A Week in Review!

Friday Feb. 22, 2013

So what’s been going on!  You may have noticed that I have not been very faithful with the Blog this year.  Sorry!  Many things have contributed to this but health has been the main issue.  I have been focused on my exercise (walking and lifting weights) and making sure I am taking all my pills (prescription as well as vitamins.)  I am up and walking by 7:15 am and so by the evening I’m too tired to work on the Blog.  I guess I also think that since we are just doing the same old thing people don’t want to hear it all over again.  Perhaps…perhaps not.

Well last Friday all was well with us after our road trip to Barra de Piaxtla but one day later Eric had La Tourista.  Did he get it when we ate lunch on Thursday…who knows…I’m not sure anyone knows where they actually get it.  In the end it took four days before he was back on his feet.  The sad thing is we had some really nice weather while he was sick and now not so good.  The luck of the draw. 

One good thing that did happen is that last Friday (before he was really sick) Eric got Big Red out of sick bay.  We haven’t been riding the bike much this winter because the transmission shifter arm was loose, couldn’t be tightened and was wearing out.  Eric finally decided that if we couldn’t ride the bike he might as well try to remove it and have a look at it.  When Eric talked to the Harley shop foreman in Yuma he said that you would have to take half the bike apart to get this small piece off (cost about $800.)  Guess what,  Eric removed it with no trouble.  Seems that on the newer models you can remove it.  The problem was that it wouldn’t stay tight and after taking it off he could see why.  The neighbor John from Kamloops, B.C. had a Dremel with a burr so Eric enlarged the hole until the pinch bolt didn’t bind.  Now when the shifter arm was replaced it could be tightened up and it didn’t bind anymore.  After a couple of rides it is still tight and now it can be removed and replaced with a new unworn arm when we get back to the U.S.A.   Happy,  Happy, Happy.  Thank you John for bringing your Dremel! 

By Wednesday Eric was feeling better and we took a ride up to El Quelite with Dennis and Marilyn and her brother Wally and his wife Marilyn.  We had a nice walk around El Quelite before we stopped for lunch at Los Arrieros.  We do like this restaurant and prefer it to others there but that is just us!  The setting is nice, service is good and the food along with appetizers is good as well.  Wally really enjoyed his coconut shrimp.  A lot better than our truck stop lunch last Thursday when we went to Barra de Piaxtla. 

Marilyn and Wally….his shrimp hasn’t arrived yet!

This pile of puppies along with their Mom were by the restaurant and Eric got a couple of photos.  A well fed Mom and 7 puppies.  Cute but of course all puppies are cute! 

Eric went for a walk and ….they all followed him!

We had a caravan arrive last Wednesday (the 13th ) and they stayed until this last Monday.  The rigs were from the USA and Canada and had been in Mexico for about 20 days.  Eric and I talked to a couple of the travelers and it we were amazed to hear how little they knew about where they had been or where they were going.  They knew they had come into Mexico through Nogales and that they had been to the Copper Canyon out of Los Mochis but that was about it.  They just see the butt of the rig ahead of them and don’t learn a thing as they travel.  Not for us!

As they start to leave the park it is quite a show.  They roar up behind each other as if they are afraid to get left behind.  Brakes are locking up, walkies are talking and then in a blaze of dust…they are gone. 

At the risk of boring you with yet another Bocce ball tournament I will say we had another one on Monday and Wednesday of last week.  We had the woman play off against each other and the men play off against each other as well. This time it was single knock out…one loss and you were out.   My team won two games and then we were out.  The final game between the men and woman was played by Rita and Anita against Boomer and Manny and guess who won….the woman…and the score….an embarrassing 15 to 1 for the woman.  We rock.  Good job Rita and Anita.   

That’s Manny (second from left) and Boomer out front ….when they were still winning.

That’s Anita and Rita (the big champions) on the left.  I didn’t get a final photo of the winners because we went for a ride on Big Red.

Yesterday it was time for me to cook Chili.  Saturday is the 4th annual Las Jaibas Chili cook off and it has turned into a grandiose event.  Four years ago it was a very small event that was started to support the Hogar Para Nino’s Orphanage and that is still what it is for.  Now however the event is advertised in the Pacific Pearl and draws a lot of Chili tasters.  We have 13 cookers from our park as well as other parks serving up their Chili.  It costs 30 peso’s to taste and get a voting ballot but you can of course donate more if you wish.  There is a beer garden, a live band and a raffle with lots of prizes.  All proceeds go to the Orphanage so it is a very worthy event.  Yes I am cooking.  I did cook the first two years but we were south at Los de Marcos last year and I missed the cook off.  I made two pots of Chili this year as did many cookers because so many people now attend this event.  Should be fun!

One other thing that happened today is that we got an email virus.  Some sort of spam was sent to everyone in our Yahoo mail account which is not good.  I looked on line to see what we should do and it said we should change our password.  I did that and made it stronger so hopefully it won’t happen again.  This is the first time our account has sent span however, we have received this kind of spam before.  My Norton antivirus says all our protection is in order but it happened anyway.  Rats…sorry to all our contacts. 

That’s all for now folks!