Tuesday Afternoon.

Tuesday 31^st I left the Café just before 7pm last night and still arrived home before Natalia. She got there about 7:30 after having gone shopping after work. We visited for a short time before calling it a day. Tuesday [this] morning when I got up at 7am she had already returned from her early morning walk and had a pot of oats on the stove she had cooked for me. I thanked her profusely; it was never my intention to have such service and I told her so. Natalia is just that kind of person, she, like Terri, really loves to do for others. I left the house at 9:15 and explored the Old Town shopping area, I am sure I have seen it all before but there is so much of it I can’t remember from one day to the next. I walked back to the house and massaged my sore toe for a while before loading up my laptop and hiking to the Café. This time I ordered a very large chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk. Perhaps there will be fewer calories in the cookie than there are in the chocolate brownie. During my shopping this morning I bought a Mazatlan T-shirt, 85 pesos, it seems to be quality cotton and a bit heavier fabric than the general run of the mill T-shirt. I liked the fact that the laundry instructions said no ironing. My plan now is to go back to the house and baby my sore toe so it will be ready for tomorrow’s adventure, whatever that may turn out to be!

Monday 4:45

Sunday Afternoon. I got back to the house a little after 3pm and remembered I had not answered a question I had received regarding costs at the Internet Café. The use of the Internet is free at this Café but I usually buy something and leave a fair tip for their generosity. For instances today the meal I ordered was 85 Pesos and I paid with a 100 Peso note, the remaining 15 Pesos being the tip. Since it is possible to buy 13.55 Pesos for a Dollar each Peso must be worth about .0740 cents. In that case I spent 100 Peso’s .074 times. That seems to come out to $7.40. That is not bad for a very nice meal and all of the Internet time I would want. However, since they closed at 3pm today [Sunday] I had to leave before I completed my chess games. I believe I am right with my arithmetic. You figure it out and let me know. I don’t have the energy to worry about it. The walk back to the house was quiet since it was a Sunday afternoon, I thought the house was empty but I called out ‘Hello’ anyway and I think I awoke Natalia from a long winters nap. She came out of the bedroom and said ‘Hello’ but disappeared before too long. I could hear the dryer going; she was not going to rest very long, the buzz when dryer stops can usually awaken the dead. I spent the rest of Sunday reading and napping, Natalia was in her room and I would bet she was catching up on her rest too.

               Monday 30^th am.  .  .Natalia had told me about a small bookstore in the “Gold Zone” about 7 km away so I decided to walk there today. The path was along the beach most of the way so I thought of it as a very relaxing amount of exercise. I left the house shortly after 9am. I found the part of town she was talking about never the book store. I did locate a Burger King though; I ended up paying the most for any meal so far, 104 Pesos. The fries, burger and 32 oz.  Pepsi, just like home. Minimum daily wage in Mexico is 60 pesos so that will give you an idea of how pricy things are for the locals. I started home at 1:10 and arrived shortly before 3:00. I took a shower and decided to read for a while; waking up at 4:05. Ten minutes later I was on my way to the Café to check my e-mail and post this little tome for the day.

Sunday 29th

Friday afternoon…..I was surprised to find that it did post but a minute later I attempted to bring up my Comcast site for my email and got nothing. So I gathered my stuff and walked to the Café for some milk and brownies. . . . . I then caught up my e-mail and chess games before returning to the house

…Saturday 28^th was a busy day because Natalia was having a group of nine friends stop in for lunch so she was very busy preparing food and I helped however I could. The first guests arrived at 2pm and by 3:30 we were all here.  I enjoyed listening to the conversation but was unable to understand much of it. We consumed a lot of Pacifico, Corolla and various bottles of wine along with enough food to feed twice as many. The party was still going strong when I said my ‘goodnights’ and called it a day. I attempted to get on line but the guy across the street had turned off his equipment for the week end. Or so it appears. Of course that means I will be silent all weekend because the Café is also closed on Sunday.

               Sunday, 29^th, I was up by 7am and found Natalia in the kitchen, no surprise there. We visited for a while before I ate a bowl of All Bran, much needed, I could tell! She had some shopping to do with her mother today and I wanted to explore another street full of shops [open and closed] that I had not yet been on. In my travels I ran across the Melville Hotel, the first place I had phoned about accommodations per Nancy Morgan. It is a nice place but after finding Natalia I can see what a waste of money it would have been to stay there. Also, not far from The Melville I found my Internet Café. Surprisingly it was open so I asked about their hours on Sunday. I was told they close at 3pm; perhaps last week had arrived later than that and got the idea they were closed on the Lords Day. I didn’t have my laptop with me because I was not expecting to use it so I continued my exploration of that one street I had begun on. This time I explored in the opposite direction and ended up close to Natalia’s. I ducked in there long enough to pack up my laptop and return to the streets. I was wearing a long sleeved T shirt and felt a bit warm in it, love it! Wonderful weather! I started back toward the Café with lunch in mind, I was in no hurry, the place is usually crowded for lunch and I could see today was no exception. I found a pile of e-mail to work on and that left me little time to work on my chess moves but that is not a top priority, I have 5-10 to make chess moves so I can get back here tomorrow when they are open later.

