New Years Eve Party in Cabo!!

Yes, one of us will be spending New Years' Eve at a very upscale resort in Cabo San Lucas....our 1928 Ford / Martin-Parry!!  Zuri Guzman, Esperanza Resort's Sales Coordinator, saw our Woody at the Car Show in Cabo San Lucas several weeks ago, and asked if it could be used for the resort's New Years' Eve party, which has a Roaring 20's theme.  Ben immediately said "no" off the top of his head.  When I heard about the request, I told him to think about it, and maybe negotiate for a bit of compensation.  We negotiated through our friend Hector Manuel Amarillas, and ended up with very nice compensations for the woody spending 3 days there.

And let me assure you, this is the first time ANY of our vehicles has paid a bit for itself!!  They gave us a free lunch (really!) and they're paying us $5000 pesos per day for the three days the Woody will be there, AND two nights for two couples at the resort.  We found out from Zuri that the cost per day at the resort for a room is $1500!  I innocently asked "pesos?"  She said, "No, dollars."  Yikes! I hope we can enjoy it properly when the time comes.  
*Big Grins*  We'll go retrieve the car on Saturday and wipe off all the fingerprints and tell him "good boy!"  

Here are a few more pics of the day...

Hector Manuel Amarillas and his wife Rosa came along to "translate and negotiate" as needed.  

Pic-of-the-Week for December 22, 2015

Hola, Amigos!

Feliz Navidad!  Merry Christmas!  

We hope that our bi-weekly newsletter finds you healthy and happy and ready for the Christmas season!  And please remember the reason for the season....

Isaiah 9:6  
For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

We are getting ready for 12 to 14 of us here at our little casita for Christmas dinner, and some singing afterwards.  Ben will be smoking two turkeys (we hope to have some leftovers!) and our guests are contributing food and goodies for the meal.  I'm also preparing the music and PowerPoint show for our church's Christmas Eve Service on Thursday night, so we've been busy!  Lots to do and remember.   I have also been busy toting my portable keyboard as our Community Choir group (OK Chorale) has been singing at various functions.   I think we get the next week "off"!  

Ben took the 1928 Woody to yet another Car Show on December 13, in Cabo San Lucas this time.  It was the First Annual Car Show there, so we decided to go, and since it was Sunday afternoon from 2 until dark, we spent the night at a hotel there.  There were over 120 cars registered (ours was the oldest) and lots of motorcycles showed up, too.  Surprise, surprise, Ben's car won primero lugar!!!  That's FIRST PLACE for the entire show.  Wow!  He even won a trophy cup; first time for that!  (He says he thinks it's solid gold!)

And of course, when he was awarded the trophy, he was surrounded by pretty girls (he kind of likes that part!) 

The hardest part about accepting his trophy was getting his car moved to the parking spot where they wanted it.  There were traffic jams to the front of us, traffic jams behind us, and no drivers for the "jamming" vehicles in sight!  It probably took 20 minutes or more to get half way across the parking lot where they had a generator with some spot lights.  And by that time it was dark, the parking lot lights weren't working, and neither were the Woody's headlights!  (One was, but Ben thought that wouldn't look good).  

Afterwards, everyone wanted another picture of Ben, the cup and the car.  I even got in a few of the photos (on other folks cameras).  

More photos of the Car Show are on our December 2015 Picasa album.  

We made our way out to Los Frailes where our friends Katie and Mel Crabb dry camp for about 5 months every winter.  They recently acquired a 5th wheel trailer (new to them, and barely used) so are very happy with all the space, compared to the camper they were using (which is now a guest room).  Mel is a great fisherman, and had recently caught Tuna, so we had barbecued tuna for lunch.  Muy delicioso!  We contributed a Strawberry Pie that topped off the meal perfectly.    

The road from our house to La Ribera is fine; La Ribera to Los Frailes is always questionable.  It's paved part way, and dirt part way, and we were half-way lucky this time in that the grader was there that very day working on the dirt road.  Unfortunately, the road crew repairing the paved part of the road is off until after Christmas vacation, so we had quite a few miles of detour on dirt.  We came home pretty dusty.

