Friends,
Well, I have procrastinated too long again. Time seems to be flying by and I just realized that I need to update the Blog.
Best news is that we now have a schedule with the “new” generator. We have Security turning it on and off for us. Heck, they are open 24/7 and we are not. They come by after midnight and turn it off and then come out around 5 AM and turn it back on. We then run all day. It is really nice. We are able to use our electric refrigerator again. We even make fresh brewed coffee every morning now. I can turn on the server and backup system and all of our computers are getting backed up again. I can now feel comfortable working on other’s computers in my office. We even have the DVR programmed up for all of our favorite TV shows.
As for the new generator, saying it is new is an understatement. Different might be a better term. You have to remember that in Mexico, nothing is new. Everything is used. I’m starting to get used to that. That is not to say that the Mexicans only buy used items. There are a lot of new cars and trucks here. It is just that the preponderance of items here are used. Our generator is not the exception. It was once used (probably in the US) to power those flood lights that you see during nighttime highway construction. Thankfully they removed the boom and lights. It is a real quality unit made by Terex and has been running smoothly so far. It really does purr like a kitten.
We had a new experience on our late October trip to Mexicali for shopping. I got a ticket! We had just cleared the military checkpoint and were getting up to speed trying to catch a Construct-o-rama truck and pass him before the curves. The Federali (Federal police in the black cars, AKA the PFP) was hiding in an arroyo with a radar gun in his hand and I didn’t see him. He pointed at me to stop and I knew we had had it. He showed me the display on the radar gun and it read 115. So, I got a ticket for going 115 in an 80 zone. These numbers are in km/h not miles. I have a picture of the ticket in the pictures section. Well, he asks for license and registration and says “5 minutes.” Fifteen minutes later he hands me the ticket to sign (all three copies). He then says that I had to pay the ticket at any Banamex within the next three weeks or they would “send the ticket to my country.” Nice guy. Very polite but his English was limited. Getting the ticket was easy, paying it turned out to be the problem. Got the ticket on a Friday so we planned on going to the bank on the following Monday. We go to the Banamex bank and they take one look at the ticked and they say “no, no you have to pay this at Bancomer.” So, we head to the other bank and get in line. I finally get the attention of one of the new account people and ask her if I can pay this ticket here. She takes the ticket and consults with the teller and tells me “You do not have a reference number; you have to go to the police station and get one.” Well, the Federali’s have an office just out of town. On our way out of town we stop. I go inside and meet the only person there, the secretary who speaks no English. After a lot of sign language, she hands me a piece of paper with a 1-800 number on it and wants me to call it. At this point I am in no mood for an hour on the phone trying to find someone who speaks English. Plan B is to take the ticket to one of the Activities staff and have him call for me. So, I find David at the pool and ask him to make the call. He studies the ticket as if he had never seen one before. He finally suggests that I take the ticket to his Dad as “he is really good at fixing tickets.” So I’m off to the building where Aldo works. I explain it all to him and he just shrugs and calls the 1-800 number and fifteen minutes later I have all of the information to take to the bank. I have my fifteen digit registration number, the account number at Bancomer where it is to be deposited and finally the amount of the fine. I had been sweating the amount as from what I could read on the ticket, the fine was to be ten days pay. Well the fine came to $274 Pesos. I took the money and all of the paperwork back to the bank and before you knew it (less that 30 minutes) I had my fine paid. Looks like I have a process for the next time this happens. It probably will as everyone is speeding on Highway 5 between San Felipe and Mexicali.
As I think I said last year, Halloween is really big down here. Not only for the Mexicans, who do a much better job of it than we do, but also for us Americans. Costume parties abound. This year we accepted an invite to a party on the Ranch skipping the big Gala at the Latin Garden. We went to the makeup party for the Latin Garden event and then snuck out and went to the other party. I have included all of the pictures here. We had a great time with Ken roasting at least twelve Tri-tips on the grill. The costumes were better than last year.
The Shrimp Festival was held the weekend of November 7th. It was much smaller than last year (Betsy, Don and Giovanna were here last year) but fun just the same. I have a few pictures of that here. Lighting was a problem so not all of the pictures came out perfect.
We spent Thanksgiving in Escondido CA with some of Regina’s relatives. We had two condos (I would call them full fledged townhouses) at Lawrence Welk Village. We had a great time for the week and I am withholding those pictures to protect the guilty. On the last day we headed up to Hemet to see Dennis and Peggy’s new house. They just moved to Hemet from Hayward to (probably) retire. It was beautiful to say the least. We had a NorCal dinner and promised not to count the empty wine bottles. Here are some pictures of the trip up.
The trip home was uneventful except at the border they had the new entry procedures in place. They have completely redone the border crossing and have really gone hi-tech. They have all new personnel who do not ask for mordidas. It will take a little longer to cross the border but Mexico will be collecting the duties instead of the customs employees. I will be updating driving directions based on how to cross the border and the new detours caused by all of the construction on Highway 5.
I realized a couple of weeks ago that I have not posted any pictures of the finished house. I didn’t really think of it until now as we have been posting pictures for so long with pieces of the house in them. Regina took a bunch of pictures for our Thanksgiving trip and I have uploaded them here. Hope you enjoy the finished product as we do.
Well, I’m going to close here and will try to update the blog just after Christmas. We will be spending Christmas here with Leslie. She will be arriving on the 15th and staying until the 28th. The guest room is awaiting visitors so don’t be strangers.
Larry and Regina
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Casa Update 35
Friends,
It has been a long time since my last update. Seems that with the heat of the summer along with our two week road trip I just got behind.
We spent almost all of August either at the pool or inside keeping cool. Much can be said about getting out of the heat and humidity. The heat was not that bad with constant 100+ days and 90+ nights. But the humidity was a killer. We have adapted a little better as our bodies are adjusting to the weather. We have been told that it takes a few of these summers to finally get your blood in order.
