Here it is May already and our weather is still cool. We have had quite a bit of wind lately and the breeze from the north is cool for this time of year. I’m not complaining it is just unusual. By now we are in the 90’s and sweating a bunch. So I am thankful for the coolness. It is nice for sleeping at night.
Our friend Kenny, from the Fonatur Marina in La Paz, where we moor our boat, came up to look at the little 21 foot boat that was left here with the house. The one we were going to fix up and us for fishing until we found out that there is no paperwork on it so we won’t be able to import it to keep it legally. So when we were in La Paz the last time we were talking to Kenny about the boat and showed him pictures as he is looking for a fishing boat. He said he would come up to look at it. So he and his friend showed up the day before we were to leave for La Paz. The guys looked at the boat and inspected it, took it down to the boat ramp to off load it from the trailer it is on and put it onto Kenny’s trailer. When they were finished, Kenny and his friend spent the rest of the time getting the boat hooked up for travel and cleaning it up. Late in the afternoon Dave said we should return the compressor and table back to our neighbors, Creela and Phil’s, as we heard they were coming down and would be here before we got back from La Paz. At this time Tito, our gate guard was over talking to Kenny and when he heard we were going to Creela and Phil’s and we were returning some things he offered to go with us. I told him he could sit up front with Dave and I would climb in the back of the truck as I hadn’t ridden in the back for a long time and since we weren’t going far I thought it would be fun. I had a pronged small garden rake to dig up their key with so off we went. Dave backed up to their patio as we had to put the table back in the trailer and the compressor in the garage. When Dave stopped I started climbing over the tailgate with the garden rake in hand and as I was swinging my left foot over the tailgate to climb down from the truck the tailgate opened and I flew backwards and hit the cement path near steps to the patio. The rake went flying and I landed on my butt smack in the middle of it and as I hit the grown I felt my spine compress and pain!!!!! Tito came over to try and lift me up but I told him no, no, no as I didn’t know what shape my body was in yet. I rolled onto my left side in pain and Tito called Dave to come over. I felt very lightheaded like I was going to pass out but I didn’t. I was on the ground not too long and when Dave came over I was ready to try to get up. Dave helped me up and poor Tito was watching with such concern on his face. I leaned over the wall to the patio and stood there for a few minutes bent over then I walked up the two steps to the patio and sat down on the wall and pressed my back against the wall. I was in a lot of pain. Then I thought I needed to see if I could walk so I moved real slowly and took some steps. All was good with mobility but I was hurting bad. In the meantime Dave got the keys and unlocked the trailer and Tito and him put the table away and locked it back up. Then they took the compressor to the garage and locked that and they were done. Tito told me to sit in the front seat and he would ride in the back. What happened was that Kenny helped Dave put the table and compressor in the back of the truck and Kenny closed the tailgate but didn’t know he had to slam it hard to close it tight and Dave wasn’t there so he didn’t think anything about it. So that I why I had my accident. It wasn’t anyone’s fault as stuff happens. It is a good thing I had made the beds for the guys before we went to Creela’s because I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. After getting back to the house I put ice on my back and took a pain pill and sat for awhile. It hurt all the way around my lower body. All the muscles were contracting. I scrapped up my middle and ring fingers on my right hand when I fell but that was the least of my worries. I was really concerned of how I would feel tomorrow when we going to be in the car for 8 hours. But no time to worry about that now. I just had to try and do what I could to help get my back better. I wasn’t sure I could stand to make dinner but I did. I was really sore. The pain pill kicked in so I could move around with caution. We all had dinner and afterwards Dave turned the TV on to see if we could get the big fight, don’t ask me who was fighting as I don’t pay attention to that stuff. Don’t like it. So anyway while the guys retired to the living room I washed the dished. Pretty soon Kenny and his friend went to bed. It was about 8:00pm and the fight wasn’t on. Well we couldn’t get it anyway. I put some more ice on my back while watching TV and then went to bed thinking I was going to be hurting tomorrow.
To my surprise I wasn’t hurting as much as I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong, I was very sore and it was painful still but at least I could walk and maneuver. Kenny and his friend had already left at 4:00am so we said we would catch up to them somewhere down the road. We locked up the house and away we went. The ride wasn’t too bad. I had my magnet belt on so I was getting some heat to the back which helped. We did meet up with Kenny just before Loreto and they were continuing on and we were stopping. We told him we would see him tomorrow in La Paz.
We went to our favorite hotel and we were the only ones there so far. Then later another couple showed up. We tried to see our friends, (Robert and Kristi) that live part time in Loreto, but they weren’t home. We had a nice quiet evening and around 8:00am the next morning we headed out for La Paz. At least the ride is shorter today which makes it nice. We arrived at the marina and opened up the boat. The weather was nice with a little breeze and in the 80’s. Not humid like the last time we were here. My back is really sore and actually not just the back but all the muscles around the lower part of my body. Today is the 5th and it is our grandson Eian’s 16th birthday!!!! That is so cool. Happy, Happy Birthday guy!!!!!
Once on the boat we found the batteries were charged and all systems seemed to be working just fine. We noticed Diego hadn’t washed the boat. Come to find out later on when we went to see the boat broker and she told us he came to collect the money and so she thought he had done the job. That isn’t good. I guess they will have to start checking out the jobs they say they are doing before paying them. Dave went up to the marina office to talk to them about getting the boat hauled out around the 10th and they said there was no room. Hmmmm!!!! Last month we got a quote from them of how much it was going to be to get hauled out so we thought it was all settled and then to find out there isn’t any more room. That didn’t sit well at all. Dave didn’t get mad but he made it known that it was all worked out the last time we were here and he even showed them the paperwork. So with some discussion, they decided to make room for us. Now we need to get a survey done before the boat is hauled and then continue with the hull survey after the boat is out of the water. We asked around about who a good survey person was and found a guy named Mark. He said he could come and start the survey on Wednesday the 6th. So the process has begun. We are still looking for another insurance company. Dave has made a couple of inquiries and asked for quotes and no matter what the insurance is going to be high. There are a couple of companies we are looking at but can’t decide anything until after the survey is finished.
I couldn’t stand looking at the dirty cockpit screens so I decided to wash them. Once the boat is out of the water I can’t do it so no time like the present. It looks so much better and we can enjoy sitting out in the cockpit again.
Mark came on Wednesday and did his survey inside the boat. It took about an hour or so. Everything was looking good he said. The only thing we need to do is get our fire extinguishers serviced and a battery for our Epirb. He will be back on Friday to do the rest of the survey when the boat is out of the water.
It is boat hauling day today. We are waiting for them to notify us when they will be ready to do that. We got all the lines out and readied the boat for moving. Around 1:00pm or so we were notified they were ready for us so we fired up the engine and then headed over to the lift. After the straps were positioned safely under the boat we were lifted out of the water. They positioned a ladder for us to get off the boat so they could take it to the boat yard. They found a spot they could squeeze us into and that is where we will sit until about September and then they will move it in front of Kenny’s shop and he will take care of painting the bottom and cleaning her for our return. He did pay us some money for the little boat and then he is trading work for the rest. So it works out for both of us.
We made reservations to stay at Casa Buena for a couple days while we get the boat ready for the summer on the hard. So all day Thursday we were going up and down the ladder taking things off the boat and storing them in Kenny’s shop and then we took the head sail down and folded it up and put it in the sail bag to store that and then we secured the end of the main sail which was sticking out of the mast so it wouldn’t flop around in the wind. We took the BBQ off, the engine for the dinghy, the dinghy, put cushions away and all Kenny will have to do if there is a hurricane is take the windshield of the dodger off and the bimini. I didn’t do a lot of lifting but I was busy all day and on my feel so when we got to the hotel I was beat and needed to put the heating pad on my back. Actually I was surprised my back did as well as it did for all the activity. We relaxed that night at the hotel and there weren’t many people there this time.
Friday Dave needed to go back to the boat yard to meet with Mark, the survey guy, and I knew Dave would be at the boat yard all day so I told him I wasn’t going to go with him but I was going to go to the pharmacy and the fabric store instead. My back was sore but I thought a walk would be good. Dave dropped me off at the pharmacy so I could get some of my pain pills and then I walked to the fabric store, which was just down the street. I always planned on going to that fabric store but it never worked out before so now I was going to take advantage of the opportunity. It was fun looking at all the fabric but I needed to get home as my back was really hurting. So I walked back to the hotel and put the heating pad on and lay down on the bed. I had over done it yesterday but I had to as Dave couldn’t do it all by himself and there wasn’t anyone else. Kenny did help with getting the dinghy engine off the boat and headsail folded up but he was working so that is all he could help with. So I figured I would lay low for the day and didn’t do much of anything. I really didn’t feel good either so that was a bummer. When Dave came back it was later in the afternoon and he said Mark told him the haul of the boat was in great shape and we needed to get it painted (which we planned on doing) and change a zinc. So now we wait for Mark to send us a copy of the survey and then send that into the insurance companies and see which one will give us the better deal and cover us out of the water. We had some food left over from dinner on the boat the night before and then spent the rest of the evening in our room where I put the heating pad back on my back and read my book and Dave was on the internet. Then it was bed time.
The next morning my back was feeling a little better, but still sore. I was encouraged it would get better. We ran some errands and around dinner time we walked to the Bandito restaurant and had dinner then came back and chilled. We are leaving for home in the morning.
We were on the road around 8:00am or so. We were staying at the Angra hotel overnight and were hoping Kristi and Robert were at the house so we could see them. After getting to the hotel we called and we got a hold of Kristi. They had her sister-in-law with her husband visiting but invited us to come over anyway. So we went over to their house. As we were visiting with them another couple showed up which are good friends of Krisit and Robert and use to be their neighbors in Oregon. We visited for a while and then we figured we would leave. It was Kristi and Roberts wedding anniversary and they were making plans for dinner. Robert asked if we wanted to join them and with some coaxing we said yes. So we were to meet them at 6:30pm at Super Burro restaurant. Well we arrived on time but they weren’t there yet. We sat down at a table for 6 and ordered a beer. Soon after they showed up and we had good conversation going. Then dinner came and we got stuffed. It was the anniversary of the restaurant as well so they served us free cake. After that we said our goodbyes and went back to the hotel. We watched some TV then went to bed. We have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow.
Well my back is still sore but each day it is getting better. I really have to baby it so it will be ready for our trip to Washington at the end of the month.
Dave has been so good in lifting heavy things for me and making sure I don’t do anything foolish to hurt my back more.
Today is our son Michael’s birthday, May 9th!!!! He’s getting old! Ha!!!! He is 43. Happy birthday son!!!
We got home mid afternoon on Sunday the 10th. It was good to be home again. Now we can relax for a while before we are back on the road again but this time going north. Our grandson, E.J. is graduation on June 10th and they have tickets for us to attend and also he is having a family and friends party on the 7th which would be nice if we could be there for that.
Our daughter-in-law, Brooke is celebrating her birthday today the 24th. It is also our gate guards’ birthday. Happy birthday!!!!
We are just taking it easy right now and enjoying the cool weather. There has been a lot of wind lately. The yellowtail are running out in front of the house so Dave is itching to go fishing but when we tried to take the boat (a friends boat) out the engine worked for a second and then wouldn’t start again. So he was bummed but tore it apart to see what the problem was. Well he checked everything out and found gas wasn’t getting to the spark plugs which mean the carburetor isn’t doing its job. He took that out and cleaned it a couple times, put it back together and yesterday took it to the boat ramp to launch it and waaalaaa!!!! It works like a charm. Our gate guard has been itching to go out with Dave so now he can. However, Tito (gate guard) went out in a kayak yesterday and caught a large yellowtail and a Cabrillo. Dave showed him and his wife how to fillet a fish for future reference and at the end of it all, Tito gave us two nice yellowtail fillets for dinner. It was very good.
Dave and Tito went out this morning to try and catch another yellowtail but they all had moved on unfortunately. Bummer!!! Well at least they were able to get out in the boat and try. Later on Tito took the kayak out to see if he would have the same luck as he did yesterday but he didn’t.
We have decided to leave on Thursday the 28th. So now it is coming up fast. I have already started packing but will get serious about it today the 26th. I put out some danger tape which when tied on the rafters flaps and it keeps the birds away. So last night I did the railing of the deck and this morning I did the rafters and washed the solar panels. All that is left is packing which I need to get to now.
O.k. I am all packed except for last minute stuff. Dave moved MaryAnn’s boat in the garage to keep it out of the weather. The truck is outside under the carport and the jeep is parked under the stairs ready for our getaway tomorrow morning. I defrosted the refrigerator and freezer so all I have to do tomorrow is shut the propane off and put towels in on the shelves and leave the doors open. I packed a lunch for us and have lots of breakfast bars to munch on the way.
Lynn and Tom, our Bahia neighbors invited us to dinner tonight and they served Carnitas. They were very good. We had a nice visit and dinner then we said goodbye and went home. Dave packed this afternoon so all we have to do is load up in the morning. We have already put our 2 large suitcases in the car to make the morning car packing go smoother.
Well it is the 28th and the car is packed, the propane off, and the solar panel has been flattened and turned to where it will get the most sun in the afternoon. We turned off the inverter this time as we didn’t need to keep that on and the water is still on as our gate guard is going to water the few plants we have while we are gone. Everything is locked, the toilet bowls are covered with saran wrap and the drains are covered over to prevent cockroaches. I loaded up the garbage to drop it off in town and burned all the burnable things. We gave our guard food we had left over, which wasn’t a lot, and gave some other things like butter, sour cream, beer, etc to neighbors and friends. I did a pretty good job this year in not having a lot of food items left to give away.
Well we said goodbye to the gate guard and his fiancé and told them we will see them in September.
We took the road from Chapala to cross the border at Mexicali. We normally don’t go that way as about 13 miles of rough road but it was a lot better this time then when we came down coming back last September after hurricane, Odile. Once we were on smooth pavement again we sailed up to Mexicali. It is faster than going to the Tecate border so since we need to be up in Washington close to the 7th, we decided we would try it again and see how it went. We don’t like the rough road, but if you go slowly it isn’t bad. It took an hour to cross the border then another hour and a half to get to our friends house in El Cajon, CA. Creela and Phil had been waiting for us and had dinner ready and drinks right after we arrived. They haven’t been able to go to Bahia due to a bad renter and issues and legal things with him. So it was good to see them and spend a couple days with them. Shortly after we arrived, Phil said his best friend who was his best man at their wedding had a stroke and is bad. So Phil was torn about leaving while we were there, but we told him he should go and see his friend. So the next morning he left for Reno. We were glad he decided to go because none of us know how long we are going to be here on this earth. Creela and us had breakfast, then she asked if we wanted to see the rental they had to go to court for to evict the renter. She said there was a lot of damage done to it. We had no idea until we got there of how much!!!! Went went inside and Creela noticed lights on and said they were off yesterday when she was there. Also food was on the floor and counters and it looked like someone was making waffles for breakfast. Dave and Creela walked down the hall to the bedrooms and looked in each one and the last one they found a young kid standing in the middle of the room fiddling with his fingers. Creela hollered, “Who are you and what are you doing here?” Then she asked again----“who are you” and he mumbled, Ricardo. Creela said she was calling the police and we all walked outside to the side of the house by the window of that room. She was still on the phone when the kid jumped out of the window onto a hedge and then down on the grass in the yard and took off on a skateboard. He has a bag with some stuff in it but we didn’t know if that is something he had already or had taken stuff from the house. Creela couldn’t find anything missing of hers so the police couldn’t file a report. Anyway----4 police cars showed up and looked in the house and gave Creela some advice about taking care of the broken windows and cleaning up the yard. There was all kinds of office desks, chairs, cubicle material, as the renter was selling this stuff from the house. Doors inside the house had been taken bashed in, the stove was broken, all kinds of junk lying all over the floor and broken furniture and all laying around. I had never seen such a mess in all my life. This kid was probably a friend of the evicted son, and was just staying there overnight. We saw evidence of cooked meth and a pipe, plus there was a 5 gallon bottle of water in the bedroom where the kid was found and I think he thought he was going to stay awhile. Well the police went looking for the kid and after they left we helped clean up the yard and put all the junk that was there in the backyard hidden from view. We tried to make the house look like there was someone in it. As it turned out Creela was able to get a nephew by marriage and his friend to help with the clean-up and one of them came back that afternoon to stay in the house to keep anyone else from coming in and taking copper pipes, electrical stuff – anything that can be sold on the street for drugs. So that worked out real well for Creela as she got a phone call around 8 or so from the guy staying in the house that someone knocked on the door wanting to get some of his stuff and Pat told him he would have to come back with the property manager. Creela and Phil have to store all the evicted renters stuff for 13 days until he can get it all out. This guys (renter) has been doing this for a long time and the police are very aware of his actions. So this guy will probably work it until the very last second before clearing out all his stuff. Unbelievable!!!!!! I just don’t understand what is wrong with these people. Well yes I do-------drugs!!! It makes people strange and mean and just plain awful. Creela and Phil are in there upper seventies and they shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of stuff. Plus this is part of their income. Well they have turned over that rental to a property manager and they will be able to take care of the renting and background checks and all. In the meantime, Creela and Phil have to get the house cleaned up, replace what is broken, replace the carpet and make it look nice again. It is a nice 4 bedroom one level house. It is just a shame. Well hopefully this is the end of bad renters!!! I am not naive enough to know that this can’t happen even with a property manager looking after the property, but hopefully less of a chance.
Well we left Creela on Saturday 30th and headed north and seeing how far we can get today. Well we got as far as Santa Nella, north of the grapevine in California to stay the night. We headed out around 7-7:30am the next morning. We made good time and instead of stopping at Redding, we kept going toward the coast. Our hope was to stop in Crescent City, but that remains to be seen.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Friday, May 8, 2015
Just Chillin in Paradise
Happy April fool’s Day. No pranks played on me or anyone else. Today was the opening day of the Spring Arts and Craft show. We had a lot of people shopping today which was awesome. I did pretty well so I am pleased. Usually the first day is always the best in sales. Here are some pictures of the tables and some of the art we had in the show. The table with the glass covers and rock and shell critters are mine.
We had one Mexican lady and her daughter show up and put up a table to display her art. Unfortunately the Mexican ladies were taking a sewing class offered once in a while for them so they didn’t want to miss the opportunity to learn how to make new things. So the one lady, Perla and her daughter Anna, asked us to watch and help sell her items while they were in class. So we did and she did pretty well. She had mostly necklaces, earrings and key chains.
I worked Thursday, Saturday, and half a day Sunday as that was the end of the show. Friday was my day off and I got laundry done and cooked in prep for the next 2 days. I had fun making announcements every morning and evening for the show. Thursday was a dead day. We had some people come in and look but no one bought. Saturday was better and quite a few people came in but didn’t buy much. It was a sad day for me as I was told that my best friend here in Mexico had her husband die on Friday of a fatal heart attack!! Wow!!! I was stunned and Dave and I still can’t believe Murray is gone. We just saw them a few weeks ago and he seemed fine. He will be missed. Then Sunday we figured it would be dead until we got ready to close and low and behold we had a bunch of people and they bought lots. We couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that one Mexican family bought all that was left of my rock and shell critters!!!!! There must have been about 6 or 8 left. That was my biggest sale of the day!!!!! I was in a daze and so happy that they appreciated my art!!! I did sell a handful of glass covers and some earrings so all in all I did fantastic. You just never know from year to year how you will do. There were a few Canadian tourists trying to buy things so they didn’t have to take pesos back with them. It was a fun and successful show. Just about everyone went to lunch after we broke down the tables; packed up everything and cleaned the Museum Salon, except me. I had to get home so I could pack for the trip to La Paz on Monday.
