Pic-of-the-Month for July / August 2019

Hello from Oregon, Friends!

Looks like Ben isn't going to get around to writing one of these, and I have some time today, so I'll try to catch you up on what we've done so far this summer.  

We had a good trip up, other than a cop in Tecate trying to give us a "made up" ticket.  He said we left rubber on the road (our car trailer brakes were catching on one side when we stopped), and that was illegal in Mexico (!?!).  He told us to pay him the fine, or go with him to the police station to pay it.  He made sure we had the pesos, and told us to follow him.  He took our registration and Ben's license, and we followed him in slow traffic about 50', when one of the cops came back to our car and said "we have an emergency, you're free to go.  Here are your papers!" Basically, they knew that if we got to the station, their trumped up charge wouldn't pass muster, so they gave up on the mordida (bribe money) this time.

  
Oh!  And looking back at our pictures, I remember that we got stuck for a bit in a tight corner in a detour in San Ignacio.  No warning, but the main street that goes in front of the Cathedral above was blocked off.  They were evidently paving the street around the plaza there.  So we were directed by arrows to follow city streets around the back side of the plaza.  The nasty corner was a narrow street with stone walls on both sides, and tighter than 90 degrees.  Ugh.  It took me and 3 or 4 Mexicans directing Ben back and forth until we could get through that corner with our truck and car trailer.  Then we needed directions to the hotel after that!  We got there, and looked at Google maps.  We figured we'd have to go back through that skinny corner to get out of town!  Ugh.  However, when Ben took our first suitcases out to the truck the next morning, a Mexican man told him "you are too long, senor.  You need to go out another way, and I'll show you".  Thank goodness!  The "other way" was through the back wall of the hotel where we were staying.  It went through a palm forest right out to the main road out to the highway!  Too bad we didn't know about that when we arrived the day before! 

Sorry the pic is dark.  The sun wasn't quite up yet, and this area had been burned recently.  

The truck and the Roadster got VERY dirty going through construction areas and some rain showers while we were still in Mexico.  This picture was at a rest stop on Hwy 395, with the Sierra Nevada Mountains behind.

Anyhow, we made it to Ken and Bea's, got the rigs both washed (had to do the Model A twice to get all the road grime off!) 

Ben drove the Roadster into Sisters for the 4th of July Fly-in / Car Show that was being held there, and burned up the generator!  After much detective work and trying this and that, he and our Model A savvy friend Mike figured out the problem and fixed it.  It is running much better now!  We hauled it over to Eugene, and had our friend Jim Carmickle (the expert) pin-stripe it for us.  He does beautiful work!

Then Rebecca, Tim and kids came to Oregon!  It was so great to see them.  We missed them last summer, what with our crazy schedule last year, and the fact that they didn't make it to Oregon then either.  It was a shorter trip than they'd originally planned, because Rebecca needed to get back to Chicago for some surgery.  But while they were here, they got to ride in the Model A, play with the dogs, play in Tom and Karan's sand pile, and DRIVE farm equipment (cousin Tom ran the gas and brake pedals)!  Pretty exciting stuff.

When they went back to Chicago, I went with them, and helped take care of the kids and their house while Rebecca had surgery and was recovering.  Phew!  It pretty much wore this Grandma out!  But we had some great times.  I took them to the local park, to a nearby thrift store where they spent their allowance money, to the library; we went to piano lessons, kid's club meetings, church, and out for pizza.  Of course, Tim drove us as needed, but we did a lot of walking to and from.  Then there was laundry and dishes and cooking and cleaning.  I flew back to Oregon on the 7th.  While I was gone, Ben visited friends in Salem and got the Model A back to Bend.  (Can't pull the house trailer and car trailer in one trip!)  

On August 12, our granddaughter Olivia celebrated her 1st birthday!  She is a happy little girl, and the hair I see on her pretty head looks red to me!

We've got the rest of the summer pretty fully booked; can't hardly believe our summer is almost half over.  We haven't even been out camping yet, but plan to this weekend, and most of September we plan to do more camping ....somewhere!  