I took some pictures of the August Water Volleyball tournament and the results. We made a trip to El Centro for re-stocking on all of those American things that we cannot get down here. This is a typical trip except we stopped at the Costco in Mexicali for a few things (like the 30 pack of beer for $270). We also stopped at our favorite meat market and loaded up on molida and tried out their T-Bone steaks. You can do the math on the steaks but I would say that they were very well priced.
We left for our long planned road trip (don’t tell anyone that we flew) on September First which was also our 30th Wedding Anniversary! We would have loved to have had a party here but with all of the schedules of others, we had to travel on the first.
First stop was Columbus Ohio to visit with Leslie. We had a great time with her. She just moved into a townhouse (called a half double) in an area called German Village. The streets are still paved with bricks! It is a real quaint part of Columbus. There is a chocolate store on the next corner and a park only a block away. Leslie treated us to a dinner (she tried to just drop us off but we insisted that she stay) at one of the five star restaurants in area. We had a wonderful time. Great food, great wine and great company! We had the opportunity to attend a mini-reunion with some of Regina’s relatives in Brookville OH. We also saw a play during the Shakespeare in the Park Festival. Our week ended too quickly and we were all off to Tennessee in the rain.
First night was a stop-off in Knoxville to see Leslie’s Godmother. It had been way too long but our short stay was fun. We left in the fog.
We then headed to Cookeville where we rented a car for the duration of the trip. Leslie was only able to stay a few days with us and then she had to get back to her unpacking and school duties. We stayed at Regina’s oldest cousin’s house in Monterrey. Beautiful house, wish we would have taken more pictures! We spent most days with Regina’s Dad and evenings with our hosts, the Milligan’s. We took a day trip to Athens Alabama to see the newest addition to the McCloud family. It is Regina’s first Great Niece Chloe. Another week went by before we knew it. You will find the pictures here.
We said our goodbyes and headed for the Nashville airport in the pouring rain. San Diego was cool when we landed. We got our car from a friend who was storing it for us. We then headed on to El Centro to spend the night. We were planning on getting some shopping done in the morning and heading to San Felipe. Regina called the friend who was looking after the “summer house” while we were away. She told Regina not to panic. It was all dry now except for the rugs and they were out on the wall drying. We didn’t panic. We just got up early and shopped like crazy and got to San Felipe just after noon. First stop was to order water. Then headed up to the summer house to see what happened. Yup, the house was essentially dry. You could see watermarks from where the water had risen to. Next was a call the contractor and get a plumber out ASAP. Plumber arrived and found a broken off water valve under the kitchen sink. Plumber fixed the valve, the water guy brought us some water and the rugs were dry. I thought in my mind “Welcome home Williams family, welcome home.”
We spent the next two days cleaning and getting the summer house back in order. With that done, it was time to think about getting ready to move back into our house. We first met with the Ranch staff and convinced them that a different generator was in our future. They promised a smaller but quiet diesel generator that we could run longer. It will not run all of the AC units we have but enough if we needed them in a hot spell. Well the generator was swapped out a week earlier than planned. We tested it out and yup, it will only run about three tons of AC before we see problems. But it is very quiet and looks durable. At that time the house was still about 95 degrees inside and the weather still had not broken. The long range forecast looked like we would finally cool off on the first week in October.
So we set a plan on being back in on the seventh. We found a cleaning lady thru some friends and had her scheduled for the third. She spent five hours non-stop cleaning and she did a beautiful job! When it came time for payment, she couldn’t come up with a price. She finally quoted $30US which we immediately raised another $10US. She spoke no English and we struggled with our poor Spanish in agreeing for her to come back every three weeks. She even did windows!
We took our time and over the course of a week, we were completely moved back in. Home, sweet home. It is so good to be back in our bed again. The house was about 85 degrees when we started moving back and it is now a pleasant 77 degrees. You have to remember that we are getting acclimated to the heat down here and 60 degrees is down right chilly. The temperature has moderated with highs in the 80’s and lows in the high 60’s. Looks like summer has bid us farewell and autumn is here to stay.
The snowbirds are starting to arrive so it looks like the party season is going to begin. Pete’s Camp had their annual Poker Run this past weekend. We hear that there were over 300 entries. It was a 50+ mile trek over the desert, maybe next year.
Shrimp season has also started. A new regulation for “dolphin safe” nets is going to raise the price this year though. The small Pangas used to be able to drift with their nets out. Now they have to troll. Prices started out at $15US for a kilo of Grande as opposed to $10US last year. We will be checking out more places to buy this year. Bargain shopping for shrimp, what a concept!
Well that is about what we have been up to. I’ll not bore you with all of the regular stuff that we do as I have stated them in almost every post lately. Here are a few fun photos we took.
We have a spare bedroom that really looks lonely. Maybe someone can come down and keep it company?
Upcoming attractions:
Dia de los Muertos: November 2
Shrimp Festival: November 6-8
Baja 1000: November 19-22
Larry and Regina
p.s. We have a new address for UPS and FedEx packages. If you are interested please email us for that address.
It has been a long time since my last update. Seems that with the heat of the summer along with our two week road trip I just got behind.
We spent almost all of August either at the pool or inside keeping cool. Much can be said about getting out of the heat and humidity. The heat was not that bad with constant 100+ days and 90+ nights. But the humidity was a killer. We have adapted a little better as our bodies are adjusting to the weather. We have been told that it takes a few of these summers to finally get your blood in order.
I took some pictures of the August Water Volleyball tournament and the results. We made a trip to El Centro for re-stocking on all of those American things that we cannot get down here. This is a typical trip except we stopped at the Costco in Mexicali for a few things (like the 30 pack of beer for $270). We also stopped at our favorite meat market and loaded up on molida and tried out their T-Bone steaks. You can do the math on the steaks but I would say that they were very well priced.
We left for our long planned road trip (don’t tell anyone that we flew) on September First which was also our 30th Wedding Anniversary! We would have loved to have had a party here but with all of the schedules of others, we had to travel on the first.
