Pic-of-the-Week for December 25, 2012

Hola, Amigos!

Feliz Navidad from the Purkeys in

Baja California Sur, Mexico! 

 
We hope that your celebrations of Christ's birth are blessed with family and friends and remembering God's greatest gift to us!
I was hoping to get a "family portrait", but that didn't happen.  So we'll just have to give you a portrait of our local burro family.
They were here the other day dining on our cardboard boxes set out with the garbage, and redistributing the garbage!  Silly burros.  They'd rather eat cardboard than old iceburg lettuce.  So Ben gave each one a gumdrop, then shooed them away so we could pick up the mess.  (Why are the garbage men late on those days???)  These two were wondering if I had any gumdrops.... nope!  Just the camera!

 

The Christmas tree is trimmed, the turkey is ready to put in the smoker, and guests will be arriving around 4pm for our Christmas dinner.  We wish you could join us!! 

 
Our guest calendar is empty, so as you sit and stare out at the rain and snow, think about a Baja vacation!  The photo below is just a few yards from our house on a walk I take with my dogs. 

A few more photos are in our December 2012 album. This is the last post of Pic-of-the-Week for this year (WOW!  Where did the year go??)  Hopefully we'll have more exciting things to share with your in the year to come. 
Hasta 2013!
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for December 18, 2012

Hola Amigos,
One more week to Christmas, and we've been busy, busy, busy!  Not getting ready for Christmas, necessarily but there are lots of other things on our plate. Oh, I did finally get our tree (read that "stick") decorated.  And I bought a couple of Poinsettias.  That will just about do for my decorating efforts!

Ben spent most of last week getting ready for our church's move to a new location.  He spent TWO days in La Paz again last week (with a suitcase and his computer this time...and a toothbrush!) buying supplies; microphone stands, microphone holders, a large file cabinet, cleaning supplies, office supplies, paper towels and toilet paper, coffee pots, thermos pots for cool drinks, a water jug holder, cable and various cable ends for the sound system, large garbage cans.  And big fluffy blankets (20 of them) for the Mexican families for whom our church is providing food.  For each purchase, he needed to get a "factura", which is the legal receipt for book-keeping purposes here in Mexico.  That added about 20 minutes (at least) to most purchases.  He also managed to get a car cover made for his '29 Model A pickup, which involved hauling that vehicle there.  When at the upholstery shop, they pointed out a low tire on his trailer, so he had to take care of that, too!  Our red truck ran great, and he was able to get there and back, and all around (and around and around) La Paz in good order.  He does know La Paz very well these days, if you ever need a tour guide!!! 

While he was running around La Paz, I was helping at a Ladies Luncheon that several of us decided to have.  We held it at Hotel Los Pescadores north of town, which has a very nice open lobby where we set up everything. The quiche and salad were delicious.  The salad had pears, avocados, grapes, jicama, lettuce and onions.  What a yummy combination.

 I took my old piano which we'd had repaired recently and played some  favorite Christmas Carols. We made mistletoe swags out of Mexican mistletoe, had a Christmas devotion, and just enjoyed visiting with each other and having fun!  

We had so much fun, we're talking about doing it again next year.  Here my friend Lynn on the right is showing Sharon and Carlee how to make the swag.

On Thursday, I had to run Ryan to the airport (Ben was still shopping away in La Paz).  He had a 2:15 departure, so I was hoping to get him there before noon, and it's at least 45 minutes from our house to the airport, depending on traffic conditions (weather and trucks and slow drivers).  Well, he didn't know I had to be back in Los Barriles by 1pm, so he was quite relaxed about leaving until I told him!  "I have to be back by 1"!, I yelled upstairs.  "Oh, you didn't tell me."  He replied calmly.  I had him drive and he made very good time!!!  I made it back to my choir practice just 6 minutes late.  Of course,  on the way to there it rained buckets near the airport, and it sprinkled consistently all the way home.  In fact, it rained most of that day, and reminded me of an Oregon type rain:  steady and soaking.  I'm sure my garden loved it, and we'll now be having another new crop of weeds sprouting. 

