My Life

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What a life I have lived since setting off into the sunset in August of 2008, with my husband, Dave, on our 46 foot Hunter Sailboat. We sailed to the Mainland side of Mexico; Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and many small anchorages in between. We saw unbelievable sea life and scenery. Our adventures took us to the Sea of Cortez for hurricane season in 2009 anchored off the fishing village of Bahia de los Angeles, in Baja California. We fell in love with the village and it's people and got to know a few of the Americans that enjoy living there in the winter. We knew we had found our paradise and looked for a place to live. We found a small house on the sandy beach at the south end of the bay and made it a permanent home. We ended our cruising life to become CLODs and eventually sold Wave Sweeper in May of 2016. Because of my back problems we were unable to make long passages so our cruising had come to an end. Now Wave Sweeper is in good hands with the new owners and they love her. We are living our life and dream as we want and the adventures will only get better.

Friday, February 8, 2019

There Is Snow In Them There Mountains

Happy 2019 everyone!! I trust everyone had a wonderful Holiday season with family and friends. Now that the hustle and bustle is over we can continue on as we have before but hopefully with new goals and dreams for this year.

We got a real treat on the 2nd as we had snow that turned to ice on the mountains behind our house.



Wow!!! It was kind of exciting as we had been told by those who have been down here at this time a few years back, that they had snow in the mountains. Well it is hard to believe until you see it yourself. It has been a cold January, enough to make us fire up our little buddy propane heater a couple times just to get the chill out of the house. There is no furnace or fireplace in these homes as it doesn't stay cold for very long. We have had the heater for a couple years and with the gray days and the north wind, it got to the point that no matter how many layers you had on it was cold. Colder at night. It has since gotten warmer to the point where we don't need the heater anymore. It sure is nice to have it when we need it. We are very thankful we live here as opposed to the colder climates in the winter in the states. We know it doesn't last for months down here, which is our saving grace.

Happy Birthday to our grandson Jonathan Jr. He is 6 today!! Growing up fast!!

My right eye started to get a film on it in November with a big floater. Now the floater is smaller but still there and now my left eye has a film on it also with a floater. The eye doctor said it happens sometimes after cataract surgery. It is like scar tissue. So I will have a laser treatment for both eyes when I get to Washington. My vision is blurry at times and I am finding I have to read at night with my glasses because the light isn't bright enough, but I can see to do most everything and I know it is temporary. I should be able to get the laser done in May or June.

We need money so off we go to Guerrero Negro for cash at the ATM. As usual we make it a short trip but this time we stopped at the grocery store to get some items we couldn't get in our town. Then we headed home and was home in the early afternoon.

There are enough gals here to start playing Mexican Train again. It is nice to get together once a week to see the ladies and have some fun and lunch. We celebrated a friends birthday at train after we had lunch. One of the ladies baked cupcakes and we sang the birthday song then it was back to the game!!

Our gate guard's wife, Brenda, has a birthday today so I gave her a necklace and earring set I made. Our neighbor Mary made a cake and said it was from everyone here. Usually we have a lot of people this time of year, but not so this year. When I gave Brenda her gift she invited us to dinner at their place that night. We were surprised but of course said we would be there. We went up around 5:30pm and sat outside and had a wonderful meal of Pozole which takes all day to prep and cook. It is an honor to be welcomed into the Mexican home!! So I guess they like us!! Ha! After dinner we had a piece of Mary's cake and then we went home. It was a nice time and there was another neighbor there from the next area over from ours, that spoke good English and talked and talked and talked but it was fun!!

I have been able to walk the beach in the morning due to low tides. Not much on the beach to find but I need the exercise so walking on the beach is my favorite.

The night of the Wolf Blood Moon the tide was really low and Dave and I were going to go search for clams, but he had a bad cold and didn't feel up to it as it was cold out, so I put on my boots and went out and got a few clams. That was the first time I had clammed by myself and even before that I haven't had much clamming experience. So I was pretty proud of myself for doing it. It is amazing what you see at night with the moonlight and very low tides. Awesome. I still have yet to snorkel here which is on my list to do this year out in front of the house. I finished clamming just before the eclipse so I was able to get some pictures, but because I don't have a tripod, I couldn't hold the camera steady so some of them didn't come out good. But I did manage to get a couple. One as the moon was rising over mountains and one of the moon starting the eclipse.



I use to have a tripod but because it was a big one I either gave it away or sold it before we went cruising. So it is on my list to get. I take a lot of pictures with my phone, but for something like this it was better to have a digital camera.

It has been a quiet month with not much going on. When the wind blows here it blows hard and it is cold especially in January so there isn't much to do outside. Can't go for walks when it blows as you will get sand blasted. At least for me I have projects which I am cross stitching a soccer player for our grandson Brody. Dave only had a couple things to keep him busy plus he was trying to get well. He used that time to nap and stay out of the cold. I got a little of the grippa, as they say here in Mexico, but nothing like Dave had. I have started a project in the art room but only work on it when I am washing clothes. It is still too cold to stay down there so after the laundry is done I come back upstairs and work on the cross stitch which is finished now. It just needs to be framed.


