Back In Bahia de los Angeles, BC, MX

We crossed the border at Mexicali and drove right through. We should be home tonight. We drove south through San Felipe and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the water and towns along the way. A lot of Americans live around there. I had made peanut butter sandwiches for us the day before so we had lunch and water along the way. I am sure glad we had air conditioning as it was hot. We came to where they are making a new road which will join highway Mex 1. They have made a lot of progress and we didn't have much of the rocky bumpy road to travel like we did about 2 years ago. It is going to be really nice when it is completed. Some people say it is a quicker way from San Diego to Bahia, others say it takes about the same amount of time as it does from Ensenada to Bahia. At least on the road they are building, you don't have to slow down through towns as there are none to go through and there are fewer trucks on that road. We got home about 4:30-5:00pm. We unloaded just what we would need for the night and will do the rest tomorrow. We opened the house and found it as we left it, clean. There had been a mouse in the house at one point but it didn't take the bait so either it died or it ran away. We had some findings of a cockroach that left his calling card, but didn't find it. So far everything is good. It is good to be home. It is hot here but no surprise there. The first day back from vacation so now we need to get to work and unloaded the truck and start bringing things upstairs. It took us at least 3 or 4 days before we had things put away. It has been so hot and humid that it just zaps all your energy. We didn't have a lot of drinking water in the house as the 5 gallon water jugs we have for drinking water were emptied before we went north for the summer. If we don't empty them and they sit all summer algae grows in them. I did have the smarts to buy about 4 large drinking water bottles from the store before vacation so at least we had those to drink. It got us through until I went into town on Saturday to do the grocery shopping. We turned on the stove and refrigerator and it usually takes overnight before the refrigerator cools down enough to put food in. So we had sandwiches mostly until I went shopping. It was too hot to cook anyway. Dave opened up the trailer the day after we arrived and found standing water on the floor. A pipe had broke so he had to fix that right away. Luckily he had the spare parts to fix it. We had our gate guard call the Mexican lady who delivers water to us, so she could bring water on Thursday. She arrived in the morning on Thursday. I was upstairs putting things away and Dave was busy in the garage so I hollered down to him that she was here. We didn't get out there to help guide her in and when Dave got to the pila where the water goes, there was a geyser of water shooting up in the air like 'Old Faithful' in Yosemite. Ava, the water lady, didn't hit the pipe as we thought at first. What happened was it had a crack and it gave way. Ava had 2 compression ties so Dave and her wrapped them around the pipe and that stopped most of the water from gushing out. Then I had to get a pan to put under the leaking pipe to catch the water. We had to waste some water but when we got things under control, we still couldn't fill our tank full of the water Ava brought so we asked her to return on Friday. We would hopefully have it fixed by then. We paid her gas money for coming out and she left. Dave inspected the pipe and found that the pipe wasn't straight anymore. Later we found out there had been an earthquake in September and I guess it was enough to get all kinds of things askew. Our friends across the bay from us said they had some issues and it was apparent there had been a quake. So anyway, Dave checked his spare parts but he didn't have the right ones so he went into town to our little 'Home Depot' to see if he had what we needed. When Dave returned he had the right parts and said we would have to drain the pila, which at this time held 900 gallons. He has to so take the existing pipe (PVC) off and put the new on. We have a smaller pila that holds 300 gallons, which we used when we first got moved here here, but we didn't have a pump to transfer the water from one pila to the other. We called a friend that lives close by and he had one so we borrowed it and started pumping water. We put the word out around that we needed to get rid of our water like A.S.A.P. But they had to have their own pump. Well that didn't work out so well. We called and talked to a another friend across the bay from us and he said he had a tank and he would bring it over and we said we would fill it for him. We were giving our water away. Those friends were so kind, they brought their tank and left it with us to fill and when we got the pipe fixed on the pila we could pump it back into our pila. So it took a couple days to pump all the water from the large pila to the smaller one and then to the tank our friends brought. Since we had to use up water I washed the truck and solar panels and watered the plants (which there are few) and that was it. Dave started working on changing out the broken pipe with the new and noticed how much the ground had moved to cause the pipe to get crooked. Thank goodness it didn't break while we were gone. Dave got it fixed and the filling of the big tank began. It