One Blue Flower

Good things come to those who wait - and in MX, that's a common malady!

THIS — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:46:40 GMT

Not to leave y'all hanging with regards to my banking fiasco, I have good news and darn well earned I might add, but good news - I'm not broke, well not rich, but not broke which I realize is only good news to me, but being the warm little fuzzball I am (normally) I just wanted to "share"?

It only took 3 trips to the Village to see my personal banker Beto, 2 trips to my vice-personal banker Phoebe (whom you may recall I hollered at last week) and 2 phone calls to 1-800- Inglish-HelpLine to get it all resolved and this time I didn't holler at anyone, not once.

To cut to the chase my ATM card which is a key to all things great and peso here in MX was old, passe etc - which I thought was perfect, fit me to a tee? But no, when they came up with this stupid new cheezy calculator number thingy they also whacked all the old cards, you now need a new ATM card with, of course, a new number to memorize and then there is the little RFID embedded chip (which was why I didn't want a new card). Then, new security agreements, signoffs on cancelling the old cards etc. (Mexicans absolutely LOVE paperwork, makes them feel muy importante don't you know?).

One of the problems when I was talking to HELP ME POR FAVOR was that 4 years ago when I opened the account they asked a question which was ID'd as "home"? I have no idea what I said at that time, was it Texas, or Riberas, or? - and turns out it had to be 8 letters or more long, I told Beto I never lived in any place big enough to have 8 letters in it's name for gosh sakes. But now I have a new question, a new answer and I wrote it on the inside of my arm so no one can steal it - hope it's in water proof ink?

I asked Beto if my old money was still in there or if I had to fill it with new money - he was mildly amused. But, that's how things go in Mexico, just takes time, perseverance, patience, tolerance and it does help if you don't yell at the local folk.

I was so excited to be "in the chips" again I went straight out to the ATM and got a wad of pesos and paid my annual mailbox rent, so my address is good for another year - whether I am or not.

And, I've been in and out of the account several times, I can transfer money, what more could an old gringo hope for?

DON'T HOLLER AT THE LOCAL FOLKS IT'S DUMB!

THIS — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:03:02 GMT

Today's adventure contains all the elements of a real adventure. I define "real" adventure as having two parts, one when you do something really stupid and two, when you get away with it and your life remains intact. So it is with today, we have a problema, travel to a distant place by Jeep and by foot, disillusionment, yelling at a banker, yelling at a local folk, running a red light, the ensuing chase by a motocop and being told I look like the Governor of Jalisco? And finally acquiring a super secret "token" or ingenious number generator that allows only me to get into my - and I stress MY - bank account? What more could you ask from a day in paradise?

So, the day dawned at about 7:32 right on cue, muy frio (very cold) at about 51 degrees (well, that's muy frio here?) with some clouds, days with clouds always start out wrong - as this one would prove to be. I did the usual, get the coffee, feed the gatos (cats) and head for the weather command center (my PC desk - and NO it's not politically correct) to check on the new weather station and see if it was getting a grip on the local conditions.

The "adventure" actually started yesterday when I tried to sign into my Bancomer online account and was told it was "locked" - that will send a tingle up your leg (as Chris Mathews says) but, I blew it off as a techno goof and we headed to Tonala to meet our friends visiting from NM. BTW, we had a great time in Tonala, then Tlaquepaque where they were staying. We visited a B&B a block from downtown that is absolutely fabulous. Wow, the things you find "behind the walls".

Today my account is still "locked" and now I'm annoyed (if not a tinge concerned). So, I printed out the screen which is of course is in Spanish and reads "CERRRADO", headed down to the Village to see my "personal banker" Beto. That's a nuisance because driving into the village is several miles and parking and walking 4 blocks, which I have to do every month when I deposit my check. Seems one time in the far distant past in a distant galaxy - well, here in MX and that's alien? a Canuck deposited a sizable check and it was credited in US Dollars which at the time was a biggie loss and it took forever and a divine act of the Virgin of the Bankers Unanimous to get it untangled and so now, when a gringo (I qualify) needs to deposit a check we have to stand/sit in line to see Beto who scratches something on it and then they know it US or Canuck funds?

Well today in my "mood" I drove into the village, parked, walked 4 blocks only to find myself #5 in line to see Beto. You could overhear the guy already in his cubicle relating a long history of zero interest to me and so I waited 10 minutes and stalked out to find someone else to browbeat (I was in that kind of mood). I decided to go see my other "Personal Banker" at an office (no actual banking services) on the Libramiento. By that time I had worked up a sizable head of steam and after listening to a lady already in her office describing something about having a needle stuck into her spine? - it was my turn.

Trying to be somewhat civil and diplomatic (well, at least for a start) I opened by saying "Phoebe (that's really her name) I'm in a hostile mood today so don't take this personal" - she said she wouldn't which was her first mistake, that gave me a license to unload on Bancomer via her ears. I said I didn't presume to tell them how to run their customer relations, but something had to be done and I related the locked acct and my futile trip into the village.

She said we now need a "token"??? to get into our account - like huh you say? Yes, seems there was an email in Dec? - well, that just stoked my fire, I said I never got an email. She said it would have been in Spanish and I said any email from Bancomer I take serious and translate if I need to. She then made her second mistake by saying some other people said they didn't get the email either and I jumped with both feet saying "well, didn't that run up a few red flags?" - she remained calm and explained they now have a new security system that is tighter than bark on a tree and no one (and at the moment, not even me) can get into an account because the "token" is actually a dinky, cheezy little 5 centavo calculator that you press to get a security number? - so, now I have to carry that with me when I travel just to get into my account? - as usual, someone in MX didn't think this one through. And besides, the problem isn't getting into my account, it's the ATM which are being ripped off??????????? - and this does nothing, nada, for the real problem, but someone's brother-in-law sold a boat load of cheezy calculators.

Undeterred, and still with significant venom flowing, I said "Phoebe, you know there are other banks" and she said "yes, and they'll charge your for deposits etc." - I cut her short and said "Phoebe, I'll bet as soon as you said that you realized it wasn't a good thing to say" - and she flinched a bit but kept a stiff spine (she's from Dallas so I can talk to her and she understands). I ended the dissertation by saying "I don't care about the cost if it works!" and stalked out.

That would bring me to the next "eventos" in my misspent day. As I went out the front door, I could see a car was parked so close to mine I couldn't squeeze between the two much less open the door and I was in no mood to be gracious and crawl over the console. The older MXN gentleman was just getting out and I said in a loud voice "THANKS". He looked as me and said something in semi-Inglish I didn't understand and I replied "THANKS FOR PARKING SO CLOSE I CAN'T EVEN OPEN MY DOOR"!

Now, I've made this stupid mistake a time or two before and so in the back on my mind major red flags and alarm bells are going off saying "DONT YELL AT THE LOCAL FOLK - IT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA". But, it was too late at that point, so, making sure I compounded the error I glanced down at the yellow lines for parking spaces which clearly showed I was actually on the far side of my space away from him and he was on MY yellow line, so for good visual followup, I kicked his right tire and pointed down at the line. Out of the corner of my eye I saw another car on the other side with a gringo who was taking it all in until I started yelling and quickly rolled up his window and pretended to have dropped his paperwork on the floor of his car and dived to retrieve it - and stayed there until I left? Fortunately the fellow moved, I remounted the Jeep and headed off to the next segment of the adventure.

This would take us to the next exciting thing we'll call "the great chase" and impending clash with the law. Having vented significant levels of steam at my banker I careened (will actually drove) down and onto the Carretera (main road) and headed home, I'd had enough for the day, or so I thought. There are two stop lights in the village of San Antonio between me and safe haven and often one or more of the bulbs are burned out, generally the green one, so if there aren't any lights, we assume (at our risk) that it's the green and not the red. I glanced up at the light as I approached and it was dark as the inside of the loan sharks heart, but an instant later it turned red? - well, I was essentially at the intersection, so I rolled on through, no harm, no foul (well, for a MXN, not a gringo).

This is where fate intervened in a continued effort to screw up my day. If you look at the sequence of lights, there is a pause from green to red of a few milli-seconds and that was what I saw, that fractional time and then it went red. Well, within a couple of blocks I had more red lights by my left door and these were attached to a moto cops bike and yes, he did want me to stop so we could compare rice cooker recipes (I assumed).

Still being in an absolutely abhorrent mood I did some mental calculations, could I outrun him - probably not, was he armed - yes, does he have a radio? - yes, which brought into memory the last guys who were headed this way trying to outrun the cops and it ended in a gun fight in Chapala at the main street where you turn left, they went across the island, took out the traffic light and took out part of the front of a restaurant straight ahead and apparently one of them in the cab had pulled the pin of a grenade so with all the thrashing around he dropped it and it was the final mistake of 3 bad guys.

It's amazing how fast the mind can calculate things, so with all the calculations completed, including the fact I could never show my face or drive my recognizable Jeep at the lake again, I checked the bottom line and decided to pull over and give the guy a break. Ok, so I fudged a bit about "the great chase".

As I stopped, now really upset with myself, I dug in my pocket and pulled out my money clip with drivers license and was getting that out when he appeared at my door and was jabbering something in a foreign language which I eventually realized was probably Spanish. I hadn't looked at him yet, but when I did he was holding his ID badge for me to see, name, pic etc. and that goes a ways as lately we've had some problems, not so much here, but in Guad with rogue cops looking for mordida (bribes) and hiding their badges to prevent ID. I said just give me the boleto (ticket) and again he was jabbering and I wasn't listening. He wanted to see my paperwork, so I pulled out the big Aduana package and handed it to him, he thumbed down and bit and I think I again said "just give me the ticket" - and he asked something, and again I wasn't listening, but finally realized he was asking if I was having a bad day? - HA - a bad day, or a "mal dia" to which I answered si, muy feo (very ugly) he began to laugh and said "no ticket today" and then went on to ask if I knew who the Governor of Jalisco was and if I had seen his picture, I said si, he said I looked like him and we both laughed. So, a pleasant ending to what I was trying to make a bad encounter.

I thanked the cop and went home to think about going back down into the village to my bank and decided I was going to have to do it sooner or later and now might as well be the time, so I headed into the village. When I got there I was almost next in line to see my banker and presented him with my original problem and he said "oh, you need a token" - well, the duh was all over me!

Regress a moment: at present we have a credit card with a 10 X 10 grid on the back, each with a 3 digit number and when you go online you put in a debit card number and your normal password, you are then asked to enter (randomly) what is in grid H7 etc. and also what is at the bottom of the card (10 letters with corresponding numbers) and then you get into your account. Well, I can appreciate their attempt at security, but now the card is passe, void, out of here and now I have to have my little "token" calculator to give me security numbers to enter. I can't wait to try it, but of course it will take at least 24 hours which probably means Monday as this is Friday and this is MX?

I trundled back home, carefully, watching every stoplight and retreated behind my gate to contemplate my navel in the security and privacy of Casa Abuelo.

