Our Dutch Friends

Long time readers will remember PJ and Claudia, the Dutch couple we met in Mexico. Some of you even know them. They retired very young and are world travelers, touring in a truck and camper. They have spent extended periods in Africa, South America, Alaska, the USA and Mexico. They have just left Alaska and are back in Holland for a visit.

They have a professional wildlife photography business that helps supplement their income and have just posted some fantastic photos of the northern lights along with a story of their adventures (and vehicle problems) driving from Fairbanks to Calgary. I am sure you will find their story as fascinating as I have. Here is their website that is written like a Blog.

http://www.dutchduowildlife.nl/where%20are%20we%206%20English.htm

Here is a sample from their site:

Golden Redemption

A week ago I was whining about losing $5,000 on my gold shares. Well, that water passed under the bridge and today I am up $6,500 on the same shares. I made my money back and then some, just the way it should work.

I really hate these roller-coaster gyrations the market is going through lately. I would be so happy if it would just settle down into a slow and gentle upward movement. I am not greedy, just give me a good return on my investment. It is money I worked for and saved, multiplied by a few good investments over the years.

Like I have said before, we do not need this money for day to day living. Our various pensions take care of that. This nest egg is for extraordinary expenses, one of which will take place next summer when I will finally have to replace my 24 year old Honda Accord. I have not bought a new vehicle in years and will not this time either. We have friends whose son is the manager of the local Honda dealer. Two years ago he called to tell me he had a used car in perfect condition that was just too old for them to sell on the lot. It was going out to auction and he was giving me a chance to buy it cheap. He said it was a car he would sell to his mother (and I know he loves his mom). I will call him and tell him to watch out for another for me.

The Honda has been giving us problems starting the odd time. It would be repairable but I just don't want to spend money on it. 24 years is long enough for a Honda. We will leave it home this year and tow Norma's Mazda 626 down to Mexico. It is slightly heavier and slightly wider so it will not be quite as easy to load and tow. The A/C does not work either but we will be in the USA where we can get it repaired much easier than in Canada. Canada has tons of rules when dealing with A/C chemicals that the USA does not have. It will be a much cheaper fix in the States.

Game Seven!

I am not a huge baseball fan. I like the Seattle Mariners and follow them as far as they go but then my interest tapers off. I usually watch at least part of the final World Series games just to say I did. This year I watched a couple of games but missed last night's when St. Louis had their great comeback game to tie the series. It was a bad game to miss! Tonight is Game Seven and I am watching!

I am cheering for St. Louis. No special reason. I grew to like Texans last winter. All but two - George Bush and Rick Perry. So I am cheering for St. Louis. Yes, I guess everything DOES have to be political!

EDIT: Well, how about that! They won! This is one of the very few times any team I have cheered for has made it all the way. I usually pick the underdog and usually take my licks. It is nice being here in the winners circle this time!

Packing The Motorhome

Well, that was Norma's last dental appointment. Seven hours driving and five minutes in the chair. He did not replace the post that broke and caused the infection. He wants to give it a couple of months for the bone to heal so she will have to live with what she has over the winter. They fit and work fine without it. There was no charge for the repairs.

Linda asked Norma how long it will take her to load the motorhome and get ready to leave and she said "two weeks". We started today and hopefully it will only take one week. Our housesitter moves in today. Poor guy. Rae remembers what that was like. He will be recruited to help.

Norma: "Croft, can you bring in all the silverware, plates, pots and pans and wash them all?". It was posed as a question but was really a command. I know my place.

Croft: "Yes dear".

Croft: "Do we really need place settings for 12? There are only two of us and the extras weigh a ton".

Norma: "We might have company".

Croft: "We have never had 12 for dinner and can only seat 4 anyway. If we have more than two guests we can ask them to bring their own plates and cutlery".

Norma: "That would be rude".

Croft: "Do we need four frying pans plus the electric one?  We only have three burners and we only used the medium one all last year".

Norma: "Yes, I need them all".

Croft: "Do we need eight pots? We only have three burners."

Norma: "OK, two of them are the same size so leave one at home."

YAHOO!! SUCCESS!!!! I downsized by one pound!!!!!! Pour me a scotch!!!

One day down and six (or thirteen) to go!

I can't wait to question her about the four sets of bedding and twelve pillow cases. And the three can openers, four wooden spoons, three garlic presses, five wine openers.........

Quick Note To Kay

from the guestbook. You will be able to get your heart medication in Mexico and you will find it a lot cheaper as well. All cities and grocery stores have pharmacias. You will have no problem with your 28' Allegro and there are lots of RV parks or trailer parks as they usually call them. Just buy a copy of the Church's book before you leave. It has descriptions of and directions to every RV park in Mexico. Get the book before you leave. It is not available in Mexico.

Down Island Again

Norma has another dentist appointment in Victoria at 12:30 tomorrow so we will be away from here by 7:30 or 8:00 am. That will get us there in time for lunch before she goes in. We will spend the night at Brooks and Linda's tomorrow night.

Brooks has inherited my chronic back problem and is suffering from a really bad sciatic nerve right now. They own their business so he does not qualify for Workers Compensation so he is toughing it out with Linda doing most or all of the lifting. His chiropractor and doctor are both telling him to take a week off and rest it but that is not in the budget right now. He is alternating soaks in the hot tub with ice packs right now to try to control it.

Life goes on.

Rina Heading ToThe Yucatan

Hurricane Rina is scheduled to hit the East coast of the Yucatan on Thursday morning. It is expected to be a CAT 3 hurricane by that time. It looks like it will mostly miss Cuba except for a lot of rain on the Havana end of the island.

I switched maps. Jonna had a better one so I "borrowed" it from her!

"Smart" Power Meters

Ouch!

My gold stocks took a $5,000 hit last week. Gold stocks have been lagging a little behind the price of gold but I guess they caught up. I am hanging in there as I think the price will recover over the next few weeks. The part of my portfolio that is not gold made a small profit but nowhere near enough to cancel that hit! I can't complain too much though, I bought it long before the start of this chart.

Missed It Again, Harold!

Harold Camping, the bible thumping radio preacher who mis-predicted the end of the world back in May, has done it again. He said he made a mistake on the May date but was pretty sure the end of the world would actually be on October 21 (today). Well it is 4:00 here and the world as we know it is still spinning. No rapture has taken place that I have noticed, at least I am still here. Well, that is hardly a test because I would be here anyway but I don't think anyone else has been raptured. If you have been, let us know.