Friday April 25th 2014

 

Thought that I would write a little more in my blog.  We have had a few problems losing things.  Linda either lost her medications that we just got from Missouri or one of us threw them out.  Probably the latter. I know the insurance won’t pay for them again so I think we need to go to Mexico to get some. Worth a try anyway.  The person at the office said that Tecate may be a nicer place to go than Tijuana.  Tijuana was a lot closer, in fact we were at the parking lot and we could have walked across but we figured we needed to see some different country.  We were told it takes about forty five minutes to get there.  Well, it took us about an hour and a half but it was a nice drive.  The town is probably quite large we don’t want to go to far into town.  Went to two different pharmacies and finally found her meds which were about the same price as we pay back in Missouri with insurance.  Here is a picture of what we first saw…

  

This is a sign for Tijuana, Ensenada and Mexicali.  Probably would have been closer to go on the Mexican side.  I think Tijuana was only thirty eight kilometers, maybe more than that but really didn’t want to take the car over the border.  Would have been a different experience though.

Not very many Gringos over there and not many residents speak English.  Asked a security guard about a place to eat and through hand signals he finally pointed to a place…

I’m not sure of the name of the place, Sondra’s I think, but it was good.   Got a picture of our waitress.  She liked her picture I think….

She couldn’t speak English but that was OK.  We figured out the menu (Spanish of course) and ordered.  Started with a bowl of soup, I think in Spanish it is Caldo de Res, which probably means soup of the day.  It was very tasty, vegetable soup I think.  I ordered beef burritos and Linda got a chili rellano, a cheese quesadilla and an enchilada.  Very good food and it came with a little desert, cookies.  Tasted like a butter cookie or something like that… maybe you can tell what  it is…

 

Maybe not.  The place was very clean, looked a lot better inside than outside.  I would eat there again. Probably never make it back to Tecate though.

We went over to Dee’s house, Gianna helped Linda with her phone.  Downloaded Skype and something else.  Not sure she will ever use it though but she might.

We toured San Diego for about an hour.  Got to see some really nice homes.  Roads don’t really go where you think you should.  We ended up down town and those roads don’t really go where you think they should.  We finally got back onto I-5 South and wanted to stop at an In and Out Burger place.  We have been passing one the past three weeks but can’t remember where it is for sure.  After taking a lot more roads than we really needed to, we finally found it.  Had a hamburger, it was good but still not as good as What a Burger in Texas.  I think What a Burger is the best.

We stopped at Wal Mart, got some ice cream and headed home.  Been quite a long day!

I don’t think we are going to do much today, probably stay home and take it easy.  I’m trying to make some bread and I have a feeling it isn’t going to turn out very good.  Oh well, that is the way it goes….. Bye Y’all….

Wednesday April 23rd 2014

 

Last Saturday we had pictures taken at Balboa Park here in San Diego. Chris, Kim’s neighbor did the photo shoot and if I’m not mistaken he took over two hundred pictures.  I think there were about twenty five of us there and it took a few hours to take the pictures.  I got a few….

Kim, Alexa, Dee, Bren, Linda and Gianna.

Darin, Alexa, Jake and Bren…

Jacob and Simone.  We lucked out being out here now because Jacob is leaving today for Australia for four plus years.  Going for his Doctorate in Marine Biology.  Simone is also studying to be a marine biologist.  Proud of them both, lots of work and studying!!

Thought I had more pictures but I don’t.  Will have to wait until Kim gets us the rest.

Easter Sunday we went to church then over to Bren’s.  Linda showed Bren how to make the sauce for the rhubarb cake.  Turned out quite well!

Went to Alicia’s house for dinner with the family, not sure I have a good picture of that but I will check…

These are the cousins.  Gianna, Jacob and Jake, Alexa (being swung) Eric and Kedric and Jared.  I still can’t keep the twins names apart.  Kedric and Jared are looking different but I still have a really hard time with their names…

Alicia is the one wearing white, Kim, Dee and Bren.  They pretty much grew up together and consider themselves sisters.  We had a great time at Alicia’s house, she is a great hostess!

We helped Kim with some bedroom furniture of Jacob’s and I used my drill to take it apart, then let Alicia use it to put it back together again.  I ordered a soap dispenser (quite a change of subjects huh?) but I needed the drill to make the hole in the counter bigger. To make a long story short I got a rasp bit for the drill, made the hole bigger and put the soap dispenser in!   Worked great, took about ten minutes after I got the tools together!  It also works great and looks pretty good.  I will take a picture later and put it on the blog.