Friday afternoon

       

               Thursday…. . . This morning I left about 9:45 and walked through the Old Town shopping district on my way to the Café to check my Email. It was late enough by the time I arrived to order a second breakfast and inhale that before opening the computer. It took a while to clear my inbox of 60 items and react to 8 chess games that needed attention. I left the Café at 2:30 because I wanted to be home when Carlos and Natalia arrived. Natalia got in about 3:30 and explained that Carlos had to attend to a problem his daughter was having so he would not be making an appearance; perhaps another day.  Natalia left  after about a half hour to visit her sister and I started a new Novel I found on the shelf in my room. It was a quiet day and the cool sea breeze was very easy to accept.. . . . Shortly after six pm I        carried my puter and beach chair across the street to see if I could open my email. Fat chance.  I was unable to even access my Blog;I think the owner of the router I am piarating caught on to me and shut things down. I gave up and returned to the house. Natalia asked if I was successful and I told her my feelings, adding that perhaps I had ruined her chances of using that same signal when she got her laptop. She said she would ask them about it. I let her know I had no plans of making things difficult for her in her own neighborhood, the walk to the Café was simple enough for me. She  got her dander up and said, “No, I will ask”. She is a fire cracker and I feel I lit a fuse without meaning to. This morning I loaded my backpack with my laptop and water and began another day of exploring Old Town.  I left Natalia’s about 10am; right after the dryer finished with my bed cover that she had laundered earlier. She had gone to work about 8:30. I left the hous before 10am and again visited the Old Town shopping area. At 11:30 I purchased a piece of pizza and relaxed for a few minutes with that. I then returned to the house for some reading [nap] and relation. When I awoke I checked to see if I could get on the internet via across the street and it appeared that I had succeeded, from inside Natalia’s place. I quickly put the finishing touches on this little tome and attempted to post it. Did I succeed? You tell me.

Wednesday

…..I was sitting in the beach chair until almost 9pm last night. The sidewalk was quiet and the traffic almost nonexistent when I finally gave in and headed to bed. At least I had all of my Email caught up; perhaps this evening I will find time to do the same with my Chess games. However, in the meantime I had a new day ahead of me. I decided to walk to the South end of the peninsula and climb the hill the lighthouse sits on. That is the same hill that is directly behind the building where Natalia works. And not very far from the ‘lean to’ food stand I had stopped at a few days before, the one that sells only single liter Pacifico Beer. It was a long hard climb to the top and I had to stop several times to rest, I am constantly watching for chest pains at times like that but today [again] I had no pain but I did feel pooped out several times. The climb took me an hour, reminding me of my climb to Santorini during the Mediterianian Cruise a couple of years ago. The view of the City was breathtaking and well worth the time and energy spent. After walking around the small area [perhaps one acre in size] I started down. Twenty minutes later I arrived at the food stand and ordered whatever the cook was eating at the time. I think he said it was Mole; after I ate it the bones remaining looked like chicken leg and thigh. They were served with a brown gravy and rice. I cannot complain about the flavor, I thought it was good. He was able to explain that he sells only 940mm sized beers because that is all he has that is cold. I ate the meal with six corn tortillas and drank all of the beer. 75Pesos. I told him I would be back one day soon.. . . . I returned to the house without further stops and arrived about 3pm. I finished the ice cream I had purchased yesterday and took a short nap. After the nap I ate a small bowl of Natalia’s soup and when she came home from work we drove to Sam’s Club for some things she had to get.. . . We arrived back at 7:30 and I grabbed the beach chair for a session on the puter outside on the sidewalk. At the moment I am going to post this to the blog and check my email/chess games.