I've created a July/August 2019 picture album with more photos.  Help yourself to a peek!

Your friends,

Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey 

Pic-of-the-Month for June 2019

Hola Amigos,

You all get one last news flash while we're still in Baja!  We are heading out this Saturday, the 22nd, and plan to be in Oregon by June 28th.  AND....we plan on spending July through September there (or in the Pacific Northwest) this summer!  Yea!  So, if you want to see us, be sure to drop us a line and we'll try our hardest to fit you into our schedule.  

This pair was just next to our driveway, along with two other pairs of Mama cows with their new calves; they were all having their morning breakfast!  They sure are cute now, and we keep seeing more new little ones!  This is also why we have a cattle guard and fences around our property!!  Here are the first two pairs we saw on our way home.  Can you see our house just beyond this first pair?  (And yes, we took Sam for a short walk that day....very short!  He told me where to turn around!)  

We are busy getting things ready to go.  We will have a house sitter (our friend Perla) so we don't have to close up the house and empty the refrigerators (thank goodness!)  We tried hard to get our freezers down to empty, but didn't make it, in spite of having lots of company over.  We will finish the pork ribs tonight, since we've invited our new neighbors who bought the lot next to us.  Hopefully, we won't have too many long power outages this summer, and we might come home to some good stuff left over in the fall!  

We plan on taking our 1930 Roadster with us to get a few things done on it, including pin-striping.  We also hope to take the lady from whom we bought it for a ride.  Even though we didn't paint it red, I think she'll like it!   Who knows, maybe you'll get a ride, too, if you're lucky!  Maybe in the rumble seat!!  😏

Ben spent some time the last several days working on the Jeep, trying to get the speedometer out of the dash, since the indicator needle had fallen out and was lying on the bottom of the gauge!  Well....it was a bit of a problem; actually turned out to be a major project!   And it is such a long story, that it requires diagrams and pictures and lots of hand gestures, you'll have to wait until you see us next time to learn the whole story!  Suffice it to say, things are different on the dashboard now!  

Don't you love the original dashboard, the paint job, and all the holes?  Ben spent a lot of time with his head down there on the passenger side, trying to see the wiring for the gauges!  Ugh!  He did take the passenger seat out, and we padded it nicely, so that helped some.  And yes, he did fix the needle on the gas gauge!!  And yes, the pretty wood is going back on to cover up the ugly metal dash.

Before Ben took the Jeep apart, and before our friends Debi and Sandy left for their home in Washington, we all took a tour up to the San Dionisio Canyon.  We hadn't been there this year, so it was nice to drive up in the Jeep and show them around.  We stopped and walked down to the little stream in the bottom of the canyon, and it was very refreshing.  There were even little fish in there!  

No, they weren't quite as big as Ben is indicating!  Just little bitty toe biters.  

The boulders in these mountains are very impressive.  We hope they stay where they are for now!

On the way back home, we took a route we've never done before; down the Santiago Arroyo to a large cave that we can see from the main road, but have never visited.  We were quite impressed!  It was huge, it had bee hives and bats in it, and all kinds of interesting formations.  

 We were surprised that there was a little pond in front of the cave (with little fish!)

It was an interesting place to explore, until Debi saw some bats flying around further back.  Check out more photos in our June 2019 album.  

Zoey and I cut back on our walks as soon as the weather changed to hot and humid!  If we do go out, it's a much shorter distance.  Both our tongues are dragging by the time we get home on these hot days!   One of the things we can't miss on our walks is a new project on the beach.  Someone bought the piece of property right next to, (and almost in) the arroyo just to the south of our house.  They rapidly cleared the ground, took out a 40+ year old stone wall, and layed out the lines of the house.  Last time I walked by, they were digging out some soil, and it looked like sand all the way down to me!   Not sure how you're supposed to build on that, but we'll see what they come up with.  Someone (40+ years ago) had bought that property, built a really nice looking wall, parked their trailer, and then there was a hurricane which was serious enough that they moved!  (Ben just now tells me that the trailer washed out to sea!  I didn't know that part of the story!)  It's been bare ground ever since, with a "temporary" road cutting through it.  (It's one of the popular ways to get to the beach from our house.)  

