make sure it stayed running. It did. We are sooo happy that is over with!!! So now we clean up the mess and put the tools away. I walked over to the store and got a 6 pack of beer and took it to Jim and Diane’s boat to celebrate and thank them for their help!!! After that we left their boat and were invited to another cruisers boat for drinks which ended up having most of the cruisers on their boat. We had happy hour and then walked to town and got a hamburger at the plaza from a little stand that shows up every night. It was really good. One of the cruising ladies were taking pictures and she took a picture of the owners little boy eating a frozen ice cream and then showed the picture to him. It was priceless to see his smile. After a couple more pictures she asked if he wanted to try and take pictures so here you see him with a camera around his neck taking pictures of the cruisers and other people in the plaza. He was looking like a professional after a short time. It was so fun to watch him. He had a ball. I know what he would like to have for his Birthday or Christmas!!!!! After we were full of hamburger, we all walked back to our boats. What a fun night!!! It was nice to see the cruisers we haven’t seen for a while. What fun people!!!! Cruisers are a great bunch of people!!

Spring has Arrived

Here it is, May 1. The Art/Craft Show is over and all has been put away and cleaned up. We had a meeting and after that went to Alehandrina’s to have lunch. The lunch was a choice of 2 fish tacos, or 2 Toastada’s, chicken or beef, with rice, beans, and salad. I was pleased to see all the Mexican Artisans show up. They thanked us for inviting them to participate and we thanked them for being part of our show. It was a fun time.

We made a Costco, Walmart and Home Depot run to Ensenada. We left on Monday, the 2nd and got into Ensenada around 2:30, 3:00pm. It was a very windy ride up and some of the time Dave had trouble keeping the jeep in our lane. There were only a couple semi trucks on the road and they were going very slow. You could see the wind was moving them side to side. I figured if it got worse, they would have to pull off the road and wait until the winds died down. It wasn’t a fun ride. But we made it safely and as soon as we got to town we got a room and then went to Walmart and did some shopping. I had a list of stuff I wanted in addition to what some of my friends needed. Luckily I was able to get most of the things they wanted. After Walmart, we went back to our room. We didn’t want a lot to eat for dinner and didn’t want to spend much so we had dinner at McDonalds. After dinner Dave got some ice for the ice chest since we had some things to keep cold, and once that ice was dumped we went to our room and chilled. No pun intended!! Ha!

We were up by 6:30am the next morning and walked to McDonald’s and had breakfast. Then it was off to Home Depot as they open at 7:00am. When we pulled into a parking spot and got out of the jeep, there was a Mexican guy who wanted to know if we wanted our jeep washed. Dave asked how much and he said 25 pesos, $2.00 U.S. So Dave told him yes. We ended up getting the paint to finish painting the guest house, and a couple roller pads. We snooped around a little looking for certain things and then left. When we came out the jeep was clean. Yahoo!!! Dave paid the man and we were on our way to Costco. We had to wait about 10 minutes for it to open. The crowd forms at the door just at it does at home. Just waiting to be the first ones in. We finished around 10:30am and headed out of town. Dave figured we would be able to make it home by 5. There was much less wind and more semis on the road, but we made good time. It started out as a beautiful sun shiny day, and the further south we went the more clouds were forming. Dave remembered reading about a pineapple express moving through which explained the clouds. When we arrived home it was cloudy, but after asking our neighbor about the sun he said we had half and half. That was good because that meant we had charged our house batteries. It was good to be home again and Dave was really glad he didn’t have to drive again for a while.

Happy 12th birthday to our grandson Eian, today, May 5th. It is Cinco de Mayo for the gringos and the Mexican people don’t celebrate it.

Dave left this morning to get water to fill the pila. He usually calls when he is at the top of the hill coming home. I heard him call Larry on the radio but got no answer. Then he called me. He told me he was stuck at the top of the hill with a muffler on the ground. There are 2 mufflers on the truck and one of them finally broke loose but was held in place with a strap. He couldn’t go anywhere until he could get the strap holding the muffler, removed to take the muffler off. So I told him I would call Annie and Elwin, our friends to see if Elwin could help. Dave needed a hacksaw. Elwin said he had a hacksaw and would go and help Dave. That was really nice. About 20 minutes or so later Dave was back with the muffler in the bed of the truck. Apparently nothing had been going through that muffler because when Dave grabbed a hold of it, it was cold!!! We were thinking about taking the truck to town tonight for the viewing of the old timers racing car exhibit, but now we won’t be. After we pumped the water into the pila and put things away, I walked over to Phil and Creela’s house and invited them to come with us tonight. Dave said we would take the jeep. So they are coming with us. It will be fun. When I got back to the house, I read my book, and Dave read a little then went outside. I didn’t know what he was doing, and when he came up he said he had been taping around the windows and doors of the guest house getting it ready for painting. So I went down and he showed me what he had done. He only has a little more to go and then we can start to paint. It is going to look really nice when we are done. Around 3:30pm Creela and Phil walked to our house and we left in the jeep for town. Some of the race cars were already parked and on display so we took a look at them. Pretty awesome! Here are some pictures.








More cars were arriving so we decided to have a couple margaritas while we waited for more to show up. Then we ended up having dinner and visiting with some of our friends and were able to hear some of the old timer guys talk about their trip. They don’t race any more, but they still like to do the rally each year. They come into town, stay overnight, and then start out early the next morning for Loreto. That is a long ride on a dusty bumpy dirt road. Not comfortable. After dinner we walked around some more and then went and did some grocery shopping and I picked up my laundry. We got home around 7:30pm. It was fun!

This morning around 8:00am the rally had started and you could hear the cars and motorcycles zooming by. Some of the guys zoomed while others just took their time. Dave and I joined some of our neighbors along the side of the road to watch and wave to the racers as they passed by. When we were done eating dust, and no more cars were coming, we left and came back home. The rest of the day was spent washing clothes, reading, making salad for dinner, and trying to stay cool. We have a breeze blowing but it still is a warm day. It is 89 degrees in the house and all our windows and skylights are open.

Dave and I painted the guest house finally and it looks really good. Dave’s choice in colors turned out to be great. The neighbors like it and Larry and Lois do too. At least now the wood is protected.

We have had some south winds the last few days and some strong gusts, but not enough to cause us to sleep in the trailer.

One day it was breezy and we had some of the skylights open, in particular one of the large skylight facing west, and I was working on my cross stitch and Dave was on the computer when we heard a crack or pop. I asked Dave what it was and he didn’t know, but I noticed a couple small pictures blew over on the shelf so I figured that was it. Later on Dave took my computer to the trailer so he could play his war game and I was still cross stitching when a breeze came up and then I heard a loud pop. I got up and looked around to see what made the noise and then I looked up and noticed the skylight lid was partially detached from the base. I went down to the trailer and told Dave what happened and he came to the house to take a look. We figured we could just climb the ladder and walk on the roof. So we got the tallest ladder we have and I climbed to the top and started to climb on the roof and determined I wasn’t going to be able to get to the skylight that way. The small portion of the roof was too steep to climb without support. To make a long story short, we ended up calling our neighbor Phil to help us and we tied a rope to the posts on the deck and Dave was able to get on the roof by holding onto the rope. It took a while but he fixed the skylight. He looked at the others and they looked fine. We will have to get some more rivets just in case it happens again. We told Larry and Lois what happened and they were relieved it was fixed. Thank goodness the wind wasn’t blowing harder or we would have lost the lid and ended up with a huge hole to cover.

