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

Hola Amigos, y Feliz Navidad!  

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from beautiful Baja California Sur, Mexico!  

  

Those are a few photos of my meager Christmas decorations!  

Don't forget the reason for the season!  



We have no family close by this year, so we will celebrate with friends down here, and hopefully have some video phone calls with our wide spread family!  We did enjoy chatting with Rebecca and Tim the other day, making plans for our summer, but the kids were already in bed so didn't get to chat with them.  Ryan has a job in Shanghai now, but probably doesn't get the Christmas Holiday off.  Hope to see baby Olivia in video or still photos....hard to believe she is 5 months old already!  

Our "at home" projects are moving along.  The '30 Model A still hasn't been started due to shorting problems with the ignition switch and the distributor.  Ben spent a lot of time trying to figure that one out, and now, he really needs to send that unit back to the manufacturer and get it fixed....in the US!  In the meantime we've been working on upholstery and getting the seats in.  We got the front seat in, as well as some side panels behind the door and panels in the rumble seat area, when Ben decided those back panels needed to come out to put in some wood slats to stiffen the area.  So, back into the rumble seat area to unscrew multiple screws to get the things out.  Here's a 2 for 1 shot of the Model A and the Jeep out front!  



That was discouraging enough to start working on the Jeep again.  First effort to put the Jeep tail lights in and he discovers that the holes where the tail lights go are a lot bigger than the light fixtures.  Grumble, grumble!  (It had some diamond plating metal in that area previously).  Not sure what to do there!  Ahh... work on cleaning up and putting the windshield on.  (He just started that project, so not sure how long that one will last until he runs into a problem that can't be easily resolved!

Another ongoing project is moving our phone line.  When we first built our house in 2002, the phone line was to the east of us about 50 yards.  They then changed the line to follow the road that curves around our house to the west and south.  They hooked our line to a pole way to the southeast of our casa.  That line goes UNDER the road in a PVC pipe that has been exposed for about 6 months on part of the road.  I keep piling rocks up around it, and piling dirt, but it won't be long before some big old truck drives over it and cracks it, thus compromising the lines (ours, Ryan's, and our neighbor Peter's house).  So, we had a trench dug from the closest pole to our monument in front of the house.  We can do that now since we bought the neighboring lot!  It's much shorter distance, no roads go over it (other than our minor use of it to get to our new lot) and is nice and deep!  By the way, it cost $40 to have that trench dug, and a few trees pulled out, by the backhoe.  It would have taken Ben a couple weeks to dig that much, if he'd survived.  That is HARD dirt, and there was a BIG chunk of concrete that the construction workers used to bend rebar when they built our carport, directly in the middle of the trench!!  It took the backhoe a while to get it out.  You can see it sitting there to the left of Ben.

Our favorite plumber / electrician, Carlitos,  came and attached proper conduit piping to the monument, and laid the pipe in the trench for us.  We're waiting for the back hoe to come back and fill it in.  Then the Telmex guy should be here any day (hope hope hope!) to move our phone lines to our new conduit.  Picture below shows Ben working with Carlitos in the trench.  Our monument is the pink thing there on the right.  

   
The garden is doing OK.  We did have an invasion of cutworms and other nasty critters that ate the maturing lettuce, so we pulled what was left, replanted, and will try again.  The garden area on the new lot is fenced in to keep the bunnies out, and so far I've got two rows of 1" to 2" high corn, a couple tomato plants and some cucumbers planted in there as well.  My bush beans did produce, but not a lot... this was an experiment to see if I could get some beans before I plant the pole beans a bit later.  Yeah, I could, but not very many!  More compost / fertilizer / good dirt?  Who knows.  Maybe less wind would help!  

Yes, it has been windy, and the kite-boarders are loving it.  We just hope that it calms down enough in the evenings so we can go out and enjoy a fire in our little fire pit.  The ambiance is nice, and we've also got a lot of trees pruned and areas cleared on the new lot.  Ben has been using the pitchfork inherited from his Dad a lot on this project!  

We had company!  Chrys and Gary were here for a long weekend to celebrate Gary's birthday.  They had a great time and wished it could have been longer.  Sam was thrilled with Chrys, because she picked him up and held him at the table, just like Ryan does.  Chin on the table, and all is well in Sam's world!  (He doesn't get up there during meals, by the way.  Just before or after.)  Chrys also joined me on my morning walks, which was nice.  She was amazed at how fast Zoey can move on the way home!  