The wall is now rubble.  Hopefully they'll use it to build a wall on the property line.  

I will be missing my daily walks.... on the beach....

Up the Flag Monument Hill....

And through the wilderness looking for cactus blooms....

But it will all be waiting for our return next October!  

I can't promise any letters this summer when Ben's in charge.  So....

Hasta la proxima vez,
Tus amigos en Baja for a few more days,
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

PS. Can't forget the pictures of the grandkids!  

Pic-of-the-Month for May 2019 - part 2

Hola Amigos,

I told you I might write 2 this month, and I have time this afternoon, so thought I'd catch you up on our activities for May.

This photo is from my morning walk today.  Zoey and I are still walking 6 days a week, but as it gets warmer (and more chance for snakes) we aren't always going the 3+ miles.  We did get Ben's brother John to go with us while he was here on vacation most days, and I took him to the Flag Monument and a few of the bike trails, too.  The other day, we discovered this new fence and sign across one trail that I hike regularly.  Hmmmmm...  This could be a problem for a biker coming down the hill!!  We'll see what happens next fall when the bikers are back!  I have a feeling there may be more barbed wire fences coming soon! 

In the meantime, I enjoy checking out the scenery and the plants.  The Pitahaya cactus are blooming now, and they are so pretty!  

Of course, while I was looking for these, I completely missed the Night-Blooming cactus in my own garden (walked right by it!)  By the time I got home that day, it was just closing up.  I took a picture of it anyhow!  I haven't figured out if it blooms more than one night or not... Another bud is forming on this cactus, so I'll try to watch it more carefully!  

It is getting quiet here in the neighborhood.  Many people have migrated north already, and traffic around town is much more reasonable and easier to navigate.   My piano student decided to quit a bit early this year since she's so busy with other school things, and Ben has "finished" working on cars 24 x 7!  There are still things to do on them, but they can wait! 

We took the Jeep on a long anticipated ride to Muertes Bay....except we didn't get there!  The Jeep refused to run decent on steep, rocky roads, so after getting 2/3 of the way there, we turned around and had lunch in the little town of El Cardonal.  According to the local mechanic, it needs an "off-road" carburetor, and we haven't been able to find one....yet.  Or Fuel Injection...  (Next year!)  In the mean time, we enjoy taking it around places here, including down the beach to Rancho Buena Vista for a cool drink and/or a dip in the pool.  Here's a couple pictures from our aborted trip to Muertes Bay (which you can see in the distance to the right of the top picture!)  

 Here's a nice, mostly deserted beach.

I finished up my latest little quilt and sent it off with brother John to be mailed to my quilters in Oregon.  It turned out pretty nice, and I'm anxious to see how the flannel backing that I sent will work.  It's the first one I've done that doesn't have borders, too, so binding it will be interesting!  

Ben's brother John had a great time while here, and left for Oregon yesterday.  We even stopped in Miraflores at the Leather shop to get him a belt the day he flew in.  His waist is so small he has trouble finding ones that fit (really!)  He found one he liked, and the leather guy shortened it while we waited a few minutes!  We took him on Jeep rides, and he finally got Ben to get the Model A out, and he was our first rumble seat rider!  (It was dusty, so needed to be washed before we could take it to town!!) 

After that ride, we put the new cover on it and will probably keep it under wraps until it's time to haul it to Oregon.  

Our daughter Rebecca's family is in the US, and they will be in Oregon in July and August while we're there.  We are looking forward to seeing them all again.  

Eleanor said the cow in this favorite restaurant near Chicago got smaller.... I'm thinking someone got bigger! 

















Ryan and Charlotte's little girl Olivia is growing quickly.  She's 9 1/2 months old already!  Her hair doesn't look red in this photo, but it sure looks reddish in other photos!   He says she is a very happy girl.  