Mondaypm and Tuesday

Monday Afternoon: After leaving the Café I walked home to read and rest. I became ‘antsy’ before too long so I decided to start walking in the direction of the Oral Surgeon. After a half hour I came upon the local Pollo Loco which I had promised myself I would try. After walking in and ordering I decided that the original owners had gone out of business and abandoned the building, leaving the signs up outside. It seems to me the new renters are selling their chicken and beans but certainly not the kind that Pollo Loco sells. The meal was good enough, can’t complain but I am sure the real owners of the Pollo Loco Company would not appreciate the dirty conditions that this store is working under. I won’t go back there. It was 3:30 when I left and continued y walk to the doctor. By the time 4PM rolled around I decided to catch a taxi for the last half mile. I arrived at his office at 4:15 and at 4:20 was sitting in the chair. Thirty minutes later I was out the door, the teeth were gone. I felt like walking for a while and ended up getting in an hour and 20 minutes. At this moment, 8:15pm Monday I am feeling fine except I can also detect that ‘feeling, is returning to my mouth. Natalia had some running around to do this evening and was good enough to pick up my pain medicine and a ‘spray’ of some kind I am to use every 4 hours until it is gone.  .   .  .  .  .When Natalia goes to work in the morning she is going to take my laptop to Carlos and he is going to configure it so it will work from the wireless router across the street. In two months when I get ready to leave he will switch it back to the US configuration. That will certainly help a lot. If all goes correctly I will be able to do all of my puter work right here! Good thing, I say! 

Tuesday…I did nothing all day, took the pain pills and slept a lot. Natalia returned, double parked, and brought my puter inside. Carlos told her there is no reason it should not be responding to the wireless router. Natalia then proceeded out the door selling me she would see me tomorrow. I have no idea what she was up to.  I took the puter across the street and sat under a lamp post and wrote this after discovering I am able to access my blog but not my Email. I will try the Email again after posting this Blog. I am feeling fine but I am also taking the pain pills as the doctor ordered. Of course I don’t feel any need for the pills but I will continue them for another day or so.  .  .  . It has been cool all day and I find myself sitting out here on the street wearing a jacket, who would believe it! I plan on hitting the streets again tomorrow and continue my exploring. I have to return to my regular Dentist in two weeks to get impressions made for my new appliance. In the meantime, who knows! I’m sorry that I cannot access my Email at present; I will try to correct that by walking to the Café again soon and checking it from there if necessary.

Monday Noon

Friday Evening when I returned from the Café Natalia introduced me to her Granddaughter, also named Natalia. Little Natalia is 4 years old and taking English lessons. She does a good job of saying, “Hello, I’m glad to meet you, and how are you?”  They played a board game called ‘guess who’ while I ate a piece of Pizza they had brought home to me.  I went to bed after 8 and Natalia was busy preparing food for today, Little Natalia spent the night with her Grandmother and said ‘Good morning” to me when I got up. I had my usual bowl of cereal and left the house at 8:15am in a T shirt ready to enjoy another day of adventure. I walked to the Oral Surgeons office, the one I had taken a Taxi from previously, That turned out to be a long walk but only because this time I walked on the business side of the street rather than the beach side. When I got to the doctor’s office all I did was take a picture then continued along the beach for another hour. I found a McDonalds and had another breakfast at 11:30; I really wanted to try their Burgers but only the breakfast menu was available so I went for that. It all tasted like McDonalds, no complaints there. It was then noon so I walked across the street to the beach side and walked home, it was about a 90 minute walk. Natalia told me when I arrived that she was leaving and may be back tonight but was not sure; if not she would see me in the morning. She also told me she had a container of soup in the fridge for me to eat this evening. I then read for a while before packing up the laptop and walking to the Café to post this.  I will then check my email and chess games before returning to my room to continue the book I have been reading. I put a lot of miles on those Band-Aids today; they are doing their job!

Sunday. . .  .I slept eleven hours and woke up about the time Natalia returned from the market. She had left a note telling me she was going to fix Mexican Eggs for breakfast. Like the rest of her cooking it was delicious. I did the dishes while she prepared meal stuff for Monday morning. She then asked if I would like to ride with her to the fish market. I grabbed my camera and off we went. The ‘Market’ was a little stand among maybe a dozen stands just like it selling whatever  had been brought in that morning. Natalia bought some Manta-Ray; she asked me if I liked it and I had to admit I had never eaten Manta-ray. We also stopped at a fruit stand on the way back. While she continued to prepare food for next week I carried my laptop across the street and sat in a lawn chair provided by Natalia and received and ‘Excellent’ report of the signal strength and was able to raise some things on line but when I attempted to click on files inside the folder I had brought up I got no response. Natalia’s friend, Carlos, is to be here in a few days to set up Natalia’s laptop from her sister so we are hoping he can explain what I am doing wrong. .   .   . After putting away the toy I left the house with a bottle of water and walked across the peninsula for lunch and returned by 2pm.  Natalia was still in the kitchen so I went in my room to read myself to sleep. By 4pm I was refreshed and ready to make the walk to the Café to post this and to check my email. All I got of that was a fifty minute walk. I was told Saturday that they would be open. After getting back to the house I took the lawn chair down from the shelf and went across the street to experiment with that wireless signal. Natalia had been cooking all day and she was taking a nap. . . .I am able to get notice that I am connected but not able to connect to the Internet. Looks like I may try this tomorrow morning when the business opens and turns on their computer. Hopefully that will solve the problem; if not I will hike to the Café and send my Sunday Blog on Monday Morning. When Monday morning rolled around I made one last attempt to log on at Natalia’s place but I was still unable to so. After a shower and breakfast I hiked to the Café and brought all of my puter stuff up to date. This evening I will be going to get those two teeth pulled and have no idea if I will feel like walking to the Café on Tuesday for a posting. We shall see. Between now and this evening I will do a bit of hiking around town but I don’t plan on doing a lot. I will get a good meal of solid food this afternoon because the doctor told me he will put me on a soft diet starting tomorrow. Natalia already has soup ready for me and this morning she made more Oats. She cooks oatmeal from the basic ingredients, nothing from a box for her! It does taste good, too.

