Last night's sunset was so beautiful! The rainy season really brings out a whole different look to the sky at night, and I like it.

Life has been quiet lately, both of us have felt a bit out of sorts. We're just so used to bopping around town alot and it is just too hot and steamy to do much walking during the day. Paul has been working a fair bit, too.

On top of that, the dogs got a touch of something and Lucy's ears got goopy again. More medicine and worries. If her ears aren't better this afternoon I will call the vet and get the stronger medicine for her. Floppy ear dogs have problems in the humidity here!

We've also had to cancel our planned week driving trip to Guadalajara, Morelia, and Patzcuaro. Our dogsitter had to cancel at the last minute and we just weren't able to fix things up with a substitute...especially with Lucy not being 100% well. We hope to reschedule it soon.

But the good news is that Monday they are going to start on the remodeling of the back yard. We have gone back and forth on what we want to do to the back yard - for a while we were thinking about a pool - but then we got a bid and had to rethink the plan. We are going to have a long roof put over the house side wall - constructed with salvaged ebony posts and salvaged vigas. We're going to use cement tile on the floor. The balance of the backyard will be grass and plants - our seriously pruned hibiscus and bouganvillia are thriving, and they, along with the palm and bamboo should provide a nice foundation for the rest of the plants. I know the dogs will welcome the grass and the cover from the roof will keep the house cool and give us a nice place to sit and rock in the shade.

Another great bit of news is that it seems pretty likely that we'll see our son and his family from Washington in November. I miss them all a lot so hearing that they're coming really made my day! Here's a picture of them taken at their other grandma's house this summer.

Paul and I have a thing for black dogs. Back in the US we even named our property Black Dog Farm. Lucy the lab mix was our first black dog. Here's Lucy with our second black dog, a Scottish Terrier, Angus. Angus died about a year before we moved, of cancer.

Angus did have a chance to meet Henry, though. Henry joined our pack when my boss and his family (after careful research and $750) decided (after 1 week) that they couldn't actually have a puppy.

Henry is a Schnauzer-Poodle mix. It is a designer breed called a Schnoodle. For most of his life, we have kept him trimmed like a schnauzer, (see previous post) but we decided to see if he wanted to try being a poodle for a while. It is hot here and he had some mats under his chin.



I think after the summer he'll go back to being a schnauzer again!

Here's a picture of my new friend. I believe it is a Cinnamon hummingbird (Amazilla rutila). He has decided that he owns our feeder, us, and our patio. If another bird comes while he is here, he chases them off and then immediately returns, making a little beeping sound that I have decided means "I'm back."

I don't understand why my wrists are the first place on my body to perspire when I start getting hot. Seems strange to me. (You can see a bit of my tattoo)

We've been watching the transformation of the building across from Shrimp Bucket on the malecon and now it seems the remodel of the new tourist office is complete. I'm not sure if it's open yet, but if not it is very close. One of the reasons they wanted this location is because there is parking nearby - we wonder what that will do to the group of about 8 men who run a car wash business using the parking there?

I bought a few new dog toys when I was up in the US last month. Henry likes the blue one best!

It's a beach day today...Paul needs a break - he worked about 40 hours this week, which is remarkably like actually working. The only difference is he doesn't have to go to meetings and he is usually sitting at his computer without a shirt on!

What dog doesn't look happy when they are face down in their food dish? It hasn't always been that way for us - both our dogs were off and on picky eaters most of their lives. Henry had been known to not eat for more than a day for no reason that we could discern.

When we moved here the dogs had been eating a fancy designer expensive dog food. I liked that it was more real nutrition and that they produced smaller stools. I figured that their bodies were actually absorbing more of the food due to less filler.

Lucy - like many floppy eared dogs - has had problems for most of her almost nine years with fungal infections in her ears, especially when the seasons change. She also had bad dandruff and chewed her feet almost compulsively.

A few months ago she was really in a bad way so we took her to the vet. After examining her, he recommended an elimination diet - just rice and tuna or salmon to start with. He also sold us her usual ear medicine and some shampoo.

So, we changed the dogs over to this new diet, which now consists of tuna, rice, frozen peas and chicken all mixed together. Being a vegetarian I don't like to mess around with cooking chicken so I bought chicken breasts (quite inexpensively) at Sam's Club to add to the food.

Both dogs are now enthusiastic eaters. They eat it up and then check each other's dish, just in case. They lick the little pieces of rice off the floor. Lucy's skin has cleared up beautifully, she only licks her feet once in a while, and I can keep her ears under control with cleaning every week.

I like the fact that they are eating without a lot of fillers and unknown additives. It is a bit expensive but no more so than the fancy food...and I am happier knowing that I am taking good care of our best friends!

Oh, and the treats that we give them now in place of store-bought dog cookies? Carrots!

I haven't written much lately because it has just become normal to live here now so it seems like there isn't much to say! We work on our Spanish, shop, cook,visit with friends, walk the dogs, read, eat out and the rest. More or less the same things anyone does anywhere. But living here makes all the ordinary things so much better.

For example, yesterday we wanted to take a walk in the afternoon. It's much too hot to just walk around town in the afternoon so what did we do? Walk on the beach!

Speaking of hot, it has started to heat up here for the summer. A couple of days ago it was as though a switch had been flipped - both the heat and the humidity ratcheted up a notch. We have been turning on the air conditioning (using "dehumidify") in the evening if we watch television and then when we go to bed. When we open the bedroom door in the morning, the humidity hits you hard - but in 5 minutes you have forgotten about it.

We now try to walk the dogs in the morning as early as possible so we aren't out in the blazing sun. Our bandanas are always with us for mopping the perspiration. We use up a 5 gallon water bottle every couple of days. We eat salad for dinner. I'm loving it. If it wasn't for the condensation that drips all over when you try to sip from your glass it would be perfect! (I probably should make a bunch of La Gringa's Inventions since we sure don't need to wear socks ourselves...)

