Dia mundial del medio ambiente

Turns out yesterday was World Environment Day.  We learned this after the fact, but as it turns out we had put out for the regular solid waste collection, a large container of clean plastic containers and tin cans we had been accumulating, and Carmen had also policed around the house and up & down the streets a bit, disposing of the scraps of paper and plastic trash blown out of passing vehicles or was discarded by sloppy passers-by.  Here, separation of waste materials takes place right beside the garbage compactor truck, which has bags and boxes strapped or tied to it for plastic, steel, newspapers and the like.  When a container is completely filled with a recyclable material, someone lifts it to the top of the truck where it is tied on.  At the end of the run the truck is quite a sight, covered as it is with bags and stacks of flattened cardboard. Only true mixed garbage goes into the maw of the compactor.  This seems so much more sensible than compacting everything and then picking thru the mess in some centralized recycling facility.

A hard rain again last night and steady all last sunday. However at this time of year the temperature only drops into the high 60s F with the nighttime tormentas. so we leave the windows open except if there are gusts blowing the raindrops thru the screens. Around here, when we get rain it's often accompanied by a bit of (usually distant, 9 seconds away or so) trueno y relampago (thunder and lightning, donner und blitzen).  This kind of sound and light show was very rare in Anacortes, WA, so we're kind of in awe of the spectacle here and beginning to like the dramatic, usually brief, tropical downpours.  At night we often smell the fragrance of whatever orchid is currently flowering.  We've heard that flowers which smell strongest at night are normally fertilized by moths.

We are reminded occasionally that we still live on the Pacific ring of fire.  Every so often we feel the ground tremble.  Not long ago we awoke one morning about 5am with our bed jiggling.  There was a tremor down on the isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca. No damage to speak of, but it's always unsettling when what is presumed to be solid underfoot, isn't. (It seems that most of the faults that are subject to underground movement are on the Pacific side of the country, most often in the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero.)  Then that same morning at 8am there was a tremendous boom, as a power transformer down the street blew up!   We expected a long period without electricity, but CFE had it replaced in about four hours. 

We finally put a bar along the bottom of our car gate where we saw the gray cat belly-squiggling under. Then a week later we found her sitting just inside our back door discussing who knows what with our own cats – very quietly. Shooed her out and discovered another place that she could squeeze thru. She surely is slender, and gets along well with the other two. We just do not need or can afford another animal, so we blocked that access point off as well.  The animals will just have to visit nose-to-nose thru the gate.

Seems that the zafra (cane harvest) is finished for this season, which means the air is cleaner. We have worked hard getting the black soot off from everything. We are busy “working” on jigsaw puzzles and reading, including the Harry Potter series, borrowed electronically from the Anacortes library, which we have not read before. Our bleeding heart Clerodendrum thomsoniae (flor de bandera) is blossoming beautifully this year.

Things are happening! First and most interesting – Gardi cat found us a salamander. Are they not just the cutest creatures? Long slender bodies with a bulbus roundish head and tiny short stick like legs with toes. This one was medium brown and in our back yard. Actually in a large empty flower pot which Gardi tipped over with a small crash of the ceramic pot. Carmen rescued it and hopefully saved it in some thick plantings.  She notes that american robins are out and about singing the songs we grew up with.  Since Mexico is as far as they migrate south for the winters, the ones we have seen must be stoking up getting ready to wing their way north!

The house construction across the street to the east of our house has been restarted after a five month break of no action. The work and daily progress keeps us entertained. One of the fellows working has a great voice and spends much time singing at the top of his lungs.

From our rooftop we saw some construction happening at the other end of the banana field to our east – well behind the house being built, just about a block away.  When it first started we assumed (as indicated by the city building permit nailed to the wall), that is was a large residence.  To our disconcertion it is actually a storage yard and bodega (warehouse) for storing chicken crates, usually loaded high on parked semi-trailers. No live chickens, but some of the odor is still there! So far we have seldom smelled anything at our house, but there are occasional hints or whiffs of "fragrance" on the breeze.

Our good quiet neighbor, Valentin, to our west has moved out. Bummer. The house is a rental and is now being spruced up. We hope the next tenant speaks English and is quiet, and perhaps this time with no barking dogs. Time will tell.  Also the house to our immediate south (actually used as an office), with which we share a wall, has had no visible activity in it since before Xmas.

