Saturday Sept 25th to Wednesday 29th, 2010

Saturday night we went to Dugarel's restaurant with our dinner group and it was very nice. We sat facing the ocean (that is always a treat) and had a great meal with great friends. Ross had the octopus and I had shrimp stuffed avocado, yum.

We didn’t go to Mandy and Mike’s again on Sunday I guess they have stopped it, it would have been nice to be told though! Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Jake apparently got into a cat fight as the end of our bed this morning was just soaked in blood (we thought it was Gracie again) but when in the living room we noticed some blood on the floor where Jake was laying, I picked up his head and his lip was bleeding quite bad. Off to the vet we go, come to find out he has ehrlichia, which is a disease you get from ticks that makes the blood not coagulate (at least that is one of the symptoms), Jake apparently got into a scrap with a cat and he/she bit him on the lip, when the vet cleaned up the blood sure as shooten’ there were two holes, one on top of the other on his lip. It took 10 minutes for his blood to coagulate, it should only take 2 to 5 minutes! He gotsome medicine put in the holes to stop the bleeding, a shot in the butt with antibiotics and another shot in the muscle of his front leg for the disease, we took home some pain killer for him too. That cost us 280 pesos 180 for the medicine and 100 for vet fees, it sure is good that vets don’t cost very much down here.

Monday morning the dogs got us up barking around 5:30, I got up and looked out the back door and didn’t see anything, when they started barking 10 minutes later both of us got up and Ross let the dogs out, then went out himself, our outside fridge was open and almost empty. Ross went up the stairs to go onto the roof and damn, there was meat, juice, beer and stuff sitting on our roof on top of our outside bathroom. We have been robbed AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! Ross got the ladder out and we got all the stuff they didn’t get off the roof and back into the fridge again. Somehow they are climbing up the wall onto the roof of our bathroom then jumping over to the main roof and climbing down the stairs. The first time we got robbed it was at the end of August and now again at the end of September, Dick says that payday is at the end of the month so we figure people are robbing to get by until payday! It doesn’t make me so mad when they took food as when they took our laptops and stuff, I can understand people having families and doing anything they can to feed them, but CRAP! When our friend Gene gets back from Greenville (Oct 5th I think) he is going to help us alarm our house with the system we bought, it also has motion detectors so we are going to plant one outside so that next time someone comes down the stairs the alarms and horns are going to be blaring!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, again Mary Carmen came to help us to go to the Ministero Publico to record the break in, what a sweetie she is. They just added to our last one which meant we didn’t need any passport copies or anything but Ross and Mary Carmen had to initial each page (3 altogether both sides) and put their fingerprint next to their signatures, this is a very weird custom, at least for us, oh well, as long as it works.

Ross took Gracie to the vet this afternoon as she has been biting her feet and the blood doesn’t seem to coagulate very quickly either, she also has ehrlichia, so she is on medication too! So that is two pills for Gracie cause she might have a thyroid problem and medicine for ehrlichia and Jake just on medicine for ehrlichia………..Yack, it’s a good thing cats don’t get it!!!

We went to the open mike at Britannia last night also; I think it was the first of the season. Nick. Mike and Carlos rocked the house down again, throwing Ross into the mix for a few tunes.

Wow what a bike ride we had today! We went down the Valley De Banderas highway (not far from us) and we rode all the way to San Juan de Abajo. They just opened the road up to San Juan de Abajo about a week ago and what a pretty ride. Mango, Huanacaxtle and fig trees, vines growing on telephone poles, corn fields……………………….wow. Guys on horses (lots of them) with dogs running alongside them, the town was way bigger than we thought it would be, we rode down the main streets sightseeing.

We might be going out for shrimp tonight; a restaurant on the lateral has a special Wednesday nights, shrimp salad and rice for 50 pesos! The shrimp is normally breaded and Ross doesn’t like breaded shrimp so we might go and ask for non breaded shrimp?
Well that is it for today, see the pictures posted of our bike ride today!

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise

Sunday Sept 19th to Friday Sept 24th, 2010

What a great dinner last night at the Red Apple Restaurant. It is on the main beach drag in Bucerias upstairs so you have a great view of the ocean. I had stuffed chicken and Ross had the octopus, (yucky I don’t like octopus) and they were both delicious.

The dogs got me up way too early, guess what they are doing now……………..sleeping…………and I’m not, oh well, I am drinking some wonderful mint tea and of course, typing my blog. I am going to take some pictures of some of the new stuff we have, like doors, air conditioning and of course big blue (our new truck).

Sunday and Monday was a very lazy days…..we didn’t have our pool volleyball, Ross’s tummy was still very upset and we were just lazy…………

Tuesday we got our butts out of the house around 4 to drive to Walmart for a few odds and ends (another tarp for our roof as one of them has completely shredded) and while we were there we got a call from Christie asking us if we wanted to have some left over chili that she made while we are watching their pictures from their vacation in south Mexico. We picked up some buns and they came over at 7ish and we had a fabulous dinner of chili (yeah I know it’s 32 outside), buns, pickles and some cheddar cheese we had in the fridge, yummy! Christie is a great cook. The pictures are terrific, they took 3 of their kids with them; Spencer was still in Canada visiting relatives.

Wednesday morning we got up early for our bi weekly chili cook-off meeting. We have 15 contestants now, they are going to sell tickets to taste and we will have prizes, it’s exciting and will be at the end of November We are going to sell raffle tickets (Ross and Larry had gone out for these, one is swim with the dolphins at Vallarta Adventures) and the money will be split 3 ways, one of the lucky ones is the cat lady that I got Yoda from, I’m stoked!!!

I got up early this morning to join the ladies at Rita’s house to make crafts for their Christmas bazaar………………….. actually it will be mine too. I just got a phone call this afternoon from the vice president of Beta Sigma Phi, Karen (this is what the ladies belong to) asking if I would like to join. This organization is an international organization for women to let friendships develop and deepen while learning through chapter programs or philanthropy done throughout the communities. (I got that from the website) Look at their website http://www.betasigmaphi.org/. I am really excited; they are having a potluck on the 28th of October to welcome me and other women who want to join. I have to call Sue (she is a member) to find out when and where the membership meetings are as Karen asked me to call her so I can go with her to the meetings.

Philos was great, small crowd but they sounded terrific, saw a couple that just got back from 3 months in Oregon, it’s nice to see faces that you miss again.

Well that is it for now, I have put in some pictures (cross your fingers) of our new screen doors, our new truck and our air conditioner.

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise!

Sunday to Saturday Sept 12th to 18th, 2010

We went to a little restaurant called Pueblito Destiladeras in La Cruz Saturday night with our dinner group, what a wonderful restaurant! After we ordered our meal (260 pesos) we got a fish turnover for an appetizer and some fried bananas for dessert, this came with every meal, wow! Just as we were leaving Dick’s truck Ross realized he left his water at the restaurant, so we hopped in our new truck and drove back, it was still open so we got it and drove back home.

Samuel our air conditioner guy got our air going, when we walked in after supper it was soooooooooo cool! Francisco and his wife (and one son) got to our house about 2:30 and got our metal outside doors painted, it looks good! I am going to do a bit of touch up, I’m just picky on some things.

Monday Geno and his wife Alvia came to Bucerias today because they are flying to Washington Tuesday and they wanted to make sure they make their flight, you see they live in San Pancho where the bridge washed out and travel on our highways lately have been hit or miss! We went out with them for dinner to Meson Bay (Ross and I love this restaurant, right on the beach, good food, good ambience) and it was delightful, I had my usual, avocado with shrimp and everyone else had the all you can eat fish and shrimp special.

Tuesday…….Happy Birthday to my youngest granddaughter Melanie, she a whole 1 years old today! Hurray!

Juan was to get Ross to register our new truck, but he hasn’t shown up all week, oh well it will be mañana now! Francisco came by to finish all the little things that needed doing, we asked him if he wanted our old doors and he said sure, he didn’t have any…………………………I spoke with little Melanie on the speaker phone and when she heard my voice she grabbed the phone…………………she misses me………..right……………she has only seen me once a few months ago……………but it’s nice to fantasize!

