happy solstice!

We had a very uneventful trip up to Mexicali but unlike our previous border crossing, this one was just a bit more involved. At one point the customs person asked me why I was looking at her weird through her questions and I said we’d never been questioned like this before; that the last time through we were basically waved through. She was very unhappy with that information and told me we should be getting thorough examinations. Oh well. We had the most thorough revision at the military checkpoint where MX5 and MX3 meet, so I should have been expecting it. I don’t think we’ll go through Mexicali again; the traffic is quite bad and again, it took us about an hour to cross. We spent the night across the street from our usual spot at Lowe’s because I thought the kids would enjoy playing on the grass; we spent the evening at Target, however. I got all the kids nighttime clothes as a Solstice present; they all could use some (I just hope I got the right size) badly, except for Ellen, who is drowning in hand-me-downs. They all have blown knees as the kids frequently use the nighttime clothes as daytime clothes. Anyway, Target had a pretty good deal; 2 pairs of all cotton clothes for $12.50. I’ve never had good luck with thriftstore nighttime clothes so I hope they fit. I’ve decided not to wrap stuff and make Solstice low-key this year; they just don’t seem to get into it like I would. I’m greeting the sun this morning; not with 108 sun salutations, but by updating the blog. So, welcome sun, it seems like it has been a long time of darkness leading to the solstice; so much more than past years. I’m looking forward to longer days of light.

We thought we got up early yesterday morning but we didn’t leave the parking lot until 10am. It was to be a day of many delays. Ellen had an especially hard morning and between the many stops to either get her stuff or get out of the car to avoid her kicking feet, we were making 30 miles/hour. We had surprised the kids with a trip to “Golden Corral” (a buffet style restaurant) the night before, and between the variety and quantity of food, I think everyone was suffering from a food hangover. My metabolism being much slower, I started getting hit yesterday afternoon. We got really used to the simple food we ate in Baja and I think we blew our collective digestive system’s minds. So it was a long trip yesterday, even though we only did 150 miles.

At one point we saw some gigantic (but accurate) dinosaurs from the freeway and to the kids amazement, I pulled off and we stopped for quite a while for the kids to play, Jamie to rest and me to figure out where we’d head. I’ve found that it is not working well to simply drive until the adults want to stop. We need to have a place that the kids will enjoy playing in and have room to roam. We were really low on water, so I picked a county park and when the kids were ready, we headed out. This county park is 4.5 miles north of I10 before the first turn so I thought it would be nice and quiet. On the way to finding the park we passed a long series of playing fields topped by a playground. I remarked to Jamie that it looked like a good place to boondock; the kids would have ample play area, there were restrooms (and water) and being this far from the freeway it would probably be quiet. As smoke and steam errupted from his ears (he really is against boondocking) I dropped the subject.

We got lost, of course, with no signs to guide us, we should have realized that was an omen. I drove down a street and found a vacant lot to turn around in and remarked that the vacant lot looked like a good place to boondock (I really should keep such thoughts to myself) and with the directions of “well, the road dead-ends, but if you just drive around, you should be able to find it” we found the park. It is closed Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. BUT, two streets before the park we did find a sign.

The sun is rising under a cloud cover. Grey and blue and purple are the clouds overhead; as the reach towards the horizon they turn maroon then red-orange and then orange.


So, I backed up the street, found a place to make a three-point backwards turn and headed to the aforementioned sports field. Jamie gave his ok to stop there and contemplate boondocking. The kids LOVED the green grass, though, Ellen, waking, cried and moaned until her tummy was full of good chicken soup. Now the purple clouds are getting maroon highlights. I drove off to the fire station (as it turned out) to find water and someone has a wireless router allowing us Internet access without setting up the tripod. The morning joggers and walkers started Very Early This Morning and traffic is now dying DOWN at 6:38am. This must be an LA bedroom community. We’re just north of Beaumont. The road we’re camped beside is a State Route (I’m thinking a “country road” in Texas) and while we found those to be very quiet and (orange is turning to yellow and the deep colors of the sunrise are mellowing), this road has been full of traffic since before the sun even thought of rising. It looks like it should be such a quiet and peaceful area…

Today we head for Boron and once the family wakes, I’ll get the camera and post the dinosaur pictures from yesterday.

leaving Las Vegas

It has really been an awful week. Jamie and I got a weird back thing (I think mine was started by badly done yoga) that put both of us prone on the bed for a couple days. Luckily, we were able to stagger the days we were down. I have stopped doing Yoga to let my body recover and am really missing the daily practice. It was so weird for both of us to have done nothing in common and right after I started recovering, he was affected. Too weird.