The big waves in this picture are due to the strong winds.  

Chrys and I found this Moray Eel on the beach the other day.  He had tried to eat a fish that was caught in a net.  He couldn't swallow it, so they both died.  

Well, on that cheery note... 

More photos have been added to the 2018 December album.  

We hope you have a lovely Christmas and a prosperous New Year.  And maybe you'll think about coming to visit us in beautiful Baja in 2019!  

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

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

Hola Amigos,

I apologize for not writing and posting a second Pic-of-the-Week in November.  I guess we were busier than I thought with all our social obligations AND running the "Feeding the Hungry" Fashion Show.  It was a busy month, and we're hoping we can get back on some of our "important" home projects!  

We took a day trip amidst all the activity and went out to Los Frailes to visit our friends Katie and Mel at their Canyon camp.  While there, Katie spotted a Road Runner right next to their pickup and camper.  I grabbed my good camera and started taking pictures.  This guy was so calm and didn't mind having us around him, chatting quietly, clicking pictures right and left!  Pretty amazing!  I got within 5' of him.

I have a really cool video of him  here:  Road Runner video.   There are also new November pictures in our 2018-November album.

We ended our trip to the "wilderness" with dinner in La Ribera at a new restaurant there.  The owners used to run the restaurant "Trinidad" at a trailer park in La Ribera.  That place burned down several years ago, so they've started this new one and the food is delicious!  It is Providencia Restaurant Bar & Grill.  We recommend it highly!

November 20 is Mexico's Revolution Day, a very important holiday here.  Of course, we got out our Model A's and dusted them off and drove into town for the parade.  This is the one time a year I get to drive the '29 pickup, which is fine with me.  I'm not a big fan of double-clutching, and we do have way more topes (speed bumps) than most places, which involves even more shifting!  

I got the princesses in the pickup, and Ben got the "junior" royalty (three cute elementary age kids) in the '28 Woody.  

After the parade, we worked full speed ahead on the Fashion Show.  In spite of a few bumps in the road, this year's Fashion Show, which helps feed poor  families in Los Barriles, did even better this year than last year.  We had changed a lot of things; venue, dinner instead of lunch, open menu, no reserved tables, more jewelers, more clothing vendors....you name it, we changed it!  Everyone seemed to have a great time, and we're already thinking about how to make improvements for next year!  

Here are some photos taken by the professional photographer who donates his time and efforts.  Neil Howe photos.   If you look hard, you might see someone you know! (Me and Ben!)

Our last exciting event in November was a concert by Miguel de Hoyos, our favorite guitarist!  You can check out a video by him in the 2018 December album.  

Right after the Fashion Show, but in December, was this autumn's annual car show in La Paz.  Ben loaded up the 29 Pickup and we headed to La Paz.  We have fun with this, especially the parade on Saturday night.  Most Mexicans haven't seen a car that old still running.  They think they exist only in movies!  We try to beep our oo-gah horn as often as possible, especially when we see little kids!  In fact, we were asked if the horn (claxon in Spanish) worked OK by a waiter at the hotel / restaurant where we stayed!  I assured him it did.  Our hotel is only a few blocks from the venue, so we got a lot of walking done.  

The Model A was parked right in front at the show, and it attracted a lot of attention.  

Here is a popular spot for photo taking!  

In December we're looking forward to a few guests, time to work on the Model A and the Jeep, and more gardening.  My first lettuce crop was doing well, and then got eaten in just a few days by cut worms and other nasty critters.  They didn't touch the spinach.  And I have beans on my bush bean plants, and we've been enjoying some very tasty radishes.  

Hope you are all staying warm, wherever you are.  

Hasta la proxima vez,

Tus amigos in Baja,

Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for November 6, 2018

Hola Amigos,

Happy election day in the US.  Hope you've voted!  And that's all I'm going to say about that.  

I am going to try to keep these short, with plenty of pictures and few words.  I do tend to get rather verbose, given a chance!

Since our last POTW (Pic-of-the-Week), we have gotten into our routine here.  Unfortunately, Ben got sick last week (stomach issues) and spent a good part of the week in bed.  He's trying to make up for it now!

Gardening:  

One of our few Hibiscus is blooming.  This one is obviously a hardy one, and likes where it's planted!  

We have been doing some clean-up work.  When it's in the shade, we work on the west side of the house hoeing out the needle grass.  It comes out easy, but most of the lot is covered with it.  Phew!  

