Our plumbing problems are not totally resolved, but are ok. It is still a drag to have to run downstairs to do anything besides pee, but not unmanageable. The toilet in the downstairs bedroom is very slow, and Mike says he's gonna replace it tomorrow. He still is not sure about the septic tank/tanks but he'll get to the bottom of it. So I'm not sure if I already described this, but our water comes from a well, is pumped up to a tank and then into the house. Sounds simple right? Oh I left out a little bit. The well is actually a hot spring, and the hot water is pumped up to a tank where it cools off before it transfers to another tank and is pumped into the house. Then to get hot water you need the hot water heater (ha ha crazy right?). But there's more. As it turns out, the water is salty. At first I didn't really notice, but then started to when it tasted salty in the shower. That a plastic glass I just washed, then filled up with water, tasted salty (the rim of the cup not the water). Our drinking water is in the big garafones that we get refilled every few days. I really started to notice in hte shower that the water felt, well rough I guess is the word. The soap didn't slide over me, and forget trying to shave arm pits much less legs. It's also starting to dry out my skin, Everardo's too.
So new decision. Everardo stopped the hot salt water from transferring to the other tank (cistern), and once it empties we're gonna have the water truck fill it up. I'm looking forward to it. When we were down by Acapulco in Playa Ventura, people had the water truck fill up their cisterns, but our was filled by rainfall that was captured on the roof during the rainy season. We had on cistern on the roof and 2 underground. There had been a couple of rainy years so we were full to the brim. So we only needed the other kind of water truck- the one that brought the drinking water in the garafones (the big plastic jugs like you see in an office with a "water cooler"). We usually went thru about 4 a week; it was nice, they knew us and just brought them down. I think it was 23 or 25 pesos a jug, and the Pepsi truck brought them. In Penasco you could buy them from this truck that drove thru the neighborhood at 8:30 in the morning with the horn honking, and I think it was about 16 pesos per, but we took them right down the street and paid between 8 and 11 pesos. If we went down by the malecon, at the docks where the fishing boats came in it was only 5 pesos, but pretty inconvenient to save a couple of pesos....
This house has a dryer, but not a washer...until yesterday. We bought a used washing machine, brought it home, hooked it up and threw in a load. Ooops no spin. Loaded it back on the truck and went back to Ensenada this morning and the kid was really nice and we switched it for one I like better. He tested it to be sure, and now I'm doing laundry...in the house. Yipee. In Playa Ventura I never washed clothes in the arroyo (stream) next to our house like some of the neighbors, but I was pretty primitive there for a while ha ha. WE had an outside sink that actually had a small counter next to it with ridges in it, so I scrubbed the clothes there, and then took them into the shower with me to rinse them. This was the shower where you stepped on a piece of wood at the end of a rope to make the water come down. And of course, hung it on a line to dry...and it rained all the time down there...so sometimes I had to run outside to grab it. It was so hot there that it always dried in an hour or two, but I didn't always go get it that quickly...The truth is, it was a drag!! I hated doing the laundry like that. The last couple of months we were there, we took the laundry to the nearby town, Copala, and we would pick it up the next day, for about 90 pesos a week, about $7-8 USD. I was at a point I would have happily paid twice as much. In Penasco we had a washing machine, outside behind the bungalow next door. That damn thing beat the shit out of our clothes! It turned stuff inside out and I have tiny holes in lots of my tops now. And we used the clothesline. So- here we have a washer & a dryer. I actually bought clothesline and clothes pins in Ensenada yesterday- and later Everardo said wth? Why don't you use the dryer. So last nite with the load that never had the spin cycle, after I wringed (?) wrung(?) them out and remembered how much my wrists hated that, I used the dryer. Yipee....soft clothes. After we got home today with the replacement washer, I did all the laundry. So nice when it's in the house, in the "laundry room"...off the kitchen, so easy. As Everardo said, this place is the closest to Petaluma, the weather, the house, and the laundry. Yep- I'm likin' it. Like being home but not as expensive!