After getting home and unloading all my stuff, I packed and got things ready to take to the boat like some food items and such. Not much had to be done. Then I had the rest of the afternoon to relax and take a walk on the beach.
We left Monday morning around 7:00am headed for Loreto. Our friends from Brookings, Oregon aren’t going to be at their house in Loreto so we booked a room at a cool little motel called ‘Angre’. It is run by a young woman named Anna and her mom and dad. They are a really nice family. Even the sister helps from time to time. We like it there because they have a gate that locks at 10:00pm so our car is safe. We arrived at the motel 8 hours later. We had trouble with the WiFi but eventually got it working. We had a nice room on the top floor and at the end so we only had one room on one side of us. As it turned out we were the only ones there! I called my friend Penny to see how she was doing. She is the one that her husband died on April 3. She wasn’t doing well at all. I felt so bad that I couldn’t be there to help her through this tough time. I didn’t get to talk to her much as the connection was bad. But I told her I would write her every day just to help her through until I could come see her. After my phone call I was able to get on the WiFi and I sent her a message. Then it was time to seek out a place for dinner. We liked the last place we ate when we were here so we walked down to it only to find it was closed. Bummer! Fortunately the chicken place next door was open so we grabbed a bite there. When we walked back to the motel we stopped at a deli and wandered around and found all kinds of great stuff. They had all kinds of cheeses, liquors wines and more. We said we would stop and get some rum on our way home. So we left and went back to the motel and watched T.V. I did some crocheting on the baby afghan and then before we knew it it was bed time. Tomorrow is a shorter drive. Only 4 hours so we don’t have to leave so early. Plus there is a time change from Baja California to Baja California Sur where Loreto and all the little towns south of there to La Paz is an hour later than where we live. So we had a relaxing drive down. Driving does tire us out. Dave for driving and me for falling asleep in the passenger seat!!!!! Ha!! There isn’t much to see but sand, mountains, cactus, cactus and more sand. I’m surprised Dave doesn’t fall asleep. Well we made it to La Paz safely and early in the afternoon. We went to the boat and saw that most of the windshield for the dodger was in place but one piece was missing. The canvas guy must have that and the cover. Dave went down to check the battery situation and found all house batteries were dead. Just like last time. He doesn’t have a clue what is causing them to go dead. So we had AC just no DC which means no boat lights, no stove, microwave, or flushing of toilets, and no refrigeration. No worries as we have one electrical light in the main salon and we have running water except we couldn’t use the bathroom faucet as that drains into a sump pump and then pumps overboard so that is DC. If we run water in the bathroom sink and the sump pump is not working it will overflow into the bilge. Then there will be standing water in the bilge which isn’t good. No worries as we have been through this before. The next morning Dave unhooked the house batteries and had Kenny, our friend at the boat yard, come and help him cart them off the boat and down to the Quaker State battery place in La Paz. The batteries were left there overnight to be charged and then we would find out if the batteries are bad or not. If they are bad we have the receipt from when we bought them a short time ago and they will replace them free of charge. So tomorrow is the telling day. In the meantime Dave was very perplexed over this battery situation. He had noticed when we were down the last time that there was a draw coming from somewhere on the boat that just didn’t make sense. He even thought that the Link 2000 heart was going bad so he brought a extra one down that was given to us by a friend in Bahia.
The canvas man showed up and replaced the one glass panel that was missing and put the cover on over the windshield to check out the fit. Perfect. There is a little wrinkle at the corners of the windshield and he offered to put a solid piece of material there so the windshield would be tighter. So we said that would be great. So when we leave we will call him and let him know he can work on that while we are gone.
Thursday Dave went back to Quaker State to see what the status is on the batteries. They are good and all charged up. So that was a relief. But now Dave has to solve where the mystery current is being drawn from the batteries when we aren’t there. He brought the batteries back and two Mexican boat boys working on the boat across from our slip helped him carry them down below. Once the batteries were hooked up then it was time to reset the Link 2000 so he could read what the batteries were doing. Something was still not right and there was that annoying draw coming from somewhere. Dave asked me if the bow thruster battery was off and I said it was. But he wanted to check something out so he got under our bed and metered the bow thruster battery and it was metering good. So he decided to take the battery out and test it not hooked up to anything. Well it was dead, dead, dead!!!! It had bulging sides which is an indication of it being bad. Dave did a little more digging under the bed and decided that because the battery was dead it was still trying to get current from the other batteries even with the switch turned to off. That was the little draw he couldn’t figure out. Whaalaa!! The next step was to see if our Link 2000 was going on the frits so he took that out and replaced it with the one our friend gave us only to find that it didn’t work like it was suppose to. It did show that the house batteries were charging like they should and there was no extra draw showing up, but other light indicators weren’t working so there was something wrong with it so we couldn’t use it. Dave had to take it out and put ours back in. At least we know we need to replace it. So Dave is going to look on line to see if he can get another one.
Well at least we found out where the extra draw was coming from and how the boat was wired for the batteries and that our Link 2000 needs replacing. Now the next project is to work on the generator and find out what its problem is. Dave had an idea so he went with it and found that a switch is bad. He did something so it would run and when we return in May we will have the new switch and it will only take a few minutes to change it out. So Dave solved the problems we were having and it is all good. Now that Dave is done with all that, I can do what I need to and that is clean the forward sump pump and get water out of the bilge. When we ran the air conditioner the last time we were on the boat the unit in the back of the boat, doesn’t have a drain set up to it like the forward one does with a hose going to the sump pump. There isn’t a way to fix the problem of salt water over flowing into the bilge. I tried to suck the water out but without constant watch it tends to overflow into the bilge. I poured some fresh water in the bilge the second day of our arrival to let it sit and breakup the salt. Now I needed to suck the water out. I took an old towel and placed it in the bilge and let it soak up the water. It took several towel wring outs but I got all of the water out. Now it just needs to air dry. That is all the jobs we had to do this visit.
We are leaving on Sunday the 5th so I need to get laundry done on Saturday. The marina has rented out the large patio area just up from the marina, for a wedding reception Saturday night. It is suppose to start at 8:00pm. Shades of Mazatlan all over again!!!! When the Mexican people throw weddings and receptions the music is LOUD!!!! I will definitely be using my ear plugs tonight. All day people were setting up tables and decorating and it will be a beautiful sight when they are done. The skies are looking a little dark I hope it doesn’t rain. Of course Dave thinks it would be funny if it poured and everyone went running for cover. Well it kind of would be funny, but I try to think of how I would feel having my wedding reception ruined. The marina café wasn’t going to be open tonight for dinner so we decided to go to our favorite place called Banditos. Dave had a hamburger and I a chicken salad. It was yummy. Then we came back to the boat and the reception was just getting started. People were arriving right and left but we had a parking spot so that was good. As we were walking to our boat, there was a couple on board their boat up the down from us and Dave stopped to talk. I went to our boat to get things ready for in the morning when we leave. When I finished Dave was still talking to the couple so I went to join him. We were invited on board. They were a young couple with 2 children, a boy and a girl. The dad, Kerry reminded me so much of our friend Brent that lives in Anacortes, Washington. He is a red neck big guy. His wife Erika was really nice and we hit it off right way. We drank rum and shared a cigar. Kerry had some big firecrackers (m80’s?) and he was lighting them off and throwing them over the side of the boat. They made a big bang!!!! Well we were having our own party. Unfortunately he threw one that made a hook and hit the edge of the cabin roof and fell down by the table Dave and I were sitting at. Everyone yelled lookout, and I couldn’t get out because Dave was in my way sitting. There was a big explosion and I went deaf in my right ear. Funny thing is I am going deaf in that ear anyway. But it made it worse. We all were lucky no one got hurt. We all survived and the only damage was a hole in the carpet in front of the door going into their salon. My hearing came back but I’m sure it didn’t do me any good as far as hearing loss down the road. After that we visited a little more then called it a night. We said goodbye and maybe someday we will meet them again. They were great people. The reception party was still going on and they were serving dinner. It was a huge dinner as we watched waiters bring one dish, then another, and another. It was a big to-do!!! We waited for it to get really loud but it really didn’t. It was a mellow party and the bride and groom were young! I did use my ear plugs though. Around 2 in the morning the wind came up and I heard drops of water on the deck of the boat. We had all our hatches open so I got up and started closing them. You could hear people getting excited and things were breaking due to the wind blowing things around. It wasn’t a pretty sight. After all the hatches were closed we went to bed. It poured for a while and the band members had to rush around to get their instruments out of the weather. The next morning we went up to see what the damage was and they had lost some of the pretty decorations that were made of glass and the panels of material that had been tied around the poles and such had come loose. It was a mess. There was a lot of cleaning up to do. We packed up our stuff, secured the boat and headed for Loreto. We are stopping at the same motel we did on the way down.
We got into Loreto early afternoon and we were really tired so we took a nap. Then I showered and we walked down the street to see if our favorite place to eat was open and it was!!!! They had just opened so we had to wait a few minutes for them to get set up. Dave and I had a hamburger which was really good. Then we headed back to the motel, thinking we would stop in at the deli and buy the rum but they were closed as it was Sunday. Oh well. We will have to get some next month. Once back in our room we watched T.V. and I worked some more on the baby afghan then went to bed.
In the morning we had coffee and a banana and got gas across the street and a couple pastries for on the way. We were headed back to Bahia.
It is such a long drive from Loreto to Bahia. We got home around 3 and I unloaded our overnight bags and put the groceries I got in town away. Now we are relaxing.
I have been trying to find a ride to see Penny. I sent out an email to everyone whom I thought was traveling north or knew of someone who was. Wednesday the ladies played Mexican Train and I asked them if there was anyone I could ride with that was heading to San Diego. Nancy said there were a couple guys that are visiting her significant other and they were heading back soon so she would ask them tonight as they were coming over to her house for dinner. I will know more tomorrow.
I got confirmation from Nancy that I have a ride on the 20th. Yay!!! They will pick me up at the gas station in town early in the morning and then they will drop me off at the road where Penny lives. So now all I have to do is find a ride back home on the 27th. I have put out another email but most people stop overnight in San Quintin and I am looking for someone who is driving straight through to Bahia from Ensenada. Well if I don’t hitch a ride with anyone I can take the bus. We don’t have a lot of pesos so I am trying to be careful because payday doesn’t come again until the first of May. It will all work out.
I told my friend Penny I was coming for sure and she is all excited!!!! Just three more days to wait. Tomorrow is grocery shopping and getting gas in the truck. The gas is going to be the most expensive!!! Speaking of the truck--------I didn’t turn off the switch to the battery in the truck on the 5th of April and it was on all the time we were gone to La Paz which was 8 days. Well the battery was dead!!! Dave discovered it last night and I was to blame. But he was so good about it. He took the battery out and hooked it up so it would get solar charging and we are hoping it will come back. I had a little talk with it last night when I was locking everything up for the night.
Today is a beautiful day. We have had 2 days of 25 knot winds and for the first day the sand was flying. Today it is calm and the tide is way out so I went for a morning walk on the beach. I got 2 pieces of sea glass and I finally brought Matilda the turtle home to my yard. She is still a little stinky but much lighter now so I was able to carry her all the way home. She was an old one as she had large barnacles on her under shell and a few on top. She now is in my yard. She still has her fins and head attached! After getting back from my walk I rinsed out the clothes I had soaking overnight and took them downstairs to hang them on the line. Then I dumped the 2 buckets of rinse water and pulled some weeks. Then I vacuumed and shook rugs. I still need to clean the bathroom but if I don’t do it today I will tomorrow before our dinner guest arrive. Kerry and Dennis are coming over for dinner tomorrow night. I know they are leaving in May so I wanted to get our invite done so I didn’t miss it with me going to Penny’s and then us going back down to La Paz. They are fun people.
We just had our neighbors on the north side of our house show up. We never know when they are coming so it is always a surprise. Two more neighbors are going to be showing up in the next week or two so we will almost be a full neighborhood.
Dave is putting together another jigsaw puzzle. This one is of a Peacock and has round edges so it is a little more difficult to piece together. Mary Ann tried to put it together but gave up. So she gave it to me for Dave. He loves a challenge.
Dave has had the truck battery charging and it seems to be charged up so he put it back in the truck and low and behold it started!!!!!!! Yay!!!!! Whew!!!! That saved us $150.00!!!!! I got really lucky! So now I can take the truck into town tomorrow and do shopping and come home to cook dinner for our guests.
We had a great time with Dennis and Kerry. I am glad I decided to have them over for dinner now instead of waiting as we found out they are leaving on the 4th of May. So that worked out pretty well.
I was all packed and ready to leave on Monday, the 20th to stay with my friend Penny, but I got an email from her saying she got an email from the skipper of Murrays’ fishing boat arranging a round trip flight from San Diego to Seattle, Washington to meet with him and give him some of Murray’s ashes so when the boat got to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, he and the crew would have a memorial for Murray and spread his ashes on the Bering Sea. This was Murray’s wish and his friend and skipper remembered that. How sweet. Well I didn’t want to get to Penny’s and only have 2 days with her because I know she would be running around trying to get packed to leave so she could get her flight on the 24th. So I thought it would be better if I waited. She is going to stop and visit with her family before returning to Mexico. Actually all this happening was a blessing in disguise. I did get a ride to where Penny lives but there was no one going down to Bahia to take me back so I would have to take the bus and I didn’t know how much that was going to cost and we are very low on pesos right now. We had to pay income tax for the first time since we have been married and it has taken a chunk out of our budget. Things will work out, I have no doubt, but it is just frustrating and unnerving at times. Sooooo when she returns to her house in Mexico, I will see if I can afford to go see her. If not, it will just have to wait.
We found out yesterday that Ernie and Brooke have 2 tickets for us to attend E.J.’s high school graduation, June 10th and we wouldn’t miss that for the world!!!! He is also having a party on the 7th which we are hoping to be there for. So plans have changed a lot in our world. We are leaving around the 5th of May to head back to La Paz so we can get the boat ready for hurricane season and haul-out. She has to be hauled out on the 10th as that is when our moorage contract for the slip we have is up. Then we will come back and start getting things ready here to close up for the summer. Hopefully I will get a chance to spend time with Penny. So we shall see.
Last summer when we headed north we had quite a few friends that invited us to stay overnight as we traveled. Unfortunately most of those people will be here in Bahia still. That will cause us to have to pay for motels. Well it is what it is. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel no matter how dark it seems. Too bad we don’t have camping gear as we could camp our way north. Oh well! Just keep us in your prayers that everything will work out for us. I put the word out on Facebook about us needing a place to stay once we get to Bremerton, a house sitting opportunity. So we will see about that as well. Things have a tendency to happen so fast it makes your head spin but that is o.k. Bring it on!!!!
Today, Monday the 20th I am going to my neighbors to play hand and foot or Ponytail. Dave will be going over to Rincon to see our friend Dennis to help with a computer problem.
The weather has been beautiful and the guys that are fishing have been catching yellow tail close to shore late in the afternoon when the tide has turned. Unfortunately Dave doesn’t have the opportunity to take advantage of that. That is o.k. because we still have yellow tail in the freezer from the last time he went fishing. All of that has to be eaten before we head north so we have plenty!!!
Last night we were invited to dinner at our friends’ house in Rincon. They spend their summers here and winters in Rome, Italy. They are really nice people and so friendly. There were 14 people all together and the hosts, Paolo, and Angela made octopus pasta spaghetti, and then came oven baked chicken with cut up potatoes and vegetables, then ice cream for dessert. Before the meal we started with appetizers!!!! There was a lot of food. This is the way the Europeans eat. It is a 3 course meal. It was all so good. That was my first taste of octopus and it was good. We stayed a while after dinner to visit then headed home around 11:00pm. It was a lot of fun and we are getting to know them better and them us. We want to have them over for a Carbanara dinner. It is rich pasta served with white sauce, eggs, bacon and the grease!!!
One morning Dave and I watched two seagulls fight. One had a hold of the others beak and they squawked a lot and moved around as the one that was having his beak held was trying to get away. This went on for quite a while and I did manage to get some shots but you have to look close to see their beaks. The one that was clamping down on the other was a pretty aggressive bird.
He was shooing all the other seagulls away. You can see here where he had his wings out chasing the other gull away. That same afternoon I went to my neighbors and played Ponytail and my partner and I won!!!!! That’s a first!!!! My lucky day!
Cindy and Tom, our next door neighbors arrived and will be here two weeks. They run a restaurant when they aren’t here and this is their getaway so most of the time they don’t want to be bothered as they are down here to chill. I did manage to talk to both of them for a short time so that was nice.
Dave is almost finished with the peacock jigsaw puzzle. He said it is a challenge! There are no books for him to read (because he has read them all) so the only other thing he can do besides the puzzle is work on the boat that came with the house. Before the hurricane the motor worked and other things did too but now they don’t so he is trying to find out why.
I am making progress on the baby afghan and I should be finished with it by next week. Then I start on another one. I have been creating again; making button and shell pins. I made a couple more necklaces. I think I might take all my jewelry up with me on vacation and see if I can sell a few things or give as thank you gifts.
We found out what Jon and Susannah are naming their boy. Cameron and Ernie and Brooke are naming theirs Conner.
Well scratch that about Jon and Susannah naming their son Cameron. They are undecided. She likes Cameron and Wyatt, so it may not be final until the little guy is born.
My friend Penny is struggling with the loss of her husband but I think she will be better after she sees her family and knows Murray had his ashes spread on the Bering Sea. I have arranged to get a ride north to Penny’s house with my friends Ron and Diane as they want to see her too. Then they will leave me at Penny’s house and continue to go home to the States to spend the summer. I sure hope it works out this time.
Our gate guard’s fiancé’s (found out they aren’t married yet) father died today. It is a sad day for Brienda and her family. Her family lives in Nairit (sp?) on the mainland so she has a long trip ahead of. Tito is staying here to do his job.
We just got an email from our boat insurance company telling us our boat can’t be in Mexican waters unless it is up north by San Felipe. There is no hurricane protection up there at all. And if you take your boat out of the water like we are planning on doing for the summer, the boat has to be on a cradle. Well Mexico doesn’t use cradles. So we are screwed!!! Now we are looking for another insurance company to insure us while on the hard for the summer and pay $2600.00-3,000.00 for insurance. I sure don’t know where THAT money will come from. The only other option is to have someone take the boat to San Diego and hand it over to a dealer which our friend Tori (who is a boat broker in Seattle) can make all the arrangements. Our insurance company changed their policy in January and didn’t bother to put the word out until after our claim was settled. What good is insurance if after you use it the rates go up and they screw you. I don’t get it. I guess auto insurance is the same thing. We took all the precautions to have our boat safe and protected, and our damage was due to our broker not getting to our boat in the amount of time we gave him to prepare it for the hurricane. Well we are still waiting to get a quote from a new insurance company and we have to have a survey done on it as well so we will be doing that when we get to La Paz. We are leaving on the 3rd of May to travel to Loreto then the next day to La Paz. We will know more after we get down there. So stay tuned!!
