Pic-of-the-Month for April 2024

 Hola Amigos!

It's the end of a warm, sunny April, so I'm sitting down at my PC to let you know all the exciting things we did this month.  

Let's see.... we gardened, we made pies, we cooked and canned tomatoes and green beans, we cleaned up a major termite mess in our bedroom closet, and Ben built a new, bigger cabinet, so my fabric stash totes will fit better.  We had a new net for a palapa upstairs, and while they were here, we had the palapa guys tear down our little old one on the south side of the bedrooms and rebuild it. Didn't take them but a day to do this one.

In the garden, Ben continued to harvest tomatoes, so I've been using about 3 pounds of them each time I make a batch of Huevo Ranchero  salsa.  Ben experimented with some recipes a couple years ago, and he came up with a really good one.  It makes over 1.5 quarts, and is nice to keep in the fridge.  (Let me know if you want a copy of his recipe in anticipation of your summer tomatoes!)  We've also got enough green beans, in spite of the cow damage, to can a couple of canners full, and they are still producing fairly well.  Unfortunately, I'm not real happy with the beans, as most of them are flat, not nice and round like normal Blue Lake green beans. They seem to taste ok, but they tend to also have strings on them.  Oh, well.  At least I have something in the pantry for next year!  

At the beginning of this month, I pointed out to Ben that the termite damage in my shoe drawer was awful, and things were starting to fall apart.  So, he rebuilt that cabinet, and then rebuilt the drawer cabinet next to it that holds most of my clothes.  He also had to re-do several drawer fronts.  Then the big cabinet next to the window had to go.  It was also fairly well eaten after 22 years.  After he had the old one out, I did some calculating, and asked if he could make it wider than the original so I could fit my fabric stash totes in it.  He agreed, and is in the process right now of trying to squeeze it in there!  It's going to be very nice!  He was fortunate that he found the melamine and oak to do the rebuilding down here, as his supply was low!  And...during this process, he noticed a shelf support in his shop had fallen.  It, too, was termite riddled, as well as the old wood from his 1928 Woody that he'd saved.  That wood is now fuel for our camp fires in the evenings!  

 

While Ben has been doing wood work, I made another baby quilt, and I've also started on a bigger one for me.  I got the baby quilt done, which had a time-line. It's another very colorful one which will probably keep the baby awake... sorry about that, parents! 

The one for me is not a rush, so I've been averaging about 2 squares a day.  (Four squares so far!!)  Poco a poco!  Again, I'm using fabric I've had for a long time.  It's been very convenient having the totes stacked around the bedroom (my sewing room!)  I've found all kinds of treasures!  What is surprising, that after making 3 baby quilts, my supply doesn't seem to have gone down at all.  And when we cleaned out the closet, I found even more treasures hidden here and there. What I seem to be running out of is decent thread to sew all these seams!  

Never one to be out of home improvement projects, Ben decided it was time to put a sealer on our roof top.  It's flat, and when it rains, the drains are not built quite low enough to get all the water off.  So, while he ran the pressure washer this morning, I swept like crazy trying to push gallons of water out those stinkin' little holes.  Ugh!  Anyhow, when we don't sweep it when it rains, water will sit on the roof, and we have a few places that it has leaked.  We will pay Martin, an excellent painter, to fix the cracks and put on the sealer.  

We were able to spend a little vacation in La Paz and Centenario this last week.  I had a dermatology appointment and a dentist appointment on Tuesday, then we stayed in our favorite La Paz Hotel, Catedral, and had a lovely dinner out.  The next day, we did a bit of shopping, and headed over to Centenario to spend a couple days with our cousins Tom & Karan, who have a new home there.  We ate very well on this little trip, and set our diets back a bit.  Tom and Karan are becoming La Paz experts and know where to go to eat!  We really enjoyed Friday night at a restaurant in Centenario called KM14 (because....it's at kilometer marker 14!)  Excellent steaks and salad and potatoes and veggies.  We will be back! In fact, we have to go back to La Paz this next Friday to get the stitches out from my dermatology appointment last week, so we'll spend the night again.  (Not with T & K, as they've left for Oregon).  Also, one of these days, Ben's Jeep is going to be completed with all the repairs it has gone through.  We keep hoping!  

I'm still walking, although my walking companion Jill left town...something about a granddaughter's wedding she had to go to.  I'm still ahead of my goals, and have managed to get up to the Flag Monument more than once a month.  Now that it's getting warmer, it's time to keep an eye out for Rattlesnakes, so I've been doing more beach walking.  And look who went walking with me when we were in La Paz!  Wow!!  This is a rare picture!   

Our April 2024 album is here for even more photos.  

We are looking forward to May.  It's my favorite month down here.  Not too hot, not windy, and the days get longer.  (Mexico doesn't do Daylight time anymore, so we don't have to change our clocks when we drive north to Oregon in the summer!)  Also, the garden is winding down, so Ben will have less to do.  Maybe we can take a ride in that newly completed Jeep???  We can dream! 

We hope you are all well and enjoying your spring season.  (I guess Central Oregon had some snow yesterday!  Crazy!)  We will be here enjoying Baja until late June, when we will meander up to Oregon.  We'd love to see you when we get there (between doctor appointments and other obligations!)  Keep in touch!

Hasta la proxima vez!

Tus amigos en Baja,

Harriet & Ben