We went over to Kim’s to help bag up some of Jacob’s stuff, boy he has a lot of stuff!!  Guess he needs a lot since he will be gone for four years and Australia is very expensive!

We are working on a bag and a lot of the “stuff” is already packed.  We took two bicycle boxes and two bags to get them weighed so he could take them.  Two of them were almost seventy pounds and seventy is the max limit.  Costs about two hundred dollars for each bag over fifty pounds.  Got at least five of them over fifty pounds but they are packed and were hard getting closed.  Cheaper to pay the two hundred than ship them.  Glad I’m not moving over there, what a mess!!!

Well, we got home before dark and took it easy the rest of the night.  I had to go to bed about ten, I just couldn’t stay awake and that is really not fun.

Guess it is time to close this one and see if it will post…. Bye Y’all….

Thursday April 17th 2014

 

We had an experience yesterday!! We took the camper out to fill it up with gas. Figure it would be $5 in a couple of weeks the way the price is going up.  Found a station just up the road that was $4 a gallon, cheapest I could find.  I am sure glad I didn’t have the car on behind.  What a mess. Probably my fault, I changed my mind about stations, shouldn’t have done that but there was a Shell station right next to us, all I had to do was turn the corner.The station was small and crowded, I couldn’t get in off the street and when I finally did get in I couldn’t get to a pump so I left.  Streets here are crazy, I couldn’t get back on the road going West, drove through a lot of neighborhoods before finally getting back on the road going West!  Over the Interstate was the gas station, turn lane to go left, nice, station had an empty pump, pulled in and gave the clerk $100!.  Know how much it took??  All of it plus it would probably have held more but this should get us to Yuma where the gas should be about fifty cents a gallon less than here.  Getting out of the station wasn’t easy, getting back on the highway wasn’t easy, finding the campground wasn’t easy and getting barked again, well, that wasn’t to bad.  Funny what a relief it is to know I have a full(?) tank of gas and won’t have to stop when we leave.

I called Nancy at Santee Lakes where I had applied for a volunteer job. She called back yesterday afternoon and we are going to go see her Friday afternoon about working there next year.  We will see what she says tomorrow.

Got a picture of the moon when it started the eclipse…

Probably would have been nice to see it at the full eclipse but I can’t stay awake that long, would have been another two hours or so.

We are going to get pictures taken Saturday afternoon.  Going to be kind of a big deal.  There will probably be around 40 of us or more.   Hope it all turns out OK.

I bought new wiper blades for the camper and finally got them on today.  That was a pretty good job, but after I figured out how to do it, it didn’t take long at all.

Went out this morning and washed the throw rugs in the camper.  They were getting pretty gross.  They look pretty good now and was a lot cheaper than buying new ones.

Our door handle was kind of hard to operate so I bought some oil and took it apart and oiled it down pretty good and seems to be working a little better  now.

The place in the corner that says Super was the laundromat.  I was surprised that it cost under  $4 to wash and the dry was free which really excited me.  I would go back there again.

I know that it is kind of crazy to put a picture of a shower in here but the rest rooms here are really nice.  It is one of those rain showers.  I like it but I would never put one in for myself. I like the spray from a regular shower.  When we redo ours in  Texas, I will put in a regular shower.

Linda has been keeping track of things on Face Book.  Sounds like most of our friends from Texas are home now.  We are looking forward to our trip back to Illinois.  Have lots of stops to make and lots of people to visit.  Should be a fun trip.

Well, time to say Bye Y’all…

Monday April 14th 2014

 

Monday already, we have been here over two weeks now and it has been really busy, well, for us it has been really busy.  We aren’t used to going everyday, so during the week now we take it easy.

Got a picture of our grandson Jacob and his girl Simone….

Jacob is heading for Australia on the 23rd.  He has a class in Papua New Guinea a little later this month or next month.  He will be going to school at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia for his Doctorate. Simone is studying to be a marine biologist also, guess they have lots in common.

We found a little market that is really nice and the prices aren’t bad at all.  I picked up some carnitas, pork, and tortillas plus a few other things.  One of the other things was a package of tortilla chips covered with cinnamon and sugar.  We made a little desert after eating about half of them….

 

We enjoyed the desert!!

In Texas there are parakeets that are wild. They are here in Southern California also..

Well, I am going to get off, my computer is about to shut down and I want to get this posted.  More next time…..Bye Y’all….

