Our Weather Station

For those who use it, our weather station is working fine.  However, there is a software glitch with the folks on the other end.  I've written both Weatherlink who are the gatherers of weather data from individual stations and Wunderground who are the folks that assimilate all that data and make forecasts and keep historical data.  I'm hoping they solve the problem soon.

Bob

Baja Bird Watch

Do you like birds?  Me too!!  In fact I had a delicious chicken salad at the Roadrunner yesterday. However today's post is about birds that haven't been invited to dinner. I'm not actually a bird watcher but I can  identify most of the birds I see around los Barriles and Buena Vista.  When I'm stumped, I call Steve Chism or Robert Emery for help. Steve gave bird watching tours in a past life and Robert is curious about anything he sees and has studied birds a bit also.

Why am I telling you all this?  Hey, this is a small town.  You have to find entertainment where you can!!

My friend Brigitte sent me these photos of a mama Horned Owl and her 2 owlets. She has a nest in a little arroyo and returns every year. Not Brigitte, the owl. Brigitte walks early in the morning and is treated to sights like these frequently.

The next photo was taken just below our house. This is a Harris Hawk. They are particularly interesting because they hunt in packs.  You won't see them as frequently as other large birds in the area such as Ospreys, Cara Cara or Buzzards but they are around.

Click here for a good Baja Bird site.

I finally got the results from the Dorado Shoot Out thanks to bumping into Robin Wade who is the East Cape editor for the Western Outdoor News.  Just click on the link above and you can see who won a brand new 2010 Ford F-150 and about 70,000 bucks worth of other prizes.  

I guess nobody posted photos of the tournament anywhere that I could find them. So instead, here's a picture of my daughter Amy and her friend Josh releasing a small Chinook salmon on the Gulkana River in Alaska in about 1985. Cute kids, no?

Hurricane Dora

In case you haven't been paying attention, hurricane Dora is within striking distance.  The consensus of the prognosticators has her missing Baja Sur to the West.  Let's hope they are right!!  Check the Weather Underground site for updates. Here's a look at a 5 day forecast as of 5 PM EDT JUL 20 2011.

If you are here in Baja Sur and are new to hurricanes, here's the place to read about hurricane preparations. There are a few things to consider when facing a hurricane but at least nowadays we have grocery stores and can buy gas. I'll never forget waiting in a line that must have been a half mile long waiting for my turn to buy gas. You had to assume that the arroyos would be full of water and that the gas trucks wouldn't get here for days or more. Now we have gas stations on every corner and bridges across the arroyos!! Woo Woo!!! Donna and I even broke down and bought a generator a couple of years ago. Of course there weren't any mega grocery stores either. Shelves were almost empty before the storm ever arrived. When I lived in the cold country, I worried about freezing to death in the dark. Not anymore.......

Bored??? How about some Racing, Fishing, Swimming and Books!!

Hi friends. Do me a favor.  If you ever hear me complain about not having enough to do, would you please slap me?  Here it is, almost the dog days of summer.  It should be slow and boring right? NOT SO!

This weekend you could have restocked your book supply at the ALMA book sale.  Or you could have volunteered to help with the Association for the arts 'sports and crafts' fair as did our grand-daughter Melody from Oregon. OR you could have entered the annual 'Dorado Shoot Out' presented by the Van Wormer family. OR you could have watched and/or participated in the 'Los Cabos Dessert Challenge' off road race that was held in the El Tule arroyo. I managed 2 out of the 4.  Whaddya mean, "not bad?"  If you could hit a baseball in the major leagues 2 out of 4 times, you could name your salary!!

I missed the weigh in at the Shoot Out and will attempt to gather the facts for a post later. Of course we're dealing with fishermen so the facts will be scattered amongst rumors and exaggerations...... I did hear that the winning fish was 52 pounds.  I don't think they've ever had a winner under 50 pounds.
Kudos and congratulations Capt. Kit and Co.

The Association for the Arts folks are repeating their classes next Friday. If you're interested, you probably could still get involved. If you click on the link, you can send an email.  I will post photos and details after this Friday's activities.

I did however manage to see some of the 'Dessert Challange." My presence was heavily influenced by my wife. Her son Pat has a class one car and raced in the finale on Sunday. There were only 3 trophy trucks but the start is impressive.

Pictured here are:
Pat behind the wheel,
Wife Mayte giving last minute instructions like "drive careful dear" and
Co-pilot/son-in-law Jorge getting in the car.





An old friend, Jay Manning from San Jose won the class one race. Pat blew a tire and came in 4th I think.
This video is of the class one start:

Fishing Tourneys

I didn't post a fishing tournament schedule this year.  "Skipped a groove man" as my young friend from LA used to say. 

However the best are yet to come.  We still have the Dorado shootout which starts July 16.  I fished it once about  3 years ago and it was a hoot. What impressed me the most was how well organized it was, especially the awards dinner.  Capt. Kit McNear from Western Outdoor News was and still is in charge. From the start, it was a seminar on how to do it right.

It's almost time for the Bisbee East Cape fishing tourney again. Registration is July 26. I spent a lot of time there last year watching the boats come in.  The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat were experienced several times as  bigger fish came to the dock. Click here for the wrap up. I've known the Bisbee's Mexico organizer Clicerio Mercado for quite a while and he knows how to put on a good show. 

The last I'll mention is our own ALMA "For Pet's Sake" tourney.  It is a catch and release billfish contest that is scheduled for Oct. 28, 29, 30. I couldn't find results from 2010 on the internet but as I recall, the ladies team cleaned UP last year. Besides a bunch of good stuff, I think they won this year's entry into the Bisbee offshore.  WOW!

If you don't fish, you might want to get tickets to the award dinners. I haven't been to one yet that wasn't worth going to.

Caduaño Water Park

Donna and I stay pretty busy with the Roadrunner Cafe and other activities. So we went to the water park at Caduaño for the day to relax. It's only about 20 minutes from los Barriles.  It was our 3rd or maybe 4th time. If you haven't been, let me tell you a little about it.  It's not just a bunch of pools and slides; there are hundreds of square meters of beautiful landscaping, a volleyball court and several areas where you can walk or rest quietly that are away from the noise and activity.  They have plenty of parking and snack bars with good prices. There are many employees keeping things orderly, there is a first aid station that I had to use the last time we went (Bloodied my toe on a rock) and nice restrooms. This is as good as it gets folks. Where else can you spend all day in such pleasant surroundings for 150 pesos per adult?

I'm going to let you in on a secret. There is a beautiful pool that is pretty much exclusively used by groan-ups. I mean grown-ups. There are no slides, no spraying water tricks that lure the children. Wonderful place to hang out. And it's quiet!!! It's behind the kiddy pools. Check out the last photo in the slide show.

I always see someone I know there and this time was no different. This is an old friend Kelli Castiñeiras (and her boys), who has the MEX SUN day spa in San Jose del Cabo. I think Mr. Castiñeras was buying a bag of hamburgers at the time of the photo.



Here is a short slideshow to give you an idea of what goes on there. Below the slideshow, there is an individual photo that I had to bring to your attention. You can't come to Mexico without knowing what "baño" means but if you don't, you can surely tell by the graphic painted below the word "baños". If you have an Ipad that doesn't display the slide show, click here:

Enjoy.

Music at the Roadrunner

I haven't mentioned Donna's restaurant for a while. So I thought I would post a slide show of some of our memorable music nights for last season. We had many good musicians come through, some of whom I don't have a single photo. If you were one of the participants or came as a spectator, here's a short retrospective for you. If you click on the photo, it will enlarge and you can scroll manually.