Just A Little Tremor Time

Happy Spring everyone and Happy Easter!!!.  Dave and I went to the Community Easter party across the bay from us. They served Bloody Mary's for $2.00 each so Dave and I had one. It isn't one of my favorite drinks, but if they don't put a lot of hot sauce in it, it is drinkable. Ha! I didn't win the hat contest, but everyone thought it was clever. We had fun and there was a lot of good food. It was a hot day so when we went looking for plastic eggs, we did it as quick as possible.

The party ended just after one, as there was a golf tournament on that afternoon. We didn't stick around for that as we aren't golfers. Rincon, the community across the bay from where we live has a 9 hole golf course and every Monday during the winter and spring a group gets together to play golf. That is great for them, just not interested. I've been asked several times, and I still say no.

The weather has been a little on the crazy side. Normally it starts warming up in March but it didn't this year. I was still wearing light winter clothing. Now that it is April, the weather has warmed up some. One day it will be warm then it cools down and gets windy. We'll see what it is like at the end of the month.

We were supposed to have friends come down to visit for a couple weeks but had to cancel. They had some things come up suddenly so maybe next year.

We had a small earthquake about 4 in the morning.  It sounded like someone set off a bomb and then we shook a little.  We both sat up in bed and said "earthquake" but didn't do anything just to see if it was going to continue but it stopped.  A bit unnerving since I remember the last one we had and it was bad.  Dave went down to take a look around to make sure we didn't spring a leak somewhere and we hadn't.  So we went back to bed and all has been quiet since.

Dave and I made a trip to Guerrero Negro to the dentist to get our teeth cleaned. No cavities and very little plaque. This is a good thing. We had been putting it off for a long time so it was good to know our teeth were good. We stopped at the bank and got money for the month and came home. The pot holes are slowly being filled. Unfortunately nothing happens real quick here.

I got to drive the good truck to town this morning as the battery on the old truck was dead. My fault as I drove it last and forgot to flip the switch we have in front that keeps the battery charged. If you don't flip the switch the battery goes dead and it had been a week since I drove it so it was really dead. It is nice to drive the nice truck into town once in a while because of air conditioning, but not good for the tires as the road is starting to deteriorate again from all the races we have had on it. So it is getting rough again. Dave was charging the battery before I left for town so it should be charged up later in the afternoon.

Well the charged battery is back in the old truck again and all is well. Whew!!!! Dave was not too happy with me, but we both have been guilty of forgetting to turn off the switch.

We are preparing for our summer visit to Washington, again this year and I have been doing inventory so I know what I have on my shelves and what I need to bring back with us. We are lucky that this little pueblo has a lot of Costco brands and more items then they use to have when we first started coming here. So that is awesome. It would be nice if we got a bank and a cell tower here, but I don't think that will happen for years as the older generation don't want change. They want to keep the pueblo like it has been in the past. Unfortunately there is change slowly happening so little by little. We may not see a bank or have cell phone coverage in our life time. The pueblo does have electricity which they got just before we came to Bahia in 2009, but it has proved to be a thorn in the side as it goes out more than it is one sometimes. Just this last week the power was off for a long time and people were not very happy. Then they got it back on for a day and it went out again the next afternoon. Thankfully I was able to get gas in the old truck before it went off.

The weather has finally started to get hot. We have had about 3 days of hot with very little breeze. That is when it is difficult for Dave and I. The first day the house was 97 inside and our refrigerator was working really hard to stay cool. Because it is propane operated it keeps the house hotter when it is hot outside. We tried to open windows and our skylights, but we got a hot west wind that made it worse, so windows and all got closed. Fans came on but it really didn't help much. That night it was hard to sleep because of no wind and it still was 80 some degrees inside and out. The next day was still hot but at least we had a breeze and it did cool down a bit at night. Now we are back to our normal north wind and in the 80's. So the temperatures vary from day to day. Today is a little humid but it feels good to have the breeze.

