MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A
HAPPY NEW YEAR
I know you all have been
waiting for an update. This was just too devastating and it takes a lot of
effort to sit down and relive it on paper. Our life has been upside down in
many ways. Life sometimes throws a curve ball, this one was pretty rough on us.
I left you off with the sand storm distaster that knocked out neighbor’s boat into
Paradise bringing her down.
https://youtu.be/TdtUsP6u8hU
These videos are from Lupita having a party at the Dorado Condos
And a video from Greg at his Dragon fruit farm
It was devastating to see
Paradise laying on the concret and seeing the damage that was done to her.
Amanda at the yard office was amazing and managed to get 3 big crane lifts to
the yard to pull first Dan’s boat then Paradise off the ground. We had mixed feeling
about that, but finding out they had pulled around 7 boats off the ground
several years ago after a hurricane, we guessed that they knew what they were
doing. Indeed they knew their stuff and carefully lifted firs Dan’s then our boat and by 4pm they both were secured on
stands. Amanda has only worked at the yard for 2 months and never had to deal
with this situation. Do you remember when you were a kid and something happened
to you and grandma or mom’s hug felt so good and was so needed? Let me tell you
Amanda did just that for us. A few months after she pulled this off, I
surprised her with a present and lunch at La Manga (I had asked her boss that I
wanted to do something for her but since I don’t know her she offered to help
and asked her colleges at work, they all said a manicure. One of the college’s
sister was Amanda’s manicurist). Amanda was so happy and said nobody ever has
done something like that for her.
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We are still licking our wounds and our life is sill upside down, but we are grateful that the boat is not a total loss for us.The costly refit of the last 2 1/2 years all destroyed. then the frustrating ordeal to get quote was like pulling rotten teeth. after so many times being told: "you will have the quotes at the end fo this day" over and over while one months later we the marina finally produced part of the quotes. Questioning why it is taking so long the answer was: "Oh, well, the guy is working on a boat as soon as he is done he will get the quote." Well I had to push that one, but it still took more than a month, the rest took
a further couple of weeks.
Rafael the stainless steel guy, he was the only one
who gave us a quote the following day. He literally had tears in his eyes when
he saw his beautiful work destroyed.
The marina suggested Jesus for the rigging
so we called him to look at the damage. He showed up right away, looked up the
mast and rigging and immediately said: the mast is bent, needs to come down and
needs to be sent to San Diego to be fixed. All we saw was $$$$$ signs that was
not what we wanted to hear besides to us the mast looked as straight as it
always was. Yes of course the spreaders were ripped off the mast and the back
stay was not there either, so you can’t judge the mast from that as it was not
secured with all the stays and shrouds.
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He told us he will have a quote by the
end of the week. Days came and went and no quote, no return on the phone calls
or texts either, so Carlos was suggested by a surveyor friend. He was there
right away as well but wanted 200 dollar to go up the mast to inspect and to give quote. He did that, wanted the money ASAP as he got down from the rigging, not to mention he demanded it in dollar, there went our last 2 100 dollar bills. 2 weeks later we received his survey of our rigging but no quote and
thank God no mention of bent mast. But we did not need a survey we need that
after it is fixed. We paid to go up the stick but to get a quote. We never got
a quote from Carlos and after 3 ½ months Jesus finally produced one, but
without mentioning having to send it to San Diego. We now finally (pissed as
hell and patience worn off) could submit our quotes to the insurance who
patiently waited. To this day Carlos has not produced a quote and he is the one
that we need to work on the rigging.
To make things more complicated
we had a little hick-up with the marina manager. Back in June they raised the
rent from US$ 465 to 620 so we paid upfront for 3 more months at the old rate, the
time we thought we would be done and back in the water, but the darn sandstorm
prevented that.
Everybody but us received a friendly email from the marina San
Carlos that as of August 1st the rent will go up again to now US$
920 a months, the reason was added in the letter stating: due to the dollar
loosing value. So we tried to extend our
465 rent but the friendly Marina manager told us that if we get some repairs
done by Star Marine which is part owner of the marina they will only charge us
the dry storage fee which has gone up from 149 to 179. So we left Paradise in
the marina waiting for the quotes, not knowing it would take over 3 months. When
rent was due after our 3 months pay up front I wanted to pay rent of 179, but we got hammered with the 920
dollars rate, which of course I took up with the manager. She said since we haven’t
started work with Star Marine we have to pay the regular rate, whaaaa, besides
at that time we were still waiting for quotes?!!!! But she gave us a deal to
only pay the June rate, great thanks a lot, could have told us then instead of
leaving us to believe we get the dry storage fee. She then suggested that we
place Paradise back into the dry storage, again she could have told us this
then, after all it took Star Marine over one month to produce quotes. I was
pissed and so disappointed but didn’t make a scene as we are stuck in this marina,
but she just showed us they don’t care for us as she let us believe, they only
care to get money from us, my trust in them is gone.