I will probably post one more of these before we leave Baja.  Currently, we're thinking of leaving here the last week on June, but if it starts getting hot, we might leave sooner.  

I have posted more photos in our May 2019 album.  Feel free to check them out.  The captions don't show when you do the slideshow, but if you click on a picture, it should open up with the caption to the right.  If not, click on the "i" in a circle (info) on the upper right of the screen.  


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

Pic-of-the-Month for May 2019

May 14, 2019

Hola Amigos!

Hey!  I'm early this month, but so much has happened so far this month, I may even get around to doing another one later on (maybe not!)  Anyhow, this one has lots of "car" stuff.  Oh...and Happy Birthday today to my sister Shelley!  

We had friends visit!  Our Cessna flying friend, John Hirons and his friend Sue Crosby, showed up in early May at our casa.  Actually, we met them in La Paz first.  They landed at the airport there, and we met them for brunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Maria California. We happened to be in town to pick up our 1930 Model A Roadster from Majalca Body Shop where they were doing final paint touch up and polish before the car show.  Then, Ben and I drove it over to the La Paz Ford dealership so they could display it for the week before the car show (and we didn't have to haul it home until the show was over).  Here we are entering the show room floor! 

And here we are inside.  All work stopped as we brought it in and set it up!  It was lots of fun seeing Ford employees check it out.  



Later that week, Ben hauled in the '28 Ford/Martin-Parry Woody and parked it next to the Roadster.  Pretty cool!

Amidst all that excitement, I had another birthday while John and Sue were here to help me celebrate, and we did a tour out to Cabo Pulmo and Los Frailes so John could check out some of the runways down that way where he has landed in the past.  We also posed for a picture by one of the huge cactus in the area.

This last weekend was the car show in La Paz, and we hauled the '29 pickup up there on Saturday morning.  With help from our friends Debi and Sandy, the guys got the Woody and Roadster out of the Ford showroom and drove them to the park where the show is held in downtown.  Ben had given Sandy some driving lessons with the Woody earlier in the week.  He was a bit nervous about driving in La Paz traffic, but did a great job!  So, we got our pickup over there a bit later, and had all three of our Model A's lined up for the evening parade!  What fun!  Ben led the parade in the '30 Roadster (after the police car and the pickup pulling a trailer with the Quaker State Girls and the music system playing LOUD music), followed by Sandy and Debi in the '28 Woody, and I followed in the '29 pickup with our friend Rosy (she and her husband Hector Manuel put on the show).  We were followed by about 20 other classic cars and trucks.  Lots of people in town and everyone was thrilled to be waved and/or tooted at!  And we never got out of first gear.  In fact, my foot was rarely off of the clutch!  Ben says these slow parade speeds are really hard on the clutch, but when the lead police car goes 5mph, there's not much you can do about it!  At least I didn't have to worry about double clutching...we never got out of 1st gear!  Barely got INTO 1st gear!

We managed to get all three cars back to our hotel parking "space" (behind automatic opening doors...very secure since we had the controller and the only access was through those doors). 

The next day, Sandy and Debi showed up right on time, and we each drove our assigned vehicles back down to the car show area.  We found out at that time there was a conflict of interests; Manuel had gotten a permit to use the park that day for the show, but it is a skate board park, and someone had made arrangements for a big skate board show and a bunch of live bands to play their music until who knows when!!?!  So, Manuel "punted" and placed the oldest cars (including all three of ours) across the street in a primo spot right by the bay.  The rest he squeezed in on the one block area, and a bit of Applebee's parking lot.  Someone set up a shade tent for us on the other side, and a nice breeze blew over there most of the day.  It was lovely!  This was first thing in the morning;  Ben got the red carpet treatment for his car.  Several people pointed out that I managed to get the statue in the rumble seat!  Pretty clever on my part (I just clicked the shutter...didn't realize it was in the rumble seat until someone else pointed it out!)   