First stop was Columbus Ohio to visit with Leslie. We had a great time with her. She just moved into a townhouse (called a half double) in an area called German Village. The streets are still paved with bricks! It is a real quaint part of Columbus. There is a chocolate store on the next corner and a park only a block away. Leslie treated us to a dinner (she tried to just drop us off but we insisted that she stay) at one of the five star restaurants in area. We had a wonderful time. Great food, great wine and great company! We had the opportunity to attend a mini-reunion with some of Regina’s relatives in Brookville OH. We also saw a play during the Shakespeare in the Park Festival. Our week ended too quickly and we were all off to Tennessee in the rain.
First night was a stop-off in Knoxville to see Leslie’s Godmother. It had been way too long but our short stay was fun. We left in the fog.
We then headed to Cookeville where we rented a car for the duration of the trip. Leslie was only able to stay a few days with us and then she had to get back to her unpacking and school duties. We stayed at Regina’s oldest cousin’s house in Monterrey. Beautiful house, wish we would have taken more pictures! We spent most days with Regina’s Dad and evenings with our hosts, the Milligan’s. We took a day trip to Athens Alabama to see the newest addition to the McCloud family. It is Regina’s first Great Niece Chloe. Another week went by before we knew it. You will find the pictures here.
We said our goodbyes and headed for the Nashville airport in the pouring rain. San Diego was cool when we landed. We got our car from a friend who was storing it for us. We then headed on to El Centro to spend the night. We were planning on getting some shopping done in the morning and heading to San Felipe. Regina called the friend who was looking after the “summer house” while we were away. She told Regina not to panic. It was all dry now except for the rugs and they were out on the wall drying. We didn’t panic. We just got up early and shopped like crazy and got to San Felipe just after noon. First stop was to order water. Then headed up to the summer house to see what happened. Yup, the house was essentially dry. You could see watermarks from where the water had risen to. Next was a call the contractor and get a plumber out ASAP. Plumber arrived and found a broken off water valve under the kitchen sink. Plumber fixed the valve, the water guy brought us some water and the rugs were dry. I thought in my mind “Welcome home Williams family, welcome home.”
We spent the next two days cleaning and getting the summer house back in order. With that done, it was time to think about getting ready to move back into our house. We first met with the Ranch staff and convinced them that a different generator was in our future. They promised a smaller but quiet diesel generator that we could run longer. It will not run all of the AC units we have but enough if we needed them in a hot spell. Well the generator was swapped out a week earlier than planned. We tested it out and yup, it will only run about three tons of AC before we see problems. But it is very quiet and looks durable. At that time the house was still about 95 degrees inside and the weather still had not broken. The long range forecast looked like we would finally cool off on the first week in October.
So we set a plan on being back in on the seventh. We found a cleaning lady thru some friends and had her scheduled for the third. She spent five hours non-stop cleaning and she did a beautiful job! When it came time for payment, she couldn’t come up with a price. She finally quoted $30US which we immediately raised another $10US. She spoke no English and we struggled with our poor Spanish in agreeing for her to come back every three weeks. She even did windows!
We took our time and over the course of a week, we were completely moved back in. Home, sweet home. It is so good to be back in our bed again. The house was about 85 degrees when we started moving back and it is now a pleasant 77 degrees. You have to remember that we are getting acclimated to the heat down here and 60 degrees is down right chilly. The temperature has moderated with highs in the 80’s and lows in the high 60’s. Looks like summer has bid us farewell and autumn is here to stay.
The snowbirds are starting to arrive so it looks like the party season is going to begin. Pete’s Camp had their annual Poker Run this past weekend. We hear that there were over 300 entries. It was a 50+ mile trek over the desert, maybe next year.
Shrimp season has also started. A new regulation for “dolphin safe” nets is going to raise the price this year though. The small Pangas used to be able to drift with their nets out. Now they have to troll. Prices started out at $15US for a kilo of Grande as opposed to $10US last year. We will be checking out more places to buy this year. Bargain shopping for shrimp, what a concept!
Well that is about what we have been up to. I’ll not bore you with all of the regular stuff that we do as I have stated them in almost every post lately. Here are a few fun photos we took.
We have a spare bedroom that really looks lonely. Maybe someone can come down and keep it company?
Upcoming attractions:
Dia de los Muertos: November 2
Shrimp Festival: November 6-8
Baja 1000: November 19-22
Larry and Regina
p.s. We have a new address for UPS and FedEx packages. If you are interested please email us for that address.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Casa Update 34
Friends,
Well, it was a very quiet month until the last week and a half. We did our usual thing of being retired; beach, town, reading, water volleyball, and Full Moon Mixer. There have been a lot of specials at all of the restaurants here. With tourism down 75% they are all hurting for business. The Pavilion which is the Ranch’s restaurant on the golf course is offering a lot of specials. The best is their “All American” breakfast. You get two eggs any style, bacon, sausage or ham, beans, hash browns, toast or tortillas, fresh orange juice and coffee. All of that food for only $5USD or $65 Pesos. Others are following suit. If you pop into “Kat’s Korner” she advertises these specials weekly.
Regina found this nice critter when she was opening the sun shade on the front porch.
We went to a “Beach Bash” on Saturday the 10th to support the San Felipe Animal Shelter. While we were there a local family dropped off eight pups. They were about six to eight weeks old and took over the show. All the pups got their shots and all were adopted by Monday. Attendance was a little low but this was their first attempt at a beach party and scheduled it 3 days after our Full Moon Mixer. They promised the next one would be better.
We also went to a friend's (Terry) birthday dinner at the El Cortez Hotel. Pictures are here.
We hosted a farewell dinner and Jenga tournament for Nate and Sue who were headed back to Michigan for the summer. We also had a little dinner for our neighbors Scott and Pam. Here was Regina’s salad. Guess where the Basil came from.
The Rev Jeanne came down for what she said was going to be a week. Well, arriving late on a Monday and leaving early on a Thursday is not a week! We did have a great time though despite the short time. Next time we are going to bounce her thru the “valley of the giants.” She got a lot of rest even with Regina getting her to play a day at water volleyball. Here are some of the pictures. We were not allowed to take pictures in the pool! That was a condition of her playing.
