5C's Que Pasa

All of the upheaval began less than two weeks before we were to leave the Isla and drive back to our home here. One of the first things we did was drive about 90 minutes north to Celestino Gasca to check out Villa Celeste. We have stayed there many years ago for short periods. The beach is each lovelier than the Isla’s, mostly because there is no one on it. However the only site that we could have was in the middle of the park near the washrooms with no view. Plus the closest city is Mazatlan. Celestino Gasca is a pretty small village.  On the drive back we talked and did a great deal of thinking. Much as the place was lovely I just couldn’t leave the Isla and all my friends. It was enough to have to give up my garden, my trees and my view. Colin understood that.

The next day Colin was driving around the Isla and saw a ‘Se Renta’ sign. There was a fellow in the empty lot and Colin stopped to chat with him. It turns out that the for rent sign was for the upper floor of the house next door. However the lot was not for rent but then the fellow said it was possible to rent it. He called the owner and it was decided to rent the lot to us because they liked the idea of someone staying there for security.

The lot is actually three separate lots purchased by the owner for him to build a large home on when he retires. He runs a very successful business in Monterrey and has no plans to retire in the near future. So that is how we found our new home. A rental price was negotiated and they would create three RV sites. They would create a septic system – which they will complete this week. Both water and electric run to the edge of the property and they would bring those to each of the three sites. We aren’t sure who is paying for the electric set up because it will set up for 50AMP and 15AMP so there will likely be extra costs involved. The first thing they did was build a wall ( shorter then I would have liked ) but any wall to fence in our property is better than none. They have offered to put in a gate as well. We are very fortunate to have fallen into this situation.

Many meetings back and forth. Rent was sorted out. We will be paying much much less that we did at the RV Park. I started to sort out my plants and pots. I did dig a few plants out of the ground as I had large enough empty pots. Right now I honestly can’t remember but I think it was close to 30 pots that Colin moved to a friends home so they would be watered over the winter. Sadly I had to leave many of the larger ones in the ground. There was no way to dig up my five palms that I had planted back in 2010. We also had to leave behind the mini front palapa and the long side palapa. Over the years we have had to reroof the palapas. We even paid to bring in our own pea gravel to cover the dirt and keep the dust down. All in all we think that we might have put in $20,000USD, give or take, to create our ocean front paradise.

So now we will start to do to create a new site. Some work is being done prior to our arrival. Everything was to have been completed long before now. But Mazatlan has has the hottest and most humid summer in history. Most people were not inclined to work in those conditions. Then the rains and the winds came. Fortunately Mazatlan was spared the hurricanes this season. Not sure what will be completed before we arrive but we will just go with the flow.

No sense sharing with you all of our plan, as things may change a bit or a lot. Instead once we get there you will see as much as we see. And of course watch it all come together.

It has been the perfect Thanksgiving weekend. Sunny and warm with many fall colours all around us. Our garden just keeps giving and giving.

Colin and I are thankful for the wonderful life we live and most especially our two wonderful chocolates. And I am personally glad the the company business has been put to bed until next May. As we are leaving one week from tomorrow we have been crossing things off the to do lists. However I created two more lists today 😉  Final grass cut today and clean up both inside and outside. I need to check my recipes to be sure I have all those odd ingredients I can’t find in Mexico. A final grocery shop over the next few days at about four different shops. The girls know something I up. We plan to being the RV here to the house mid afternoon Thursday. That will help them figure out what is going. I did five loads of doggy laundry today, five dog beds and 28 blankets. Yes they are spoiled and I love it.

We are both eager to get back to Mexico. Another thing I sorted out today were the dinner meals I had to make in the RV while we were boondocking as we head down to the Isla. No sense pulling out the portable generator and setting up up for a short period of time.

Sadly there is yet another Tropical Storm, soon to be Hurricane, bearing down on the Mazatlan area. Her name is Lidia.

In other news the fund raiser for those unfortunate dachshunds has hit just over the 50% mark.

One more thing, I have had to make my last blog post (October 2nd) private for a variety of reasons. However if you never saw it, let me know and I will send you the password. Part two coming very very soon.

UPDATE : password only required for part 1 – in case you missed it. Part 2 will not require a password

 

Will these ducks stay or go?

 

 

What can I say other then busy busy busy?  We leave in 16 sleeps including today, the last day of September 😯 Where has the month gone? Fortunately the RV is perfectly ready to be on the road. Somehow we just need to load it and figure out where to put all of our stuff. Colin is already saying that I can’t bring this nor that 🙄  Well, time will tell.