Went into town this morning to buy groceries; my usual Saturday morning ritual. Everything went smoothly and I was to be home before noon to welcome our friends, Connie and Brett so they could learn Cruiser's Mexican train. It is different from what the ladies play. They said they would be over around 1:00pm. I was finished shopping in the first store I stop at, and I was in my truck looking down at the seat to make sure I had the radio and all my stuff. When I looked up and looked to my left, our friend Eva, who delivers our water and also opened a restaurant right next door to the store I shop first, was hanging on my truck window that was down. It startled me so I let out a yelp and we both laughed hard!!! You had to have been there, but it was funny. She came over to tell me about the specials she had for the day and what was going to be served tomorrow (Sunday). She always serves Birria (which is a beef soup) on Sundays and we just are never in town but one of these days we will have to have it. She is a good cook and we love Birria. Anyway, we had our laugh for the day and we said goodbye and I headed to the second store I shop at. Things were going smoothly and I did my shopping and checked out and then felt in my pocket for my keys and they weren't there. That was strange. So I went back in the store and asked if I left my keys at the counter and they said no, so then the search was on to find them. Note: we only have one key to the black truck!!! Not good. I looked under things, on the shelves and basically retraced my steps. I had everyone in the store looking for my keys. I went back out to the truck and looked on the ground around and under the truck and all over the parking lot and couldn't find them. I went through the grocery bags, cooler, front of the seat, under and behind and nothing. I was really getting worried that maybe someone had picked them up and there would be no way to get home. The owner's dad told me he would get his son to look at the security video to see if they were in the store, but I had to wait quite a while before that happened. In the meantime I called Dave on the radio and told him I lost the keys. I told him I was waiting for the owner to come look at the security video, but all the dad kept telling me was in a moment. In Mexico that could be hours. Heheheheh! So I waited and Dave and I discussed means of getting the truck home. I told Dave I would call our friends, Connie and Brett, to see if they could help. They don't live far from town so they said they would bring their truck and take me and my groceries home. I waited some more and nothing was happening and in the meantime I rechecked every place I had been and everything in the truck and I even had the dad helping me look again in my bags and truck. They were so kind and worried for me and they definitely didn't want me to leave the truck there. I asked them and when I reassured them I would lock it, then they said o.k. Connie and Brett showed up and the owner came to the store (as he lives above it), and was in the process of checking the video. It was taking a long time and so he switched to his phone where it was a little faster, but still to go through the whole thing would take hours. In the meantime Brett asked if my steering wheel locked and I thought it did but had to check and it did so that meant I couldn't be towed. Brett said he would have towed me home otherwise. So we agreed I would leave the truck there and the owner would go through the video. Brett, Connie and I took all the groceries out of the truck and put them in theirs, and then Brett took the spare tire from the back of my truck and put it in the front seat and locked the doors. I had a separate key to lock it with. I asked Brett if he could stop at Sammy's garage, the mechanic, to see if he could help. We did that and Sammy told us there was a lock smith across from the Museo, and he might be able to help me as he has a lot of master keys for different models of cars. So I thanked him and we went off to the locksmith. I thought the locksmith had moved because there was another family living there, but that wasn't the case and I was happy. When we got to the locksmith's house and I went up to the door and knocked. A man showed up but he didn't speak any English but he had someone there who did. So we told them my plight and they said they would come and look at it in a half hour. It was lunch time so we decided to stop at the local taco stand and get tacos. Brett paid for my lunch which was really sweet. Then about the half hour mark we left and went to the truck back at the store. The owner said the locksmith had been there but left because he couldn't get into the truck. Sooooo—Brett offered to go back up the hill, not far from the store and see if they would come back. When he returned he said they would be there in a little bit. Heard that story before!!! I was really getting tired of waiting but if I could get another key made I needed to stick around. So we waited and waited and waited and about an hour or so goes by and he finally shows up. I unlocked the doors and Brett took the spare tire out of the front seat and returned it to the bed of the truck as the guys got in to figure out if they had a master key for the truck. While they are working on it, several cars come and go and we said hi to some of the people and chit chatted a little and then another car arrives and a lady tells me she has my keys. She doesn't speak English but we all understood what she was saying. I asked where they were and she said at her house and told me to get in. Her house was just up the street. I was so relieved to know my keys had been found that I didn't hesitate too long in getting in the car. I did tell Connie and Brett that if I didn't come back in 15 minutes-----and we chuckled. I left my purse with Connie as a precaution with my ID in it. I got in the car and I looked at the lady and asked if she was going to hurt me----joking, and she looked at me but understood and said no!!! We tried carrying on a conversation and I thanked her for finding my keys. I had dropped them outside the store in the parking lot and she picked them up. In hind sight I thought that was weird because when someone finds keys they normally turn them in. Well whatever reason she took them to her house, will remain a mystery, but in the process I found out she is really good friends with our gate guard and his wife and she has known Tito since he was little. Tito's father lives behind her house. We get to her house and she goes in and gets the keys while I wait in the car. I was so thrilled to have those keys in my hand!!! I told her she was my angel. She took me back to the store and I thanked her and gave her a hug. Then I proceeded to tell everyone I had my keys again and everyone was happy for me. The people here as so nice and helpful and even with a language barrier, we were able to communicate and get things done. I am glad I didn't go home and leave the truck there, and I am glad the lady came back!!! I had a nice visit with Connie and Brett and needless to say we put the train game on hold for the future. It was so nice that they stuck around and helped in the process of trying to get a key made. I am so grateful and blessed to have these people in my life. There was a reason for everything to work like it did and I feel stupid for being impatient. I learned a valuable lesson, well lessons, 1) make sure I put my keys away right when I get out of the truck, 2) have a spare made just in case, 3) never question why things happen the way they do, 3) be thankful to those who go the extra mile to help in times of need and last 4) be patient!! The ladies name that had my keys was Uky, pronounced 'you key'. So I made a new friend. I don't recommend doing anything like this though!!! I was stressed and as well as Dave but so thankful to God to having it work the way it did. What was nice after I got home and Dave helped bring the groceries in, he chuckled about my ordeal and said that we should give Brett and Connie one of our spare keys in case this happens again. Of course he was joking-----I think???? Then he gave me a big hug and kiss!!! What a guy!! So needless to say I had a very long and stressful day but everything turned out alright!!! Like we say---life is an adventure!!!!

















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