We are completely and utterly hooked on “Six Feet Under”. Unfortunately, we have to wait til all the kids are asleep to watch it and this means that we are regularly up until 2am. We’ve got to find another solution. I’m pretty sure, from doctor visits and Internet research, that Jamie has Prostatitis. I found a really good support website and have a plan. The antibiotics don’t seem to have helped him with the majority of his symptoms but that seems typical for this condition. He’s going to have a urine culture and a DRE (just can’t get enough of those) for a second opinion on enlargment (thus far, he has been found to be inflamed but not enlarged, which is an important distinction). We’re hoping that bioflavanoids ((Prosta-Q) will be the “magic” cure it has been for many other men, but have a laundry list of many other treatments. For many men, this is a chronic condition that they simply “deal with” until they find a treatment (some pharmacutical, others dietic) that works. I am hopeful

one foot under

Jamie and I have started watching a new (to us) show called “Six Feet Under”. Jamie has watched it the last few nights; my Dad gave him DVD’s of the first season and he got hooked. Last night he talked me into watching it and we watched the pilot and the first three shows. We’ve been referring to it this morning; we really like the show (and the cop/boyfriend is SUCH eye-candy!) and Sissy now calls it “one foot under”. I realize that we’re woefully behind the rest of society but we haven’t seen TV for years. Give us a bit to catch up.

I added yet something else to my sidebar in support of my Dad’s fight against prostate (I keep wanting to type prostRate) cancer.

fruit bats

I can’t believe how much fruit these kids go through. I could swear I bought $20 of fruit yesterday but today I made a note. I bought bananas, guayabas, mandarinas, avocado and tomates; 7 kilos worth. We’ll see what is left by tomorrow afternoon. I know Deb will not be the least bit amazed after she saw them power through nectarines, peaches and plums at her house. The kids are dying to see Deb’s kids again.

We made tamales today and while I thought I had a steamer insert for a pan, apparently I do not. We made do with sardine cans (for support) and a pie plate but will definitely HAVE to get an insert. Everyone LOVED the tamales and for Jesse, who exists solely on salad, PB&J and bananas, it was quite a coup. Ellen and I did the shopping today; panaderia for bread, downtown for Ellen to buy Becky and Catie a Christmas present, abarrote for corn husks and fruit, another abarrote for fruit and other groceries, carniceria for meat, another abarrote for yogurt, novedades to look for a steamer insert and by the 2nd abarrote she was DONE. I brought her back to camp after refusing to buy her yet another treat and she collapsed in anger and headed back out again. I really miss the municipal markets of mainland Mexico where you can hit a panaderia, carniceria, cremeria, fruiteria, etc. all in the same building, and get lunch while you’re at it. She and Pike were great helpers making the tamales though, and while they are somewhat labor-intensive, they will be a staple from here out.

Virgin of Guadalupe

Yesterday was the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Each and every Baja town has a shrine to the Virgin. Along the highways in Baja and mainland Mexico you will see very many shrines. Yesterday was her feast day and it was celebrated well here in San Felipe. The wind has been absolutely still for the past few days and the kids love the still water on the beach. The day after they spent the entire day inside, they spent the entire day outside. Seems to even out.

A contingent of pangas left the marina and headed right to our camp beach for one of the many stops to celebrate the virgin’s day. A priest was in the decorated boat and you could hear the boats coming closer and closer by the loudness of his prayer. After visiting the small shrine erected on the beach, the boats left and headed out to the middle of the cove and then back to the marina. Of course, it could not have been a fiesta without constant firecrackers and the dogs barked and howled for hours.
It has been gloomy and overcast for what seems like days; when will the sun return? I can’t imagine living in snow…

Illiterate children

The past couple days, well, it FEELS like a week, but has only been a few days, I’m sure, the kids have been positively trailer-bound. The skies are grey and cloudy, the air is cool and they might be hibernating. For a couple days, I dragged them out to the dunes to the south of town and we spent many many hours playing in the dunes and the beach, watching the sunset and drawing in the sand temporarily vacated by tide. Yesterday the boys played a game of Monopoly that lasted until bedtime. I was going a bit stir-crazy after doing Yoga inside as it was too cold outside and by late afternoon was itching for some time OUT. I spent some time sitting on the beach, talking with others here in the camp getting progressively more drunk. It was quite enjoyable, watching the moon peek through high clouds, pangas come in from shrimp boats and the long horizon changing from blue to pink to black as the sun continued it’s journey to the other side of the world.

