Hola Amigos!
Welcome to February already! It's already been a busy month, event-wise, in our family. Tim & Rebecca's 5th wedding anniversary was the 2nd, David's 3rd birthday was the 3rd, and my brother Rich's 66th birthday was on the 4th! (66??? Wow...) And of course there was the Super Bowl party we went to at the home of our friends Ellis & Marsha. Good game if you are a Ravens fan! The 49ers just couldn't quite pull it off. At least it was a decent score at the end.
(Sunrise from a few mornings ago. I trooped out in my slippers and robe to get this one!)
After having workers here most of last week, it has been quiet so far this week. I'm really enjoying the new counter top, and the plumbed sink!!! What a great invention for a kitchen. We also installed the new faucet I bought a year ago that has a pull out sprayer. I really like that feature. And hot water at any time during the day! Wonderful. Our solar heater installation was a new wrinkle for Skip, the solar guy. We have in place in the house an on-demand hot water system. That is, the water line is in a circle from the hot water heater to all the sinks and showers in the house, back to the hot water heater. We discovered that since our underground lines were not insulated, it used a lot of propane to heat it. We put our water pump (that circulates the hot water around the loop) on a timer so that it would come on in the morning, turn off about 10am, then come back on about 5pm until 9pm. Ben asked Skip to just tap into the circulating line with our new solar heater, and once he and Carlos (the plumber) and Ben got it figured out just how to plumb it, it works wonderful! And we've even been having some nice sunny days since it has been installed. (This has been one of the cloudiest winters we've had in years! Go figure!) We still have the timer on the pump, but now it runs all day, since the sun is our primary heat source. The only time the propane should come on is when we have very cloudy days, or when hot water is needed after dark.
In spite of all the activity going on here, we did manage a fun day last week. Our friends Tony and Janet invited us to go with them to Ranch La Venta for a wine tasting while Janet's son was visiting. We thought that sounded like a great idea, so we took a much needed R & R day! The ranch is located on the road to La Paz up in the hills (they said their elevation was about 2000' there). They have all kinds of things going on there, including horse back riding, wine making and tasting, bed and breakfast, gardens, an art studio, chickens, sheep, ... Just a couple of ex-pats who like to keep very busy! Bob, the ranch owner, is also a building contractor, and is building that adobe house on the road to Punta Pescadero I posted here in the past (Here's the link: Cob House on the beach). He built what he calls a "cob" house on his own place as a practice house before taking on that job. Here's the Wikipedia definition: Cob, cobb or clom (in Wales) is a building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe. Cob is fireproof, resistant to seismic activity, and inexpensive. It can be used to create artistic, sculptural forms and has been revived in recent years by the natural building and sustainability movements. And here's a photo of the cob house, which they use for one of their B&B cottages. Nice thick, smooth walls.
And then there was the wine tasting... We sampled 5 different wines, including Mango Mead, Honey Mead (made from a wild bees nest he discovered in an old oak tree on the ranch), Chardonnay (best Chardonnay we've had in a long time) and a red table wine that was a mix of Cabernet, Shiraz and Zinfandel. All were very good. No sweet stuff here, believe it or not. All dry and smooth and delicious! We were very impressed.
Not only did we have the wine tasting in the remains of the original ranch house, they served nice cheese and bread and veggies and hummus and pickled eggs to go with it! Ahhhh....we suffer so....
Most of the photos in our February Picasa Album are from the ranch, so take a look. I think you'll be surprised!
Good news! Ben is taking the bus into La Paz today because the red truck is supposed to be done and ready to go by noon today (hope, hope, hope!!!) What has it been? Three weeks? Well, it was a big job, and yesterday turned out to be another Mexican holiday, so we're just hoping he doesn't have to sit around too long waiting for them to wrap it up. Thank goodness our friend Pat loaned us her van, which was really nice to have when Ryan's van was in the shop, too. (I know, I know.... we have too many cars that run.... on special occasions only!)
Here's another "wildlife" photo for you. I was taking the computer we use at church out of the carrying bag yesterday, and I was taking out the power cord, I found this guy resting on top of the cord! He cooperated nicely and let me take him outside. He doesn't look like a gecko. I think its a baby iguana from the looks of his bumps and spots, and maybe little claws on his toes.
That's a 2 peso coin next to him, which is about the size of a nickel. Not very big!!
Oh....I forgot to tell you the bad news last week. The cows got in and ATE MY BEANS!!!!! ARGH!!!!! Three nights in a ROW!!!! Just when they were about ready to harvest. They also ate most of our hibiscus, the pea crop, my bananas that were almost ready to harvest, and pruned the tomato plants down severely. The ate all the leaves off the beans and left the beans on the vines. I haven't torn them out...I'm experimenting to see if they can survive without the leaves! I did plant the next planting of beans. I guess I'll just have to wait and have patience for the next picking! And yes, Ben and Ryan did repair the fence (at the beach) where they got in. I know the cows case these fences daily when they can smell stuff just getting ready for us to eat! Ben was ready to shoot some cows and start eating more beef!!!
That's it for this week...
Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey
Welcome to February already! It's already been a busy month, event-wise, in our family. Tim & Rebecca's 5th wedding anniversary was the 2nd, David's 3rd birthday was the 3rd, and my brother Rich's 66th birthday was on the 4th! (66??? Wow...) And of course there was the Super Bowl party we went to at the home of our friends Ellis & Marsha. Good game if you are a Ravens fan! The 49ers just couldn't quite pull it off. At least it was a decent score at the end.
(Sunrise from a few mornings ago. I trooped out in my slippers and robe to get this one!)
After having workers here most of last week, it has been quiet so far this week. I'm really enjoying the new counter top, and the plumbed sink!!! What a great invention for a kitchen. We also installed the new faucet I bought a year ago that has a pull out sprayer. I really like that feature. And hot water at any time during the day! Wonderful. Our solar heater installation was a new wrinkle for Skip, the solar guy. We have in place in the house an on-demand hot water system. That is, the water line is in a circle from the hot water heater to all the sinks and showers in the house, back to the hot water heater. We discovered that since our underground lines were not insulated, it used a lot of propane to heat it. We put our water pump (that circulates the hot water around the loop) on a timer so that it would come on in the morning, turn off about 10am, then come back on about 5pm until 9pm. Ben asked Skip to just tap into the circulating line with our new solar heater, and once he and Carlos (the plumber) and Ben got it figured out just how to plumb it, it works wonderful! And we've even been having some nice sunny days since it has been installed. (This has been one of the cloudiest winters we've had in years! Go figure!) We still have the timer on the pump, but now it runs all day, since the sun is our primary heat source. The only time the propane should come on is when we have very cloudy days, or when hot water is needed after dark.
In spite of all the activity going on here, we did manage a fun day last week. Our friends Tony and Janet invited us to go with them to Ranch La Venta for a wine tasting while Janet's son was visiting. We thought that sounded like a great idea, so we took a much needed R & R day! The ranch is located on the road to La Paz up in the hills (they said their elevation was about 2000' there). They have all kinds of things going on there, including horse back riding, wine making and tasting, bed and breakfast, gardens, an art studio, chickens, sheep, ... Just a couple of ex-pats who like to keep very busy! Bob, the ranch owner, is also a building contractor, and is building that adobe house on the road to Punta Pescadero I posted here in the past (Here's the link: Cob House on the beach). He built what he calls a "cob" house on his own place as a practice house before taking on that job. Here's the Wikipedia definition: Cob, cobb or clom (in Wales) is a building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe. Cob is fireproof, resistant to seismic activity, and inexpensive. It can be used to create artistic, sculptural forms and has been revived in recent years by the natural building and sustainability movements. And here's a photo of the cob house, which they use for one of their B&B cottages. Nice thick, smooth walls.
And then there was the wine tasting... We sampled 5 different wines, including Mango Mead, Honey Mead (made from a wild bees nest he discovered in an old oak tree on the ranch), Chardonnay (best Chardonnay we've had in a long time) and a red table wine that was a mix of Cabernet, Shiraz and Zinfandel. All were very good. No sweet stuff here, believe it or not. All dry and smooth and delicious! We were very impressed.
Not only did we have the wine tasting in the remains of the original ranch house, they served nice cheese and bread and veggies and hummus and pickled eggs to go with it! Ahhhh....we suffer so....
Most of the photos in our February Picasa Album are from the ranch, so take a look. I think you'll be surprised!
Good news! Ben is taking the bus into La Paz today because the red truck is supposed to be done and ready to go by noon today (hope, hope, hope!!!) What has it been? Three weeks? Well, it was a big job, and yesterday turned out to be another Mexican holiday, so we're just hoping he doesn't have to sit around too long waiting for them to wrap it up. Thank goodness our friend Pat loaned us her van, which was really nice to have when Ryan's van was in the shop, too. (I know, I know.... we have too many cars that run.... on special occasions only!)
Here's another "wildlife" photo for you. I was taking the computer we use at church out of the carrying bag yesterday, and I was taking out the power cord, I found this guy resting on top of the cord! He cooperated nicely and let me take him outside. He doesn't look like a gecko. I think its a baby iguana from the looks of his bumps and spots, and maybe little claws on his toes.
That's a 2 peso coin next to him, which is about the size of a nickel. Not very big!!
Oh....I forgot to tell you the bad news last week. The cows got in and ATE MY BEANS!!!!! ARGH!!!!! Three nights in a ROW!!!! Just when they were about ready to harvest. They also ate most of our hibiscus, the pea crop, my bananas that were almost ready to harvest, and pruned the tomato plants down severely. The ate all the leaves off the beans and left the beans on the vines. I haven't torn them out...I'm experimenting to see if they can survive without the leaves! I did plant the next planting of beans. I guess I'll just have to wait and have patience for the next picking! And yes, Ben and Ryan did repair the fence (at the beach) where they got in. I know the cows case these fences daily when they can smell stuff just getting ready for us to eat! Ben was ready to shoot some cows and start eating more beef!!!
That's it for this week...
Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey
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