Speaking of garden, I don't think I told you that I've planted some seeds over a week ago, and most things are now sprouting.  I've got Blue Lake Pole green beans, lettuce, spinach, arugula, yellow squash and zucchini, and sugar peas.  I haven't ever tried the peas before, so it's kind of an experiment.  The package says they quit setting on peas at 76 degrees F, so hopefully they'll be ready to eat in late February or early March when it is still a bit cool.  My beans are just about ready to string up to the wire, and I'm hoping for another good crop like last year's.  I just love to open and serve those jars of home canned green beans, and they're just about gone!

Sunday was the first day in our local church's new location, and everyone loves it.  Ben and I got there very early to set up the projector (loaned for use by Ryan) and to make the final touches to the sound system.   

We had the use of a borrowed portable amp, and it didn't do a very good job, but everything else went well.  We don't have a screen yet, so the light colored wall worked pretty well for the PowerPoint show of songs.  Eventually, we'll have the projector hung from the ceiling, a screen so we can see it well, and a  decent sound system.
 
In the meantime, I just used my piano's internal speakers, and Ray said the bass was nice and loud from that corner.  

One last photo for you, of the "wild life" inside our house.  We have geckos in here.  Can't keep them out.  We've decided they're OK, because they do eat bugs.  However, this gecko could not possibly get this critter down, but he sure looked like he was thinking about it very seriously.  He eventually gave up that night, but tonight...I don't see the moth!!! 

This is definitely an example of "his eyes are bigger than his stomach"!!!  

 OK...I lied.  I have ONE more photo for you, a historical one.  This is from February 1, 2001.  Ben & I and our friend Ellis stopped at the Tropic of Cancer marker south of us and Ben took a photo.  Many of you have stopped here and taken a photo of this old ball.  Well.... save your photos, because this ball is gone.  The government has put in a pretty new sculpture there.  Maybe I'll stop and take a photo of it when I go to the airport later today.  By the way, those of you who know Ellis...he had a slight stroke a few weeks ago and is currently in Eugene, scheduled for surgery to clean out his left carotid artery on Wednesday.  He and Marsha hope to be back here on Christmas day.  


More photos are in our December 2012 Picasa album.  

Hasta Navidad,
Tus amigos en Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey (Ryan is still in St. Croix!)