The other campers were certain that we’ve been keeping the kids inside, “schooling them”. When I explained that we do no formal schooling, George immediately responded, “so you’re just going to let them grow up illiterate????” at which someone else said, “Hell, they can all read; all except the 3 year old.” George thought for a nanosecond and said, “yeah, those kids have a better vocabulary than I do!” “How do they get their history and social studies?” Personally, I think the kids have a better understanding of Mayan history than many US kids and they have learned a LOT about Mexican history just from being on the road. We had started to dabble in First Nations history while in New Mexico and Colorado and Utah but too soon we left for Mexico once again. Everyone was astounded that the kids learned to read On Their Own, without anyone making them do it. If I were able to pursue the conversation, they would probably be flabbergasted that they LIKE to do fractional math, they frequently figure out different ways to convert dollars to pesos, beg me to give them math worksheets and spelling tests and read books on electricity just for the fun of it. I really worry that we don’t do enough but after typing this out, I feel marginally better.

Maus has been released and the kids were so happy to see him zipping here and there in newfound freedom. I just hope he is a Mexican maus and not a Yuma maus and we haven’t single-handedly introduced a blight on the Baja desert. Jamie is feeling better “down there” and we are hopeful that this is simply an infection. I’m going to have another PSA done before we leave here, but I need to do some research to see if taking abx while the PSA is being done would affect the results. We’ve decided to stay at Kiki’s to take advantage of Jesse’s wonderful electrical knowledge while we try to figure out why the van is not charging the trailer batteries (no current on pin 9). We’ll probably leave here Dec 19th and head for the Bay Area.

SHHHHH! Mousy's asleep!

Jesse just admonished everyone for talking so loudy; little mousy is sleeping. The kids are all whispering. I don’t suppose it would be possible to show humans the same respect?
These kids, as I suspected, have fallen in love with mousy. They were squealing with delight, just like Christmas morning, upon discovering the creature this morning. “He’s so cuuuuute!” “He’s so tiiiiiiiny!” “Look! He’s doing tricks for us!”

After all the children were asleep and I had placed the (if I do say so myself, ingenious) humane mouse trap in place, properly balanced (as that is the hardest part; balancing the top pan on the bent bamboo skewer), Jamie and I observed a moment of silence. Perfect silence. Within moments we both tuned into the noise of a scurrying animal ON THE ROOF. Jesse woke and came out; he was either too hepped up in the anticipation of a Maus Hunt to sleep or the mousy woke him with his roof antics. I was certain it was a cat on the roof - how could the maus get UP there? Jamie headed outside to watch the roof while Jesse and I listened. Sure enough, there was something up there. Eventually we heard him head to the wall with many electrical wires, the fuse box, the TV; all the wire stuff. I was SURE our electrical systems were toast, but apparently he found a way down and appeared soon after in the bathroom. Jamie surprised him and he bolted to the bunkbed room. In a stroke of incredible luck, he popped down into the heating vents. Jamie immediately covered the one in the bunk room, ran to the middle of the trailer and covered those, watching mousy scampering along the duct and yelled at me to cover the one in my room WITH MY FOOT! Um, what? I yelled back that I would NOT be covering the vent with MY FOOT and kept an eagle eye on the vent while I dragged the shoe box over it.

I was sure he had escaped somewhere, but Jamie was sure he was in the duct. We taped up 3 of the 4 vents with clear tape, covered the 4th with a clear plastic box, put a wedge of cheese outside the vent and waited. I was amazed to see him pop up and we quickly moved the box away from the vent and crowned it with a pan. He tried really hard to get out, but it wasn’t happening.

Today we get to figure out how to get something under the box so we can put a lid on it and transport him to the wonderful Baja desert. The kids think they have a pet. We’re now talking about The Plague. I SO hope I don’t need to create a “Maus” category for my posts…