5C's Que Pasa

DECISION DAY !!!

DEPARTURE DATE……………

After very little thought or much discussion it has been decided….

……….drum roll……….we are leaving here October 24 and heading south as fast as we can with an anticipated arrival at Tres Amigos RV Park on the Isla near Mazatlan of November 1.  We plan to head directly south to Lake Havasu City, see my friend Libby (Skip I understand will be away) for a day or so and keep on south right to Nogales.  We hope to cross the Mexican border October 30 and spend the night in San Carlos.  The next day will be the long one, with approximately 420 miles to Celestino Gasca and an overnight at Villa Celeste.  November 1st, will find us doing the last 75 miles right to Tres Amigos…RV 1.

Last year we were in Row 3 in RV 2. This winter we plan to spend close to 5 months in RV 1. We will be driving into the site which means we will see the ocean out our front window. This is an old Google Earth photo but the red X marks the spot we shall be living.

We plan to spend 3 mornings per week watching the cruise ships arrive.

Then we will do the first of at least 2 long beach walks.....every day!

...then we will....eh!..did someone say FIESTA!!!! We are ready!

Tags: Mexico, Tres Amigos RV Park

…..well at least if you live in B.C.!!  Our cost for a six month Mexican Insurance policy for the RV last year ( with Mexico Bob aka San Xavier Mexico Insurance ) was $745.23 and this was the maximum insurance we could get on our coach.  The cost for our toad, the HHR, was $273.55.  When you live in B.C. Canada and are in Mexico for 30 days or longer you may apply for a refund for the number of days you are in Mexico and had already paid for with your B.C. insurance. So after providing the necessary documentation we received a refund of $779.00 on the motorhome and a refund of $468.00 on the car.  Total cost of the six month Mexican insurance $1018.78.  Total refund by our B.C. Insurance company $1247.00.  A profit of $228.22!!! The tolls from Nogales to Mazatlan return cost us $319.00.  Therefore the cost to us for tolls and insurance was a grand total of $91.00. To me that means it does pay to travel to Mexico!  What say you?  Actually I do believe that Ontario may have a similar program.  Not sure about elsewhere in Canada or the USA.  Let me know folks!

Tags: Mexico, money

From day one of our computer existence we have been Apple people.  We actually have no idea how to use a PC.  This story starts the end of June when we realized that our G5 with Tiger might not be quite adequate to sustain some of the new photoshop programs Colin wanted to use.  We could have waited a year or so but upon reflection and much encouragement by the Apple 'people' we decided to upgrade the MacBook Pro (laptop) to Snow Leopard and to upgrade the G5 to the very latest and best iMac.  We got a 27″ 2.66GHz Quad Core of which I have no idea what that all means other than it is big. With the new Adobe CS5 Photoshop Extended for Mac the final tally came in at $4464.64.  The good news is that we waited till July 9 to actually purchase the computer in order to avoid paying tax because as a company expense we would get the 12% HST back.

I believe that the new iMac has been in for repair three times before we went to Vancouver & Point Roberts mid July and has been in since once.  Last Wednesday it died.  Yup…the machine just upped and died.  Brought it back to Simply Computing, the Apple Store here in Kelowna and got the diagnosis.  It actually had died, the hard drive that is.  At this point I am on the phone to Simply Computing, to Apple and to Apple Care Support (we paid 199.99 for a three year warranty) but no one can help.  After 8 hours of back and forth I finally gave up!  Okay no new computer cuz it's not covered despite the fact that it appears to be a very sour lemon!!  But they agree to replace the dead hard drive at no cost and to do it within a week instead of three weeks because we are greatly inconvenienced, not to mention that Colin needs this thing to make us some money. So now the call comes, your machine is ready to pick up but by the way it is a blank canvas!  Huh!  Bottom line nothing was able to be retrieved from the original hard drive.  That means….no emails not yet replied to, no address book, none of my bookmarks, none of my invoicing for 2010, none of my extremely special emails that I have kept from times of crisis or joy, none of my research into various things, etc.  I am certain that as the weeks go by I will find more that I am unable to live without including all the photos input onto iPhoto and now deleted from my camera.  So Colin has gone to pick up this piece of virgin canvas that we have to reprogram from scratch…..no further comment.

Yes George I know you are going to ask about Time Machine….well Colin has always backed up and double backed up his photos but NEVER my stuff.  Guess what…things are going to change.

Colin hasn't got back yet so if I drink enough vino I might, just might hang in there!!!

Muy triste!

Summers end or so it seems.  We have used the furnace the last two mornings to combat the 6C temps. The girls are in shock and shivering. Nasty!  It has been a hectic last few days. The dogs found this ugly huge caterpillar on the lawn, I assume it will eventually become some disgusting moth or perhaps something beautiful.

Colin got through the huge wedding (12 in the wedding party) last Friday despite a sinus cold and clouds, showers and wind.  It was as an outdoor event at a winery.  I also discovered that the renters on an RV site here that I am managing flew the coup!!  No notice!  My mom was interviewed on CTV in Edmonton about a bear wandering around the river valley because they had a similar incident 8 years ago in their yard but the bear was shot.  Dad is adjusting well to the hip rehab hospital but is worried about his leg being ‘twice the size of a football’.  I am concerned also and hope his body is not rejecting the new hip.  My sister and her partner visited briefly on Saturday.  They were on vacation (from Edmonton) and gave us 15 minutes notice before arriving on our doorstep.  We had a 4 hour visit before they had to press on.

Contessa, Denise & Randy

Our flowers beds are starting to look sad.  They need serious deadheading and lots of fertilizer but I almost think its not worth the effort so late in the season.  We are enjoying our tomatoes and will definitely plant some again next spring.  Last night I found paradise in the freezer.  One bag of  peeled and cleaned extra large shrimp just waiting to be thawed and sauteed in garlic, wine and butter.  Yum…and I also found one last bag of shrimp that is still in the shell and needs cleaning but promises another delicious Mazatlan dinner.

The icewines a gift from Denise & Randy, mucho gracias!

Tags: Family, shrimp