Pic-of-the-Week for December 11, 2012

Hola Amigos,
Have you got your Christmas decorating done yet?  Are all of your gifts wrapped and sent?  Annual Christmas letter written and addressed and stamped?  .....  Me neither!!!  I must admit that we're rather lazy about decorating.  I haven't sent "regular" Christmas cards out since we moved to Baja, so if you're looking for one from us in your mailbox, you can quit looking now!  For my "gifting" this year, I had a variety of flannel material just sitting around in boxes, so I decided to make a quilt for a needy Mexican family.  Our church has started a food program called "Pan de Vida", or bread of life, where we provide the funds for a reliable and responsible Mexican family to buy a weeks' worth of staples for needy families in the area.  The families are provided with rice, beans, flour, oil, and milk, and they are all very grateful.  At this time of year, we add clothing, sheets, towels and blankets.  Here's a shot of the blanket I finished yesterday.
You can see from this photo, taken this Monday morning, that the weather is still very nice, although we've had a few cloudy days.  And it does get cool at night, so I'm sure this little blanket will be appreciated by some little person!  I still have more fabric, so I might be able to put together another one before Christmas....maybe!
Ben was able to get a hold of our carport contractor the other day.  They've got a few things to finish up, and have been pretty scarce!  He sent over a worker to install our gargoyle drains, and maybe now we can get some paint on the thing!  We weren't able to find any matching what we have on the original house, so we ended up with these....
They're cute and fun.
And we've come across so "real" iguanas lately.  Ben scared one when he lifted the lid on the propane tank to check the gas levels.  He was probably at least 1 foot long.  We often see them lounging on top of the tall cacti just beyond our fence in the photo above.
We visited some friends this weekend to check out their latest solar project.  They built a swimming pool several years ago, and have installed solar water heaters on their roof.  They also have a solar water heater for their household use.  This time, they're installing panels that will provide electricity to their house, and will eventually feed back to the grid and lower their bill even more!  We like that idea, and hope to do a project like that in the not too distant future. 
Our friend Paul claims that these panels are guaranteed to stay on the roof with winds up to 170mph.  (We do get hurricanes here)!  I imagine we would put something like this up on the guest bedroom roof, so when you come visit us, you wouldn't even notice them.
Ben had an interesting experience in La Paz last week.  Just when you think its safe to drive our 2006 truck, the serpentine belt breaks!  At least he was in La Paz when it happened, and not out in the mountains on the way to or from La Paz!  He had our interpreter friend Dalia with him, and she was due to a dentist appointment at 5pm, but the belt broke just before that.  She missed her appointment while calling a tow truck and riding along to the Ford dealer.  She was able to reschedule it for the next day, because she was already planning on spending the night with her niece there and catching the bus back to Los Barriles later that week.  5pm was too late for Ford to find a belt that day, so they said call back around 11am the next day.  Ben found a nice restaurant and hotel room (he had no suitcase, no toothbrush or comb, no contact solution!) and spent the night, and says the La Paz taxi services are great, and relatively inexpensive.  (Ben really misses you not living here, Barb!!!)   Fortunately, we do have cell phones now so he was able to call me and let me know what was going on.  The next day he called Ford and they said "we can't find a part in town.  We've even called Tijuana...."  At that point, he and Dalia went to the biggest parts house in La Paz, and yes, he had the part.  Ford doesn't buy from them because they don't extend credit!  GRRRRRRR!  Ben paid for the part, and they promised to deliver.  They did, eventually, and Ben was able to get home...long after dark, but safe.  In the meantime, poor Dalia had two dentist appointments that day; one in the morning for the dentist to examine her, and one in the afternoon to pull her tooth!  Ouch!  And believe it or not, Ben wants to go back to La Paz this Wednesday!  At least he knows where the parts house is located!!! 
So, we always look for the silver lining, and on Monday night, it was just over the hills! 
More photos are posted in our December 2012 album. 
Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for December 4, 2012

Hola amigos,

Well....after all that excitement of the car show last week, Ben and I both came down with nasty colds.  He got his first (he claims he got it from his brother Greg), and he generously gave it to me several days later.  As a result, we haven't gone far from the house or take many photos.  That doesn't mean that the excitement hasn't continued!  

You just never know when I might grab a camera to try a different shot.  We bought a couple of solar hummingbird lights last summer, and I love how they glow at night.  They even change colors!  This was just hand held, so it's a little bit blurry, but not too bad.  This little guy will greet you near our kitchen door.

Our English speaking church will soon be meeting in a new building.  The search team found a brand new building available just down the street a ways from the old building.  This one was built to be used for quinciñera parties or weddings.  We'll start meeting there on the 16th of this month, after a few more changes are made (like more electrical plugs in strategic spots!)  There will be a lot of work to do to get it ready, but we have lots of volunteers!  Everyone is excited about it.  This photo is from last Sunday when we did a tour after church.  There is even a pretty nice kitchen area! 

 

 

  Monday should have been a fairly quiet day here at the casa, but you just never know when the excitement will begin!  CFE (the national electrical company here in Mexico) showed up at our driveway on Monday morning to clean the breakers on the electrical pole there. 

 It always amazes me to see this operation, and I had to take a photo of it for you to appreciate it.  I could get really close now that we have that new carport deck (although I didn't!)

Later, another Mexican crew showed up in official looking pickup trucks and vests.  They told me that they were the government citrus team.  They spray citrus trees for free to eliminate diseases.  I said "go for it!"  Then a few minutes later, one of them came to me and showed me a leaf from our lemon tree.  He told me it was diseased, and had Huanglongbing (really!!) disease (they gave me a brochure).  And it needed to be removed.  Oh no!  But what could I say?  I certainly don't want that disease spreading any more than it is (I did read up on it on the internet).  There is no known cure.  The best thing is to remove the entire tree and not replant in that area.  Fortunately, the lime tree right next to it seems to be OK.  And they did pick all the lemons off of the tree for me before they hauled off the limbs.   

