Mom and Molle at the Beach…

Ahh, Willow’s in her new slip for the next 10 weeks, and it’s nice to be so much closer to both my mom, and the boat. Mom’s doing great; she’s driving, taking good care of Molle, her dog, and helping us help her in her home. I’m able to spend a little more time on Willow, catching up on things that need catching up on.

This week was, well, let’s just say I’m very happy it’s Saturday, and tomorrow brings a whole new week. It began with some controversy about me closing my Facebook account. Really? That extended into some more not real fun conversation, and I’m hoping I’m done with that. Frankly, I’m kind of, almost, ready to give up all of our relatively newfangled necessities: social media, smart phones, blogs, computers, etc… Remember, I said almost! With that in mind, the afternoon of these conversations found me losing my phone (again, for the ninetieth time). Subliminal something in there?? Well, crap. After putting my account on hold, I went into the Verizon store and explained my situation. I told the clerk I would like the cheapest, stupid phone available so I could at least keep my phone up and working. I didn’t need all of the other amenities of a smart phone. The clerk informed me it would cost at least several hundred dollars to put a non-smart phone on my account. Huh? Gotta keep those contracts going, right? Oh, and if there’s a new phone put on the contract, that contract gets extended another two years, right? Oooo, I was steaming. Knowing I could do better anywhere else but here, I left. Lucky for me, I remembered my sister had recently upgraded her phone, and since she also phones through Verizon, I asked her if I could borrow her old one until my contract is up and I can change without paying more money. She was agreeable, and I went to a real Verizon store, not one of the independent ones. They were able to activate her phone with my number, and I was back in business. Whew.

After running some more errands with my mom, I dropped her off and went down to Willow. Unloading some of my recent Trader Joe’s purchases, I slid open my food locker, and a few tiny little buggy-type flies flew out. I decided it was time to remove the potatoes that had begun to grow. After I did that, I noted one of the cartons of chicken broth had swelled, and that one needed to go, too. Then more of those buggy flies flew out. I guess ya don’t have to hit me over the head with a 2 x 4, but I kinda figured I had a problem. Turns out, 3 cartons of cream of corn soup had exploded, and said explosion supported various life stages for these buggy-type flies. Yuck. These cartons were not old, but they weren’t packaged in the US. I looked closer at other packaged goods, and noted my non-US cans weren’t holding up well, either. Unfortunately, bags of contaminated or nearly so food went to the trash. Everything was removed from the lockers and I cleaned it well with some bleach. At least it doesn’t smell of curdled cream of corn soup. Yuck. Oh, I already said that. After two and a half hours, I was done and ready for a tall glass of ice water. Actually, it was good to really clean that all out. In Mexico, it’s strongly advised that if you’re leaving the boat for the summer, you remove every single piece of foodstuff you have aboard. Aromas that we can’t detect are delectable to bugs, and the high heat has caused various food packagings to fail. I didn’t think it was all that hot here in Southern Cal, but it seems obvious to me that the foreign packaged foods don’t hold up to time, let alone ambient temperature. Lesson learned.

Memories Of Sunrise Over Banderas Bay

This past week has brought a bit of a heat wave to the area, though here at the coast, a cooling marine layer helps to keep us comfortable. A friend sent me a message about 3 boats blowing up on the beach in the Bahia Concepcion area of the Baja after a strong Chubasco hit. Other friends blogged about downpours and lightning in La Paz. Sheesh! Though the excitement and challenge would be fun, the relative quiet here is nice for now. If I can just keep track of my (sis’s) phone, and keep the bugs on the outside of the boat… Best Fishes!!