The weather is warming nicely. One day it will be warm with very little breeze and then the next it will cool down with a north breeze. The birds are waking us up at 5:30am with their songs. Not appreciated at that time in the morning, however. Snake sightings have been reported, but we have yet to see one by our place. I did see a trail at the end of the drive, but no snake. Scorpions will be next to come out. Probably next month and for sure in July and August. We’ve had some coyotes hanging around, as they know our neighbor has a cat and they want it for a meal. Joanne had her cat roaming around her house and she noticed the coyote and called to him, and then went chasing after it so she scooped him up before he could get far and the coyote wasn’t happy. He stood not too far from her house just yipping away and letting everyone know how unhappy he/she was. We have never experienced anything like that before. The desert is full of wonders and surprises.

Now that I don’t have crafts to make for a show, I am back to working on my dragon/castle cross stitch. I finally finished the main picture and now am starting the back stitching, or outlining for those who aren’t familiar with the process. I have also started playing my guitar again. I have to start all over again, since it has been years the last time I played. I am putting music to a song I wrote, before we went cruising, about the San Juan Islands, in British Columbia. I am also reading a lot of books too. I have finished all the series books by Janet Evanovich, to Fourteen. That was fun. I have one Christmas story by her to read yet, but I am taking a break and reading book number 7, ‘Harry Potter, and The Deathly Hollows’. I read it a long time ago, but Lois let me borrow it so I figured it would be fun to read again.

We had some friends over for dinner the other night and it was fun. Rainy and Dennis are people we have been wanting to get to know better and when I found out they were heading home to San Diego soon, I invited them out along with our neighbor Creela and Phil.

What a thrill I got yesterday, May 21. It was mid afternoon and I was heading out the door with my book to sit on the deck and read, when I looked up and across the bay and saw a spray of water. I got excited and told Dave I thought there was a whale. I got my binoculars and looked and sure enough there was a whale and he/she had a friend. It was too far away to get pictures, but I sure had fun watching them play or feed or both with my binoculars. Dave watched for awhile and I told our neighbors so all of us were watching them. At one point one of them breached and then there was a lot of tail whapping on the surface of the water. It was thrilling. They must have carried on for at least 15-20 minutes. It was awesome!!!! I love it here!!!

Dave and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary today! May 24th. We invited Creela and Phil, Lois and Larry and Anne and Elwin to help us celebrate. They came over around 5:00pm and we had snacks and drinks. I shared our wedding pictures with them and after an hour or so, they said goodbye. It was fun. It doesn’t seem like it has been 20 years. I guess that is a good thing, right?! Ha.

Dave and Phil have been out fishing on Phil’s boat and they caught some bonita. It’s like a small tuna. Phil took his home and is going to smoke it and Dave and will have it for dinner in a day or two. After Phil finished smoking the fish, he invited us over to sample. It was really good. He covered one batch with a spicy rub and the other with brown sugar and dried peppers. They were both very good. That evening we cooked our fish and put a morroccan-style rub on it. It turned out delicious. I took a small piece over to Creela and Phil and they liked it. She wants the recipe.

The weather has been beautiful and warm. There has been a couple times when there was no wind and it was pretty warm. But thank goodness that doesn’t last long.

Sunday, the 29th, Larry and Lois invited us over for a Memorial Day party at their house. It was a small one and we got to see some of the people that live near us but don’t see much. It was a good time and we had turkey hot dogs wrapped in turkey bacon. They were good and it was nice they were healthy. Food was good and we all had a great time. We are leaving for Santa Rosalia in the morning so today I packed and made a casserole, and a macaroni salad to take down with us. That way we don’t have to eat out every day. Saves money.

The jeep is loaded and we are on our way to Santa Rosalia. Arturo has washed the boat and it looks really clean. The tarp we tied across the deck was clean and still in tack. All is good. Now we don’t have to scrub the boat this time. I will be washing the cockpit out tomorrow and that is all. NICE!!!! It was windy when we arrived but Dave looked at the weather forecast for the next couple days and the wind is suppose to subside tonight and be less tomorrow and Wednesday will be perfect to take the boat out and make water. We are looking forward to that. The boat hasn’t been out of the slip since we parked it here last year.

This is Memorial Day and I want to thank all the men and women who have served our country in order for us to enjoy freedom. The sacrifices that have been made have been great and all Americans should be grateful. My oldest son was in the Air Force reserve, but thankfully never had to be deployed, however, my stepson was and served his time in the National Guard in Iraq and it was one of our happiest days when he came home safe and sound. Then we had to live the nightmare again with his second tour of duty in Kuwait, and again the Lord brought him home safely. We hope he never has to go back again!!!! I think he has done his time!!! It is a true nightmare for all families when their loved one joins the service and has to go to war. It is a shame it has to be that way, but I am so thankful for these men and women who love our country enough to fight for freedom. May God continue to bless those who have served and those who are serving now. I am proud to be an American!!! Thank you again for your service!!!

The cockpit is clean and the sun shade is hung as there isn’t a lot of wind today so it will be warm. It brings back memories. Speaking of that, I was having my morning coffee in the cockpit and as I sat enjoying it and the weather, I started to think about our life aboard. It has been a really good one. I was feeling a little melancholy about the boat. It has been good to us and got us through some rough times. I really hope the next person is good to her and enjoys her as much as we did. I miss the adventure of cruising, but not all the work and up keep. I’m thinking it is getting closer to someone buying the boat with all these thoughts!!!! You never know!

Our neighbors, Lynn and Cliff, who are from Canada, started cruising in 2009. A year after we did. They also are in love with Mexico and want to find somewhere to settle on land. They had plans, as we did, to cruise the world, but things have a way of changing. They are a fun couple and we enjoyed talking to them. Their boat name is s/v Taya.

This afternoon should be relaxing. I am planning to get my exercises out of the way, then read for a while, and possibly work on my cross stitch. It is a beautiful day and I am looking forward to taking the boat out tomorrow morning. Carlos told us that tomorrow, June 1, is a celebration for the Mariners. They will bless the water, so we can’t leave until that is finished, and should have a festival in town. We will be out for about 4 to 5 hours, and after our water tanks are full we will return to our slip and join in the fun.

Spring in Bahia

April Fool’s Day!!!
Today was a Train day. I won 2 games and had a low score. I only play half a day and then another gal who plays Hand and Foot in the morning, takes my place at the Train table in the afternoon. Well we missed winning the pot of quarters by 7 points!!! That was amazing!! It was a lucky day for me.  I was able to hitch a ride with another gal who only played half day and she took me to her house and then I walked home from there. Nice exercise.

We left on the 4th for Santa Rosalia. The weather was nice and when we got there a little warm breeze was blowing. Tomorrow we scrub the boat, check things out and pay moorage and Arturo for washing the boat, top and bottom. He actually did a great job this time.