 

So now, Ben and I are trying to decide how to best use that area.  That is near where I plant my corn crop, so it may expand into that area!  I did convince the fellow with the ax to leave enough stump for Ben to pull out the roots with his truck & winch.  They were just going to cut it down right to the ground, but I'd think you'd get suckers coming up from that forever.  Best to just pull the whole thing.

Since we haven't really been anywhere this week, I dug back in my files to January 2009 and came across this photo of drying chili peppers.  This is near the little town of Los Planes, north of us about 40 miles.  Need a little heat in your food?  Here you go!  

I have started a new December Picasa Album.  Not much there yet!  

Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey  

Pic-of-the-Week for November 27, 2012

Hola Amigos,


Woohoo!  All that work and time and money and effort and elbow grease and scraped knuckles paid off for Ben this weekend in La Paz.  His 1928 Model A Martin-Parry took top prize in the car show we attended.  Pretty good, out of about 35 various vehicles. There must be a huge number of photos of this car on cell phones and various cameras in the La Paz area!  Everyone wanted a photo, then they wanted to know how much it was worth, after they read our description, and that there are only 2 in the world that we know of!!!  (We usually told them we don't know).  Thank you to everyone who contributed by bring down bolts and wiring and miscellaneous parts in their luggage when you came to Baja!  He appreciates it VERY much!

This photo shows why I think Ben really goes to these things....the Quaker State girls were back.  Ummm....where's the car in this picture?


I stayed at the plaza where the show was held until about 3pm when I went back to our hotel to relax around the pool.  At 7pm, Ben called and said the organizer was having trouble getting the plaques printed, so he and his brother Greg didn't get back to the hotel until about 9:45, after all the door prizes and plaques were distributed.  Good thing he got his generator working so the headlights work in the dark!  (Of course, the little bitty tail light needs some help!)  Then we returned to downtown for dinner.  We are truly Mexicans now when we go to dinner at 10pm!  

Ben's brother Greg arrived on Friday.  Ben picked him up from the new terminal at the airport, which Greg says is just like any other airport in the world now, without that old 3rd-world feel to it.  Ben says it is just aggravating that they've changed the parking areas, and there is not a good place to park anymore to pick up our friends and guests at that terminal.  He was able to find an elevator to get to the lower level, and there were seats to sit in to wait, and he didn't have to deal with the pesky time-share salesmen.  Taking the elevator avoided all that.  Of course, Ben was probably in an "off-limits" area, and won't be able to get back there eventually, but it worked this time!  This is a shot of the brothers in front of a substantial door in La Paz. 

I thought you'd enjoy this photo of some palapa hombres, tying the palm leaves onto the roof...barefoot!  I guess shoes would harm the roof, so they go up there and work without them.  This new building is located below us in Vista del Mar.
 

I've started a new quilt, and I've got 1/2 of the blocks for it done.  I arranged them on our bed the other day and took a shot.  Can you guess how many blocks this is, or where one stops and another starts?  Believe it or not, there are only 6 blocks in this shot.  I like this pattern because the blocks are BIG, but the result looks much more involved than it really is.   

 

 Last Thursday was Thanksgiving, and our 2nd smoked turkey was just as delicious as the first (yes, they cook breast side down).  There were 10 of us around the table, including our neighbor Peter, who just made it back after an extended trip to the US.  We're very thankful for friends and neighbors and family who attended with us.  Our daughter Rebecca shared some recipes with us that I used, and she used some of mine, so that's how we shared Thanksgiving with that part of our family...oh, and a Skype call or two!  