We got a delivery of good farmyard compost yesterday from a rancher in San Bartolo.  I'm going to enlarge last years corn growing spot.  I'd hoped to put in a raised bed, but I guess not this year.  Instead, we'll invest in some good wire to fence out the critters.  I have a nice crop of Blue Lake bush beans started, and some radishes, lettuce, spinach and squash in our existing beds.  I'm hoping the tomato seeds will sprout any day now!  

Fashion Show:

We have also been spending a lot of time working on the "Feeding the Hungry" Fashion show, which Ben and I started heading up last year.  We're doing a LOT of things different this year; change of location and time of day, ticket sales, no reserved tables, no set menu... Hopefully, it will be easier for us.  The proceeds from this fashion show go to supplement the program our church here started, feeding almost 30 families in town who are the poorest of the poor.  Last year we were very successful, and we hope to continue that this year.  The show will be November 29th.

Cars and things that are supposed to run:

When Ben hasn't been sick, he's been working on the Model A Roadster.  There has been a lot of time underneath, with me on top holding the nut, or being the "gofer" to get his tools.  It was coming along nicely, when he realized he needed the doors.  Well, he didn't have them!  He called the body shop in La Paz, and they said, "No, we don't have them.  We're sure you loaded them in your red truck."  Ben looked everywhere, and they were not to be found.  They looked again in La Paz, and found them behind some BIG heavy metal.  So, they had been scratched a bit, and need to be painted again.  He's hoping to get them this weekend.

Here's that classic look of the Model A.  Many of the parts that need to be installed are in those boxes on the shelves to the left.

 Do you know how hard it is for a 70+ year old to get inside this car and drill holes for rivets and/or bolts!  Ugh!  He has it jacked up a bit so that he can more easily get under it.  

This picture shows the blue color pretty well.  The green stripe on the gas tank is a reflection of our kayak hanging above it!

Fun stuff:

Who has time?  We did take some time for some visiting with friends and shopping some sales this last weekend...and eating out.  When we get the Jeep done (who knows when?) we will take it out for rides and exploring.  It has a ways to go, but the engine runs nicely.  And I guess my morning beach walks with Zoey are fun.  I'm always finding garbage to pick up, and once in a while I find treasures, too.  Yesterday, I found a nice Craftsman screwdriver!  And I'm always picking up glass.  I have a pretty good collection.

And of course, the burros are in the barrio, and I just happened to have some carrots for them the other day.  Probably the best thing they've had to eat in a while!

Can't forget the Trick-or-Treaters!  Had quite a few this year.  Good thing Ben went shopping for candy two times when he was in La Paz.

I have started a 2018 November photo album.  I might even put captions on the pictures.  

No pictures of Olivia this time.  😞  Grandma is having withdrawal pains here!  

Hasta la proxima vez,

Tus amigos en Baja,

Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for October 23, 2018

Hola Amigos!

We are back home in Baja, and enjoying the cooler (than summer temps) weather here.  We've had some cloudy skies due to Hurricane Willa, which is hitting Mazatlan south of us as I write this.  Ryan and Charlotte held down the fort for us here as baby Olivia continued to thrive.  They left this last Saturday for Los Angeles to get the babies Chinese traveling papers (a visa to enter China).  We will miss them and chances to snuggle this beautiful girl!  

Our trip was not the normal one, but was mostly uneventful, which is a good thing when you're traveling 2000 miles, with the 1000 road miles in Mexico always interesting!  

We left Bend on Sunday, October 7, and stopped at Summer Lake Lodge for breakfast.  We were pleased that they had a help yourself breakfast buffet for a decent price, so we were able to eat quickly and get back on the road.  That's a favorite place of ours to stop...seems like we travel Hwy 31 a lot in our summer travels!   I always like to stop a little further south down the road and get a couple pictures of the old schoolhouse.  It's in a gorgeous setting, and the community keeps the building up nicely.  

We made it to Minden, Nevada that afternoon, since we've found a hotel there right next to a block sized grassy park that the dogs love!  We also visited with a Baja friend of ours while there (Carlee), and practiced eating Mexican food at a restaurant within 1/2 block of our hotel.  While traveling on Sunday, I posted a few pictures on Facebook, and some friends from WAY back commented on my post that they had left that morning at 7:30 from La Pine on their way down Hwy 395!  We were just a little bit behind Jim and Gwen (I worked with Jim at Dept of Veterans' Affairs in the 80's and 90's).  We caught up with them at Topaz Lake the next morning, and had breakfast in the Casino with them there.  Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures, but it was great to visit with them.  They were on their way (earlier than usual) to attend Jim's class reunion in California, and we were on our way (later than usual) to go home.  