Edgar Majalca, who owns the shop where we had it painted and body work done, set up a tent over it, and proceeded to wax and polish it....again!  He and several of his crew also dusted and polished the other cars over there.  He was very proud of that car, and I think he'll get a lot of business because of it.   (He had several cute girls passing out business cards and decals!)  

That evening, when the music at the Skate Board park was extra loud, Manuel started his presentations.  We won several prizes; one for the Woody because it's so rare, and one for the Roadster it being 89 years old and restored.  Then, surprise, surprise, we won top prize for the best vehicle for the '30 Roadster!  We were amazed, because there were some really cool cars and trucks there that have been lovingly restored  (see pictures in my 2019 May album)  but we weren't going to argue!  We were happy, and it was nice frosting on the cake of a two year intensive restoration project.  Now, I'm going to start driving it!  

We brought the Roadster home on Monday, and Ben is in La Paz today and tomorrow getting the other two.  Poco a poco they'll all be back in our garage, the Purkey Model A Museum! And now, maybe Ben will have time to do other projects, although he did mention to me yesterday that he'd like to upgrade the steering and transmission on the Roadster.  Sigh....
  
I have finally started on a new baby quilt project.  I have had some pretty flannels that I couldn't figure out how to use.  In this quilt, I'm combining them with regular 100% cottons to make this colorful pattern.  I'm also going to back it with the flannel.  I think it will turn out quite nice.  Here's what it looks like so far, and I believe I'm only going to add one more row.  Blue and green should be good for a little boy!  FYI, this is what they call a "Charm" quilt, one made with scraps, and all pieces exactly the same.  This particular pattern is named "Tumbler".  These strips are not sewn together yet at the bottom of the picture.  I promise it will be lined up nicely when it's done if you're noticing that it's not!

Our Jeep is working well now, and we've been taking it down the beach to the Round Bar at Rancho Buena Vista several evenings a week, and using it around town.  We also plan to do longer trips in it, as soon as Ben is done hauling Model A's hither and yon.  We saw the "Fuller Brush" Man's truck on the beach yesterday evening.  They were enjoying doing a little late afternoon fishing after a hard day's work.  I didn't see any fishing poles for sale on display, but they might be hidden in there somewhere!

Again, don't forget to look at our 2019 May photo album to see even more car pictures, and maybe a few grandkid pics.  😏😉

We're looking forward to Ben's brother John arriving next week for a nice long stay.  He made his reservations to help us drive cars in the parade, then the date of the show was changed, so we'll have to have a parade in downtown Los Barriles for him!  He says Sandy STOLE his right to drive in the parade in La Paz.  

We are here until late June, so if you want to come visit during some of the nicest, quietest time here, come on down!  

Hasta la proxima vez,
Tus amigos in Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Month for April, 2019

Hola Amigos,

Almost another month has passed since my last letter, so I felt it was time to catch up!  Hope you all had a wonderful Easter to celebrate the fact that Jesus is Risen!  

The flower is from our Psuedobombax Elipticum tree (or, easier to remember "Shaving Brush Tree".)  Blooms are hand size!  They last one day and fall off.  

During the Easter Holiday long weekend, the neighborhood was jumping with about a zillion extra campers on the beach, who regularly drove by our house on their way to or from the beach.  It is amazing how many tents and cars and campfires and extra canopies and picnic stuff can be put on the beach, and campers were stretched for miles each way from us.  It was so full, Zoey and I avoided the beach most of the week (I can't trust her to not eat chicken bones and/or other "treats" from the beach!)  There were organized games like volleyball, loud music that goes all night, and gallons of beer drunk!  It is the favorite time of year for Mexicans to vacation on the beach.  Everyone gets Easter time off (it seems) and the weather is not too hot and not too cold or windy.  It didn't even rain this year!  Here's the scene on the beach just over 1/2 mile from our casa.    