Our water pump to the house quit working the other day after I took a shower. I just used the hot water side as it was warm enough without having to turn the cold water on. When I got out the pump kept pumping and wouldn’t shut off. Dave took his shower and then turned the pump off until he could get to it in the morning to find out what the problem was. So we had no water. I figured I would wait and wash dishes and such after Dave fixed the pump.
The next morning Dave was taking the pump off and examining it and found it froze up. He didn’t know what caused that so he got the spare pump we had and put that on and there were some problems with that so it took Dave all morning to get water running again. While he was trying to get water flow to the house, he heard water running from outside and couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. He turned the pump off and walked around the trailer on the north side and found water bubbling up from the ground. We had a leak. He dug down and found there was a leak in the copper pipe on the hot water side. Not good. Dave didn’t have anything to fix copper pipe so I went over to the neighbors and asked George if he could help us. He came over to assess the situation and see what we needed then said that the best thing to do was put a piece of hose over the pipe and secure it with a hose clamp and that should hold it until we can do something different. So George went back home and got the hose and hose clamp and put it on the pipe and it stopped the leak. Dave turned the pump back on and we bled down the water system to get the air out and all is well again but the pump sounds terrible. It is giving us more water flow than the other one did but it rattles badly when we use the water. Dave is thinking about putting the other one we had on there before it quit working. He got it to run again and it is quieter but a little less water flow, but we can live with that.
I have started another baby afghan and it should be done soon. I am back working on the dragon cross stitch again. I always have projects lined up so I never get bored. I’ve been creating cork people and making a couple more necklaces. Here are some pictures.
We had one Mexican lady and her daughter show up and put up a table to display her art. Unfortunately the Mexican ladies were taking a sewing class offered once in a while for them so they didn’t want to miss the opportunity to learn how to make new things. So the one lady, Perla and her daughter Anna, asked us to watch and help sell her items while they were in class. So we did and she did pretty well. She had mostly necklaces, earrings and key chains.
I worked Thursday, Saturday, and half a day Sunday as that was the end of the show. Friday was my day off and I got laundry done and cooked in prep for the next 2 days. I had fun making announcements every morning and evening for the show. Thursday was a dead day. We had some people come in and look but no one bought. Saturday was better and quite a few people came in but didn’t buy much. It was a sad day for me as I was told that my best friend here in Mexico had her husband die on Friday of a fatal heart attack!! Wow!!! I was stunned and Dave and I still can’t believe Murray is gone. We just saw them a few weeks ago and he seemed fine. He will be missed. Then Sunday we figured it would be dead until we got ready to close and low and behold we had a bunch of people and they bought lots. We couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe that one Mexican family bought all that was left of my rock and shell critters!!!!! There must have been about 6 or 8 left. That was my biggest sale of the day!!!!! I was in a daze and so happy that they appreciated my art!!! I did sell a handful of glass covers and some earrings so all in all I did fantastic. You just never know from year to year how you will do. There were a few Canadian tourists trying to buy things so they didn’t have to take pesos back with them. It was a fun and successful show. Just about everyone went to lunch after we broke down the tables; packed up everything and cleaned the Museum Salon, except me. I had to get home so I could pack for the trip to La Paz on Monday.
After getting home and unloading all my stuff, I packed and got things ready to take to the boat like some food items and such. Not much had to be done. Then I had the rest of the afternoon to relax and take a walk on the beach.
We left Monday morning around 7:00am headed for Loreto. Our friends from Brookings, Oregon aren’t going to be at their house in Loreto so we booked a room at a cool little motel called ‘Angre’. It is run by a young woman named Anna and her mom and dad. They are a really nice family. Even the sister helps from time to time. We like it there because they have a gate that locks at 10:00pm so our car is safe. We arrived at the motel 8 hours later. We had trouble with the WiFi but eventually got it working. We had a nice room on the top floor and at the end so we only had one room on one side of us. As it turned out we were the only ones there! I called my friend Penny to see how she was doing. She is the one that her husband died on April 3. She wasn’t doing well at all. I felt so bad that I couldn’t be there to help her through this tough time. I didn’t get to talk to her much as the connection was bad. But I told her I would write her every day just to help her through until I could come see her. After my phone call I was able to get on the WiFi and I sent her a message. Then it was time to seek out a place for dinner. We liked the last place we ate when we were here so we walked down to it only to find it was closed. Bummer! Fortunately the chicken place next door was open so we grabbed a bite there. When we walked back to the motel we stopped at a deli and wandered around and found all kinds of great stuff. They had all kinds of cheeses, liquors wines and more. We said we would stop and get some rum on our way home. So we left and went back to the motel and watched T.V. I did some crocheting on the baby afghan and then before we knew it it was bed time. Tomorrow is a shorter drive. Only 4 hours so we don’t have to leave so early. Plus there is a time change from Baja California to Baja California Sur where Loreto and all the little towns south of there to La Paz is an hour later than where we live. So we had a relaxing drive down. Driving does tire us out. Dave for driving and me for falling asleep in the passenger seat!!!!! Ha!! There isn’t much to see but sand, mountains, cactus, cactus and more sand. I’m surprised Dave doesn’t fall asleep. Well we made it to La Paz safely and early in the afternoon. We went to the boat and saw that most of the windshield for the dodger was in place but one piece was missing. The canvas guy must have that and the cover. Dave went down to check the battery situation and found all house batteries were dead. Just like last time. He doesn’t have a clue what is causing them to go dead. So we had AC just no DC which means no boat lights, no stove, microwave, or flushing of toilets, and no refrigeration. No worries as we have one electrical light in the main salon and we have running water except we couldn’t use the bathroom faucet as that drains into a sump pump and then pumps overboard so that is DC. If we run water in the bathroom sink and the sump pump is not working it will overflow into the bilge. Then there will be standing water in the bilge which isn’t good. No worries as we have been through this before. The next morning Dave unhooked the house batteries and had Kenny, our friend at the boat yard, come and help him cart them off the boat and down to the Quaker State battery place in La Paz. The batteries were left there overnight to be charged and then we would find out if the batteries are bad or not. If they are bad we have the receipt from when we bought them a short time ago and they will replace them free of charge. So tomorrow is the telling day. In the meantime Dave was very perplexed over this battery situation. He had noticed when we were down the last time that there was a draw coming from somewhere on the boat that just didn’t make sense. He even thought that the Link 2000 heart was going bad so he brought a extra one down that was given to us by a friend in Bahia.
The canvas man showed up and replaced the one glass panel that was missing and put the cover on over the windshield to check out the fit. Perfect. There is a little wrinkle at the corners of the windshield and he offered to put a solid piece of material there so the windshield would be tighter. So we said that would be great. So when we leave we will call him and let him know he can work on that while we are gone.
Thursday Dave went back to Quaker State to see what the status is on the batteries. They are good and all charged up. So that was a relief. But now Dave has to solve where the mystery current is being drawn from the batteries when we aren’t there. He brought the batteries back and two Mexican boat boys working on the boat across from our slip helped him carry them down below. Once the batteries were hooked up then it was time to reset the Link 2000 so he could read what the batteries were doing. Something was still not right and there was that annoying draw coming from somewhere. Dave asked me if the bow thruster battery was off and I said it was. But he wanted to check something out so he got under our bed and metered the bow thruster battery and it was metering good. So he decided to take the battery out and test it not hooked up to anything. Well it was dead, dead, dead!!!! It had bulging sides which is an indication of it being bad. Dave did a little more digging under the bed and decided that because the battery was dead it was still trying to get current from the other batteries even with the switch turned to off. That was the little draw he couldn’t figure out. Whaalaa!! The next step was to see if our Link 2000 was going on the frits so he took that out and replaced it with the one our friend gave us only to find that it didn’t work like it was suppose to. It did show that the house batteries were charging like they should and there was no extra draw showing up, but other light indicators weren’t working so there was something wrong with it so we couldn’t use it. Dave had to take it out and put ours back in. At least we know we need to replace it. So Dave is going to look on line to see if he can get another one.
Well at least we found out where the extra draw was coming from and how the boat was wired for the batteries and that our Link 2000 needs replacing. Now the next project is to work on the generator and find out what its problem is. Dave had an idea so he went with it and found that a switch is bad. He did something so it would run and when we return in May we will have the new switch and it will only take a few minutes to change it out. So Dave solved the problems we were having and it is all good. Now that Dave is done with all that, I can do what I need to and that is clean the forward sump pump and get water out of the bilge. When we ran the air conditioner the last time we were on the boat the unit in the back of the boat, doesn’t have a drain set up to it like the forward one does with a hose going to the sump pump. There isn’t a way to fix the problem of salt water over flowing into the bilge. I tried to suck the water out but without constant watch it tends to overflow into the bilge. I poured some fresh water in the bilge the second day of our arrival to let it sit and breakup the salt. Now I needed to suck the water out. I took an old towel and placed it in the bilge and let it soak up the water. It took several towel wring outs but I got all of the water out. Now it just needs to air dry. That is all the jobs we had to do this visit.
We are leaving on Sunday the 5th so I need to get laundry done on Saturday. The marina has rented out the large patio area just up from the marina, for a wedding reception Saturday night. It is suppose to start at 8:00pm. Shades of Mazatlan all over again!!!! When the Mexican people throw weddings and receptions the music is LOUD!!!! I will definitely be using my ear plugs tonight. All day people were setting up tables and decorating and it will be a beautiful sight when they are done. The skies are looking a little dark I hope it doesn’t rain. Of course Dave thinks it would be funny if it poured and everyone went running for cover. Well it kind of would be funny, but I try to think of how I would feel having my wedding reception ruined. The marina café wasn’t going to be open tonight for dinner so we decided to go to our favorite place called Banditos. Dave had a hamburger and I a chicken salad. It was yummy. Then we came back to the boat and the reception was just getting started. People were arriving right and left but we had a parking spot so that was good. As we were walking to our boat, there was a couple on board their boat up the down from us and Dave stopped to talk. I went to our boat to get things ready for in the morning when we leave. When I finished Dave was still talking to the couple so I went to join him. We were invited on board. They were a young couple with 2 children, a boy and a girl. The dad, Kerry reminded me so much of our friend Brent that lives in Anacortes, Washington. He is a red neck big guy. His wife Erika was really nice and we hit it off right way. We drank rum and shared a cigar. Kerry had some big firecrackers (m80’s?) and he was lighting them off and throwing them over the side of the boat. They made a big bang!!!! Well we were having our own party. Unfortunately he threw one that made a hook and hit the edge of the cabin roof and fell down by the table Dave and I were sitting at. Everyone yelled lookout, and I couldn’t get out because Dave was in my way sitting. There was a big explosion and I went deaf in my right ear. Funny thing is I am going deaf in that ear anyway. But it made it worse. We all were lucky no one got hurt. We all survived and the only damage was a hole in the carpet in front of the door going into their salon. My hearing came back but I’m sure it didn’t do me any good as far as hearing loss down the road. After that we visited a little more then called it a night. We said goodbye and maybe someday we will meet them again. They were great people. The reception party was still going on and they were serving dinner. It was a huge dinner as we watched waiters bring one dish, then another, and another. It was a big to-do!!! We waited for it to get really loud but it really didn’t. It was a mellow party and the bride and groom were young! I did use my ear plugs though. Around 2 in the morning the wind came up and I heard drops of water on the deck of the boat. We had all our hatches open so I got up and started closing them. You could hear people getting excited and things were breaking due to the wind blowing things around. It wasn’t a pretty sight. After all the hatches were closed we went to bed. It poured for a while and the band members had to rush around to get their instruments out of the weather. The next morning we went up to see what the damage was and they had lost some of the pretty decorations that were made of glass and the panels of material that had been tied around the poles and such had come loose. It was a mess. There was a lot of cleaning up to do. We packed up our stuff, secured the boat and headed for Loreto. We are stopping at the same motel we did on the way down.
We got into Loreto early afternoon and we were really tired so we took a nap. Then I showered and we walked down the street to see if our favorite place to eat was open and it was!!!! They had just opened so we had to wait a few minutes for them to get set up. Dave and I had a hamburger which was really good. Then we headed back to the motel, thinking we would stop in at the deli and buy the rum but they were closed as it was Sunday. Oh well. We will have to get some next month. Once back in our room we watched T.V. and I worked some more on the baby afghan then went to bed.
In the morning we had coffee and a banana and got gas across the street and a couple pastries for on the way. We were headed back to Bahia.
It is such a long drive from Loreto to Bahia. We got home around 3 and I unloaded our overnight bags and put the groceries I got in town away. Now we are relaxing.
I have been trying to find a ride to see Penny. I sent out an email to everyone whom I thought was traveling north or knew of someone who was. Wednesday the ladies played Mexican Train and I asked them if there was anyone I could ride with that was heading to San Diego. Nancy said there were a couple guys that are visiting her significant other and they were heading back soon so she would ask them tonight as they were coming over to her house for dinner. I will know more tomorrow.
I got confirmation from Nancy that I have a ride on the 20th. Yay!!! They will pick me up at the gas station in town early in the morning and then they will drop me off at the road where Penny lives. So now all I have to do is find a ride back home on the 27th. I have put out another email but most people stop overnight in San Quintin and I am looking for someone who is driving straight through to Bahia from Ensenada. Well if I don’t hitch a ride with anyone I can take the bus. We don’t have a lot of pesos so I am trying to be careful because payday doesn’t come again until the first of May. It will all work out.
I told my friend Penny I was coming for sure and she is all excited!!!! Just three more days to wait. Tomorrow is grocery shopping and getting gas in the truck. The gas is going to be the most expensive!!! Speaking of the truck--------I didn’t turn off the switch to the battery in the truck on the 5th of April and it was on all the time we were gone to La Paz which was 8 days. Well the battery was dead!!! Dave discovered it last night and I was to blame. But he was so good about it. He took the battery out and hooked it up so it would get solar charging and we are hoping it will come back. I had a little talk with it last night when I was locking everything up for the night.
Today is a beautiful day. We have had 2 days of 25 knot winds and for the first day the sand was flying. Today it is calm and the tide is way out so I went for a morning walk on the beach. I got 2 pieces of sea glass and I finally brought Matilda the turtle home to my yard. She is still a little stinky but much lighter now so I was able to carry her all the way home. She was an old one as she had large barnacles on her under shell and a few on top. She now is in my yard. She still has her fins and head attached! After getting back from my walk I rinsed out the clothes I had soaking overnight and took them downstairs to hang them on the line. Then I dumped the 2 buckets of rinse water and pulled some weeks. Then I vacuumed and shook rugs. I still need to clean the bathroom but if I don’t do it today I will tomorrow before our dinner guest arrive. Kerry and Dennis are coming over for dinner tomorrow night. I know they are leaving in May so I wanted to get our invite done so I didn’t miss it with me going to Penny’s and then us going back down to La Paz. They are fun people.
We just had our neighbors on the north side of our house show up. We never know when they are coming so it is always a surprise. Two more neighbors are going to be showing up in the next week or two so we will almost be a full neighborhood.
Dave is putting together another jigsaw puzzle. This one is of a Peacock and has round edges so it is a little more difficult to piece together. Mary Ann tried to put it together but gave up. So she gave it to me for Dave. He loves a challenge.
Dave has had the truck battery charging and it seems to be charged up so he put it back in the truck and low and behold it started!!!!!!! Yay!!!!! Whew!!!! That saved us $150.00!!!!! I got really lucky! So now I can take the truck into town tomorrow and do shopping and come home to cook dinner for our guests.
We had a great time with Dennis and Kerry. I am glad I decided to have them over for dinner now instead of waiting as we found out they are leaving on the 4th of May. So that worked out pretty well.
I was all packed and ready to leave on Monday, the 20th to stay with my friend Penny, but I got an email from her saying she got an email from the skipper of Murrays’ fishing boat arranging a round trip flight from San Diego to Seattle, Washington to meet with him and give him some of Murray’s ashes so when the boat got to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, he and the crew would have a memorial for Murray and spread his ashes on the Bering Sea. This was Murray’s wish and his friend and skipper remembered that. How sweet. Well I didn’t want to get to Penny’s and only have 2 days with her because I know she would be running around trying to get packed to leave so she could get her flight on the 24th. So I thought it would be better if I waited. She is going to stop and visit with her family before returning to Mexico. Actually all this happening was a blessing in disguise. I did get a ride to where Penny lives but there was no one going down to Bahia to take me back so I would have to take the bus and I didn’t know how much that was going to cost and we are very low on pesos right now. We had to pay income tax for the first time since we have been married and it has taken a chunk out of our budget. Things will work out, I have no doubt, but it is just frustrating and unnerving at times. Sooooo when she returns to her house in Mexico, I will see if I can afford to go see her. If not, it will just have to wait.
We found out yesterday that Ernie and Brooke have 2 tickets for us to attend E.J.’s high school graduation, June 10th and we wouldn’t miss that for the world!!!! He is also having a party on the 7th which we are hoping to be there for. So plans have changed a lot in our world. We are leaving around the 5th of May to head back to La Paz so we can get the boat ready for hurricane season and haul-out. She has to be hauled out on the 10th as that is when our moorage contract for the slip we have is up. Then we will come back and start getting things ready here to close up for the summer. Hopefully I will get a chance to spend time with Penny. So we shall see.
Last summer when we headed north we had quite a few friends that invited us to stay overnight as we traveled. Unfortunately most of those people will be here in Bahia still. That will cause us to have to pay for motels. Well it is what it is. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel no matter how dark it seems. Too bad we don’t have camping gear as we could camp our way north. Oh well! Just keep us in your prayers that everything will work out for us. I put the word out on Facebook about us needing a place to stay once we get to Bremerton, a house sitting opportunity. So we will see about that as well. Things have a tendency to happen so fast it makes your head spin but that is o.k. Bring it on!!!!
Today, Monday the 20th I am going to my neighbors to play hand and foot or Ponytail. Dave will be going over to Rincon to see our friend Dennis to help with a computer problem.
The weather has been beautiful and the guys that are fishing have been catching yellow tail close to shore late in the afternoon when the tide has turned. Unfortunately Dave doesn’t have the opportunity to take advantage of that. That is o.k. because we still have yellow tail in the freezer from the last time he went fishing. All of that has to be eaten before we head north so we have plenty!!!
Last night we were invited to dinner at our friends’ house in Rincon. They spend their summers here and winters in Rome, Italy. They are really nice people and so friendly. There were 14 people all together and the hosts, Paolo, and Angela made octopus pasta spaghetti, and then came oven baked chicken with cut up potatoes and vegetables, then ice cream for dessert. Before the meal we started with appetizers!!!! There was a lot of food. This is the way the Europeans eat. It is a 3 course meal. It was all so good. That was my first taste of octopus and it was good. We stayed a while after dinner to visit then headed home around 11:00pm. It was a lot of fun and we are getting to know them better and them us. We want to have them over for a Carbanara dinner. It is rich pasta served with white sauce, eggs, bacon and the grease!!!
One morning Dave and I watched two seagulls fight. One had a hold of the others beak and they squawked a lot and moved around as the one that was having his beak held was trying to get away. This went on for quite a while and I did manage to get some shots but you have to look close to see their beaks. The one that was clamping down on the other was a pretty aggressive bird.
He was shooing all the other seagulls away. You can see here where he had his wings out chasing the other gull away. That same afternoon I went to my neighbors and played Ponytail and my partner and I won!!!!! That’s a first!!!! My lucky day!