And Saturday!  Woohoo!!  The University of Oregon managed to beat Oregon State rather handily.  A friend of our down here is an OSU graduate, and he insisted on making a bet with me.  If OSU won, I would have to wear a OSU t-shirt to church on Sunday morning.  If UO won, he would have to wear a UO shirt and hat to church on Sunday.  I told him, "sorry, I won't be there to see you wearing your Oregon shirt"  (I was in La Paz at the car show).  Well, Paul had to model a beautiful shirt and hat that Ryan supplied for him, and Ryan also took a photo so I could enjoy it.  Doesn't he look great in this outfit? (There's an O on the hat, too...hard to see)  And here he is, for all of you to enjoy, too! 

I have posted more photos from the car show in our  November Picasa Album 

We hope you enjoy your last few days of November as much as we are enjoying our sunshine here.  

Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey 
 

 

Pic-of-the-Week for November 20, 2012

Hola Amigos,

Wow!  It's already 11:30am as I'm starting this!  Good thing I warned you this would be late this week.  Not only did we have a parade, but when we got home, Zoey decided to eat a bee, and she didn't come out on the good side of that deal!  I had to run her into the Vet, whose office is about 15 minutes south of here at Las Cuevas.  Zoey got a couple shots, and is now resting peacefully at my feet under the desk.  I hope she learns to leave bugs alone after this.  She's looking more like a Rottweiler this morning! (Fat face!)

The parade was fun!  It always chaotic first thing when we get there, with floats (which should be in the front) arriving at various times, kids arriving at any time and a queen and some princesses who never did arrive!  We had one princess this year, and she selected to ride in the back of the pickup (which Harriet was driving), so Ben ended up for the first time with no "royalty" in his vehicle!  (He did pick up some hitch-hikers about 1/2 way through the parade, and they had a ball!

In spite of the shortage or royalty, we had a good time, and I had no trouble driving the pickup in the parade.  Most of it was coasting or stopped and waiting anyhow!  The problem I have is driving at speed; double clutching when changing gears (up or down), going over topes (speed bumps) and getting it in the right gear afterwards, and not grinding the gears!!!!  Argh!  Need a bit more practice, me thinks!  Hopefully, Ben will be willing to let me do that more often than 2 days before the parade!

Ryan was our official photographer, and he took a bunch of photos which are posted in our November Picasa Album.  Take a look... there are some really cute kids here.  By the way, this parade is commemorating Revolution Day here in Mexico.  "November 20th is Revolution Day in Mexico. The day commemorates the beginning of the Mexican revolution that ran from 1910 to 1920. The revolution was begun by the arm struggle against dictator/president José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori called for by Francisco Madero."  This revolution went on for 10 years.  Now, it's a great time to celebrate and have a parade!!  

Last weekend we visited with a Bend grade school/ Jr. High friend of Ben's, who has been coming down to Baja for 20 years; specifically to a place called Las Frailes.  It is about 1.5 hours south of our house.  The road is paved within about 15 miles of Las Frailes, and that last bit is typical Baja off-road; narrow, sandy, dusty and rutted!  Katy and her husband Mel, who are from Sisters, Oregon, pull their 5th wheel trailer there to an arroyo every year and set up camp.  This year they have solar panels on top of their trailer and storage batteries, and it is working very well for them.  It was fun for Ben & Katy to get re-acquainted!
 

The neighbors invited us over to their 5th wheel for happy hour (a couple also from Sisters, Oregon).  They were all a bit jealous of us having a "real" house, but are very happy with their rent-free trailer life in an arroyo!  

And a rescue story with a twist:  We had been seeing a herd of 5 or 6 cows being followed by a dog in our neighborhood.  She was obviously the herd dog, raised to watch the cows.  Unfortunately for the dog, she had a too-tight rope around her neck, and she was too shy to let anyone get close enough to remove it from her.  Some new neighbors, who are in the process of building a house near us, took it upon themselves to help her, and lured her into a dog kennel using hot dogs.  They caught her, took her to the vet (where she spend 4 days) and had the rope removed.  It was an ugly process, and she had to have stitches around her entire neck.  Her new owner said she wouldn't have lasted much longer with the rope as it was, what with maggots and fleas and other awful things working on her neck.  Now, she is doing just great.  I met them on the beach the other day walking Chicha (short for salchicha, or hot dog).  She is a sweet dog, and very, very fortunate these people rescued her.

