Pic-of-the-Month for March 2022

 Hola Amigos,

Well, it looks like it's getting to be a habit for me to wait until month end to write to you.  Not many days left in this month, so I'd better get to it!

Ben has been missing out on car shows for the last several years due to the pandemic, so he got his cars collection all cleaned up, and pulled them out of the garage for a little show in our driveway!  That's a '56 Willys Jeep, '30 Model A Roadster, '29 Model A Pickup and '28 Ford/Martin Parry Depot Hack.  The construction workers from next door appreciated seeing them!  (They were working on our extension to the cattle guard at the time).  We took the Woody to breakfast one day, and the pickup to church on another day.  We need to do that more often!

Speaking of cattle guard extension, we had to bite the bullet and add three more metal bars to the existing crossing.  The hombres from next door did it for us, and gave us a pretty good price.  It's nice not having to open and close our new side gate all the time to go in and out (we had to show the Mexicans how to use the Eastern Oregon rancher's latch!) We are feeling much more secure now with it being a really LONG jump for that guy to attempt to cross.  Hopefully, he won't tip-toe across!!

OK... do you know how to use this latch?   ---->

Our "Feeding the Hungry" organization did not do a fashion show this year.  It's a lot of work to organize the show, and we didn't want to have to cancel at the last minute like we did in 2020.  We did, however, hook up with the Lack Family for two of their concerts at La Playa and took donations and had 50-50 Raffles. We didn't raise as much money as we do at the Fashion Show, but made enough to support several more families for a year.  The Lacks were very gracious to let us do that, and we appreciate their generosity, as well as their fantastic music!  

Good friends Katie and Mel were able to attend one of the concerts with us before they left town, and they appreciated it very much!  We also took them on a La Paz tour day, and let Katie wander around downtown where she had spent some time quite a few years ago.  It was pretty much just like she remembered it, and brought a few tears to her eyes!  We had a nice dinner out, and spent the night in La Paz.  They spent the night at Maranatha Park in Centenarrio in their camper before heading north the next day.  

Cathedral in downtown La Paz, across the street from our hotel

Ben always has several projects going.  He rebuilt a cabinet for our friend Ruby.  She pointed out some termites in the frame (the cabinet door fell off!) When he took the cabinet home, the whole thing was riddled with termites, so it was a complete rebuild (except for the doors!!)  

He's cleaned up his cars and right now his shop is neat and tidy.  He's been playing around polishing and cutting some of the obsidian he picked up last year, and it's turning out very nice.  I made him a vinyl apron to wear while he's working on the polishing, since it works with water!  He's also got out his chain saw recently and has been doing some serious trimming.  We have a gardener that like to get out and cut and trim things, too, so we have plenty of fuel for our fire pit!  

I'm still walking and have kept up with my monthly goals so far this year, although I got a cold and pretty much missed three or four days this month.  I'm just a smidge away from 200 miles so far this year (195.8).  Zoey has pretty much given up on walking with me; she only goes a little way every couple of days.  It's a bit lonely, but is still a lot of fun to see what I can see on these walks.  I saw a Jack Rabbit yesterday.  A few days ago it was a seahorse washed up on the beach.  I even saw a buck deer about a month ago!  That was a surprise!   I'm thinking about starting a small quilt, but haven't had that "urge" yet.  I'm also practicing my Spanish daily with an online program (DuoLingo) that is quite good.  Not quite fluent yet!!  Give me a few more years.  (I still can't make out much of what the construction workers are saying next door, even though they talk (and yell!) plenty loudly.)  

The garden is doing well, in spite of that dang bull who ate my beans down to nothing.  Amazingly, he didn't eat the beans or the blossoms; just the leaves.  I've watered them well, and planted more seed in the row, and we'll see if I can get enough to can a batch or two.  Can't imagine not having some home canned beans in my pantry!  

Ben has canned several batches of his pickled beets.  They are so pretty, and tasty, too!  We've also harvested a banana bunch, and are trying to share them around a bit.  They are so good!  The Papayas are prolific, and we are also sharing them with friends.  Yum!  

Oh, and I just have to show you this example of Mexican ingenuity.  How do you hold up some droopy wires over a driveway?  Let's use that old ladder no one ever uses!!  Aha!  This is at Rancho Buena Vista.  I walk by here daily, and got a real chuckle out of this one.  (Some of the wiring around here is pretty scary!)  

More photos are in our March 2022 album.  It includes a couple grandkid pics. Enjoy!  

Hasta la proxima vez,

Tus amigos en Baja

Harriet, Ben and Zoey