We scrubbed the boat and power washed it. Even with Arturo washing the boat, the birds drop their stuff between washings so when we get there we have to scrub to get the dark spots off. After that little job was done, I walked to town and got some groceries, money, and came back to the boat. I will need to go into town again either tomorrow or Thursday to get a few more items as I had my backpack full and two bags to carry. While I was gone Dave took the opportunity to do a scan on my computer. He was done when I returned. Today was an absolute perfect weather day. It was warm but not hot, and just a little breeze. WONDERFULL!!!

I managed to post February and March blogs, and make some signs for my craft items. A pretty successful day in my book!

While I was in town I bought 2 large steaks, specially cut, and we will have them along with potato salad I brought with us for dinner. We have been eating out every time we come to the boat and this time we thought it would be good to save some money. I brought a casserole with me which we had for dinner last night and then tonight just bought steaks. Every little bit helps. The barometer is falling which means the weather won’t be as good tomorrow, but as long as it is sunny, no worries. I have to wash the travasak (it is like a sleeping bag with sheets that are attached by velcro to the top and bottom of the inside). That way you don’t always have to wash the whole thing, just the sheets. But sooner or later, the whole thing needs washing. I can’t put it in the dryer so I wash it in the wash machine and then dry it on the boat. Hopefully it will be warm enough and not too windy.

It is almost 7:00pm and we are on cormorant bird watch. Those buggers like to settle in while the sun is up, and if we are vigilant, and keep them off the spreaders and mast, they won’t land after dark. So we watch and when they come, we swirl the halyard so it flies wild and hopefully hits them and they fly away. Even if it doesn’t hit them, it scares them away. HA!!! Dave already got rid of one. Now it is my turn. I like that job!!

On my last trip into town, I got a small tarp so we can put it across the deck just in front of the windshield and behind the mast since that is the area that gets hit hard from the bird crap. We tied it down low so it won’t blow up and flutter a lot. It worked as we had some breeze and it stayed put. This way we will only have to scrub the tarp instead of the boat. We’ll see how it works.

Dave walked with me along the breakwater. As we walked we saw a lot of small red crabs and a sailboat come in. The weather was nice for walking and when we finished with the breakwater, we stopped at a hardware store to look at all the neat stuff they had for sale in a small room off the main store. It had things like candles, pictures, small appliances, vases, and more. It was fun to look. Then we went back to the boat.

The jeep is loaded and we are heading out in the morning, going back to Bahia.

As we were driving down our rocky road toward the house, we passed our neighbors, Phil and Creela. Hoorah!!! Phil is Dave’s fishing partner, and Creela is fun to have around. They will stay until the heat gets to Creela. We are budding up during the Art/Craft show so that should be fun.

Our neighbors Mary, George, Smiley, and John took off this morning, Monday, April 11, for Loreto for the week. At 6 this morning I went over and got their dog Alaura and brought her and her bed over, fed her and am just letting her do her thing. She spends most of her time at John and Smiley’s, even when Mary and George are home. So when she gets hungry she will be here to eat. I took her for a walk this morning and will again tonight before it gets dark. Because of her age they walk her twice a day so she will get exercise and limber up.

We actually had rain on Saturday early in the morning. It rained off and on throughout the day which was really good because we haven’t had any real rain since August of last year. The windows I can’t reach to clean are rinsed now and I can at least see out of them again. We ended up having to run the generator for a few minutes to charge up the batteries before the evening. We did get some solar power, just not enough to charge the batteries for the night.

Played Train on the 14th and then the next day Creela and I drove to the Museum to set up our tables for the Art and Craft Show. It starts Saturday, 16th and ends May 1. This is a good time to have it because a lot of the Mexican people in the next couple weeks will be on vacation and a few come to Bahia. We have quite a few Artisans this time and so there was a lot of confusion as to where tables would fit and where to place people. The social room, adjacent to the Museum, is a small room so it doesn’t take long before it gets crowded. It took a couple hours to get everyone situated and set up and then we all left and went our separate ways for lunch. Here are some pictures of the arts and crafts on display. Pretty good for a small place like Bahia, eh?!!













The opening of the show was a huge success. We had a lot of people come out to look. Of course it helps when you have goodies set up on a table just before you walk into the room. HA!!! The guys I think only come for that reason. They munch while their wives and girlfriends shop. Not a bad deal. I made $24.00 that day which is pretty darn good. The last show I didn’t make anything on the first day so I’m off to a good start. People liked my bowl and beverage covers
along with the rock and shell creations. You just never know what is going to interest people. The kids like my rock and shells which is nice. There is always something for everyone. The room was bustling with people until after the door prize drawings at noon, then for the rest of the afternoon we may have gotten 4 people before closing.

I don’t work the show again until Tuesday, April 19, and then again on Easter. Opening day is always the busiest, and then it gets slow after that. There is suppose to be 3 people on the floor everyday and there are 3 people per group so the groups split the days so none of us have to be there every day.

Today, Sunday the 17th, we were invited to Creela and Phil’s place for lunch. Creela went out at low tide this morning and got some clams and invited us and Joanne over for lunch. She made Manhattan Clam Chowder. I don’t usually like it, but she did an excellent job and it really tasted good. We visited for a few minutes after we ate and then we said goodbye. Dave and I went home and Dave read for the rest of the afternoon, but after I read for a bit I got tired so I took a nap. Ms. Alaura got me up at 3:45am so I was a bit tired. She didn’t do anything; she just wanted to be outside. Since it is dark at that time I have to walk her on a leash to make sure the coyotes don’t get any ideas. Alaura is old and doesn’t get around as well as she use to and coyotes know when there is a weak animal around. Luckily Ms. Alaura goes home tomorrow. No more dog sitting.

Alaura is back home again and everything is normal at the Jones’ house again. We had a couple days of really low tides so one of those days Dave and I went out and got a bucket full of clams and steamed, cleaned and chopped them up for when we get ready for clam chowder. As it gets closer to Easter, we see more and more people on the beach clamming and also in town. Good Friday, Joanne, Mary Ann and myself went into town to get some groceries and go to the opening of a new art gallery. There was a parade down the main street in town with children playing the part of Jesus and his followers, carrying the cross before the crucifixion. They were on their way to the church. The art gallery was absolutely beautiful, but the prices are very unrealistic for Bahia de los Angeles. Hopefully she will be able to sell a few things. If word gets out she may have some art buyers from other places come and buy. You never know. Here are some pictures.














The owner, Lucy, is in the flowered pink dress. It was a very happy day for her. The priest came and did a blessing and then a ribbon was cut.
















































I found another turtle on the beach, unfortunately it was dead. It looked as though she was trying to lay eggs and the coyotes must have gotten her. She was really big and heavy!! The vultures were having lunch when I came upon it. The turtles that come back to this beach are the ones that were born here. They always return to their birth place.

One night we went to an opening for a new Italian/Pizza restaurant in town. The owner is Italian and he made 3 dishes for us to choose from. Dave and I chose a type of lasagna. He also had fresh French bread too. It was delicious. His pizzas are good also. I hope he is a big success. The Mexican people in town like his pizzas. The restaurant is also a place where you can go and get expresso, lattes, and regular coffee. It might be fun to go there to get a latte in the winter. He has French bread for sale every other day, which will be nice to get a loaf now and then.