All in all this day qualifies as an adventure, I managed to do stupid things, hollering at people I did and didn't know, I ran a red light and got away with it and turns out I look like the Gov of Jalisco. This qualifies as a certified adventure, I did stupid things and survived to tell about it - now, come Lunes (Monday) we'll see if I still have money in the bank or not.

Don't miss life's little blessings

THIS — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:10:28 GMT

This being year end I thought I'd take a few minutes to be thankful (while I'm waiting for enough water to take a shower when I'll be seriously thankful). So often these days when there is little good news anywhere you look, we forget to be thankful for the multitude of blessings of small things we take for granted each day.

Max and I are lucky and fortunate in so many ways beginning with having each other to look out for. When I lost Chris I didn't think I could take care of him, but of course that was exactly why he was there to give me some focus and responsibility. Today he's the one single responsibility I have each day, to make sure he has enough food, fresh water and a clean litter box, being an inside cat it's important. Oh, the weather station is probably the most visible thing we do, but if it disappeared today everyone would get along just fine, afterall, weather is weather.

Often, more and more in our old age, Max will insist on sitting on my lap when I'm here at the PC, or laying on me while I watch TV, I think he senses some distress in me and he's there to make it better. And in return, when he's sleeping on the big chair by the windows I walk over and pet him a bit and tell him I love him, so it's a mutual exchange of caring we've developed through the years.

We're fortunate to be able to live in a nice house in a nice warm climate and pay our bills on time. Of course the main trick to this point has been breaking old spending habits and learning not to create bills that exceed our income - the process is slow and painful, but it's coming along. I've learned to live by the spreadsheet where I track all my spending to make sure I'm not over driving my headlights.

One big thing has been concerning me for a time now and that's the cost of living in this house. Oh, we're thankful to have found such a wonderful (for the most part) house and to have lived here 4 years going into 5. So, looking ahead at the lease I made the decision to find a new casa next July and to be very honest, we're spoiled and the thought of searching for, and moving to, a new casa has been weighing heavily on me.

The owners of this place are teachers in Taiwan and have been on long term contract and only come to visit for a few days once or twice a year. They have another new house they will eventually retire to. A couple of weeks ago they were here and Paul called me to have a cup of coffee, so we were just enjoying the afternoon, but I put a bit of a dent in it when I told him I was leaving after June as I needed to tighten up the budget a bit and Margaret, the lady from Canada who rents the casita won't be coming back next year. We discussed the satellite TV system I've installed and for him to consider buying it etc. He said they hated to lose me as I've treated the place like it my own.

A few days later before they left, he and Karen came over to see how nice Pedro the gardener keeps the place and out of nowhere he asked "so, what will it take to keep you here?" - that caught me off guard, I really didn't expect it and at first brushed it aside as we talked and walked around the place. Finally he delivered what may be our Christmas present and our heartburn all in one. He said they understood how much I value my privacy and they would just not rent the casita and drop my rent accordingly. Well, that is certainly tempting and as I said, an unexpected Christmas present, but now comes the heartburn, I have to decide if that's what I want to do and a big part of it isn't on the spreadsheet - it's things that are intangible, some are simply inherent in Mexico, some more specifically relate to the neighborhood, the roads(?), water and electricity and simply the noise from the "park" a couple blocks away where they party at night and sometimes all night.

So, we're blessed and thankful for this option which may save Max and I from having to pack and haul, (Max isn't a lot of help in either case) we'll see.

Of course we're thankful for our good health and only relatively minor signs of aging to deal with from time to time. We're thankful and blessed by family and our special friend and neighbor Margaret for putting up with us these 5 Winters and will miss her and the laughs and great cooking she shares with us.

Now, let me remind y'all of a few things you should be thankful for, things you probably don't think much about starting with the simple thing like turning on a light, or plugging in an appliance and it works. Electriciy, it's so common we don't think much about it, well, up there NOB we don't think much about it. There was always power, all we wanted and could use and it was relatively inexpensive. Here we thankful each day to have the power available, it's erratic, it's "dirty" so we have to buy expensive regulators, it surges and browns out and for the blessings of all those things we pay about 4X what I did in TX.

Need a drink of water? - sure, just turn on the faucet and you have clean, safe potable water available day or night, it's nothing special, it's just there when you need it, be thankful and don't assume anything. This morning about 6:15 as I was waking I heard the water heater outside gurgling? - but it does that from time to time. When I got up and brushed my teeth, no water, not a drop? - when's the last time that happened to you?

I went down to feed the cats and make coffee and as I stepped outside I heard the pressure pump running, I went out and unplugged it and came back up to wait for daylight to see where the problem was, even though I had a pretty good idea what had happened - you see, I know more about this property than anyone, the owners only lived here about a year, I've been here 4 years plus and have learned to deal with the quirks, the twists and turns of daily life here which will be a significant part of the decision process, do I really need or want more of this?

The water here is miserable, lots of sand and mud so it is filtered as it comes in from the street. Then, it fills an aljibe (cistern to us from NE) from which it is pumped through more filters into the house - or onto the vegetation by the gardener, which was what was happening last evening. Yes, paying to pump filtered water onto the ground is dumb, but? - well, let's leave it at "dumb".

The water from SIMAPA (our amateur water company) isn't always flowing, if the pump is down, the electricity is down, they're working on the system or it's one of the Holy Days of St. Aguas, the patron saint of water systems, you don't get any water, that's why we have aljibes to tide us over until it flows again.

At first light I opened the hatch and sure enough we apparently hadn't received water for some period of days probably, and Pedro had pumped the aljibe dry watering last evening and turning on a street tap nearby confirmed, no agua. I got out the ladder and headed for the roof of the casita, it's water supply is in big tanks, or tinacos, on the roof - fortunately they were full. Now all I had to do was wait until 9am when the Rentals officina opens and call to have them send a water truck - yes, this happens so often they have water trucks that come out and "fill 'er up".

To add insult to injury, the pressure pump had run all night blowing bubbles in the water heater (instead of water) and that ran up another 7KWH of electricity or about $2.80 and hopefully didn't burn itself out. And of course when we do get water in the aljibe the pump will need to be primed to get the house back up to pressure (which at best is about half what most of you are used to).

One curse that is a blessing is the pool which I never use. It requires 2KWH a day to run the filter, it collects leaves etc. and while pretty to look at - right after the pool guys skims it - it's a curse. However, this morning it's a blessing, it contains 15,000 gallons of chlorinated water that can be dipped a bucket at a time to flush the convenience - now, there's a blessing, we have indoor plumbing and even in the most stressed times we have water to flush them.

Half an hour later I went out to get a second bucket and noticed the little frog on my homemade pool filler (yes, another curse, the pool leaks) was squirting, meaning the water was coming in from the street again, so no water truck will be needed after all. I'll let it run a while and then prime the pump, bleed air out of the faucets and hopefully take a nice warm shower, another blessing I used to take for granted - no mas.

Here's one more for the stack of stuff; just got a note from my friend in Albuquerque, he ordered something from Amazon last night after 6pm and already has a note this morning it has shipped. Now friends, that IS convenience, we don't even attempt to ship things down here for the most part and if we do, we don't expect it for weeks, we do expect the contents may have been pilfered by Customs as it comes into the country and we do expect it may have a ridiculously high import fee accessed by the same folks that pilfered it?

The Mexico experience has generally been a good one, but, as noted it makes you appreciate small things we normally take for granted. And, also as noted, a decision will have to be made about staying or leaving this casa at some point, but fortunately that's something that I can put off until next year. For now I'm just thankful I have a wrench and the knowledge of how to use it to prime the pressure pump and if all goes well we'll be thankful to have water again and a nice warm shower.

Don't miss the small things in life, they are some of the biggest blessings.

Feliz ano nuevo from Max and Steve somewhere in Mexico.

It's 19.6 degrees with light snow?

THIS — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:54:58 GMT

Well, got your attention didn't it? But of course not here in paradise, we're 64 and climbing, sunny, toasty warm and blue skies and I'm in shorts as usual. However, the previous conditions are what will greet my neighbor when she gets to her home in Elliot Lake, Ontario - and yes, that is in Canuckland, Great Frozen North etc.

I chucked her on a plane yesterday morning to MX City where she takes the great Air Canuck snowbird flight N to Toronto to spend a night with her daughter and family, then to another flight to Sudbury, or "Suds" as they call it where her son will meet her with the family mule and that's transportation for the final 150 miles where it will be 19.6 F and light snow? - who can live like that , or better, who wants to live like that?

Actually having spent 5 "seasons" with my friend who migrates here for the winters, I've become somewhat knowledgeable about the Great Frozen North (let's just cut that to GFN and save keystrokes). From our sunny afternoons in the garden I know more about Air Canada whom she worked for over 30 years than some who actually worked for them, I know about life in tiny northern Ontario villages she grew up in and most of all, I've been forcibly indoctrinated by Canuck satellite TV (all I can get here). I get 10 channels of hockey - seriously, I get History channel etc. but they're always talking in meters and Celsius? Even the American channels I get are from the far N, you think I could see a Texas football game? - fat chance, I get the Rustbelt Chubbies vs. the Eastern Rustbelt Skinnies? Give me a break!

And, while I have unprogrammed the 10 channels of hockey and curling? - they still manage to slip it in under me like a stealth wedge of unwanted info and suddenly you realize you've been jacked and are watching Daily Planet and they drooling on about an 1840's hockey stick someone found - really, I couldn't make stuff like this up.

I'm a rabid fan now of Ice Pilots Northwest Territory, so I know about places like Yellowknife and remote Eskimo villages where they're still flying DC3's into? These guys are nuts, trying to start a plane at 60 below etc does make me appreciate our place here.

So, the rhythm of life bumps along, Max and I are alone for 3 weeks while my friend does her Canuck thing, I sent an Email to her daughter telling her she was on the way and to send her back when she freezes up and we'd take her in for the residual of the "winter". Actually this will be her last winter here at least for another year etc. and Max and I will be house hunting next year for a new weather station. We throw a wide net, I'm currently researching Lake Atitlan Guatemala - well, who knows, that could be a great place?

All in all, the years have slipped by quickly and so we're having one last great one here at the estate, we had a great Thanksgiving and I put out Christmas lights for the first time and we'll enjoy the new year and all it has to offer.

Peace and Love to all from Max and me.

Honey, I almost blew the end off the house?

THIS — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:45:33 GMT

Life in Mexico is just one "eventos" after another, like a long chain of things, some great, some good, some bad, some just plain stupid and/or ugly, but it's rarely boring. In fact, I'd go so far as to proffer that Alzheimers in MX is almost unheard of, with all the mental exercise you get daily, challenging your most extreme imaginations, how could your brain go lame?

So, a bit of a continuing story from the recent trip time. As mentioned, the pilot light at the casita went out, turned out the flex hose from the propane tank was leaking and the tank was empty, so $300 pesos of recently filled propane was gone into thin air.