The only good thing about
this devastating tragedy was the insurance they were very good to us and
compassionate, not to mention very patient waiting all this time for the
quotes. Angela the agent also assured us not to worry they will not take our
home away from us. We have been with them for 18 years. So we finally
submitted all the quotes. Angela was overwhelmed and apologized that it may
take her a couple of weeks to assess the damage looking at the photos. The damage was over 14
000 above the value of the boat minus our 4000 deductible, so 18 000. 2 ½ weeks
later she contacted us that they will total the boat but will waive salvage
rights which means the boat will stay in Sid’s name, but as soon as we receive
the insurance money the insurance will be canceled. She then added that when
the boat is ready to splash again and has a survey done to get in touch with
Rachel and she will find us a new policy. The end of November we were paid the
value of the boat minus deductible and the policy was canceled.
In the meantime Sid’s
osteoarthritis riddled hands were so painful the only option left was surgery,
which he had two weeks before the insurance settled, but this I will address
later on. Since it was the time all the snowbirds to return and get their boat
ready to cruise for the winter, the marina yard was overwhelmed with boats
getting ready, so we decided to let Sid heal and tackle the repairs in January
when they are all gone and we don’t have to fight over the workers. Bad enough
they took their time with quotes.
The worst damage was to
the keel that split open but luckily as stout as the boat is built the hull did
not have any cracks, thank you Bruce King!!!
And so lucky the mast did not
break. The rest is all cosmetics. All the work we had done to the boat in the
last 2 ½ years was destroyed.
Dan’s boat that hit us, his mast broke into 3
pieces and did the destruction, if it wasn’t for his mast we’d be in much better shape.
All the
stainless steel tubes that replaced the cable, destroyed. Except on the forward
starboard side was untouched until the crane pulled us off, so all needs to be
replaced except the bow pulpit that was untouched.
The new teak cap rail we had
refabricated in Florida at a fortune including the expense of shipping it to
Arizona, not to mention renting a big expensive car, hotel expenses etc.,
destroyed (we just ordered them again and can pick them up again in Tucson come
January but the price of teak has gone up over 30% as there is a ban to import
teak into the US) with shipping it will be a good 6000 bucks.
The beautiful
dodger Sid built in Panama, totally destroyed.
The backstay ripped out as well as the spreaders. Teak rail and rub strips crushed. Davits bent, luckily the
solar panels survived. Radar punctured, GPS gone and the box around the motor
damage to the point we need to build a new one. Who knows what else we will
find once we get back in the water. |
Engine box cover |
I have to add the little
sport fisher you see next to us, was untouched by our boat.
The summer was so hot and every time Sid climbed up or down the ladder and was holding on to the stanchion it burned his hands, so he wrapped a lot of towel around it. This part hit the sport fisher but it did not damage it thanks to Sid's idea and the towels. It was a little iffy and adrenaline was flowing when they pulled Paradise off enough to move that boat out, luckily it was on a trailer and easy to move.
Two weeks before this tragedy Sid finally undertook the engine installation but with not having a
good grip on things with his poor wrists and hands, he dropped 2 bolts into the
bilge. Our bilge is so deep there is no way to retrieve them and they were gone
for good (Actually he found them in the split open keel after the fall). We
ordered a few extra bolts which were sent to Tucson to Debbie who was bringing
them down. Unfortunately she had so much stuff to bring down our order stayed
behind and finally arrived one day after the crash. Guess there is such a thing
as good luck in bad luck, as the motor was placed on the cabin sole next to the
galley, the side she hit the ground, so the motor stayed in place. There is
little damage to the cabinet the motor rested and the external fuel pump broke
off which is easy to replace. Were it on
the other side the galley would have been destroyed, plus the motor damaged.
