5C's Que Pasa

2017 is the 150th Anniversary of Canada’s Confederation and Canadian Parks. The passes are normally charged for, but this year they are free! You may order your free annual park pass at the Parks Canada website by clicking here.  As Canada’s gift to you, the 2017 Discovery Pass will provide free admission for the entire year to Parks Canada places from coast-to-coast to coast!  This is open to everyone everywhere.  Perhaps this will be the year that you travel to Canada to do some site-seeing.  Please click here to get to the home page that will explain what the National Parks are all about and where they are located. For all of 2017 this pass gives you unlimited opportunities to enjoy National Parks, National Marine Conservation Areas and National Historic Sites across the country!

Just as the sun went behind El Faro.

Hopefully these two will catch some fish tonight.

Special thanks to Living Rich on the Cheap for posting about this first.

Sadly Carmeh woke up this morning with a full pancreatic attack.  She was also in pain for which I gave her Tramadol.  We did take her out for our beach water about noonish and of course she traveled in style in her buggy.  By the end of the day she was doing a bit better and even played for a few moments before bed.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better for her.  I so hate to see her in pain.

Oh the positive side I felt no ill effects from my Saturday massage so will give it another shot next Saturday.

As Carmeh just wanted to rest this morning, we used that time to finally take Christmas down and tidy up the inside of the RV.

Sunset this evening.

Hopefully tomorrow I will find the time to do a proper post.  Thanks for all your comments and questions yesterday.  They have been answered if you want to go back and check. For those of you still waiting for a reply to your email, I will get back to you eventually. In addition to my dealing with Carmeh there are a few others things out there that I am have to spend time sorting out.

Thanks for checking in.

Such color in the sky.

Carmeh is doing really great for the second day in a row, certainly an up.

My massage person, whom I have had the privilege to use for over five years, week after week, my very special  Casa Maria has moved away from Mazatlan.  I have had three massages from the lady she recommended.  They were very good massages but not great.  There is no one on this earth that can replace Mary.  One of the problems is that this person is in Mazatlan and I have to drive to the Playa Sur embarcadero and take a panga across the shipping channel and then walk about 15 minutes.  Not a big issue but then I have to do the reverse after a massage slathered in oil in very high temps and humidity.  Casa Maria has certainly spoiled me.  No one has any idea how much I miss her and her expertise.

So today I tried someone different.  Someone whom many RVers here use weekly and have for many years.  However he is not a certified massage individual as is Maria and I am not a normal individual.  Maria had not suggested this person to me as I am somewhat sensitive.  However I did use him today and so far so good.  I did however have to dial him down in his strength.  His fingers have so much strength.  I won’t know for a day or two if this is and up or a down.

The girls went crazy when Colin brought our massage table into the RV.  We were shocked as to their reaction.  They love Mary and not having seen her since last March  they started to bark in the way they did when Mary was about to arrive.  Of course I started to tear up, how could they have this reaction from just seeing a massage table?  My girls are so smart but I felt so bad to have to disappoint them as to who was arriving.

Yuck, Colin got another mouse today.  That could either be a down or an up depending on how one looks at it.  Colin thinks it is an up.

We decided to head up the beach for an early dinner. Had great coconut shrimp and the margaritas were very good.  This catamaran came into the bay for the evening.

Back down the beach to our winter home.  The red on the left is our gazebo.  Great meal and walk on the beach, certainly an up part to the day.

I have been spending a great deal of time online due to a blogger friend having serious medical issues.  Certainly a downer.

I have been online a lot tonight.  Colin and the girls have chosen to hang out in the bedroom.  Aren’t they cute ?   That piece of foam is there to stop the girls from jumping off the bed.  Just to the right of the photo is a ramp that they use to go up and down.

All in all, I think that it was a good a day.

Colin moved further back into the garden yesterday to play his guitar as I was on the patio doing some exercises using a video.

When I was finished he moved back to his usual spot under the palapa. I sat in the shade and read. Suddenly he was calling to the girls to come as there was a mouse.