Cindy and Tom, our next door neighbors arrived and will be here two weeks. They run a restaurant when they aren’t here and this is their getaway so most of the time they don’t want to be bothered as they are down here to chill. I did manage to talk to both of them for a short time so that was nice.
Dave is almost finished with the peacock jigsaw puzzle. He said it is a challenge! There are no books for him to read (because he has read them all) so the only other thing he can do besides the puzzle is work on the boat that came with the house. Before the hurricane the motor worked and other things did too but now they don’t so he is trying to find out why.
I am making progress on the baby afghan and I should be finished with it by next week. Then I start on another one. I have been creating again; making button and shell pins. I made a couple more necklaces. I think I might take all my jewelry up with me on vacation and see if I can sell a few things or give as thank you gifts.
We found out what Jon and Susannah are naming their boy. Cameron and Ernie and Brooke are naming theirs Conner.
Well scratch that about Jon and Susannah naming their son Cameron. They are undecided. She likes Cameron and Wyatt, so it may not be final until the little guy is born.
My friend Penny is struggling with the loss of her husband but I think she will be better after she sees her family and knows Murray had his ashes spread on the Bering Sea. I have arranged to get a ride north to Penny’s house with my friends Ron and Diane as they want to see her too. Then they will leave me at Penny’s house and continue to go home to the States to spend the summer. I sure hope it works out this time.
Our gate guard’s fiancé’s (found out they aren’t married yet) father died today. It is a sad day for Brienda and her family. Her family lives in Nairit (sp?) on the mainland so she has a long trip ahead of. Tito is staying here to do his job.
We just got an email from our boat insurance company telling us our boat can’t be in Mexican waters unless it is up north by San Felipe. There is no hurricane protection up there at all. And if you take your boat out of the water like we are planning on doing for the summer, the boat has to be on a cradle. Well Mexico doesn’t use cradles. So we are screwed!!! Now we are looking for another insurance company to insure us while on the hard for the summer and pay $2600.00-3,000.00 for insurance. I sure don’t know where THAT money will come from. The only other option is to have someone take the boat to San Diego and hand it over to a dealer which our friend Tori (who is a boat broker in Seattle) can make all the arrangements. Our insurance company changed their policy in January and didn’t bother to put the word out until after our claim was settled. What good is insurance if after you use it the rates go up and they screw you. I don’t get it. I guess auto insurance is the same thing. We took all the precautions to have our boat safe and protected, and our damage was due to our broker not getting to our boat in the amount of time we gave him to prepare it for the hurricane. Well we are still waiting to get a quote from a new insurance company and we have to have a survey done on it as well so we will be doing that when we get to La Paz. We are leaving on the 3rd of May to travel to Loreto then the next day to La Paz. We will know more after we get down there. So stay tuned!!
Our water pump to the house quit working the other day after I took a shower. I just used the hot water side as it was warm enough without having to turn the cold water on. When I got out the pump kept pumping and wouldn’t shut off. Dave took his shower and then turned the pump off until he could get to it in the morning to find out what the problem was. So we had no water. I figured I would wait and wash dishes and such after Dave fixed the pump.
The next morning Dave was taking the pump off and examining it and found it froze up. He didn’t know what caused that so he got the spare pump we had and put that on and there were some problems with that so it took Dave all morning to get water running again. While he was trying to get water flow to the house, he heard water running from outside and couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. He turned the pump off and walked around the trailer on the north side and found water bubbling up from the ground. We had a leak. He dug down and found there was a leak in the copper pipe on the hot water side. Not good. Dave didn’t have anything to fix copper pipe so I went over to the neighbors and asked George if he could help us. He came over to assess the situation and see what we needed then said that the best thing to do was put a piece of hose over the pipe and secure it with a hose clamp and that should hold it until we can do something different. So George went back home and got the hose and hose clamp and put it on the pipe and it stopped the leak. Dave turned the pump back on and we bled down the water system to get the air out and all is well again but the pump sounds terrible. It is giving us more water flow than the other one did but it rattles badly when we use the water. Dave is thinking about putting the other one we had on there before it quit working. He got it to run again and it is quieter but a little less water flow, but we can live with that.
I have started another baby afghan and it should be done soon. I am back working on the dragon cross stitch again. I always have projects lined up so I never get bored. I’ve been creating cork people and making a couple more necklaces. Here are some pictures.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Enjoying Warm Spring Weather
Dave finished the jigsaw puzzle this morning. It is a beautiful sunny day. I worked on Brody’s afghan today and got all the squares sewed together. The next step is to sew all the seams so nothing will unravel. I am almost finished. When I finish I am going to make some drink glass covers with a hole in the middle for a straw, for the art and craft show next month. During the spring and summer it is good to have your glass covered as the bugs like to take a swim.
We had some clouds moving in last night and this morning the sky was cloudy and it was windy. We even got a sprinkle or two of rain. One nice thing though it isn’t cold. This system will move through today and be gone by tomorrow. That is good as I have clothes to put on the line to dry.
It is a pretty sunny morning and I am glad about that as I have clothes to dry on the line. Well that was short lived-------it got cloudy and now it looks like it will rain. Oh brother!
A friend came over with his back hoe and smoothed out our road inside the community. Dave and George, our neighbor, helped clear the rocks out of the way as the road was being smoothed. It looks so much better. Can’t wait to try it out! George asked Roger (who has the backhoe) if he would smooth and level the road as it was getting pretty bad even after we had it filled in after the hurricane. So we are good for quite a while now. While Dave was out helping with the road, I touched up the walls where the shelving unit had scraped the paint. So that job is done.
I ended up having to bring my clothes in off the line as the clouds were building and it has already rained a little. Some of the items were dry due to the wind, but the shirts and some thicker items were still wet. So in the house they came and draped over chairs. It is a good thing I brought them in as we got quite a bit of rain after that. It rained the rest of the afternoon and was still raining off and on in the evening. Sometimes it rained hard and we ended up having to put a pan on top of one of the cabinets in the kitchen where we have developed a leak. We are waiting for a calm non windy day so we can get on the roof and do some patching around the skylights, because that is where the leaks are coming from.
It rained pretty good last night and early this morning. At least part of my windows got rinsed and the solar panel did too. We have had to run the generator this morning to check emails as we don’t have any solar. There isn’t going to be any sunshine today.
We went to Guerrero Negro today for Dave to get his final cap put on his tooth. We made stops at the ATM, pharmacy and hardware store. We were able to pick out some handles for the drawers of the closet shelving unit. So now Dave has another project.
Brody’s afghan is finished and here is the finished product.
There is going to be a spring Arts and Craft show in April which I will be in, but I haven’t been creating anything right now due to trying to get the Afghans done. I still have a bunch of stuff left over from the November show so I will have plenty.
I started making the covers for drinking glass for the show and I want to start back on the counted cross stitch I started of a dragon and Merlyn last year for Dave. If I can try and do some everyday that would help. Almost half of it is done. It is just a difficult one to do on black aida cloth. But I WILL finish it.
There is a yard sale tomorrow, Saturday the 7th and we are going to try and sell a couple bamboo chairs and a stool. We don’t need or want them so hopefully someone else will need them. I always look forward to this time each year as I am always looking for stuff for the house. Granted we can’t spend a lot of money but each year I pick up a few things. It is neat to see what people are getting rid of. Dave spoke to our neighbor George this morning and George asked if we still wanted the freezer. Dave told him we did and so George is going to hold on to it until we get back from Ensenada on Tuesday. George has been running it so it works well. He must have cleaned it as he was going to do that last year before selling it to us. I don’t know how we are going to pay for it--------but George said we could take it off his hands and we would figure something out later. That is cool.
We sold the chairs and donated some items so we were successful. And guess what------we didn’t buy a thing!!! Amazing but true!
We are leaving for Ensenada on Sunday, the day after the yard sale, to get our jeep insurance. Then we will stop at Home Depot, Walmart and Costco before heading back. We will also stop in to see my good friend Penny and her husband Murray on the way home.
Dave got the handles on the drawers. They look really good. Here is a picture.
This morning I took a walk on the beach. Saw the dead dolphin that was floating out on the water the other day on the beach. The vultures were feasting and also a raven. Dave checked the tide chart and let me know that the tide had turned and was coming in and if I wanted to walk this morning it was a good time. We are expecting more wind (we’ve had wind for a couple days now) so I decided to take a walk as I haven’t done that for 2 days. I needed to rinse the clothes I had soaking and hang them on the line to dry and then I would go. I grabbed a breakfast bar and the clothes and went down to hang the clothes. When that job was done I was on my way walking the beach. It is such a beautiful morning and no wind line in site right now. I walked about a mile and a half before turning around and heading back to the house. I could see the wind line forming and knew I didn’t have much time before it would be windy. I got back just before the wind reached the house so the timing was great. I have the wind and sun on my side today for clothes to dry!!! Yay!!!
While we were driving to Ensenada on Sunday, we had a deer run across the road. I never have seen one here before so that was exciting. I knew there were some, just never saw any.
We made it in one day to Ensenada and got a room at the hotel we usually stay at then headed for Walmart and Home Depot then headed back to the hotel. We had dinner at Mc Donald’s and relaxed in our room for the rest of the night.
Next morning we got our paperwork and paid for the jeep insurance then checked out of the hotel and went to Costco to get a few things then headed to Penny and Murray’s house, in San Jacinto. We had a very nice visit and with them and before we went to dinner we stopped at a men’s old folks place not far from Penny and Murray’s place. Penny took on the responsibility of getting medical care and donated items, food, etc. for these men who have nowhere else to live. They call it the Grandpa house. I met the 5 or 6 men that were there and enjoyed my visit with them. Then we left and went to a hamburger place in town for dinner. It was really good. After dinner we went back to their house and visited for a while then it was bed time.
We left the next morning and came home.
Our gate guard, Tito and wife Brienda, are working out really good here. Tito has helped those people who are here with several projects. Sometimes Brienda helps too. We had Tito go on our roof to lay some roofing paper around the skylights as when they were put in that was never done. Then Tito painted a mixture of white cement, lime and salt water to seal the roof so now we shouldn’t leak any more. We still need to use JB weld on the cracks of a couple of the skylights where daylight can be seen on the corners of the frame, but we can do that anytime. We have more work for Tito, but no extra money so we have to wait to have Tito do the other jobs we need. Maybe we’ll get to have these jobs done this fall.
We still haven’t had any luck with selling the boat. We really don’t want to take it back to Seattle, but by May 10th a decision has to be made of what to do if it hasn’t sold. Our marina contract is up on May 10th.
I’ve been walking the beach and picking up treasures when the wind isn’t blowing so hard. Hard to walk when sand is blowing at you. Ha!
One of my goals for this year was to walk on the road from our house to almost the other side of the bay where there are 2 signs telling about the birds and sea and plant life by the estuary. Well I fulfilled that goal the other day. It was about 6 miles round trip and when I got home I was hot and thirsty but energized!!! I did take water with me but because it was only 16 ounces I drank some when I reached my destination and then again when I returned home. I had a wonderful walk in the desert. There were some plants blooming from the last rain we had, and some of the road was slick with mud, but on the whole it was good walking soil. The water had drained from the estuary which left a beautiful green hue from plant life. I’m glad I didn’t walk further because coming back I was dragging a little due to it being warm, but I did prove to myself that I could walk to the other side of the bay, but would need a ride part way back. Ha!!! Now that the weather is heating up (90’s) I don’t go on long walks until it cools down which will be next winter. I always try to set a goal of doing something to see what I can do. I don’t hike much on rocks as it hurts my back, but a little of it I will do. I love walking in the desert and seeing lizards and squirrels scamper. Now since it is getting hot, there is no hiking or walking in the desert or up mountains due to snakes. A few have been sighted close by. I can walk the beach with safety though and I thoroughly enjoy that.
We had our friends Judy and Larry here for dinner as they are leaving Bahia to go to their other home in the states. It was a fun night. Two days later I invited the ladies to come over and play Mexican Train. Nine ladies showed up and that filled my bamboo room! We had a good time and no-----I didn’t win.
Dave and I had a Deviled Egg Cook off contest on the 23rd. As long as we have been living in Bahia, whenever we get together there are always deviled eggs and the guys would say how great it would be to just have a get together where deviled eggs were the only thing served. Soooo---I decided to throw a party and have everyone bring their favorite made deviled eggs. The guys would vote on their favorite deviled egg plate and prizes would be awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and honorable mention. The lady that got 1st place also got a sign I made out of cardboard and yarn that said ‘Deviled Egg QUEEN of Bahia, 2015’. We want to make this contest an annual event. Here are some pictures.
Today, the 25th is my youngest son’s birthday. He is 38! Wow! It doesn’t seem possible! Happy Birthday Son!!!
I have started making the announcements for the 2015 Spring Arts and Craft Show starting April 1. I enjoy doing it and makes me feel as though I am contributing something.
I finished the glass covers
and have priced all my items for the art show and today, the last day of March, I drove to town, giving Brienda a ride so she could make a phone call and I can set up my table for the show tomorrow. The show is for 5 days and will end the day after Easter. I wasn’t able to be in the art show last year due to having to move the boat from Santa Rosalia to La Paz. There are only 5 American and about 4 Mexican artists in the show. Hopefully we will get some tourists going through town as this is a very big holiday season for the Mexican culture. We shall see.
Dave just finished the jigsaw puzzle he was putting together and now is working on a wild life 3D one. He isn’t sure about the current one as you need constant direct light to see the colors so if he doesn’t like it we will give it to our friend Mary Ann.
The other morning while Dave and I were having our morning coffee, we watched a boat of fisherman put out their net and then haul it in. We see the fishermen quite frequently pass by in the mornings and afternoons, but this morning was photo opportunities. We had kayaks in the water watching the fishermen. They pulled in about 3 large sharks! However, the pictures I took you couldn't see what they caught. Here are a few.
We had some clouds moving in last night and this morning the sky was cloudy and it was windy. We even got a sprinkle or two of rain. One nice thing though it isn’t cold. This system will move through today and be gone by tomorrow. That is good as I have clothes to put on the line to dry.
It is a pretty sunny morning and I am glad about that as I have clothes to dry on the line. Well that was short lived-------it got cloudy and now it looks like it will rain. Oh brother!
A friend came over with his back hoe and smoothed out our road inside the community. Dave and George, our neighbor, helped clear the rocks out of the way as the road was being smoothed. It looks so much better. Can’t wait to try it out! George asked Roger (who has the backhoe) if he would smooth and level the road as it was getting pretty bad even after we had it filled in after the hurricane. So we are good for quite a while now. While Dave was out helping with the road, I touched up the walls where the shelving unit had scraped the paint. So that job is done.
I ended up having to bring my clothes in off the line as the clouds were building and it has already rained a little. Some of the items were dry due to the wind, but the shirts and some thicker items were still wet. So in the house they came and draped over chairs. It is a good thing I brought them in as we got quite a bit of rain after that. It rained the rest of the afternoon and was still raining off and on in the evening. Sometimes it rained hard and we ended up having to put a pan on top of one of the cabinets in the kitchen where we have developed a leak. We are waiting for a calm non windy day so we can get on the roof and do some patching around the skylights, because that is where the leaks are coming from.
It rained pretty good last night and early this morning. At least part of my windows got rinsed and the solar panel did too. We have had to run the generator this morning to check emails as we don’t have any solar. There isn’t going to be any sunshine today.
We went to Guerrero Negro today for Dave to get his final cap put on his tooth. We made stops at the ATM, pharmacy and hardware store. We were able to pick out some handles for the drawers of the closet shelving unit. So now Dave has another project.
Brody’s afghan is finished and here is the finished product.
There is going to be a spring Arts and Craft show in April which I will be in, but I haven’t been creating anything right now due to trying to get the Afghans done. I still have a bunch of stuff left over from the November show so I will have plenty.
I started making the covers for drinking glass for the show and I want to start back on the counted cross stitch I started of a dragon and Merlyn last year for Dave. If I can try and do some everyday that would help. Almost half of it is done. It is just a difficult one to do on black aida cloth. But I WILL finish it.
There is a yard sale tomorrow, Saturday the 7th and we are going to try and sell a couple bamboo chairs and a stool. We don’t need or want them so hopefully someone else will need them. I always look forward to this time each year as I am always looking for stuff for the house. Granted we can’t spend a lot of money but each year I pick up a few things. It is neat to see what people are getting rid of. Dave spoke to our neighbor George this morning and George asked if we still wanted the freezer. Dave told him we did and so George is going to hold on to it until we get back from Ensenada on Tuesday. George has been running it so it works well. He must have cleaned it as he was going to do that last year before selling it to us. I don’t know how we are going to pay for it--------but George said we could take it off his hands and we would figure something out later. That is cool.
We sold the chairs and donated some items so we were successful. And guess what------we didn’t buy a thing!!! Amazing but true!
We are leaving for Ensenada on Sunday, the day after the yard sale, to get our jeep insurance. Then we will stop at Home Depot, Walmart and Costco before heading back. We will also stop in to see my good friend Penny and her husband Murray on the way home.
Dave got the handles on the drawers. They look really good. Here is a picture.
This morning I took a walk on the beach. Saw the dead dolphin that was floating out on the water the other day on the beach. The vultures were feasting and also a raven. Dave checked the tide chart and let me know that the tide had turned and was coming in and if I wanted to walk this morning it was a good time. We are expecting more wind (we’ve had wind for a couple days now) so I decided to take a walk as I haven’t done that for 2 days. I needed to rinse the clothes I had soaking and hang them on the line to dry and then I would go. I grabbed a breakfast bar and the clothes and went down to hang the clothes. When that job was done I was on my way walking the beach. It is such a beautiful morning and no wind line in site right now. I walked about a mile and a half before turning around and heading back to the house. I could see the wind line forming and knew I didn’t have much time before it would be windy. I got back just before the wind reached the house so the timing was great. I have the wind and sun on my side today for clothes to dry!!! Yay!!!
While we were driving to Ensenada on Sunday, we had a deer run across the road. I never have seen one here before so that was exciting. I knew there were some, just never saw any.
We made it in one day to Ensenada and got a room at the hotel we usually stay at then headed for Walmart and Home Depot then headed back to the hotel. We had dinner at Mc Donald’s and relaxed in our room for the rest of the night.
Next morning we got our paperwork and paid for the jeep insurance then checked out of the hotel and went to Costco to get a few things then headed to Penny and Murray’s house, in San Jacinto. We had a very nice visit and with them and before we went to dinner we stopped at a men’s old folks place not far from Penny and Murray’s place. Penny took on the responsibility of getting medical care and donated items, food, etc. for these men who have nowhere else to live. They call it the Grandpa house. I met the 5 or 6 men that were there and enjoyed my visit with them. Then we left and went to a hamburger place in town for dinner. It was really good. After dinner we went back to their house and visited for a while then it was bed time.
We left the next morning and came home.
Our gate guard, Tito and wife Brienda, are working out really good here. Tito has helped those people who are here with several projects. Sometimes Brienda helps too. We had Tito go on our roof to lay some roofing paper around the skylights as when they were put in that was never done. Then Tito painted a mixture of white cement, lime and salt water to seal the roof so now we shouldn’t leak any more. We still need to use JB weld on the cracks of a couple of the skylights where daylight can be seen on the corners of the frame, but we can do that anytime. We have more work for Tito, but no extra money so we have to wait to have Tito do the other jobs we need. Maybe we’ll get to have these jobs done this fall.