We have a busy week ahead.  Ben is going to smoke another turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner, and that process starts today (brining for 24 hours).  Ben's brother Greg is coming on Friday, and this next weekend we're taking the Woody to La Paz for another parade and car show.  Phew!  Sure is a good thing we're retired! 

Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey "fat cheeks" 

 
  

Pic-of-the-Week for November 13, 2012

Hola Amigos,

Another week gone, and the weather is turning more "winter-like" all the time.  We've had several cloudy days and several very windy days.  We're closing windows, turning the fans down, and wearing some warmer clothes (t-shirts instead of tank tops!)  I've even worn a light sweater the past few evenings when we ate out at open air restaurants!  

 Speaking of eating out, our friend Leo went out fishing on one of those windy days, and caught some nice Dorado.  He invited us to one of the local restaurants, where they'll cook the fish you bring in to your specifications.  Leo brought in 15 pounds for the 9 of us!  When they brought it out, we were surprised at how it had shrunk.  They did admit that they had trimmed it to remove the bloody parts, but Leo (who is a chef at his restaurant in Florence, Oregon) had already trimmed it.  Anyhow, we enjoyed it, and as you can see by the photos, we didn't leave much!  In fact, we ate the whole thing. 
 




<---------Dorado Empanada












Dorado al mojo de ajo, what's left of it!        ------->








Ben finally gave me a driving lesson in the Model A pickup the other day.  I didn't grind the gears too much, but he was grinding his teeth some of the time, I'm sure!  He said a couple times that my jerky driving would have thrown the princess right out of the back of the truck.  I didn't think it was THAT bad, but I do need a few more times to practice so I can get those gear changes nice and smooth.  The dang parade route has a bunch of topes (big speed bumps) so that always adds interest!  We have one more week until November 20, so we'll see!  (We need to be to the parade early in the morning, so count on this letter being late next week, AFTER the parade.)

Some of you ask us what we do for entertainment here, especially since we don't have a TV.  Well...we have quite a collection of geckos in our house...can't keep 'em out.  They do keep our bug population down inside the house.  A little gecko came out from behind our clock one day last week after spotting a little moth.  I took several photos of him waiting and calculating, but missed the quick kill!  

When we absolutely have to watch TV (an Oregon or Oregon State football game, for example) we go over to our friends Ellis and Marsha's house.  I get a kick out of their dog, Roger, who bellies up to the bar on their veranda and watches the beach, while we watch the game. Ellis said the dog used to jump up there to sit, but he fell off on the other side (which is quite a drop) several times, so they trained him to do this pose instead!   He can stand there for a long time.  

I showed you a photo of my old plant with new flowers last week.  This week, you get to see my new flowers with butterfly added.  Butterflies really like this plant, and they flittered around and landed often enough that I got a few good photos.

Don't you just love those little bloom buds?  Perfect little round balls that burst into beautiful bloom!  This butterfly likes them, too!  

Ben went shopping for me yesterday in La Paz.  My old keyboard had some problems...maybe serious, and he'd taken it into a repair man last week.  Ben had been shopping around for a new piano last week, and we decided this week that I NEED to have a keyboard in my house, so he bought me this one...

It is a Yamaha, somewhat similar to my old one, but with a lot more bells and whistles.  Fortunately, that's the owner manual there on the music holder, so I'll be able to figure it all out...eventually.  I'm really hoping that I can record music onto my PC.  There is a USB connection there on the right, and a CD to load on my computer, so it's looking very possible!  Poco a poco! (Little by little).  Then, he called the piano repair man as he was heading out of town, and the fellow said the old piano was repaired and works just fine.  So now I have TWO pianos.  I am truly blessed!  (Ben has two Model-A's, doesn't he?)  We actually have a place to use my old piano, so everything works out just fine.

More photos are posted in our November 2012 Picasa album.  I have made the album public, thanks to my friend Jill, who wanted to look at them last week but found she couldn't get to them.   New photos are at the end. 