I decided to check my heater and sure enough, mine was beginning to leak as well so I had Chuy the maintenance guy replace it. When he finished he had trouble getting the pilot light to stay on and the main burner wouldn't fire up. But, after a time and some tinkering it fired up and he went on his merry way as did I, secure in the knowledge that my world was right again - or so I assumed.

About 3 hours later I was out on the upper deck watering my bougainvilleas and filling the fountain etc. and on the second pot I noticed what seemed to be mist or smoke or something coming off the stream of water? - well, being the astute guy I am I figured something was wrong, so I shot the water stream out over and into the pool and it was steaming like crazy? Like a dummy I stuck my hand in the water (NOT astute) and it was scalding hot - now, that's odd? - it's not often you get scalding hot water from your garden hose?

I thought for a few seconds and took off running for the main propane tank and shut it off - I was definitely NOT going near the water heater if what I suspected had happened. I went back in the house and turned on the kitchen cold water faucet and it was hissing and spitting like a wild cat. I went upstairs and opened the shower and the sink and it was almost pure steam coming out of them for at least 10 - 15 minutes. Finally it all calmed down and I let it all set for a couple hours and started back into the mystery.

First I had a guy plumb the hose outlet on the upper deck about 3 years ago and he connected to the cold water pipe next to the water heater. In MX, all water heaters are outside, I assumed it was less efficient that way (duh) during the winter you heat the great outside - must be a MXN thing because they also don't have much insulation in them? They replaced that heater about 2 years ago and I had poked around it and discovered that MXN water heaters do NOT have an emergency popoff valve on them like NOB, so they're a ticking pressure bomb waiting to explode. Hmm, now that might be why they're outside, so when they blow, or leak, it's not inside, I suppose there is a twisted logic somewhere in there?

Turns out that when Chuy put the control back together something stuck and the burner had been running full "steam" (pardon the pun) and was so hot it was heating the incoming cold water pipes and that was what backed up into the hose, so the hose and I became the "emergency popoff valve". I'd bet we were within a gnats hair of blowing the whole thing, and probably the end of the house in the process. Fortunately St. Ed, the patron saint of water heaters (named after a plumber in ancient Rome, sainted by an exploding water heater) spared us the calamity. So, another call to Chuy and more tinkering and he got it all back to normal (whatever that is?) and I've had hot agua for a week with no disasters.

The only casualties seem to be the plastic shower head which was partially melted and had enough "junk", boiled out of the pipes, deposited in it to choke a chicken, so I pitched it and most sadly, one of my prettiest bougainvilleas, an orange one puckered and deflowered within days, so now here on the "dia de los muertos" (day of the dead) my boggy is muerto.

In Mexico, you just never know how much fun you're going to have each day until you open it up like a big surprise package and see what is waiting for you, I guess that's why I call it "The Great Adventure".

The long trip back home

THIS — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:22:45 GMT

The second half will be shorter and less complaints - I promise. It deals in part with the "game" we play at the border when coming back into MX with all the goodies we purchased NOB, and if I described the drive across central MX, it would be a very loooooong paragraph with nothing in it.

Different folks have different opinions of the best places to cross, after spending a night in Laredo I always use the #2 International Bridge connecting Laredo to Neuvo Laredo, I know how to get there and so I stick with what works.

It goes without saying that variation and "personal initiative" with regards to regulations is a finely honed Mexican custom, so you can never be totally sure of what might have changed yesterday, last week, or just specially for you that day only. The actual Customs laws seem like many here, more "suggested guidelines" rather than rock hard enforced laws. So, the law says that you can bring in $300 in merchandise if you fly, but only $75 if you drive? - who knows why. Generally they are looking for big ticket items and electronics although your PC etc. is allowed without question.

And, sorry to interject this tiny political note, but how the heck did people drive in with something over 1,000 automatic rifles in their original boxes without being noticed when they were poking through my suitcase looking for who knows what?

I always pull a couple of boxes from storage with cookware etc. I leave the boxes dusty and mangy looking, then unbox all my new purchases and distribute them around the car in different boxes and suitcases. When you come across the bridge you immediately enter the Customs or Aduana station, they're only interested in what you have in the car and/or trailer. You have the option to "Declare" something, or you can "No Declare" and just sort of "fake it". I always try to get there about 5:30am while there is no traffic and they're still sleepy.

One year I did Declare as I had a new weather station in the original box, I had paperwork indicating a "sale" price, but Declaring was a mistake because it immediately threw me into a line of pickups loaded to the hilt with Mexicans moving back home. It also runs you through a secondary process because they want a list of what you have and you pay 16% of the Declared value and then you push a button and either get a red or green light, if you get red, they dig deeper through all your stuff looking more seriously. Needless to say I don't Declare any more.

Last year I had a new lawn blower for the gardener for Christmas in the original box, they didn't care, this year I got him an electric reciprocating saw, again they were totally uninterested. So after lifting a few box flaps the young lady said it was ok for me to go and I hit the road. The funny thing is that I had a rather sizable model RC helicopter sitting on the passenger side floor covered with white packing paper and she didn't even notice?

This is first of two potential knotholes you are dragged through backwards. Now, if you are entering the country for the first time at this point you're in MX, but you don't have a visa or an import sticker for your car yet. So you drive about a mile to a white building under the bridge and jump through their hoops and pay your dues.

When you bring a car into MX you get an import sticker which now costs about $40 plus a $300USD deposit (no pesos, USD only) which they say you get back when you take the car out of the country - uh huh, sure you will. By law you are supposed to turn in the sticker each time you leave and get a new one when you come back in, I never do, I just drive out and back in and they don't ask, but this time with the new $300 deposit thing I wasn't sure I'd get away with it. When I came in 4 years ago I gave them my credit card number, later the card was stolen and replaced, so they basically have no deposit from me. But this time I held out $300 in cash just in case.

It's common to get stopped from time to time, twice on the way up at checkpoints where they asked for my papers, now I'm sure I wasn't "profiled" - I mean really, an old gray haired gringo driving a car with TX plates? They don't care about your US plates being out of date, only your drivers license, your visa and the muy importante import sticker.

So as I proceeded out into the early morning darkness and glanced over at the white building, I have my visa and I didn't turn in my import sticker, so I just drove by and smiled with the $300 firmly jammed in my pocket.

You drive around Nuevo Laredo on an eastern loop and then head south. At exactly 9.7 miles at dark:30 traffic stopped dead? - traffic was coming north, but we were going nowhere and we proceeded to go nowhere for an hour and 15 minutes while inhaling diesel fumes from trucks next to me. Federales and military were running up and down the other side of the highway, who knows why? Finally the road opened and we headed for the 20 mile Aduana station, the second potential knothole in your progress.

There is a small booth in the middle of the road and a person asks for your visa and then you get a red or green light (yes, they do love those). Last year I got a red, all the inspection bays were full so I pulled up next to two other cars, and a guy peeked in and told me to "jale" (pull). This year there was no one in the booth, no red/green lights, no cars being inspected, no Aduana at all, only two Federales with flashlights glancing at the import stickers. Apparently something had happened, but who knows what, so I headed into MX toward Monterey smiling, from there it's nothing but 700 miles of open road - well, the 13 toll booths of course, they're the modern day banditos relieving you of about $80 on the way home, however the toll roads are generally good.

There were a lot of military convoys running both directions and one checkpoint. At Matehuala I was flagged by a Federale who shook hands, asked where I was going and smiled and said to have a safe trip. At one point I was driving about 80mph and 3 military pickups blew by me doing at least 95, all loaded with armed guys, and as usual, always one standing up in the back leaning into the wind? Generally there is at least one vehicle with a 50 caliber machine gun mounted up top and they always have an ammunition belt loaded in the breach to remind you that the gun isn't there just because it looks neat.

Most of the coutas (toll roads) are divided highway, but some are not and then things get a bit tense with hills and trucks and impatient old gringos wanting to pass. Somewhere out in the middle of nowhere I met with a rather large stone kicked up, or falling off, a truck and the windshield took a hit dead center leaving a nice crescent fracture about the size of a half quarter. Once home I took it to a fellow and for $60 we hope to save the windshield, otherwise I have to worry about getting the TX inspection and license stickers and most important, the import sticker off, getting a new one of those would require a trip to the border and $340 as noted, but hey, stuff happens.

All in all the trip had a lot of nuisance factors this year, I guess I wasn't in the proper spirit - or maybe I'm just getting too darn old to do this kind of trip in only 8 days. So even through the nuisance things were small, they irritated me to no end. There is also the cooling off period which lasts several days while I readjust to life in MX as compared to the States. While most of the aggravation was NOB this year, it's a pretty nice place by comparison. It's not hard to see why Mexicans coming to the States think they've gone to heaven and didn't even have to die.

I'm now settling back into my life here in Tortillaville as I enjoy the nice sunny weather compared to Denver which got several inches of snow the other day. (what I expected to happen to me and my new jacket?)

Seems hard to imagine I've been here 4 years now, only yesterday Max and I set out on the great adventure and now it's just our normal life.

Welcome gringo to the land of inconvenience and gouge

THIS — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:19:41 GMT

Ok, this part is fairly obvious, not that you're not aware of it, but America has become expensive and darn inconvienient, something I accept down here, but I expect more from the home planet. Most of you have become numbed by the ever increasing costs of some things and hassles at every twist and turn, but my nerve ending are still in full sensitivity bloom and every once in a while I got a real jolt.

In sales we use to do a Ben Franklin close where you have the customer makes up a list of the good things vs the bad things and when the good exceeds then he sells himself. I decided to put together a small list off the top of my head of good and bad, it follows:

The Bad:
Rain gauge failed right before hurricane rains, so none recorded
PC needed rebooting (thanks to neighbor for assistance)
Pilot light went out at casita (sorry neighbor)
Propane tank was leaking so was empty (sorry again, that cost me $30 in wasted propane)
Forgot my knife that is always in the car (bought new ones at Home Depot)
Couldn't find sourdough starter mix in TX
New TX flag $28? (see hack and gouge)
Airline reservations, no seat assignment to Denver (even though I requested months ago)
Car reservation hassle + $96 extra for 3 days insurance?
Bought new $200 leather jacket for Denver - it was 85 degrees?
Parking in Austin $69 for 3 days?
1.5 hours on phone with travel agency to assure seat on return flight
Forgot to give my sister the manual for the camera I gave her
Missed my second sister completely because of my "too tight" scheduling
Paid extra $25 to Frontier Airlines to assure a seat in the screaming baby section
Stopped dead in traffic for over 1 hour at 6am in Neuvo Laredo, MX
Large rock hit windshield at 80mph somewhere in MX ($60 to fix - hopefully)

The Good:
Got home in one piece, older and I hope wiser if that's possible?

I told my neighbor before I left the trip didn't feel right, there was something niggling in the back of my mind raising little red flags, but hey, what can you do but press on with the plan.

I headed out early the morning of the 10th and it began raining as I drove out the gate. Any more I don't really like driving in the dark, or even in the rain and really not in the dark, in the rain in MX, just too many things to go wrong. Eventually the sun came up and out as the miles rolled off. I was getting great gas mileage and gas down here is still only about $2.85 a gallon. There are 13 toll stations along the route so those expenses were expected and built into the plan.

At the border I stay in Laredo, after 11 hours of driving I need the rest. I used to stay at a Comfort Inn, but they jacked the price up to nearly $100 a day by the time you pay tax etc., so I found a Red Roof for $60 which was just fine, clean, quiet and safe, but no hair dryer (I was so disappointed).

I always carry a knife/box cutter under the back seat of the Jeep. I picked up all my new stuff from George and took it to the motel where I unbox it, cut the boxes down and pitch them - but this time I had no knife, I thought it might have been stolen at the car wash, but no, I took it out of the car and forgot? - so went over to Home Depot the next morning and bought a package of 3 new ones for only $10, not bad, but not planned.

Food wasn't too much more, of course gas was about $3.25 a gallon as expected.The following day I did some shopping and bought Christmas lights, yes, this being the last year in this house we're going big time. I also wanted a new TX flag, I finally found one for $28???? - I picked it up, started to walk away and instead turned and put it back - only to finally say "ok, you only live once" - and friends, you know why you only live once? - BECAUSE YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LIVE TWICE, I'll be lucky to get out of this life break even. I had dinner with friends that evening and that was fun but a bit more than we pay down here for a big meal.

Then the real fun began as I prepared to fly from Austin to Denver, I made 3 near fatal mistakes. I parked at the Austin airport like I did last year, like I have for years, headed for Frontier airlines and handed over $20 for my suitcase, the same suitcase that has traveled over 100,000 miles and until recently went for "free"? - come on people, if you need to charge more for the ticket, do it, but don't nickel, dime and $20 me to death - and no, I DO NOT carry-on a bag, airplanes are specifically purpose designed, but apparently airline companies don't ever read the manuals. Planes all have cargo or "baggage" compartments where you put "baggage" - stick with me here - and they all have overhead compartments where you put kids, this isn't hard folks, jam the bags underneath and the kids overhead and all would be perfect, but no, they charge $20 which forces people to carry on bags big enough to live in and try to stuff them in the overheads forcing the kids down to our level?

Back to the agent, I was handed a seat assignment for 28F? - I told the agent I already had requested seat 10A going up and 10F coming back - he told me that actually I didn't have a seat assignment, I handed him a printout of my reservation and pointed to "10A" - he said "oh, that's the problem, we eliminated row 10 to make more room". I said it was darn sure on the website when I booked my flight - he was unmoved. And of course, you know exactly where 28F is, the last row, the corner seat directly in front of the lavatory so you sit bolt upright and listen to the toilets on the other side of the bulkhead flush all the way to Denver.

The reservation problem was actually the second problem, the first was my parking at the Austin airport, that surprise was percolating while I was in Denver, more later.

In Denver, I called what turned out to be a travel agency that night and spent and hour and a half and got nowhere. Somehow, and I'm still trying to unravel how, I ended up booking through a travel agency and not Frontier direct, once I figure that out a letter to the BBB of Nashville WILL be mailed. Eventually I gave up being on hold and I did get to Frontier direct and she said the isle seats are reserved for one of their frequent flier groups and not available to me. Which is another stupid thing, they board them first so when the rest of us low life's trundle onto the plane, the isle seats are already full and you have to climb over them - really a bad plan.

Frontier assured me I hadn't booked the flight with them, but I could fly "stretch" which put me in seat 2A going back - oh, that will be an extra $25, no apology offered, just a thumb in the eye thank you. I told the lady that when I got to the airport there had better be a "reserved" sign on seat 2A or she would read about a guy going "postal" at the Denver airport!

We need to jump back to my arrival at Denver, I walked all the way from the A concourse and still beat the bags (which I paid extra to ship as you'll remember) and still beat them by 10 minutes. The overhead monitors said carousel #2, we all waited like sheep until someone noticed they were actually on carousel #1. Next I headed to my rental car with Avis. My travel itinerary from the mystery travel agency said "walk to the car" which I thought was maybe a new thing, it was never like that before? - and of course, still isn't, you "walk to a bus" and ride half way to Denver before being ejected at the real Avis "walk to your car" office.

I was sitting (actually pouting) on the bus and the lady driver had just put my bag in the rack (no extra charge) and asked me if I was "preferred" meaning Avis Preferred, I thought a moment and said no, I'm not preferred, no one prefers me anymore, when I was younger, better looking and had more money I used to be preferred, but now I'm old, ugly and broke and no one cares. She said "that will do it" and headed for the front of the bus.

When I got to the Avis counter I asked if they had a CTS Cadillac, that was what I wanted, well, they didn't have one, she went back looking for one, took at least 10 minutes, came back and said no Caddy, but they had a neat Lincoln, I told her I already had one. So, she said what about an Infiniti? - I said, I don't even know what that is, she assured me it was nice, a premium car, I finally said ok, again she headed out back and eventually came back and said they'd bring it to the Red Carpet area out front. In the mean time another one of my near fatal mistakes reared its ugly head. I have MXN insurance here for the Jeep, when I come to the States, I pay $50 for 30 days of liability on the Jeep while NOB. When I rent with my American Express it covers everything but liability so I said I needed that coverage for the 3 days I'd have the car - $98 thank you? - man, talk about hack and gouge, I was already paying a premium price for the car and didn't get what I wanted anyway, and now this? (next year WILL be different).

I went out and waited, a guy pulled up in a something look-alike car and walked away, the plate didn't match, so I waited, pretty soon he came back, got in it and drove off, I waited, he drove up in something else and the plate matched, so I figured it must be "my" Infiniti.

He left it running so I tossed my bags in the back and settled in to see what buttons make things work, this thing was kind of neat, the control panel makes the space shuttle look tacky. I headed into town to the motel and noticed it was one of the new ones without a key, just a little fob with buttons on it, when it's inside the car, in your pocket etc, you start it by pushing a big button on the dash that says "START" - much like my '50 Chevy, it had a starter button, remember? - we've come full circle.

It had a TV screen on the dash with a backup camera and when you played the radio it put great big numbers on the screen, even old folks can read them. When I got to the motel I got ready to turn it off, but how, no key? Finally I realized that in smaller letters on the START button it also said "stop" - now, realizing that this wasn't likely the brake to stop the car, I reached with some trepidation to push it, all the time remembering that like most of us I had hit the starter when the car was running and the noise was ugly - this time the car just stopped - wow, what a concept.

So, I had a nice car to impress Mom, we went for a drive out to my Father's grave and put out flowers and toured the city a bit and enjoyed it, but as I said earlier, it's hard to see your Mother becoming a tiny old lady, still sharp in many ways, but her short term memory is pretty much gone and so we've had to move her into the "Reflections" section which is basically a lockup area for Alzheimers people even though she doesn't have it.

The following day we went for another drive and enjoyed beautiful weather, yes, 85 degrees and me with a gorgeous new leather jacket? Today the 26th it's already snowed 5" which was what I fully expected, but dodged that bullet.

Due to my stupid short scheduling, I saw one sister for all of 30 minutes, and swapped cameras with her, forgot to give her the manual, had to mail it out of MX and totally missed the other sister.

I was able to visit one uncle just recovering from heart surgery and friends were great as always and all too soon it was time to head back to Texas

Of course at Denver return I couldn't wait to hand over another $20 to store my bag in "baggage" before I was molested by the TSA in the cattle chutes. So, the good deal $157 ticket was now up to $222 and $25 of that wasn't in the plan. As it turned out about 30 seconds after I sat down the baby directly behind me kicked the seat and let out a wail that would curdle milk? - turned out I paid extra to sit in the screaming baby section in seat 2A, such a privilege. In retrospect, I should have asked how much for me to ride in the baggage compartment?

Back in Austin I got the biggie mistake, the real gouge. The new Austin airport was built in the late 90's, opened in 2000 and they charged $10 a day for parking in the garage. Immediately off site lots opened and charged $6 or $7 and shuttled you directly to the terminal, so Austin dropped to $7 a day. Last year I parked in an open lot for 4 days and it was $30, so I figured it would be a bit more in the garage, but for only 3 days, it would probably be $40. I rolled up to the booth and the lady said $69!!!!!!!!! WHAT? - my hearing must be going, $69 AMERICAN DOLLARS? (no pesos) yes, that was correct, actually $24 a day and I wasn't there 3 full days, boy was I glad.

Now, that's insane, the airport was built with bonds in the 90's, so it's a known cost, there is essentially NO maintenance, NO personnel except for the lady at the exit and yet they've gone from $7 a day to $24? - see hack & gouge BIGGIE TIME! - I told the lady to enjoy the $69, it's the last dime they'll ever see from me.

I got things in storage ready that afternoon and loaded and headed to San Antonio Monday to have lunch with a friend and a visit with another whom I met down here and now lives in San Antonio, then on down to Laredo to rest up for the trip home, more on the trip home into MX later.

I realize times have changed and I haven't, I know most of the problems, especially the $$$ ones were self inflicted, but America isn't the place I left only 4 years ago and more and more when people ask when I'm coming back I ask "why"?

A trip to the home planet

THIS — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:57:33 GMT

Just home from a trip to the "home planet" - and when it takes as long to "get over" the trip as the trip itself actually took, you know something isn't right.

Actually this is a bit of a preface to what will be two or three threads, but I wanted to get me started and this is the way to force something to happen I guess? - must be getting old.

Just as a precursor, the trip each October celebrates my move here 4 years ago, arriving Oct. 5th. It is primarily focused on getting to Denver to see my Mother who is now approaching 97 and from that standpoint the trip was good. I say good, but it's increasingly hard to see the person you have known for a lifetime slowly becoming smaller and smaller and frail and simply living out her days from one meal to the next.

This year I wasn't even going to Texas, but of course that changed and I made a visit to the home planet, and to see friends both there and in Colorado was the high point of my year. Everything else seemed to be a nuisance, plane reservations, cars, traffic, you name it. I always wait until my neighbor comes down from Canada so she can take care of the cats and keep an eye on the place for which I'm grateful beyond measure.

But everything started falling apart the day I left, the rain gauge on the weather station stopped recording and the passing hurricane sumped 4" of needed rain and we didn't record a drop so people were emailing me asking what the problem was. The pilot light on the water heater at the casita went out which ended up being a leak in the propane pipe so the tank was empty and so I was concerned day and night for things far distant that I couldn't control or fix.

At every turn it was a thumb in the eye it seemed, including this perfect example; I figured being October in CO is would be chilly at least and maybe darn cold, so my old leather jacket is getting a bit worn (although I only wear it once a year when I go to CO) and I invested $200 in a new jacket to wear home - it was 85 degrees? - yes, 85 degrees.

Fortunately there was nothing serious during the trip, other than me totally blowing my budget, I must think I'm still living in 1970?