On April 29, I was working at the art show and it was about 20 minutes away from closing when an earthquake hit. It was somewhere between 5.0 and 5.5 on the riechter scale and the epa center was just a few miles from our house, so it was close. I had been sitting in a chair doing some crocheting when I moved in my chair side to side. The chair stayed put it was just me that moved. I waited to see if it was going to do it again, but it didn’t. I figured it was probably a good idea to move outside, so all of us gals went outside away from the building. There were two ladies that were sitting on a cement ledge attached to the Museum reading and knitting when they felt the wall move. Scared them!!! It wasn’t very long, but it was a roller. We decided that was enough of excitement for us so we closed up shop and went home. Dave said the upstairs of the house shook but nothing came off walls or shelves. At first he said it was hard to determine if it was an earthquake or the wind because when the wind gets high in gusts our upstairs shakes. The wind was blowing pretty well by that time. It was a west wind which was hot!!! Our house was like a hot house. The house was still pretty warm when we went to bed but we left the skylights and windows open. Just after I got into bed around 11:00pm, and Dave was turning off the T.V. we had an aftershock. The house shook and I was wondering if it was going to go on and get worse or settle down. Fortunately it settled down, but it unnerved us a little. We haven’t had any more since then thank goodness.

Tomorrow, April 30, is the last day of the Art and Craft show. There was a decision to be closed on May 1, even though they advertised it to be open. I didn’t think that was good to do, but they didn’t ask what I thought. We pack everything up tomorrow,have a meeting then go to lunch to celebrate. I made $70 this time. I was really happy about that. The ladies are not sure if they want to do a pre-Christmas show in November, so we decided to wait until August or September to take a poll to see who is interested.

Spring is on the way.

Tuesday - Sunday, March 1-6.
Happy March! We are getting closer to spring!

Today, the 2nd is our grandson E.J.’s birthday and he is 14!!!! Two more years and he’ll be taking driver’s Ed. Wow!!! Today Dave and I worked outside. We are priming the wood railing and trim on the guest house. The weather is perfect for doing that. It reminds us of a summer day in Seattle. As I was painting the railing, I stepped back and turned and my right knee gave out. I didn’t know if I had dislocated it or what. I tried to straighten it but it really hurt to do that. I could bend it though which I thought was a good sign. So I was really careful about walking and continued to finish priming. When I was done, I went upstairs and put ice on my knee and took some ibuprofen. It felt better but I didn’t trust my knee not to give out on me so I put a spandex knee brace on it. After Dave was finished, we walked away from the guest house and looked at it and liked the lighter color. Actually Larry had some light pink paint left over from his other house so that is what we used as primer. I think the Ivory color we will put over the pink is going to look nice. We were done for the day. When we finished it was about 3:00pm. If it is nice again tomorrow I’d like to start painting with the Ivory color.

Our ex-daughter-in-law, Teri, E.J.’s mom, has her birthday today. Hope it is a good one for her. I was going to play train today, but decided to stay home and paint instead. It is windy so we won’t be painting the Ivory color since the front of the guest house faces east and gets the brunt of the wind. So instead, Dave sanded the wood behind the guest house and trailer and then we primed it. I had to go into town to pick up my laundry, so I took the water pump back to Larry, then went to Diane’s where the gals were playing train, to say hello. They break for lunch at noon, so I got there just a few minutes before they broke for lunch. After visiting with them, I left and picked up my laundry then went home.

I forgot to tell you about our water mishap. Dave got water last week, right? Well I went out on Tuesday to turn the solar panel when I heard water running. I couldn’t think where water would be running, so when I finished with the solar panel, I walked to the pila and found water on the ground in front of it. It was an ‘aw shit’ moment!! I picked up the sight glass that fell over and stopped the water from coming out. What happened was the valve to the sight glass hadn’t been closed and when the sight glass fell over, it leaked a lot of water. About 300 gallons worth!!! Ouch!! We had duck taped the sight glass to the plastic tank which is our pila, but the tape got baked and lost its hold, and with the weight of the tube, it fell over. So I turned the valve closed and re-taped the tube to the pila, in three different locations. Then I had the unpleasant job of telling Dave what happened. He had actually left the valve open the last time he was checking the level of water. Oops!! He was working on a puzzle in the guest house, and when I told him what had happened, he came out and looked at the damage. The ground was so saturated when you stepped on it you sunk down. Dave got one foot covered in mud. But all was taken care of. This means he has to go back into town and get more water. Bummer!!

Wednesday, Dave went to Larry’s to pick up the water pump so he could get water on Thursday. That evening, we went to Mary Ann’s house for dinner and Larry and Lois were there too. We had roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, a salad and dessert. It was a good meal and we had fun visiting.

Dave left this morning, Thursday, to get water and around 9:15am he was back. I helped him pump the water into the tank and that was that. Now we are full again.

The wind was blowing Friday and Saturday so we couldn’t paint. Sunday looks like it might be good calm weather. We shall see.

Sure enough, Sunday morning was a beauty. A little breeze came up in the afternoon, but we were able to get the whole front of the guest house painted in the Ivory color. It looks nice. I think we should put another coat on it, but Dave says no. What is on it now will protect it for at least a year.

Dave had another talk with Larry about the house, and Larry wants us to pay for lease and insurance AND on top of that RENT!! He wants to be able to pay off the loan on his San Diego home without any money coming from his pocket. Soooo. That puts us in a really tight situation. We don’t know when the boat will sell, and we tried to tell him we would pay for all the repairs to the house along with the lease and insurance. But he didn’t like that because he wants extra money in his pocket. So now we won’t be able to work on the house anymore. If something breaks or needs tending to, Larry is going to have to deal with it. We know he doesn’t want to do anything with the house, but we won’t have any extra money for that kind of stuff. So we figure we will probably be in the house another year, and if the boat doesn’t sell by then we will be moving back aboard and probably down to La Paz. Not what we want to do, but we will not be able to buy the house without selling the boat. So it is what it is and we will just take it one month at a time. We hate to think about losing the house because it is in the perfect setting, but what can you do. Money doesn’t solve all your problems but it helps!! So we will just have to wait and see what happens. We were going to paint the guest house but after April, when we renew the lease, we won’t be able to fork out the money for paint. Not our problem. We also found more termites so Dave got a replacement board from Larry to try and fix the problem. We really don’t know how bad it is yet because Dave hasn’t taken the old wood and frame off. That will happen when we get back from Santa Rosalia. It would be nice if we could sell our Vacation plan in San Jose del Cabo, but even that isn’t doing anything!!! Times are hard for everyone.