Thanks to Homeland Security and Bernie Madoff, BanamexUSA has canceled all of the bank accounts it holds with folks living in Mexico, giving only a month's notice, so we have been scrambling to find the best new arrangement for our banking needs. BanamexUSA was so convenient, providing peso withdrawals by local ATM from our accounts held in California, and charging no international funds access fees. This also means that we must have our social security sent to a different location. Talk about frustrating!!!!

On the way home from our walk into town today, we purchased 17 manila mangoes for US$0.78. The time before we bought a bunch of fresh litchis.  We love the availability of fresh, inexpensive tropical fruit.  When visiting the bank, we walked past a nearby house in downtown Fortín, where we heard and saw two men yesterday sitting on the front porch and speaking english. We were in a hurry at the time so did not stop then, and they were gone later. Will introduce ourselves eventually.

We went to bed one night recently and discovered that part of our upstairs is now lit with a bright new halogen light. We could probably read by this light in the one bedroom. The new light is aimed down Avenida 21, but canted in such a way to illuminate our north wall from the power pole across the street. It will certainly give us more security, and at no cost to us except for a bit of glare! The bedroom we sleep in has curtains heavy enough that the extra light does not bother us, plus it is easier to see when we go to the potty in the night. So, what we first considered to be a bad thing, is actually all good!

We discovered the hugest paper wasp nest (about the size of a soccer ball) we have ever seen near our chimney high up on the north wall outside! We are getting up early in the mornings when the air is as cool as it gets, and spraying with a long jet of insecticide. We now see little wasp activity, and need to eventually get brave enough to knock it down, hoping that the wasps have all departed.

We are getting back into fix-up mode again. Dan put up the toilet paper roller and towel rods in our new bathroom, and also hung a full length mirror and installed a door stop in the tiled floor. Next we sanded off the deteriorating finish on our cedar chest. We have two power sanders, so we could both work at the same time. Had to mix a bit of special stain for some trim strips. Carmen gave the whole chest three coats of new nitrocellulose lacquer.  We also sanded some rough spots on the bed frame we had made for the guestroom, and restained and sealed that too. While we had the lacquer out, we disassembled our queen-sized storage bed John Janda had built for us, and attached padded galvanized steel channel stock on the bottom, to raise the structure about 3/4" off the floor.  When we reassembled things we touched up the surfaces where the shallow flooding coming inside from the terrace had damaged the finish.  The bed is now high enough that it stands completely off the the floor--so no more worries about damaging things from stormwater emergencies or wet-mopping the tiled floor.

We still have many small projects. Dan was going to paint a sealer on a bit of our wall that faces the house to west (where Valentin lived). There are some fellows working there getting ready to repaint that house, so Dan asked if he could go over with our ladder to work on that face of our wall while they were there. The fellow showed up this morning and suggested he could do the application of the impermeabilizante for us.  Dan was happy to pay him, and mark that job off our to-do list.

La primavera

Domingo 30 - Sábado 12 Abr 2014  Close followers will note that this post actually covers two weeks. What can we say—life goes on here, not too much different from week to week, so we're thinking we'll spare you the daily details from now on. Newcomers interested in learning what life for recent expats in Mexico is all about are welcomed to browse thru this blog's archived earlier posts, accessible from the navigation column on the right. From now en adelante (going forward) we'll attempt to just fill you in on the new stuff that transpires.

The daily range of temperatures is creeping steadily toward perfect, as it seems the frentes frios (cold fronts) sweeping down from the US are over for the season, and it's really la primavera (Spring). The thermometer rarely dips below 50ºF and the nights usually are in the mid-60's. Some sunny days flirt with the lows 90's, but are mostly comfortable, hitting between 75º and the low 80's in the midday hours. The house stays pretty evenly in the 70's almost all the time, and the outside swings of mercury don't bother us in the least. An occasional light rain in the evening (except for one heavy downpour a couple of weeks ago at night) keeps things green..