The following Monday is when all of the fun began. Regina woke up at 4:30am to a wet floor. Well, not quite wet but flooded. She woke me up and we sloshed around the house to find the source of the leak. The leak was found in the guest bathroom where a hot water hose broke. We do not know how long the water had been running but all but two rooms were flooded and the cistern was down by almost eighteen inches. We used brooms and squeegees to move out the almost one inch of water that was on the tile floor. When our contractor’s office opened at 7:00am, I called Lupe and he had a crew here by 7:30 with mops and sponges. They moved around the furniture and got into the places we couldn’t. They had everything cleaned up and the hose fixed by 11:00. Cost? Nada. Very little damage was done, I guess to our quick work. We cranked down the AC to try to dry out the house. When we woke up on Tuesday morning the main AC unit had quit. Called Lupe again and they had it fixed late in the afternoon. We were both glad that it was something simple as when they got here; it was 92 in the house. Well, they say that all bad things come in threes. That may not be true. When we moved into the house the dishwasher was broke and just for the heck of it, I pushed a button again. It lit up! Did a quick rinse and it worked! We then loaded it up to the gills over the next two days and ran a normal wash. It worked!! We are now in dishwasher heaven and saving water too!
We went to the Full Moon Mixer again last night. Regina teamed up with Sue and they cleaned house in Bocce Ball. They took first place!! No pictures though, forgot the camera.
Until next time,
Larry and Regina
Well, it was a very quiet month until the last week and a half. We did our usual thing of being retired; beach, town, reading, water volleyball, and Full Moon Mixer. There have been a lot of specials at all of the restaurants here. With tourism down 75% they are all hurting for business. The Pavilion which is the Ranch’s restaurant on the golf course is offering a lot of specials. The best is their “All American” breakfast. You get two eggs any style, bacon, sausage or ham, beans, hash browns, toast or tortillas, fresh orange juice and coffee. All of that food for only $5USD or $65 Pesos. Others are following suit. If you pop into “Kat’s Korner” she advertises these specials weekly.
Regina found this nice critter when she was opening the sun shade on the front porch.
We went to a “Beach Bash” on Saturday the 10th to support the San Felipe Animal Shelter. While we were there a local family dropped off eight pups. They were about six to eight weeks old and took over the show. All the pups got their shots and all were adopted by Monday. Attendance was a little low but this was their first attempt at a beach party and scheduled it 3 days after our Full Moon Mixer. They promised the next one would be better.
We also went to a friend's (Terry) birthday dinner at the El Cortez Hotel. Pictures are here.
We hosted a farewell dinner and Jenga tournament for Nate and Sue who were headed back to Michigan for the summer. We also had a little dinner for our neighbors Scott and Pam. Here was Regina’s salad. Guess where the Basil came from.
The Rev Jeanne came down for what she said was going to be a week. Well, arriving late on a Monday and leaving early on a Thursday is not a week! We did have a great time though despite the short time. Next time we are going to bounce her thru the “valley of the giants.” She got a lot of rest even with Regina getting her to play a day at water volleyball. Here are some of the pictures. We were not allowed to take pictures in the pool! That was a condition of her playing.
The following Monday is when all of the fun began. Regina woke up at 4:30am to a wet floor. Well, not quite wet but flooded. She woke me up and we sloshed around the house to find the source of the leak. The leak was found in the guest bathroom where a hot water hose broke. We do not know how long the water had been running but all but two rooms were flooded and the cistern was down by almost eighteen inches. We used brooms and squeegees to move out the almost one inch of water that was on the tile floor. When our contractor’s office opened at 7:00am, I called Lupe and he had a crew here by 7:30 with mops and sponges. They moved around the furniture and got into the places we couldn’t. They had everything cleaned up and the hose fixed by 11:00. Cost? Nada. Very little damage was done, I guess to our quick work. We cranked down the AC to try to dry out the house. When we woke up on Tuesday morning the main AC unit had quit. Called Lupe again and they had it fixed late in the afternoon. We were both glad that it was something simple as when they got here; it was 92 in the house. Well, they say that all bad things come in threes. That may not be true. When we moved into the house the dishwasher was broke and just for the heck of it, I pushed a button again. It lit up! Did a quick rinse and it worked! We then loaded it up to the gills over the next two days and ran a normal wash. It worked!! We are now in dishwasher heaven and saving water too!
We went to the Full Moon Mixer again last night. Regina teamed up with Sue and they cleaned house in Bocce Ball. They took first place!! No pictures though, forgot the camera.
Until next time,
Larry and Regina
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Casa Update 33
Hi everyone,
Since Kat mentioned our blog on her news page today, I expect that we will be seeing readers now who do not know us. A little background for you.
We bought a lot in Buena Vista on the Ranch in September of 2005. We started building our Casa in January of 2007. The house was completed in December 2007 and our house in Benicia, CA sold in early September 2007. We packed up everything and moved down here on November 9, 2007. We stayed in a 5th wheel under a ramada in solar till our house was finished. So we are also almost qualified to talk about solar living.
This is our story of the trials and tribulations of building in Mexico along with the pure excitement of living here. This blog started out as email update letters to our friends. I transferred all of the emails to the blog and added the pictures to Picasa so that anyone can read and see our experience. The early posts are locked to comments but the last 4-5 are not. Please feel free to comment on our or your experiences.
Sincerely,
Larry and Regina Williams
El Dorado Ranch
Buena Vista Block 35 Lot 3
San Felipe, BC, Mexico
Since Kat mentioned our blog on her news page today, I expect that we will be seeing readers now who do not know us. A little background for you.
We bought a lot in Buena Vista on the Ranch in September of 2005. We started building our Casa in January of 2007. The house was completed in December 2007 and our house in Benicia, CA sold in early September 2007. We packed up everything and moved down here on November 9, 2007. We stayed in a 5th wheel under a ramada in solar till our house was finished. So we are also almost qualified to talk about solar living.