We still haven’t had any luck with selling the boat. We really don’t want to take it back to Seattle, but by May 10th a decision has to be made of what to do if it hasn’t sold. Our marina contract is up on May 10th.
I’ve been walking the beach and picking up treasures when the wind isn’t blowing so hard. Hard to walk when sand is blowing at you. Ha!
One of my goals for this year was to walk on the road from our house to almost the other side of the bay where there are 2 signs telling about the birds and sea and plant life by the estuary. Well I fulfilled that goal the other day. It was about 6 miles round trip and when I got home I was hot and thirsty but energized!!! I did take water with me but because it was only 16 ounces I drank some when I reached my destination and then again when I returned home. I had a wonderful walk in the desert. There were some plants blooming from the last rain we had, and some of the road was slick with mud, but on the whole it was good walking soil. The water had drained from the estuary which left a beautiful green hue from plant life. I’m glad I didn’t walk further because coming back I was dragging a little due to it being warm, but I did prove to myself that I could walk to the other side of the bay, but would need a ride part way back. Ha!!! Now that the weather is heating up (90’s) I don’t go on long walks until it cools down which will be next winter. I always try to set a goal of doing something to see what I can do. I don’t hike much on rocks as it hurts my back, but a little of it I will do. I love walking in the desert and seeing lizards and squirrels scamper. Now since it is getting hot, there is no hiking or walking in the desert or up mountains due to snakes. A few have been sighted close by. I can walk the beach with safety though and I thoroughly enjoy that.
We had our friends Judy and Larry here for dinner as they are leaving Bahia to go to their other home in the states. It was a fun night. Two days later I invited the ladies to come over and play Mexican Train. Nine ladies showed up and that filled my bamboo room! We had a good time and no-----I didn’t win.
Dave and I had a Deviled Egg Cook off contest on the 23rd. As long as we have been living in Bahia, whenever we get together there are always deviled eggs and the guys would say how great it would be to just have a get together where deviled eggs were the only thing served. Soooo---I decided to throw a party and have everyone bring their favorite made deviled eggs. The guys would vote on their favorite deviled egg plate and prizes would be awarded for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and honorable mention. The lady that got 1st place also got a sign I made out of cardboard and yarn that said ‘Deviled Egg QUEEN of Bahia, 2015’. We want to make this contest an annual event. Here are some pictures.
Today, the 25th is my youngest son’s birthday. He is 38! Wow! It doesn’t seem possible! Happy Birthday Son!!!
I have started making the announcements for the 2015 Spring Arts and Craft Show starting April 1. I enjoy doing it and makes me feel as though I am contributing something.
I finished the glass covers
and have priced all my items for the art show and today, the last day of March, I drove to town, giving Brienda a ride so she could make a phone call and I can set up my table for the show tomorrow. The show is for 5 days and will end the day after Easter. I wasn’t able to be in the art show last year due to having to move the boat from Santa Rosalia to La Paz. There are only 5 American and about 4 Mexican artists in the show. Hopefully we will get some tourists going through town as this is a very big holiday season for the Mexican culture. We shall see.Dave just finished the jigsaw puzzle he was putting together and now is working on a wild life 3D one. He isn’t sure about the current one as you need constant direct light to see the colors so if he doesn’t like it we will give it to our friend Mary Ann.
The other morning while Dave and I were having our morning coffee, we watched a boat of fisherman put out their net and then haul it in. We see the fishermen quite frequently pass by in the mornings and afternoons, but this morning was photo opportunities. We had kayaks in the water watching the fishermen. They pulled in about 3 large sharks! However, the pictures I took you couldn't see what they caught. Here are a few.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Wave Sweeper Still In Limbo. There Is Still Hope
We got some interesting news today. Dave got an email from our boat broker saying there is someone that is interested in the boat and wants to see it sometime this month. I’m not holding my breath however, because we know I would turn blue before something happened. But it is encouraging none-the-less! So cross your fingers and toes!!!!
February is looking really nice weather wise. The clouds and rain have gone away and has left us with some really beautiful warm sunny days and calm waters. We have been getting a gentle breeze most days but it does cool off at night when the sun goes behind the mountain. We are being reminded it is still winter. It has warmed up enough now that I had to take the heavier comforter off the bed. One nice thing about this time of year is that the sun shines a little longer as the days are longer. It is nice not having to turn on a light in the kitchen to fix dinner at 5:00 pm.
Four of us gals got together and played Mexican Train. It was fun. It had been a long time since we played. There aren’t a lot of people down here yet but by March and April we should have quite a few of them here.
When I went into town today for groceries, on my way home, I stopped to see the hairdresser, Arial, and asked how much it would cost for a trim. Arial said around 100 pesos. I thought that was kind of high but when I got home and figured it out with the exchange rate at 14.5, it is only about 6-7 dollars. That is cheaper than you can get a haircut in the states. I figure when I go in next Saturday I will ask Arial to trim my hair and bangs.
I did remember to go to the hardware store I forgot to last time I was in town. I drove by right after I got in town and it was closed so I went ahead and got gas, picked up my laundry, stopped and got groceries and then went back and it still wasn’t open. Well I tried. We will have to check out faucets again in La Paz. The one in the kitchen has seen better days.
When I got home and told Dave I went by twice but it wasn’t home, Dave said he had heard Clint was in jail. Hmmm! Don’t know the story on that. Then we heard he closes to go fishing. The rumor mill------you can never believe what you hear.
The weather has been so nice I wanted to take a walk. I have wanted to walk to a beach that is north of us. It is the one on the other side of the beach where I drove to and found starfish and sea glass about 2 months ago.
There isn’t much of a breeze, and matter of fact there isn’t any!!! I was thinking I might just drive to the beach then the more I thought about it the more I wanted to walk it. So I donned my hat, my magnet belt and knee brace, packed water and the VHF radio and off I went. The tide was still going out so I could walk on the beach. I did that until it got too rocky and went up on a dirt road. It was getting kind of warm but I kept trudging on. I have wanted to do this for so long nothing was going to stop me know. I walked by friend’s homes and waved as I did, but didn’t want to stop as I was afraid I would lose my zip! It was an interesting walk or you might say hike as there were gulley’s caused from the run off of the rain we had during the hurricane. I finally made it to the beach and found it to be small and there wasn’t anything on it. No starfish, sea glass----nothing worth picking up. There was a dead long nose dolphin, like the one I found on our beach, and 3 tortoise shells; two small ones and one a little bigger. Looks like the coyotes and birds had quite a meal. I can now say I have been to that small beach and I don’t have to think about going back. I will go back sometime to the beach I drove to in December and see what treasures I can find.
When I got home I fixed some Gatorade and drank it, took my shoes off and sat on the deck as a nice breeze had come up. Dave wasn’t home and I figured he was at the neighbors. I took a cold shower, and believe me it was COLD!!! But it brought down my body temperature and felt good after I was out. Then Dave came home. He had been to our neighbors’ house to help start her motor for her aluminum boat she fishes in. So I am sure she is a happy camper as she was telling us she wants to go with some friends out fishing before she returns to San Diego.
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and our neighbor, George, has arranged a dinner in town and put out an invitation to us and many of our friends to join him and his wife. That should be fun.
We have 4 birthdays this month. On the 15th our eldest grandson is turning 20 and our daughter-in-law, my step sons’ wife, has her birthday that same day. The other 2 are on the 24th . Kristen, my step daughter, is turning 40 and our newest grandson, Brody, is turning 6. Next month is the one we have the most birthdays in.
We got an appointment from our dentist asking for Dave to come in on the 13th to get fitted for a cap, so we did that and stopped at a ATM to get more money.
We haven’t heard from the boat broker so don’t know what is going on with the boat. The guy that was interested was asking a bunch of questions and wanted Mike to go down to the marina and take pictures of it and send them to him. That was done but no word.
We’ve had a couple windy days but for the most part the weather has been great.
We have a new gate guard. The man that helped us put up the rock wall along the arroyo about a year ago? It is his son and wife. They are young and have only been married for 5 months. They seem to like it here away from town. They were hired to make sure that the houses in our community, where no one is living in them right now, are safe and secure. We heard of a break-in that happened last week. It was in a community just south of town, but the good news is the police caught the guys and now they are in jail. Then another house just north of us, mid day, had the alarm go off and the neighbors rushed over to find that whoever was trying to break-in had only gotten as far as to cut a lock. The alarm must have scared them off as they ran leaving their tools behind. It is just the way it is down here and we all have to be vigilant. Most of the break-ins are usually done by young people who are looking to get stuff to sell for their drug habit.
Dave bought some ½ inch birch plywood and took it to our friend Ray, the same man who was helping with the stairs, to have him make a shelving unit for our bedroom closet. For a couple days Dave went over to his house to help put it together and then he brought it home. It looks really nice. Dave needs to do some sanding and then we paint. I haven’t felt good for a couple days. There is something going around which is causing bloating and headaches. Dave and I have been having sinus problems too which doesn’t help matters.
This morning Dave painted the top, back and sides of the shelving unit white and mixed a little bit of the orange paint we had left over from painting the living room and bedroom, in with the white to make a pale yellow. While he was doing that I painted the front of the 4 drawers with the Tequila Azul and the orange, starting with the blue and alternating with the orange. It looks really nice. All that is left is to get drawer handles. We will do that when we go to Ensenada next month. After it dried, we brought the unit upstairs and put it in place and put the drawers in. Because of the tight fit, we scraped the walls on both sides, but we will repair that later. Dave was anxious to get his clothes organized in the unit so he spent the rest of the afternoon doing that. He has his shirts hanging above the 4 drawers. He was able to empty a couple bins in the bathroom closet and a footlocker. Tomorrow I will organize the bathroom closet which is for me!
I had another headache today but that didn’t stop me from organizing the bathroom closet. I moved towels and washcloths down from a top shelf and then organized my clothes in plastic drawers we were given a while back. I don’t have anywhere to hang clothes but it doesn’t matter as I don’t need to. So the bathroom closet is organized and I have most of my stuff together. I did use the footlocker for winter clothes and a few other items. It worked out just fine. We are very happy with the results. After I finished and had lunch I sat down to read and my head was pounding. I was thinking about lying down for a bit when I heard the voice of my neighbor outside. She came over to return the knee brace I let her use. I decided to not take a nap as it was getting late in the afternoon. So I prepared dinner. The headache came and went and then finally was a dull ache. After dinner we watched TV and then went to bed.
I feel much better today. No headache and I don’t feel bloated. Today is grocery shopping day. I gathered the garbage and got the 5 gallon water bottle for refilling and off I went into town. The town was busy this morning. I stopped at the vegetable stand first and got a few things, then filled the 5 gallon water bottle and went on to dump garbage, drop off laundry and shop for groceries. I saw a few of my friends in town and said hello then headed for home. I stopped at the ‘Home Depot’ just outside of town to see how much a piece of 1.4 inch birch plywood cost as we told Ray we would buy him one so he could finish drawers for Jo, his significant other. I bought one and delivered it to Ray so he could get his project completed while Jo and her friends are off Whale watching in Guerrero Negro and San Ignacio. When I returned home Dave was having trouble with my computer. It wouldn’t let him into his game or anything else. He was very frustrated! I unloaded the groceries from the truck and he came down and carried up the cooler which has cold stuff in it and I got the rest except for the 5 gallon bottle of water. Dave will get that later. I put the groceries away and vacuum packed the meat I bought and Dave finally was able to reload his stuff on the computer. He is a happy camper!!!! We ate lunch and I started a new book titled ‘Wild’. The movie is out now so after I read the book I can enjoy seeing the movie when it comes to the movie channel here.
My friend MaryAnn gave Dave another jigsaw puzzle so he has been down in the bamboo room putting it together.
Well time to go for a walk. The wind has died down and the tide is going out so I have more of a beach to walk on. TaTa for now!!!!!
We got another email from our boat broker saying the same guys is still interested and asking a bunch of questions, but Mike told him to get down to La Paz and see the boat for himself and make an offer! So we shall see.
The buzzards and coyotes have been getting fed well as we have had 3 turtles, a seal, a dolphin, birds and a stingray wash up on shore.
Eian’s afghan is finished
and Brody’s is almost done. I’ve been crocheting squares and sewing them together and it is looking pretty good.
February is looking really nice weather wise. The clouds and rain have gone away and has left us with some really beautiful warm sunny days and calm waters. We have been getting a gentle breeze most days but it does cool off at night when the sun goes behind the mountain. We are being reminded it is still winter. It has warmed up enough now that I had to take the heavier comforter off the bed. One nice thing about this time of year is that the sun shines a little longer as the days are longer. It is nice not having to turn on a light in the kitchen to fix dinner at 5:00 pm.
Four of us gals got together and played Mexican Train. It was fun. It had been a long time since we played. There aren’t a lot of people down here yet but by March and April we should have quite a few of them here.
When I went into town today for groceries, on my way home, I stopped to see the hairdresser, Arial, and asked how much it would cost for a trim. Arial said around 100 pesos. I thought that was kind of high but when I got home and figured it out with the exchange rate at 14.5, it is only about 6-7 dollars. That is cheaper than you can get a haircut in the states. I figure when I go in next Saturday I will ask Arial to trim my hair and bangs.
I did remember to go to the hardware store I forgot to last time I was in town. I drove by right after I got in town and it was closed so I went ahead and got gas, picked up my laundry, stopped and got groceries and then went back and it still wasn’t open. Well I tried. We will have to check out faucets again in La Paz. The one in the kitchen has seen better days.
When I got home and told Dave I went by twice but it wasn’t home, Dave said he had heard Clint was in jail. Hmmm! Don’t know the story on that. Then we heard he closes to go fishing. The rumor mill------you can never believe what you hear.
The weather has been so nice I wanted to take a walk. I have wanted to walk to a beach that is north of us. It is the one on the other side of the beach where I drove to and found starfish and sea glass about 2 months ago.
There isn’t much of a breeze, and matter of fact there isn’t any!!! I was thinking I might just drive to the beach then the more I thought about it the more I wanted to walk it. So I donned my hat, my magnet belt and knee brace, packed water and the VHF radio and off I went. The tide was still going out so I could walk on the beach. I did that until it got too rocky and went up on a dirt road. It was getting kind of warm but I kept trudging on. I have wanted to do this for so long nothing was going to stop me know. I walked by friend’s homes and waved as I did, but didn’t want to stop as I was afraid I would lose my zip! It was an interesting walk or you might say hike as there were gulley’s caused from the run off of the rain we had during the hurricane. I finally made it to the beach and found it to be small and there wasn’t anything on it. No starfish, sea glass----nothing worth picking up. There was a dead long nose dolphin, like the one I found on our beach, and 3 tortoise shells; two small ones and one a little bigger. Looks like the coyotes and birds had quite a meal. I can now say I have been to that small beach and I don’t have to think about going back. I will go back sometime to the beach I drove to in December and see what treasures I can find.
When I got home I fixed some Gatorade and drank it, took my shoes off and sat on the deck as a nice breeze had come up. Dave wasn’t home and I figured he was at the neighbors. I took a cold shower, and believe me it was COLD!!! But it brought down my body temperature and felt good after I was out. Then Dave came home. He had been to our neighbors’ house to help start her motor for her aluminum boat she fishes in. So I am sure she is a happy camper as she was telling us she wants to go with some friends out fishing before she returns to San Diego.
Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and our neighbor, George, has arranged a dinner in town and put out an invitation to us and many of our friends to join him and his wife. That should be fun.
We have 4 birthdays this month. On the 15th our eldest grandson is turning 20 and our daughter-in-law, my step sons’ wife, has her birthday that same day. The other 2 are on the 24th . Kristen, my step daughter, is turning 40 and our newest grandson, Brody, is turning 6. Next month is the one we have the most birthdays in.
We got an appointment from our dentist asking for Dave to come in on the 13th to get fitted for a cap, so we did that and stopped at a ATM to get more money.
We haven’t heard from the boat broker so don’t know what is going on with the boat. The guy that was interested was asking a bunch of questions and wanted Mike to go down to the marina and take pictures of it and send them to him. That was done but no word.
We’ve had a couple windy days but for the most part the weather has been great.
We have a new gate guard. The man that helped us put up the rock wall along the arroyo about a year ago? It is his son and wife. They are young and have only been married for 5 months. They seem to like it here away from town. They were hired to make sure that the houses in our community, where no one is living in them right now, are safe and secure. We heard of a break-in that happened last week. It was in a community just south of town, but the good news is the police caught the guys and now they are in jail. Then another house just north of us, mid day, had the alarm go off and the neighbors rushed over to find that whoever was trying to break-in had only gotten as far as to cut a lock. The alarm must have scared them off as they ran leaving their tools behind. It is just the way it is down here and we all have to be vigilant. Most of the break-ins are usually done by young people who are looking to get stuff to sell for their drug habit.
Dave bought some ½ inch birch plywood and took it to our friend Ray, the same man who was helping with the stairs, to have him make a shelving unit for our bedroom closet. For a couple days Dave went over to his house to help put it together and then he brought it home. It looks really nice. Dave needs to do some sanding and then we paint. I haven’t felt good for a couple days. There is something going around which is causing bloating and headaches. Dave and I have been having sinus problems too which doesn’t help matters.
This morning Dave painted the top, back and sides of the shelving unit white and mixed a little bit of the orange paint we had left over from painting the living room and bedroom, in with the white to make a pale yellow. While he was doing that I painted the front of the 4 drawers with the Tequila Azul and the orange, starting with the blue and alternating with the orange. It looks really nice. All that is left is to get drawer handles. We will do that when we go to Ensenada next month. After it dried, we brought the unit upstairs and put it in place and put the drawers in. Because of the tight fit, we scraped the walls on both sides, but we will repair that later. Dave was anxious to get his clothes organized in the unit so he spent the rest of the afternoon doing that. He has his shirts hanging above the 4 drawers. He was able to empty a couple bins in the bathroom closet and a footlocker. Tomorrow I will organize the bathroom closet which is for me!
I had another headache today but that didn’t stop me from organizing the bathroom closet. I moved towels and washcloths down from a top shelf and then organized my clothes in plastic drawers we were given a while back. I don’t have anywhere to hang clothes but it doesn’t matter as I don’t need to. So the bathroom closet is organized and I have most of my stuff together. I did use the footlocker for winter clothes and a few other items. It worked out just fine. We are very happy with the results. After I finished and had lunch I sat down to read and my head was pounding. I was thinking about lying down for a bit when I heard the voice of my neighbor outside. She came over to return the knee brace I let her use. I decided to not take a nap as it was getting late in the afternoon. So I prepared dinner. The headache came and went and then finally was a dull ache. After dinner we watched TV and then went to bed.