When we had finished painting the trim and railings of the guest house, we were pooped. We put everything away and it was about 3:00pm. I still needed to wash the rollers and pan, water plants, finish packing and get things ready for our trip to Santa Rosalia tomorrow. I did all that and all I wanted to do was sit down and rest. But still couldn’t as I needed to take a shower and burn our paper trash before it got dark. After my shower, the sun had set so I needed to turn the solar panel to the position we leave it in while we are gone and burn. I grabbed the keys, the burn bag and headed down stairs. I was going to unlock the garage to get the handheld radio that Dave left there, but figured I would do that after burning. So I dumped the bag in the burn barrel and lit the bag and stood for a minute to watch the fire. Then I walked to the garage and noticed I didn’t have the keys with me. Where were they? I went upstairs and looked and they weren’t there, I looked in the electrical room, not there. Then it hit me-------Oh NO!!! Yep! You guessed it. I had dropped them in with the bag without realizing it and now they were on fire. I waited for the fire to die down and I took a PVC pipe and stirred the aches. I couldn’t find them. I finally went back upstairs and told Dave I thought I dropped the keys in the burn barrel. He came down with me and stirred the aches and found them. There had been a plastic key fob that said ‘No Worries’ on the ring and that melted and covered the keys. What a mess. I couldn’t believe I did that-----and Dave couldn’t either. I guess I was so rummy, I hadn’t noticed I dropped the keys. Boy do I have a mess to clean up. I took the cooled keys upstairs and poured vinegar in a cup and soaked the keys.

Monday – Sunday, March 7-13.
We are in Santa Rosalia for the week. The wind was howling in Bahia as we drove through and then up in the mountains, but when we arrived in Santa Rosalia, it was calm and warm. Really nice. Arturo was cleaning the bottom of the boat when we arrived. We went ahead and opened the boat then went back to the jeep to bring down our stuff. After Arturo finished his job and unhooked the hose and electrical cord, we hooked up our water and electrical. Dave later inspected the deck and it looked terrible. It was back to being all spotted up again from the bird crap. Not good!!! Arturo hasn’t been doing his job very well. The birds are back in force and Arturo has been doing many jobs and hasn’t been devoting time to washing our boat 2 times a month. So Dave is going to have to talk to him about it. If he can’t keep the boat clean, then we will have to find someone else. We can have Arturo clean the bottom once a month. The problem is Arturo is doing many jobs and so it is hard for him to keep his commitment to our boat. We understand he needs to make money, but right now is a crucial time for keeping the boat clean. It is the season people are looking for boats. There is another guy in the marina that has been hired to wash a couple of the other cruising boats, so we can always get him to replace Arturo. So we will see.

This morning was devoted to scrubbing the boat on our hands and knees. I scrubbed with a little bit of Oxy Clean and it took some of the bird crap off. Dave wondered earlier if baking soda would work better so I thought I would try it. It does work better believe it or not. We had to scrub the areas affected twice, but it sure looks much better. We will need to do it again tomorrow, but for now a lot of it was taken off with the baking soda and pressure washer. After we finished the deck, I pressure washed the cockpit. Now things are clean again.

There are boats coming in left and right. There were 5 boats, not including us, and later yesterday afternoon 3 more arrived. Then this afternoon, Tuesday, another boat just came in. People that have been cruising south are working their way north to San Carlos to put their boats on the hard for the summer. So lots of activity. We were able to see our friends Steve and Kathy on s/v Lilly. The last time we saw them was 2 years ago in Escondido, Mexico, just south of Santa Rosalia. When they leave here, they will return to Escondido, then in another month or so start heading up the coast for Washington again. That is where they started. We met them for the first time in Newport, Oregon when we were held there for 2 weeks due to weather. Nice people. They have their family in the Seattle area and want to cruise the San Juan’s and all around the sound. They had told us they don’t do heat well so they had been leaving their boat in Escondido, Mexico, for the summer while they flew home for the summer. It is always interesting to hear the plans of our cruising friends.

It was windy last night, but we didn’t rock and roll too much because of 2 motor boats blocking the wind. It is blowing about 20 knots today. We finished the deck just in time because with the wind blowing that much, it just blows the water everywhere but where you want it.

Today is Mardi gras but there isn’t anything going on in Santa Rosalia. No extravagance of a weeklong celebration like there is in Mazatlan or Ensenada. Pretty quiet.

The town is preparing to open the mine again, north of town. They will be extracting copper. They are also building a dock for the ships to come in and take the copper away. There seems to be more people in town because of the jobs it is creating. That is good for business.

The wind started blowing early this morning so I don’t think we will be doing any scrubbing today on the deck. Actually the deck looks sooo much better. If we need to do more scrubbing I will do some tomorrow when the wind has calmed down. It is suppose to get lighter this afternoon and then be calm for the rest of the week. That will be nice. So on my agenda today was to check the water level in the bow thruster battery under our bed and then walk to town to do some shopping for food items. I ended up having to add a little water to the battery and then I was done. I turned the switch on so it could charge up overnight and I pushed the mattress back into place. Then I changed my clothes and headed to town. I filled my backpack and carried 3 bags of groceries back to the boat. Thursday, tomorrow I will go back to town and get fruits and vegetables. Then we leave on Friday to go back to the house.

When I returned to the boat from my shopping spree, I made us lunch and helped Dave with mooring lines. One of our lines broke and the marina found the extra lines we had on the boat and retied the boat. So Dave spent the day making new lines and putting chain on the dock cleats so there won’t be any more chaffing to the lines. When he was done with my help, I took off to walk the breakwater, but once I got to the point of entry, the gate was locked. It was too windy so they closed it to the public. Maybe I can walk it tomorrow since there isn’t suppose to be a lot of wind. I was disappointed, but walked to the little store just past the marina and got a small carton of milk and a bag of ice and returned to the boat. The rest of the afternoon I read and did a little crocheting of the glass covers I am making to keep bugs out of our drinks. I’m going to sell them at the art show in April.

I did get to walk the breakwater as the wind had calmed down. It is quite a walk. I would say at least 2 miles if not more. I felt good when I finished. There was a gentle breeze so I didn't get real hot.

I managed to get the keys all clean. I had to do some scrapping, but at least they will work now.

Monday - Sunday, March 14-20.
My eldest son, Ernie, turned 36 today, the 15th. He was able to go to the Sounders Soccer game in Seattle, but unfortunately they lost. Oh well. It’s fun watching though.

Not much going on but the normal. Getting water for the pila, my playing Train on Fridays, and I actually learned a new card game called ‘Hand & Foot’. It was fun. Some of the ladies prefer to play that instead of Train, so we have a table for Hand & Foot, and another for Train. A lot of the people who come down for the Spring, are arriving so I get to meet new people each week I play.

Our neighbors Smiley and John are adding a second story to their house and it will become their bedroom. I guess they talked about it for years and finally decided to do it. They had a lot of termites in the roof and one of their side walls so they had to replace all of that before adding the top floor. They almost have all the beams up for the roof and then they will start to cover it. It is neat to watch the process.

The boat hasn’t sold but we did get an offer on it. Unfortunately it won’t help us. They want to trade boat for land. That just isn’t going to help us. So nothing serious yet. Dave and I are kind of bummed about the whole situation because we have been in the house for a year and it is to the point something has to give. We had a talk with Lois and Larry and because of their finances with their new home, and the one in San Diego and some other things, they are tight on money and have to sell the house. They are listing it again and they told us they have a couple who are interested in looking at it in April. None of us know if they are serious about buying, but if they are then we will be moving back on the boat. Dave and I are naturally bummed about it all, but if we don’t get the house, maybe it is for the better. God only knows and it is always an adventure with Him. Like they say---when one door closes another one opens and I know it will be exactly what we want. It has been fun being here and we have enjoyed the view, beach, and quiet. But maybe it is time to move on and find something else. We can stay in the house, paying rent until it sells. We are getting tired of having to keep the boat clean and running and haven’t been able to take it out because every time we go to the boat the wind is blowing to where it makes it difficult to get in and out of the slip. Plus we just don’t like bouncing around on the waves any more. Right now is a hard time for us, and we are very frustrated in not knowing how much longer we will be able to live like this. I am praying the boat will sell before summer, otherwise it is another summer we have to do hurricane watch. But it is what it is and only God knows what will happen so we have to hang in there and just wait.