They do know what a mouse is and were down the ramp in a flash ( I don’t know how much Carmeh actually hears but she takes her cues from Caeli. ) and quickly picked up the scent.  Colin said that he had actually seen the mouse crossing the patio towards the RV.  We have had mice off and on over the years here on the Isla so we knew that if there was one there were more.  Next he started to check all existing mouse traps.  One had snapped shut and the bait was gone.  The sticky mouse traps were 50 /50 with bait.  So he re baited the traps and did have some difficulty setting the snap trap.  Finally he got it set but as he set it onto the generator at the front of the RV his hand flew back and hit the RV.  Disaster, he broke a main plucking guitar nail.  All classical guitarists have come up with a solution that works for them.  Colin has his various potions but for some reason his nail dryer was missing.  Had he left it back home?

Similar to the missing one. I went around RV 1 to see if anyone had one.

Meanwhile Colin had gone online and discovered that there was a Sally Hansen store at the Gran Plaza.  So off he went by car to the embarcadero where he took a panga over to Mazatlan.  From there he traveled by pulmonia to the mall.  He had the driver wait for him, dashed and got what he needed and was back here within 90 minutes.  By the way that is when Caeli escaped last night, just after Colin had left.  The cost to us including transport was about 450pesos/28.00CAD/21.00USD, well worth the expense.

His favorite product is Crazy Glue. The thing is, that if he doesn’t repair the torn nail ASAP it may rip off totally and he won’t be able to play for months, till the nail grows out.

Not easy to see but the tip of the nail is purple, that is the product he put on it.

A quick test of the nail and all is well so far.

Coincidentally Colin had been reading about mice in a National Geographic earlier in the day.  Here is a loose copy of a part of the article.

Six months after a mouse is born it reaches adulthood. For five more months they eat and gain weight that they will burn off having sex for up to 3 weeks straight. Some couplings can last 14 hours. They get really stressed and produce a hormone called cortisol which is deadly in large amounts. Their high testosterone keeps the cortisol gushing when it should shut off. As the cortisol reaches toxic levels the male mouse’s immune system and other systems fail. The mouse will drop dead before it’s first birthday. The female will produce up to 14 young.

14 hours, are you kidding me 😥

Earlier tonight we watched the sunset together.

So far so good with the repaired nail. However the repair process might have to be repeated every few days for the next few months.  At least he can play.

The end of another day in paradise.

Well not quite.  Colin decided to check his traps just as we were going in for the night.

He caught one. This is not in focus on purpose.  One down, how many more to go?

Now that we are into firmly into 2017 we are slowly getting back into a routine.

That includes not missing a single sunset at this time of year. This was taken last Wednesday, the 3rd, when we had our new neighbors over for happy hour.  We were having such a great time that I neglected to get a photo of us.

However the next morning when we met on the beach I did get a great photo, not.

Patrick and the wonder dog Lucy.  She is a Border Collie/Springer Spaniel mix and is 7.5 years old.  She is a delight and loves to jump over our fence to visit about once per day.  Lucy is so well trained that I, a stranger to her, can tell her to come and she does.  The first time I met her she almost knocked me over but we are great friends now.  Carmeh is good with her but Caeli is still in the barking mode when she sees Lucy.  Give her another few days.

Carmeh has been having a not so great few days. In pain, lots of very loud stomach gurgles and not eating.  I was in tears last night as I asked Colin what we should do, when do we decide that enough is enough.  Not easy to push a carriage through the wet sand at low tide.

Before you all get upset and react, I need to tell you that Carmeh is great today.  No buggy needed and she ran like the wind.  She certainly has her good and bad days.  Hard on my nerves for certain.  And some of you wonder why I drink wine!

Saw these two macho guys on the beach yesterday and there not so macho dog.

Carmeh just enjoying the action on the beach.  She has lost weight over the past few months.

Just one of my new blooms.

A glorious sunset last night.

It seems that lately there has been a cruise ship every night, if not two.  Of course all related to it being the holiday season.  There will be fewer next week.

Sorry but I missed tonight’s  departing ship and from what I saw out of the corner of my eye it was a beauty.  Caeli had run off, as in got out of the yard.  It was dusk and I was panicking.  I finally found her under an RV, four over.  Calling her name and ‘cookies’ does not always work but she did scramble out and saunter over to me but it was easy to tell that she knew she had done wrong.  But it all ended well.

9 PM and time for dinner 😯