I feel much better today. No headache and I don’t feel bloated. Today is grocery shopping day. I gathered the garbage and got the 5 gallon water bottle for refilling and off I went into town. The town was busy this morning. I stopped at the vegetable stand first and got a few things, then filled the 5 gallon water bottle and went on to dump garbage, drop off laundry and shop for groceries. I saw a few of my friends in town and said hello then headed for home. I stopped at the ‘Home Depot’ just outside of town to see how much a piece of 1.4 inch birch plywood cost as we told Ray we would buy him one so he could finish drawers for Jo, his significant other. I bought one and delivered it to Ray so he could get his project completed while Jo and her friends are off Whale watching in Guerrero Negro and San Ignacio. When I returned home Dave was having trouble with my computer. It wouldn’t let him into his game or anything else. He was very frustrated! I unloaded the groceries from the truck and he came down and carried up the cooler which has cold stuff in it and I got the rest except for the 5 gallon bottle of water. Dave will get that later. I put the groceries away and vacuum packed the meat I bought and Dave finally was able to reload his stuff on the computer. He is a happy camper!!!! We ate lunch and I started a new book titled ‘Wild’. The movie is out now so after I read the book I can enjoy seeing the movie when it comes to the movie channel here.
My friend MaryAnn gave Dave another jigsaw puzzle so he has been down in the bamboo room putting it together.
Well time to go for a walk. The wind has died down and the tide is going out so I have more of a beach to walk on. TaTa for now!!!!!
We got another email from our boat broker saying the same guys is still interested and asking a bunch of questions, but Mike told him to get down to La Paz and see the boat for himself and make an offer! So we shall see.
The buzzards and coyotes have been getting fed well as we have had 3 turtles, a seal, a dolphin, birds and a stingray wash up on shore.
Eian’s afghan is finished
and Brody’s is almost done. I’ve been crocheting squares and sewing them together and it is looking pretty good.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
HAPPY 2015
Happy New Year!!!!! Here is hoping 2015 is a great year for us all.
New Years Day was a quiet one for us. Not much going on. We were hoping we could have a fire in the fire pit tonight but the wind didn’t lay down enough so I guess we will just wait.
Today is the 6th and it is our youngest grandson’s 2nd birthday!!!!! Oh and his parents shared they are having another baby and it is due in July!!!! Yippee!!! We will get to be there when it is born!
We got more happy news from my eldest son and his new wife……they are also expecting and due in the fall. Oh boy!!!! I guess I will be busy making baby Afghans but I want to wait and see what the sex is before I do. Same with cross stitch birth announcements. I am half done with the queen size afghan for Eian and then I will start a smaller one for Brody. All my grandboys need to have something to wrap up in when watching TV or whatever!
Dave was starting to have problems with a tooth he broke last summer. It didn’t bother him until a few days ago. He took some amoxicillin because he was afraid he was getting an infection. I emailed the dentist and asked if Dave could come in for a consultation. Dave got an appointment for the 8th. He also wants to ask the dentist about the 2 molars that are starting to be a problem. For several years the dentists have been telling him he will have a problem with it and now is the time. So he will have that checked as well.
Well today is the day for the trip to Guerrero Negro to see the dentist. After the 2-1/2 hour drive we arrived. It was cloudy and cold. Dave got in and saw the dentist and about 15 minutes later came out with not so good news for him. The tooth that is broken can’t get a cap until he has a root canal. When the root canal is done he can come back to our dentist and have a mold made for a cap and then return in a week and have it fitted. Then the 2 molars have to be pulled. So Dave wasn’t really happy to hear these things. We were instructed by our dentist to go down the street to see the other dentist that does root canals, which we did. The receptionist at the desk said the Dr. wasn’t in today but she could make an appointment for the 16th. Dave did that then we went back to our dentist to tell him about the change and our Dentist wrote out an appointment in the afternoon on that same day to get the mold made for the cap. So with all that done, we stopped at the ATM and then headed back to the house.
Today, the 10th, our good neighbors and friends arrived today from San Diego. They will be here for 3 weeks and then they will be off to do some whale watching tours. Lynn helps put them together and goes out on the boats with the people. It sounds fun and someday I would like to do that. Anyway……because Lynn and Tom weren’t here for New Years Day, they brought down all the fixings for a bagel and lox brunch. I made pumpkin bread to add to the goodies and brought a large bottle of champagne and some orange juice. Our other neighbors, Mary and George brought their champagne, orange juice, cookies and sliced tomatoes and ham. It was good and it was still early in the New Year so why not celebrate! We did this on the 13th. This is the first time since we have moved to the neighborhood that Lynn and Tom haven’t been here for New Years Eve celebrations. They usually have a bonfire at their place after we all get back from our dinner in town, so since they couldn’t make it this year we wanted to carry on the tradition but couldn’t. Such is life. Since it was a beautiful day with no wind, George and Mary said they would have a bonfire tonight and invited everyone. We told them we were having our Friend, Ray over for dinner so it would depend on what time we got done. Mary said to tell him we were having champagne and he would probably show up.
Ray showed up at 4:30pm which was early enough so he and Dave could discuss our stair dilemma. Ray use to build stairs so he knows what to do to fix them. As it turns out we don’t have to do too much to them except maybe take a couple steps out and space them further apart with more stepping space. So it is an easy and inexpensive fix. We sat around and had cocktails and then dinner. We had a nice visit. He is batching it this month as his wife is in Hawaii with family and won’t be back until the first of February. We told Ray about the bonfire and champagne at Mary and Georges (which is right next door), but he said he needed to get home to call his son. So since it was almost 7:30pm, we decided not to go to the bonfire either. I wanted to wash the dishes and by the time I would be done it would have been 8:00pm and our neighbors go to bed then. Besides I wasn’t feeling that spiffy and with the trip to La Paz coming up I didn’t want to push it. Plus we were all supposed to go on an arroyo hike the next morning and I wanted to go. So I made the decision to just stay where it was warm. Dave has a cold and it was a nasty one. His sinuses swelled up and we weren’t sure if it was from the cold or if the tooth that needs the root canal got infected. So in addition to taking cold medicine, he also took amoxicillin. We had 2 pills left, one for tonight and one in the morning so we are going to have to go into town after the hike tomorrow. Bummer!
We got up this morning and Dave wasn’t sure if he was going to hike or not. One nice thing was we were hiking at 9:00am so it gave him plenty of time to have a cup of coffee, take medicine and then see how he felt. I was feeling o.k. and ready to go. We found out that Mary wasn’t going due to not feeling well. They had champagne last night and maybe she had a little too much??????? George wasn’t going as his knee is just starting to feel better. So it is just Lynn, Tom, their dogs Maggie and Murphy and us. Dave figured he might as well get some exercise instead of sitting around. It was a hazy morning but nice and the wind hadn’t come up yet. We drove to a spot we could park off the road which isn’t far from the house and gathered our walking sticks, water, and backpacks and off we went. Tom has a disease in his legs where the nerves are dying and he has steadily gotten worse to where his legs go numb after walking awhile and if he continues to walk he falls. Before coming down to Bahia, Lynn said he had fallen 2 times at home, so he was going to try and walk as far as he could and then if he couldn’t go on, wait for us to come back to where he was resting. He now knows his limit with his legs. So all of us had our walking sticks and it was a good thing as it was helpful in climbing over some rocks. The last time we hiked this arroyo there were huge rocks and as we got closer to the mountain we couldn’t go further due to a rock slide. Since the last time we were there, there have been earthquakes and the hurricane, Odile, so there were a lot of rocks and the arroyo seemed wider. It was amazing to see how much it had changed. When we looked up to the top of the mountain we could see rocks just balanced on another rock or pinnacle waiting for the next shake to dislodge it, causing it to crash down the mountainside. Nature is awesome and scary at the same time!!!! Tom let us know he couldn’t go much further which was amazing as we were almost as far up the arroyo we could go. Tom relaxed on a flat rock with radio nearby so we could communicate with him and we went on with the dogs. It wasn’t much further and as we neared the base of the mountain we saw huge rocks that blocked the way so we couldn’t go any further. Lynn took our picture, and I took one of her and the dogs and after a snack and some water we headed back to where Tom was. He was lying down just relaxing and said he fell asleep. Lynn got a picture of him and the dogs were happy to see him. We walked back to the cars and it was a 4 mile round trip hike. That was excellent because I don’t think my knee would have taken any more climbing. As we were walking back it started getting a little windy but nothing too drastic. Lynn and Tom and the dogs went back to their house and we went into town to get some more amoxicillin. Then we came home and relaxed. Dave took a nap and I read and crocheted. My knee was sore so I put some ice on it and surprisingly enough it was fine. My back was good too. It was a good day. When Dave checked emails later that afternoon he got a cancellation notice from the dentist that is doing the root canal. They wanted to know if he could make it on Tuesday but we will be in La Paz. Dave told them he couldn’t make it then but what about on the 23rd and she said yes. The dentist was still out of town so this way it gives him plenty of time to get back to work. So we contacted our dentist and told him about the cancellation on the root canal and asked if we could keep the 12:30pm appointment but have the 2 molars pulled. He said yes. So that is taken care of.
The next morning I didn’t feel so good. I had a scratchy throat and felt as though I was getting the dreaded cold. Dave was doing better and the swelling of his sinuses were going down which told us it was just sinus and not an infection in his gum. We didn’t waste money on amoxicillin as it is always good to have some on hand in case of an emergency. Mary had invited me to play Hand and Foot, but I had already played it on Monday so I said I would pass. Today I wanted to take Lynn to the beach on the north side of Red Mountain, the one I went to on Christmas morning, because I told her there was a lot of sea glass there and she was interested. But the wind was blowing pretty well. She called and wanted to know if we were still going and discussed the wind and decided to wait until the afternoon and see what happens. It never did so we postponed it for when I get back from La Paz. I think it was good because there is no protection on the north side the mountain and the sand would have been blowing. So for me it worked out just fine. We are leaving for La Paz in the morning so I will just lay low today.
We are off to Guerrero Negro today, the 16th. The weather was cloudy starting out but shortly after getting to Guerrero Negro the sun came out. We arrived at the dentist office and Dave rang the bell to let him know he was there. In just a few minutes Dave was out. He told the doctor he was getting over a cold and the Dr. asked him to come back on the 24th. So Dave didn’t have any dental work done today. We had already booked a reservation with a hotel in Guerrero Negro as we thought it would be best to stay overnight after a root canal and teeth pulling, but that didn’t happen and since we were heading south anyway, we figured didn’t have to get up real early in the morning so we stayed the night. It is a new hotel that just opened up about 6 months ago and it was nice. It has a restaurant and later on we went and had dinner. When we got to the room I walked around the small premises to check it out and they aren’t finished building the rooms. There are about 6 more they need to finish. When I got back to the room I checked email and because I didn’t feel real good and I was cold, I sat on the bed with pillows behind me and the comforter over my legs and read my book for a while. Dave was on his computer. After reading I laid down and cat napped. Then it was time for dinner so we walked over to the restaurant. We were the only ones in the dining room. Dave ordered a coffee and I a tea. They serve small dinners like hamburgers, stuffed potatoes and sandwiches. Dave had some soup and I had a stuffed potato. After dinner we went back to the room and Dave got on his computer and I watched a weird movie called Wanted and when that was over I watched Sex in the City then we both went to bed. Dave had a restful night but I didn’t. I couldn’t get to sleep as I couldn’t get comfortable. I tossed and turned trying to sleep and then later I did fall asleep only to wake at around 3:00 am coughing. Then after my cough spell I went back to sleep. We were up at 7:00am and went over to the restaurant to have breakfast. I ordered an omelet and Dave Huevos Rancheros. I wasn’t thrilled with my omelet as it had chorizo, which I ordered, but I didn’t like it so I only ate like half of the omelet. It was food in my belly so I didn’t complain. While we were waiting for breakfast Dave got a call from Robert and he said we were welcome to visit them in Loreto. We had been trying to get a hold of them without any success and Dave left a message yesterday when he called. We went back to the room, packed up and headed to Loreto. We were going to stop there anyway for the night but this way we can save a few dollars and enjoy great company. About 4 hours later we were at Robert and Kristi’s house. They were home because the gate was open a little but Robert was on the couch taking a nap and Kristi was upstairs. We apologized for waking him and he called to Kristi to come down. We noticed they had a new Can Am 4 seater in the driveway and asked when they got that. It was a year end sale and thought it would be fun to drive it around on the back roads of Mexico. Robert asked if we wanted to take a ride and we said “of course” so we all got in and headed for the arroyo. They were going to take us to a waterfall. It was a fun ride and he didn’t get too crazy going through water, as the spray does fly. We saw an interesting sight on the way. There was a tree, don’t know what kind that was growing out of rock. This was a big tree and you could see the roots and how they tangled through and around the rock. I wished I had brought my camera but I forgot it back home. We went on and came to the spot where the waterfall was but we couldn’t get to it because there were cars in the way and a family was having a BBQ. We did see it but very quickly. We passed that and before we knew it we were in a small village where the second largest mission in Loreto is. San Javier. It was amazing that it was still standing from the 1800s. After walking through the church and grounds, we went to a palapa bar and had beer, chips and salsa. Then we headed back to the house as it would be dark soon. What a fun ride!!! Back at the house we changed clothes and went to a bar in Loreto to have dinner. There was a special for Saturday nights only for all you can eat clams, BBQ chicken and pork, corn on the cob, stuffed potatoes and about 3 or 4 different gourmet fixed clams on the shell. It was very good. We had wine and listened to the band play and then had dessert. What a fun evening. We came back to the house, watched a little TV then went to bed. We were all very tired.
Since the Championship playoff games were on today, Robert said last night that we were welcome to stay and watch it as we didn’t have to be in La Paz until the 20th. So we took him up on the offer and stayed another day. We watched a news show that Kristi and Robert watch every Sunday and drank our coffee then had breakfast. After breakfast they took us in the Can Am again and went on the arroyo again but this time we were going to a place called Doctors Point. It has a great hiking trail. We had a great ride and the day was absolutely gorgeous!!!! Sun was shining; it was warm with just a hint of breeze in the air. It was a perfect day for a hike. I guess the place they parked was a little different from the last time they were there. There was a fence erected and a home on the other side of it with a trailer alongside the house. Robert didn’t remember the trailer. When we drove up we were being watched and that made Robert a little uncomfortable. But the trail is open to the public and is a number one hiking trail in Loreto. We parked and took off up a hill and followed the trail which leads to a light on a bluff. The waves were crashing up on the rocky shore below and looking out across the Sea of Cortez you could see Isla Coronado..jpg)
What a beautiful sight. We headed back the way we came and got to the parking lot. As we were getting ready to climb in the Can Am a couple medium sized dogs came running up to us. They didn’t growl or bark they just wanted to know who was there. They seemed friendly until Robert started the engine and then they went crazy. They didn’t like the sound and definitely didn’t like the wheels turning. One male dog followed us for about a mile thinking the wheels turning was a game. It was dangerous for the dog as he was running from side to side in front of the vehicle. Finally he gave up and we were free to be on our way. We went down another road which leads to the beach. The beach is full of rocks but there were shells lodged in and amongst the rocks for our searching pleasure. After walking a little of the beach we came back to the vehicle and took off for more adventure.
We went back to the arroyo and Robert wanted to take us to the top of a mountain to see the view but he missed the turn and Kristi said she wanted to go back to the house. It was already 12:45pm and the game was starting at 1:00pm. So maybe we will be able to go another time. What fun!!!! We got back to the house and made some snacks and opened beer and sat and watched the Sea Hawks play Indiana Colts. The first 3 quarters were not looking good for the Hawks. We were losing and if they didn’t do something quick we would lose the game. I had seen more than I wanted so I left and took a shower. When I came back the Sea Hawks were ahead in the 4th quarter. Wow!!!! What a comeback. The score was tied and the 4th quarter had ended so now they were in overtime. Seattle got to start first which was a huge advantage and before long we had a touchdown and we won!!!!!! The Sea Hawks are going to the Super Bowl again!!!!!! Incredible game! After that game the next one came on that would tell us who the Sea Hawks were going to play in the Super Bowl. Kristi and Robert invited another couple over to watch the game and have dinner with us. We ordered pizza and Kristi made a large salad and the other gal, Laura made some fettuccini and brought it to share. We ate and watched the game and now the New England Patriots are playing against Seattle in the Super Bowl. That should be an exciting game!!! After the game Jupiter and Laura left and we cleaned up. Robert and Kristi said goodnight and Dave checked emails and I watched a couple programs on T.V. At 10:00pm Dave and I went to bed as we are heading to La Paz in the morning.
The cold I have is still hanging on so I still am not feeling great, but each day it gets better. We got up at 7:00am, started the coffee, stripped the bed and packed. Robert and Kristi got up after we did and we all had coffee and Dave and I grabbed a banana before heading out the door. Kristi was exercising at 8:00am and Robert was going for a bike ride with a friend. We said our goodbyes and thanked them for the fun 2 days and left. It was a beautiful sunny day and a great day for a drive. It took us about 4-1/2 hours to get to La Paz but we arrived around 1:00pm or so. We went straight to the boat and shortly after arriving the canvas man showed up. He is working on the windshield for the dodger but is having some difficulty getting everything to fit. So he put the old windshield up and studied it then took all the pieces down and took them to the shop. He said he would be back tomorrow at noon. Dave turned on the charger and noticed our house batteries were dead and we weren’t getting any solar charging and more volts were going into the start battery which didn’t make sense. Well since I don’t know anything about this stuff, I couldn’t be of any help. So I just waited a while and let him mull things over in his mind. As it turned out, he forgot to turn the battery switch to both when we left the last time and that made it so nothing would charge. He still doesn’t understand why the start battery is drawing 3 volts more than it should but for now we need to see if the house batteries (6) will charge back up. Dave disconnected the positive side of the start battery so it wouldn’t draw current. We added some water to the house batteries then ran the charger and inverter all afternoon. It was getting late so I went to Walmart to get a few things and something for dinner. Because it is quick and easy I picked up a roasted chicken and 2 cans of beans for dinner. I also needed to get some pesos from the ATM so I went there first. Walmart has one inside the store. I went ahead and started the transaction and was at the point where it said please wait for the money but no money came and then all of a sudden it said sorry try again later. WHAT??? So I went over to another ATM and went through all the selections and it came up and said I was over my limit. That’s funny as we don’t have a limit! Needless to say there wasn’t another ATM close by so I gave up on getting money and just did the shopping. When I got back to the boat I told Dave my frustrating tale about the ATM. We figured, after discussing what happened, that the first ATM must have run out of money for the amount I was asking and the other ATM just didn’t make sense. I fixed us a cocktail and Dave got on his computer and brought up our Key Bank account and found the dollar amount from the exchange rate of the ATM transaction pending. How could that be when I received no money and no receipt? So Dave got on the phone and called the international number for Key Bank and told them the story. They said we could file a fraud claim via email and when the amount that is now pending gets accepted, we have to wait 24 hours before it gets credited back into our account. So after talking to a couple people on the phone, he hung up and emailed the address the gentleman gave him to file the fraud claim. So we will see what happens. So frustrating! Dave is still eyeballing the panel which tells him how the batteries are doing and whether the amps were going down. They were going down but not very fast, but the good thing is the batteries are charging. Dave decided to turn the charger off when we went to bed to give the batteries a chance to rest. We spent the rest of the evening on our computers and I finally got my December blog posted! We have had a lot of gray days in Bahia which doesn’t do well for keeping the batteries charged up so items that draw a lot of current don’t get used unless we run the generator. Well I didn’t want to do that so I put off working on the blog until our batteries had enough solar charging in them. I lucked out by coming to La Paz where we don’t have to worry about that or using up band width.