I have done some special food shopping for things that we can’t get there. I know that we can get some vegetarian items there but I am not current on that and I am certain that there are many I am not aware of. As you know over the past few years I haven’t been very mobile because of my knee so I need to get out there and check things out. This is probably a good time to let you know that I have not done my kinesiology exercises for 7 days. Yes please tell me that I am bad. Somehow I have to find the strength and time do to them everyday. Otherwise there will be no beach walking nor shopping for me. Colins has been suggesting I do them but honestly I am way too tired. I will try again tonight 😥 I can feel the difference in the strength in my body if I don’t do them.

The girls are mostly sad and unsettled. We just don’t have the time to spend with them as much as we usually do. They nap more than usual but I catch them with their eyes open just watching us. I am looking forward to driving way and holding them in my lap all day. When I say the word “beach” they go crazy, so hopefully they are understanding what this is all about.

In medical news I have a cataract growing on my right eye ( if I have told you this already, I apologize ). So the wait is 6 – 12 months to see a specialist. I have yet to see anyone for my right knee issues which kept me grounded all last winter.I have been trying to see someone since this past April. They will not book me an appointment for May 2024 so I will have to start all over once we get back.  Heck even the government is willing to wait for both the company taxes and our personal taxes!

I did get in to see the EENT specialist ( amazing how quickly that happened ). He confirmed that my left ear is hearing much less than my right ear. The nerve endings in my left ear Cochlea are damaged. Surgery will not help. He does want to see me again in six months ( it will be closer to 8 months before we get settled back here ) to see how fast the nerves are deteriorating. Looks like I will be getting hearing aids once we return. The other option is putting a screw into a bone in my head so that I can screw on an amplifier 😥 Looks like hearing aids it will be be. He also said that my ear canals are the smallest he has ever seen. So why does my body not reflect my ear canals?

A very special thanks to a blog reader ( E, nice to know that you are still there ), who was able to direct me to the eye drops I will need in Mexico. I am relieved that that worked out for me. You are all there for me and are a huge help in keeping me functioning. I can’t thank you enough.

I need to get going on my post about our new home on the Isla. We are for certain going to be on Stone Island / Isla de la Piedra but in a different location. A door closed yet another opened (much much better for us ). Keep checking back for those posts and of course photos.

Glad you all liked the red shed doors. I think the house front door will be next. Once we get back from Mexico.

So I am finished writing this post. Took me close to 120 minutes. I am happy that I was able to do this. So now what? Do I go cuddle the girls ( Colin is working today ) or do I go do my exercises?

 

 

 

When I went to start to put these in my blog last January I realized that I did not have the photos on my desktop. And then of course I forgot. So here are the first three and cover photo to catch us all up.

January 2023

February 2023

March 2023

 

A few days ago a tragedy has become public. A dachshund breeder about 60 miles away, had their 30 dogs seized by the SPCA. Apparently someone left the tip on an animal help hot line.They were all dachshunds. In fact one of those dogs gave birth to five puppies late today. Such deplorable conditions.

It is a horrific story to read but please do. This link actually includes a video. It is hard to believe that this can actually happen.

‘Terrible living conditions’: BC SPCA seizes 30 dachshunds in Okanagan

The Kelowna Dachshund Club (https://www.facebook.com/groups/727014434042198) of which I belong to, are doing everything we can to help. At this point we are raising monies to held care for these dogs and feed them. The SPCA has seized the dogs and they are being held somewhere here in Kelowna. At this point we have started a fundraiser in order to pay the vets who are working to save these animals as well as gathering supplies and food. So many in our club have already offered to adopt a doxie or to foster one. As we all have this breed we know what that they need, what their personalities are and their various  idiosyncrasies.

Can you please make a donation? $10.00 will go a long way.

Is it true what they say? That as you get older the days go by ever so quickly! Remember when we were children on a sunny summer afternoon and it seemed like we had hours and hours left to play. Tick tock 😮  We must make the best of every day and every hour and every moment of that hour.

Life is certainly speeding up for us. I am trying to slow down but the earth keeps turning. As we say in Spanish, poco a poco.

I have had a lot on the go including my hair breaking, falling out and not growing. The Blissy pillowcase helped a bit but me and my hairdresser are baffled. At this point I might have to cut it short and add no colour. Use the winter to try and get it healthy. I have new shampoo and conditioner which makes it feel nicer for a day or two. I had some bloodwork done for other reasons and there were a few indications of what possibly might be affecting my hair. So I am on some supplements. I am doing all I can.

Last week I had my annual eye exam. I had gone in, in early June, as I had burning eyes. My doctor did a good check then including checking my eye prescription. She also gave me three different eye drops to use. One is a sort of antihistamine that has helped. Only $60.00 for a tiny 10ml bottle which is only two teaspoons. I have checked and these drops are not available in Mexico. They are the only thing that takes the pain away. My eyes have been better these past 2 -3 weeks. So all I can do is get one bottle ( they expire very soon after they have been opened ) and keep it on hand. So when I saw her last week she was surprised to see that my vision in my right eye had changed quite a bit in just a few months. Did you guess it? I have a cataract forming at the back of my right eye which is supposed to be the worst type possible . Both my parents had cataracts so I guess this is to be expected. Wait list so see a surgeon is 6 – 12 months so I am now on the list. Nothing growing in my left eye.

Speaking of medical wait lists. You likely recall that I had right knee issues all of last winter. I saw my orthopaedic surgeon there and had an MRI, that I paid for. I can’t afford to pay for knee surgery like I did in January of 2021. So once I got back this spring I saw my MD and she said that none of my Mexican tests will be accepted here in Canada 😥 Then I had to wait almost two months to get an X-ray which was needed to forward my case to the local orthopaedic guys. I just now found out that they can’t see me until after January. Also they will not book me an appointment for next spring. I have to go to the back to the line once we get back from Mexico 😯 So not logical.

We have to find out about applying to the medical system for so much much ( not a lot ) per month once we get to Mazatlan. I would be seen in a matter of days and have whatever treatment I needed. Can someone remind why everyone thinks our Canadian health system is so great?

Colin has finished working for this year. I am just tidying things up and pre paying a bunch of taxes etc so I don’t have to worry about it once we get to Mexico.

As of today the large fire in Kelowna, the McDougall fire, is considered held and everyone has finally been allowed to return home.

We have been enjoying various ducks passing through as they head south. The geese were plentiful last weekend and were practicing their ‘V’ formation. We have only seen a few these past few days. I guess we won’t be too far behind. We leave in 25 sleeps.The fall colours are peeking out and one can smell fall in the air.

The plan was for our high school class to get together in June of 2021 to celebrate the fact that we had graduated 50 years prior. As we all know the pandemic shut that year down and most of the next year as well.

We graduated in 1971 and then I did my nursing course and over the years worked at the Edmonton General Hospital and the University of Alberta Hospital. I slowly left working in a hospital and instead did nursing related jobs. One day I heard that Air Canada was looking for new employees and that the requirement was that you had to speak French. I went for an interview and the rest is history, I was accepted, worked for a bit in Edmonton and then transferred to Vancouver. I managed to get quite a bit of traveling in before I married Colin in 1987. Needless to say I mostly lost contact with my high school friends except for a very very few.

You might want to scroll to the end of this post and click on the You Tube video sung by Andrea Bocelli and Edith Piaf ( produced in 2013 ). It will put you in the right frame of mind, to read the rest of this post.

We all attended Grades 7 – 12 at Académie de l’Assomption. It was an all girls school run by nuns. For the first so many years we all had to wear a uniform. Of course the majority of the classes were in French. We were a small class and some have passed over the years, several are living in abroad, so it was a small group of twelve for this reunion, which is almost 50% of our graduating class. Plans for future get togethers are already in the works.

I forgot to mention that I was up at 3:30AM this past Wednesday the 13th. The airline had changed my 10AM 🙂  flight to 6AM 😡  My good friend Carol picked me up and drove me to my chiropractic appointment and patiently waited in the car for me. We then drove to her home where I was spending the night. I unpacked a wee bit and changed for the festivities.Then we were off to the reunion, back to her home where we enjoyed a bit more vino and chatted until midnight. I believe that it was shortly after midnight that I went to bed. Such a very long day. I truly was tired. Next thing I knew Carol was waking me up. I had slept until 10AM and we had to leave in just under an hour. Yet another chiropractic appointment, I had spent the money to fly to Edmonton so I might as well make the most of it. Carol then very kindly drove me back to the airport. She went above and beyond to make my few hours in Edmonton special 😀 By the time I got back home Thursday and unpacked it was dark ( why does this happen so suddenly in the fall ). I was beyond tired and Colin had to get to bed as he was leaving at 5AM Friday morning to drive to and to work in Vancouver. More on that situation Saturday, my next post.

I wonder if I need to hire someone to keep me going in the correct direction? So much to share but always running out of time. Overall I think that is a good thing.

A few days ago there was a very huge rain storm over the Isla and Mazatlan. Much flooding, many palapas blown down and trees uprooted not to mention that the roads have become lakes that need to be navigated ever so carefully.

So many people affected in that horrific earthquake in Morocco, well over 3,000 have died. Many of the wonderful historic sites in Marrakech have been damaged. The Jemaa el – Fnaa Square, the main square off the Medina has had severe damage to some historic sites, Also parts of the ancient walls  surrounding the Medina and homes have been damaged. Our first thought was to reach out to our dear friend Fawzy whose Riad we stayed in while visiting Marrakech in June 2019. Click here for part of that story. More photos of the famous square.

Thank you Fawzy for getting back to us. Wishing you and your country a smooth and quick recovery from this world event. We will always be here for you. You only have to reach out to us.

We have no idea but it’s far enough away not to be a threat.