October 8, 2008
Well today is mother’s birthday. I hope she is enjoying it. Our day went really quick. I spend the morning in the “kitchen” and then I went over and helped Sharon put screen in the rings that Jim made for them. I came home intending to sew but by the time I got ready to start, it was too late.
There is a social every Wednesday evening up on the dock and I went alone because Jim took Cris and they were at the store. Jim arrived just about the time I was ready to come back to the boat. He had them weld a piece onto the end of the pipe that was too short. Now he can finish putting up the pushput and I can have a place to sit down in the cockpit again. Yah!
The first boat that we knew of, left to go down south today. They had a big send off. Family and friends stood on the dock and wished them well and there were tears and hugs and that kind of stuff.
Now it is evening and they just radioed in to one of the other boats here in the marina. It sounds like they are coming back. I suspect that it is hurricane Norbert that changed their minds. I wondered why they would leave this early and especially why they would leave when the weather report this morning predicted a hurricane down south. There was a little yellow boat that left with them. He didn’t come back. Hope he is ok.
Saturday Oct, 11, 2008
I have spent the last few days recovering the cock pit cushions. I really wanted to work on the mosquito netting but the one big floppy cushion in the cock pit was very inconvenient for Jim so I divided it into 3 cushions and covered them. I finished today. Jim finished wiring the solar panels up. They don’t provide enough electricity to keep the fridge running. We also have to keep the auto pilot running. I don’t know how we can do it. The wind has really been blowing today. Hurricane Norbert hit the mainland down south. All we got was some wind but we had quite a bit of that for a while. I want up to the restroom on the dock and the window there was open. The whole room was covered with sand the wind had blown in. Someone is going to be very unhappy.
Sunday Oct 12, 08
We went to bed last night because it was cold. This morning when I got up it was 53 degrees F in the cabin. We don’t have a heater. We will need to go south soon if this keeps up. The weather forecast says it will warm up now that Hurricane Norbert has gone past. The wind gusted up to 32miles per hour according to the weather man. We are very grateful for the jackets and the soft cuddly blanket that Karen gave us.
I went to church. Again Teresa sat by me and tried to teach me Spanish by pointing to the words in the songs. She has a good heart and has been a big help to me. The Relief Society is doing a service project. They will meet at 8:00 one of these mornings and go babysit for some children who have no fathers. I believe that is what they are doing. The lady who sat by me tried to explain it while she was listening to them talk. Then after church I spoke to a man who was visiting from Provo. He came down and brought his grandson with him to do a service project for an orphanage located between here and Tijuana. It is surprising to see how many people come down here from up there. One of the ladies who sat by me was from Bakersville CA. She was visiting a friend who lives here. I get really homesick when I see the children in church. Teresa asked her grandkids to give me a hug and a kiss. I almost cried because I was so lonesome for my own grandkids. They used to give me a hug and a kiss sometimes. I miss them so much, especially when I see other children. Now there are children on the boat next to us who love to play with Cheri. Kids are so precious. Sundays are the worst because I always saw my grandkids on Sundays and now I see other people’s grandkids on Sundays. I wish we could stay in SLC and see Lexie get baptized next month but I know I won’t be able to. We would have to spend 2 more weeks there and we need to spend the time working on getting the boat out of the slip space before the rent is due again.
Monday 13th
Wow! It was a cold night. Jim said he froze all night long. He asked the dog why Cheri had not sat on his feet and kept them warm. He said they were cold all night long. Myself, I was comfortable until I had to get up this morning. I had the regular blankets and the little red blanket Karen gave us on me. Today I plan on working on the Mosquito netting. Mac from “Effie” came over and offered to help me with any sewing projects. She has already finished all hers. (They are the ones that headed south earlier this week.) We will arrange to go to the upholstery fabric shop on Wednesday. Sharon (from Bright Star) and Shastene who came from Sweden (from Fraya) want to go with us. We want to know where the store is. It is hard to find things from the directions people give you because of the missing street signs and the fact that each street has more than one name.
Thursday 16th
Jim is finishing the wind propelled generator today. He has it up and is wiring it now. That is a lot of work because he has to empty out the storage compartments in the cockpit to run the wire through them. We have had a problem to solve. We plan to go back to SLC on the 22nd because Amy and Steve are expecting their baby on the 24th. We need to leave the car there so we can travel by boat. That means we would have had to travel by bus from the border to Ensenada. Problem is that the bus won’t allow dogs and we can’t leave her here. Jim ask Jan and Gary to come back with us so we can bring the dog both ways. They said they could do that. They will ride back with us and then take our car home. That way we can bring back all the things we bought on the internet too.
Thanks to Jan and Gary for solving that problem for us.
Friday 10, 17,08
I found the cutest little vegetable store today. One of the ladies here (Shastene) showed it to several of us. We walked up to it. They sell organic home grown vegetables. Of course I can’t understand anything they say but Shastene can.
I also worked on the mosquito net for the cockpit. Jim worked on getting the dingy to stay on the davits and put ropes through the cockpit. I don’t like the result because the ropes go right over the only seats in the cock pit. He changed it for me but they still are in the way. Not as bad as they were though.
Monday, Oct 20th
I tried to rebuild the dodger in the last few days. It didn’t turn out too well but it is done. I just won’t admit I did it. That should take care of the problem. It was big and heavy and hard to move around even when I wasn’t trying to sew on it. I replace two of the windows. That is all the isinglass we had so I couldn’t replace the other two. I also patched a few holes and replaced the zippers. Wow! Now I know why they charge so much to do it for you.
We will be going back to SLC on Wednesday.
TuesdayI did the washing. Jim cleaned up some resin that spilled in the bilge. Then we got ready to go to SLC. That is all we got done. Then we took a walk around to the other side of the marina and watched the seals on the sunken boat in the harbor. I wished I had my camera, but then I have wished that every time I went over there. I still haven’t sent any pictures. Maybe I can do that when I get back from SLC.