Stay tuned, I'll try to get settled down in the next few days enough to write more on "the great adventure".

Why do I live in Mexico? - here's the perfect answer!

THIS — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:26:44 GMT

It's been some time and while most days are an adventure, or at least recurring adventures, I haven't found anything to really generate an update - that is, until last night when my netbook boinged letting me know "you have mail" (loved that movie).

A note from a friend referenced an article that is now being repeated on other sites and I replied "great, I'm going to save this and print it out and when people ask me why I live in Mexico I'll hand it to them" - so, consider this as me handing you a printed article that is the quintessential essence of why I, and probably a lot of other people, live in Mexico.

The article is titled "FDA: Ozone-Unfriendly Asthma Inhalers Won't Be Available After 2011" Yes, seems that those of us who suffer Asthma and other breathing difficulties and use the common epinephrine puffers are a huge danger to the whole world and the environment. The article stated:

"The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday patients who use the epinephrine inhalers to treat mild asthma will need to switch by Dec. 31 to other types that do not contain chlorofluorocarbons, an aerosol substance once found in a variety of spray products."

It continued: "But the switch to a greener inhaler will cost consumers more. Epinephrine inhalers are available via online retailers for around $20, whereas the alternatives, which contain the drug albuterol, range from $30 to $60."

Yes, seems I've been a huge hazard to the planet (much more than China or India) and didn't even know it and so now, in the name of saving the planet, they're going to force me to pay more for a prescription inhaler which means getting a doctor involved, which will increase the cost to me and countless others for our already overpriced healthcare, and will ripple through the system because it will increase the cost of Medicare, Medicaid etc - thank you nanny state government intervention yet again.

And, silly me, I thought we saved the world (and the hole in the ozone - yes, when's the last time you heard anyone whine about that? - well, it's because that wasn't making them any money) when we were forced to change to more expensive refrigerants in our cars, refrigerators, when we stopped using killer spray cans of paint, hair spray etc.? You can just about guarantee that some company (with appropriate resident lobbyists) is about to release a fabulous new GREEN INHALER for only twice the price and has already got $500M in stimulus money - funny? - I don't think so, and I may be joking, but are you so sure that the joke isn't on us?

My solution? - actually in this case it's easy, I live in Mexico, I buy my inhalers from the Express Pharmacia cheap and legal and no one hassles me. This is just a continuing, and endless, chain of things DC does to impose themselves in every part of our lives - but not on me, and not in Mexico - ha.

Did you know that 95% of the lawyers in the world live in the US? - and the US only has 5% of the worlds population. If you're going to be a "trial lawyer" in MX, you better have a day job, oh, it's not that there aren't some issues that could use some help, but it's ain't going to happen any time soon and surely not by pressure from a trial lawyer and some do gooder bureaucrat.

Why do I live here? - I've documented in the past that traffic laws are more "suggested guidelines" and if and when you get a ticket, it's not a revenue generator for the city (although it might be for the cop). So I live today like the place I grew up, Nebraska in the 50's. It wasn't so bad, I've made it for 68 years, my Mother for 96, couldn't have been all bad, I'm sure we did and ate all the wrong things, but it didn't kill us. But now, when you enter the US it's a place I don't know anymore, when I drive they want to control every aspect of me, my driving habits, my car and where I'm going, not to mention gouging me in both eyes every time I pull up to the pump.

They want to tell me where, how and how big I can build my house and of course I have to dutifully bow and scrape (and pay through the nose) before a local municipality for a building permit that forces me to install overpriceded toilets that takes at least two flushes to do what my MXN one does without hesitation. Once completed they will tax me severely to support the exorbitant retirement of the employees who work their fingers to the bone (right?) for me while I'm out working trying to pay for the little slice of heaven I've contrived.

Of course I've not even begun to scratch the surface of the condition the country I used to call home, and how it has degenerated, but I'm sure I'm boring you. Me? - well, I think I'll go over to the pharmacia and buy a dozen inhalers, I have a feeling they may be a nice investment for sale NOB one day soon.

So, why do I live in Mexico? - to put it on a bumper sticker:

"My life is mine to live - no help required or appreciated"!

Bits & Pieces from a Wandering Mind

THIS — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:33:36 GMT

Some days the mind wanders, one thing leads to another. I originally started to write a response to a forum topic and it became a bit lengthily and I decided it was better here than there. Someone had asked about bringing in a rental trailer and the general answer is no, but of course there are always ways around the rules and I posted the following:

When you cross the bridge in Laredo, or wherever, you cross an international border, but you actually enter and exit a wormhole into a whole other universe, a whole other existence where you live by their laws, their rules and by their interpretation of those (which means if they don't know the laws or rules, or they're not convenient, they make up their own version - but by-darn, you will live by them). American companies simply don't need the hassle of trying to rent and trust equipment in MX. Example: if you come here and want to rent a car, be prepared to have them insist on selling you very expensive insurance, no, they won't recognize American Express coverage and if you decline all but liability they will tag your credit card for the full replacement value of the car should it not be returned for whatever reason.

The Mexican experience is great, wonderful (most of the time) but you must accept it is a whole other country that is fully justified in playing by their rules and American rental companies don't need the business - so, you want to come here, those are the rules.

On further reflection this morning I continued:

My comments and observations are, at times, caustic or perceived to be. They sound like complaints, but a complaint is something issued in hope of causing change and in Mexico that isn't going to happen because one or two gringos are unhappy. If there is a complaint, it's that, at times, I don't accept the obvious, primarily that it is the way it is and I'm not going to cause much change and of course that's not why I'm here.

The Mexican people are magnificent children, proud adolescents in almost all they do. If you view them through that prism you will understand, and when you begin to understand you will begin to accept and develop the patience and tolerance necessary to make this experience rewarding - no, not all the time, but often enough to enjoy the years you spend here.

In many ways life here isn't all that different, we eat, we sleep we enjoy our lives much as we did wherever we lived before. The weather is more pleasant but varies from season to season. Inside my walls the technology is familiar, XM Radio plays, Canadian satellite TV will bring me NASCAR this afternoon. The appliances and gringo comforts of home are the same as my life NOB. This morning the weather site is having problems so I picked up the phone and talked to a person in Iowa just as if I were I still in Texas. Down the block I hear a barking dog and in the distance a crowing rooster, neither of which would have been in TX, but you get used to it and don't notice unless you stop and think of it.

Every place I've ever lived has been different, sometimes pleasantly different, sometimes unpleasantly different, but always driven by the people living there, when you know the people, you know the place. I lived in Louisiana in 1965, right after civil rights, we were a large contingent from California who invaded the area. The black and white folks didn't get along, but both sides disliked us? -it seems life's great experience is a learning exercise in being a chameleon and blending in, not being the nail sticking up that needs to be pounded down.

On another forum recently I told the story of how one blue flower started. I said the in my younger years I was proud to "stand out", but now I'm quietly trying to "blend in" - my my my, how life and the years has changed us.

Some days I wish I had been born Mexican - Really!

THIS — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 16:29:07 GMT

And yesterday was one of those days; it was a day that separated the gringos from the Mexicans. In some ways they live a more idyllic life, far less encumbered by the things gringos think they need in life.

The day started about 5:45am with the sound of rain on the deck. I had closed up everything else expecting it, but left the bedroom doors open. So, I got up, closed the doors and laid back down thinking I'd snooze until 6:30 when the clock radio goes off. About 10 minutes later I saw/heard a flash/crash even though my eyes were closed. It was one of those lightening strikes that you see and hear simultaneously - not a good sign, waaay too close for comfort.

Of course everything went dark, so I got up, flashlight in hand, and came in to shut down the computer which was now running on battery power, returned to bed and snoozed off. A single precision surgical lightening strike had taken out my end of town, it was the first last and only strike? - so no reason to get up at dark:30. Later as it became light I got up and started my day.

Fortunately you can brush your teeth with bottled water, so no problem, there are about 4 flushes before the pressure tank goes empty, no problem. I headed down to feed the cats by flashlight, that doesn't require any electricity. But the coffee pot was offline, so heated water on the gas stove and poured it through the filter and promptly burned my tongue, guess the stove heats it a bit hotter? Breakfast for me is a Bimbo breakfast bar, again no problem - but at that point my day was on hold, no electricity, no computer, no radio, no TV etc. so I sat down by the window to consider options - which were limited, no shower, can't open the front gate to get the car out etc.

Now, let's visit the parallel universe where I was born Mexican, Estaban Sanchez and I was born a bit later, so I'm younger. I live on the N shore of a lake with my chubby wife Carmello and my 4 hijos (kids). I learned to lay bricks and do concrete work as little more than a child. When the lightening struck I just roll over and went back to sleep because no Mexican gets up this time of day and I have no computer, don't need one, and a weather station? - stick your head out the window, that's weather. So, no reason for concern, and if it rains in Carmello will mop it up later.

My brother-in-law Juan and his wife Galena and their two hijos also live with us, so we don't need telephones to catch up on family things and mi Madre and mi Padre live just down the block so we see them every day.

Later Carmello and Galena get up to fix desayuno (breakfast) for the kids and I head to the bathroom. Our water supply is on the roof in a tinaco and water runs downhill so, no need for a pressure pump, I take a shower and get ready for the day. We're lucky, our casa has off street parking with gates we can close. Of course they're not electric powered so I open them and Juan and I drive out, Carmello closes them behind me.

At work, we're rebuilding a rest home, the day begins with mixing concrete by shoveling a pile of sand on the ground, pouring some lime and cement and a pail of water into the middle and mixing it with a shovel until it's ready, and then I shovel it into a bucket and carry it to my work area and start laying bricks. We don't have a radio this morning, but my amigo Carlos sings some and another whistles while my brother-in-law is hammering to break up some old tile and cement floors. We really don't need electricity to work, everything we do is manual as it has been for centuries.

Steve, the old gringo next door, is doing nothing, his water supply is in the ground in an aljibe, so he has no water, no electricity means he can't get out of his electric gate. His telephones don't work because they're electronic and he can't call his Mother in Colorado because the computer telephone isn't working.

It is nice and quiet without electricity, like it was when I was young.

Gringos eat lunch at noon, but there is no power so Steve can't heat anything in the microwave (we don't have one, who needs them? - I have Carmello) so he has some potato chips. Juan and I eat our comida later, at 2pm, it was fixed for us by our esposas and we both have big bottles of Coke, we love sweet things.

At about noon the CFE had restored electricity although we hardly noticed, so the gringo was able to take a shower and check his computer, reset all the timers for his fountains etc. and update his weather station. But, just as we're eating comida the electricity goes off again, no problema, after siesta we'll go back to work as usual. The gringo once again has nothing to do and can't even go shopping because his gate won't open.

Finally at about 5 o'clock the CFE restores part of the power to the front of the property which means the gringos casita has electricity, but the casa grande power is only 94 volts, and will burn out his pump motors and refrigerator if they're not unplugged. For us it's not a problema.