Highway 395 is our route of choice, and this is a beautiful time of year to travel through there, with the colors changing, and a skiff of snow on the mountains.

We crossed the border around noon on Tuesday, with no issues at all.  Of course, we weren't towing a Model A that didn't run!  (We weren't towing anything...very simple way to travel!)  I called our favorite hotel in San Quintin, and found out that there was no vacancy that night.  Oh no!  We were going to meet our friends Katie and Mel the next day in that town.  So, we punted, and called the Baja Cactus Hotel in El Rosario and had another long day.  We had to stop for road construction at Santo Tomas, but the wait wasn't too long, and there were vendors selling treats!  I bought a frozen Yaka treat.  (Google "Jackfruit")  This road construction will be a major improvement over the narrow, windy road that goes up the mountain here, as they are doing some MAJOR cuts and fills! 

The next day was supposed to be short.  We were only going about 76 miles and stop in Catavina to spend the night, and wait for Katie and Mel there.  Well....we got to Catavina, along with a whole bunch of other people involved in a Road Rally, who were all spending the night at the only hotel there (in the middle of nowhere).  So, since there was no cell service, we waited and waited for Katie and Mel to show up, because we needed to go on another 146 miles to Guerrero Negro and the next viable hotel!  They showed up at 3 in the afternoon, we quickly told them our dilemma, and they decided to go with us instead of staying in their campers at a campground just down the road (they were traveling at a slower pace than us with friends also with a camper and hauling a cargo trailer).  We were also trying to get ahead of Tropical Storm Sergio before it came across the middle of  Baja.  We made it to our hotel in GN, but no news from Katie and Mel on our cell.  That meant they were somewhere north of us, at least 20 miles, maybe further.  We hoped they were OK!  (They spent the night with their friends in the Pemex gas station lot in Jesus Maria...it was getting dark and there were cows out wandering by the road).  We finally heard from them the next morning just before we were leaving at about 7.  Thank goodness they were OK!  

That night we stayed in Loreto at the Oasis Hotel.  It wasn't Saturday night, like we'd planned originally so we could enjoy the Clam Buffet again, but it was a very comfortable place to spend our last night on the road.  We heard from Katie and Mel as they went through town just a little behind us.  They and their friends wanted to get as far as a trailer park in Constitucion, so they didn't have to go through the mountains south of Loreto in the rain (possible rock fall and/or slides are always a possibility when it rains in Baja).  We spent a quiet night in our hotel, and I heard some rain showers and wind, and there were a few palm leaves down the next morning.  

We got on the road early the next morning, and we had wind and showers off and on all the way to Ciudad Insurgentes, on the west side of Baja.  Later that day, Katie told us that where they camped the storm was extremely loud (thunder and lightening) and that they were camped in a lake!  The rain was substantial!!  

The rains this summer has made the desert here beautiful and green, and all the flowers are blooming like crazy.  We saw a lot of this yellow flower carpeting the ground!

We made it home at a decent time, greeted Ryan, Charlotte and Olivia, then went out with Katie and Mel for tacos!  (They spent that night camped at our house...we finally got together!!)  

Now that we're home and unpacked, Ben is diving into his various car projects.  The Jeep is here now, and it actually runs, but it still needs a lot of work, and a paint job.  It is a good possibility we'll be able to use it sometime this year!  The Model A, which Ben brought home on a Friday, and we left for Oregon on Saturday, needs lots of work, too.  The body shop put the body on the frame, but didn't put in the protective welting, or use the correct nuts and bolts where they should have, so he's taking it apart and putting it back together!  Tomorrow he's going to La Paz to pick up the final pieces that didn't quite get painted due to a dust storm right at their deadline in August.

I'm re-organizing the upstairs bedrooms since Ryan's family left, so we'll have two guest rooms available for your use when you come visit, one which has AC!  We'll even let you use Ryan's weight set!  😉  I've started my morning walks with Zoey, and am enjoying the fresh air and cool mornings.  Sam forgot himself and went the first day, just to make sure the beach was still there.  He hasn't gone since!  I saw a Heron sitting on a power pole this morning, and there are often people fishing on the beach.  I hear the Sierra are in!

