Hola Amigos,
It is the end of May, and the weather has already been getting plenty warm! Its in the high 80's or 90's most days for high temps, and night time temps only get down to mid 70's, so the AC has been in use for at least part of every night. The humidity is also getting up there, which is the hard part for those of us raised in Oregon, where it's plenty wet, but not hot and humid! (According to my Dad's old gauge, the humidity is 75% right now, and the temp is 88). We may just sneak out of here a bit early, even though I just read an article about high temps in Oregon in the next several weeks!
I can tell you about a critter we see in our garden who appreciates this warm weather... it's a good sized Black Spiny Tailed Iguana who hangs out on the wall between our place and the neighbors, near our veranda where we have most meals. I had to get out my "good" camera to get this picture of him. We've had fun watching him. I often see him on the back side of the house near my clothesline (still on the other casa or the wall). He has another iggy pal who isn't as big, but they seem to get along ok. He's probably 2' in length, counting the tail.
We have also enjoyed the bird watching this time of year, when the quail couples start bringing out their fluffy little babies. We count about 4 couples, and one poor single guy who cant seem to find a mate. Only one of the pairs has a batch of babies. There were 7, and now there are 4. Still waiting for the others to show up with new hatchlings any day now! I also used my "good" camera for these pictures, but they don't hold quite as still as the iguana!!
Ben, as usual, has been working on multiple projects. He finished the cabinet repair in our bedroom closet, and had enough left over material (and a drawer base) to build some drawers for the bedrooms upstairs. One for upstairs is almost done. That project took a lot of time and effort! He has been shutting down the garden little by little. I cut down my bean row the other day, and he pulled them out this morning. He also pulled all the remaining beets, which did very well this year. He spends a lot of time repairing our 20 year old irrigation lines, which seem to spout new holes with regularity! I guess it doesn't help that we're on the newer city water line, which has very high pressure (and they don't really regulate it...no gauges!!)
We've been hoping that the Jeep would be finished "any day now", but alas, the parts the mechanic ordered didn't work, so Ben is going to go get the Jeep and put it in summer storage (towing it home) and get the parts when we're in the US this summer. Man, this has been a long process. We sure didn't get to use the Jeep much this year. Seems like it spent it's season in La Paz, at various mechanics!! Next year!
I finished my latest quilt top, which we're going to use in our Oregon trailer. It looks very Mexican, with it's red and green and lots of hot chili pepper print fabric. It has been a fun one to do, and since it's for me, doesn't have to be "perfect". I've made up most of the layout, except for the "Spinning Star" blocks. We'll take it to Oregon and send it to my friends June and John in Brownsville to finish it; backing, batting, and long-arm quilting. She is even willing to sew on the binding!! What a deal!
Anyhow, that's 4 quilt tops I've put together this spring.
I think that's a record for me! And, I still have a ton of fabric remaining, so need to keep putting more together.
We have our "house closing for the summer" list out, and need to get started on it. We will have house sitters again, and we'll have a bit of time to train them on the care of our casa over the summer, and what to do in case of hurricane. They'll be here in a few weeks. In the meantime, we're enjoying our time here, in spite of the heat. (Thank goodness for AC when we need it). It will be very different for us traveling without a dog or two. Kind of luxurious, actually! Ben is threatening to get a new dachshund pup this summer, so I guess I'd better enjoy the dog-less-ness while I can!
I have been walking as regular. There aren't many people on the beach, but I saw an interesting one the other day. The man was beach fishing, but also running a drone. The drone landed just as I got to his spot. He told me he used the drone to take his fishing line out because he couldn't cast it that far! Crazy, but clever!
This is a photo of the man hooking up his line to his drone again.
If you want to see us this summer in Oregon (July - September), let us know, and we'll see if we can schedule you in. One of our first priorities is getting doctor visits out of the way. Hopefully that won't take too long.
I have created an album for 2024-May with a bunch more pictures.
We'd love to hear from you!
Hasta la proxima vez,
Tus amigos en Baja
Harriet & Ben