This is our story of the trials and tribulations of building in Mexico along with the pure excitement of living here. This blog started out as email update letters to our friends. I transferred all of the emails to the blog and added the pictures to Picasa so that anyone can read and see our experience. The early posts are locked to comments but the last 4-5 are not. Please feel free to comment on our or your experiences.
Sincerely,
Larry and Regina Williams
El Dorado Ranch
Buena Vista Block 35 Lot 3
San Felipe, BC, Mexico
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Casa Update 32
Friends,
Well, yet another month has gone by. They are really flying now. It is getting harder to keep up.
We took a daytrip to the South Campos supposedly looking for a great shell beach somewhere south of town near KM 26. Not much luck in finding the beach but did have a great time checking out the 4WD in the truck. I will never be an off-roader but I can now at least follow other’s tracks.
Regina and Long Hair Larry signed up for Bocce Ball at the last full moon mixer. A few shots attached. They had a bonfire as the temperatures were still coolish. This month will not require a bonfire, a big AC unit would be more appropriate. Update: LH Larry arrived late last night so Regina pared up with Sue and they came in second! Wish I had pictures but no camera last night.
We did take an overnighter trip to El Centro for re-stocking. It was a much more leisurely trip spending the night. That allowed us to buy more supplies, a few of which are in these pictures. Take a look at the Rib Eyes we got at the “Yellow Cow” in Mexicali and note the price. We have already eaten one and it was so very excellent!
OK, now for the serious stuff. I promised to comment on life in Mexico and here are some observations regarding Dentists and Body Shops. Why these topics? Because we needed both of them this year.
I had always wanted to correct my smile. I had this front tooth that was slowly moving back. I went to the dentist to see what they could do about it. I was thinking of braces. They took X-Rays and were thinking implant. Seems that the reason the tooth was moving back was due to bone loss. I go to the most popular dentist among the American community. Her name is Melina and she is a knockout! Still a kid in her late twenties but very professional and speaks excellent English. She loves to sing to the music on her iPod while she is working. She suggested the implant and scheduled for that to be done by Dr. Mora who comes down from Mexicali once a month. His wife is a Periodontist and she comes down with him. While he did my implant surgery, Regina got a deep cleaning from his wife. I was the first appointment of the day and was in the waiting room when they arrived in a huge SUV. They both brought two assistants with them and enough equipment to fill a small office. Surgery went well and I was told to wait six months for healing and then come back. Total cost for the surgery, implant and temporary appliance: $1,400 USD. That was last September. I went back in late March for a checkup. He then placed a cap on top of the implant and told me that there was a small infection and I needed a cleaning to correct that. After I got home I tried to put my temporary appliance back in. No luck. It did not fit. So, I got out a file and tried to fix it myself. I proceeded to saw the temporary in half. Turns out that there was nothing I could have done to get the temporary to fit any more. Now comes the fun part. My dentist decides to get married. The wedding is scheduled for the end of April. I’m the last one to get the news and her next open appointment is in late May. So I go “toothless” for six weeks. I come in for the “fitting” and all goes well. One week later I have a brand new crown fitting perfectly and looking great. Total cost for the crown: $450 USD. That is $200 higher than normal but I was told it was because of the implant. I am one happy camper. They have all of the state of the art equipment here. The only things that were lacking were the computerized X-Rays and one of those fancy “make it while you wait crown machines.” I tried to take a picture of the tooth but none came out. If you want to see their work, you will have to come down and see it for yourself.
Now onto the Body Shop we found. First is a story on how we found these guys. We have friends that were returning to Mexico via the San Louis Rio Colorado entry (south of Yuma). There was a point where there was a two to one merge. Well, someone in the other lane decided to merge between their RV and the car they were towing. Not a pretty sight. He scraped the whole side of their little car. They took it to these guys and were very pleased. We could not see where the damage had been. OK, on to us. Seems that someone (and I will not tell who) managed to back the Toyota into a Palos Verde tree and crunched the tailgate. One of the activity guys at the pool was coordinating work for these guys and I signed up. I still don’t know their names. Well, for $80 USD they came to the pool, took the truck away and returned it early the next morning. I have the before and after pictures here.
We have had a lot of friends come down to their Casa’s this month. It is a who’s who of Northern California. Just to mention a few: Allan and Cindy from Vallejo, Tom and Nancy from San Francisco, Rose and Donnell from Oakland, Roy and Sylvia from Oak Grove, Steve and Deanna from Stockton and Gordy from Truckee. Gardenia and Steve from Belmont have finally moved into their huge house just six blocks up the hill from us. We can’t wait till they get their pool up and running.
We had a morning where the mountains looked like they had snow on them. It was just the sun reflecting as it was 85 degrees then. Also Regina is back into growing Basil.
I’m writing this just after we got back from a two day trip to San Diego to visit with Leslie who was there for a wedding. We had a great time and took in “Old Town” and a quick exploration of La Jolla. We even got to see some fireworks on the third. It was a nice cool 72 degrees when we left San Diego. The temperature maxed out at 115 in Mexicali and settled down to an almost comfortable 97 here at home. This is the first time in forever that we have not attended or hosted a BBQ for the 4th. We just had Hot Dogs, Baked Beans and Pasta Salad on the back porch while watching the fireworks from Pete’s Camp and the Jolly Mon Bar.
Well, yet another month has gone by. They are really flying now. It is getting harder to keep up.
We took a daytrip to the South Campos supposedly looking for a great shell beach somewhere south of town near KM 26. Not much luck in finding the beach but did have a great time checking out the 4WD in the truck. I will never be an off-roader but I can now at least follow other’s tracks.
Regina and Long Hair Larry signed up for Bocce Ball at the last full moon mixer. A few shots attached. They had a bonfire as the temperatures were still coolish. This month will not require a bonfire, a big AC unit would be more appropriate. Update: LH Larry arrived late last night so Regina pared up with Sue and they came in second! Wish I had pictures but no camera last night.