On the way home we decided to stop at St Paco's dog rescue. These 2 gray haired old ladies in this ramshackle house, filled with dogs! I think the house was just for the dogs, not quite sure, but it was a house full of love. All the dogs were lovely, loving, sweet. Different sizes, colors; they all had names... and I guess next door were all big dogs who were (I think) 2 years and older. They told us though, that most of those dogs needed to be socialized and probably not a good idea to put with another dog. They were working on them, one dog at a time they said. We were only there to look, but later Poppi said, all those dogs, and those women were so caring, and he thought maybe they lived there, and he said he thought- let's just pick one right now. Cause I was surprised when he said, yeah let's take this one. But this dog, super sweet but they said very protective, was getting over something and we didn't want Sam exposed to anything. I asked if they had puppies, and they said yes of course...over there. So we saw a liter of puppies; they said the mom was white lab and not sure about dad, and we met Hazel. She was the runt, the only one with no white on her, and smaller than the others. But she was very lively and the women said she was very aggressive and took on everybody else. There was a brown & white one who outweighed Hazel by 3 pounds and Poppi like her, but in the end Hazel came home with us. Sam was ok with her right off. She ran circles around the yard and climbed all over Sam. She actually has the same coloring as Lucky, maybe that's why I chose her, but more likely that coloring is why I chose Lucky...it's black with brown, kinda like a rottweiler (altho I don't think she has any rottweiler in her). We walked late this afternoon down the road towards the estuary and of course Sam went swimming. Everardo tossed Hazel in and she swam right out, then got a chill so I wrapped her in the long sleeved woodchopper shirt (you know- cotton long sleeves, plaid, usually red). and rubbed her dry. Then when we were walking back this other big dog that has met us out there before showed up. He and Sam are friendly, but the dog, after sniffing Hazel, want to play with her, but too rough. Sam jumped in and bashed into the dog! He's protecting his sister already! So he and the dog rough housed pretty strongly for a few minutes, and then every body calmed down, but he gave Hazel her space. We're making them both sleep outside tonite, Sam has a big bed and we gave them a warm blanket. But this is a nice house, and not ours, so we gotta get Hazel housebroken quick, and get her a bunch of chew toys so she doesn't attack any furniture in here. One positive thing was she went over & sniffed Sam's poop and then did one herself right next to it. They learn pretty quick when they have someone to follow. Lucky learned really fast, but being so young they have to go out during the nite, so hopefully we can make then a nice warm house until Hazel gets bigger.
So it's all good.
So new decision. Everardo stopped the hot salt water from transferring to the other tank (cistern), and once it empties we're gonna have the water truck fill it up. I'm looking forward to it. When we were down by Acapulco in Playa Ventura, people had the water truck fill up their cisterns, but our was filled by rainfall that was captured on the roof during the rainy season. We had on cistern on the roof and 2 underground. There had been a couple of rainy years so we were full to the brim. So we only needed the other kind of water truck- the one that brought the drinking water in the garafones (the big plastic jugs like you see in an office with a "water cooler"). We usually went thru about 4 a week; it was nice, they knew us and just brought them down. I think it was 23 or 25 pesos a jug, and the Pepsi truck brought them. In Penasco you could buy them from this truck that drove thru the neighborhood at 8:30 in the morning with the horn honking, and I think it was about 16 pesos per, but we took them right down the street and paid between 8 and 11 pesos. If we went down by the malecon, at the docks where the fishing boats came in it was only 5 pesos, but pretty inconvenient to save a couple of pesos....
