February 16, 2010

Hi everybody! Here we gooooo...... Well - almost! Betsy and I were to have headed out today for San Carlos, Mexico. But Betsy caught a severe cold and laryngitis from her tenants, a young mother and her 2-1/2 year old daughter. Betsy was very sick for four days and today is the first day she has even a hint of a voice. She has only been able to whisper for several days. I helped her make some phone calls today since I DO have a voice.

But last night it was me who was alarmed at how sick Betsy still was - light headed and weak - and I insisted she take another day or two to recover. We are now leaving on Thursday, February 18. Betsy is up and around this morning getting things done. We have confidently booked our hotel rooms for our stops on the drive down. We will stay in Desert Hot Springs on Thursday, and Nogales, Arizona on Friday.

In the mean time, Betsy's tenant took care of another kid - WHO WAS SICK - and now mom and 2 year old have fevers. These are the people I've been staying with!!! So tonight I'm sleeping on Betsy's couch (she's no longer contagious) in her flat above her garage and staying as far away from the sickies as I can. I'm taking lots of vitamins, Emergen"C", and all that. And I'm increasing my new habit of the past few weeks - gargling regularly with hydrogen peroxide. Yes folks you read that right - a tip I got from Chris - it's great for general oral hygiene.

So other than that I'm pretty much ready to go. I just have to pack the car and make another run to my storage shed and I'm ready to go any time. I'm helping Betsy catch up on some errands. I'm going up to Jeannie's house tonight. She's giving me a Temperpedic mattress topper and a flannel lined sleeping bag for what I hope will be some summer travels and camping.

Well, the delay has not been all bad. We will still get a full two months in Mexico. We were going to head back on April 16, but will now stay a week longer. Betsy had a previous commitment that brought her back to California in mid-April but that is being adjusted. And the delay gave me a chance to get Frances an additional Bowen treatment.

Bowen is an energy therapy that I would describe as a cross between Chiropractic and Reiki. Frances became lame about a month ago with a damaged cruciate (knee) ligament, generally considered repairable only with surgery. But after three Bowen sessions she was running around at about 90% of her old capacity. Sunday I took her for a walk with Patty - her first walk in over a month - and a neighborhood female black lab picked a fight with Frances. Even though Frances was now bearing weight and walking much better on her bad leg, she is still - and probably will forever be - weak in that area. The Lab knocked her legs out from under her. Frances fell on her back - vulnerable tummy and neck exposed - but got right up to fight. I and the owner of the lab were able to stop it but Frances reinjured her knee ligament. The lab also bit Frances' front paw and bruised it. So she's been limping around again, but I got her in for a treatment today. She's running around again and once again mostly pain free. Bowen works like magic on Frances. The improvement is almost instantly noticeable.

While I was at it, I had a Bowen treatment for myself. I have to say I feel marvelous! Debbie Criddle - the therapist - treated us at the same time. We're all happy campers now.

Yesterday I went down to the Wells Fargo Bank in Folsom to get some pesos. (Yes, they were open on President's Day, go figure). Last week I happily discovered that the Folsom office carries many foreign currencies in their branch and will do an exchange for NO FEE for Wells Fargo customers. Yeah! As I type, I have 5,910 pesos in my wallet. Tee hee. That is equivalent to $500.00. The dollar to peso ratio was $11.82 per US Dollar. Like many foreign currencies the money is multi-colored, unlike our monotonous greenbacks. It will be fun to see how this actually translates once in Mexico. I'm told that the price of goods in Mexico is pretty close to what is is here. A few items are cheaper, a few a more expensive, but mostly it's a wash, or so I'm told.

Heading down to the gym now for a swim and some weight training.

FYI - While in Mexico I will be able to check my email and Facebook any time on my iphone. To do blogging, googlng and surfing I will visit the coffee shop down the street several times a week. I hope to blog 3-5 times per week. My iphone can also accept calls but they are 59 cents per minute so please only call if absolutely necessary. There is also a house phone. I'll get that number once I get there.