Friday 5pm

Thursday afternoon and evening: After leaving the café yesterday I visited ‘my’ dentist here in town. I am giving a lot of thought to having both of my ‘eye teeth’ removed and having a partial manufactured for the empty space. The teeth next to those eye teeth worked themselves lose all by themselves and dropped out a few years ago. These two teeth are both what is called ‘floaters’, very loose and eventually I will lose them anyway.  My original dentist did not want to do the work because of my blood thinner, he was afraid I might start bleeding and never stop. We phoned Dr. Stonking in Longview and asked him about it and he told the dentist he was too far away to take any responsibility for the procedure. Next my dentist sent me to a local cardiologist for his opinion, that guy sent me to the lab for a blood test. In the meantime the only bleeding I am experiencing is from the pocketbook. The lab results came out fine and the cardiologist was satisfied with my condition so today my dentist sent me to a local dental surgeon. Actually, his son Roberto, who works for him, drove me the several miles to the oral surgeon.  The Oral Surgeon did not speak English but one of his assistance did so that worked out fine. The Surgeon could see no reason for any fear of anything and he expects an easy time of it on Monday the 23^rd. If all goes as expected I will arrive home with a new smile. Something I have wanted since I was ten years old but could never find an excuse for spending so much money on dental work.  The total cost is about 10,000 Pesos.  Divide that by the present rate of exchange 13.56 and it is not too bad. More news from that front on Tuesday.  . . . . . In the mean time I was too far away from the house to walk so I had the nurse phone for a taxi. The ride back only took five minutes and it cost fifty Pesos. I left a 10 peso tip. Twenty percent tipping is not my usual response but the Peso is cheap enough so I decided to splurge… . Friday AM…   Natalia was out shortly after 6am this morning but returned with several bags of groceries. While she prepared what food she wanted for the day we visited. She then loaded the trunk of her car with the meals for the day and left for work; it was about 8am then so I fixed myself a bowl of cereal and read on one of her novels while I ate. By 10am I could feel my feet getting sore and realized that I had better give them some exercise or I never would. I put on my Birkenstock walking shoes, they are built like a business man’s shoe but they are for walking. A heck of a lot more comfortable than the sandals! After the first block I decided I had done the right thing.  I was gone shopping for about two hours; found another pair of magnifying reading glasses to use on the puter.  The pair I had brought with me lost one of the ear pieces. I had purchased them from the Dollar Store in Longview.. . . .I was back at the house by noon and warmed up some rice soup Natalia had made the night before. She had told me that Mexicans usually added a pinch of chili sauce for taste. I guess I added more than a pinch because that stuff cleared my sinuses immediately! After lunch and washing the dishes I continued reading. Naturally that led to sleeping. I do remember waking up once but when I looked at my watch it was 3pm. I gathered my backpack with the laptop enclosed and walked to the Café. I paid more attention this time and discovered it is a 25  minute walk. I think I wrote Terri yesterday that it took only ten minutes. Dreamer.. . . . At the Café I answered my emails and ate a large Brownie with a glass of milk, all low calorie of course. I then posted this and spent some time with my chess games, which are not going well because I have not paying enough attention. Oh, well, life in Lazy Mazatlan!

