Local success story

A very odd day weatherwise today, very windy but still hot, so a lot of sand in the air. It was an abbreviated walk on the beach, that fast-blowing sand stings. But very dramatic looking!




Picture of the new furniture, as promised. Very comfy. Everything is hooked up to the TV now, so we're entertainment central, we just don't have a CD player at the moment.


We talked to Oswaldo (or Ozzie, as Carl calls him) today- he took the shell mirror back to his sister, who it belongs to. He and his wife Mary-Sol are coming with us to the Jazz Festival, our treat. That will be fun, they are a really nice young couple. She doesn't speak English, but that's ok, we don't speak Spanish, and Oswaldo speaks both fluently. Ozzie told us we fit right into the neighborhood. That was nice to hear. I had bought a Mexican flag for the car, and wanted to be sure it wouldn't offend anyone, but he said he thought it was great.

We went out to a neighborhood restaurant tonight- the menu was small, but we had another seafood cocktail. This one had scallops, shrimp, clams and octopus. It was really good. When we got home, there was a knock at the gate, and two young boys were there. I said, "hola", and they said some stuff in Spanish. I said, Hablo un poca Espangol, lo siento, and they said, something something something Ingles. Then one brightened and said, "ball!" and pointed to our roof.

I said, oh, ok, c'mon in, and uno momento, and I got Carl, who crawled on the roof. He couldn't find it so, I said, "¿Grandé?" and they motioned that it was a small ball. I said, "¿Roja? o..." and he said yellow". I said, ¿Amarillo? and he said "No, ummmm green!" It was a green tennis ball.

Anyhow, my point is, I think if the local kids are coming over to visit, we're not considered ogres. Which makes us very happy!

Taz, Shadow once again says, "4 real". He misses you. Lucky is no substitute really.

Still lovin' it

We're still enjoying those early morning walks... the beach is different every day. It also starts the day with a definite "you're not in Calgary anymore, Toto" kind of positive energy. Today the tide was coming in, and the waves were much larger than we've seen so far. Our silly dog doesn't get waves yet. "I'm standing there, the water's up to here, and suddenly it's way up to here!! It scares me!" I go in wading and he follows me, he'll get used to it soon.

There was a pleasant breeze this morning, and a bit of a mist. Here's the part of town Lucky lives in, taken from the beach:


Carl's got books on shelves, and he sold one today!!


Shadow's getting along fine here, look how happy he is. This is just before we went out back to siestaland. At a certain time of day siestaland is in the shade, but the lowering sun catches the palm tree and the patio umbrella and casts a sharp shadow of them on the wall of the house. Nice.


After work today we went running errands again, there's still lots to do. We found a trash barrel. You have to keep driving by this one corner in town where a guy sometimes parks with barrels, and buy one for 100 pesos. Today he was there, so we have a big red steel barrel outside our wall. I was going to take a picture of it, but then the neighbors would know I was crazy.

Burrito Express is working out well. We take our mail in to them, and they pick up our mail from Lukeville 3 times a week. We don't even have to worry about stamps, they have a postage meter. And they will mail media mail for Carl's books.

I found out a little more about the jazz festival on October 4. Several groups from the US and Mexico, starts at 6 PM, ends I expect after my bed time. Tickets $15 a chair. Here's the poster:


We went out comparison pricing on furniture today, and found some we liked even better, and for a way better price. Also some nice tables. It's being delivered within the hour, pictures tomorrow. While searching the furniture stores, we met one young lady who spoke English. Carl asked her when the daytime temperatures started to cool down a little, and she said within a week. She was quite disappointed sounding, and said, "It is always cold on the holiday." Independence day is Sept 16, keep an eye on the temps everyone. I'm betting it will be 30.

When we go to the Old Port, on the way back is a sign that make me laugh every time, because I am infantile. It says, "¡ya Basta!" Which means "enough is enough!", but I always have to say to Carl, "Oh, yeah? Ya Basta!"

Furniture arrived!! The guys were afraid of Shadow. We shut him in the bathroom. I was able to say to the movers, " ¿puedes ayudarme a mover esta televisión? Es muy pesada." Thanks, Cheryl!! (can you help me to move this television? It is very heavy.)