The gringo finally runs 200' of extension cords from the casita to the casa grande, then one to his pump, one to his computers, another to his TV and so the entire house is running on a single extension cord plugged into the casita and powers all the things he considers essential.

We Mexicans work until 7pm and go home to be with our families and a good evening meal, the gringo still has limited power, so he'll have to heat something on the stove. Finally at 9pm power is restored to lower Riberas but we don't care because we've been sitting in the yard singing and playing our guitars. For the gringo there may have been a casualty, the frig was off for an extended time and didn't restart so the food in the freezer may be no bueno, of course we Mexicans don't have that problem, our esposas buy fresh food and fruits and vegetables so we don't need anything frozen.

Yes, many days I wonder if their way of life isn't better and it is definitely far less stressful.

Grandpa, hair gel at your age?

THIS — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 15:11:40 GMT

Here's a funny one, as most of you know, Max and I provide a little weather station for the local folk. Lately one of the sensors was showing a very low humidity reading and finally I tracked it down, compared it to others and replaced it because the humidity section was kaput. I was considering ordering a replacement and having it smuggled in by friends visiting in August. I put the question out on the weather forum and it turns out the humidity sensor is a tiny little circuit board chip, maybe 1/4" square with zig zag circuit lines very close to each other. It's coated with a hygroscopic coating to create a path for conductivity due to moisture in the air. Now, I know about a lot of things from the birds & bees to what makes silver microfilm work - but hygroscopic coatings? - over my pay grade.

I had already taken it apart (naturally) and tried to clean the chip (not knowing what actually made it work) with alcohol thinking that maybe the tiny spider who had taken up residence was "depositing" something on the chip. So, I hit it with a swab and alcohol and the humidity promptly went to 10%? Seems alcohol removes the coating on the chip. But there was good news, one of the guys said some hair gel products have some stuff called PET in them and that coating is what makes it work and he gave a couple of examples of products he had tried and worked.

I set off for our local Soriana mercado and wow, what an adventure. Oh My Gosh, it was like years ago when Chris would say, "honey get me a tube of hair gel while you're at the store please". You feel your lips go numb, the fingers begin to tingle as you approach the "hair gel section" and find more different brands of hair gel in more different containers (all the way from a tube to a tub) and you're standing there like the 68 year old idiot you are trying to make out something recognizable in Spanish and might say "contains PET". Mercifully I finally came across a L'Oreal Studio InvisiFX gel and I headed for checkout, I could hear some Mexican kids snickering at the old gringo in the hair gel section - maybe spikes?

I cleaned it again and started carefully applying thin coats of the gel with a Q-tip and it seems to be working, today after ap #3 we're within 1% of one of the other sensors. Of course all I did was dab the stuff on the chip with a cotton swab, so the amount used is imperceptible.

I can see it all now; in 20 years when I die someone will clean out the junk under the sink and come up with a full tube of hair gel and ask "now what the heck was an 88 year old guy doing with hair gel?" - ha. They won't know that a $2 tube of hair gel saved me $40. PS: having so much gel left over I asked Max if he wanted some spikes? - he hissed and headed up the chimney, he never hisses?

One size doesn't fit all

THIS — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:38:15 GMT

Just a brief followup note on the house hunting saga as I've had a few curiosity comments from people who follow our little adventures here.

Vista del Lago really is a nice place and is where I'll be searching full time starting next Spring when this lease is up, but we'll stay here until then. The house is very nice and if I weren't so spoiled I'd have jumped on it. I guess also the thought of moving still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Probably that's "post TX moving stress syndrome" as that was not only traumatic, but just darn hard work. There were so many things to consider and so much to do that moving from here wouldn't even be a pale comparison, but after 4 years I'm finally getting to know where I've put things, tools etc. and maybe this old dog can't learn new tricks?

At any rate, the house yesterday had a fantastic view of the lake, was on a nice quiet paved (not muddy) street and so all that was great. It had covered parking which I'd love and was a more formal house than this one, maybe a bit too fancy for Max & me, I'd feel out of place if I didn't have on a new pair of shorts and a spiffy tee shirt - ha.

The exercise was good for several reasons, it made me appreciate even more this place for another year, warts and all and showed me what could be possible when the time comes.

So, another adventure down and more to come I'm sure.

Not enough "adventures" coming your way? - create some!

THIS — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:57:26 GMT

Sorry folks, but it's been a hectic time of the year. As noted in recent notes the construction next door and just the normal dust of this place made cleaning almost impossible - so, if it's impossible, why try? - right? But, this is also the time of year the owners come home from Taiwan so it's a good driving force to do what needs to be done. Senora Moreau was the only one home this year and only for a few days, mainly to get her visa renewed, seems they'll be in Taiwan another 2 years. So, I was a cleaning fool for about 2 long - hard - boring weeks. I powerwashed the outside of the house (seriously considered bringing the powerwasher inside as well) I did decks and terrazas, outside furniture, windows - oh, lots and lots of windows and of course some are on the 2nd floor, so you need to not only do the windows, but drag the powerwasher wand up the 15' ladder with you and blast the spider condos out from under the eves.

Then, the real work begins, "top down" as Chris always admonished me, so dust everything, drag the rugs out and over the deck railing and wail the stuffings/dust out of them with an old hand ball racquet, then comb them with a large wire dog grooming brush thing to get out the cat hair and finally vacuum the heck out of them. Now, move all the furniture like a missing piece puzzle and mop floors, better known as "move & mop, move and mop". Move the chairs here, tip the couch up on end (repair a weak leg) mop here, roll the really big carpets back that are too big to haul outside. And, of course there is the mother-in-law scrubbing of the bathrooms and the kitchen, dust the brick ceilings (spiders love it up there). Also, you always tell the gardener the owner is coming, they work extra hard for a couple of weeks at least.

Finally the rain began, it takes time to wash 8 months of dust out of the air, off the leaves of the trees (under which I park the Jeep) etc. Senora Moreau showed up to take me to Sunday brunch, I was excited to show her the house, she briskly walked through out to the pool, didn't even go upstairs and said "I'm hungry, let's go to brunch"? I was crushed, absolutely curshed I tell you. Later, as we went different directions I said to her "you know the Olympics are coming in Oct", she nodded and I said "everyone assumes people will be bringing suitcases full of money and buy everything in site and so if someone shows up at the gate and demands to buy the place, how much do you want because everything over that is mine". She said "$350K and the rest is yours". I smiled and started looking at new cars (toys are what motivate a salesman).

Then 3 days after she left a huge storm hit, the worst I've seen since being here. Mexican houses are built to "breathe" - and this one was breathing water through pores I never saw before. I had water blowing in under the front doors, under the soaker towels and across 15' of tile floor to the couches, I was mopping like a fool and throwing down more towels. I came back upstairs and just as I sat down at the keyboard to update the weather station to 'MAJOR DISASTER SEND RESCUE TEAMS" There was a near lightening strike, actually I thought it hit the house, a very loud POP and everything on the PC desk went dark?

About the same time as I was wondering what had just happened I heard, & felt, a large THUMP up on the roof - you have to imagine horizontal sheets of rain and gusts of wind over 30mph. I figured the mast with all the weather instruments had blown over as the anemometer suddenly gave up the ghost. It was strapped to a concrete mount on the roof, probably 15" X 15" X 15" tall which was also the satellite TV dish mount.

Finally the storm blew by, I finished mopping and it was about 11:30 by that time and I was tired - oh yes, a new leak in the bedroom wall got two of my pics wet. I crashed and Max came out of hiding.

The next day I washed (because the water coming in was muddy from all the months of dust) something close to 20 towels. I always wondered why Chris bought so many towels, she thought they were for decoration, I found a much better use for them! I headed up on the roof first thing and yes the weather mast was down, but the entire block of concrete had been ripped lose and tipped over onto the solar collector. Long story short, the collector wasn't hurt, the sat dish only minor damage and was remounted in a new location, the weather mast relocated, found both pieces broken off the anemometer and epoxy seems to be holding.

Now, to the inside, the 6 month old regulator was toast, the Vonage phone adapter was the large POP - toast, the bug zapper on the upper deck and timer were toast - wow, the fun of it all? But, as with all things, we did ok, we're fine and the damage could have been much worse.

So, finally things calmed down a bit, we had a couple more horizontal storms, but nothing like the biggie. Then hurricane Arlene off the E coast pushed a weeks worth of ugly, mangy weather on us, windy, dark, wet, cold you name it and it's still not really cleared up, but yesterday we had an entire 24 hours without rain - hooray I guess, but it already rained .01" today?

With no excitement I decided my life was much too boring. Two months ago I looked and looked for a new house, found many, none were pretentious enough, or whatever for Max and me, so I decided to pass and suffer through the continuing construction next door etc. Yesterday the 5th I paid my rent and signed a new 1 year lease which will take me almost to the 5 year mark. There was a loud voice in the back of my head screaming "ARE YOU CRAZY???" - but, I ignored it as usual and signed on the line.

I've been doing some major behind the curtains rework on the weather station and one of the things is humidity, so yesterday I took a sensor and taped it to an outside mirror on the Jeep and headed out to do "scientific research" - or whatever. I ended up in Vista del Lago which is about 5 miles E of Chapala and the home of the Chapala Country Club golf course. I had found a house here 2 months ago, but they wouldn't go for a 2 year lease. So, I'm just driving around and - SHAZAAAAM - a "For Rent" sign on what appears to be a nice house up near the top of the place with a great view of the lake etc. I smiled and drove on - and then I looped around the block and back and wrote down the tele number, who knows, maybe the Lord wants me and Max to move out there?

Came back and called the number and long story short, I'm touring the house today at 1pm. Now I have the possibility of having found the "right" house at $400 a month less, two months late and 4 hours after I signed my new 1 year lease? We'll see how this plays out.

As I said "not enough adventures coming your way? - create some!" - and speaking of adventure, I'm sure MX has a "3 day buyers remorse" clause in their leases - ha, and I'm a secret millionaire, stay tuned.

And then it rained? - where did that come from?

THIS — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 16:43:57 GMT

It's been a time, so just a note in case you think we're asleep at the switch down here. It stopped raining on Sept 29th last year, we went 200 days without a drop. Then in April we got a shower, just to test the system I guess? Then another 40 days dry, and I do mean DRY. But lately we were beginning to see the first promise of the rainy season, big puffy clouds coming at us from the ENE and even though we didn't get any rain it was nice to dream and hope.

Late yesterday while my gardener was pumping my $$$ out to water the jungle there was this loud noise? - then again and suddenly it began to rain, where did that come from? So, the annual Montezuma two step rain dance scramble begins (well, sort of, you get the idea). All the leaks that leak have to be remembered, you close windows, put out soaker towels, but it was fun - well, until I head an explosion in the distance about 30 milliseconds before the lights went out. Ah, glad to see the CFE is on track for another year of bad, and no, service which is basically a thumb in both eyes because our rates went up another 11% this year - for what?