Thursday-19th

I have lost most of what I had written about yesterday. It seems there are some buttons that get pushed accidently and I loose several days of work. This Wednesday report will begin with my returning to the house. . . .   I went on a long walk and stopped at a little hole in the wall for a nice meal before heading home. . . When I got back I first of all rubbed that old broken toe with more IcyHot. The toe was really hurting by this time. Usually a good night of rest cures the toe but I don’t feel that will be the case this time.  The blister is of course no better but the toe cancels out the blister. Always something. ….This morning, Thursday I was awake by 6am and found Natalia finishing the cooking she had started last night. It seems she runs family meals on wheels service for her Mother and a friend or two. She cooks their meals, delivers them, works for the University full time and leads a hiking club on Saturdays. And in her spare time she takes in borders like me.  While she was busy in the kitchen I went out for an early morning one hour walk. The walking part lasted about 30 minutes, the other 30 minutes was spent sitting and watching the city come alive, [automobile traffic mainly]. Natalia had finished in the kitchen when I returned so I fixed a bowl of cereal and ate my breakfast., , , , ,  . . .I was out the door at 9am to start my daily adventure. It was not long before I was limping quite noticeably because of the blister on the left foot. I continued on my way slowly forming another blister on the other foot. I walked to the end of the peninsula, at least as far as the University facility Natalia works at. It was then after 11am and I was hungry so I stopped at the most rinky dink food stand you will ever see. I am going to return next week and take a picture of the place. They served me three burritos [small ones] and a liter of beer for 65 Pesos. The food was great! The beer was Pacifica Lite and I didn’t leave much behind. It was noon when I left there and was back at the house and had a shower by 2pm. After the shower I ate a little soup Natalia had left for me, typed some of this blog then put on different shoes and fresh band aids before marching to the Internet Café. I had taken a lot of pictures this morning; I hope some of them become keepers.  I must say I made good time getting to the café, only about 10 minutes.  The shoes are much more comfortable than the sandals, even with two band aids and a broken toe. At the Café I ordered a glass of milk and a very large chocolate brownie.  .  .  .My lesson for the day is to never again go up narrow stairs high off the incoming breakers, without hand rails. The scary part was coming down. There were only 38 steps but as dangerous as Hell for me to try again. I will now post this abbreviated report and add to it tomorrow. At the moment the time is 3:45pm and I have not yet checked my email or chess games.

Wednesday

Wednesday. . . . . I started back to the house about 5pm yesterday but made several wrong turns and got in about 6:00. Natalia was not far behind. With her help I  tried to log on the internet via her neighbors wireless router but nothing we did gave me a better signal than ‘fair’ and that was not good enough for my computer to respond. He lives about 100 feet away and Natalia said her friends laptops work fine in her living room.  Natalia had some running around to do and left about 7pm. I added to this blog and continued to attempt getting on the Internet.. . . and failed. . . . I think I have a blister on the bottom of my left foot. No surprise, because I did a lot of hiking Tuesday, didn’t really take a lot of pictures,  but   there is plenty of time for that.  Today, Wednesday, Natalia was out at 4:45am to go stand in a line for something she had to take careof before going to work. I was up, showered and out the door by 7am. I walked about a mile to a market for two boxes of All Bran, 78 Pesos, and a half gallon of milk, 25 Pesos. A Peso is roughly 1/8^th of a US dollar; I think it was 13.54 cents yesterday. I then walked back to the house and had breakfast. At 8:15 Natalia returned and got herself ready to go to work.  After my shower earlier I had attached a Band Aid to the broken blister behind my left big toe. I decided to wear my sandals sans socks today, it will be interesting to see how I do, no more blisters, I hope! I was out the door shortly before 9am to start the day’s adventure and to get this posted. I visited the large and main market in Old Town. Next to a wide open meat market with dead animals all over the shelves it is possible  to find another stall selling shirts and next to that will be found a four seat restaurant selling any Mexican morsel you can imagine.  Such a market you would never find in the US, the health hazard alone would shut them down. This area is truly a 2^nd World country. It is fun to visit and I expect it would be no problem living here, people are friendly and harmless. I am not excited about watching policemen walking the streets with Machine Rifles but that is the culture. This Internet Café is about a mile and half from Natalia’s place so I am getting my exercise. In the future I will be leaving the house early in the morning to do my exploring without the Laptop. That thing in the backpack does get tiresome after 5-6 hours walking. After the exploring ends I will return to the house for it and walk to the Café for a meal. Natalia wants to cook but at the moment her mother, age 84, is not doing well after a fall so she is not home a lot. I have had lunch so I will post this and get back to it a bit later in the day tomorrow. Well over 70 degrees today, T shirt weather! I did learn something today, don’t sit under a shade tree in the city square when Pigeons are in the neighborhood, they have a tendency to drop poop unexpectedly.

Tuesday Afternoon.

. I was able to find three possible Wi-Fi connections at Natalia’s house but they required a password and since I don’t have that I decided to search out a Starbucks or something similar around Mazatlan Centro. Natalia had left for work about 8:30 am after fixing me a bowl of Real Mexican Oatmeal, delicious btw.... . . . .So I sat out on foot exploring the city and searching for a Wi-Fi location.  I strolled for about 4 hours before getting serious about the search and found one about a mile and a half from Natalia’s place. I sent several emails but after I checked my ‘sent mail’ box found nothing. I have no idea what happened to them.  I had a nice lunch across the street from the bay.  These streets are either very wide with trees growing down the middle of them or so narrow there is no room to park and still leave space for a car to get by. Most of the houses are built like a compound and some of the older ones have a front door that opens right at the sidewalk. Natalia’s house is tiny and is butted up against two larger buildings on either side.  Her front door is at the sidewalk, as is my bedroom window. The street is norrow and there is not a lot of traffic so It doesn't bother me at all. It is now about 2:30 in the afternoon so I will post this and continue my adventure. I will bring you all up to date tomorrow some time. This is fun!

Monday

Ron picked me up at the ungodly hour of 5:30 for the 57 minute ride to the airport. It only took about 15 minutes to get my ticket and slip through security. I have the pacemaker so I had to take the long way around to be checked by hand. It was after that that I was told I could have gone to one of the ‘tall’ machines and not had to wait.
The ‘tall’ machines are safe for pacemakers. I then sat in the waiting area playing with the puter. I am not able to get on line, I will experiment some more with that until it gets close to time to leave.. . . After a few more minutes I was able to get on PDX Wi-Fi but by then I had to shut things down and get to the plane. It left 30 minutes late because of deicing.  Arrived in Phoenix late because of airport repairs and ran to B10 for my next flight. However on the way to B10 I found a Burger King so I took ten minutes out of my busy schedule to inhale a burger and fries while phoning Terri in Hawaii. The flight to Mazatlan was a happy one, all aboard were excited about getting their two weeks in the sun…..Daniel, Natalia’s Nephew, age 19, picked me up near the baggage area and away we went in Natalia’s Toyota. I had once ridden in a Tijuana Taxi and that was exciting but it was even more so with Daniel. He really knew his way around and did a good job of playing chicken with the other nuts on the road. There are almost no lane stripes in the city so you can drive anywhere on the street that is not occupied by another automobile. I saw very few bicycles or motorbikes; I think they get killed off rather quickly in this very fertile hunting ground.  . . . . Daniel dropped me off at Natalia’s, gave me the key then he left to return the car to Natalia. When Natalia arrived an hour later [talking on her cell phone] we hugged and said Hello/Hola.  By the time she arrived I had all of my stuff put away so she suggested she drive me around Mazatlan Centro.  We stopped along the way and took a couple of pictures at the sun went down then returned to the house for soup and dinner. By the time dinner was over and the kitchen cleaned up we decided the day was over for both us. I was in bed   before 8PM.

Sunday

. . . . . Ran a load of laundry through its cycle this morning, tiny snow flakes were falling off and on most of the day. I watched football until Green Bay allowed that fourth quarter turnover. That was enough for me. Caren and Ron stopped by after church and picked up doggie and almost all of his stuff. I forgot to give the  already opened dog food so I will remember to leave that with Ron when he comes by in the morning to drive me to the airport. The snow continued but the amount seen on the ground was no worse at sunset than it was at sunrise. I’m going to get to bed early tonight, big day tomorrow!

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Saturday

.  .  .  .The temperatures came up enough over night to turn that expected snow into rain this morning. By half time of the Saints game the sun was out all bright and shinny. Radar shows that maybe the worst of it is over for a while but I am not convinced it will stay that way for 40 hours. The storm is to let up around dinner time Sunday so perhaps there will be little snow Monday morning.

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Friday

. . . . I hate to admit it but I accomplished absolutely nothing today. I have a bag of garbage sitting next to the kitchen sink and I didn’t even take that out. I started packing my clothes in the check in bag earlier and decided that was gong to be such a simple job that I wouldn’t even bother with it until tomorrow or Sunday. My backpack is ready to go but it contains only the laptop and some energy bars. The weather report claims that bad weather is due tomorrow with snow by evening. With a bit of luck we will experience a fast moving storm and it will be all gone by the time I have to get on the freeway Monday morning to catch the plane. That is wishful thinking of course but heck, gotta’ dream or dreams will never come true.

Thursday

. . . . . . I left the house shortly before 10 AM to get my haircut and after leaving there I stopped by the market for some bananas and a quart of milk. Breakfast stuff for the next three mornings. After the market I went by the Pharmacy and got my last prescription filled so I have all of the meds I will need on vacation. I then went home and made myself a three egg omelet with toast, it was a good omelet, I surprised myself. I got to the bowling alley about ten minutes later than usual but no harm was done, practice started right after I put on my bowling shoes. My scores were 117-144-140. I was happy with the last two games but it did take me a while to get in the groove. As it turned out, of the eight of us on the two teams I was low score but I was pleased with the two 140 plus games. I got out of the bowling alley just in time to dash to the hospital for my doctor appointment. That went well, my kidneys are not showing additional stress, it is still at 55%. That is the same as it was the last time it was checked. The doctor wants to see me again in a year. I then had my Protime checked and was told that was perfect so I am good to go Monday morning. They usually require Protime checks every 4-6 weeks but this time it will be 8 weeks. I will be interested to see how well I do when I next get checked March 22.

