Pic-of-the-Month for January 2024

 Hola Amigos,

January has not been a busy month, since Ben and I were spending a lot of time recovering from our nasty colds and cough.  I actually still have a cough hanging on, and I'm more that ready for it to be done!  So, we have been staying pretty close to home most of the month.  

We did go out to Los Frailes so Ben could help Mel put a new awning on the fifth wheel trailer that is permanently parked on their rental campsite.  Of course it wasn't easy, but between the two of these clever do-it-your-selfers, it got done!  No fishing trip this time, since it was just a one-night stay, but we still ate very well!!  

We had another cow invasion into our yard one night this month.  She ate roses, bananas, Hibiscus, lettuce, radishes, cilantro.....  ARGH!!!  I think she and a calf came in through our neighbors' from the beach, and jumped over a wall into our yard.  We're trying to convince him to strengthen his fences.  Ben has also discovered there is a brand new law that the rancher is responsible for damages his cows do on or to your property.  Look out ranchers who are raising free-range cattle here!  Here's a picture of some really pretty roses.....before the cow ate all the flowers and a lot of leaves!

I hadn't planted my green beans yet, but I have now, so I'm hoping they don't come back!! Fortunately, last year was a bumper bean crop year (and no cows in the yard), and I still have jars of beans left.  We've been enjoying them all season! 

We have 4 bunches of bananas developing right now that hopefully will get ripe before we leave in late June, and some Papayas that are getting bigger.  Can't wait for those to get ripe...they are so sweet and tasty.  

Ben started doing some more pruning on our newer lot to the west of our house.  He has a lovely wood pile for next season, and a few more things to prune before he calls it good for this season.  This mesquite wood burns quite nicely after we let it dry for a year.  We also burn all the twigs and leaves in our outdoor fire pit, so nothing gets hauled to the dump.  We've discovered some nice plants in the "jungle", including a Queen of the Night cactus (which is a rather ugly plant!) and several trees without thorns, which is a real good thing in a Baja garden! (This area of Baja is classified as a Tropical Thorn Forest as most all plants have thorns). 

There have been some gorgeous sunrises and sunsets this month.  I am usually not quite up yet for the sunrises, but this sunset lit the sky on fire a few weeks ago!  Wow!

 

The highlight of January for us is our wedding anniversary on the 27th.  We went to La Paz, stayed two nights at a very nice hotel, and ate at two of our favorite restaurants.  What a treat, especially since Zoey stayed at home! Our friend Dalia was kind enough to dog sit for us.  While in La Paz, we managed to do some shopping and get a few rare items.  Ben found a nursery that had Hoya plants, several varieties.  One he got is a Hoya Kerrii, which has thick, heart shaped leaves.  The other one is a normal Hoya.  No blooms on them right now, so we'll have to see what they look like later on in the year.  Here's the Kerrii plant to the right.  We used to grow one of the normal ones as a house plant when we lived in Salem.  I'm anxious to see how these do here.  Here's a picture of a flower we saw on a Hoya plant at our hotel in San Quintin on the way south this year.  I wanted to snip a start off that plant so badly, but was a good girl and didn't do it!! 

Here's the last picture for this time.  Cousin Tom took a picture of us after our anniversary dinner on our hotel roof top.  We've been married 56 years, by the way!  Amazing.  And yes, we were bundled up.  It was a bit breezy, and probably 68 degrees.  That's better than the snow and ice on our Oregon Anniversaries! 

I have created a 2024 January album with a few more pics. 

Company is coming this Saturday!   Check with us for availability.  We'd love to have you visit.

Hasta la proxima mes,

Tus amigos de Baja,

Harriet, Ben & Zoey

 

Pic-of-the-Month for December 2023

 Happy New Year, Amigos!

I did it again.  Procrastinated long enough that it is the next month before I get out our Purkey news.  I do have an excuse this time... Ben and I both came down with nasty colds and didn't really feel like even sitting close to a computer screen!  We are on the mend now, hopefully, and will survive to tell the story.  