Dave didn’t sleep soundly last night as he was up a couple times and early this morning checking on the battery situation. He turned the charger back on and is hoping for the best. The batteries are still not fully charged but they are working on it. Dave was encouraged with the results so far.
When we arrived at the boat yesterday we saw the boat was covered in bird crap! We couldn’t believe it. The birds are back!!!!! Oh no!! We don’t know if Diego came and washed it on the 15th and if he did there had to have been lots of bird action on the mast and spreaders. Yuck! Dave is going to pressure wash the deck and when he is done I will wipe down all the stainless steel.
We had our coffee and cereal for breakfast this morning and I put on my tennis shoes to go for a walk and on the way I stopped at the Marina Café and said hello and good morning to Lupita. She was very happy to see me and I gave her a wine cork angel. Then I went for a walk, came back to the boat and helped Dave with the pressure washer and wiping down the stainless steel. The boat isn’t spotless but it is cleaner than it was. When everything was put away, Dave and I went to the bank and pharmacy, so we were off and running. Our canvas guy hadn’t shown up yet but we didn’t need to be there anyway. So off we went. Dave went to the ATM while I went to the pharmacy and we met back at the jeep. Dave had no problem at the ATM which was a relief. Then we went to Sam’s Club to get some items in bulk but were disappointed as they didn’t have a couple things I wanted but at least I got most of what I needed. I wish there was a Costco here instead of a Sam’s Club. Being a big city I thought for sure they would build one but they didn’t. So it is what it is.
We were back on the boat and we heard someone call hola and then footsteps on the boat. We figured it was our canvas guy and when I went out to greet him I was surprised to see Diego standing there. He apologized for not washing the boat but he was sick. We told him we made the job easier for him as we washed off the bird crap that morning. He had another boat to wash and then he would be down to wash ours. He had a helper this time so it didn’t take him long to get the other boat done and be at ours. They did a great job and it looks so much better. Needless to say the birds know we are here and we had 3 ospreys trying to stay on our mast. We chased them off and then as it was getting dark we had 2 frigate birds try to land on the mast. We loosened the halyard so we could whip it so it reverberated to the top of the mast and they left but kept coming back. It must have been 15 or 20 minutes we stood on the bow and did everything we could to keep them from landing. They finally got the hint and left. We have never seen frigate birds here in La Paz so we were shocked. But they aren’t as bad as cormorants! Well it looks like we are back on bird watch again at dusk while we are here on the boat.
The canvas guy had been on the boat as he was getting ready to leave when we returned from our errands. He would have been gone but he received a phone call and was still on the phone when we spotted each other. He said he forgot something so he was going back to the shop and he would return in a little bit. He had left his tools on the boat. Well he never came back so something must have come up. We figure he will be back in the morning.
Well today is Wednesday and our last day here. We have to leave and head to Loreto tomorrow. We won’t see the finished windshield until we come back in March. We ran some errands again today. We went down to the brokerage office to talk to Shelly and Mike, the boat brokers, about making sure we had enough money to pay for boat cleaning on the top and bottom. We added a little more to the amount so we are good until March. We left there and headed for the Marine store as we wanted to check the price of a new water hose. The one we have now is old and it is having some issues so we need a new one. We bought one and a part for the water pump at the house and left. Next stop Home Depot. We need to get roofing paint and we wanted to check and see if they had any. They didn’t. So we left there and went to Walmart as our last stop. I got the things I had on my list and then it was back to the boat for some lunch. When we got back and as I was fixing lunch Dave noticed the batteries were floating and we were all charged up. Yahoo!!!! The batteries made a full comeback to our relief! Then he checked the bank account online and the amount that was pending now showed up as a debit. We now have to wait for 24 hours to see if they credit it back.
After lunch Dave turned off the electricity to the start battery so he could hook up the positive lead to see how it would do. When he turned the electricity back on the start battery was drawing the normal volts it should be!!!!! Yay!!! Systems are working well again. We figured the start battery was trying to compensate for not having the other batteries running. Well whatever it was it is fixed now. Whew!
Our canvas guy showed up this afternoon and the problems he was having with the windshield has been rectified so now progress is being made. We still won’t have it on by tomorrow, but we know it will be fine. I did laundry this afternoon and finished the book I was reading. As I was waiting for the clothes to dry, I heard Dave’s voice so I called to him and he said he ran the engine and all went well. He tried to start the generator and it wouldn’t start when he took his finger off the start button. He couldn’t tell if any water was coming out the back of the boat because once he let go of the button it would quit. So he was going to see Wendy in the Marina office and get another contract for 3 months made up and then head back to the boat. By then I should be done with the clothes and I can help him. We were done at the same time so we went down to the boat and Dave tried to figure out what the problem was so the process of elimination started. Well it wasn’t the oil pressure. That was fine. He did find a clump of seaweed or something in the bottom of the strainer so he figured we may have a clog. He cleaned out the hose by blowing in it and it was clear of debris. He did try to start the generator again while I went on the dock to watch for water coming from the boat and there was. So that part was o.k. Alright, now what else could the problem be? Dave was inspecting some more and found the culprit or so he thought. It made perfect sense. The impeller was falling apart and he had to take needle nose pliers to collect all the pieces. Then he took off the ruined impeller and applied a new one but the job was not an easy one so he is going to be sore and bruised in the morning. He finally got the new impeller in but it is around 8:00pm so he will wait until morning to start the generator and hopefully it will run this time. There is always something!!!!
We packed things up and all we have to do in the morning is see if the generator works and if not it will have to wait until March to see what is going on, have breakfast at the marina café and be on our way.
We tried to start the generator this morning and it ran for about 3 or 4 minutes then shut down. Not good. Well we know it isn’t the impeller or a blocked hose but we don’t have time to try and figure it out right now as we have to head to Guerrero Negro for Dave’s dental appointment on Friday, the 16th. Dave got the parts and maintenance booklets and packed them so he could do some trouble shooting when he gets a chance. Then we went to the marina café; had breakfast and I said goodbye to Lupita. We came back to the boat, off loaded our bags and such, locked up the boat and took off for Loreto. Robert and Kristi are still at their house so we will spend the night.
We arrived at their house around 2 or 2:30pm and visited, had dinner then said goodnight. Everyone was getting up early as we had to be on the road and they had a busy day ahead of them. We arrived in Guerrero Negro in time for his root canal appointment. He filled out some forms and when he went back to have the work done, I went to the second hand store 2 buildings away from the dentist office and had a look around. They had lots of furniture and interesting things but I was just looking. After leaving there I crossed the street and went to the ferreteria (hardware store) to see if they had work gloves. Dave and mine have holes in them. They did have some heavy duty gloves so I bought 2 pair and walked back to the dentist office and read my book while I waited for Dave. He said all went well and it didn’t hurt at all. Now we have to stop at our dentist office up the street to drop off whatever the dentist wanted us to deliver to him. Dave has an appointment with our dentist in the morning to talk about getting the tooth with the root canal capped. Once we dropped off the envelope to our dentist we left and drove to the hotel we stayed in when we were there last week. We got settled and just relaxed.
Dave’s dentist appointment was at 10:00am this morning and we managed to beat the doctor to the office but didn’t have to wait long before he showed up. It was a quick visit and Dave said he will need to make an appointment in 2 weeks to come back for the cap process. So we left there and headed for home. We got home around 2 or so and went straight to see our neighbors Tom and Lynn as their plans had changed for leaving. They are leaving early because the Whale Tour Company Lynn is involved with needed her help in setting up the camp. So they will leave tomorrow morning. We had a nice visit with them and we said goodbye. They will be back in April. We went home, unpacked and had a quiet evening.
We have had a lot of cloudy days and some rain. The other night it rained pretty well to where 2 of our skylights leaked. Dave needs to have someone go up on the roof and put some flange around the skylights and seal them as that was not done. Looks like that will have to be done this spring. We also need to paint the roof with sealant also. So in addition to doing the roof we also will be painting the house. It really needs it as when Odile came through it sandblasted part of the paint off the east side of the house. The other project is Dave will be adjusting the stairs so there is more room for stepping and making it safer.
The Baja 200 race is supposed to happen this Saturday. We just found out about it so that changed my schedule for going into town for groceries on Saturday. This time it isn’t a sanctioned race, no money is involved, so there aren’t going to be a lot of vehicles and motorcycles in it.
Today was grocery shopping day so I headed to town. The vegetable man that has been coming every week, selling vegetables and fruit from his van, was there and had some really nice stuff. That was my first stop, and then I went on to finish the rest of my shopping. Dave wanted me to stop at a lumber yard/hardware store to check out the price of a new kitchen faucet but I forgot. Dave asked if I stopped when I returned home and I had to tell him I forgot. So the next time I go in I will put it on my list so I won’t forget.
Today is the Baja 200 race. We expected to hear a lot of commotion on the road early this morning as the motorcycles go past, but we only heard cars coming to find a spot to watch. There were only 4 motorcycles that raced. Dave and I walked out to the road and saw some friends parked ready to watch the race so we visited and watched the last of the motorcycle race. Then the cars started when they had the go ahead that all the motorcycles had cleared the race track. There were about 30 cars in the race and it was fun to see them go by at a high rate of speed. The best place to stand to get good pictures was from the east side of the road but I eventually had to give up standing there because as the bigger trucks came through rocks flew everywhere. But I did get some nice pictures.
I love the bright race uniforms the motorcyclists wear. And they always have the ambulance there and the police. It is fun to see who comes out to watch.
Dave stayed around to the end of the race while I stayed just to see the trucks and cars pass and then I went home. I had eaten enough dust. What was nice though is it had rained last night so it was good for keeping the dust to a minimal.
Tomorrow is the Big Game between the Sea Hawks and the Patriots. It will be interesting in Jon and Susannah’s house (my son and his wife) as she is a Patriot fan and of course Jon a Sea Hawk one.
GO SEA HAWKS!!!!!!
We were invited to a friend’s house to watch the game. There were around 17 people, including us, that showed up and we all brought some food to share.
I’m sorry to say the Sea Hawks didn’t win. It was sad to see them so close to winning then loose. Well there is next year. They are a great team and it is fun to watch. I don’t really like football that much but I will watch it when our team is playing.
Well I cut my hair today. I have been thinking about it for a long time. I wear it up most of the time anyway and when I do wear it down and the wind blows I end up looking frizzy. Soooo I cut it off. After I did that I took a walk on the beach. Dave said it was short and I told him that was the plan. I asked him if he would trim it up for me when I returned. When I returned I got the scissors and he did a nice job of trimming it up for me. I really like the look. What do you think?????
New Years Day was a quiet one for us. Not much going on. We were hoping we could have a fire in the fire pit tonight but the wind didn’t lay down enough so I guess we will just wait.
Today is the 6th and it is our youngest grandson’s 2nd birthday!!!!! Oh and his parents shared they are having another baby and it is due in July!!!! Yippee!!! We will get to be there when it is born!
We got more happy news from my eldest son and his new wife……they are also expecting and due in the fall. Oh boy!!!! I guess I will be busy making baby Afghans but I want to wait and see what the sex is before I do. Same with cross stitch birth announcements. I am half done with the queen size afghan for Eian and then I will start a smaller one for Brody. All my grandboys need to have something to wrap up in when watching TV or whatever!
Dave was starting to have problems with a tooth he broke last summer. It didn’t bother him until a few days ago. He took some amoxicillin because he was afraid he was getting an infection. I emailed the dentist and asked if Dave could come in for a consultation. Dave got an appointment for the 8th. He also wants to ask the dentist about the 2 molars that are starting to be a problem. For several years the dentists have been telling him he will have a problem with it and now is the time. So he will have that checked as well.
Well today is the day for the trip to Guerrero Negro to see the dentist. After the 2-1/2 hour drive we arrived. It was cloudy and cold. Dave got in and saw the dentist and about 15 minutes later came out with not so good news for him. The tooth that is broken can’t get a cap until he has a root canal. When the root canal is done he can come back to our dentist and have a mold made for a cap and then return in a week and have it fitted. Then the 2 molars have to be pulled. So Dave wasn’t really happy to hear these things. We were instructed by our dentist to go down the street to see the other dentist that does root canals, which we did. The receptionist at the desk said the Dr. wasn’t in today but she could make an appointment for the 16th. Dave did that then we went back to our dentist to tell him about the change and our Dentist wrote out an appointment in the afternoon on that same day to get the mold made for the cap. So with all that done, we stopped at the ATM and then headed back to the house.
Today, the 10th, our good neighbors and friends arrived today from San Diego. They will be here for 3 weeks and then they will be off to do some whale watching tours. Lynn helps put them together and goes out on the boats with the people. It sounds fun and someday I would like to do that. Anyway……because Lynn and Tom weren’t here for New Years Day, they brought down all the fixings for a bagel and lox brunch. I made pumpkin bread to add to the goodies and brought a large bottle of champagne and some orange juice. Our other neighbors, Mary and George brought their champagne, orange juice, cookies and sliced tomatoes and ham. It was good and it was still early in the New Year so why not celebrate! We did this on the 13th. This is the first time since we have moved to the neighborhood that Lynn and Tom haven’t been here for New Years Eve celebrations. They usually have a bonfire at their place after we all get back from our dinner in town, so since they couldn’t make it this year we wanted to carry on the tradition but couldn’t. Such is life. Since it was a beautiful day with no wind, George and Mary said they would have a bonfire tonight and invited everyone. We told them we were having our Friend, Ray over for dinner so it would depend on what time we got done. Mary said to tell him we were having champagne and he would probably show up.
Ray showed up at 4:30pm which was early enough so he and Dave could discuss our stair dilemma. Ray use to build stairs so he knows what to do to fix them. As it turns out we don’t have to do too much to them except maybe take a couple steps out and space them further apart with more stepping space. So it is an easy and inexpensive fix. We sat around and had cocktails and then dinner. We had a nice visit. He is batching it this month as his wife is in Hawaii with family and won’t be back until the first of February. We told Ray about the bonfire and champagne at Mary and Georges (which is right next door), but he said he needed to get home to call his son. So since it was almost 7:30pm, we decided not to go to the bonfire either. I wanted to wash the dishes and by the time I would be done it would have been 8:00pm and our neighbors go to bed then. Besides I wasn’t feeling that spiffy and with the trip to La Paz coming up I didn’t want to push it. Plus we were all supposed to go on an arroyo hike the next morning and I wanted to go. So I made the decision to just stay where it was warm. Dave has a cold and it was a nasty one. His sinuses swelled up and we weren’t sure if it was from the cold or if the tooth that needs the root canal got infected. So in addition to taking cold medicine, he also took amoxicillin. We had 2 pills left, one for tonight and one in the morning so we are going to have to go into town after the hike tomorrow. Bummer!
We got up this morning and Dave wasn’t sure if he was going to hike or not. One nice thing was we were hiking at 9:00am so it gave him plenty of time to have a cup of coffee, take medicine and then see how he felt. I was feeling o.k. and ready to go. We found out that Mary wasn’t going due to not feeling well. They had champagne last night and maybe she had a little too much??????? George wasn’t going as his knee is just starting to feel better. So it is just Lynn, Tom, their dogs Maggie and Murphy and us. Dave figured he might as well get some exercise instead of sitting around. It was a hazy morning but nice and the wind hadn’t come up yet. We drove to a spot we could park off the road which isn’t far from the house and gathered our walking sticks, water, and backpacks and off we went. Tom has a disease in his legs where the nerves are dying and he has steadily gotten worse to where his legs go numb after walking awhile and if he continues to walk he falls. Before coming down to Bahia, Lynn said he had fallen 2 times at home, so he was going to try and walk as far as he could and then if he couldn’t go on, wait for us to come back to where he was resting. He now knows his limit with his legs. So all of us had our walking sticks and it was a good thing as it was helpful in climbing over some rocks. The last time we hiked this arroyo there were huge rocks and as we got closer to the mountain we couldn’t go further due to a rock slide. Since the last time we were there, there have been earthquakes and the hurricane, Odile, so there were a lot of rocks and the arroyo seemed wider. It was amazing to see how much it had changed. When we looked up to the top of the mountain we could see rocks just balanced on another rock or pinnacle waiting for the next shake to dislodge it, causing it to crash down the mountainside. Nature is awesome and scary at the same time!!!! Tom let us know he couldn’t go much further which was amazing as we were almost as far up the arroyo we could go. Tom relaxed on a flat rock with radio nearby so we could communicate with him and we went on with the dogs. It wasn’t much further and as we neared the base of the mountain we saw huge rocks that blocked the way so we couldn’t go any further. Lynn took our picture, and I took one of her and the dogs and after a snack and some water we headed back to where Tom was. He was lying down just relaxing and said he fell asleep. Lynn got a picture of him and the dogs were happy to see him. We walked back to the cars and it was a 4 mile round trip hike. That was excellent because I don’t think my knee would have taken any more climbing. As we were walking back it started getting a little windy but nothing too drastic. Lynn and Tom and the dogs went back to their house and we went into town to get some more amoxicillin. Then we came home and relaxed. Dave took a nap and I read and crocheted. My knee was sore so I put some ice on it and surprisingly enough it was fine. My back was good too. It was a good day. When Dave checked emails later that afternoon he got a cancellation notice from the dentist that is doing the root canal. They wanted to know if he could make it on Tuesday but we will be in La Paz. Dave told them he couldn’t make it then but what about on the 23rd and she said yes. The dentist was still out of town so this way it gives him plenty of time to get back to work. So we contacted our dentist and told him about the cancellation on the root canal and asked if we could keep the 12:30pm appointment but have the 2 molars pulled. He said yes. So that is taken care of.
The next morning I didn’t feel so good. I had a scratchy throat and felt as though I was getting the dreaded cold. Dave was doing better and the swelling of his sinuses were going down which told us it was just sinus and not an infection in his gum. We didn’t waste money on amoxicillin as it is always good to have some on hand in case of an emergency. Mary had invited me to play Hand and Foot, but I had already played it on Monday so I said I would pass. Today I wanted to take Lynn to the beach on the north side of Red Mountain, the one I went to on Christmas morning, because I told her there was a lot of sea glass there and she was interested. But the wind was blowing pretty well. She called and wanted to know if we were still going and discussed the wind and decided to wait until the afternoon and see what happens. It never did so we postponed it for when I get back from La Paz. I think it was good because there is no protection on the north side the mountain and the sand would have been blowing. So for me it worked out just fine. We are leaving for La Paz in the morning so I will just lay low today.
