Pic-of-the-Week for February 28, 2017

Hola Amigos!

Happy last day of February 2017.  Did that month fly by quickly or what?  

We have had some lovely calm, sunny days, some seriously windy days, and a few raindrops here or there!  We sometimes have what we call 6" rain ... that's when the raindrops are 6" apart!  We think spring is not far from us.  The birds are singing, the Doves are cooing, and the days are getting longer.  We're almost ready to start eating our dinners out on our veranda again, as it will be lighter and warmer.  (Daylight Savings will start a few weeks later here in Mexico than in the US).  We spent one of those windy afternoons at Rancho Buena Vista last Friday.  They were offering dinner and music, and you can't beat the venue!  It's one of our favorite places to be, and it's only about 1/2 mile from our casa.  Good food, good music and great friends with whom to spend the evening.  

Our friend Mark, who is part owner of the Ranch, plays in a band called "Skeleton Key", and they were doing the music that night.  Here's a link to a short video of the band.  Mark is on the left, singing.  Skeleton Key

We went to a Valentine's dinner / dance at another favorite place, La Playa.  The band there was called "Revolving Door", named for the musicians who come and go with regularity!  They're good, too, and played some great dance music for the crowds.  Just check out these dancers who showed up to join the fun! 

They had some pretty amazing moves in those unwieldy outfits!  

AND..... Miguel de Hoyos was in town again playing his wonderful guitar!  Hooray.  (We do seem to get out to dinner and music a lot, don't we?)  February has been a great month for it!  And it is even more fun with friends.  

Of course, the burros are still hanging around.  We took the opportunity to feed them some old tortillas the other day, and they appreciated it a lot!  The bray of the burro is heard here regularly in our barrio!

Ain't she sweet?  (Oh, and so is Ben!)

Our Los Frailes friends Kate and Mel have headed north (to fish on the Rogue), and they gave us their left-over bird seed and a neat sunflower seed feeder to store for them.  I filled it with a little bit of sunflower seeds and hung it out in our feeding area.  It took almost a week before I saw birds using it.  Now, it looks like I might be busy keeping it filled up!  We have Blue Jays, Cardinals, Finches, Woodpeckers and various other little birds enjoying it.  I might just have to find one like it this summer and bring down to use next season.  It has been fun watching them figure it out!  

Flag Day here in Mexico (Dia de la Bandera) was February 24th, and I got a shot of the flag on the monument coming home from Costco that afternoon.  I think they should fly it all the time, but they only do it on flag day.  We have a great view of the flag monument from our casa.

Ben and I have both met a major milestone in our lives.  We each got hearing aids; Ben for both ears and me for my left ear.  Ben's are special, in that he can control volume and other settings with his iPhone.  I chose a different type, which doesn't seem to do anything but sit in my ear and make things too loud!!  Sigh.... I have no volume control of any kind, and it took some convincing to get the technician (at Costco) to turn it down enough so it wasn't grating on my hearing nerves!  I will probably exchange this one for a different type....but I'm giving this one a go, for a week or two at least.  

I have added some new pics to our 2017 February album, including a couple videos.  I'll probably even put a couple captions on them, too!  

Hasta la proxima vez en marzo!
Tus amigos en Baja,
Harriet & Ben, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for February 14, 2017

Hola Amigos!

Happy Valentine's Day!  We are going out tonight to celebrate at our favorite restaurant, and listen to some music.  Should be fun!  Thursday night, we're going out again to listen to some wonderful music played by our favorite guitarist, Miguel de Hoyos, who is back in town for a week.  Hooray!  We're getting our "fix"!  

For a little "sweetness" from Baja, here is the newest burrito in the neighborhood;  she (I'm assuming here on the gender!) was born last week to the black Mama.  This newest addition is SO friendly.  She came right up to me and sniffed my pockets for treats and rubbed up against me as I petted her.  I was afraid she was going to follow me home!  What a sweetheart!  And yes, her fur is very soft and thick.  

Ben has a home improvement project he hopes to finish today.  He is replacing the door frame around the kitchen door, since termites had gotten into it and did their dirty deeds.  The whole project involves going to the lumber stores in La Paz and/or San Jose, buying enough cedar for the project, cutting and planing and sanding the wood, figuring out where the hinges should really go on the door (research), making at least two trips to the local hardware store to buy new hinges (the old ones are corroded and ugly after 15 years).  Today, he was far enough along to remove the screen door and the old door frame, and is in the process of fitting the door and frame together, and adjusting for the new hinge positions.  It is windy today, but fortunately, not too windy, so it is pretty pleasant in the kitchen, where I'm writing this blog.  Sandals and a tank top are appropriate wear for the day, so you know it's pleasant here, about 74F in the shade.  

Here's the old frame, and my view as I was cooking breakfast!

The dogs are enjoying it, as there is no dog door to deal with! In fact, their hoping it stays just like this!



























The Los Barriles street project has been finished with new concrete pavement!  Hooray!  The street goes by our church, and they did work one Sunday with the paving job, and now the concrete is curing for a few weeks;  hopefully we'll be able to drive on it before too long.  Right now it means a walk of about 200 yards or so to church from where we can park.  Not bad in this weather.

The dark red building on the left is our church.  The post in the road is complements of CFE (the electric company).  At least it's not in the middle of the street, like we've seen in other places around here!  And it was put there many years ago, before the street project was thought about. 

The above picture is when they were paving on Sunday a week ago.  It's really nice having pumper trucks to haul the concrete in.  There were about 5 lined up ready to go after this one dumped his load!  And what is even more amazing, the man hole covers line up the the top of the concrete!  

We took a drive last week out to El Cardonal for a sight-seeing tour, and for breakfast at a new restaurant out there.  When we asked for coffee, this is how it was served!  Nicest cup of coffee serving I've had in a long time!

Another really nice treat is that the road had been repaved for the majority of it.  And I mean "REALLY NICE"!  The last time I'd been on it it was falling apart, with pot holes and pieces of the road falling into canyons!   It was a very pleasant surprise.

The road that hasn't been improved (of course) was our route back, the coast road.  We get the best views of the Sea of Cortez from here, so it is always worth the trip a few times a yea.  And on nice days, we'll almost always stop at Punta Pescadero Hotel for a drink and/or snack (or to pick up friends who fly in and land their own private plane at the paved runway there).  Since we'd just had breakfast, we didn't stop this time.

Punta Pescadero Hotel is to the left of this beach about 1/4 mile.

Our house is located in front of that hill in the distance that is about 1/3 of the width of the picture on the right.  

That's about it.  Our last guests Tom and Karan drug themselves out of here, reluctantly.  Our next "for sure" guests are scheduled for April, so we've got room for you if you're tired of all the snow and freezing temps and rain and stuff that you're experiencing where you live.  The dogs would be glad to show you how to get to the beach, and where the burros hang out.   

We've got three baby burros this year!  Cuter 'n all get out!  

I've started a 2017 February album with a few more pics in it.  Remember, to see the captions, click on the little "i" (for info) near the right side.  I think you have to click on the picture first to make it full size, then you'll see the "i".  

Hasta la proxima vez,
Your doorless friends in Baja,  (reminds me of when we moved in in December 2002 ... we had windows, electricity, telephone and water, but no doors!)
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey