Desert Living

I don't know about you but I always thought living in the desert would be like the Sahara - all sand.  I just cannot get over all the wildlife and vegetation here in Green Valley.  Frankly, I haven't seen this many butterflies since I was a little girl hanging out in Grandma Burnett's garden.  We have a huge butterfly bush in the front yard and there might be up to 10 different species on it at any one time.

There is a roadrunner who passes through our back yard occasionally.  We think he is the cause of the disappearance of the lizard that was living in our new house's utility room.  And I think that darn roadrunner also goes up the hill in front of our house to stir up the quail.  We have about 30 quail who wander through daily as well.  The largest male stands guard while all the others help themselves to the bird seed our neighbors set out.  Those quail quarrel and chatter like nobody's business.  They are VERY noisy birds.  I miss watching them.

 

We've settled quite well into our rental in Tubac AZ, an artist colony south of Green Valley.  We planned to spend the winter here and it has worked out well since the house will be under construction for the winter months.  I really didn't want to live through  another remodel.

We have been doing little projects at the house, mostly painting.  It was great to find out that our local Ace Hardware has a record of all of the approved paint colors for our homeowner's association.  I made the mistake of buying dark walnut stain instead of the paint we actually needed for our beams after we removed the horrid metal security screen door on the front porch.  Hopefully our new kitchen window will be delivered this week as well.

Now it is time to head off to Mexico for a little vacation with Rick & Carol.  Can't wait to dip my toes in the ocean!


 

 



Destruction in Progress

So we have been camping out in our new house since September 20th and we have been very busy.  Our furniture consists of a card table and 2 folding chairs from WalMart and a small table for MIke's office space.  We did splurge on two twin XL beds which will be going into our guest room.  We figured they would be easier to store for the construction period through next spring rather than a king size mattress.

Week one , all the carpeting was removed, along with the padding and tack strips.  We are convinced the person who handled the original carpet installation was paid by the tack as they must have been shot into the concrete about every 3 inches in both bedrooms, closets and the home office.  That was trip one to the dump.

Next we tackled the kitchen.  All cabinets and appliances have been removed.  The 30 year old fridge is working quite well in the garage.  The cabinets are stacked and will be donated to Local charity White Elephant as they just require either painting or refinishing...all hardware was saved too.  We have the sink and one cabinet left in the kitchen was we needed someplace to set the microwave and prepare our few meals we don't eat out.  Those will be removed when we move down to Tubac on November 1st for our winter rental.  No way am I staying in the house while all the work is done!!

The "fun" started when we began to take down the soffit in the kitchen.  We've done it before and thought it would be a piece of cake.  Famous last words!!  What a nightmare.  The soffit was framed with 1/2 inch plywood covered by wallboard.  The 2 x 4 studs were buried behind all of that so every part of the soffit was a pain in the butt to take down.  After much pounding and sawing, it finally was all down...trip two to the dump.

Then we decided to take out the kitchen archway and expand the doorway into the living/dining room.  That was also a fun experience as it was built never, never, never  crack or split.  It took us 6 hours to demo that archway.  Third trip to the dump.

Right now we are patching holes in the walls and weeding.  We are hoping for some rainfall before we tackle the back yard.  Front yard is weeded and ready for our desert landscape expert, Kathy, to come out in November to design what we want - something very simple and full of cactus.  We will not have a drip system and want low maintenance for when we travel away from home each summer.

Sundays are our day of rest.  We've started going to the movies most Sundays and then stop for dinner at the Arizona Family Restaurant.  Sunday specials are roasted turkey dinner just like Thanksgiving, which is our favorite.  They also have leg of lamb or prime rib specials as well.  And since football season is in full swing, we always ask for a  booth away from the bar.  Some of those Cardinal fans get quite loud!

We are enjoying the slow pace of life here in Green Valley.  It is quiet and all of our neighbors that we've met are very nice.  Everyone looks out for each other and they have all been welcoming to us.  We even were invited to play Texas Hold 'em Poker in a league.  Buy in to the game is a dollar and I won!!!  Yep, got me $9.  They say the size of the game will increase when the snowbirds from Seattle arrive so I think we'll be going a couple times a month once things settle in.

