Tag: nature

T’was the night before Christmas

And there was lots of things stirring

So the weather back home is looking a little frightful, but although a little cooler than it has been here we are nearly 20°C warmer here in Mexico and although we had some rain yesterday afternoon we are mainly sunny today. And we have a busy day planned, with pickle ball and some beach time on our schedule.

Too much cloud this morning for a sunrise photo, but I just dropped Miss Laurie off for her pickle ball fundamentals class and I have found my way to the beach and while the tide is out and there is some fog the top of the mountains to our south are in sight and the sun is peaking through the clouds.

I brought a sweatshirt with me this morning but I don’t think I will be needing it unless the breeze picks up. Three hours away San Diego is preparing for a lot of rain one of those atmospheric river things, and we know this because that is the closest English speaking stations to our location.

As much as I haven’t spoke about our IPTV streaming service much or maybe at all up to now it is proving to be an excellent addition to our entertainment when travelling. Allowing me to choose television stations pretty much anywhere in the world and it is saving us well over a hundred dollars per month. Stay tuned for an update on this system a long with our new phone service provider that is also saving us over a hundred bucks a month.

Thank you Mary and Julie for our happy hour remote last night, it was great to catch up with your travel to California as well as your Christmas adventures with the grandchildren. It’s amazing how fast an hour and a half can disappear, we watched “ELF” last evening which has became a yearly tradition and because to was a chilly day Miss Laurie prepared her taco soup for dinner and we had some homemade shortbread cookies while watching the movie.

A shout out to Matt & Sarah for the movie recommendation of “Roofman”, it’s not often that Miss Laurie and I both think a movie is well done and to be based on a true story was an addition bonus. We also just finished watching “Dune part 1 & 2” which we both enjoyed as we had listened to the 21 hour audio book on our trek south. I always find it amazing how they do the adaptation to film and these movies were no acceptation but the door was obviously left open “Dune part3”.

Much of our television entertainment through the fall has been our re-watching of all eight seasons of game of thrones as well as all of Yellowstone series. Our beach lunch today was an apple fritter from the bakery we found and yes it was as delicious as it looked.

Miss Laurie has made a trip along the beach scouring it for fresh shells, the breeze had changed direction and is now a blow your hat off wind. At least it is warm blowing from the South. The tide is coming in and there are whitecaps as it breaks onto the sand bars and is providing a constant roar. There is actually someone in the surf as the beach is almost empty again today.

Day 3004

Hola amigos (Hello friends)

I know what the hell two fresh blogs in a row two days in a row!

Just another sunrise

Well let me start by saying that I seem to have caught up on my reading list. As you know I read most of my books through my Libby app which means I borrow and read ebooks on my handheld devices from my library and its library group. And the last couple of years I have been reading between 50 & 60 novels a year and have been reading a number of different authors series, and at this point I place a hold on the next book of the series as soon as they are announced. But right now while I have about a dozen on hold waiting my turn, I decided it was time to see if anyone is still interested in the ramblings of a curmudgeon.

So I started this blog yesterday while sitting by the pool, and nothing says Christmas in Mexico like having carollers by the pool.

Carollers by the pool!

As you could see by this morning’s sunrise we are in for some cloudy days here in the Mexican Baja and possibly even some rain. The Baja is a peninsula that is approximately 100 miles wide and 900 miles long with the Pacific Ocean on the west coast and the Sea of Cortez on the east coast. It is made up of two Mexican states Baja California (BC) & Baja California Sur (BCS). It also has a mountain range that runs the length of the the peninsula, and that range creates two very distinct weather patterns, and right now the western portion is preparing for heavy rain storms while our eastern portion will just have cooler cloudy weather as this area gets very little rain.

We are staying just 10 kilometres north of San Felipe on Highway 5 at El Dorado Ranch. This resort is very strange, and I will try and explain that comment which may come across as a bit of a ramble. The “Ranch” has property on both the east and west sides of Hwy 5, and encompassing thousands of acres of which much has had no development. The east side has an eighteen hole golf course that has some spectacular views of the Sea of Cortez, and while we have walked portions of it we have not played it yet, and around the course are some homes that appear to be amazing, there are also condominium style units and access to the beach, pickle ball courts, a pool, and a couple of restaurants. I would estimate that portion as being approximately one square kilometre and I’m going to guess it was the original portion, but in true Mexican style some areas are magnificent and just across the street could look like an abandoned project. The eastern side has electricity, water, and sewers, it also has some concrete roads with street lights and many dirt roads with lots of exposed infrastructure it reminds me of some of the failed projects you find in Florida that were destined to fail.

The western portion is huge with sporadic built up areas, there is limited electricity areas and and no water or sewer, so many areas are “off grid” with water cisterns and sewage tanks and lots of solar systems. So there are water deliveries and sewage pump outs available throughout the “Ranch” there are huge homes and RV lots right beside them. From what we have gained so far is that each area has its own HOA rules, in some areas the RV has to be covered, while the other side of the road the cover is not required. As previously stated we are staying on a lot that is 100 feet square and apparently was a building lot, that I suspect some one purchased on speculation, that didn’t work out for what ever reason, the brought in power, installed a water cistern with a pump, and a septic tank and when it didn’t sell they added some gravel and a couple of patios and created two RV sites to rent out and on one of the sites they added an old fifth wheel trailer to which they added a couple of couple of mini split air conditioners and now they rent it out.

So in our first month there have been two different renters, the first couple only stayed a weekend (thankfully) as they had a yapping dog that they left in the trailer when they went out which was most of the time, and the dog barked continuously. The second couple are older and have purchased a lot and a trailer and are renting here until they can move onto their own area. They have a dog as well but is much better behaved and they seem very nice but have been very busy getting their lot prepared.

The whole area seems to have slowed down as many people have left to spend the holidays with family back home. There are a lot of Canadians here, most are from the western provinces, many are here because of the better value for a hurting Canadian dollar and others are feeling the hostil environment north of the border with the constantly changing rules for Canadian visitors. We have just got through the shortest day of the year along with the start of “winter”, which we will enjoy with activities and the beach, while watching the cold and snow back in Ontario.

Day 3003