No matter how we see it,
it’s devastating especially since we were so close to finally get her back in
the water. A big consolation is that we still have the house we rent to as long
as we need it. We found great friends in Lupita and her family, including her
sister in law who is the owner. I still believe things happen for a reason and
also that good things happen in bad situation, we are very grateful for that.
We realized being stuck
here for much longer we do need a car. Hector who was varnishing the boat next
to us before the crash, gave us a quote for the varnish jobs once we get the
new teak cap rail. His son was selling his 1999 Ford explorer V8. It did have
some dents and the AC was not working and he also told us that the 4x4 was not
hooked up. We took it for a test drive and were surprise how smooth the engine
ran, we considered buying it but he wanted way too much for the car, it also
needed one new tire so we offered him the blue book value. So here we are
owning a Mexican car as with our Permanent Residence status we would have to
import a US car which costs a fortune.
First thing I took it to the, what we were told, best AC
place. Don’t trust the “it’s the best” the one day repair took over one week
and when we finally got the car back, but was told that the fuses were a total
mess, the mechanic was not a happy camper. I was surprised that the cost was
only 150 dollars. Yeah the AC was working but as soon as I started driving I
notice the engine ran very rough and since it was getting late I decided to
head straight home and leaving the last store for another day, which was a good
thing. I had a friend with me and we already had done most of our shopping. I dropped
her off at the marina yard, turned the engine off to help unload, got back in
the car but no charge, the batts were dead. Dan, jumped it, I made it home and
Sid cleaned the connectors and the following morning we drove to Auto
Zone to get new connectors. On our way back we decided we would go to La Manga
and celebrate the car with a nice seafood lunch. I remembered that I needed to
get some money out of the ATM so we stopped for that just around the corner
from our house. Passing the street that goes up to the house I heard this
pfffsssssss. Sid was driving and could not hear what I heard, so told him drive
straight to the house, which we did and luckily made it into the carport as the
steering was gone. Sid opened the hood and what we found was a cable that
supposed to be on the outside of the battery was instead hanging down the motor,
the AC guy forgot to put it back where it belonged, it hit the fan belt that then
exploded and hit the radiator and busted that. I called Ricardo who had changed
our neighbor’s radiator a while back and he showed up the next day and repaired the car.
Great guy and a very good mechanic. Car was still running rough and there was
definitely an electrical problem. Also by taking fixing the AC they destroyed
the dashboard and the radio kept falling out while driving. BTW the radio is
not working either so I have to sing in the car if I want music. I brought it
to Daniel’s shop, his son supposedly (again that word) the best with checking
the electronics and his father the best mechanic. True enough they both fixed
the car, even the radio does not fall out anymore yeah. Another funny thing was the key, I had to be careful not to lock the steering wheel, it was very tricky to get it undone and start the car. Hector finally brought us the second key, but all it did was undo the lock but starting the car sounded like we had a dead battery so for a while I juggled the keys, which Daniel then fixed. The car definitely kept us entertained. The car has bigger tires than stock and the kid who sold us the
car, mainly because the gas was getting to expensive for him, when one of his
tires busted he could not afford to by the same tires and so he bought a
smaller size, so we replaced it. Yikes $220 but it included balancing them all.
We put that smaller tire on the spare tire as that one was disintegrating. The
car was running nice again, we finally had a good trustworthy (?) running car. Almost forgot the shift indicator Park was not in the Park position but showed in Drive, Daniel fixed it.We finally did go for
our seafood lunch at La Manga. I was driving, the handle bar above the
passenger door fell off, the following the day our friends in the back seat,
hers fell off. Every time we get into the car there is another surprise, but no
matter what it gives us a good chuckle. Sid washed the car and tried to open
the back window and that almost fell out, he was able to fix that as well. I
drove to Walmart, came back, drove into the carport, turned the motor off,
removed the key and…. The motor kept running, weird ????!!!! Put the key back into the
whole wiggled it pulled it out but nope it did no shut off. Guess I better go
inside the house and get Sid. I opened the door and would you know that darn
motor shut off. So I started it again, turned it off and yep it shut off by
opening the door. I did this 4 times just to make sure I was not crazy. So when
Sid came out he could barely stop laughing, but then we started the car again and check if the passenger door would shut it off as well, sure enough, the back doors did not. We laughed our asses off. To this day I ask fellow
passenger to do the honor of turning the engine off LOL. Yep the car is possessed
I named it “La Bruja” the witch. But it runs great, gets me anyway I want to go
and is fun to drive, yes it is a gas guzzler. Best of all NO MORE Bus rides in
to town or walking to the distance store in the desert heat.