Monday-Sunday March 21-27.
Larry is getting rid of the palm fronds from the guest house roof. He said since they have to re-advertise the house, he wants to have a metal roof up. That way the guest house will be insured. Homes with palm fronds are a fire hazard so no insurance company will insure. Jose, a Mexican man who has done a lot of work for Larry, came over and took all the fronds off the roof in two days. Now it is necked! HA!! The metal roof should be delivered in the next day or two and then Larry will put it on. Here is a picture of the necked roof.




Well, my youngest son, Jon, just turned 34 today, the 25th. Wow!!! They sure are getting old!!!!

The metal roof was delivered Saturday late afternoon. Larry said he will either be here to put it on, on Monday or Tuesday.

Monday – Thursday March 28-31.
Dave just left to get water and shortly after that Larry showed up to put the roof on. Then his wife, Lois came over to take pictures of the necked roof and visit with a neighbor. THEN, a friend of Larry’s, Dennis, came over to help him with the roof. It is pretty noisy around here with sawing and hammering at the neighbors, and sawing and screwing the metal sheets on the roof. Yeesh!!!! The roof is going up fast though and they should be done in the early afternoon. Dave just returned with the water so I helped him pump it into the pila, and now Dave is doing what he can to help the guys. I’m just staying out of the way. One bad thing about the metal roof is when the sun gets to the west side of the house, it will shine on it and it will be blinding until the roof dulls. Well we will just have to see how it goes. Here is a picture of the guys putting the metal sheets on. It will be nice not to have all that sand from the fronds blowing around every time the wind blows.








An update on my knee---it is much better to where I don’t have to wear the knee brace. I have tested it walking for a couple miles and it has done very well. Yahoo!!!

Dave took the wood trim down above the door of the bamboo and bathroom in the breeze way and found it and the paneling to be eaten away by termites. So he cut the panel sheet he got from Larry to the sizes he needed and put them up and then we went to our ‘Home Depot’ to get boards for the trim. All repairs have been made and the trim has been painted. Looks good. What a mess though. With the white trim around the bathroom door, it really makes the door look tiny. Well it is, really. It is only a 20” door. Didn’t notice it when the trim and house were dark colored. The neighbors like the white color. It makes everything look so much better. I don’t know if Dave is going to get paint to paint the guest house. He did mention he might so the whole job would be done. All the wood needs to be protected from the elements. It wouldn’t be a big job to paint because we don’t have a bunch of corners and such to go around. We plan on going back to Ensenada in May, so we will see how the money situation is.

Dave attached the site glass to the cement wall next to the pila so we won’t have it blow over again. Remember we lost 300 gallons of water just after he filled it?!!! He also made a wood cover to go over the faucet and lines so the horses and cows won’t destroy them when they come looking for water in August. If there is any hint of water they have been known to kick in weak pilas or anything else that has water in it. So we have to make sure they can’t get to any of our water source. There was leftover green paint from when Larry and Lois painted the trim on the house, when they were living in it, so I painted the box with that. I put a couple coats on it and it looks good.

We are seeing a lot of stingrays close to the shore by the house. It’s mating season.

The other night we were burning some of the termite wood when we heard a whale blow close to shore. It was so awesome!! It blew a couple more times and then dove and went away. The night was warm and there wasn’t a moon so the stars were bright. Just a beautiful evening. We are trying to burn up all the termite wood we tore down before the snakes start to think the piles could be home.

My glass and bowl covers I made are all done and I have been priced. Now I just need to make some small signs. I hope I make money this time. This is a much larger show than we had in November. There are a lot of gringos and Mexican’s alike who come down during Spring Break. The show starts April 16 and goes thru May 1. Well wish me luck. Here are my covers.

The Weather is Beautiful---wish you were here.

Tuesday - Sunday, February 1&6.
We finished raking the gravel from the paths into the rock lined areas and Dave is still trying to get all the wood from the stairs he tore down, cut up for the fire pit. He has just a little more to go. The whale bone we got from Rafael is in one of the rock enclosed areas. It looks good but will look better with some cactus planted. However, I don’t want to get to wild in planting cactus until we know we can build our new house. No sense planting a bunch of plants just to move them again. The rocks are no big deal as they can be used anywhere in the yard, front or back and it won’t be hard to move them. Unfortunately the bougainvillea I dug up and replanted isn’t doing well at all. I am afraid I killed it. I’m not giving up on it just yet. I keep watering it in hopes it will come back. They don’t like to be messed with, but of course I found that out after I dug it up. Oh well. I will eventually get another one, but for now don’t have a spot to put it. Don’t you wish you had such dilemmas? HA!!! If that is all you had to worry about----life would be grand right?! I know, I know-----shut up!!!

You know the cardón we planted in our yard? Well Wednesday I went down to get my clean clothes off the line when I looked out toward it and saw an osprey sitting on top of it. He was big and so awesome!! I wanted to get a picture but thought if I moved it might fly away. I turned and went back upstairs, got my camera and came back and he was still there. So I took some pictures. Here are 3.





We have learned the calls of Osprey, Seagulls (of course), Turns (like small seagulls but more obnoxious), Ravens, and Mourning Doves. Spring is just around the corner because we are seeing more of the little birds and Hummingbirds coming around. Plus the weather is warming up.

Monday – Sunday, February 7-13.
The water pump has broken at the main watering hole in town. There are two. One is in town where a lot of the locals get their water and the other, where we get our water, plus some of the locals, is just before you get on our road to come to the house. Dave took the truck in to get water on Tuesday. He wasn’t back yet when I left to go to town with Joanne and Mary Ann. We did pass him on the road and he said they ran out of water so he didn’t get any. He will have to try again tomorrow. Bummer!! He waited a long time for nothing. That is how it goes sometimes. The gals and I went on and did our grocery shopping and snooping in a couple shops, then came home later in the afternoon.

Dave managed to get a ½ tank of water this morning, Wednesday. They were limiting the water giving out only half a tank. No worries. At least ½ a tank is better than nothing at all. He will try to get some more in a couple days.

As it turned out, there was a local Mexican who came by the house asking if we needed water and Dave told him we did, so we got our water tank filled a little higher. Now he doesn’t have to go into town for a while.

I haven’t been doing much outside due to me torking my back and irritating the sciatic nerve. I had trouble walking, bending over and lifting so I gave it a rest and did a lot of stretching which helped a lot. Dave has moved some rocks to finish outlining an area and mostly has been working on making a new fire pit. The old one had rocks that were crumbling and it was a small pit, so he made it larger and moved it over toward the center where we can get more people around it. He did a good job. We had some pretty good size rocks in the load we got, so that was nice to have them to line the pit with. We are still trying to burn up the bad wood before summer.

