Weather Change

Beautiful weather no more! On the weekend we had nothing but wind and rain. We were getting the tail-end of the terrible California weather and it sucked.

The Mexican crews have been working very hard getting the main road into San Carlos up and running, but they had a huge set-back during the storm. They had cleaned out the arroyo under the bridge and were pouring footings etc when the rains came.

The ditch filled up with rain and the line to our community broke apart leaving many places without water. In Mexico they use the most basic equipment and there was no such thing as a pump to remove the excess water. Instead they used the bucket on the trackhoe to empty the ditch. Very time consuming but it works.

In the meantime, the gringos were getting restless without water [again] so the crew decided they needed to locate the pipe and sent two young men down into the arroyo to find it - no equipment or suits! It took them a couple of hours to locate it, but they did it. This is not something we would ever see at home.

The sitting on the fence watching the progress must be a "man" thing.

Hot Weather

Yesterday was like most days in San Carlos - hot!

Maggie loves the ocean but the salt water dries her skin out too much so we bought her a "private" pool. She loves it and happily sits in it for long periods of time with a smug look on her face.

We Have Been Replaced

Maggie is in love! She is obsessed with our neighbour's mother who is visiting from Saskatoon and will sit for the longest time waiting for Liz to make an appearance. Maggie has made the connection.... Liz equals treats.

Or, maybe she is just practicing for when Adelle gets down here?

Tournament Time

Els [the lady with the white cap] and I have been planning a Tecalai golf tournament for the last couple of weeks and today was the day. The weather co-operated with lots of sun and no wind.

We limited the number of golfers to 40 and I can safely say that all 40 people had a great time. The format was 4 man best ball and luck was with us and there were no ties. After the round we were all able to relax, visit, and eat. Most of the participants were from our community (Tecalai) but a number were acquaintances from houses around the golf course as well as other areas.

Almost all the golfers were from Canada, doing the same thing we are - enjoying the winter in a foreign country.

Saskatchewan Roads?

Now that they are repairing the bridge that washed out in front of Tecalai, we are forced to ride our bikes over some rough terrain. We have to ride the back route to get water and groceries pretty much everyday and our bikes are taking a beating, to say nothing of my butt!

The road Fred is on was used regularly by many people, but it is impossible to drive on now because of the rocks that were exposed during the flooding.

Birthday Greetings

Happy Birthday Mom!

Tell Adelle she isn't the only one who can have a drink after a long hard day at work. Mom, you especially deserve a caesar.

Shrimp at My Door

Two or three times a week Abel and his wife drive through our neighbourhood selling shrimp, crab or fish. When we hear the horn honk, we know it's Abel in his little red truck.

The seafood is unbelievably fresh and cheap. Yesterday we bought 1 kilo of large shrimp for 150 pesos or $12.30 Cdn. You can find seafood cheaper in other places, but we have been dealing with Abel for a number of years and we trust the quality of his product.

The best part of this service is that Abel and his wife will clean and devein the shrimp for you, right on the back of his truck.

Christmas Eve

Pyrohy! A must for Ukrainian Christmas Day. We tried making them this afternoon for tomorrow's meal and we think we did okay. Not like Eleanor's, but okay. No small task for the two of us.

We couldn't follow through with the real traditional Ukrainian meal for Christmas Eve tonight and ended up at a fantastic new Italian restaurant in town. Italian? Ukrainian?

Tomorrow we plan on spending the day on the golf course. Besides, Chuyita is coming to clean the house and yard and she chases us away.

The pictures prove we really did take the time to make the perogies. The funny looking square perogies are Fred's - mine are the huge [are we almost finished?] ones.

Flying Rats

Seagulls have always been one of the most annoying pests when eating on the beach. They are always flying by your head trying to steal food. Today was one of the worst - they attacked our chips and salsa unexpectedly and surprised both of us. People consistently feed them so of course they will come back.

Other than the Flying Rats, as Fred likes to call them, the afternoon was very relaxing. We have been working on the house again and needed a break.


On another good note, we don't have to worry about our poinsettias anymore as Maggie has completed her demolition of the plants. She seems to think that when her toys land in the plants they are fair game. Well done Mags!