Wednesday……….Happy Birthday Ashleigh…….21 years old today!!!

Happy Birthday Mexico………………200 years old today!!!

We woke up Ashleigh and sung Happy Birthday to you, she was going to the water park at West Ed and then to dinner with her boyfriend Tio, he surprised her with a night in Fantasy Land Hotel, he had a palm tree and everything, wow!

At 7pm we went over to Dick and Mary Carmen’s for a birthday party for Mexico, all the regulars were there along with Lorena! We hadn’t seen her since the wake, she is looking good. Mary Carmen had so much wonderful food for us and at 11pm we watched the President and family on TV what a proud country!

Yesterday Ross went to pick up Ralph from the airport and drove him home to Lo de Marcos. We were concerned about his house as he has been gone for so long, but the only problem they saw was that his travel trailer was damp on the inside too.
We were supposed to go to Mike and Mandy’s today for our weekly pool/volleyball party but they cancelled it……………again…………………how are we supposed to get our exercise if they keep cancelling????????????? We are going to the Red Apple with the dinner group tonight, we are taking Ralph with us since we had him drive all the way down here for the volleyball and they cancelled!

Well that is it for now, sorry about the wait, but it was worth it…………………right!!!!!!

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise

Saturday Sept 4th to Saturday Sept 11th, 2010

I picked up Babygirl and Bagel at 7 and they were so cute, both zoned out of their minds! All night I had at least one on me snoozing away, they would get down, walk a couple of steps, fall down, and snooze there for a bit, then get up again. By the time we went to bed they were getting better, but still funny to watch!
Saturday we got up early to attend the Amigos de Bucerias breakfast meeting; it doesn’t seem so bad to wake up early if there is food involved! And of course the food was excellent as per usual.

After getting home I think Ross had a snooze while I did some computer stuff, then we get a phone call from Mike letting us know that we are the only ones that are going to be there and if we have anyone we know that wants to come to call them. We called John and Christie and they came with both Shay and Mackenzie, and Deb was there too. Volleyball was great, so were Ross’s wings and our kabobs were a hit.

Sunday we met up with Nick, Shelly, Mike and Mandy at the Oxxo by our place to convoy down to a club called Que Pasa (sp?). Nick and Mike along with Carlos had a gig there and we thought it would be cool to tag along. We had a great dinner for 50 pesos; we had stuffed chicken with mini potatoes and carrots, yum. The band was great and we ended up staying until the end, Ross got to play a bit too.

Monday and Tuesday were toast, I was sick in bed both days. I had a sore throat and just felt crappy (I’m much better now). We got our 2 screen doors put in on Tuesday, I feel so much better now, they both lock (dead bolt) so we can keep the screen door closed only, to keep the air flow in the house.

We didn’t do too much on Wednesday, on Thursday we had Francisco (our handyman) come, we are going to have him paint our other two white doors black to match the rest and fix the holes in our cement house where the door guys wrecked.

Friday we got the money wired into our Mexican account and we have paid Juan for our new truck. We drove to PV today to get a few things, the wait wasn’t too long to cross the bridge so we made good time. We went to Costco for some more Montreal steak spice and a new set of sheets (which we didn’t get as they only had brown and they were over 1,000 pesos), Auto Zone for some fuel stabilizer for our gas cans (gas for our scooters and the genset), We also stopped at Sam’s Club for sheets but the only ones they had were 200 thread count, so it looks like I’ll only have 1 set for a while. We went to home depot for some paint for our doors, the rest of the stuff we will need to spruce up the house Francisco will have to get.

We drove back home with our purchases, then off to Paradise Plaza for Ross’s meeting and a starbucks for me, then into PV one more time to meet up with friends to have supper at the Sirloin Stockade, another yum! We are kinda worried about Bagel; we think he got stung by something, scorpion maybe? We was really lethargic (and that is not Bagel) and when I picked him up he cried. We cuddled for a bit in the rocking chair, then he jumped down to go outside.