We found out this weekend that the water pump in town has been fixed so now things will get back to normal again. People were waiting 3 hours in line to get their tanks filled. Reminds me of when we had to wait in line for gasoline in the States. Remember those days?

Monday - Sunday, February 14-20.
We left this morning for Ensenada. It was cold. The weather is supposed to be fairly decent in Ensenada but we packed for cold just the same. It is a long trip but once we get there it is nice to relax. Dave does all the driving and I try to stay awake which doesn’t happen often. It is nice to see how the desert changes from our last trip in December. Some cacti are blooming and the Cirios trees are green. Some of the desert plants are coming to life. On this trip I spotted a cactus I hadn’t seen before because it was a light green due to it getting moisture. It’s a cool plant and wouldn’t mind having one in my yard. Can’t dig them up though because it is illegal and I don’t have anywhere to hide it!!

Once we arrived in Ensenada, we stopped at the ATM and got some money. We are limited to a certain amount we can withdraw in one day so we spread it out. We are making a short trip, as usual, just to shop and then go back home. After stopping at the ATM we went to the Hotel, Santo Tomas. We like to stay there as it is inexpensive, clean and right downtown. After checking in we walked across the street to Baja Naval Marina to say hi to Roger and ask him a couple questions. They took good care of us and our boat when we stopped there on our way down the coast to Mexico, so we always like to stop in to say hi if we can. The last time we were there, he was on vacation so we missed him. During our conversation the boat came up and Dave told Roger we are trying to sell it. He told us there is a couple at the marina that just lost their boat in a storm coming down the coast and is looking for a boat. Dave just happened to read about this couple before we drove to Ensenada. They lost their boat December 28th of last year and still want to cruise so they are looking for a boat in Mexico. We showed Roger the web site where our boat is advertised and gave him Dave’s email address and mentioned that if he talks to the couple, have them contact us if they are interested. So he said he would. The couple wasn’t there that day so we didn’t get to meet them or talk about the boat, but hopefully they will at least look at the web site. Roger is also going to print out the ad and post it in the office for others to see. He said there are people coming in all the time asking if there are any boats for sale. So who knows? Something may come of this. Dave really doesn’t want to sail the boat up the coast to Seattle. So we are hoping we can sell it before he has to make that decision to do it in April or May. That was one of the things we were talking to Roger about that if we did bring the boat back up, we would stop and have them paint the bottom for us. So we needed a price list. So we shall see. At least another person or persons will know the boat is for sale. So keep your prayers and fingers crossed for us Dave doesn’t have to make that journey. Dave and I walked to our Mexican vehicle insurance office, but our agent wasn’t there. The lady in the office said he would be in Manaña. So we left and came back to the hotel and relaxed. Oh yeah. Happy Valentine’s Day. Dave and I had dinner in the restaurant at our hotel and it was delicious. The weather was pleasant and sunny so that was nice. It rained the last time we were here.

Today, the 15th, is our oldest granson’s birthday. Ethan is 16. It is also our daughter-in-laws’.

Dave called the insurance office and they said our agent wasn’t in yet but was expected soon and then he would be in all day. So we thought we would get our shopping out of the way first and then go see him this afternoon, Tuesday. We went to Home Depot first, got paint for the cement around the pila, and paint for the wood that is around the bamboo guest house. We looked around at other stuff just biding time until we could go to Walmart and be able to purchase booze. You can’t buy alcohol before 10:00am. When we left Home Depot it was a little past 10:00am. Next we went to Walmart where I started shopping and Dave walked over to the ATM machine. I also had a list of things to buy for Mary Ann, Joanne and Lois. I followed my list and got almost everything on it. Mary Ann wanted some cool whip but unfortunately they didn’t have it at Walmart. Once shopping was done there we went to Costco and finished getting the bulk items. We returned to the hotel and put a bunch of free ice, in the ice chest and would check it in the morning, draining it and adding more if need be before heading home. Dave called the insurance office again and asked for Tona, the agent and found out he had left for the day. What a bummer. We needed to pay and talk to him about the insurance but now I guess we will have to email him and work out a way to get him a check because we need to go home tomorrow. Dave was pretty bummed about that. He shot him an email but we never heard back from him. We repacked the jeep so everything fit snuggly and was secured and went back to our room to chill. We weren’t very hungry when dinner time came along so we ended up eating at McDonald’s up the street. It was either that or have pizza and have leftovers for breakfast on our way home. We decided to have a Mc D sandwich and tomorrow we would get an egg McMuffin sandwich before heading out of town. We went back to our room and watched T.V. and checked email, still haven’t heard from our agent, then went to bed.

We got up a little after 6:00am, got packed and loaded the jeep and checked out. We got some more ice to add to the chest and drained the water out of it. We were set to go. Before all that, we did walk to Mc Donald’s to have breakfast so that should hold us until we get home.

The ride home was o.k. It had rained over night and was still misting when we left Ensenada. The further south we get the better the weather will be. San Diego is having a series of storms coming in and Ensenada is in for more rain. Thank goodness we are going home today. We arrived home around 2:00pm, unloaded and I decided I would put the majority of the stuff away tomorrow. I was tired and just didn’t feel like doing much. We had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner, watched T.V. then went to bed.

What a difference a day makes and a good night sleep. I was ready to dig in and start cleaning up the mess from yesterday. Once that was done, I had time to read. I want to finish the book I am reading about an Autistic boy. I want to be able to pass it on to another lady when I go to train tomorrow.

I did finish the book so now I can pass it on. I walked to Mary Ann’s house for train this morning, Friday, and had a nice time talking with the ladies and playing. Then after lunch I walked home. I only stayed half a day this time. Last week I got stuck playing the whole day and it is just too long for me. When I returned home, Dave had put the primer paint on the pila and it looks nice. When that dries and the wind stops he will put the final coat of paint on it. It will be an ivory color. When Noreen comes down to visit again, we are going to have her paint a desert mural on the pila wall. That will look soooo cool. We will have to measure it and send the measurements to her so she can draw it all out at home and bring it down with her to paint.

We found out that John and Sandy Eltrich, are going to be here, Wednesday the 23rd. Their daughter Angie had a baby boy and so they got some quality time with him. Sandy and John are heading back to their boat in La Paz and since they will be passing by our area, thought they would stop and visit. That will be nice. It is always good to see them. So now I need to get busy and clean. Oh yay!!!

I was going to vacuum the house this morning to get the sand up from our last wind storm, but guess what? We are having another one. It doesn’t do any good to try and clean it up until after the wind has stopped. So instead I cleaned the bathroom adjacent to the bamboo room and the trailer. Tomorrow I hope to vacuum the bathroom floor, bamboo room and trailer. I will need to get the mattress and sheets from Mary Ann again so John and Sandy will have a comfortable bed to sleep on. Dave took the puzzle Mary Ann gave him after she finished it, down to the bamboo room and has been working on it most of the day. Once he starts he stays with it. I laid down for a while since I was really tired. Didn’t sleep but did rest. The wind is still whipping out of the south with some strong gusts. Because of the weather in San Diego, we are getting wind and clouds here. It is warm though so no complaints. I managed to get the January blog at least on my blog site today. Now I will have to put the pictures in and then post it. I will try to do that in the next couple days. I am behind. I hadn’t even started the February blog until today. Been busy or Dave has been on my computer playing his war game. No worries. It gets done eventually.