I added a few fun decals to La Bruja to cover up some dents and to personalize it including an Ahooga horn. I am having fun and never used a car horn more than this one LOL.
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Look at the shitty grin |
Daniel ordered the shaft
for the 4 wheel drive and I ordered the chain at Rock Auto (btw great deals)
and the day after it was installed we were on our way to see the doctor for
Sid’s first appointment in Hermosillo a 1 ½ hour drive. We drove out of town
but didn’t get far when I felt and heard a clank, clank under my foot, hmmm,
then the clank, clank turned into a clank, clank, clank, I did a fast U-turn
and drove straight to Daniels, he heard the now non stopping clank clanks and
took the shaft out and sent us on our way to Hermosillo on time for our
appointment. Arriving there I noticed the front left tire was almost flat and
we had it repaired in one of the many tire repair shops.
What happened with the
shaft was that Daniel ordered it too short but told me he would get it right. A
few days later I checked with him as I suspected he can’t find it, sure enough,
Sid and I already had decided that we really don’t need it besides it will use
more gas as well, so it’s a 2 wheel drive, it’s running great as it is.
If that sand storm wasn’t
enough here comes Hurricane Hillary, same track as Kay did a year ago. Luckily
she stayed along the Baja Pacific side and only brought us quite a bit more
wind, more rain but none of the breaking waves that Kay brought last year. But it did
create another grand canyon in front of our house, there was so much water
coming down the short hill. Only one boat ended up on shore the others faired
rough but well.
I love to watch the
weather and I have been following all the hurricanes whether on the Atlantic
side or Pacific side, and let me tell you I found a lot of anomalies, like
Maui, Cabo, Puerto Vallarta and especially Acapulco, it leave it at this.........
We also were very lucky with
the sand storm at the house, as our neighbor below us replaced her aluminum
awning with a tarp and the old pieces were piled up on her roof and sat there
for months. 2 days before the storm hit they took it down, my gosh that would
have busted every window in our living room.
The day after Hillary Eleazar
brought us a big bucket full of clams that Hillary pushed ashore.
Septemter 8th
we celebrated our 33rd Anniversay. Unbelievable how the time goes
by. After I got up, I hugged Sid and wished him a Happy Anniversary. His mouth
was very close to my ear and he wished me the same. I had to laugh and then
told him very tenderly: We’ve been married for 33 happy years, then you
whispered in my ear, now you are screaming in my ear.
Sid didn’t stop laughing
for a long while. His hearing has gotten so bad poor guy, so that his
whispering doesn’t work anymore.
Since the car was still at
Daniel’s shop and Tortuga our favorite restaurant down the street was closed
for one month we decided to postpone our Anniversary dinner. Instead I cooked
up the clams Eleazar brought.
Man they were sandy and tasted awful. Now what?
I always have emergency
food ready, including Tortuga’s wonderful baguettes in the freezer.
A week later Eleazar called me that his friend went hunting again and if I wanted a Javelina which
are common in Arizona and here in Northern Mexico. Javelina are not pigs despite looking similar to a pig, javelinas are classified as Peccaries which
is a member of the Tayassuidae, which pigs are part of the Suidae family. Below
is a link about them:
https://www.tucsontopia.com/javelina/
The guy also killed a dear
which Eleazar was interested so he brought me the entire javelina. It was
definitely different to cut apart and not as easy as the venison was.
Two week later he brought
me 2 wild rabbit, definitely my choice between deer and javelina. They are
small but one is perfect for two. I like them BBQ best.
About Sid’s wrist, which
we were told was carpal tunnel and to take a rest to heal but that didn’t help.
The pain got worse and worse and Sid was unable to work on the boat to install
the motor, so more rest. Then another attempted was just before
the sand storm. His doctor was going to set him up with the specialist he knows
in Hermosillo but he seemed to have forgotten and the many times I went to the
office to ask, 2 months later I finally got his name and address and took it up
on myself to get an appointment. Here in Mexico it seems everything is a
waiting period, hence Mañana Land. I was surprised we had an appointment the
following week, so I organized an x-ray at our doctor’s office here.
While Dr. Dimitri
inspected the x-ray and his wrists pushing here and there, he told Sid that it
is not carpal tunnel that he has such bad arthritis the only thing to help him
is carpectomy, the removal of two carpal bones in the wrist.