Am I complaining? - naw, just reporting the obvious. But, the rain was nice, almost half an inch, the giant sucking sound was the ground absorbing every smidgen of agua almost instantly and this morning all that was left was to reset all the timers and clocks, download and rebuild weather station db's, hang wet soaker towels out to dry, collect fallen palm fronds and put the door mats back out - which I did remember to take in before the conflagration started. All in all a good practice session for the season. The rain forecasters in Guad say some rain on the 9th, season starts on the 11th, of course they missed last night for the most part, but they try, and try, and try?

Otherwise this is the "Spring cleaning" season, dusting has been a fools errand as the construction next door continues, the dusty roads at both ends of the estate provide a nice coating of everything flat and even vertical. But, the owner is coming on the 16th for a short visit, so it's the driving force to get me off dead center to get things moving. Fortunately the driving rain last night washed some of the spider webs off the N side of the house, so powerwashing that will be easier. Something about being up 10' on a ladder with a powerwashing wand in your hand causes me to procrastinate? But, has to be done.

A personal request:

The following is a special request, more personal than most things I write about. My niece Katie joined the Guad to go back to school to get her Masters, but was called to duty. She will be leaving for Afghanistan almost as I write this. Her destination is classified, but from indications it will be in the North of the country. Her Mother received a call from her on Memorial Day saying she was being fitted with body armor and camo in preparation for deployment. Initially she was to drive ammo trucks, but now has been assigned as a top gunner on one.

This is a young lady I remember from family reunions, one who earned her scholarships to college from sports, one raised as all girls are, to love, to give and nurture life, not to have to decide to take life; even in the name of our country. I guess the older I get the less I understand why this has to happen to the best, the youngest and most promising of our children. Why don't they send us old guys who have little more to contribute to life?

Please think of Katie and pray for her safe return and for the safe return of all those who serve us to protect the America we know and love.

In closing I'm reminded by the following which hangs on my wall:

It Is The Soldier

"It is the soldier, not the reporter who
has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet, who has
given us freedom of speech

It is the soldier, not the campus
organizer, who gives us the freedom
to demonstrate

It is the soldier who salutes the flag,
who serves beneath the flag, and whose
coffin is draped by the flag, who allows
the protester to burn the flag."

- Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, SGT, USMC -

And then my lips went numb and my eyes glazed over

THIS — Sat, 07 May 2011 13:01:00 GMT

So, life in retirement is pretty much plain vanilla with an occasional cinnamon red hot thrown into the mix to get your attention. Days all look much the same, you no longer look forward to Friday and you don't hate Monday. Days, weeks and months blend together and slip by with few things to punctuate their passing. My friend from Canada came down in October and left the first of April and it seemed only a few weeks. Here in MX, flowers always bloom, trees basically never lose their leaves, it's just a continuing repetition of pleasant days.

So, when something exciting or different actually does happen you tend to take notice - and day before yesterday as I was sitting here at the keyboard uploading pics for a slideshow I got a boink indicating "you have mail" - well, ain't that special. So, I flipped over to Email and it was from my bank, Bancomer, it was titled: Nuestra especialidad es que ganes al instante which translates to; "Our specialty is to win instantly" - catchy huh. So, I open it up and it simply said:

Stephen David Brown
Terminación de Cuenta 1275

Ok, now I'm beginning to take notice, we may have a "red hot" here. My Spanish, and probably yours, is good enough to guess what "Terminación" means and cuenta is account, like when you're in a restaurant and want your check, you ask for "la cuenta por favor" - my account please.

Now, combining all my language skills it begins to look like they're "terminating" my account 1275 - SHAAAZAM, I'm definitely paying attention now and I can measure the adrenaline flow, it's rapidly increasing from a drip or two a week to a tablespoon full all of a sudden pumping through the old veins.

I've learned in life that nothing is as bad as it might first appear, well, most things aren't, anyway I calmly reached over, picked up the paper bag I keep handy and started breathing rapidly into it. After a short time the glaze on my eyes began to clear and I could feel my lips again, so I thought about it for a moment, I probably misread the cryptic message right? - no, that's what it said, "Terminación". I called one of their reps named Phoebe and explained it and after asking me several times to repeat what it said she was mystified and referred me to my "personal" banker Beto down in the Village. (we rich gringos get special treatment with a PCU, Preferred Customer Unit manager)

After explaining it to him he said that in Spanish they were using the word Terminación slightly differently, basically what it was saying was "the account "ending" in number XXXX - ok, I can see that, Spanish is that way, they put the most important part of the message right up front with adjectives and modifiers after. So, I was still laughing, but not as hysterically as before, so what are they trying to tell me? I mean, the title was "Our specialty is to win instantly" which could also mean they got your money and instantly you got bupkiss, afterall, this IS Mexico and odd things have been known to happen?

He said he'd check, and later I got another Email from him saying it was supposed to be a deposit promotion, if you deposited $7,500 pesos you get a set of Pyrex dishes - again, ain't that special?

Yesterday I paid rent and stopped in his office to deposit some and I said "Beto, you have to stop scaring old gringos that way, we panic easily" - we both laughed. Turns out the Email was sent from corporate in MX City (and you know how corporate office are?) and they got the name and acct #, but not the rest of the message merged in and by the time we talked yesterday he had over 40 calls from other panicked old gringos asking "WHAT?????" - so, that ended that and I was reassured enough to deposit some more.

That was my "red hot" in the plain vanilla for the day, heck, probably week or even month, but as I always tell Mom when I talk to her, "nothing exciting to report" is a good thing, especially at her age, and mine also I guess?

Happy Mother's Day to all the special ladies out there who make our lives complete.

So, I punted, what can I say?

THIS — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:38:00 GMT

I generally put off procrastinating as long as possible, but sometimes you have to step up and make the big decision - or punt, so I opted to punt for another year?

Four years ago late September I flew into Tortillaville literally for a single day to find a house and my good luck was also my bad luck. I found the place I'm living in - and I love it, well for the most part, other than being too expensive, next to construction as previously noted, on dusty dirt streets, isolated from civilization by fields of topes and in an area with frequent power outages - it's great?

I said to the agent, I'll take it for 6 months to get down here and I'll wire money tomorrow. Once here and after unpacking some boxes and beginning to see if I could make it in MX and if I liked it enough to stay I started looking around and discovered I was in a rather special place (never had this luck before?) and maybe I should consider staying. I asked to extend to a year, but the rental agent said the owners wanted to sell the house and wouldn't extend. Of course she had no idea who she was talking to and what a challenge she had just offered.

Again with some luck I found friends of the owners who gave me their email address in Taiwan where they are teaching. Eventually negotiations allowed me to take over the whole place and here I am 3 1/2 years later. But, sometimes change is good and reducing my expenses would definitely be good, so I decided to explore "moving the weather station" to new terrain and the hunt began. I started reading real estate websites (that was depressing) went to a couple (even more depressing) I put a note on the weather page and got several offers. In the mean time I was driving areas I thought Max would enjoy, I'm not particular you understand, but he's real finicky about where he lives? I was looking for places that "felt" like home, hopefully with "Se Renta" signs although you don't see many, people tend to work through agencies or word-of-mouth, but I put some miles on me and the Jeep looking.

I looked at houses, mostly drive by (I can tell a lot, it either feels like home or not) all the way from $400 a month fixer uppers (not home) to places in gated communities (maybe home?) from the flat to the upper slopes of Gobblers Knob, mostly to no avail. When I was preparing to move down here I thought I'd hate living behind walls (I will admit we have a lot of land inside our walls by comparison to most places) but I found this lifestyle is actually very much me, at least at this time in my life. If I want to be social I open the big gate and go out, if not I close that big old gate and live in my little park - and now that the Canucks have flown N it's really quiet here, well except for the construction next door, but that doesn't count as social discourse.

I really began to like a place called Vista del Lago, a development at the Chapala Country Club about 5 miles E of Chapala. In that development I found the perfect house and while it's for sale, it's also for rent - not cheap of course - things I want never are? This place sits at the top of Vista del Lago overlooking the golf course with a view of the lake that is killer. It's modern, perched on the side of the hill with multiple levels and generally "IT IS ME" - pretentious, prestigious, ostentatious - but all in good taste you understand? - and best of all, Max approved. But, I, we, want a 2 year lease and they wouldn't agree to that and we won't move for only one year - and so far I haven't figured a way around this challenge.

The quest continued to two other houses in the same group, somewhat less spiffy even though one is on the 1st fairway, but only 1 level, I want 2. Next I explored the Raquet Club (golf didn't work, tennis anyone?) about 5 miles W of the Village (you can see the pattern, I don't want to live in, or near, town). I was offered a house at the very top, and I do mean "nose bleed elevation top" of the development. It's about 1 mile "up" into the development and you climb 600' from the highway entrance to get there on lovely cobblestone streets (which I'd bet when wet are slicker than you know what). The place was OK, less than half what I'm paying here, but also considerably less than half the size and after driving the area twice I put the oxygen mask away and decided against it, the Jeep heaved a sigh of relief. I found another house out there, a bit more like this one, but it just didn't feel like "home".

So, after a few weeks of intensive search and driving, and still sulking over not getting the perfect house, I decided to punt - again - I'm good at that, I still have the storage area in TX that I have no idea what to do with except to keep paying on? I called or emailed owners and thanked them for their offers, but that I wouldn't be moving and sent an OFFICIAL NOTIFICATION to Margaret that her hovel is available again this winter should she choose to fly south from the great frozen North. So next year we'll do this again for real.

The quest was depressing and confirmed what I feared most - I stumbled into a perfect house for Max and me in many ways and now I can't find anything comparable, at least that we can afford? But, it was good in making me realize how really lucky we are to have this lovely place, warts and all, for another year. Now that we're staying I need to find something to paint or fix!

Glenn Miller's Serenade in Blue with a "La Cugaracha backbeat?

THIS — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 17:18:00 GMT

Remember the movie "Never on a Sunday"? - well, normally here in MX you can depend on them to NEVER ever work on Sunday, you can almost guarantee it. They'll work on Christmas day, but not Sunday - well, until now, next door (gee, how lucky can I get?).

Next door at the old La Casa Nostra someone is investing big $$$'s in totally rebuilding the place into another retirement home. The work started a few weeks ago with 7am-7pm pounding of hammers and breaker bars breaking out the old tile floors, stripping the walls of tile and plaster etc, scooping the broken tile etc. rattledee clank into a wheel barrow etc. So, we sort of live in a boom boom clank & crash world, ok, they do stop at night about the time the party over at the park picks up, but I've started setting my alarm for 3:30am, I found a dead space in the noise level around that time and I want to be awake to enjoy it.

So, as work progresses, they're banging away and once in a while the old wall gives way and I have a couple of holes, not large, in the wall. Yesterday I saw one of the cats venture a peek in there, I smiled. For a time we got Saturday afternoons off, so that was nice, a whole afternoon with no bang and boom. And the wonderful quiet on Sunday we so look forward to - well, no more!