Sam's foot is healing nicely.  The vet said yesterday that it looked just fine.  

Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for November 6, 2012

Hola Amigos,

November is here!  One of my favorite months in Baja, since it is a transition month between the hot humid days of summer and the cooler, windy days of winter.  We have windy days, and we have perfectly calm days, probably 50 / 50.  There is opportunity to use the kayak, walk the beach with the dogs, or garden in comfort.  There are also days when sitting on the veranda with a cool drink and a good book is the best option, because it can still get hot!!!  We've just got to be flexible!  Ben says that working in the garage on his cars gets more comfortable as it gets a bit cooler, because we never have installed the fans that we designed for the garage.   Maybe some year!  Anyhow, he is working on getting some new parts installed on his 1928 Martin Parry Woody.  Turns out there is a parade and car show in La Paz on November 24th and 25th, so we are planning on going and taking the Woody.  Our friend Hector Manuel Amarillas has posted a really cool poster on Facebook...our car is on it!  See it down there at the left bottom?

 
The Buick convertible to the right of our car won top prize this last spring.  Ben has also promised to teach me how to drive the 1929 Ford Model A Pickup so that we can take both vehicles to the parade in Los Barriles on November 20, Revolution Day.  Ben thinks he's going to be giving rides to the queen and all her court, but I told him the queen may have trouble riding in his car with her tall crown.  They don't mess around here.... crowns for the queens are substantial!!  Here's one from last year's parade. That's the queen riding in the back with the tall crown.  The princesses just have the little tiara.  We'll see!!! 

Halloween was this week, and yes...we had our contingent of trick-or-treaters.  They love the chocolate Hershey kisses and little candy bars we hand out.  I also gave out some sugar suckers that are coated with chili powder.  Believe it or not, those are very popular, and every Mexican kid loves them.  I don't!  I'm glad I managed to hand them all out to the kids (and their parents).  

 

Zoey is not too sure about that little devil in front!  

   This little one is not pouting...I think she's just eating a Hershey's Kiss! 

We have met some new friends.  Janet is a Eugene, Oregon gal, and Tony is from California (we won't hold that against him).  We took them on a ride on Sunday to Hotel Punta Pescadero, then on to El Cardonal, and back around to Los Barriles on the "Road to Nowhere" (which actually does go to El Cardonal these days...until it washes away!)    We came across this huge boulder on the top of a pile of dirt.  It was originally from a cut and fill operation when they built the road, and I think it is now someone's bad idea of a joke.  Someday that boulder is going to tumble down.  But in the meantime, someone has added a shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe at the bottom!  Amazing.  Add your candle at your own risk! 




 
 Sam had kind of a rough week.  He had a thorn in his paw that the local vet removed, but he still had an abscess.   So, I took him in to have the abscess taken care of, and decided to have his teeth cleaned at the same time.  (That's adding insult to injury!  He had no food or water that morning, and was a bit upset with me for feeding Zoey and NOT him!)  Poor guy. 

 

 Then I made him wear a bandage wrap so he wouldn't chew out his stitches.  It was very stylish, but he didn't care for it much!

He is doing well.  He hasn't removed the stitches, (he stops licking it when I ask him to stop)  and he has a few days worth of pills remaining, Then I'll take him back to the vet again to check it out.  He's a trooper!  In the meantime, he and Zoey have discovered a lizard residing underneath our car trailer, so they've been harassing that poor thing daily!  At least they are working in the shade!

Here's another flower that is blooming since we removed those invasive trees from the next door lot.  First time it has bloomed in about 5 years.  This is called a Bird of Paradise plant, although it is completely different than a "normal" Bird of Paradise.  It is still very pretty!

I have started a November Picasa Album for your enjoyment.  Included in the photos this week is a recent roof pour (yes, your casa, Mary) and more from our Sunday afternoon drive.

Hasta la proxima semana,
Tus amigos de Baja,
Ben, Harriet, Ryan, Sam & Zoey (and a few harassed lizards!)