Nada

Nada

Nada (nothing) is exactly what we have been doing. More or less.

We did go fishing on Sunday. It was a perfect afternoon for it. It was a bit overcast, so it wasn't too hot, and there was no wind. We asked Ciro if he wanted to come and he did. We had a good day with everyone catching some. As it was Sunday there were some families there and therefore some action to watch as we waited for the fish to bite. One fellow and his wife drove up and watched for awhile and then asked me what I was using for bait. When I told him I was using Calamari, he asked if I would have some extra, sure I told him. He said that they had a rod back at their room and left to get it. His car plates were Californian and Ciro told me that some of the rooms have rods in them for the renters to use. They returned and he started to try to fish. He had never fished before so another fisherman helped him and showed him how to cast, etc.. His first cast on his own, he caught a fish! He was so excited that he was speaking spanish and english together in the same sentence, it was funny. When we left after dark he was still there fishing, his wife had left and come back several times by then. I think he was hooked! It was a nice afternoon and after watching the sunset, we packed up and came home.

I had asked Irene for the recipe for a roast pork (Cochinita Pibil) that we had at the baby shower supper and she wrote it out for me. I had to go uptown to get some achiote paste and laurel leaves; but then I was ready to try it on Monday. I stuck it all in the slow cooker and it was very good!

Flowers

Flowers

Here are some recent photos of the flowers. The plumeria is doing well considering that I got the slips in the fall.

Plumeria.

Desert Rose.

Yesterday Ciro asked if we wanted to go fishing and of course we did. It was very windy though and not exactly a good day for fishing. Roy caught a little Manta Ray about the size of a dinner plate, another decent sized one and some little ones. Young Alan caught a couple and Carlos, (Ciros youngest son), said that he thought he kept catching the same little fish over and over. I told him he was catching supper one bite at a time.

We may go fishing again today, we will see how the wind is.

Hummingbird Nest Update

Hummingbird Nest Update

The hummingbirds hatched out of the eggs a couple of days ago; but I hadn't managed to get a photo of the babies. The nest is located so that it is always in the shade, smart momma; but it makes it difficult to get a photo of the babies. This morning Roy helped me out by holding a couple of the branches so that we could get some sunlight into the nest. This helped a bit and I did get one photo where you can actually see one baby a bit. It is not a good photo; but was all I could manage.

I read online that the females lay two eggs and this one did. I also read that the babies stay in the nest for 21 days before fledging, we are not exactly sure what day they hatched; but they have about 2 more weeks before flying away. They have almost doubled in size since the first time we saw them about 5 days ago. If you view the photo full size by clicking on it, you will see one of the babies, the other is to the right of the first one. Their beaks are short and broad and look nothing like the adults beaks, maybe it is easier for momma to feed them if their beaks are short for awhile.

Yesterday the young fellow from next door came over and gave us an invitation to his mothers 55th birthday party. It was already 4 PM and the party was to begin at 7 PM. I am not sure why he was delivering the invitations so late; but he had a whole handful of them to deliver. I rushed uptown to get a gift.

We waited until just after 8 PM before going to the party. When we arrived there were some people there; but we didn't know anyone. We greeted the young man who had invited us and were introduced to the "birthday lady". We had never met her before; but we see her son daily. We sat down, nibbled on the snacks provided and checked out the decorations. People kept arriving until the patio was almost full. There was one little boy, who could just barely walk, who was playing with a soccer ball. He adopted us and we rolled the ball back and forth with him for awhile. He was so funny, he could hardly walk; but was determined to play soccer. Irene, our landlady arrived and came and sat beside us. Some of the other neighbors also arrived, and we greeted them. Irene leaned over and told me that the young fellow had hired a Mariachi band to come and play. She told me the name of the band and apparently they are well thought of, as she seemed impressed. A few minutes later, the 6 piece Mariachi band arrived. The violin player was a lady. They were dressed in the black outfits with the silver ornaments down the pant legs, they looked very nice and sounded great. When they first walked in the birthday lady was so surprised to see them and excited. Her son just beamed, obviously he knew what to do to please momma. The young fellow has a very nice voice, he is always singing, and he sang several songs to his mother accompanied by the mariachis. It was nice to watch the love and emotion between mother and son. They played for about 1/2 hr. and took requests from the birthday lady. Very nice.

Right after the band left they began to serve dinner. Irene quite proudly told us that Nancy, (her daughter in law) had cooked all the food for the party. Nancy is becoming quite an entrepreneur. We were served a plate with a yummy roast pork, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, refried beans, and a slice of french bread. It was delicious. We stayed for awhile longer; but there were so many people standing and trying to eat their food that we decided that we would leave and give someone else our seats. We made our way into the kitchen to say our thank yous and goodbyes to the birthday lady. Nancy was still in the kitchen supervising and she wanted us to stay for cake and quite proudly showed us her concoction, it did look good. A lovely evening.

Fish and Computers

Fish And Computers

As I mentioned in the last post I was having problems with my computer, well actually not with my computer but with the internet connection to the computer. It keep saying that I had no IP address. Strange, as Roys was working fine and we are using the same modem. The fellow came on Thursday and right after he left it went off again. Ciro tried to get him to come back again and phoned several times, no one showed up. Well it came back on Friday around lunch time and (touch wood!!!!) has remained on ever since. So who knows what the problem was.