Zoey and I are continuing to walk 6 days a week.  Since I started keeping track with an App on my phone in January, we've walked over 200 miles!  The new tennis shoes I bought for hiking are already starting to wear in places... I guess I'm a bit rougher on them and should really have some hiking shoes...something else to look for this summer in Oregon.  

For the first time in YEARS, I took an art class offered here locally.  This one was Watercolors, and I had a grand time.  The instructor, a Mexican named Jose Herrera Gallegos from Oaxaca, is a renown artist, and recently won prizes for his work in Argentina.  I've never really done watercolors, so was pleased with the results (after good instruction and some hands-on help from Jose!)  My favorite piece of the week that I did was on day 4, when we were to do an animal.  I chose Zoey, and this is what I came up with...

I had so much fun doing this, that I've ordered art supplies (I had nothing) and I'm hoping they'll arrive, along with our friends John H and Sue, next week.  He's flying his own plane, so is on his own schedule!  We'll know they're here when he flies by or gives us a call, and we'll go pick them up wherever they land (usually Punta Pescadero, the closest paved runway).  

Ben has made great progress with the Model A and the Jeep.  The Jeep now has roll bars AND a cover.  Ben's project today is painting the roll bars (he tried to price the cost of powder-coating, but didn't get far.)  He's pretty good with a can of spray paint, and it's almost done.  It went a lot faster than he thought.  The sun was getting hot enough that he moved the trailer into the carport to finish the job!  It does make a nice painting platform up off the dirt!  Anyhow, the bars should quit rusting now, and look very nice.  

On the Model A soft top, we added the valance that we forgot the first time around!  Ben had to pull a bunch of staples, remove the "hide-em" welt, put on the valance, and then put on a new strip of "hide-em" welt.  It looks very nice.  We're still not sure what the valance is for, other than to look nice.  That job is done now, so the car is "original"!  By the way, the air-driven staple gun Ben bought was a godsend for this project!  We couldn't even imagine trying to hammer in a bunch of little upholstery nails!  This picture is before the Hide-em welt was added....you can see the row of staples at the top of the valance.

This is after the Hide-em welt.  Hopefully, later this week, Ben will take this car into the body shop that did the paint and body work last year.  They promised to go over it with a magnifying glass and repair any dents and scratches caused by putting it together, and also repair some orange peel.  It should be gorgeous!  Then, there is a car show in May where it will have its debut!  Should be fun.  

Our garden is mostly finished.  I harvested all our corn and froze it.  We had some for Easter dinner and it was delicious.  There are still a few beans producing, but they're getting tired!  (Or I'm getting tired...six of one, half a dozen of the other!!)  The remains of the crops go across the fence for the cows and burros...the landscape is quite dry right now so I know they appreciate the extra.  Oh, and just as I finished this, a burro family came by, so we fed them some of our old corn stalks.  Included in this group, the newest baby!  So cute!!  This one even tried eating some of the corn, even though it's only days old.  

We have some company coming next week, and Ben's brother John will be coming in late May.  It's a beautiful time of year here right now, and we don't leave until late June.  Come on down and check it out!

Oh yes...I do have an April 2019 photo album with a few more pics.  Check out those Grandkids (and burros!).  I'll get to see 3 of the grandkids this summer in Oregon.  😉

Hasta la proxima vez,

Tus amigos de Baja

Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Month for March, 2019

Hola Amigos,

Well, I did it again!  Procrastinated until the end of the month, so you get another "Pic-of-the-Month".  Why not?  If you really want to find out what's happening with us, give us a call or come visit!  Our US phone works fine down here.

We have had some fun in March.  My good friend Jill (whom I've know just about forever...we met at church camp when we were 12) came down for 10 days.  She was, and probably still is, recovering from Valley Fever.  The infection had gone into her joints, so she was pretty sore in the knees and ankles.  So, first thing I did was take her for a hike!  The warm weather seemed to make a difference, and she said she was feeling somewhat better and had less pain in her joints.  We did do several hikes while she was here, and she even made it to the top of the Flag Monument one day!  (Ben dropped her off at the bottom of the hill; I met them after hiking just over a mile from our house.  And no, Ben didn't go with us!) 