The Latest?

Our latest news?  We bought a house in Green Valley Arizona.  Our great experiment has gone well but one of us (ME!) just can't handle the extended hotel times.  I love to travel but I prefer destination travel rather than full time travel.  So Mike agreed.  We will stay to our travel plans through September 2017 which means this winter we will stay in Tubac AZ and then Hawaii May thru August in 2017.

True to our past, we purchased a fixer upper.  I'd love to have Chip and Joanna Gaines take it on but Mike and I will be making or overseeing the necessary repairs and upgrades.  Our place is a 30 year old slump block townhouse with 2 bedrooms and 2 full baths plus a den/office.   We figure with a townhouse we can lock up and go when the spirit moves us (summer travel with winter stays in AZ). 

Our work list, so far?  The house needs all popcorn ceilings scraped, kitchen drop ceiling removed, enlarging the kitchen entry, all new kitchen cabinets and appliances,  new flooring through-out which will be Saltillo tile, new bathroom vanities and toilets, new gutters, and a new HVAC unit.  We will be the demo labor and handle changing the landscaping to desert based and will contract out the rest.  Most likely it will not be ready for full time living until late 2017.  In the meantime, we'll be 'camping' there October this year and April next spring. 

Yes, I know we have taken on a lot but it is something we enjoy doing.  I will be haunting the consignment and second hand shops in Tucson to furnish it.  I think our one splurge will be a custom mesquite dining room table from a shop in Tubac we have found.

Wish us luck!

Post Mexico Travels

Since returning from Mexico, we've been on the road until this past week.  We drove from Houston to Galveston TX, Galveston to Livingston TX, Livingston to Tucson AZ, Tucson to Santa Fe NM, and Santa Fe to Keystone Colorado.  Poor old Sabine (our Toyota Tundra) is getting some miles on her!

We had fun in Texas but really enjoyed exploring the Tucson area.  It is where we built a house in 2005, which fell through due to lack of golf course for Mike.  We discovered a great little restaurant in Green Valley AZ call Arizona Family Restaurant.  Good plain food, just like Bob Evans.  The clientele is "over 55+" and we seemed to fit right in there.  Green Valley is a retirement area 20 miles south of Tucson.  It has a great climate as it is higher in elevation than Phoenix which makes it cooler in summer.  The area also has a monsoon season during summer which is strong thunder & lightening storms.  They are window rattlers and you would not believe how the rain just pours as if from a bucket.

Next we hit the road for New Mexico.  It was pouring monsoon rain as we left our hotel and a truck in front of us kicked up a 'boulder' into our windshield.  Hit us just right so that we had a big chip and starburst right in front of me!  Mike was VERY unhappy about this.  Our first night on the road we stopped in Truth or Consequences New Mexico.  We were lucky to get a room in a new Holiday Inn Express just off I-25 -- senior rates of course.  We went in search of dinner, driving towards town.  We did not find a restaurant but we did find the Windshield Doctor.  On our way back to the hotel we decided to chance dinner at La Cocina across the highway from our hotel.  Great dinner!  Excellent carnitas tacos.   At 9 AM the next morning we were at the Windshield Doctor and he was able to repair our windshield for $25.  Hooray!!!!!!!

We then spent 3 days in Santa Fe exploring and relaxing.  (I really need to begin using some of our hotel points!).  It has been about 13 years since I was in Santa Fe and it has really become a tourist area.  The plaza is still beautiful but the stores are crammed with junk souvenirs and t-shirts or extremely high priced art and jewelry.   We had a lovely walk though all the shops.  I love old pawn silver & turquoise jewelry so I had hit the mother lode; however, I am a gold jewelry person.   Mike bought me a new gold wedding band in a rare green turquoise.  I love it!

My new ring

Friday we took a day trip to Taos driving the "high road" up and the "low road" back to Santa Fe.  The scenery was beautiful...it reminded us of driving from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe.  When we found a parking lot near the Plaza, the owner gave us a map and told us some places to check out.  Most of the stores were similar to Santa Fe except for one antique shop.  It was gross with glass eyes and false teeth and all kinds of old medical equipment!  The saving grace was stumbling into Plaza Café in the La Fonda hotel lobby on the Plaza.  OMG!!!!  My lunch choice was the Green Chili Pork Stew and a mixed green salad with lemon, ginger, & sesame dressing.   I had to control myself from licking the bowl & plate.  Just the right amount of heat and spice with well seasoned pork and the salad dressing was so full of flavor.  I could eat this every day!  The chef came out to ask us how we liked his food.   We were surprised when he sent us out a sample of his Potato Leek soup.  He makes his soups fresh every morning when he arrives at 8 AM.  He recommended his coconut flan for dessert and we both had to try it.  Amazing!!

Coconut Flan with Caramel Sauce!

 

Our last day in Santa Fe, we met up with our friend Carrie from So Cal.  Carrie was my vendor at First Interstate and became a close friend.  She was also our Big Bear friend.  We spent many fun weekends at Mom and Pop's cabin in Sugarloaf.  She and her husband moved to NM many years ago and I hadn't seen Carrie in 13 years, since a Cardinal Health business trip to Albuquerque.   Mike and I were looking forward to reconnecting and within 2 minutes, it was like we had never been apart.    Great catching up with all that's happened to our families over the years.  At Carrie's recommendation, we had a wonderful lunch at Blue Corn Café.

Next stop?  Keystone Colorado.  See you there!

 

 

Last Day fishing East Cape and Good-bye

 

...Leavin' on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again...

 

 

We had our last day of fishing on Wednesday the 20th aboard Scorpion panga with Captain Jorge.  We have had great days on the water with him over the past 2 months and Wednesday did not disappoint.  The sea was choppy by the hotel so we headed south to La Ribera/Punta Colorado where the water was totally flat.  The morning was slow as we trolled looking for any wahoo, dorado, or tuna who would join us in the panga.  Jorge and Mike decided it was time to move a little after 10 AM so we headed back to the spot that was very good to them the week before.  At exactly 10:30 AM we had 4 lines hit.   First tuna we lost, second I brought in, third Mike brought in and the fourth Mike and I tag teamed with Mike completing the catch.



 

Me with my tuna (sorry about those farmer tan arms but it was really, really hot!!)



 

Once all the excitement was over, we started trolling again but weren't getting any further bites.  As we were heading back to shore and packing up our equipment, we got another hit and Mike brought in our 4th tuna of the morning (literally a volunteer...).  We had stopped to reel in the lines and pack it in... and there he was!  A welcome surprise. 

 

Mike and the volunteer tuna

 



We head home to Texas tomorrow morning (July 30th) so this week has been all about saying good-bye to Los Barriles.  We have eaten at El Gecko and Tio Pablo's in addition to the Bay View downstairs.  Pedro, our building manager, is the beneficiary of our last tuna catch (15 lbs).  We really wanted to ship it to Rick and Carol but neither UPS, FedEx or the Smokehouse would either ship fresh fish nor guarantee it would make it past Mexico City  - so lucky Pedro!!  It has been so nice to spend an extended period of time here and get to know the people just a little better.  We will miss Gabby (head of housekeeping), Pedro, Eve at Tio Pablo's, Rafael at Chapito's Grocery, and Junior at El Gecko.

So after a few days in East Texas, we will be on our way to Keystone in Colorado.  Going from sea level to 9500 feet should be an experience, shouldn't it?? 

Fishin' with Jim and Jack and Kevin

 

This is our week to spend with friends Jim and Jack on the big boat Fin-atic.  ( http://www.finaticsportsfishingbaja.com/home ) . 

 

Jim and Jack brought their nephew Kevin, who will be 12 next month.  He has never been ocean fishing before so we told him he could catch the first fish.  Imagine our surprise when it turned out to be a 385+ pound Blue Marlin.  You can't really tell from the picture how big this fish was although you get some perspective from the orange & yellow lure you see (18 inches long).   He was HUGE and it was very exciting for us as it was our first Blue Marlin - not Jim's.  Took about 1.5 hours to bring him in.  Kevin reeled in the leader 3 times before he finally had to hand off to "The Closer", Uncle Jim.

 

350+ pound Blue Marlin

 

 

While Jim was busy on the stern (back of the boat) with the blue, Mike was heading to the front (bow) catching a shark!  Yep, we had 2 sharks show up while the blue was on the line.  Mike's job was to keep the shark away from the blue so we could bring him in. 

 

Mike's Shark - he was about 7' or 8' long

 

 

Jack caught a dorado for our dinner and then it was Mike's turn at another fish.  His was one of our standard 120 pound striped marlins.  Look how it is 'lit up' (electric blue stripes)!  Never saw that before when we caught one.

 

Mike's Striped Marlin

 

Second day out we were looking for tuna or dorado closer towards shore but nothing was biting.  So we headed out to where we'd caught the marlin on Sunday.  Captain Tony found the porpoises that travel with the tuna eating the bait they drive to the surface.  We were so excited that we'd get tuna for sashimi but that was not to be.  I was set to catch the first tuna when we hooked another Blue Marlin so I handed off to Mike.   The water was getting very rough as there was a hurricane off the mainland Mexico coast pushing wind in our direction.   Mike worked the fish for 30 minutes but his old golf injury (lower back) started acting up so he handed off  to "The Closer" for the final 30 minutes, resulting in an even bigger marlin.  He was over 500 pounds! 

 

As we headed back to shore, we were traveling with the waves and I didn't notice anything out of ordinary before we got close to the dock.  That is when we were told we had to quickly jump off the big boat onto the dock because the waves were dropping up to 6 feet.  I said 'no way' because I don't do quick and Mike stuck up for me (bless him!!!)  Then it got worse because it was too dangerous for our boat to get to the dock because it was too rough. They brought in this little dingy, row boat thing and told us we still had to move quickly from boat to dingy and then again from dingy to dock.  I said I am staying on the boat!  And everyone kept trying to talk me into it.  I should have stood firm and insisted on going back to the marina.  Mike could have come over to pick me up - it is a 45 minute drive.  But NNNNOOOOOOOO!!  Stupid me listened to them.  I almost did a face plant and went overboard getting on the dingy.  Luckily Mike and the guy driving the dingy grabbed me...water is 220 feet deep there and me still not swimming, ya know.  Then we get to the dock after bobbing around on the way, getting soaked by the waves.  I have no balance to speak of, no speed of motion and I'm supposed to stand up in a severely rocking dingy, stand on it's side rail, and pull myself up 6 feet on to the deck!  Ha!  If the big boat's owner, Warner, wasn't standing on the dock, hadn't grabbed my hand, and somehow yanked my hefty ass up very quickly, I would have been squashed between the dock and dingy.  Scared the crap out of me!!

 

Needless to say, I did not go fishing on Wednesday but did go back out on Thursday.  Again we found porpoises but no tuna were biting.  Captain Tony was sick so the boat's owner, Warner, was our captain for this final day.  We thought we hadn't caught anything but did hook a nice striped marlin in the final hour.  I should say Jack started reeling it in but Kevin was the one who actually landed it and brought it into the boat, this time without any help from either Mike or Jim.  He did a great job and had it all under control.  It was fun to watch this kid go from novice to experienced in a week. 

 

So Jim and Jack and Kevin have headed home to California and we are in our last 3 weeks at Los Barriles.  We are off of the big boat and back to our half day panga trips.  Next scheduled outing is  going out on Wednesday morning (July 13th) with Jorge.



Foodie Alert in Los Barriles!!

So I haven't written in a while.  Been busy?  Not really, just enjoying the peace and quiet and watching the fishing fleet come in every afternoon.

We have been eating quite well.  First, we are making our own burritos to take fishing.  Just marinate chicken or beef in ranchero sauce, fry up some bell pepper, onion, tomatoes with the saucy meat, add juice of 3 or 4 very small limes and wrap in a tortilla.  Yummy!  So we have been cooking more at home and only going out every other night.  I have found rice packets at the local tienda that are 1 Cup so it is perfect for us for  2 meals.  And last week Joe's Deli staff told us about a green grocer next door so we've shopped there twice.  They have fresh broccoli, peppers, onions, fruits, etc.  I did buy some "Safee" product to spray the produce, just in case, but it is much nicer and a larger selection than the local tienda (supermarket) has. 