While I was learning the word for heavy, pesada, (Or pesado if the word is masculine) Dan asked, what if you want to order a heavy fish? Which of course would be a pesado pescado. Thanks, Dan. :)

So, furniture pictures tomorrow, we still have to get our FM3 visas started, and there is tons of organizing to do yet. Where do you find picture hanging wire? And what about that feta cheese? Steaks and mashed potatoes and green beans tonight, not very Mexican. We got the steaks from Oswaldo's favorite butcher. They look like fillets, and if they are then they're a very good price.

Oh, Dan, by the way, looking into the solar oven, but the hardest thing is you need a black pot with a tight lid, then it needs to be wrapped in clear plastic like an oven bag. There is a dish specifically made for that, but it's $100 online, which kind of defeats the purpose. But in researching that, I found this, which might solve our BBQ grilling problem (we can't find a gas grill here, and a charcoal one takes too long to heat up and burns for too long for 2 people):

http://www.pyromid.net/system/index.html

I found a place that claims to have some in stock, just waiting for an email back from them.

A few other things

There are a few things I've been meaning to mention:

-some of you will be amused to know that kitty-corner to us is a house with at least 2 roosters. Yes, they go at it all day long, but our house is very sound-proofed, and I don't mind it when I sit outside.
-insect life- virtually non-existent. a few flies, no mosquitoes that we've seen, a few ants but no bites as yet, haven't seen nary a scorpion.
-Shadow finally laid on his pillow! That means he feels at home.
-I wondered what to do with garbage like shrimp peelings, which would get very stinky in this heat. Carl cleverly suggested packaging and freezing them, and taking them on our morning walks to the beach where there are garbage cans emptied a few times a day. He is un hombre inteligente.
-I admit, we are starting to crave feta and cheddar. There's a great man here who goes back and forth between Puerto Penasco and Phoenix weekly, I am working out a deal with him to bring us good cheese!! This is huge. For one thing:
http://www.eatgreektonight.com/recipe.cfm?TypeID=1&RecipeID=261
this is the same fellow who helped us get our stuff into Mexico; runs Rocky Point Resources.
-and a virtual tour of that house for sale ($189,000):

http://www.realestaterockypoint.net/Puerto_PenascoRocky_Point/Sonora/Homes/R116/In_Town/Agent/Listing_1875904.html

Quiet Sunday

Up at 6:10 today, we seem to be getting used to the earlier rising. There's a young guy we call Tommy who greets us every day, and always has some wild story to tell us about when he lived in Vegas, or someplace else in the States, or something about the police, or nearly anything. He's a little tetched, but harmless enough. Yesterday he asked Carl for some shorts so he could wash the ones he was wearing, and today Carl brought a pair along he wasn't really using.

Tommy explained to us that he had a satellite and could watch everything that was going on in Phoenix. He held his hands out like a viewer and was explaining to us what he was seeing. Then he shifted his hands towards Carl so that Carl could see, too. How do you write the twilight zone music? dee-doo-dee-doo.....

Shadow had a good run and swim with Lucky, and met a few other dogs as well. We chatted with a guy about our age who said he's been coming here since he was 19, and then there was one motel here, and some fishing boats, that's about all. As we left the beach, Tommy was talking to a young very drunk gringo, and he called, "bye!" to us. Then he turned back and said, "My mother and father."dee-doo-dee-doo.....

We went out for breakfast to the hotel where I had stayed when I was down here in March and we bought the house. I wanted their Papas Mexicanas. They were as good as I remembered. Carl had an Omelet Rancheros he said was also very good. Here's a picture of the table we sat at, nice tile work:


Then we went out to Cholla Bay. Not all that impressive, sort of like a suburb, pretty, quiet, a little odd. And the roads out there are just awful. If you go, don't take the road we took back. Desolate, washer-board, dusty, sandy, slow, hot road. You do NOT want to break down on that road. We were saving our half bottle of water just in case.

I did a couple of grocery runs today, including picking up some pork chops that were recognizable as pork chops. I'm going to pan fry them and smother them in pineapple and mango, and we made a bean and corn salad that's chilling right now.

For the salad, Carl got to use his new lime squeezer again:


I had forgotten a couple of ingredients so I went for a quick walk to the local Mercado, which means showering and changing clothes when you get home. Did I mention the humidity? I love it, I really do, but it's a little gross how, well, damp you get.

