Great find!!!

Hello fellow parrotheads. (That is a Jimmy Buffet fan for those of you not familiar with that word) I found the coolest radio program that ANYONE with a computer can listen to, even if connected to the internet via dial up. (And it doesn't buffer every 10 seconds either-in fact hardly ever) If you like Jimmy Buffet and music like his go to www.margatitaville.com and click on the link that says "Click to tune in to Radio Margaritaville" and it will take you to a link that asks you what type of internet connection you have. Click the one that applies with the type of media player you have and Vuala you can listen to Radio Margaritaville live. It is great, especially if you love Jimmy Buffet music like I do.
OK words of wisdom for today;
Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes?
Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?
Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?

SICK DAY!!

Today Oscar and I are staying home. I am sick. I don't feel especially bad, but I have a cough and my head is filled with mucus. YUCK! So today's blog will be short. I appologize. I plan on staying in bed all day and throwing in my Northern Exposure DVD's while Oscar watches Spider-man or whatever cartoon tickles his fancy today.
Today's words of wisdom;
It is well documented that for every mile that you jog, you add one minute to your life. This enables you at 85 years old to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $5000 per month.
No jogging for me. . . .

No Rhyme or reason.

Today I saw something that flies in the face of all reason. I saw professional(well professional in Mexico anyway) electrical workers working on a live overhead line with the ladder leaned right on the line they were working on. Now I am no genius or electrical guru, but this has Darwin award winner written all over it. I looked up a ladder site on the internet and copied this directly; "Be extremely cautious when working around overhead energized electrical lines. A minimum safe distance is no less than 10 feet or 3 meters." I have known many electricians and I know a lot of them work with live wires and current, but that in my opinion is just stupid. That ladder(which was a metal ladder) if it finds a spot where the wire is stripped. . . ZZZZAAAAPPPPPP!!! But if some of you saw how they hook up the electricity here(I'll have to take a photo of a typical electrical pole and its many twist tie connections covered in electrical tape. Yup I said covered in electrical tape, NOT nice plastic couplers.) Oh well that is the charm of Mexico. (Just don't get too close)
On a lighter note, Leti and I enjoyed a nice lunch in Sayulita today, just the two of us. It was nice. We took about 3 hours and just enjoyed the time together with out the constant "Mom I want. . ." or "Daddy can I. . .?" We ate shrimp tacos and shrimp burritos and I had a beer. Then we took off our shoes and walked she beach shoreline. NICE!!!!!

More hidden treasures!!

In doing my shopping and driving around this week I have found a few more hidden treasures here. Things I have started to think I would never find here have a way of popping up in the strangest places.
Root Beer- I don't drink this very often but I have a hankerin' for it every so often. I found it in a little shop in Bucerias about 5 minutes from the house. (Now if I could only find cream soda!)
Italian sausage - We found this quite by accident. We were driving out of town(Bucerias) and I noticed a sign that said "We are Sausage" I turned to Leti and said, "You don't think they would have Italian sausage do you?" We promptly turned around and went in. THEY DID!!! Needless to say a lasagne dinner is coming soon. Woo-Hoo!!! I thought the only lasagne I would be eating here would be the $15 per plate lasagne of the pricey restaurants or one with chorizo in it. Thank the good Lord THAT is not the case.
OK for all of you who like my photos for eye candy here is a gorgeous sunset I viewed while sitting at R&L's house.

Father and Son day at the beach!!

Yes that is the official day for it. Well in our little corner of the world it was anyway. I decided to take Oscar out for some fun and sun. So we loaded up Oscars back back full of his favorite toys, put on the sun block and took the 5 minute drive to the beach. First we played in the tide coming in. (Oscar is scared to go in much further than his waist yet.) Then we watched about 200 pelicans diving for fish.(I got a shot of them but this is a small portion of what was out there.)Then we hunted for sea shells and shucked oyster shells. Then we met up with a nice older lady who we helped look for Beach Glass as she called it. Basically broken beer bottles that the tide has taken down all the rough edges off. She said she uses it to make mosaics with. She reminded me of my mother a little. (Mom, you need to take more time out for yourself and do things like this!!) Anyway, after both Dad and son were worn out we walked back to the truck and went home to take our naps. Enjoy the photos!