took about a day to get the water transferred and then there was still a leak. Not as bad but Dave couldn't figure it out. We thought we would have to drain it again but one day when he was trying to figure it out and tighten the connections, he found he was turning the connection the wrong way. It was just backwards from what you usually do. Righty, tightly, lefty, loosy. So he solved the leak problem!!!! We were so relieved!!! But that wasn't all that broke!!! Since we had to use up water I had laundry to do and quite a bit so I told Dave we could put the washing machine on full load and use up quite a bit of water that way. So we started filling the washing machine and the water was coming up to the very top and I told Dave it was not going to stop!!! So we turned it off and ended up having to bail the soapy water out of the tub and dump it in the yard. However, I did save some of the water and put it in a bucket to finish washing the clothes the old fashion way with a plunger. When the washing machine was empty of clothes and water, I finished washing the clothes in the bucket, rinsed them and hung them to dry. So now Dave has to tear apart the washer to find out why the switch wasn't working to shut off the water fill. Oh boy!!!!! Always something!!! Dave took the washer apart and found that the hose which connects to the water level pressure switch was disconnected. So he hooked it up and put the washer together and I got a small load of wash going. When it came to the spin cycle the motor was struggling and the switch which the lid pushes down wasn't working properly. We had to lift the lid and slam it down to try and get it to spin and we ended up with the lid open pushing down on the switch so it would work. The laundry got done but Dave has to tear the washer apart again to find the problem. Poor guy!!!! Sometime when we can afford it we will get a better machine but for a six pack of beer we are making it work. A couple of days went by and Dave was back at working on the washing machine. When we took the top off and laid it down on it's side, he found that the cover on front of the electrical box was broken. He put it together with super glue and reattached it back in its spot. When the lid was down it wasn't connecting enough on the tab to make it engage. The next time I wash we will see if it fixed the problem. We received some distressing news today. The lady that was our house landlord died in her sleep last night, the 13th. She had been battling cancer for a long time. She was such a wonderful lady. So kind, loving and willing to help everyone. She loved organizing potlucks and getting people together. She will be missed tremendously around here. Her husband is devastated of course but when all the paperwork and preparations are completed for her cremation, he is coming back to Bahia. Her wishes were to have her ashes spread on the Bay of los Angeles. Lois and Larry just loved it down here. This is where he feels at home. He will keep his house in San Diego and only go back there when the weather is unbearable here, which is summer. Well on to brighter things. I am busy making angels for a nursing home in Washington. I got the idea last year and finally decided to get started on it. There is a nursing home in Poulsbo, the Agate Pass Sail and Power Squadron use to hold classes and meetings in their facility, so I thought that might be nice to make the angels for the residents in their assisted living area. I have 200 to make but if I do some each day it won't take long. We are getting organized for the November Arts and Craft Show starting November 19. We had a meeting and all assignments have been filled. We have some great artists and extra people to help with the opening day and setting up. We went to dinner at our friends house across the bay from us tonight. Paolo and Angela like to throw dinner parties and invite a lot of people so it is always fun going there. We are the last to leave but it gives us a chance to just visit with Paolo and Angela. They are fun people. They will be going back home to Rome, Italy, for the winter and be back in March. The ladies got together for Train. It is always fun to get together with the girls, especially when you know they don't stay long as most of them go back to the states for the holidays. The passenger side tail pipe lost it's support so Dave and I went into town to see if Sammy could fix it again. The road from our house to town is mostly filled with wash board ruts and the poor truck takes a beating. It is an old truck so we try to take good care of it. We have to baby it until we can afford to get another used one to replace it. So with the road the way it is it bounces and jars the whole truck. Sammy was able to fix it so we are good again until the next time. The rumor has been for about 3 years now that the road will be paved!!!! HA!!!! Someday, but it may not be in our lifetime! But we take the good with the bad and that is we love the town and it's Mexican people and the Americans that are here. It is a beautiful place to live and we have people in town that know how to fix most things. So life is good!!!! I washed a load of clothes today and the washer only had a little bit of trouble getting into the spin cycle. But it works and that is all that counts!!!! Today, the 27th is my youngest sons' 4th wedding anniversary. May they have many more happy ones. November here we come!