He
offered to do the surgery the same evening at 8pm and Sid would have to spend
the night and be released in the morning. No thank you we need a little more
time for that. So Sid was scheduled a week later also at 8pm plus spending the
night. He gave us a choice of 3 hospitals to which he said that San Benito was
just as good as the other two, in either one he is doing the surgery, the cost 28 000 pesos which San Jose was 48 000 and Cima 68 000
(roughly 1400/2400/ 3400, wow, what a difference. He also suggested to do both
hands at the same time, no big deal to do both at same time, except, having to pay the fee again verses an extra $ 500 if he waits for the second hand. He also said that within 3
weeks he’d be working on the boat again. Didn’t sound too bad so Sid chose to do
both at the same time. We took his suggestion of San Benito Hospital. I
organized a hotel near the hospital and on due date we had to be at the
hospital at 6pm for prep then we waited for the doctor to arrive at 8pm.
Checking into the hospital we both had to sign a lot of paperwork. I wondered
why I had to as well, kinda strange. Then they moved him into his room and the male nurse pointed at the couch to me where I will be sleeping. Told him no thank
you I booked a room, to which he looked at me angry and said: no you sleep
there. That went on for a while. We both told him that I will got to the hotel.
A nurse showed up to shuff the IV into Sid’s arm. I have never seen such
brutality she tried at least 6 times to stick it into his vain, while Sid was
holding back screams of pain. She finally left the room very frustrated only to
come back with another nurse, comes out she was an intern, poor Sid. Guess they
have to learn some time but definitely think they should be supervised. Now
this nurse told me as well I had to spend the night here. Later the male nurse brought it up again about sleeping on the couch for vigilancia which
means surveillance, to me it sounded like a neiborhood watch hmm? So I asked him if there were
thieves in this hospital. You can't imagine how he looked at me this time, in any case he made me feel like I am the worst wife in the world. He just added you need to talk to the doctor. At 9pm we headed down the surgery ward
and were greeted by the doctor. I immediately asked him why they are insisting
me sleeping on the couch in the room. He looked at me puzzled and said don’t
know but did ask the nurse, her answer was: There are no nurses
in the hospital at night! Whaaaatttt?!! My jaw dropped and the seconds it took
me to realize what she just said the doctor gave me a hug and said no worries I
get a nurse for tonight go to your hotel and I will contact you how he is doing
after surgery.
Had they told me no nurses
of course I would have picked up my stuff at the hotel and come back. I later
learned that it is not rare that hospitals request a relative to spend the
night with the patience, how can they do this, a none trained relative taking
care of a just operated patient. Later Lupita told me that ever since Covid, nurses
are lazy and refuse to work at night. Unreal.
At midnight the doctor
texted that all went well and to get a good night’s rest and he will see us at
1pm at the hospital. I was at the hospital already a 8am and who was the nurse
that spent the night with Sid, the guy that told me where I had to sleep and
amazingly he spoke very good English and both Sid and him had a great time.
Would have been nice he would have explained to me in English what was going
on. Anyway, here was poor Sid with both his wrapped in what looked like white
boxing cloves.
He was still hooked on the IV with morphine for the pain. The
doctor showed up at 2pm and after he checked out Sid he was going to leave. We
asked him if he was not releasing him from the hospital, he asked if he didn’t
want to spend another night? Does he need to, we asked. No was his responds, so
Sid said: get me out of here. We had to wait a few minutes for them to prep the
bill and when I finally paid I was asked if I wanted to pay the doctor here
which would be cash or at his office? Excuse me? How could Dr. Dimitri miss
telling us how much his fee is? Another 51 000 pesos which is over 2500
dollars. Not just that the new credit card I have from the newly opened MX bank
account had a 10 000 peso limit and so I had to juggle money between that
account my US account and cash. With the
doctor I arranged to go by his office before we drove home and het a routing
number for his account. This was a total disaster don’t need this kind of
stress that’s for sure.