We did take an overnighter trip to El Centro for re-stocking. It was a much more leisurely trip spending the night. That allowed us to buy more supplies, a few of which are in these pictures. Take a look at the Rib Eyes we got at the “Yellow Cow” in Mexicali and note the price. We have already eaten one and it was so very excellent!
OK, now for the serious stuff. I promised to comment on life in Mexico and here are some observations regarding Dentists and Body Shops. Why these topics? Because we needed both of them this year.
I had always wanted to correct my smile. I had this front tooth that was slowly moving back. I went to the dentist to see what they could do about it. I was thinking of braces. They took X-Rays and were thinking implant. Seems that the reason the tooth was moving back was due to bone loss. I go to the most popular dentist among the American community. Her name is Melina and she is a knockout! Still a kid in her late twenties but very professional and speaks excellent English. She loves to sing to the music on her iPod while she is working. She suggested the implant and scheduled for that to be done by Dr. Mora who comes down from Mexicali once a month. His wife is a Periodontist and she comes down with him. While he did my implant surgery, Regina got a deep cleaning from his wife. I was the first appointment of the day and was in the waiting room when they arrived in a huge SUV. They both brought two assistants with them and enough equipment to fill a small office. Surgery went well and I was told to wait six months for healing and then come back. Total cost for the surgery, implant and temporary appliance: $1,400 USD. That was last September. I went back in late March for a checkup. He then placed a cap on top of the implant and told me that there was a small infection and I needed a cleaning to correct that. After I got home I tried to put my temporary appliance back in. No luck. It did not fit. So, I got out a file and tried to fix it myself. I proceeded to saw the temporary in half. Turns out that there was nothing I could have done to get the temporary to fit any more. Now comes the fun part. My dentist decides to get married. The wedding is scheduled for the end of April. I’m the last one to get the news and her next open appointment is in late May. So I go “toothless” for six weeks. I come in for the “fitting” and all goes well. One week later I have a brand new crown fitting perfectly and looking great. Total cost for the crown: $450 USD. That is $200 higher than normal but I was told it was because of the implant. I am one happy camper. They have all of the state of the art equipment here. The only things that were lacking were the computerized X-Rays and one of those fancy “make it while you wait crown machines.” I tried to take a picture of the tooth but none came out. If you want to see their work, you will have to come down and see it for yourself.
Now onto the Body Shop we found. First is a story on how we found these guys. We have friends that were returning to Mexico via the San Louis Rio Colorado entry (south of Yuma). There was a point where there was a two to one merge. Well, someone in the other lane decided to merge between their RV and the car they were towing. Not a pretty sight. He scraped the whole side of their little car. They took it to these guys and were very pleased. We could not see where the damage had been. OK, on to us. Seems that someone (and I will not tell who) managed to back the Toyota into a Palos Verde tree and crunched the tailgate. One of the activity guys at the pool was coordinating work for these guys and I signed up. I still don’t know their names. Well, for $80 USD they came to the pool, took the truck away and returned it early the next morning. I have the before and after pictures here.
We have had a lot of friends come down to their Casa’s this month. It is a who’s who of Northern California. Just to mention a few: Allan and Cindy from Vallejo, Tom and Nancy from San Francisco, Rose and Donnell from Oakland, Roy and Sylvia from Oak Grove, Steve and Deanna from Stockton and Gordy from Truckee. Gardenia and Steve from Belmont have finally moved into their huge house just six blocks up the hill from us. We can’t wait till they get their pool up and running.
We had a morning where the mountains looked like they had snow on them. It was just the sun reflecting as it was 85 degrees then. Also Regina is back into growing Basil.
I’m writing this just after we got back from a two day trip to San Diego to visit with Leslie who was there for a wedding. We had a great time and took in “Old Town” and a quick exploration of La Jolla. We even got to see some fireworks on the third. It was a nice cool 72 degrees when we left San Diego. The temperature maxed out at 115 in Mexicali and settled down to an almost comfortable 97 here at home. This is the first time in forever that we have not attended or hosted a BBQ for the 4th. We just had Hot Dogs, Baked Beans and Pasta Salad on the back porch while watching the fireworks from Pete’s Camp and the Jolly Mon Bar.
You all know how the press is bashing Mexico right now. Kat of "Kat's Korner" found this Article and I was impressed by it. They mention the CNN Anderson Cooper show that brought me to sign up for facebook to complain on his wall how out of date his story was.
Well that is it for now, Feel free to add comments to the blog. It is not like Facebook but we can use it that way.
Larry and Regina
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Casa Update 31
Friends,
It has been almost a month since my last update. It has been a busy month. When you think everything will settle down, it doesn’t. Here is a picture of where I started the update.
George and Beverley arrived on the 4th and spent a week. We all had a great time!! Lots of pictures attached this time as I can’t seem to delete any of them. We went to Puertocitos to have a dip in the hot spring tidal pools. Well, it was high tide when we got there. No tidal pools, only the Sea. Everyone hopped around what we thought were tidal pools and did feel the hot water seeping out of the sea floor. We stayed there for about three hours waiting for the tide to go out. It would have taken another three hours so we bagged it and headed for a real neat restaurant near KM35 on the Puertocitos road. Sign on the front said summer hours, only open on the weekend. Bummer. We went into San Felipe and ate at Chuey’s instead. Not a bad backup plan as we all left filled to the gills. We also took them to The “Valley of the Giants” which is at KM14 also on the Puertocitos road. Lots of pictures here! These are Cordon Cactus. Please Google it. These cacti are really huge! We stopped at the “4X4 Only After Here” sign and rested. I shifted the explorer onto 4WD and we headed off. I promised myself that I would stop and turn around before the sand hill. We had a nasty time with the hill last year when we scaled it in the 4X4 Tacoma when Leslie was here. I missed the turnaround spot and was forced to do this 400+ feet long sand hill again. With wheels churning, momentum failing, everyone bouncing close to the ceiling, on we went. For me the driver, it seemed like a five minute climb. Maybe it took twenty seconds. Next year we will be doing this hill in the pickup only, no more in the explorer. We also got George hooked on water volleyball. We have pictures of that also. You can pick George out from everyone else as he looks like the only albino in the pool. Beverly decided that drinking Cerveza’s in the pool was much more fun. We also got some great sunset pictures. They are included. Well the week went by all too fast and we were by ourselves again.