This house has a dryer, but not a washer...until yesterday. We bought a used washing machine, brought it home, hooked it up and threw in a load. Ooops no spin. Loaded it back on the truck and went back to Ensenada this morning and the kid was really nice and we switched it for one I like better. He tested it to be sure, and now I'm doing laundry...in the house. Yipee. In Playa Ventura I never washed clothes in the arroyo (stream) next to our house like some of the neighbors, but I was pretty primitive there for a while ha ha. WE had an outside sink that actually had a small counter next to it with ridges in it, so I scrubbed the clothes there, and then took them into the shower with me to rinse them. This was the shower where you stepped on a piece of wood at the end of a rope to make the water come down. And of course, hung it on a line to dry...and it rained all the time down there...so sometimes I had to run outside to grab it. It was so hot there that it always dried in an hour or two, but I didn't always go get it that quickly...The truth is, it was a drag!! I hated doing the laundry like that. The last couple of months we were there, we took the laundry to the nearby town, Copala, and we would pick it up the next day, for about 90 pesos a week, about $7-8 USD. I was at a point I would have happily paid twice as much. In Penasco we had a washing machine, outside behind the bungalow next door. That damn thing beat the shit out of our clothes! It turned stuff inside out and I have tiny holes in lots of my tops now. And we used the clothesline. So- here we have a washer & a dryer. I actually bought clothesline and clothes pins in Ensenada yesterday- and later Everardo said wth? Why don't you use the dryer. So last nite with the load that never had the spin cycle, after I wringed (?) wrung(?) them out and remembered how much my wrists hated that, I used the dryer. Yipee....soft clothes. After we got home today with the replacement washer, I did all the laundry. So nice when it's in the house, in the "laundry room"...off the kitchen, so easy. As Everardo said, this place is the closest to Petaluma, the weather, the house, and the laundry. Yep- I'm likin' it. Like being home but not as expensive!
On the way home we decided to stop at St Paco's dog rescue. These 2 gray haired old ladies in this ramshackle house, filled with dogs! I think the house was just for the dogs, not quite sure, but it was a house full of love. All the dogs were lovely, loving, sweet. Different sizes, colors; they all had names... and I guess next door were all big dogs who were (I think) 2 years and older. They told us though, that most of those dogs needed to be socialized and probably not a good idea to put with another dog. They were working on them, one dog at a time they said. We were only there to look, but later Poppi said, all those dogs, and those women were so caring, and he thought maybe they lived there, and he said he thought- let's just pick one right now. Cause I was surprised when he said, yeah let's take this one. But this dog, super sweet but they said very protective, was getting over something and we didn't want Sam exposed to anything. I asked if they had puppies, and they said yes of course...over there. So we saw a liter of puppies; they said the mom was white lab and not sure about dad, and we met Hazel. She was the runt, the only one with no white on her, and smaller than the others. But she was very lively and the women said she was very aggressive and took on everybody else. There was a brown & white one who outweighed Hazel by 3 pounds and Poppi like her, but in the end Hazel came home with us. Sam was ok with her right off. She ran circles around the yard and climbed all over Sam. She actually has the same coloring as Lucky, maybe that's why I chose her, but more likely that coloring is why I chose Lucky...it's black with brown, kinda like a rottweiler (altho I don't think she has any rottweiler in her). We walked late this afternoon down the road towards the estuary and of course Sam went swimming. Everardo tossed Hazel in and she swam right out, then got a chill so I wrapped her in the long sleeved woodchopper shirt (you know- cotton long sleeves, plaid, usually red). and rubbed her dry. Then when we were walking back this other big dog that has met us out there before showed up. He and Sam are friendly, but the dog, after sniffing Hazel, want to play with her, but too rough. Sam jumped in and bashed into the dog! He's protecting his sister already! So he and the dog rough housed pretty strongly for a few minutes, and then every body calmed down, but he gave Hazel her space. We're making them both sleep outside tonite, Sam has a big bed and we gave them a warm blanket. But this is a nice house, and not ours, so we gotta get Hazel housebroken quick, and get her a bunch of chew toys so she doesn't attack any furniture in here. One positive thing was she went over & sniffed Sam's poop and then did one herself right next to it. They learn pretty quick when they have someone to follow. Lucky learned really fast, but being so young they have to go out during the nite, so hopefully we can make then a nice warm house until Hazel gets bigger.
So it's all good.
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