Sid finally was released
and we left the hospital around 4pm. Sid not feeling any pain still under the
influence of morphine was testing his new wrists out, he would not stop moving
in the car, I finally had to tell him to stop that he needed to rest his hands
and not aggravate them. He was given 2 antibiotics and what we thought was a
pain killer, but which was anti-inflammatory. Poor Sid later on the evening
when the morphine gave up, he was in so much pain and we had no pain killers in
the house, as he had used them all up, without my knowledge. There are no 24 hour
pharmacies here so I stood in front of the pharmacy door at 8am and bought him
some drugs. We knew it was not going to be easy to have both hands done at the
same time, but hey in three weeks we would be working on the boat again, can’t
be all that bad, right. Well, the surgery has been over 2 months now and Sid is still
recuperating. His right hand is doing much better than the left. His little
finger on the left is still very numb and cold he can’t control it, the ring finger
is a bit numb and hurts to the touch. This hand is still swollen and painful.
After one months Dr. Dimitri saw him and suggested that he needed to start
therapy. To the numb finger he said that was normal and will come back. To
having one scar above the carpal bones and the other scar 1 inch before the
wrist (left hand), he said that was not a problem. So Sid has been in therapy
every other day for 6 times then the therapist went on vacation for the
holidays, great. He is doing his own therapy now at home but he sees little
improvement in the left hand. I did order a tens unite which hopefully will
arrive this Saturday with Debbie.
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Luckily we had some straws in the house for his coffee |
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Poor Baby |
Miss Ninja loves to help Sid while doing therapy
Last week I went for
another plasma shot into my ankle and told our doctor all about Sid’s ordeal.
He also thinks that the nerve will come back in time but was shocked to hear
about no nurses and Dimitri forgetting to tell us how much his bill was.
Bev and Paula our new
neighbors are wonderful. Bev bakes bread every Friday and brings one to us and
sometimes some muffins or banana bread or whatever else she bakes. My favorite
Cranberry muffins with fresh cranberries. Nice ladies and good neighbors.
This year the summer was
brutally hot, just glad we have a good running AC but the electrical bill was
through the roof. Main thing we were cool. All the boaters in the yard were
complaining, they got up in the wee hours and stopped work around 10ish.
We still play pool ever
Monday with Lupita and Silvino, which of course is on hold for now until Sid is
better.
Lupita and I enjoyed our noodeling aerobics
every morning at 8 in the dorado pool. Kit came back to stay there for the
summer and joined us. We had a fun time.
Last year when we
celebrated Sid and Silvino’s BD at the Dorado apartments, we BBQ shrimp on rock
salt. Lupita has been craving them so we finally went to where she buys the
shrimp in Empalme passed Guaymas. I whished I had known about this place since
we got here.
So the BBq was held on
October 19th with the renters Kit and Greg and Martha, omg did we
have fun.
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Hubaldo and Silvino the chefs |
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Martha |
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Kit, Sid and Graig |
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Lupita and Lupita |
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Hubaldo and Silvino |
Since Kit knew Sid’s surgery
was coming up, she told me she had a surprise for Sid, this is really funny.
Sid always wanted a pressure washer ever since we arrived here and he finally
bought one in August. I had been teasing him that since he has both hands done
at the same time and needed help for the bathroom runs I will have fun testing the
presser washer on him: “bend over Sid”. So Kit had a present for him, but I
will let you watch the video:
I think Lupita does not
want us to leave ever, she pointed at the beautiful lantern lights at the
Dorado property and mentioned that she had an extra one she does not know where
to put and if I wanted it for our house, she thinks it would look really good
there. I agreed, so now the 2 dessert roses have been removed and are replanted
at the side of house while the patio is now all open and we have room to sit
out there. The light looks awesome. Thank you Lupita
Halloween approached and
as every year Eleazar brings his kids over to trick’r treat. This time I asked
Rocio what time she would come, she said 6pm. Plan was for Sid and I to dress
up and await them outside on the patio and scare them. At 5 I was just ready
when Rocio pulled up with the kids. Oh, well so much for surprising them. Sid
didn’t have his costume on yet. So practically I put his make up on for a just
1 minute visit. When Kit saw me with the painted face, she talked me into going
with her and her granddaughter who was visiting to join them at the Hair of the
Dog Pub. Sid didn’t want to go and stayed home.
I had no idea that entire
San Carlos was celebrating Halloween, the streets were packed with kids and
family and all in outfits. Every other business had a crowed entertained with
games, music and fun. Wow it was fun walking through this fun atmosphere. I had
absolutely no idea or I would have joined every Halloween here. What a great
evening that was. I don’t even think you see this in the US.
The following day her and
her granddaughter went on a sunset cruise and when she returned she stopped at
our house and dropped off an anchor the captain gave her. She said she knows
the perfect place for it and placed in our garden, too cool, thanks Kit.