Ciro came up on Saturday morning and wanted to know if we wanted to go fishing, the wind had not gotten up yet, so we went. We didn't catch much other than little ones, I thought that they were called Cabrillo; but when I searched the net to find a photo of one, I couldn't find anything. It is possible that I got the name wrong or maybe the spelling. The next time we go I will take the camera and take a picture of them. Ciros grandson came along also and he caught a couple and then decided that it was more fun climbing up and down the huge hill of gravel that was right there. He was very well behaved and very patient for a young fellow of his age. He didn't seem to be bored at all and came and checked out the fish as we caught them. We threw most of them back in, if they were healthy enough, the others we kept for bait.

We ended up going back to San Carlos for dinner that evening as we got a craving for pizza. We went to our friends restaurant and got in a nice visit as well.

On Sunday we went for shrimp tacos at "our" taco place and laughed when she asked if we wanted what we usually order. So, now we just have to show up and she hands us our order after confirming that we want "the usual". I guess we are regulars now.

Today one of the ladies that was in the spanish class that I took in San Carlos came into town. A friend of hers is visiting from England so we went out for lunch and had lots of visiting time. A nice afternoon. We went to eat at a restaurant called "La Barca" and had a nice lunch.

Gee, it sounds like all I do is eat!!! Actually I have gone to the laundromat the last 2 days in a row, catching up on doing all the bed linens and towels. I can't do all the big things at once, as our clothesline won't hold it all. I am glad to be caught up with that.

I am keeping an eye on the hummingbirds nest and hope to be able to get a photo of the babies when they hatch. I did some reading online about them and found out the the males do nothing (after their initial contribution), to help with the hatching or raising of the babies. They are not monogamous and do not mate for life as some birds do. Interesting reading; but I have still not been able to identify which variety these birds are.

Other than that, there is not too much going on, just the regular daily routine.

Hummingbirds Nest

Hummingbirds Nest

We haven't been doing anything exciting the last couple of weeks. We stayed home during Semana Santa to avoid the crush of people. Neither one of us likes crowds.

We have been wanting to go fishing; but it has been windy everyday. We asked Ciro if this was normal spring weather and he says that it is. We missed April, May and June last year as we were in Canada and will miss part of May and June again this year as we will be in the Baja.

I have been having trouble with my computer the last week or so and have been spending lots of time waiting for a fellow from Mega Cable to show up. It just goes off and then hours later decides to come back on. Roys computer is working fine, which led me to believe that it had something to do with the ethernet cable. Naturally when the fellow showed up yesterday, it was on. He checked all the signal strengths and outside lines and found no problems. When I explained to him the differences in how the 2 computers are hooked up he went and got a new ethernet cable and put it on. He figured that was the probable cause of all the problems. 5 minutes after he left it went off again and stayed off until lunch time today. GRRRRR. Now I am wondering if either the port on the modem or my computer for the ethernet cable is not working. I wanted to switch the ethernet from my computer to Roys computer this morning when it was off and see if it worked on his or not. That way I would know if it is the modem or the computer. The man is a chicken and was worried that we might end up with both computers not working so we didn't try it. The guy is supposed to come back again today so we will see if he can test the ports or do something else to get rid of the problem.

A few days ago, Ciro showed us where the hummingbirds have built a nest in one of the low branches of the lime tree beside our stairway. We watched and when she left the nest, I looked and she has 2 tiny eggs. The eggs are smaller than the fingernail on my baby finger!! She is totally unconcerned with us being close (and of course we don't touch), as the birds are very used to us. The other day one hovered right in front of my face and just looked me over. Pretty funny. We are hoping that the cats do not find the nest as it is very low and close to the ground.

Momma sitting on her nest.

Tiny, tiny eggs. The size of the thorn from the lime tree (inside the nest) gives you an idea of how small the eggs are, as the thorns are not very big at all either.

This is blooming in Ciro/Irenes garden right now. It kind of looks like an Amarylis. He told me the name; but I forgot it.

Zone Of Tolerance

Zone Of Tolerance

We have just finished reading the book, "Guaymas Chronicles: Zone of Tolerance" by David E. Stuart. This is his second book about the time he spent in Guaymas around 1970. The first book is called, " Guaymas Chronicles: La Mandadera". We have found both books to be enjoyable reads, giving us a glimpse into the past of our new home.
In the Zone of Tolerance, he describes the lives of the "fallen angels" and discusses the zone of tolerance or the red light district, to put it in other words. This was a legal area with rules and regulations much like you still find today in certain other countries. In Mexico the zones were closed down in the 1980's, I believe.
Last night we asked Ciro and his brother in law about where exactly the zone was. They gave us a general idea and this morning we set out to see if we could find it. We ended up asking for directions a couple of times; but did find it in the end. The buildings are all abandoned now, but we did take some photos of the area. It was interesting to be able to see one of the buildings that he talked about in the book.
The Rio Rita, one of the places written about in the book.

The Rio Rita from the back.

Inside the Rio Rita.

An abandoned bar.

Flowers

Flowers

The plumeria cuttings are growing like mad and one of them is now starting to bloom. It has lots of buds on it, so should be pretty in a couple of days. The scent of it is wonderful, like a strong perfume.

The Desert Rose is also blooming nicely with lots of flower buds on it.