 
Also while Jill was here, we went for a real ride in the Jeep!! If was hot, dusty and bumpy (stiff springs and a lot of bumps in the arroyo), but still fun.  We went up the Buenas Aires arroyo where there is a small water fall at the end.  Very refreshing after all that dust!

It is still running water for quite a ways (a 1/2 mile past the falls, maybe?) We haven't been here in quite a while; probably since we still had our old blue truck.  We are looking forward to many more trips like this even farther afield.  

This week, we had a roll cage built for the Jeep, and we're getting a few more ideas as we talk to Armando, the man who owns one of the hardware stores here in town, and is also a race car driver.  (No, I'm not letting Ben race this thing!)  It's going back to Armando's shop on Wednesday to get a few more modifications.  

The 1930 Model A is coming along nicely.  Our marriage survived the building of the soft convertible top.  We didn't exactly follow directions, but did mostly, and it is looking very nice.  We even got most of the wrinkles out of the top, and were also able to fold the top down.  That's not the easiest process in the repertoire of "the way things work on Model A's".  It took two of us to maneuver everything, and fold bars the right way, but we got it done.  It's probably not something we'll do real often.  Below it is sitting out in the sunshine so the fabric would soften, and we could maybe stretch it tighter.  It worked!  Pardon the dust...it has been sitting in the shop for quite a while with no cover and it does get dirty in there.  Even the Model A's under covers get some dust.  The picture on the right shows it with the top folded down.  It has a cover that goes over that to keep it from flopping around in the wind.

Ben even got the rumble seat cushions in, and that's a practice in maneuverability! Poor Ben was practically standing on his head in there to get the seat back screwed down at the bottom of the seat.  Believe us, that is NOT an easy seat to get in and out of!  Cute, but not real practical, unless you're a teenager!  We will be taking it to the body man in La Paz for some touch up work and to fix it so we can close the driver side door.  The latch doesn't line up correctly.  That's why we have a rope tying it to the other door right now.  

It's too bad we didn't get this Model A done in time for the Spring car show last weekend in La Paz, but there is one more in May, and it will be ready then!  We took the 1928 Martin Parry woody, and it was popular as always.  Ben even won a few prizes.  See our 2019 March album for more pictures of the car show.  

Our garden is doing very well.  The corn crop is tall, and is putting on corn cobs now.  The bees are really working the tassels, so I'm hoping for lots of nice big full ears.  (And we've managed to keep Sam and Zoey out since they like to knock down corn stalks and eat the corn!)  The beans are doing well, too.  I've picked enough to be able to can 15 1.5 pint jars.  Plus we have eaten a lot... I love fresh green beans.  

Zoey still loves to go for our daily walks.  If we go to the Flag Monument and back, it's at least 3 miles, sometimes more depending on the route.  I'm enjoying meeting various people from the neighborhood on my walks; we see the same people (and dogs!) very often.  Zoey is excellent off leash.  She stays right next to me 98% of the time.  Sometimes she has to spend more time smelling some things, but then she catches right up.  She also leans toward going in the direction of the shorter distance, hoping I'll go that way, but is always willing to follow me wherever I go.  Many people comment on her short little legs going so far, and they're really surprised when I tell them she wasn't walking at all after her accident 3 years ago in April.  She doesn't walk in the normal manner, but she does very well and keeps up a nice pace.  Sam, our 12 year old dog, still insists on coming about once a week.  When he does, that is our shorter distance day, and he ALWAYS has to stop and smell the roses, and ALWAYS is lagging behind, and hates going up hills!  (I always encourage him to stay home, and can usually convince him.)  

We are starting to think about summer travel plans, and we are planning on a full three months in Oregon this summer, but there is still plenty of time for you to come visit us.  My favorite months here are May and November; the weather is just about perfect, and town is clearing out so it's not so crowded driving through the narrow streets.  And there is always plenty to do and places to see!  We will probably leave here in late June, unless plans change. 

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