The birds are back in force enjoying our offerings of seed and hummingbird nectar.  I caught this cute little guy taking a bath the other day.  

We've seen Cardinals, Grossbeaks, Finches, Jays, Doves, Woodpeckers,.... you name it, they've been here or flying by.  (That includes the Turkey Buzzards who enjoy flying by on the windy days).  

Our garden is producing a few things; zucchini and cucumbers.  They're not very big yet, but I guess that's a good thing.  

Weather wise, we've had a lot of cloudy days, and it even rained a bit yesterday, but today is the kind of day I love; bright sunshine, blue sky, and a bit of a breeze.   Not bad for the first day of winter, hey?  This is taken from our roof. (If you look hard, you'll see some kite boarders there in the distance).  

We all wish you a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

From your Amigos in Baja,

Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for December 8, 2015

Hola Amigos!

It's Tuesday, and 2 weeks has rapidly passed us by.  Can you believe we're already in the 2nd week of December?  Wow.  Thanksgiving was celebrated, another car show in La Paz was attended, and we are both finally getting healthy.  Life goes on!  We are still occasionally eating dinner on our veranda. This was the evening before Thanksgiving, and you can see by our attire that it was not in the least bit chilly!  It was a very enjoyable evening out there!

Hurricane Sandra did come by a few weeks ago (Thanksgiving weekend), but we didn't get much wind, just a lot of rain!  Things are still very green here, and we had another opportunity to see where our roof, and in Ryan's case, our walls leak!  You get enough rain for enough hours, and it's gonna get wet somewhere inside!  

Ben spent the last weekend in November in La Paz at another car show, and the Quaker State girls were again very happy to pose with him in front of his pickup (you can see the pickup, can't you?)

I went up to the car show on Sunday after church on the bus, and it was a pretty enjoyable trip, although the bus was very full.  They even showed a Disney movie (in Spanish) of Rapunzel.  I got to practice my Spanish again!!  It was a cloudy day in La Paz, and pretty windy when I got there, so we left early and skipped the prize presentation, although Ben did take home a certificate for Oldest Vehicle.  His cars are always quite popular, and he has prepared signs to put on the back to explain their history (he's owned the pickup since he was 13!) and that it was restored here in Baja.

Our garden was progressing pretty nicely; the lettuce leafing out, zucchini starting to produce, and then one morning I noticed the lettuce leaves were non-existent!  Yikes!  Turns out a pretty green lizard had made a home in there and completely stripped it!  This is a week later, and it is TRYING to send out some new leaves, but I imagine the lizard is lurking somewhere nearby waiting for just the right moment... (even though my dogs are trying their hardest to catch him and all his brothers!)

There was an Art Fair here in town this last weekend, and it was a beautiful sunny day, with lots of vendors present.  I found a pretty new skirt and some snack food.  There was also plenty of jewelry and paintings and woodwork.  

I finally got a good picture of what I call the "Fuller Brush Man".  This is the truck of the vendor who goes door to door selling all kinds of brushes and brooms and mops and buckets and chairs and pots and pans and whatever you might need for your casa.  He has a loud speaker on the front, constantly advertising his wares, so you can hear him coming and be out front waiting for him to come by!  After studying the picture, I think he has it decked out quite festively! Notice the white and yellow dusting brushes sticking out at an angle from the back!  And things don't fall off, so he knows how to tie things down.  Hmmmm... I wonder what's buried deep inside there....?

Our spindly Agave stick Christmas tree is up and decorated.  Sigh.... I had to unstring all the lights because one string wasn't working properly, and then re-string what was left!  I went easy on the decorations this year, since I seem to do it all;if the rest of the family isn't happy with it, they can put on their favorites!   More photos are in our December 2015 album.  

Hasta la proxima vez!

Tus amigos de Baja,

Harriet, Ben, Ryan, Sam & Zoey