Pic-of-the-Week for January 8, 2013

Hola Amigos,

January decided to be winter.  We've had cloudy weather and wind and cooler temps for the last several weeks.  It was 57 here for a low this morning.  Thank goodness the sun is shining brightly today!  Many of us living here notice that it is often cooler in our houses that outside.  That's a good thing in the summer...not so good in the winter!  And most homes don't have heat sources, because they're not needed most of the year.  But let me tell you, our little propane heater is very popular this time of year!  Yesterday was balmy, with very little wind, and it was very nice to sit outside in the sunshine to read my book.

 

 

After we turned out the lights last night, the wind started blowing like crazy!  We found things blown helter-skelter on our patios this morning!  Crazy!  (It usually doesn't blow at night, unless there's a hurricane going by!)  

Our dogs love going to the beach, even on the windy days.  They're a little unsuspecting of the wind on the beach at this point, as the arroyo is nicely protected from the wind. 

 
When we got out there, though, the wind was blowing the sand about knee-high on me, so I knew it couldn't be pleasant for little dogs!  We explored just a little bit and headed back home!  Ears were blowing!!

 
Ben has started work on another "home improvement" project.  We've been battling termites since our house was built, and last year noticed that they were eating the plywood in our counter top, and the oak around the edge of the counter.  They can't do much damage to the cabinets themselves, as they are made from melamine with oak fronts, and they don't like to eat plastic and glue (thank goodness!)  But they eat the cabinet bases, and they're working on the crown molding on the upper cabinets, and wherever they can find easy access to plywood.  Ben removed the set of drawers by our back door to get to the base.  It was just a shell; the termites had done their work on it! 

 You can see the trail coming up from the floor (they did stop and work on the base before they went upstairs to the counter top!)  Ben managed to get the new base built and re-installed in one day.  He made it out of melamine (in the back where you can't see it) and some exotic hardwood we had on hand that is supposedly termite-proof.  Here's the finished product.  You can see that the base wood is quite a bit darker than the oak, but if the termites don't eat it, that's fine with me!  We'll be taking the counter top off sometime this winter, and replacing it with granite.  Ben is hoping that the other cabinet bases are in better shape and won't need to be replaced.  I told him he could replace them when the cabinets collapse on top of the bases!  (He didn't think that was funny!)  
 

Another project we've started (but someone else is going to do the work, thank goodness!) is solar water heating.  We'll be praying for sunny days the rest of this winter for sure!!!  Hopefully, it will be installed next week, and we'll report on it then.  We are looking forward to using a lot less propane for water heating in the near future.  

My garden is doing well.  The pole beans have reached the top wire, and I'm hoping they start blooming soon.  My stock of beans I canned last year is just about gone!  I'm looking forward to fresh ones.  I also planted sugar snap peas for the first time here in Baja, and I'm curious to see how they do.  And so is Zoey (the dogs like to get up in the beds and dig, but they're being pretty good...mostly!)  These are the peas.  At least we don't have iguanas eating our veggies like they're doing at our friend's garden!  
 

 Here's my weekly flower shot.  I don't know the name of this bush, but it blooms year-round.  It was a wonderful addition to the garden.  I really should try sprouting the seeds it has produced from long skinny beans. 
 
There are more photos posted in our January 2013 Picasa album.  

By the way, for you University of Oregon Duck fans.... GO DUCKS!  We got to watch them beat Kansas State at our friend's house (with a nice warm fire going in the fireplace) and enjoyed every minute of it!  They should have been the team playing Alabama last night!  

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