We had another busy month... and I made my hiking goal and surpassed it, putting in 730 miles.  However, in a phone conversation with my 5 year older sister Sharon, I asked how many miles she's walked this year, and she nonchalantly said, "oh, I don't keep track, but usually 4 to 5 miles every day (7 days a week!)"  Good grief.  That's about double or more what I do.  So, I have my work cut out for me to try to keep up with her!!  I haven't done any walking other than around the house so far this year, but maybe I'll get out later today with Zoey.  She'll not walk too fast for me!!  At least I have lovely weather (usually) and beautiful places to walk.  This scene below is from one of my morning walks. 

 

 Ben took his 1956 Willy's Jeep to another car show in La Paz early in the month, and I had agreed to go play piano for the community choir at a Los Barriles Art Fair on the same day, so I couldn't go with him this time.  He didn't win any prizes, just participated with the Jeep for the first time instead of a Model A.  (It was easier to tow to town than load on a car trailer).  It's the one right in front.

We went camping in our little trailer twice this month, both times to Los Frailes to visit Mel and Katie.  Mel took Ben fishing both times.  The first trip they caught a couple of nice Dorado.  The second trip, they managed to hook onto a nice Marlin, that took them forever to bring in on the light-weight tackle they were using!  They were both sore the next day!

Ben just smoked a nice little batch of Marlin today, and it is pretty tasty!  

On the second trip out, my sister Shelley was with us, and she very much enjoyed her time in the wilderness.  Very relaxing!  We walked the beach and found shells and coral, and as usual, we ate very well!  

We also took her to the Santa Rita Hot Springs, and found that there is a new one, just downstream from the original.  And the rancher running it, has his booth set up before the original rancher's!  We got sucked in, and it was OK, but not as hot as the original.  It will be interesting to see how they get along!  

The original hot springs is up stream to the left a bit.  These folks put in a lot of effort; nice stone walls, nice solid bottom to the pool, lawn chairs, a place to change.  They'll probably do just fine. 
 

Shelley and I in front of a huge old Cardon cactus. 

On December 15, we participated in the 3rd annual ATV Fun Ride to help support Feeding the Hungry.  It was a great success, a lot of fun (in spite of taking the wrong track and having to turn around in very tight quarters!) and made a bunch of money for Feeding the Hungry program.  We rented a side-by-side with Mel and his nephew, and had a grand time on the back roads trails.  It was also a Classic Movie challenge, where you could answer questions about movies and the stars in them at various "rest stops".  Challenging for sure for Ben and I, who rarely watch movies!  

This is the starting lineup at the beach, where we were having some of the highest tides I'd seen this year!  (Don't tell the rental place, but we did get the ATV a bit wet with salt water!!  Oops!)  

One really special thing we did this year is get invited over for Christmas Morning breakfast of Pozole at our friends Daniel, Ingrid and Ruben's house.  Daniel and Ruben's Mom fixed it for us, so it was really special, and something we've never had before.  

Chicken, chicken broth, lots of hominy, and all kinds of good things to put in it.  It was very good!  

We had several friends over for Christmas Dinner at our house later that day, and it was very nice!  The Lemon Meringue pie I'd made was a hit!

 Katie and Mel came to our place right after Christmas to have a good place, and lots of tools, for Mel to work on their car, which wasn't starting.  They figured it was the starter, and it took a day to get it out! (With Ben helping).  They took it to a place to have the starter worked on then re-installed it.  Still didn't start.   They could get it started by shorting across the solenoid (by applying an ice pick to the starter solenoid!).  They drove it back to the original guy who repaired the starter, and he found that wiring from the ignition to the starter went through an after-market security "thingy", and a wire was bad.  He replaced the wires, and it started!  They were very, very happy.  And it only cost $700 pesos ($41 US).  They were going to stay and spend New Years Eve with us out partying.  By that time, Ben and I were pretty sickly, so they decided to go back to Canyon Camp.  

New Years Eve, Ben was in bed by 6pm, and I was there by 7:30!  We heard a few fireworks at 11pm (by my clock) and welcomed in the New Year!  

I've created a December 2023 photo album with a bunch more pictures in it.  Enjoy!  (Most pictures are captioned if you want to know what in the heck it is!!)  

Hasta la proxima vez (this month?  Next month?)

Tus amigos de Baja,

Harriet, Ben and Zoey