Pic-of-the-Month for April 2026

Hola Amigos,

Well...April zoomed right by!  It was a warmer than normal month, and we are wondering how hot May and early June will be.  Thank goodness we have some decent AC units for sleeping, and in our kitchen/family room, when we need them.  We do use the one in our bedroom at least part of most nights, but haven't turned on the family room one yet.  

We saw this guy the other day sitting on his beautiful nest...in Hotel Pescadores, about 10' from the bar (just in case he got thirsty!)  Unfortunately, our friends say the eggs were compromised the other day.  Hopefully, the birds will try again. He was very calm while lots of people took his photo!  

 Easter was in early April, and as usual, the beaches were very crowded with campers.  The photo below is from the Flag Monument looking south.  Campers were right next to each other for several miles up and down the beach!  (With my curious pups, I chose the route less crowded, and hiked with them up to the Flag Monument.  OK... we drove to the base, but we still got in our mileage!)  

  

The campers all pretty much disappeared early the next week, so we were back enjoying our "private" beach.  The pups especially enjoyed finding left over treasures. (Ugh!)  Anyhow, this is what it normally looks like.  I can walk several miles some days and not see another person.  Crowded days, there will maybe be a couple ATVs and fishermen, and some folks hiking.  I love it!  And, there have been some nice low tides, like in this photo, so walking is easier.  

 

 

The city water for Buena Vista had a serious pump outage in April.  We were without water coming into our storage tank, or available for outdoor watering for several weeks.  We have a large storage tank under our garage floor which holds over 5000 liters, so it lasts a long time when we're careful.  However, this time, with much of the garden still growing, Ben had to hand water from the only outdoor faucet that is attached  to that tank.  We had hoses strung everywhere!  Fortunately, the shade cloth he just installed helped, and they were able to repair the pump after several weeks.  Of course, we never got the straight story.  The water company folks said "it's almost ready to deliver water to your pipes", and the water truck guys said "No, they don't have the new pump yet, it's still broken"!  Sigh.  

Anyhow, when the water was getting low in our tank, Ben decided it was time to clean it (first time in 24 years!) as it had a little dirt in the bottom.  He hooked up a little pump and PVC pipes to get the last foot or so of water out, then vacuumed up the rest.  He also added a bit of Purex and mopped that around.  Then, we waited for a water truck to show up!!!  Fortunately, they got our message and delivered some water within a couple hours, so we didn't have too long to worry.  Ben tipped them nicely, and they came back and gave us the rest of their truck load after filling some neighbor's tanks.  (The water from the city was free, by the way).  Then, the fellow we tipped came back the next day and filled our tank all the way!  Woohoo!  And the water came back on the next morning from the city pump!  

In this picture, he'd already unhooked the line that ran down into the tank to suck the water out and was mopping on the Purex.  (He said he's never doing this job again!!  And no, you can't hire him to clean yours!)   

The garden is starting to wind down.  Ben still picks a basket of tomatoes every day, and we have the best lettuce of the year now, although we have to water it several times a day or it will wilt.  We've also had a couple bunches of bananas get ripe, and we've been enjoying them.  They are so sweet! 

Ben is starting to get some things done for our summer schedule, including moving our little camp trailer over next to the carport, and tying it down!   We actually got it moved without too much trouble yesterday, and both commented later on that that was the easiest move ever.  I think we're finally getting it figured out how to wiggle it into that particular spot (without killing each other!) 

The good news is that we've found a reliable house sitter for this summer.  He's excited about it, and we hope we don't overwhelm him with too many things to do!!  We are planning to leave here June 10.  

Our latest album is here:  April 2026  Most photos have captions.

Blossoms from our new orange tree

We are headed to La Paz for a few days this weekend to celebrate a birthday, and life without dogs!  (We have a dog sitter at home, don't worry!)  I personally am looking forward to some quiet days and some shopping and nice restaurants, and maybe a couple nice long walks on the Malecon.  Speaking of walking, I'm reaching my walking goals, but they're just a bit less than last year.  I'll blame the dogs.  They do tend to wimp out on me fairly regularly!  I will not carry them, so I let them rest for a bit, then get them up on their feet to hike on home.  (They do just fine off leash on the beach...zoom, zoom, zoom!)  

Hasta la proxima vez,

Tus amigos en Baja,

Harriet, Ben, Gus and Pancho