I woke up early today and started watering all my trees and bushes and cacti outside, but before I get into today’s business, don’ forget about the homemade Pot Roast dinner at Baja Java tonight which includes all the trimmings and you can bring your own libation.  It’s going to be great.  Someone sent me a photo of a Brown Recluse – a spider that’s not native to San Felipe, but somehow gets here either in boxes when people move here or they hitch a ride in a trailer or motor home. They like to hide out in dark places, so it’s probably a good idea to wear gloves if you’re cleaning out your garage or about to put your arm in a dark place.  If I pick up a bucket outside, I usually kick it over first to make sure there’s no critters hiding inside of it and back at my laundry room, I always use a stick to pick up clothes that have either fallen or blown behind the shelves.  We also have Black Widows, but they don’t scare me as much as the Recluse.  The damage they do is unbelievable and not to scare you, but there have been four people I know of who have been bitten down here.  This is a photo of the Brown Recluse.  The nasty little guy’s venom eats the tissue from the inside and I don’t think I’ll put a photo of what it does on because it’s really gross.  However, you can always Google it and see the grisly photos.  I know one of my friends was in the hospital for six months, so be careful in dark places.

Talk about a small world.  I was on my way up to my office at LaPlazita and I stopped in to say hi to Nancy Moore and she was working on a woman’s hair.  Nancy introduced us and I believe her name is Pat.  Well Pat remembered I had written something on Kat’s Korner about a cheese burger contest between Bar Miramar (which I believe was Jimmy Smith at the time) and Fat Boys.  Evidently her husband was a judge and he chose Miramar and I took his photo.  Now, she lives in Rosarito and comes here to have her hair done by Nancy but she was also a customer of her’s when Nancy worked in Orange County, but didn’t know until she was here visiting.  She now makes the trip from Rosarito to San Felipe to have her hair done by Hair by Nancy.  Pretty cool and if I have your name wrong Pat, please let me know.

I have the hose soaking on a couple of trees but while I was watering the Agave this morning, I thought I’d show you what I mean by these plants having babies or propagating.  After they’ve grown to about your ankle, you can dig them up and move them to another spot in your garden and they’ll grow like a weed and eventually spew out new growths. You can see the small one in front and that’s about the size you want it to be when you dig it up and move it.

I also noticed my midget Palm Tree (and I’m sure there are such things as I’ve had this one eight years and it doesn’t seem to get much taller) needs to be trimmed.  The more palm leaves you cut from below, the higher it grows.  I haven’t cut this one for quite some time and usually in the hotter weather, I leave them for shade for the dogs. The Glorieta bush is in front of the Palm Tree, but you can see the palm leaves that need to be cut.

I found a ride to Borrego for the Baja 500 which is very cool.  I’m going to go with Bill and Shawnee, a couple who have the coolest dog and I’ve known them as Kat’s Korner readers as they used to come into the Net all the time.  They usually go to all the races and have a home at El Dorado Ranch. At any rate, we met at LaPlazita and firmed up our plans, so if you’re going up to Borrego on June 5, I’ll probably see you there.  Bill and Shawnee sitting outside of the San Felipe Salt Company.

I have to go move the water, but I’ll be right back.  I’m back and do you know it takes about two hours to water the entire yard.  Granted, it’s on two lots, but his is ridiculous.  I’ve been complaining for years, but I do have a beautiful, green yard.  I’m planting a flower rockery as soon as I can find some strong guys to move the rocks.  I’ve also told you about my monster dogs jumping over the laundry room fence and then escaping out my neighbor’s yard.  This is the spot where they climb the tree and jump over so I put cyclone around that area.  I hope it works.

It took an act of God to get into the laundry room, so yesterday, I moved everything around and threw a roll of fencing over the gate and jerry rigged a cyclone fence around the tree they climb to escape.  You can barely see it from this photo, but you get my drift.  If it wasn’t so much money, I’d put up a block wall, but as it is, it’s Ocotillo and cyclone.  I’ll keep you posted on the saga because I know you must be losing sleep over it.  My last resort is to forbid them to come back in once they jump out, but that would last about five minutes.  I’m a softy when it comes to dogs.  Speaking of which, SFAR is trying to help feed the dogs in San Felipe.  If you can pick up a bag or two and deliver it to the SFAR Segunda on Mar Caribe, I’m sure the dogs and others would appreciate it.

I was going to show you another example of how Agave propagates once it’s grown a bit and also, the Glorieta trees send out shoots and if you water them, they’ll grow too.  Don’t over water your cacti, especially the Barrel Cactus.  As you know, the cacti retains water and if it gets too much, it will split and eventually die.  I’m not saying don’t water them, because they do need water.  Just don’t go overboard.  This is not the yellow agave I showed you before, but these also give off shoots which can be replanted.  I’ve found the bigger the baby, the better chance it has when moved.

I had a very pleasant visit with Eric Garcia of Playa Paraiso.  He came by the office and we both agreed that it was a Penthouse, even though it’s a smaller one, so the Penthouse at La Plazita, Local 301 is the address of Kat’s Korner and the Net.  I’ve known Eric since he first came to town and he’s a great guy.  He introduced me to a man named Michael, who said “oh, you’re Kat from Kat’s Korner” – love hearing that.  So, this is a photo of Michael and Eric on the steps of La Plazita.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day and I took a few shots from the second floor of La Plazita as there were a few people in the water.  What struck me was the color of the Sea of Cortez – almost a turquoise blue – and I honestly thought to myself, “I have a good life” and I do.  I just need to be more grateful each day and try and do the right thing.

I understand I am still the treasurer for the San Felipe Food Bank, so I will be working with them again.  Also, as Mark LaPointe tells me, in addition to the Food Bank Segunda, they also have day workers who will come and work at your house for $20 USD a day or if you only need them for half a day, I guess it’s near half that amount.  I’m calling today for a rock mover.  So, if you can, please help feed the less fortunate.  Tina from Baja 24/7 was goofing off yesterday when I was walking up the stairs and she’ll probably kill me for putting up the photo, but we all have to have fun once in a while.  Stop in and see them as I understand they have some great real estate deals.  By the way, those are San Felipe Welcome signs Tina is displaying.