I've been snapping pictures of Henry whenever he cuddles up with his toys. He almost always has a toy nearby, or if he's sleeping he uses one as a pillow. The pictures above were taken over the last week.

Does it look to you like Henry tired himself out hogging all the toys? And does Lucy look a bit irritated about it?

It is a beautiful sunny day here in Mazatlan. We are reveling in it, because the last 5-6 days have been chilly by Mazatlan standards, anyway! It has been breezy and hasn't been warm enough to sit outside unless you are in the direct sun - and when you're not - brrr. Everyone in town was wearing sweaters and jackets and - god forbid - shoes.

This morning we had a number of people due to come over for various things relating to the work we're having done here. Paul said he'd do the waiting, so I took the dogs on a walk by myself.

They are very familiar with our morning route to the malecon...and have their favorite "spots" so the official business was out of the way quickly and we could proceed with the fun part. (yes, we always pick it up)

We are regulars now, and I really enjoy feeling like we are accepted as residents.

First to greet us is Henry's biggest fan down by the park. She almost always runs out to greet him and pet him and has told us she has a Schnauzer, too - a grey one. When she's not there in the morning, Henry looks for her and whines.

Next is the security guard at a local college. He greets us every day but when I am alone with the dogs he always wants to know what Paul is doing and laughs that he is still in bed!

The street sweeper lady is always enthusiastically working away, and alway has a ready smile and a good morning.

Then when we get to the malecon, we have to wait for traffic in order to cross. No problem there, because the lead man in the big street car washing business in front of Shrimp Bucket always greets us and lets us know when it's ok to cross.

Everyone has such nice smiles...and not just vacant smiles but smiles that include the eyes so you feel like you really connected for the moment.

The malecon has all the usual walkers and joggers and dogs who are now familiar faces to greet each day. When people meet us for the first time we have to tell them "no muerden" since people here seem to be very worried that the dogs will bite.

Today I took a longer route and when I passed by the "cliff diver" area where all the vendors set up a couple of tour buses had just disgorged a lot of people and the sidewalk was jammed. After we waited for it to thin out the dogs and I passed by with nods from the vendors but no requests for me to buy. I think even if they don't know me the dogs signal to them that I'm a local.

By the time we got home both Paul and I were hungry for breakfast. With the painters occupying the kitchen, Paul took off to buy us some pan dulces at Panama and stopped at the fruit stand in front and bought a cup of mixed fruit, jicama and cucumber seasoned with lime and chile powder.

It's been an excellent start to another beautiful Mazatlan day.

Yes, Lucy has the good life, but so do we. There's nothing like sitting in the sunshine watching a hummingbird feed in the bouganvilla.

Paul and I have been doing a lot of sitting in the sun or in our office lately. It's a happy exile because of all the work that's being done at our house...these are the only places except the bedroom that aren't a mess from work in progress.

The courtyard is proceeding beautifully. The tile is about half done, the seat is gorgeous, and we expect the fountain to be installed tomorrow. The rest of the painting and the landscaping will probably be next week...and then they'll be done! I'll post the final pictures of the project then.

We are in the midst of our interior painting. Up north I did most of the painting in our house - and I really do like to paint - but the 12' ceilings made me reconsider. I'm glad I did, too. The team that is working here is very neat - masking baseboards carefully and cleaning up as they go.

The two front bedrooms are done - yellow in one and blue in the other. The hall and main living spaces of the house are something I'd call a pale salmon color. The accent wall behind the stairs is a lively brick color. The beams are being painted a chocolate brown.



We're going quite dark in the dining room - a real deep brick color called Posole. I think we're most excited to see that color go on, which will be tomorrow I think. The kitchen will be the same yellow as the courtyard and we are going to have some kind of mural at the far end of the sala fresca. We asked the artist for his ideas and are excited to see what he comes up with.

So during the day one of us stays here and manages the dogs and tries to keep them from stepping in paint as we go out for our mid-day walk. It's a good thing we are here, too, since they were given the wrong color for the accent wall behind the stairs - and I neither of us would have been too happy with bright orange instead of our chosen color.

In the evenings we move furniture from place to place to be ready for the painters the next day. Both the courtyard and the painters have said they'll have their work complete by the 20th.

It is good for me to experience this - I have really had to learn to "go with the flow." I trust these competent workers and artists, and are excited to see how it all turns out. The house will seem pretty quiet once everyone is gone - I can't believe I am actually getting used to having 8-9 people here all day long!

Henry was too hot before he got his hair cut

Henry looks snappy and cool in his new "shortie schnauzer" cut (with Lucy and our new office cabinet)

We enjoy a tv show called the "Dog Whisperer." The star, Cesar Millan, says that it is important to mark the migration of the pack. He says to take long walks every day and to let the dogs sniff and smell and mark along the way. That way when they get to their new home everybody is adjusted and together.

Well, we are sniffing and marking all right! The main adjustment for them seems to be that they have never been to a motel before and the sounds from upstairs and around our room make them a little bit anxious.

Our car is WAY overloaded. Last night we decided (similar to the covered wagons coming west more than a century ago) to ditch a couple of boxes this morning and to rearrange things so more of the weight is forward. We'll move Tiko the bird to the back. He gets out tomorrow anyway to stay with my best friend in San Francisco.

So, a little delay this morning in Medford as we repack the car and look for a Goodwill box to dump things in. Then we're off to San Francisco to visit with my best friend and sister until we head out again Tuesday morning.

We've been listening to the new Harry Potter book in the car and have been enjoying the scenery in Central Oregon. This morning: California.