I didn't create a September photo album, so I'm doing a combined September / October album.  It will have our Oregon vacation and our trip back, plus some granddaughter pics!  2018-Sept-Oct is the link to the album.  

Hope to hear from you all!

Tus amigos de Baja,

Harriet, Ben, Sam & Zoey

Pic-of-the-Week for October 4, 2018

Hello, Friends!

Several folks have been asking why no blog yet this summer since we've been in Oregon.  It was Ben's responsibility for the short time we are here, and we are heading back to Mexico on Sunday October 7th.  I can just say "he's been really busy".... vacationing!  So, because there is a "need to know" just what we've been doing with ourselves on our short Oregon vacation, here's Harriet's version!

The good news is, we found a "new" truck!  Hooray!  It's a 2011 Ford F350 4x4 with a 6.7 diesel engine.  We got a good deal, and a good trade in on our old red truck.  We also got a good price on a used canopy, and Ben is very happy with his new purchase.  We bought it from South Commercial Auto Sales in Salem, as recommended by a friend who buys his trucks from them.  The purchase of this new truck was one of the main reasons we decided to come to Oregon this summer...and we are glad we did!

We haven't been too far out and about.  We traveled to Eugene and Salem, visiting friends and family on our short time there.  There was an impromptu Purkey reunion for a morning while we were in Eugene.  It was good to see all Ben's brother's and sisters-in-law.  


Since we were close, we walked down the road and visited the grave sites of Ben's parents at West Point Cemetery, where my Malpass Grandparents and Young Great-Grandparents are also buried.  

 This is my father's parents, John and Hazel.  The H in her middle name is for "Harriet".  She lived 92 years!  Grandpa died when my Dad, the oldest of 6 sons, was 13.  

My Uncle Dave Malpass is the most recent addition to the cemetery.  He passed last December.  Notice the little John Deere tractors on his grave.  Appropriate, since he was a farmer for many, many years.  He was the youngest of the 6 brothers, and the last surviving.






In Salem, we visited with several friends who wined and dined us nicely!  Thanks Paula and Dan, and George and Carolyn.  George and Carolyn also gave us a place to park our trailer for a few days when the RV park ran out of spaces.  We hit up our favorite thrift stores in the area, and bought some fresh fruit (peaches and apples) at Olson Orchards.

When we went back to the Bend area, we did a day trip with Ben's brother Ken and wife Bea to the balancing rocks near Lake Billy Chinook.  It's always fun to see these rocks, and it's a miracle they're still balancing! 

Its a beautiful spot with Mt. Jefferson and Lake Billy Chinook making great backdrops! 

Then, we finally took a long awaited camping trip to Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge, one of our favorite places to visit in Oregon.  George and Carolyn went with us, too.  To start out our trip, we managed to get a reservation at the Cowboy Dinner Tree in Silver Lake.  (That way, we had enough food for several days after!)  A local rancher had this set of horses available for carriage rides at the restaurant when we got there.  (No, we didn't go for a ride!)  

We got our favorite camping spot at Hart Mountain, and set up our camp.  The dogs all love it there.  They are mostly leash-less, and generally stay close to camp.  They did get a bit grassy, however!

We took a drive around the park one day, and counted over 100 antelope!  

The hot springs were lovely, as usual.  And the people you meet there!  You hear some pretty interesting stories! 

The lakes below Hart Mountain were again very full this year.  It made a pretty scene coming down off the mountain!  The road was very wash-boardy this year.  Made for a pretty miserable ride, and we think that caused our camp trailer to get a broken leaf spring on the axle.  😕  That will be repaired tomorrow.  

Ben and Carolyn took some time to do some rock-hounding several days, so Ben will be bringing home a box of rocks to play with this winter.  

We are 99% packed, after trailer repairs on Friday, we will haul the trailer to it's winter parking spot at Tygh Valley (about 70 miles north of here) on Saturday, and we will leave for Baja on Sunday. 

Our dogs, minus Molly on the left, are ready to travel, but they have enjoyed the green grass and cooler weather.  (Brrrr....it's freezing here!)  😉

I am looking forward to cuddling with Olivia when we get back.  She's growing up quickly!  

Until the next time,

Your traveling in style friends,

Harriet & Ben, Sam & Zoey