Pic-of-the-Week for June 19, 2018

Hola Amigos,

Exciting news here.... we had our first tropical storm, which was earlier in the hurricane season than normal.  Hurricane Bud had some strong winds, but fortunately for us, it weakened to a tropical storm (Bud Light) before it got to us last Thursday, so we just got a lot of needed rain. It rained steadily most of the day Thursday, and a bit on Friday.  Things are greening up nicely now, and even more cactus are blooming in the desert.  The picture below is from Thursday morning on my abbreviated walk.  I did want to get home before the serious rain started!  

Another great benefit of this storm is that the weather has cooled down to "reasonable", and it should be that way for the foreseeable future!  Highs in the 80's and lows in the 70's are much more tolerable!  

It was pleasant enough during the storm to sit on our veranda and play Mexican Train while the rain was pouring down!  (I think I won that game!)  

Today, for the first time this year (I'm a creature of habit!) I took my morning walk heading north up the beach.  I did it because someone has lit the El Coro dump on fire, and it happens to be in the arroyo to the southwest of us, and where I usually walk.  The toxic smoke is awful, and it tends to just follow the arroyo down to the ocean during the night, and drifts over to our house.  Ugh.  Ryan has done lots of research, and found which government agency to complain to, but I'm not expecting much to happen.  Hopefully, the fire will go out soon.  

Summer plans.... we think we've finally figured out what we're going to do this summer, and when!   

• Ryan and Charlotte's Baby Girl is due around the end of July, according to the doctor here.  I am planning on coming back to help them out, and get some baby snuggling in.
• Ben's Model A is not going to be done for 3 or 4 more weeks.  He needs to stay here until it is done and bring it home, and start putting it together.  It may be done the week of July 16th...maybe sooner.   He will stay here until a few weeks after the baby is born.
• I (Harriet) have doctor appointments scheduled in Bend starting July 9!  So, I'm going to fly up to Oregon on July 5th and spend about 3 weeks there; doing doctor visits, finishing up a baby quilt, shopping for baby things 😉, visiting friends, and house/dog sitting for Ken & Bea if they want to go somewhere.  If anyone is in the area, I'll have time to visit with you! 
• I (Harriet) will return to Baja around July 25, and wait with everyone else for Baby Girl to arrive.  
• After Ryan, Charlotte, and Baby Girl are settled in (a week or two), we will head north to Oregon, with both Sam & Zoey in tow this year.  Not sure if we'll bring the new Model A.  Charlotte has informed us that new mothers in China are treated to a life of luxury during the first month, being waited on hand and foot, and others taking care of the baby in the middle of the night.  We'll give her a couple weeks!!

As a result, Ben and I will have a shorter time in Oregon this summer.  We will have to plan carefully to make sure we get everywhere we need to be and see who we need to see!  (When is your first corn ripe, Tom?)  

We didn't get to see Rebecca's family this year.  They vacationed on the East Coast of the US and in the Midwest.  They will be heading back to the Middle East this Friday, so we will have to look forward to next summer for a visit with them.  Sure glad Rebecca made it to our Anniversary party! 

So... tropical storm, summer travel plans, baby arriving, car taking forever... not sure if there is anything else to share with you except a few pics.  

 Our "deformed" cactus put out a few blooms this year.  I think it is actually a Pitahaya Dulce, but with a deformed gene.  I never see the blooms open in the desert, although I see lots of this kind of cactus (not deformed).

We have a Guanabana (or Sour Sop) tree and this is the fruit it produces. The fruit is white with black seeds that look like watermelon seeds.  I haven't tasted it yet, but Ryan says its a bit sweet and a bit sour, kind of like a green apple.  Mexicans make a drink out of it.  Guess I'll have to find the recipe and try it out!

This is the inside of the fruit.  

We ran out of black oil sunflower seeds for our wild birds, and just can't get the place where we found them last to order new ones, so our poor birds are out of luck!  I did plant some of the seeds in our corn patch, and they are coming up.  If "someone" waters them, there is a chance the birds will have a few more later this summer!

I will leave you with another beautiful cactus bloom ... I can't stop taking pictures of these beauties!  More photos are posted in the 2018 June album, including a video of our "river" during the rainstorm.

Hasta la proxima vez,

Tus amigos en Baja, 

Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Charlotte, Baby Girl, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for June 5, 2018

Hola Amigos,

Whoa!  It has been HOT here in Baja!  We are really appreciating our air conditioning, especially at night.  We had a hot wind from the southwest yesterday, so we closed the outside doors, turned on our bedroom AC unit, and set our big old fan in the bedroom door and blew cool air into the living room and family room.  It felt pretty good, especially for Dalia, who was cleaning our house at the time!  It's supposed to get a bit cooler (highs in the 80's, lows in the high 70's) for the next week, so we'll probably survive.  (We are wimps, I admit it!  Especially when you throw in some high humidity!)  