This evening will be spent watching my usual Thursday night commercials and getting to bed early. I have just switched nighttime audio books from History of the Roman Empire to a book about Senator McCarthy, the communist chaser in the 50's. It was written by a liberal thinker so you can imagine how the subject is handled.  It does a good job of putting me to sleep.

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Wednesday

. . . . The temperature was Zero c when I got up this morning, it was 58f in the living room. Needless to say the first thing I did was turn on the wall heater. After his trip outside the first thing doggie did was lie down in front of the wall heater. That dummy is no dope. The radar picture shows no clouds for at least 200 miles to the west, we might have a nice day or two in the future. Doggie and I walked for almost an hour before lunch, I think his long nails are beginning to show a little wear. I am breaking in a new pair of Birkenstocks that I plan using during vacation. My plan is to get lots of miles out of those sandals; while enjoying the sunshine and food of Mexico

Tuesday

.  .  .  .  Dumb dog had me awake at 6:30 this morning. All he wanted to do was play, I tried to kick him outside but he was not interested, I even gave him his breakfast and he ignored it. Since I was up so early and had nothing else to do I drove into the hospital before breakfast and had that blood draw for Dr. Isrib. I have an appointment with him Thursday morning before bowling and after my haircut. After I got back home and had breakfast I sat at the puter and got my email and chess games caught up. It was almost freezing this morning, I heard some people at the hospital talking about ice on the roads but I had not been aware of any. It was 66f in Mazatlan and 69f in Honolulu. . .  .I walked for over an hour this afternoon, that was after I took a one hour nap. This evening was TV commercials and early to bed.

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Monday

. . . . I walked for an hour after breakfast this morning. I did end up doing well bowling today, 144-155-142-137-132-153-, that produced a 144 average but the nice part is that there was not a large spread between the scores. The consistency is what is going to pay off for me. All I have to do is continue that and get a lot of practice time. Nothing to it! I wish.

After I got home from the bowling alley I unwrapped a package of hamburger that had thawed and needed to be used so I put together a bunch of stuff and simmered it for about an hour and called it My Famous Spaghetti Sauce. I used 24os of Prego meat flavored sauce, one pound cooked hamburger, Darn, and I just remembered I forgot to chop up an onion! I then added 8oz tomato sauce,16oz stewed tomatoes, sprinkled in some Italian Seasoning and after simmering it all for over an hour put a spoon full on a slice of bread and thought it was just great! After it cooled I put it in several single serving Baggies for freezing. I am now well set for when I return from vacation, all that food ready to eat. I am soo clever! LOL

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Sunday

. . .  .It was a while arriving but by 9:30 this morning we had bright blue [and cold] skies. I was able to walk for an hour after breakfast and had the football game on for a few minutes before deciding to drive into town to practice bowling. The parking lot was stuffed full and I was told it would continue that way until six tonight. I was happy to have walked earlier because I knew I was not going to get a lot more exercise today! After I got back to the house I did take the time and energy to vacuum out the car. I want it to look nice when I get back from vacation and not feel I am getting into the same old car. That is the same reason I used to clean house yesterday, I hate to come home to housework. It will be bad enough coming back to the same old dog. This afternoon was spent getting my chess moves up to date and watching football commercials for a few too many hours. How about that Denver game!! Wow, what a way to end it! Time to pop up some popcorn and settle in for the evening!

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Saturday

.  .  .  .  I packaged the chili and put it in the freezer this morning. That recipe made 14 servings. My servings, perhaps others might think it is 12. Or, if they really liked it,10. I have never had any problem freezing chili and thawing it the day before I put it in the zapper oven to reheat. I store it in double serving sized containers but have never frozen any of it twice. I finish off both servings before that need presents itself. The containers are plastic and if I fill them too full sometimes the lid pops off but that does not do anything to the flavor. This afternoon after much housekeeping and vacuuming I stopped by the Teigen’s’ house to take a test drive in their new RAV4. I should have one of those, great gas mileage and lots of room in the back for a sleeping area. It has a snappy six under the hood and all of the extras anyone would need. The push button radio works entirely from buttons on the steering wheel. . . . I left there about 2:30 and drove to Mel’s place on the way home. He gave me a couple of pounds of the turkey he had baked yesterday, that was great timing because I was getting hungry so when I got home I made a Turkey sandwich and ate it while watching football. I woke up a few minutes before 6pm and decided to post my blog for the day. Another good day, as a matter of fact.