We have had a new batch of coyotes around the house and on the beach. There were 6 or 7 on the beach the other morning. That is a bit much. These are young pups and learning how to catch stingrays. It is so interesting to watch them. We have witnessed the alfa coyote as the others cower down and their ears are down and the tail is between the legs. If they are munching on something and the alfa coyote shows up, they leave. Pretty interesting. You hardly ever see them close together when they are on the beach and they go back and forth from the beach to wherever they live and back again. They have been getting pretty brazen lately and when they see you they stop and look at you. Sometimes they even move toward you. That is not a good thing. They are getting too comfortable here. We saw one young one go under our next door neighbors house to lay down. Not good. We have found tracks and evidence of them trying to make a bed near our electrical room. I know they were here first, and we let them be unless they get too close. Dave almost had one come in the garage about a month ago. Now that is just too darn close. So Dave has borrowed our neighbors pellet gun as a deterrent just to let them know we don't want them in our yard. It scares them more than anything and lets them know to stay away. We had to do this about 3 years ago when there were a lot around. They are beautiful animals and we love watching them, but they are getting too close for comfort. A dead turtle washed up on the shore yesterday and the coyotes have had a feast. Between that and the stingrays they haven't starved. They are amazing creatures. I also found out that they get fresh water when they dig down by a mesquite tree.

My eye doctor told me last year to call her in April so she can send a referral letter to a eye surgeon for cataract surgery for me. So I called her the other day and in the next 2 days after that I had a referral to a doctor to get an evaluation of my eyes. Then after that an appointment will be made for the surgery. I am looking forward to the surgery as I have blurry vision and I need lots of light to read and do crafts. I don't drive as I have a difficult time reading the far away road signs and I think I see things that aren't there. Like I think I see an animal and it is only a big rock. That is pretty bad. Ha!! At least it can be corrected and maybe I will only need reading glasses. That would be nice. Dave and I also made doctor appointments for well checks so we know we are in good health. It is always good to get those scheduled before they go on vacation.

I have been busy reading and making Christmas ornaments for the show in November. I wanted to get a head start because there isn't a lot of time to create when we get back from vacation. 

I have found a couple large conch shells on my beach walks.  That was a great treasure find.  I have  been collecting glass too.   

Strange Cloud Formation

Welcome to March! Well so far there hasn't been warmer weather. We are still getting a lot of cloud cover due to the low that is pushing rain into Los Angeles and San Diego.  The cold north wind is blowing so things haven't changed. Actually for a couple days we really had to bundle up as the temperature at night dipped down into the upper 40's low 50's. Now THAT is cold for here. We know it won't last long but it seems as though our weather is like a month behind. Not complaining as I know it doesn't do any good, just looking forward to warmer weather.

Dave keeps busy with his jig saw puzzles in the garage below the house. He has a makeshift table made with 2 sawhorses on each end of a piece of wood. He is also revamping his workshop area. I on the other hand go to my art room and create whatever strikes me. I have been making necklaces and earrings and finished a candle holder. I liked it so much I decided to embellish the other one I had made to make it look bigger and better.

Our friends from San Diego are here for a few weeks with their dog Maggie. We love having them here as they are great friends and we take beach and dessert walks. They have had to put a shock collar on Maggie because she will take off running into the water after the birds and won't listen to the calls to bring her back to shore. One time, last year, Maggie swam out so far she had a hard time coming in as the current was taking her further out to sea. Luckily our gate guard got in a kayak and got a hold of her collar and brought her back to shore. She just goes berserk when she sees birds. They don't like using the shock collar and most of the time they just beep her and she comes back. But when she doesn't listen and continues going further from shore she gets shocked. She is actually doing so much better this trip.

Our gate guard, Tito and his wife Brenda, still have the Chihuahua puppies. They are promised to family when they get big enough, but I don't think Brenda wants to give them up. It is a huge concern down here to have small dogs running around because the coyotes are very brazen and they come right up to the house. They lost 2 cats to the coyotes. The puppies are so cute you just want to hold them and have thoughts of getting a puppy. Then the thought passes.

I have been playing Mexican Train domino game every Thursday at a restaurant in town. It gives them business and we don't have to host a game in our homes. I was playing only half days and then grocery shopping afterward, but now I am back to a full day of playing which starts at 9:30am and goes until 2:00pm and we break for lunch at noon. No time to get grocery’s as it would put me home too late. So I am back to Saturday shopping. One week we had only 4 people playing. The next we had like double that. So people are starting to come back to Bahia for the Spring.

Another one of our San Diego friends are down here with family for about 3 weeks. They have a lot of work to do on the house but it sure is good to have them here. The neighborhood is almost full. Our neighbor Joanne just got here from Palm Springs and will stay until it gets too hot.

Because our San Diego friends, Phil and Creela came back this spring, those of us who are here, decided to get together and celebrate. So we had a pot luck of heavy snacks and had a wonderful time catching up with everyone. Phil and Creela are getting up in age and can't do a lot of things they used to and Phil had a stroke a couple years ago and is limited. So it does get harder to do stuff down here when you are limited. They love it here and glad they can come back to enjoy.

Today, the 15^th is my oldest son, Ernie's birthday. Happy 43^rd!!!!

I have been busy making mobiles from wood, shells, and anything else I can hang on fish line. I think they look kind of kool. 

 

After that I decided to make another candle holder but for a short tea candle. It turned out pretty good but it took me a while to decide how to put it all together. I got the idea in bed the other night. Good thing I remembered it because we all know that if you think of things at night, and don't write it down, it disappears. Ha!!

I also made an earring holder out of dry cactus stem and a shell.  Something different.

There is a Easter Egg hunt and party across the bay from us on April 1, we have been invited to attend. You don't have to make an Easter bonnet, but I will. At first I wasn't too enthusiastic to do so, but then I started thinking and came up with a great idea. Well I think it was a great idea. It has 5 chicks and a hatched Easter bunny in the middle of the top of the hat. Then plastic eggs hang from the brim.  This is the front of the hat.

 This is the back of the hat.

If you look closely on the front of the hat you will see the April Fool's surprise among the chicks.  NO it is not a mouse------Ha!!!

Today is the 25^th and my youngest son just turned 41. Boy they are getting old!!!! Heheheheh!! Happy Birthday Jon!!!

I was talking about warmer weather and how I wish it would warm up? Well you have to be careful what you wish for as today it was in the 90's with not much of a breeze. Summer is here!!!!! But wait, it changed the next day as we had cloud cover and it looked like it was going to rain but didn't. We didn't get much solar today, but thank goodness we have the new panels as it still charges the batteries even on cloudy days. Dave did have to start the generator and run it for about a half hour, but that was all. Today I washed clothes and we actually got sunshine but the wind came up and we are back in a cool spring time weather pattern.

The other night Dave and I were watching the news when I looked out the window and saw this huge cloud form. It was awesome and never to be duplicated ever!!!!! A lot of people took pictures and some called it a lenticular cloud, which is a low cloud over a mountain that looks like half a circle. This wasn't it. Whatever it was, was amazing.

Samana Santa has started here in Mexico. That is the week before Easter when most Mexican families go on vacation. We get quite a few tourists in town and they love riding their dirt bikes in the dessert and on the beach. We really don't have anything to say about them being on the beach, but we try to remind them that the beach isn't for vehicles. Not like it is in California. Because we are having nice low tides now, a lot of people are trying to get to the beach for clamming and try to come through our gated community. Luckily Tito keeps them out and shows and tells them where they can access the beach that isn't on private property.

My back is not quite 100% but close to it. I am able to walk 4 miles now without it hurting. I do put an ice pack on it just as precaution when I get home, but I am really thankful and pleased it is feeling good. I still can't sit or stand too long, which was why we never took the boat around the world. But we are enjoying our retirement life. 

We are having  summer like weather for a few days.  It has been really nice with temperatures in the 80's during the day and low 70's at night.  It will change soon I know, but for now we are enjoying it.  The water is warming up and we have lots of stingrays breeding near shore.  I'm not too anxious to get in the water yet!!!