Pic-of-the-Month for February 2022

Hola amigos,

It is again the end of the month.  I'm not a procrastinator....I've just been busy!  Kinda.  

Anyhow, this short month is done, and we have done some fun and interesting things.  

Here's a high point.  I only seem to have a few orchids that survived this year, and this is just starting to bloom.  It is making up for those I lost, I guess!  There are a lot of buds on it, so we'll be enjoying it for a long time.  

Cousins Tom and Karen spent about a week with us over Super Bowl and Valentines, so we did some fun things with them.  Katie and Mel came and went, and we did some fun things with them, too.  All 6 of us went to Rancho Buena Vista round bar to watch the Super Bowl.  We did manage to find one channel that broadcast it in English, so that was a plus!  We didn't get to watch the advertisements, but I hear they weren't that good this year anyhow!  We were the "crowd".  They did serve carnitas which were very good.  Tom took this picture... 

We were invited by our neighbors to go with them and a hiking group up to Flat Top.  We had done it a year ago, and that was when I fell going down the trail ...flat on my face!  Ben didn't want to go, but I went with them and made a successful trip...with my trusty Palo de Arco walking stick.  It worked great.  

Here's some bad news;  we've had a black bull getting into our yard, and he's been seen tip-toeing over our cattle guard to get in here.  Dang thing!  Ben and Mel did some work on it to try and keep him out so he couldn't use the edges of the cattle guard, but that didn't work either!  He's eaten some beautiful Hibiscus, some of my green beans, most of the lettuce (he couldn't get into our corn), and some flowers like Zinnias.  On the Saturday morning we were getting ready to go out to Frailes for a few days again, Brian came knocking on our door and said he'd chased him out again.  Since we were leaving momentarily, Brian volunteered to string a gate across the cattle guard.   And guess who was watching while Brian was doing this!?  

Somehow, when we were gone this Saturday and Sunday, Dalia said he was inside again. We may have to rebuild the cattle guard and make it a bit wider.  He has been seen jumping it.  So, if we have to do that, Ben made the corner gate easier to open and latch if there is construction happening in the main driveway.  And while we were out there doing that, we cleaned up outside the gates of our driveway.  It all looks neat and tidy now!  

We did another trip out to Las Frailes since Katie and Mel will be leaving to go north in a few weeks.  Ben and Mel caught some fish on the one day the ocean was fishable (too windy other days). These are White Bonita.  They cut up some for Sashimi on the beach, and froze the rest.  Good eating!  

See the whale?  No?  Me neither! 

Our final adventure this month was our annual whale watching trip to Magdalena Bay.  We invited neighbors Brian and Hope, and some Mexican friends Ingrid and Daniel.  We didn't see quite as many whales as we have in the past there at Puerto Chale, and our boat had 10 of us touristas in it.  One couple was seated in front of us, and I gave up after 20 minutes or so trying to get any pictures with my nice camera, since those two were always moving to the best vantage point, and standing in front of us!  Ugh!  He was also moving quickly from side to side of the boat making it list one way or the other!  I decided to act as the counter balance.  When he moved one way, I scooted the other!!  He finally stopped doing it when I moved up to their seat!  (His companion was standing on the seat in front, so there was room for me!)   Oh well, I've seen whales before, and maybe this was their first time.  (Next time, Ben says we're reserving our own boat for us and our friends!)

We spent the night in La Paz and had dinner at a very nice restaurant, Tatanka, recommended by cousin Tom.  We can't wait until they get their home built near La Paz and invite us up for dinner!  (Hint, hint!!)  

 More photos from this month are in our February 2022 Album.  Most of the pics are captioned.  

Some more good news....COVID is on the wane here at the moment.  And we are still healthy.  And happy.  And the grader is out there right now working on our road, and doing a very nice job.  (Small things make me happy!)  

Hasta la proxima mes,

Tus amigos de Baja,

Harriet, Ben & Zoey