Cat Story Time:
The hot summer weather
brought a lot of locust for several months, which drove the cats nuts. It was
so much fun watching them chasing after them. Ninja would get them between her
teeth then wander inside to play catch and release and share her toy with Miss
Kitty. They are so fun to watch and are such buddies.
One day I just had bought
some fresh yummy cherries which were sitting on the counter. I was busy storing
all I bought when one cherry then
another rolled against my foot. There was Ninja batting one around the entire
living room until the stem fell off, hopped back on the counter, pulled another
one out of the bag and on and on.
By the pool we exercised
was a squirle that loved to watch us, so I bought a bag of peanuts and Kit
named it Peanuts. It didn’t miss a session.
So Miss Ninja discovered the peanut bag and that they rattle when she kicks them around, she has a ball with them and even has Miss Kitty infected scooting them around the house. I find the peanuts all over the place, especially at night in the dark, crunch LOL. Our vacuum cleaner is running overtime.
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She loves the heating pad |
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No it's not a futuristic motorcycle |
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Can you imagine this in OUR front porch !!! |
The hummingbirds have been awesome this year, it's mostly the same 6 but eventually a new one showed up:
This hummer is amazing every since I got the little flower rings, whenever he sees me sitting on the balcony he buzzes right in front of my nose, so that I have to go get the ring, while it patiently waits
This one is the cutest and has purple color on his neck, he site in the same spot for up to an hourBack in June Daniela and Rolf
on Yelow finally arrived here. Daniela and I met in Balboa Panama waiting for
the bus to take us into town. As bubbly as she is we started talking and, wait
a minute we have the same accent. Daniela is from Basel Switzerland about 40
minutes away from where I lived. We had some fun shopping trips together while
I showed her where and what in Panama City. We are so alike and have so much in
common. Her hubby Rolf is also 14 years older than her, and they had been
cruising 20 years as well. She goes home about every 4 to 6 years, like me and
we both are adventurous as heck. We kept in touch, Yelow got stuck in Gambier
island in French Polinesia for the Covid time. Their visa was renewed so many
time, as they could not leave as the world had shut down. So after Covid was
lifted they were told they could stay but would have to import their boat even
though they are Europeans, well Switzerland never joined the EU and they changed
the visa rules. It would have cost them a fortune to import the boat, not to
mention should they go back to Europe they would have to import it there again.
After many email exchanges with me about coming to Mexico, as pretty much all
harbors in the South Pacific including Australia and New Zealand were still shut
down they decided to do the long 3 week trip to Vancouver island and a year
later, last June they finally arrived here.
It was so good to see her
again. They both need a new visa to head back to the Gambier and in order to do
that she had to go to Switzerland to apply at the French Consulate. While there
for 6 weeks she met my brother who had presents for me from my Mom and Daniela
did some shopping gourmet shopping for me. Daniela again thank you sooooo much.
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Both Jackets, crochet angel, long zipper we can't buy here and undies |
Anyway, having been in
French Poli for so many years she volunteered in 5 different pearl farms that
cultivate the beautiful black Tahitian Pears and as pay she was given pearls.
Beautiful pearls, I bought some from her. Since this is her only income, I got
all my girlfriend together and they all bought pearls from her. Daniela did
really well.
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My Baroc pearl with maching earings |
I invited them to their
first Thanksgiving along with two other boats, Terry and Dave from Canada and
Jeff and Dona from Alaska. It was a wonderful dinner
Of course the house is all
decorated again and Lorena let me borrow her Xmas tree like last year. Since Sid’s hands
were still not good we opted to put the star up in the front of the house and
with Silvino’s help and ladder we decorated the front of the house this year. I
actually like it much better like this. Eleazar had trimmed the frangipany tree
a bit too much but the good thing about this is I could decorate it for
everyone to see. Xmas decoration here is so expensive, more than in the States
so I collected Topo Chico bottles, which is a club soda and glued them with
Xmas color glitter.
And frosty came visiting
again but this time he promised not to melt and sure enough. I just love Xmas.
Do you know how snow flakes really are created:
And look what hit my car!
Sure is nice to finally
have a car. I have been to Hermosillo 4 times now and I am the proud owner of a
CostCo card, yep, best shopping in entire Sonora that’s for sure. Lupita, Daniela and
Terry loved a shopping trip to Hermosillo to provision their boats for their
soon to come trip south.