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Friday

. . . . I started a huge amount of chili this morning. I don’t know how to make a small pot of the stuff.  I can tell by the smell while it is cooking that it is not exactly what I want but I’ll eat it and try again later. Maybe in the spring, it will take that long for me to eat what is here. A friend named Anon Amos asked me to post the recipe on my blog even though it may not be what I want it to be so I will do that.  This time I began with a 1 pound bag of dry kidney beans. Soaked for 36 hours because I went bowling yesterday.

                                                            Today I drained and washed them, added three 14 oz  cans of stewed tomatoes and covered them with water. They cooked on medium heat for 2 hours, adding water as needed. During that time I chopped 3 garlic cloves,

                                                                                                            1 large onion And

                                                                                                            2 dry chili peppers.

                                                                                                            Added 1/2 tsp chili powder,

                                                1 lb Hamburger, stirred it all together and cooked it separately                                          from the beans.

When the beans were soft enough I took a potato masher to them and created a sort of puree before continuing the cooking for another 30 minutes. After that time had expired I added both messes together and cooked it all for another 90 minutes. I was unable to detect garlic in the taste test but decided to leave it alone because it was quite good as it was. It is still not like Mom made so next time I will make changes, perhaps using canned beans, more garlic, chili powder and whatever else strikes my fancy. This recipe made an awful lot of chili!

I never got out of the house today but I got a bit of exercise from the cooking and house cleaning.  I had fun, it was a good day, I’m feeling great and looking forward to Mazatlan! It did rain a bit but I never really noticed except when I took the trash out.                http://celford52.wordpress.com/
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Thursday

.  .  .  .The sky was bright and sunny by 9:30 today. It looked like I was going to make it to the bowling alley without getting rained on. Fat chance of that happening. My new wash job on the car was sort of wasted today when I drove in the rain to the bowling alley. I didn't do so well bowling either, 116-129-139. I was happy with the fact that I was able to overcome my unhappiness with the first two games and bowl two pins better than my present average in the last game.

I am convinced I will get better before old age sits in and slows me down. Twenty/Thirty years from now, of course.

Stopped by the market on the way home, got the fixin’s I need for another try at my world famous chili. Wish me luck.

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Wednesday

. . . .Nice sunrise today but the clouds that looked so beautiful earlier were by noon dark and threatening. I saw a few raindrops before noon but the temperature was almost 50 degrees, that is rather balmy for this part of the County. The radar picture showed a large glob of rain filled clouds sliding in from off the coast. There are a few Seagulls at the river, perhaps the Smelt are arriving, too bad it is against the law to net them; they are a very tasty critter fresh out of the frying pan. By dark the rain was steady but slowly coming to an end. More of it is due tomorrow. Guess I will be driving my freshly washed car to the bowling alley. Of course I could stay home.  .  .  . Talked to Terri on the phone today, her Birthday, she fell and skinned her knees while exploring Koko Head Crater this morning. Poor lady, she is tough though, she will be back at it again in a day or so.  A couple of skinned knees will not get in her way.. She just keeps on keeping on!

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Tuesday

. . . . The Seattle Radar picture showed a large rain front coming our way this morning. I decided to wash the car then let it sit out in the rain to rinse off the film left by the well water. Then the sun came out and baked the film onto the surface, just my luck. Visited the Teigen’s for a while this afternoon, all is fine there. I took doggie along so it would sort of help break the ice to him since they will be taking care of him while I am gone for the next two months. The rain showers that I thought were coming our way veered East before getting this far South. We got lucky this time.

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Monday

.  .  .  .My laundry was all caught up by 10:30 this morning. That includes the bedding. I had breakfast and washed the dog also. The doggie was really unhappy about his bath, today was the worst time I have had with him about that, he nipped me pretty good twice on the left wrist . I ended up wrapping his head in a towel while finishing the job. Maybe next time I will just strangle him and be done with it. He is sitting in my lap as I type this, the little snot bucket……..Outside the temperature is 43 with high clouds. Typical for the season.. . . . After my laundry was all done and I had lunch I decided to go to the bowling alley for a try. I was not much in the mood and very relaxed about the whole thing so of course I had a good day. 153-145-118-165-148-180- for a pretty good average of about 152. Now lets see how well I do when the pressure is on come Thursday. I felt good about the 180 after bowling five previous games, I know I can do it if I just relax and concentrate on each ball I throw. . . . I liked the outcome of the Rose Bowl, and it was also a good game!

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2012

New Year 2012. . .  No frost last night but still plenty cool. No precipitation in the forecast, that is always good. I was able to talk myself into a two mile walk this afternoon. That while Seattle was in half time and part of the third quarter. Most of the day was wasted in front of football commercials. I felt that even more so when Seattle finally lost. Popcorn and a movie tonight. Perhaps bowling tomorrow.

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