On the way I saw some furniture a local was selling, and there were a couple of file cabinets. When I got home I collected Carl and we drove over. We did a little Spanish, and he did a little English. We asked how much (It was a little beat up, but functional.) He said in English, "50 dollars!". He must have seen the shock on our faces, because he immediately said, "or ten dollars." We struck a deal.



Ok, now we're just going to mess with your heads. This house is a block away from us. And it's for sale.

Really dumb gringos

Hi, All,

My apologies, I thought I had the darn thing setup to email me when the comments came in. Apparently I'm not as technically ept as I portray myself to be. Ept. Sure, that's a word. Anyway, I have posted everything, thanks for all the comments and keep 'em coming!

Mel

More furniture shopping

We had a bit of a slug-a-bed this morning, not getting up until 6:20! There was some discussion, quickly stepped on by the Shadow-meister, of perhaps skipping the morning walk, it being the weekend and all. As it turns out, we were glad we went. It was a bit cloudy, which took the heat off a bit (105 degrees F here today, 41 C). We walked a little further than usual, up to the RV park- for those of you who RV, this is right on the beach, just before the expensive condos:

Shadow and his friend Lucky had a great time today, Lucky is able to get Shadow to chase him, and he was instructive in what to do on the beach, being a local boy. "Ok, now we go into the water, we jump around, we bark, you chase me, ok, now we run up the beach and chase birds!! C'mon!!!"


We organized a bit and Carl did two loads of laundry today, mundane but necessary. Laundry dries on the line in an hour. Then we went out in search of a craft fair we'd seen in May. Could not find it. Carl suggested going back to the old port and looking around there (we're looking for organizing items for kitchen and bathroom).

There's a store there we've been meaning to check out, and it is GREAT!!


We think we'll buy this couch and loveseat. Leather back and arms, fabric cushions, quite comfortable, very stylish, $972 the pair. They also have some nice coffee tables and end tables. Plus tons and tons of other really nice ceramics and artwork.

The main showroom- don't you just want to browse? Check out the metal palm tree.





After all that shopping (and sweating- the store isn't air conditioned), we had to go to the Thirsty Parrot for a margarita. The nice folks there bought us a drink. They have a Thursday night deal where women (well, ladies; as Carl pointed out, I'd have to behave) drink for free. Frozen margs and several other choices are available to said ladies. Here's the frozen marg, nice glass eh?


And Carl's non-frozen marg:



And the aftermath.


We bought a lime-squeezer today which Carl proclaims "the best!". And we're trying out fish tacos on corn tortillas with fruit salsa for dinner, which we should start making soon. So I'm off. Take care, all.

Got our Stuff!

Our stuff arrived, and all-in-all it was about $350 less than we had budgeted, which blows us away. There was one casualty, apparently this is what happens when a forklift drives into a box:



But now all our old stuff is nestling in nicely with our new stuff:




But of course the place is a mess again.

Here are the kitchen "improvements" I mentioned yesterday. Much much more organization to come. That's not beer. It's empty beer cans :)


Another major home improvement, we got the TV and DVD going. Now we just need satellite in time for Grey's Anatomy!


We got the new washer today, dryer to come. Got a rocking deal, $280/pair included delivery. You should have seen this guy- he took then from the back of the truck and somehow lowered them onto a hand truck without banging them or anything, it was like he had telekinesis. Then he said, very slowly and clearly, something like, "en una semana tendremos un refrigerador." I caught semanas because it sounds like "semaine", I guess that French in elementary school did some good after all. So I said confidently to Carl, "In a week he will have fridges." I'm pretty sure I was right. Later we bought ice. (ee-yay-lo, thanks Cheryl!), and the clerk said, "Quince pesos." And I knew that was 15! More importantly, I understood him. It's not a lot of progress, but felt like a lot. I have heard that people from other Spanish-speaking countries complain that Mexicans talk too fast.



I found these in the pack. ewww.



We went shopping, Osvaldo told us about another great store called Numero, and we picked up a few things at the Supermercado.

Impulse buy:


Tonight we have some shrimp which we are going to just boil quickly and dip into salsa. We think that will give us an idea of how better to cook them, because last time we over-salted them. And with our new vinagre, we'll have a nice avocado-tomato-onion salad, and we bought some bolillos. And I do believe we'll settle in and watch Goodfellas!!