Thursday April 10th 2014

 

Not a lot to report.  We went to a health food store and got some of the “Ceylon” cinnamon.  It is different.  Different smell and a different taste!  Still tastes like cinnamon but a sweeter taste.

I made some cinnamon rolls. I got some expensive flour, pastry flour, and made a loaf of bread and some cinnamon rolls.  I also got some yeast that I used.  It is bulk yeast that has to be refrigerated.  Probably the worst cinnamon rolls I have ever made and the loaf of bread was not good either.  We toasted a slice this morning and you definitely need something to drink when you eat it!!  Not good.  Hope it isn’t the yeast.  Will make more later but not just yet.  The cinnamon I will use and mix it with older “common” cinnamon.

We aren’t doing a lot, the kids are busy with work, school and getting Jacob back home so he can head for Australia.  He is going to John Cook University for his Doctorate.  Should be able to get it in four years!!  Loves his work as a Marine Biologist.

Gianna is supposed to head for New York for the summer to work at a horse ranch, well, there are horses there anyway.  Will wait to see if she goes to college.  She is considering it so will wait to see what she decides.

Linda fixed chicken fajitas for supper last night.  We found a small market that we really enjoy.  Prices are pretty good also.  We picked up some carnitas, pork, and some fresh tortillas, still hot, and took them over to Kim’s house.  I helped her take a bed apart for Alicia.  We also picked up some tortillas that were covered with cinnamon sugar.  Excellent!

Guess that is about all, oh, Linda bought a new phone, a Samsung S3.  She likes it but it will take some getting used to before she can use it correctly.  I think that I will give up my t-mobile hot spot.  It doesn’t work that well and now we can use Linda’s phone to do all the important stuff.

Time to say Bye Y’all….

Monday April 7th 2014

 

Back to the blog again.  We have been busy ever since we got here.  I’m sure I will miss a lot of stuff that we have done in the last few days but I will try to get some of it in here.

We met Don and Peggy last Friday at Phil’s BBQ.  They had good food and we had a nice chat with Don and Peggy…

They are selling their home in Temecula and moving back to Florida.  Way to expensive out here.  Well, I have to agree, gas is over $4 a gallon, camping is about $700 a month, food is high, taxes are also way out of sight.  I’m cheap and this is way out of my range.  I would move also.

Got to see a B-17 flying over Bren and Darin’s house, didn’t get a real good picture…

 

Helped Darin take out an entertainment center.  He is trying to sell it and if he can’t sell it he will have a nice little fire in his fire ring!

Went to church Sunday at South Bay Baptist church.  It is a pretty nice church and the services are good. We may try a different church but not sure.  Shadow Mountain is one we are thinking of going to, Dr. David Jeremiah’ church.

After church we met over at Kim’s and had a cook out.  It was excellent. Hamburgers with a lot of other stuff.  Enjoyed all the fellowship.

Took Jake to the park, well we rode bicycles to the park.  Had a good time.

Had a good time playing there.

Time to say Bye Y’all…

Tuesday April 2nd 2-14

 

Time to write a little more!  We have been pretty busy since we got here.  Got a picture of the entrance to La Pacifica RV Park.

I think the park looks really nice but for $600 a month they should keep it looking pretty nice.  I think about 90pecent of the people live here year around.  They have to move every six months though, to a different spot.

There was a birthday party for Jared and Kedric…

They are fifteen years old!! It was a pretty nice party  Alexa likes to get into the center of attention also!

Well, we have had problems, guess Larry and Pat aren’t the only ones that have had problems.  Our credit card was compromised last Thursday and they were going to rush us another one by Saturday here in San Diego.  Sounds good but I finally called back to Missouri and guess what….they sent it to Missouri so I will be without it for a few more days!  I can make it without it but it sure comes in handy!

Some pretty bougainvillea!  Oh, you can’t see it but on top of the cement block fence they have a couple of strands of barbed wire and some razor wire!  Wonder why??? We are only two miles from the border!

Kim is giving us some ideas on how to make the camper  little more comfortable.  A simple fix is the seat cushions.  We called, she called, an upholstery shop to get an estimate.  Haven’t heard anything yet, maybe today.

Weather has been pretty cool and traffic pretty heavy, well, not really, we travel in the off hours so it isn’t to bad.  Linda doesn’t get up early anyway so we don’t get on the road before 10 AM.

Guess that is about all, I will see if I can post this…..Bye Y’all…