 

This is how I mostly fish on the panga, looking for bait balls and marlin fins.

 

 

This year we have tried many new restaurants in the area.  I still want to go to LaRibera for 'linner' one afternoon before we leave but Los Barriles has everything we need. 

 

1.  Best tacos in town are at El Viejo.  Hands down the best.  Fresh, fresh, fresh!  They have a toppings bar where you decide what you want to add to your breakfast omelet or your tacos - things like fresh chopped salsa, pickled jalapenos, onion, cheese, etc.  Simple menu and you can choose grilled vs. fried on your tacos for N$2 extra (N$ peso = about 17 cents US) and well worth the cost.  Grilled shrimp and grilled scallops were just amazing.

 

2.  Herman used to be the fishing boat scheduler to see here at Palmas de Cortez.  About 3 years ago he left and opened a small family restaurant above street level on the "main drag" called Terrazzo de German (Herman's Terrace).  They have an open air kitchen and a very large wood grill.  Special is grilled fish which is very good.  Mike had his with cilantro sauce and mine was just grilled with lime on the side.  We buy the same tortillas they use at the grocery store, piping hot and fresh.  The tortillas have replaced bread in our diet...why by Oroweat 12-grain bread when you can have fresh maize (corn) tortillas?

 

3.  We went to La Casita, a very small patio totally surrounded by a stick, privacy fence.  They have actual stemmed wine glasses and cloth napkins, which is HUGE for this area.  The menu is very upscale and different from most every other dining option in town.  Can't wait to go back and try the grilled sea bass.  And you'd never know it could be this amazing when you see the small house beside the road.  In fact, we drove past it for almost 2 weeks before we realized it was the restaurant we'd been looking for...the map locator on Trip Advisor was WAY OFF!  This restaurant also has sushi!  We had salads, Mike had sushi roll, and I had coconut shrimp in a mango/jalapeño sauce.  And the best lemonade - fresh squeezed into mineral water (agua con gas).  That has become a new addiction and is so refreshing!!  We order it everywhere now.

 

 

Mike says I look happy.  I think I look goofy but the salad was soooooo tasty and fresh!

 

 

Mike's sushi roll

 

 

 

My coconut shrimp with mashed potatoes and veggies - delish!

 

4.  There are signs all over town about El Gecko.  We aren't telling our friend Jackie it is down a dirt road past a trailer park on the beach until she's here.  Our greeter was a very well groomed French poodle named Tiki...I'm usually very good remembering dog names, it's the people names I never remember!  So I got puppy kisses before dinner.  They had Don Julio anejo tequila and made guacamole at our table side (extra spicy, of course)

 

 

Yep, made table side!

 

And El Gecko had molcajete bowls!!!!!!!!!  Molcajete is generally used to grind up seeds or nuts, made out of lava rock.  These bowls have a red or green sauce (mine was green) with meat, cactus, green onions, & white cheese served with rice, beans and tortillas.  Mine was the grilled skirt steak bowl but could also have had pork, chicken or shrimp.  The bowls are heated thru so everything in them stays nice and hot throughout your meal. 



 

 

My happy face with my molcajete bowl

 

5.  Our old stand-by is Tio Pablo's.  It has been here since the 1990's.  They have great waitresses and  good, consistent quality, Americanized food.  Daily specials include:

 

• Thursday - Reuben sandwich & fries
• Friday - fish & chips
• Saturday - 50% off pork dishes on menu (and you have to have the pork filet medallions)
• Sunday - Angus beef Prime Rib. 

 

That Prime Rib is at least a pound of meat so we always split it and order an extra salad and potato.  It is our go to spot when we don't know what we want to eat. 

 

So we've gotten through our first month here.  I'm anxious to see what the second 30 days will bring. And I'll keep you posted on that!