I said that things were winding down here for the summer. Well almost, farewell parties have been going on all month as the snow birds leave. We have been to quite a few. We have had three birthday parties also. It might now be safe to say that it is going to slow down sometime, I just don’t know when.
We had the Mexican National Olympic rowing trials here in town this week. It had been delayed a few weeks due to the Swine flue fiasco. We did not get a chance to go see but everyone said that the town was filled with Olympic hopefuls.
Regina continues to play water volleyball and pickle ball. I’m still sidelined waiting for the Doctor to approve more exorcise for me. Regina entered a volleyball tournament over Memorial Day and placed second out of six teams.
We moved into the summer house last week. We now have full time internet, AC and TV. Nice. They are having an outdoor kitchen built. So, it is just like a few years ago awaking to the workers arriving at 7:00am. Nice guys though. They let us know when they are going to shut down anything. It is coming along nicely and I expect them to be done in about four weeks (already adjusted for Mexican time). Oh, their dishwasher took a dump the week before we moved in. There are No Sears stores in Baja. I do have a line on a GE repair group and the Ranch is helping me get them in to take a look next week. We will see.
Temperatures have been slowly creeping up but we have been able to open up most nights. Humidity is still low making for a great time at the pool and beach.
We had our 3rd annual International Beach Volleyball tournament this weekend. The only reason it is called International is that they con a few Americans into playing. Otherwise it is totally a bunch of professional Mexicans playing and they are really good! I got a lot of pictures of Saturday’s matches. You will easily be able to pick out the Americans. They are the ones that are not sure of what they are doing.
We had burgers from Nacho at the tournament. We got two burgers and two orders of fries for only $80 Pesos. I have to describe how the burgers were made. First he got a frozen home made burger patty out. He spread mayonnaise on one side and slapped that side onto the griddle. He then continued to stir a huge mound of onions. Oh the aroma. I could have stood there all day. When he flipped the burger, he put a slab on cheese on it. He then spread mayonnaise on both bun halves and slapped them on the griddle to toast. When the burger and buns were done he put the meat and cheese onto the bottom bun while spreading cheese whiz on the top bun. He topped it off with heaping sautéed onions, lettuce, pickles, more mayonnaise and finally mustard. He folded it up in commercial aluminum foil (just like In-n-Out) It was terrific!!!! I plan on trying this myself but leaving out the cheese whiz.
Well, that has been our month down here. Hope you enjoy the pictures as there were many more but I cannot let my Picasa account fill up just yet. If you want to see them all, you will just have to come and visit.
Larry and Regina
It has been almost a month since my last update. It has been a busy month. When you think everything will settle down, it doesn’t. Here is a picture of where I started the update.
George and Beverley arrived on the 4th and spent a week. We all had a great time!! Lots of pictures attached this time as I can’t seem to delete any of them. We went to Puertocitos to have a dip in the hot spring tidal pools. Well, it was high tide when we got there. No tidal pools, only the Sea. Everyone hopped around what we thought were tidal pools and did feel the hot water seeping out of the sea floor. We stayed there for about three hours waiting for the tide to go out. It would have taken another three hours so we bagged it and headed for a real neat restaurant near KM35 on the Puertocitos road. Sign on the front said summer hours, only open on the weekend. Bummer. We went into San Felipe and ate at Chuey’s instead. Not a bad backup plan as we all left filled to the gills. We also took them to The “Valley of the Giants” which is at KM14 also on the Puertocitos road. Lots of pictures here! These are Cordon Cactus. Please Google it. These cacti are really huge! We stopped at the “4X4 Only After Here” sign and rested. I shifted the explorer onto 4WD and we headed off. I promised myself that I would stop and turn around before the sand hill. We had a nasty time with the hill last year when we scaled it in the 4X4 Tacoma when Leslie was here. I missed the turnaround spot and was forced to do this 400+ feet long sand hill again. With wheels churning, momentum failing, everyone bouncing close to the ceiling, on we went. For me the driver, it seemed like a five minute climb. Maybe it took twenty seconds. Next year we will be doing this hill in the pickup only, no more in the explorer. We also got George hooked on water volleyball. We have pictures of that also. You can pick George out from everyone else as he looks like the only albino in the pool. Beverly decided that drinking Cerveza’s in the pool was much more fun. We also got some great sunset pictures. They are included. Well the week went by all too fast and we were by ourselves again.
I said that things were winding down here for the summer. Well almost, farewell parties have been going on all month as the snow birds leave. We have been to quite a few. We have had three birthday parties also. It might now be safe to say that it is going to slow down sometime, I just don’t know when.
We had the Mexican National Olympic rowing trials here in town this week. It had been delayed a few weeks due to the Swine flue fiasco. We did not get a chance to go see but everyone said that the town was filled with Olympic hopefuls.
Regina continues to play water volleyball and pickle ball. I’m still sidelined waiting for the Doctor to approve more exorcise for me. Regina entered a volleyball tournament over Memorial Day and placed second out of six teams.
We moved into the summer house last week. We now have full time internet, AC and TV. Nice. They are having an outdoor kitchen built. So, it is just like a few years ago awaking to the workers arriving at 7:00am. Nice guys though. They let us know when they are going to shut down anything. It is coming along nicely and I expect them to be done in about four weeks (already adjusted for Mexican time). Oh, their dishwasher took a dump the week before we moved in. There are No Sears stores in Baja. I do have a line on a GE repair group and the Ranch is helping me get them in to take a look next week. We will see.
Temperatures have been slowly creeping up but we have been able to open up most nights. Humidity is still low making for a great time at the pool and beach.
We had our 3rd annual International Beach Volleyball tournament this weekend. The only reason it is called International is that they con a few Americans into playing. Otherwise it is totally a bunch of professional Mexicans playing and they are really good! I got a lot of pictures of Saturday’s matches. You will easily be able to pick out the Americans. They are the ones that are not sure of what they are doing.