Star gazing and other odds and ends

With the purchase of our new hammock I have been lying in it and looking at the stars at night. This has prompted my interest in astronomy again. I used to like it and had a telescope(still have the same one) for viewing the stars and moon. Lately my passion seems to be for finding satellites in the night sky.(A little game Richard and Lindsay taught me.) Last night I located 3. If you have never seen a satellite in the night sky, they look exactly like a star only they move. Some move very slow and some move rapidly. They do not blink or pulsate. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes to locate one and sometimes an hour. It is fun. Try it if you never have. It is relaxing too.
I have also discovered a new store here. It is run by a woman from the U.S. (originally) and called the "Gringo book store". All of the books there are in English and it is a Godsend. As anyone knows who lives in Vallarta there is NO easy way to obtain books in english. Even Walmart does not carry them. This bookstore has it all though. From fiction to biographies to childrens books. Also she sells coffee's and cinnamon rolls if you just want to brouse. She has a reading area that she calls "Casa Tranquila", which means calm/quiet house. Nice huh? Oh and this bookstore is in Bucerias, about 6-7 minutes from Casa de Goll. LOL!!!

Afternoon beach run!!

Today after work we decided to go to the beach for a little fun, sun and relaxation. Here are some photos.They should go from bottom to top to be in chronological order. Yes we stayed until sunset.

Family dinner. . . .

Yesterday(Sunday) I made a nice big bowl of spaghetti and garlic bread for everyone to enjoy. My friend Lindsay gave me a huge bunch of fresh Basil so I used a LOT of it in that and whipped up a red sauce for it. It was great we all sat down together and enjoyed the moment. It is not plentiful anymore the times where families do this. With today's rushed world it seems like we have less and less time to enjoy each other as we have our own goings on to attend to. Do something nice for your loved one's and enjoy a nice slow meal together talking.
Oh and speaking of slow. We bought a hammock for the yard and last night after dinner I layed in it rocking back and forth(slowly) looking at the stars and contemplating life and downing what was left of the wine from dinner. Love those Mexican nights. . . .

Slow day, more photos

Well not much going on today. Here are a few more photos of Platinitos. Enjoy!!

Platinitos again!!!

Went up and saw Richard and Lindsay last night. What a great time. I went alone this time as Leti had to stay and tend the store. :) I had THE BEST tequilla bar none of my life, last night. If anyone can find it in the states(and they do export) it is called El Fogenero. Try it, it goes down like apple juice!! Not the ordinary firewater that you get here. It is about $20-30 a bottle here which is pricey here, in the states it would probably be about $65 I'm guessing. Anyway, lovely day. On the way back I stopped in Playa de los tortugas, Zalcuapan and went to a local market(bought Oscar a DVD) and ate some shrimp tacos and beers in Sayulita. Enjoy the photos.

New Bouganvellia

Yesterday we got a new bougainvillea for the yard as well as a couple of rose plants. The bougainvillea is one that is called "surprise" because it has 2 colors of flowers on the shrub. It is just a small plant and came in a one gallon pot but it is gorgeous!! Full of flowers.(As are all of the bougainvilleas here. I have attached a photo of what the branches look like in full bloom) With the rainy season coming in late June this is a perfect time to get it in. Keep those hands dirty my friends. Get out there and garden!!

Internet. Isn't it amazing?!?

I was just written a letter from one of my best friends in high school who found me through classmates.com. I have not talked to him since I was 18 years old. He now has a boy in college(I AM old!!!) and a girl in the 7th grade. He still lives in Denver. I just wrote him back before I started this entry. Amazing to think that just 10-20 years ago this technology did not exist and we probably would not have talked or even seen each other our entire lives. What a great tool!!! Hopefully the government will keep their grubby hands out of it and not start charging us to use it!!!

We just got a video store!!!

The little town on the beach where I live just got a new video store. It is definetely NO Blockbuster but they have most of the same new releases as Blockbuster does.(There is a Blockbuster in Puerto Vallarta-15 minutes from here) Last night we rented 3 movies from there. It is cool. They are DVD´s so I can watch them in English while the Spanish subtitles are going for everyone else or vice versa. We rented Cars(the Pixar animated film) which was GREAT and Pretiendo(Spanish and not so good) and Grilled(With Ray Romano and Kevin James) it really stunk. It is good to have access to Hollywood entertainment and yet be so far from it. Today we plan to go to the beach and maybe picnic and honor the Lord on his day by not doing ANY work!!! Talk to you all soon!!!