The tempo has stepped up, yesterday we got a whole day of bang and boom. And the one thing that continues to amaze me is the determined effort here in MX to remain in the past and do everything manually. These guys are using a small sledge hammer and chisel to deconstruct the place, one brick at a time and one whack of plaster at a time. Of course with solid brick walls you have to chisel a channel into the surface to embed plastic conduit to run electrical wires through. Do you think they'd use a grinder to cut grooves and then chip out the middle like wood work? - absolutely NOT, we do it the ancient way, clank & chip, it takes longer that way? Yes, I know, it's a Mexican "make work" thing, but that' doesn't mean I have to understand it.

Today, being Sunday, we finally get a break - NOT! At 8:30 they started cutting steel, yes, with a grinder, the same one they should have used to cut the brick and plaster to chip out for the conduit - but, I digress. Anyway, they're howling away over there, freaking out the cats, giving me a headache and then the real fun begins, a boombox. Now in MX they're a bit different, they look a lot like ones we see NOB being carried around on shoulders to offend as many people in the local as possible with rap etc. But, the MXn versions don't even bother to put a volume control, or tone controls on the offending appliance. When you hit the ON switch, it's max volume and of course the cheap speakers totally distort the (I hesitate to say) music, so no tone controls are necessary, it's just a BLAT BLAT BLAT.

This being the warm time of year the house is open, I like to play XM radio quietly in the background around the house to set the peaceful mood my karma is attempting to attain in my retirement. But, of course with the BLAT BLAT BLAT echoing from next door, my 40's music, like Serenade in Blue, is now mixed with a La Cugaracha backbeat and I'm conflicted, I don't know whether to waltz or (whatever is it you do to La Cugaracha?).

As you might imagine, the new casa hunt goes on. I'm developing a comedy routine, as I go from one rental agency to another asking about renting a new place I always start by telling them I need a place that is "QUIET"! That always leaves them howling with laughter - then it take another 5 minutes to calm them down and get them to realize I'm serious - which is about where they tend to lose interest in finding me a new casa?

Ok, I "spranged forward" - now what?

THIS — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:49:00 GMT

This dumb ritual the world's governments have foisted on us is mindless, of course nothing of note or value actually happens, life goes on, paint still peels and all we do is expend huge amounts of human time and energy going from clock to clock, to car clock etc. only to forget at least one which will come back to bite us in the week ahead.

DST is simply yet another way they express their ability to make us jump through doofus hoops twice a year. I can begin to understand why the good people we elect suddenly change when they get to DC, or Ottowa etc. - they now have POWER, they can wave their pens and make millions of people do inane things for no good reason!

Twice a year we're required to remind everyone with dumb saying which way to turn their clocks, in the Spring the great keeper of time taketh away an hour because when you wake up one Sunday morning it's already past time for coffee and already time for - whatever? Then with great benevolence that same great keeper of time in DC, Ottowa etc. giveth back that hour and one Sunday when we wake up - we got up an hour early? - makes sense to me, but try to explain that to a cat!

Of course all the ritual of these seasonal changes, dictated for some ancient obscure illogical reason, is lost in antiquity - today who cares? And, to that end Mexico has taken the first faltering step of saying "y'all go ahead, we'll stick with the old schedule" - which puts us out of sync with most of the modern world - boy, does that bring into play a whole other blog about manual labor in MX vs. the 20th century use of modern tools - but, I digress.

So, 'tis the Spring and I've "spranged," well, sort of, being retired time doesn't have a lot of meaning so who cares except to know when NASCAR starts? For example, I only wear my wrist watch when I go to Colo to see Mom in Oct, which is "normal" time, so it never gets changed to DST and no one notices because the rest of the year it's in the jewelry box.

And then there's the cats, this morning when the clock radio, tuned to XM radio 40's channel, clicked on, it kicked off with a rousing rendition of Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman (that will start your morning with a zing) - at what it thought was 6am (but now really 7am) Max immediately leaped on the bed, he must have got the memo about time change and thought it was already 7am and he was hungry - or maybe he's just got extra starch in his sails this morning, who knows what a cat thinks?

Now, tomorrow when I've reset all the clocks, timers etc. it will be dark:30 when the clock radio kicks in and Max, I and the outside cats will all sleepily trudge into our day in the dark, it takes a couple of weeks for everyone to adjust, I'm tempted to stay on "solar time" the heck with clocks there isn't anything wrong with "suns up, I'm hungry, it's dark, I'm sleepy".

Of course today being Mexico's day to go to DST does have one single blessing, now all the TV schedules are only one hour behind instead of two. In a previous thread I documented how programs come out of the eastern zone and for two weeks in the Spring and 2 more in the Fall we have to remember to add 2, or is it subtract 2 rather than only 1? - I can't remember, oh well.

It's also a changing time of year as all the wild Canadian snowbirds fly N (courtesy of Air Canada etc). This year the first two headed out last Weds so there was extra shopping and dinners etc. preceding their departure. Then Margaret booked it out of here yesterday, Saturday so that meant more activities. She packs a lot of her things and stores them in her car, Betty, and I put a car cover on it for the Summer.

I bring over some things from the casita to store here and this is also a bountiful harvest time as everyone cleans out their refrigerators and I now have enough mustard to cater a company picnic, olive oil (I'm sure I'll use that?) lots of soy, a package of premixed pie crust (sure, I bake weekly - NOT) remaining Coke Zero which may go bad if not consumed soon etc.

But, the best part of this time is that Margaret cooks up a Summer's supply of spaghetti sauce that I have carefully coded, labeled and frozen to see me through the harsh barren Summer months. Plus other delights like baked beans and smoked turkey leg, so we struggle as best we can in this outpost of civilization.

There is an interesting site we use to track traveling friends, it's http://flightaware.com/ which allows you to see the route of a flight and arrivals, delays etc. For instance in Jan when the G2 (girls two, Bev & Barb) came down through Atlanta we noticed they stopped in Houston, sure enough a medical emergency caused an unscheduled stop. So, now that the G3 are all back in the great frozen N, Max and I have to take care of the estate on our own.

The "estate" may change, it's early, but they are completely refurbishing Casa Nostra beside us, so it's bang bang bang 7 to 7. Then they surveyed the lots a bit W of us and are going to build several "vacation" (see fiesta time) homes there so that will go on for at least another 9 months, then there are the kennels across the street and to the W on the illegal land fill where they're going to breed mastiffs? I Emailed the Rental office Friday and told them to start looking for a new place, we're been here 3 1/2 years, so leaving will be hard, but staying may be harder, but as I said, it's early I'm sure there will be much more to the story.

As the old Burma-Shave signs said "Spring has sprung, grass has ris where last years careless driver is" - don't know what that has to do with anything, but just something that popped into my head?

Letter to the Editor, Guadalajara Reporter

THIS — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:45:00 GMT

Generally I have left politics out of this blog for several reasons - as much as anything because this adventure into Mexico was in part a leaving behind some parts of life, a time away from much of what we knew and know of life as we lived it NOB. But, even here in paradise there is always at least one who doesn't get the message, one who can't let go of their baggage, one who can't just shut up, quietly vote their choice and be more interested in the new tamale shop in the village than who is perceived to be lying to us about whatever - by their standards you understand. So, an old habit was brought out of storage and pressed into action this last week and for many, probably most of you who never has seen A Guadalajara Reporter this will be printed in the current edition.

As you don't have the basis for my irratation, it was a full two page center of our local Gringo rag last week, apparently financed by some deranged left wing whacko. The usual suspect parties are listed as well, I assume to mean they have no better way to spend their money here in Mexico? The article was basically a reprint from some leftwingnut and the local (or loco) lady who appears to be the main financier is down on the Tea Party and she'd rather spend money telling everyone her misguided opinions than something of charitable value for instance, donate to the committee to create a life size memorial to the stupidity and inanity of Nancy Pelosi, I really don't care, it would be money better spent, at least the pigeons would have a place to - - - well, to roost. I don't belong to the Tea Party, I've never been to a meeting of the Tea Party, but I was instantly polarized, antagonized and traumatized by her presumptuous shouting in my face here in sleepy Mexico, hence the Letter as follows:

Letter to the Editor:

Many, maybe even most, of us came here to put our former lives behind us, all the drudge of our adult years and certainly the incessant whining of politics like an eternal fly that can't be swatted. We were tired of the never ending vitriol of politics which always seems to end the same, they win, we lose - so, enough, go away, take your baggage and be gone, leave me in peace. Yet here in our sleepy little retirement life we can't escape the shrillness of someone obviously worried about the Tea Party. Of course her outpouring has actually legitimized the Tea Party as a viable threat to her perceived political beliefs which are of absolutely no interest to most of us, take it back NOB, march, scream and stamp your foot, just leave me in peace here.

Last Saturday I opened the weekly paper to find two complete pages shouting in my face, mostly bored, I started to read and the first item told me all I needed to know, the two pages are a sham, completely without merit and exactly what the person purports to find wrong with America. Take the first item, it falsely states SSI is held in a "trust fund" - a complete blatant lie. All that is in the "lockbox" is an infinite number of IOU's. This from the OMB: "The existence of large trust fund balances, therefore, does not, by itself, have any impact on the government's ability to pay benefits." NO IMPACT: The lockbox, the balances, the pieces of paper, amount to nothing, they're simply accounting line items of no value other than to denote the amount stolen by generations of pols in DC for other projects.

Another item says Clinton left a surplus, read the Treasury website, it has never reported a "surplus" since 1994. That was simply a slight of hand transferring federal, or public debt to intergovermental holdings, or another "pocket" so it wasn't counted the same. You doubt? Look it up on the Treasury website, from 1994-2001 there was never a surplus, every year showed a deficit.

My point is simple, be gone, take your baggage, your politics back NOB, most of us here are not interested. I might point out the apparent purchaser of the ad has a single vote, I have one vote and it appears I just nullified all her rage and indignation because we will definitely not be voting alike, so all her bluster and disinformation are a wasted effort.

Steve Brown
Riberas del Pilar

And, besides; the darn paper comes out once a week, it's only a few pages and costs $15 MXP or about $1.20 USD and to find two whole pages of it wasted on something I wouldn't even put in the bottom of the bird cage (if I had one) is a smack in the face. However, I do consider the Reporter's printing of my letter to be a justified use of print paper and a fine and suitable addition to the bottom of any bird cage.

There, I feel better all ready, I get real testy when someone presumes upon me for most any reason these days, I take my time and my privacy seriously, I take my rights seriously and I absolutely insist on being left alone when I don't want to be hauled kicking and screaming into someone else's bad dream. I'm more than old enough to make up my own mind without someone's assistance and whining. I'm old enough that I had to be 21 to vote the first time, I've voted religiously in every presidential election since, I ran for County Commissioner in '72, I stood in line 4 hours in a N Dallas parking lot to vote in '80 and I drove my sealed ballot from here back to TX in '08 to be mailed and counted. I participate, but quietly, ever so quietly please - I INSIST!