Why aren't you leaving, you may ask, and heading north?  The biggest reason is that our 30' Model A is still being working on in the body shop in La Paz.  It's got several more weeks work, probably.  Ben's latest plan is to do as much on it as he can here, but load it up and take it to Oregon to finish up.  We will not go to the National Model A meet in Reno 😕😞 but hope to enjoy it in Oregon, including taking Shirley for a ride.  She's the family friend who sold it to us.  

We did go for a couple rides in the '28 Woody lately.  We took it to La Paz for a parade and car show there, and got lots of exposure and admiration.  This is near the end of the parade route (lots of "normal" cars had got in from the traffic flow).  

 Oh, and the La Paz Calafia Queen got a bit of admiration, too!

Her outfit was embellished with beautiful shells and feathers, and then she was wearing 5" heels!!!  And she was gorgeous, to boot.  She also had a head dress, but I think it wasn't too comfortable so she didn't wear it much.

It was very warm in La Paz that weekend, so we stuck to the shade as much as we could.  The show was popular with the Sunday crowds, and Ben won a prize for oldest vehicle there.  

We stayed at a little hotel a few blocks away, Maria California.  Our room was the "economy" version ($40 per night), but we checked out their nice rooms across the street, and they have a great view and look very comfy, too, for $80 per night.  We just might stay there the next time!  



One of the "nice" rooms.  

And the view....





Ryan and Charlotte are getting acclimated and met with their obstetrician on last Monday.  They also had an ultrasound and found out that they are having a girl!  The baby seems to be very healthy, and is also bigger than expected, so the due date has been moved up to the end of July.  I will be coming back to help them out after the baby is born, so I guess I will be getting acclimated to Baja summer weather, too!  She is also appreciating the delicious food here; we eat at La Playa regularly, for breakfast especially.  This photo happened to be when we were there for dinner.  We hope they continue to stay open as long as we're here!

Ben & Ryan have been working on a bookcase project...our old one we've had since Salem became termite riddled, so Ben happened to have some nice oak plywood with which to make a new one.  It's a bit taller than the old one, and Ryan has been helping out with the finish.  We put the old one out by the driveway the other day, and it disappeared quickly!  (We figured it would).  It didn't have any shelving other than some cross members, but I'm sure they'll figure out something for it!  Hope they like termites!  😏

It is still cool enough in the mornings for my walks with Zoey.  Sam still refuses to go... he stays home and protects the house!  I was looking at some of the drone pictures our friend George took last year, and noticed that one had my walking route on it!  Our pinkish casa is right about in the middle of this photo, and I walk out the driveway to the left, then wander around in the loop to the left of the picture.  Sometimes I do the loop, then go down to the beach.  Sometimes I walk up almost to Highway 1, then down into the arroyo on the left, and on down to the beach.  This was taken in May 2017, so it is dry looking now, too.  But the cactus are blooming, and the trees and shrubs are just waiting for the summer rains.  I've seen several fox, and this is where the burros hang out during the night, and there are often cattle wandering around in there, too.  The other morning it was a great BIG black bull!  He went his way, and we went ours!  Zoey is pretty good about not bothering other animals, especially ones bigger than she is!  

Here's the bull!  

Our Jeep is still sitting around unfinished, BUT we did finally get the new fiberglass gas tank from a Mexican fellow who works in the Palmas boatyard.  It has taken FOREVER, and we heard more stories from him about when we'd get it and where it was ... we could have written a book!  It is here now, and looks like it will work nicely.  This is a project for next season.  Our friends Debi and Sandy took pity on us, and let us ride with them (on ATV's and in their Toyota) up to a little falls and pond on the Buenas Aires Arroyo.  It's a pretty little spot, and of course, Ryan had to climb to the top of the falls to see what was on the other side of the mountain!

Here he is starting out...

And there he is at the top.  Nothing too exciting over there...just more palm trees and water.  Oh well...at least he made it down safely.  

I'll be adding photos to the 2018 June album for your enjoyment.  

You might expect one edition from me before summer starts and Ben takes over.  We hope to see many of you this summer when we get to Oregon....whenever that is!  Keep in touch!

Hasta la proxima vez,
Tus amigos en Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Charlotte (& baby), Sam & Zoey