We are off to Guerrero Negro today, the 16th. The weather was cloudy starting out but shortly after getting to Guerrero Negro the sun came out. We arrived at the dentist office and Dave rang the bell to let him know he was there. In just a few minutes Dave was out. He told the doctor he was getting over a cold and the Dr. asked him to come back on the 24th. So Dave didn’t have any dental work done today. We had already booked a reservation with a hotel in Guerrero Negro as we thought it would be best to stay overnight after a root canal and teeth pulling, but that didn’t happen and since we were heading south anyway, we figured didn’t have to get up real early in the morning so we stayed the night. It is a new hotel that just opened up about 6 months ago and it was nice. It has a restaurant and later on we went and had dinner. When we got to the room I walked around the small premises to check it out and they aren’t finished building the rooms. There are about 6 more they need to finish. When I got back to the room I checked email and because I didn’t feel real good and I was cold, I sat on the bed with pillows behind me and the comforter over my legs and read my book for a while. Dave was on his computer. After reading I laid down and cat napped. Then it was time for dinner so we walked over to the restaurant. We were the only ones in the dining room. Dave ordered a coffee and I a tea. They serve small dinners like hamburgers, stuffed potatoes and sandwiches. Dave had some soup and I had a stuffed potato. After dinner we went back to the room and Dave got on his computer and I watched a weird movie called Wanted and when that was over I watched Sex in the City then we both went to bed. Dave had a restful night but I didn’t. I couldn’t get to sleep as I couldn’t get comfortable. I tossed and turned trying to sleep and then later I did fall asleep only to wake at around 3:00 am coughing. Then after my cough spell I went back to sleep. We were up at 7:00am and went over to the restaurant to have breakfast. I ordered an omelet and Dave Huevos Rancheros. I wasn’t thrilled with my omelet as it had chorizo, which I ordered, but I didn’t like it so I only ate like half of the omelet. It was food in my belly so I didn’t complain. While we were waiting for breakfast Dave got a call from Robert and he said we were welcome to visit them in Loreto. We had been trying to get a hold of them without any success and Dave left a message yesterday when he called. We went back to the room, packed up and headed to Loreto. We were going to stop there anyway for the night but this way we can save a few dollars and enjoy great company. About 4 hours later we were at Robert and Kristi’s house. They were home because the gate was open a little but Robert was on the couch taking a nap and Kristi was upstairs. We apologized for waking him and he called to Kristi to come down. We noticed they had a new Can Am 4 seater in the driveway and asked when they got that. It was a year end sale and thought it would be fun to drive it around on the back roads of Mexico. Robert asked if we wanted to take a ride and we said “of course” so we all got in and headed for the arroyo. They were going to take us to a waterfall. It was a fun ride and he didn’t get too crazy going through water, as the spray does fly. We saw an interesting sight on the way. There was a tree, don’t know what kind that was growing out of rock. This was a big tree and you could see the roots and how they tangled through and around the rock. I wished I had brought my camera but I forgot it back home. We went on and came to the spot where the waterfall was but we couldn’t get to it because there were cars in the way and a family was having a BBQ. We did see it but very quickly. We passed that and before we knew it we were in a small village where the second largest mission in Loreto is. San Javier. It was amazing that it was still standing from the 1800s. After walking through the church and grounds, we went to a palapa bar and had beer, chips and salsa. Then we headed back to the house as it would be dark soon. What a fun ride!!! Back at the house we changed clothes and went to a bar in Loreto to have dinner. There was a special for Saturday nights only for all you can eat clams, BBQ chicken and pork, corn on the cob, stuffed potatoes and about 3 or 4 different gourmet fixed clams on the shell. It was very good. We had wine and listened to the band play and then had dessert. What a fun evening. We came back to the house, watched a little TV then went to bed. We were all very tired.
Since the Championship playoff games were on today, Robert said last night that we were welcome to stay and watch it as we didn’t have to be in La Paz until the 20th. So we took him up on the offer and stayed another day. We watched a news show that Kristi and Robert watch every Sunday and drank our coffee then had breakfast. After breakfast they took us in the Can Am again and went on the arroyo again but this time we were going to a place called Doctors Point. It has a great hiking trail. We had a great ride and the day was absolutely gorgeous!!!! Sun was shining; it was warm with just a hint of breeze in the air. It was a perfect day for a hike. I guess the place they parked was a little different from the last time they were there. There was a fence erected and a home on the other side of it with a trailer alongside the house. Robert didn’t remember the trailer. When we drove up we were being watched and that made Robert a little uncomfortable. But the trail is open to the public and is a number one hiking trail in Loreto. We parked and took off up a hill and followed the trail which leads to a light on a bluff. The waves were crashing up on the rocky shore below and looking out across the Sea of Cortez you could see Isla Coronado.
.jpg)
What a beautiful sight. We headed back the way we came and got to the parking lot. As we were getting ready to climb in the Can Am a couple medium sized dogs came running up to us. They didn’t growl or bark they just wanted to know who was there. They seemed friendly until Robert started the engine and then they went crazy. They didn’t like the sound and definitely didn’t like the wheels turning. One male dog followed us for about a mile thinking the wheels turning was a game. It was dangerous for the dog as he was running from side to side in front of the vehicle. Finally he gave up and we were free to be on our way. We went down another road which leads to the beach. The beach is full of rocks but there were shells lodged in and amongst the rocks for our searching pleasure. After walking a little of the beach we came back to the vehicle and took off for more adventure.
We went back to the arroyo and Robert wanted to take us to the top of a mountain to see the view but he missed the turn and Kristi said she wanted to go back to the house. It was already 12:45pm and the game was starting at 1:00pm. So maybe we will be able to go another time. What fun!!!! We got back to the house and made some snacks and opened beer and sat and watched the Sea Hawks play Indiana Colts. The first 3 quarters were not looking good for the Hawks. We were losing and if they didn’t do something quick we would lose the game. I had seen more than I wanted so I left and took a shower. When I came back the Sea Hawks were ahead in the 4th quarter. Wow!!!! What a comeback. The score was tied and the 4th quarter had ended so now they were in overtime. Seattle got to start first which was a huge advantage and before long we had a touchdown and we won!!!!!! The Sea Hawks are going to the Super Bowl again!!!!!! Incredible game! After that game the next one came on that would tell us who the Sea Hawks were going to play in the Super Bowl. Kristi and Robert invited another couple over to watch the game and have dinner with us. We ordered pizza and Kristi made a large salad and the other gal, Laura made some fettuccini and brought it to share. We ate and watched the game and now the New England Patriots are playing against Seattle in the Super Bowl. That should be an exciting game!!! After the game Jupiter and Laura left and we cleaned up. Robert and Kristi said goodnight and Dave checked emails and I watched a couple programs on T.V. At 10:00pm Dave and I went to bed as we are heading to La Paz in the morning.
The cold I have is still hanging on so I still am not feeling great, but each day it gets better. We got up at 7:00am, started the coffee, stripped the bed and packed. Robert and Kristi got up after we did and we all had coffee and Dave and I grabbed a banana before heading out the door. Kristi was exercising at 8:00am and Robert was going for a bike ride with a friend. We said our goodbyes and thanked them for the fun 2 days and left. It was a beautiful sunny day and a great day for a drive. It took us about 4-1/2 hours to get to La Paz but we arrived around 1:00pm or so. We went straight to the boat and shortly after arriving the canvas man showed up. He is working on the windshield for the dodger but is having some difficulty getting everything to fit. So he put the old windshield up and studied it then took all the pieces down and took them to the shop. He said he would be back tomorrow at noon. Dave turned on the charger and noticed our house batteries were dead and we weren’t getting any solar charging and more volts were going into the start battery which didn’t make sense. Well since I don’t know anything about this stuff, I couldn’t be of any help. So I just waited a while and let him mull things over in his mind. As it turned out, he forgot to turn the battery switch to both when we left the last time and that made it so nothing would charge. He still doesn’t understand why the start battery is drawing 3 volts more than it should but for now we need to see if the house batteries (6) will charge back up. Dave disconnected the positive side of the start battery so it wouldn’t draw current. We added some water to the house batteries then ran the charger and inverter all afternoon. It was getting late so I went to Walmart to get a few things and something for dinner. Because it is quick and easy I picked up a roasted chicken and 2 cans of beans for dinner. I also needed to get some pesos from the ATM so I went there first. Walmart has one inside the store. I went ahead and started the transaction and was at the point where it said please wait for the money but no money came and then all of a sudden it said sorry try again later. WHAT??? So I went over to another ATM and went through all the selections and it came up and said I was over my limit. That’s funny as we don’t have a limit! Needless to say there wasn’t another ATM close by so I gave up on getting money and just did the shopping. When I got back to the boat I told Dave my frustrating tale about the ATM. We figured, after discussing what happened, that the first ATM must have run out of money for the amount I was asking and the other ATM just didn’t make sense. I fixed us a cocktail and Dave got on his computer and brought up our Key Bank account and found the dollar amount from the exchange rate of the ATM transaction pending. How could that be when I received no money and no receipt? So Dave got on the phone and called the international number for Key Bank and told them the story. They said we could file a fraud claim via email and when the amount that is now pending gets accepted, we have to wait 24 hours before it gets credited back into our account. So after talking to a couple people on the phone, he hung up and emailed the address the gentleman gave him to file the fraud claim. So we will see what happens. So frustrating! Dave is still eyeballing the panel which tells him how the batteries are doing and whether the amps were going down. They were going down but not very fast, but the good thing is the batteries are charging. Dave decided to turn the charger off when we went to bed to give the batteries a chance to rest. We spent the rest of the evening on our computers and I finally got my December blog posted! We have had a lot of gray days in Bahia which doesn’t do well for keeping the batteries charged up so items that draw a lot of current don’t get used unless we run the generator. Well I didn’t want to do that so I put off working on the blog until our batteries had enough solar charging in them. I lucked out by coming to La Paz where we don’t have to worry about that or using up band width.
Dave didn’t sleep soundly last night as he was up a couple times and early this morning checking on the battery situation. He turned the charger back on and is hoping for the best. The batteries are still not fully charged but they are working on it. Dave was encouraged with the results so far.
When we arrived at the boat yesterday we saw the boat was covered in bird crap! We couldn’t believe it. The birds are back!!!!! Oh no!! We don’t know if Diego came and washed it on the 15th and if he did there had to have been lots of bird action on the mast and spreaders. Yuck! Dave is going to pressure wash the deck and when he is done I will wipe down all the stainless steel.
We had our coffee and cereal for breakfast this morning and I put on my tennis shoes to go for a walk and on the way I stopped at the Marina Café and said hello and good morning to Lupita. She was very happy to see me and I gave her a wine cork angel. Then I went for a walk, came back to the boat and helped Dave with the pressure washer and wiping down the stainless steel. The boat isn’t spotless but it is cleaner than it was. When everything was put away, Dave and I went to the bank and pharmacy, so we were off and running. Our canvas guy hadn’t shown up yet but we didn’t need to be there anyway. So off we went. Dave went to the ATM while I went to the pharmacy and we met back at the jeep. Dave had no problem at the ATM which was a relief. Then we went to Sam’s Club to get some items in bulk but were disappointed as they didn’t have a couple things I wanted but at least I got most of what I needed. I wish there was a Costco here instead of a Sam’s Club. Being a big city I thought for sure they would build one but they didn’t. So it is what it is.
We were back on the boat and we heard someone call hola and then footsteps on the boat. We figured it was our canvas guy and when I went out to greet him I was surprised to see Diego standing there. He apologized for not washing the boat but he was sick. We told him we made the job easier for him as we washed off the bird crap that morning. He had another boat to wash and then he would be down to wash ours. He had a helper this time so it didn’t take him long to get the other boat done and be at ours. They did a great job and it looks so much better. Needless to say the birds know we are here and we had 3 ospreys trying to stay on our mast. We chased them off and then as it was getting dark we had 2 frigate birds try to land on the mast. We loosened the halyard so we could whip it so it reverberated to the top of the mast and they left but kept coming back. It must have been 15 or 20 minutes we stood on the bow and did everything we could to keep them from landing. They finally got the hint and left. We have never seen frigate birds here in La Paz so we were shocked. But they aren’t as bad as cormorants! Well it looks like we are back on bird watch again at dusk while we are here on the boat.
The canvas guy had been on the boat as he was getting ready to leave when we returned from our errands. He would have been gone but he received a phone call and was still on the phone when we spotted each other. He said he forgot something so he was going back to the shop and he would return in a little bit. He had left his tools on the boat. Well he never came back so something must have come up. We figure he will be back in the morning.
Well today is Wednesday and our last day here. We have to leave and head to Loreto tomorrow. We won’t see the finished windshield until we come back in March. We ran some errands again today. We went down to the brokerage office to talk to Shelly and Mike, the boat brokers, about making sure we had enough money to pay for boat cleaning on the top and bottom. We added a little more to the amount so we are good until March. We left there and headed for the Marine store as we wanted to check the price of a new water hose. The one we have now is old and it is having some issues so we need a new one. We bought one and a part for the water pump at the house and left. Next stop Home Depot. We need to get roofing paint and we wanted to check and see if they had any. They didn’t. So we left there and went to Walmart as our last stop. I got the things I had on my list and then it was back to the boat for some lunch. When we got back and as I was fixing lunch Dave noticed the batteries were floating and we were all charged up. Yahoo!!!! The batteries made a full comeback to our relief! Then he checked the bank account online and the amount that was pending now showed up as a debit. We now have to wait for 24 hours to see if they credit it back.
After lunch Dave turned off the electricity to the start battery so he could hook up the positive lead to see how it would do. When he turned the electricity back on the start battery was drawing the normal volts it should be!!!!! Yay!!! Systems are working well again. We figured the start battery was trying to compensate for not having the other batteries running. Well whatever it was it is fixed now. Whew!
Our canvas guy showed up this afternoon and the problems he was having with the windshield has been rectified so now progress is being made. We still won’t have it on by tomorrow, but we know it will be fine. I did laundry this afternoon and finished the book I was reading. As I was waiting for the clothes to dry, I heard Dave’s voice so I called to him and he said he ran the engine and all went well. He tried to start the generator and it wouldn’t start when he took his finger off the start button. He couldn’t tell if any water was coming out the back of the boat because once he let go of the button it would quit. So he was going to see Wendy in the Marina office and get another contract for 3 months made up and then head back to the boat. By then I should be done with the clothes and I can help him. We were done at the same time so we went down to the boat and Dave tried to figure out what the problem was so the process of elimination started. Well it wasn’t the oil pressure. That was fine. He did find a clump of seaweed or something in the bottom of the strainer so he figured we may have a clog. He cleaned out the hose by blowing in it and it was clear of debris. He did try to start the generator again while I went on the dock to watch for water coming from the boat and there was. So that part was o.k. Alright, now what else could the problem be? Dave was inspecting some more and found the culprit or so he thought. It made perfect sense. The impeller was falling apart and he had to take needle nose pliers to collect all the pieces. Then he took off the ruined impeller and applied a new one but the job was not an easy one so he is going to be sore and bruised in the morning. He finally got the new impeller in but it is around 8:00pm so he will wait until morning to start the generator and hopefully it will run this time. There is always something!!!!
We packed things up and all we have to do in the morning is see if the generator works and if not it will have to wait until March to see what is going on, have breakfast at the marina café and be on our way.
We tried to start the generator this morning and it ran for about 3 or 4 minutes then shut down. Not good. Well we know it isn’t the impeller or a blocked hose but we don’t have time to try and figure it out right now as we have to head to Guerrero Negro for Dave’s dental appointment on Friday, the 16th. Dave got the parts and maintenance booklets and packed them so he could do some trouble shooting when he gets a chance. Then we went to the marina café; had breakfast and I said goodbye to Lupita. We came back to the boat, off loaded our bags and such, locked up the boat and took off for Loreto. Robert and Kristi are still at their house so we will spend the night.
We arrived at their house around 2 or 2:30pm and visited, had dinner then said goodnight. Everyone was getting up early as we had to be on the road and they had a busy day ahead of them. We arrived in Guerrero Negro in time for his root canal appointment. He filled out some forms and when he went back to have the work done, I went to the second hand store 2 buildings away from the dentist office and had a look around. They had lots of furniture and interesting things but I was just looking. After leaving there I crossed the street and went to the ferreteria (hardware store) to see if they had work gloves. Dave and mine have holes in them. They did have some heavy duty gloves so I bought 2 pair and walked back to the dentist office and read my book while I waited for Dave. He said all went well and it didn’t hurt at all. Now we have to stop at our dentist office up the street to drop off whatever the dentist wanted us to deliver to him. Dave has an appointment with our dentist in the morning to talk about getting the tooth with the root canal capped. Once we dropped off the envelope to our dentist we left and drove to the hotel we stayed in when we were there last week. We got settled and just relaxed.
Dave’s dentist appointment was at 10:00am this morning and we managed to beat the doctor to the office but didn’t have to wait long before he showed up. It was a quick visit and Dave said he will need to make an appointment in 2 weeks to come back for the cap process. So we left there and headed for home. We got home around 2 or so and went straight to see our neighbors Tom and Lynn as their plans had changed for leaving. They are leaving early because the Whale Tour Company Lynn is involved with needed her help in setting up the camp. So they will leave tomorrow morning. We had a nice visit with them and we said goodbye. They will be back in April. We went home, unpacked and had a quiet evening.
We have had a lot of cloudy days and some rain. The other night it rained pretty well to where 2 of our skylights leaked. Dave needs to have someone go up on the roof and put some flange around the skylights and seal them as that was not done. Looks like that will have to be done this spring. We also need to paint the roof with sealant also. So in addition to doing the roof we also will be painting the house. It really needs it as when Odile came through it sandblasted part of the paint off the east side of the house. The other project is Dave will be adjusting the stairs so there is more room for stepping and making it safer.
The Baja 200 race is supposed to happen this Saturday. We just found out about it so that changed my schedule for going into town for groceries on Saturday. This time it isn’t a sanctioned race, no money is involved, so there aren’t going to be a lot of vehicles and motorcycles in it.
Today was grocery shopping day so I headed to town. The vegetable man that has been coming every week, selling vegetables and fruit from his van, was there and had some really nice stuff. That was my first stop, and then I went on to finish the rest of my shopping. Dave wanted me to stop at a lumber yard/hardware store to check out the price of a new kitchen faucet but I forgot. Dave asked if I stopped when I returned home and I had to tell him I forgot. So the next time I go in I will put it on my list so I won’t forget.
Today is the Baja 200 race. We expected to hear a lot of commotion on the road early this morning as the motorcycles go past, but we only heard cars coming to find a spot to watch. There were only 4 motorcycles that raced. Dave and I walked out to the road and saw some friends parked ready to watch the race so we visited and watched the last of the motorcycle race. Then the cars started when they had the go ahead that all the motorcycles had cleared the race track. There were about 30 cars in the race and it was fun to see them go by at a high rate of speed. The best place to stand to get good pictures was from the east side of the road but I eventually had to give up standing there because as the bigger trucks came through rocks flew everywhere. But I did get some nice pictures.
I love the bright race uniforms the motorcyclists wear. And they always have the ambulance there and the police. It is fun to see who comes out to watch.
Dave stayed around to the end of the race while I stayed just to see the trucks and cars pass and then I went home. I had eaten enough dust. What was nice though is it had rained last night so it was good for keeping the dust to a minimal.
Tomorrow is the Big Game between the Sea Hawks and the Patriots. It will be interesting in Jon and Susannah’s house (my son and his wife) as she is a Patriot fan and of course Jon a Sea Hawk one.
GO SEA HAWKS!!!!!!
We were invited to a friend’s house to watch the game. There were around 17 people, including us, that showed up and we all brought some food to share.
I’m sorry to say the Sea Hawks didn’t win. It was sad to see them so close to winning then loose. Well there is next year. They are a great team and it is fun to watch. I don’t really like football that much but I will watch it when our team is playing.
Well I cut my hair today. I have been thinking about it for a long time. I wear it up most of the time anyway and when I do wear it down and the wind blows I end up looking frizzy. Soooo I cut it off. After I did that I took a walk on the beach. Dave said it was short and I told him that was the plan. I asked him if he would trim it up for me when I returned. When I returned I got the scissors and he did a nice job of trimming it up for me. I really like the look. What do you think?????
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