It is now Saturday morning, the air conditioner guys are here to put up our new old air conditioner and we are waiting for Francisco to come to do his bit. We are going out with the dinner club tonight to a new restaurant in La Cruz, it is supposed to be cheap and good!

I think Bagel is better; he is walking around now and is more playful, hurray!

Well that’s it for now; hope everyone has a great weekend. I will try to keep more up to date, sometimes the time just slips away!

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise

Wednesday Sept 1st to Friday Sept 3rd, 2010

Happy birthday Yoda – your 1 Years old!

At 8:30 the door guy came by, Pancho, to take measurements for 2 steel doors one for the front of the house and one for the back. He is going to put screening on both, maybe my house will be bug free of the flying kind! We will have to get some Plexiglas cut for the bottoms of both doors so the dogs don’t rip the screens, and we are also going to cut part of the bottom screen of the back door so the cats can come in and out.

We had our town hall meeting this morning at 11 at Mark’s Restaurant; we got there at 10 so Ross could set up the PA for the meeting. The meeting went well; some of the delegates didn’t make it as with the bridge collapsing an all, but our Delgado was there along with a police presence. The main topics were streetlights (getting them all working) the camp on the beach by the river (they need to be gone), ATV patrols at night, Crime reporting, speed bumps along our main beach street (so no one races), private security service (I can’t remember if we even touched on this topic and then Christy got up letting everyone know that we will help out all we can.

Thursday was my appointment with Gina, hurray I have nails again, I also got a pedicure, I now have very pink toes!

Ross and Harold met over at Dick’s house to get our new air conditioner and compressor to our house so we can have it installed. This was in Dick’s house and they got a new one as this one’s fan is kinda noisy, but the price was right and when you are sweltering, you can put up with a bit of noise……………………….remember our genset? I got a fellows name from Gina to install it, she has had him work on hers and she says he’s great and fairly cheap.

We heard some racket in the afternoon, big machine type racket and you will never guess what they are doing, on the next block over from us, they were tearing down all the beautiful mango trees! There is a basketball court to the left of the land and a playground on the right side and in the middle were lots of mango trees in a field. We are scared about what they are going to be building there; we hope it’s not a big building!

We drove to Walmart and Mega to get the stuff for our BBQ at Mike and Mandy’s on Saturday (they changed it from Sunday as Mike has a gig in PV Sunday nite. Ross is cooking hot wings and I got some stuff to make some steak and pork kabobs, I got cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, meat (of course) pineapple chunks and some peppers, it should be tasty. I haven’t made kabobs for years and they are so good.

We picked up our scooters, they are working fine now, I needed a regulator and a new battery, they fixed Ross’s ignition so he doesn’t have to bang it to get it working. My battery was 450 and the rest for both bikes were 1400 and as per ED this is very reasonable.

We left to go to the jam at Philos around 8:30, you sure can tell it’s summer, besides musicians there may have been, what 5 or 6 people in the club, now in high season there are tables out in the street it is sooooooooooooo busy! We ordered a pizza (great pizza’s) and Ross got his ya yas out playing. We stayed until they stopped playing, maybe around midnight?

Today is Friday and we are fretting!!!! I took Bagel and Babygirl in to Dr. Mariana to get fixed, we really didn’t think Babygirl was big enough so I thought I would just bring her home……………….NO, I didn’t even have time to give her a kiss and cuddle. I have to pick them up tonight between 6 and 7. They have to go back in a week to check the stitches and for their shots.

Ed came by around 11, we are looking at buying a crew cab truck from Juan, and Ed (our mechanic) is going to look it over to make sure everything is good. Juan wants 60,000 mxn for it, we think if everything is good we will offer him 50,000 mxn, cause we would have to buy a canopy for the back, the box already has a liner in it.

It’s 12:30 now, I don’t know what is happening this afternoon or tonight, we have to get the wings cooked and I will prepare the veggies and meat for Saturday. It has been raining most nights I rearranged our tarps on the roof (another fix we have to do) cause we started to see damage in another part of our ceiling kinda sorta in the kitchen.

That’s it for now, we hope everyone has a great weekend!

Ross Kim and Critters in Paradise!