We had burgers from Nacho at the tournament. We got two burgers and two orders of fries for only $80 Pesos. I have to describe how the burgers were made. First he got a frozen home made burger patty out. He spread mayonnaise on one side and slapped that side onto the griddle. He then continued to stir a huge mound of onions. Oh the aroma. I could have stood there all day. When he flipped the burger, he put a slab on cheese on it. He then spread mayonnaise on both bun halves and slapped them on the griddle to toast. When the burger and buns were done he put the meat and cheese onto the bottom bun while spreading cheese whiz on the top bun. He topped it off with heaping sautéed onions, lettuce, pickles, more mayonnaise and finally mustard. He folded it up in commercial aluminum foil (just like In-n-Out) It was terrific!!!! I plan on trying this myself but leaving out the cheese whiz.
Well, that has been our month down here. Hope you enjoy the pictures as there were many more but I cannot let my Picasa account fill up just yet. If you want to see them all, you will just have to come and visit.
Larry and Regina
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Casa Update 30
Friends,
George and Beverly’s trip was delayed a week and they are arriving tomorrow so I thought that I would update everyone tonight. There has been a lot going on in the past few weeks.
First, as you all know, we had the outbreak of the Swine Flu here in Mexico. It has spread all over the world in lightning fashion. The only thing that seems to have moved faster than the virus was the media attention. I could say a lot about what is happening down here with regards to the outbreak but if you will click Here you can get a very good summary. Also, Kat has a lot of information (though you will have to read thru all of the social stuff) Here. I think when all is said and done, this outbreak will be seen as an overreaction by the media and the WHO. Mexico again suffers under the relentless attack by the US media. I really don’t know what is behind all of this unethical reporting but I sure would like to find out. Please comment if you have ideas.
Well the snowbirds are leaving in mass now. Not that there were that many down this year. The state of the economy has left our little town really hurting. Home construction for the most part is down somewhere between 60-80%. Our contractor has reduced his staff now to about 60. That is down from a peak of 200+ just two years ago. The good news is that there is a lot of new commercial construction going on. A few new motels have been finished and little shops are either spiffing up or just opening for the first time. We now have a Thrifty Ice Cream shop again. And, even better, it is located half way to town. We will be checking it out real soon as the weather is changing. Gone are the cool nights. Gone is the low humidity. Summer is going to come early this year.
We continue with our regular activities of water volleyball and pickle ball and still seeking out more activities.
Friends from Arnold CA invited about 20+ of us to a beach barbeque. We went and had a great time. Pictures are Here.
Yesterday we had the last major social event of the season: The 7th Annual Chili cook-off at Club de Pesca. Kat said it was the largest that she had attended. We went last year and can only tell you that this years was way larger. We went with Kaaren and George, same as last year but this time we went early. There were not as many “regulars” as last year with many new faces. The band (Agave Blues) was fantastic as always. There were so many people that the chili ran out before everyone had a chance to taste them all. There must have been over twenty entries and we got to only try 10-11. I have included pictures of the event. You will see Kaaren and Regina sitting at our excellent table. We have a shot of Victor Rodriguez, who is our local fantastic photographer. It should be easy to recognize him as he is the one with the very expensive camera in his hand. We also bought a piece of art (also pictured at the end) from Arturo Gomez. He is a local artist and is the artist who painted our house name on the courtyard wall. All of these pictures are Here.
Well, enough for now. I will post more after the Phillips visit is over and we have recovered from all of the fun.
Larry and Regina
George and Beverly’s trip was delayed a week and they are arriving tomorrow so I thought that I would update everyone tonight. There has been a lot going on in the past few weeks.
First, as you all know, we had the outbreak of the Swine Flu here in Mexico. It has spread all over the world in lightning fashion. The only thing that seems to have moved faster than the virus was the media attention. I could say a lot about what is happening down here with regards to the outbreak but if you will click Here you can get a very good summary. Also, Kat has a lot of information (though you will have to read thru all of the social stuff) Here. I think when all is said and done, this outbreak will be seen as an overreaction by the media and the WHO. Mexico again suffers under the relentless attack by the US media. I really don’t know what is behind all of this unethical reporting but I sure would like to find out. Please comment if you have ideas.
Well the snowbirds are leaving in mass now. Not that there were that many down this year. The state of the economy has left our little town really hurting. Home construction for the most part is down somewhere between 60-80%. Our contractor has reduced his staff now to about 60. That is down from a peak of 200+ just two years ago. The good news is that there is a lot of new commercial construction going on. A few new motels have been finished and little shops are either spiffing up or just opening for the first time. We now have a Thrifty Ice Cream shop again. And, even better, it is located half way to town. We will be checking it out real soon as the weather is changing. Gone are the cool nights. Gone is the low humidity. Summer is going to come early this year.
We continue with our regular activities of water volleyball and pickle ball and still seeking out more activities.
Friends from Arnold CA invited about 20+ of us to a beach barbeque. We went and had a great time. Pictures are Here.
Yesterday we had the last major social event of the season: The 7th Annual Chili cook-off at Club de Pesca. Kat said it was the largest that she had attended. We went last year and can only tell you that this years was way larger. We went with Kaaren and George, same as last year but this time we went early. There were not as many “regulars” as last year with many new faces. The band (Agave Blues) was fantastic as always. There were so many people that the chili ran out before everyone had a chance to taste them all. There must have been over twenty entries and we got to only try 10-11. I have included pictures of the event. You will see Kaaren and Regina sitting at our excellent table. We have a shot of Victor Rodriguez, who is our local fantastic photographer. It should be easy to recognize him as he is the one with the very expensive camera in his hand. We also bought a piece of art (also pictured at the end) from Arturo Gomez. He is a local artist and is the artist who painted our house name on the courtyard wall. All of these pictures are Here.
Well, enough for now. I will post more after the Phillips visit is over and we have recovered from all of the fun.
Larry and Regina
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