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We filled up the car |
I
brought some fabric back for Xmas presents and to make a new cover fot the sofas:
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and if you look on the patio the old cover fits perfectely over the BBQ LOL |
Knowing Daniela was
leaving in two days and Terry in probably a week, I sewed them their present
the very next day. It was so good to have Daniela here and who knows and if we
ever will see each other again. That’s the sad part about cruising, you meet so
many wonderful people and then it’s “see you later” over and over again. We
never say goodbye that’s a no no. Before she left she gave me the most unique
pearl, a barroc pearl that has a natural pearl growing on, called Keshi, not
just that rarity but the pearl has an unusual and rare golden color. Just
beautiful.
Welllll… Just a few days ago I was going to put it around my neck
but sat it down on the table and when I returned a minute later Ninja ran
passed me bushy tailed as she does when she plays and my pearl is gone. Sid and
I looked everywhere but could not find it. I just hope she remembers what she
did with it and will eventually retrieve it to play. She is something else and still haven't found it.
Lupita’s daughter Yessika
is back for the entire month of December. We 3 girls had a wonderful shopping
trip mid December to Hermosillo.
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Having lived in Hermosillo for 8 years Yessika knew the best from the best. This restaurant has amazing breakfast, can only imagine lunch and dinners |
On the 19th I had both Lupitas and Lydia at my house to bake Swiss Xmas Cookies, oh what fun that was. Sid had a great time watching and listening to us. We were going to do this
last year again but we all had colds. Since it took so long the first time I
decided we only make 3 cookies instead of the 5 and since the cookies turn out
so much better when they dry over night I spend 2 days making all the cookies
in advance, then had them ready in the casserole bags I sewed for them as well
and the cookies we made that day, I dried over night and cooked them the
following day, that was a lot of work for me but it worked out great for the
girls, besides I enjoyed it all. Yes I am exhausted but a good exhausted.
For dinner that day we
went to Colibri and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with our husbands as well.
Christmas is right around
the corner and I hoped to get this posted before Xmas, well it got a little busy but here it is.
Xmas Eve we are invited at
Lupita’s and was told I can’t say no and I am in charge of the dessert. Comes
out the entire family invited us, how wonderful is that, 30 people included
kids and grand critters.
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Ready for the party |
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Zuger Kirsch Torte my favorite and probably the most famouse of all cakes |
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Venezuelan Wedding cake, rich with almond flavor |
We are so lucky, we befriended a wonderful family here.
For Christmas day we had some lonely sailors over and a lonely neighbor. It was a very nice relaxed Christmas dinner.
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I sure cooked up a storm |
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Dave, Terry, Allan, Manuela "Max", Charles, Sid and Susan, only 3 knew each other. It was a wonderful evening. |
My philosophy in life was
always, that everything Negative has a positive and if you can see that
positive it’s not that negative anymore. Even with our curve ball there are a
lot of positives. So Life is good and we are still as happy as popcorn farts in
a winds storm.
We wish you all a Merry
Christmas and may the New Year bring us a positive change in our world
situation, let us all pray and fight together to keep our freedom and achieve
Peace on this planet.
Hugs and kisses to all
Sid, Manuela and the furry
critters
Photo time:
We lost a very dear friend on August 18th. We met Nell and Bill in 2004 in New Bern and became great friends. They visited us in Bonair and in Panama, we always had such a good time. Nell was a wonderul happy person and so much fun to be with, she will continue living in our hearts and fond memories.
Weird thunderclouds
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Beautiful Moonrise |
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Beautiful wild flower across from our house |
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View from our newly found restaurant in the Bay next to us a 2 minute drive. It took us almost 3 years to discover it |
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Chicharon de Pescado and Sarandeado shripm |
Our water pump was running
day and night every minute now we think the high electrical bill was also
culprit. The valve that delivers the city water to the house needed to be
replaced. While doing so Pancho had to remove a lot of pebbles down to the
broken valve and he disturbed a beautiful tiny constrictor snake. I catpured it and let it go in a safer place.
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Just a tiny baby, but wonder where mama and siblings are? |
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Can you see the elephant? |
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Which changed to a puppy and a dolphin |
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a pile of crocs |
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Biggest walking stick I ever saw.
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Lupita's cactus flowers, amazingly beautiful |
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My crab cakes, yum |
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My new creation, frozen watermelon juice with club soda soooo refreshing |
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Sunrise |
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Can you see the little angel or fairy? |