Monday - Sunday, February 21-27.
Today is President’s Day. Happy day off for those of you who get it as a holiday.

Wednesday, John and Sandy came to visit. They could only spend the night, but we had a wonderful visit with them. They are anxious to get back to their boat. It has been 3 long months in the states. We caught up on news, walked the beach, had cocktails, dinner, played a game of train, cruiser style, had dessert chatted a little more then they retired for the night. We did too shortly thereafter.

Thursday morning was sunny and warm and John and Sandy were so happy to be back in warm weather again. I fixed breakfast and after saying goodbye, left for Santa Rosalia. They are working their way to La Paz slowly. Actually by Friday they will be in La Paz. It was nice they came to stay with us.

Friday, Dave went into town and got water. I walked to Mary Ann’s house to help load some things she has for the yard sale tomorrow. Then we went to the area where the sale is taking place and set up. I was home by 2:00pm and was able to help Dave with the last bit of water to be siphoned from the tank in the truck. After that I helped clean up and that was our exciting day. Tomorrow we need to be at the yard sale at 7:30am as it will open at 8 and close at 11.

Dave and I got up around 6:30am, got dressed, made coffee then headed for the sale. There already were Mexican families lined up waiting to get it. We told the gate keeper we were there to work the yard sale so he let us in and closed the gate behind us. I didn’t have much to sell, just about 5 tops and 2 pairs of sandals. I managed to sell a couple things and Mary Ann sold a lot of here stuff which was really good. As the morning was getting on and the people were slowing down coming in, we were able to browse. I found a couple treasures so that was cool. Just a little before 11, Mary Ann and I packed up and left. There weren’t as many people this year as last year. Money just isn’t flowing in the town like it was this time last year. It was a good sale anyway and a lot of the gringos got rid of most of their stuff.

Mary Ann drove back to her house where we unloaded what was left over from the sale, and then she drove me home. It was a fun morning. The rest of the day was spent reading and I managed to take a little nap. The wind was blowing pretty well when I came home and Dave said it had just started. Thank goodness we didn’t have any wind where we were. There were people in the yard sale that said the wind was howling at the north end of town. That system that is hitting San Diego is moving our way. So the wind blew hard all afternoon and also early evening then it quit. We were planning on sleeping in the trailer again if it had kept up. So when we went to bed it was calm.

Well the calm didn’t last all night. We were awakened by howling wind and the screens and windows rattling at 2:30-3:00am. We laid there for a while then decided it wasn’t going to let up for a while so we grabbed our pillows and went to the trailer. We were able to sleep. Dave woke first and figured it was well past 8:00am, but to his surprise it was only 7:00am. We had to get up because the propane guy is suppose to come today and Dave needed to bleed one of our tanks down and I usually watch for the truck. We hadn’t heard anything announcement it was in town so Dave called our neighbor Mary and she said it was over in Rincon. So we would hear when it left there heading back this way. Well the guys that live over there in Rincon forgot to alert us the truck had left Rincon and before I knew it the truck was behind our house going to Mary’s. Luckily they were watching and saw him coming. So we got our bottle filled and announced to the people south of us the truck was on its way. The clouds have thinned. Oh yeah. We got some sprinkles this morning but really not enough to do much but dirty the windows and solar panel. Now it is sunny and the wind did calm down and it was nice, but it is blowing again, this time from the north. I was able to wash the solar panels while Dave went to take the water pump back to Larry, and I washed a couple items of clothing, stripped and changed the bed, gathered the dirty sheets and clothes to take into town on Tuesday to be laundered. Dave was able to get another puzzle from Mary Ann so he is down in the bamboo room working on it. This afternoon is a reading one for me.

Monday February 28.
The weather is getting warmer which is nice, that is when the north wind doesn’t blow. We are starting a new month and more birds are showing up singing or squawking to each other. I’m sure they are starting to search out places to build nests. The doves are already calling early in the morning with their monotone, never changing call. It can wear on your nerves. During the day they are flying around and then when the evening comes they are back again talking before they disappear for the night. I truly understand now why some people hunt and kill doves!!!! Actually they are good eating!!

Dave started sanding the wood trim on the outside of the quest house and the railing above the deck. We got some very light pink paint from Larry to use as a primer so that is what we will treat the wood with before putting the Ivory color on it as a finish. Thursday, the 3rd we spent all day painting the front and south side of the guest house. Actually the light pink doesn’t look bad, but the ivory color is going to look really nice. Tomorrow we hope to maybe start with the ivory color. The weather was absolutely perfect today for painting. Only a small breeze and it was warm but not hot. The best weather ever so far this year.

I ended up torking my knee this morning somehow. All I did was step back from what I was painting and my knee gave out. I didn’t fall but I couldn’t straighten my leg all the way. I could bend my knee and it didn’t hurt but when I straightened it, ouch!!! I had to stop painting for awhile to elevate and ice my knee and take some ibuprophen. I had a spandex knee brace so I put that on and I was fine. Weird!!! My back got out of alignment also so I had to try and pop it back into place. So I was uncomfortable in the afternoon, and then I iced my knee again that evening.

The wind is supposed to blow today so no painting with the final color on the guest house. Instead Dave sanded the wood beams and posts on the west side of the guest house and then I came behind him putting the primer coat on. When Dave finished sanding and wiping, he started painting too. I had to quit just before 11:30am so I could get the water pump into the back of the truck so I could take it back to Larry, and I also have to go into town and pick up my laundry. I cleaned up and put my roller to soak and left for Larry’s house. Today is a train playing day, but I skipped it so we could paint. I did stop by on my way into town to say hi to the gals and chat for a few minutes. Then I went to town, bought milk and got my laundry and headed back home. When I got home Dave had used up all the pink paint and pretty much had all we wanted to paint done. Tomorrow is supposed to be windy so we probably won’t do any major painting. I think I would like to take a brush and paint around the posts and places where the roller wouldn’t fit. Then all we will have to do is roll on the ivory color. With both of us painting it doesn’t take much time at all. The job isn’t as overwhelming either. I put laundry away, had lunch and started the Janet Evanovich book series. Everyone here passes books around and I have read a lot of her books, just not in order. So I thought it would be fun to read them in order. We have lots of reading material now!!! I finished a book titled ‘Gringo’s in Paradise’. It was an interesting book. We are familiar with the town they were having a house built in. Dave is in the guest house putting a puzzle together. I thought this was a great time to catch up the blog because when he comes up he will want to play his game on my computer.

My knee is feeling better; however, when I am walking or working around the house I wear the brace. I know I have arthritis in that knee, but it also feels like the tendons were stretched. So I will be wearing the brace just so as not to damage it any more. When Dave and I come to Washington to visit, I will have my knee looked at again. The last time I was home I had an x-ray taken and all looked good, just normal wear and tear. So don’t know what this is!!!

Monday we are going to Santa Rosalia to check on the boat, pay moorage and make sure all systems run well. I need to do a little cleaning as well.