We are still waiting for the cabinetmaker who we had here last year to bring back the one kitchen cabinet door that had warped, and which he took back to the shop to fix. Unfortunately, we do not know exactly just where the shop is, and we have been unable to get to him by phone. We do know the shop is in Colonia San José, a residential area of Fortín north of the autopista. So one day when we had the car out we decided to try and find him, figuring we might happen to see his shop sign or distinctive little blue car We had no luck, but then again we (mostly) stuck to the paved streets. The main street north out of downtown Fortín is paved but many side streets are not..We reached the northern end of the street where it too lost it's pavement, and turned around in a muddy cul de sac outside of the Metro bus lot there. The following weekend, passing the Jehovah's Witness hall (where we heard he attends church), we spotted his car, and tucked a note under his limpiaparabrisas (windshield wiper), with the message that he should get in touch. Fingers crossed...

On the way back we decided to visit the Parque de Floricultura, a large municipal flower market out by the fairgrounds north of town. It's a large facility, full of plants and flowers sold by many vendors, but located beyond walking distance from town, so buyers have to get there by car. Not good planning by the city when its was built several years ago (last year we were back in the US during the May festival). It is the site for the week-long annual Feria de la Flor which we hope to attend this year. On this visit we bought two plants, a cheerful yellow rose and a baby Davallia (rabbit's foot) fern, for only MX$20 each. These prices are ridiculously low, for gallon-sized plants, and are clearly a result of the low customer traffic these stalls see, located outside of town.  Next time we'll take the camera.

The next week, we were invited over for a meal at Ania and Frank's, which was to be enjoyed under their new carport, located in the middle of their beautiful yard. The local radio station had been announcing a tourism fair (local foods, handicrafts, etc) in central park, so we left early hoping to take a turn thru the large tented area set up in front of city hall. No such luck, the day before had been the last day and there was a crew taking down the venue. We used the extra time we had before lunch to stroll the smaller floral market. One stall owner gave us a tour thru the far back end of his stall, where he was raising orchids. He explained that he had recently obtained a license to propagate native Mexican orquideas, but he couldn't work with any of the non-native species. He is working with a local agronomist to perfect his procedures. This fellow had recognized Carmen from passing our house and seeing her working in the front yard lower garden.  The meal was a great treat, with oven-roasted fish, stuffed avocados, and as alway, great company.

When we had been out and about, we stopped in at the local water commission office to remind them about the city water line leak near our back gate. Having dealt with them before, and it taking almost a year to get our new bathroom hooked up to the city sewer line, Dan expected this would be the first of many reminder visits he'd have to make to get this taken care of. (He had pointed out the waterline leak to the engineer at the time our sewer connection was made, to be told to wait until the dry season to report the leak. No great rush to fix these things at that time, it seemed.) To our great surprise, several days later, two guys worked one morning to fix the problem. When we next have to do some concrete work we will probably put a hard cap over that spot, as they only refilled the hole with soil and some rock, a recipe for a future pothole right off the edge of our driveway apron. We have noticed, after several weekend experiencing city water shut-offs, that the pressure in the system is now better than it ever has been. We assume the newly elected city hall crew is fulfilling a promise to patch up the water system, and maybe that's why we were lucky to get prompt action after reporting the leak.

We have both had brief head colds and congestion, but seem to be well on the mend. Recently we met a woman from around the other side of the block who is just getting over a long convalescence which kept her at home in a wheelchair for two years. Caroline moved here from Santa Rosa,CA and was married about 25 years ago to a mexicano., when they built their house here in Fortín long before our house was built. She said back then it was all solid sugar cane fields here. She has two grown sons which she raised as a single mom, one of them still lives at home. She has been a school teacher here (teaching english), and most recently retired from being an office person in the local police department. We loaned her some books to read and will probably see her more often, and trade visits, now that she is up and around again. It is always interesting to talk to somebody who decided to leave the US many years ago, and has some work history here, and a long term view of things. Most of the folks posting on the forums (fora) we follow are more recent expats, having moved after their working days were finished. So, in retrospect, we could have made this move a lot earlier in our lives, little did we know at the time. We're just glad we are still healthy and mobile enough to enjoy tropical abundance that surrounds us, the cultural differences and the friendly people we encountered each day.  Here's a couple images of one of our Stapelia plants, which like most of the the other succulents, is growing well this spring.  The bloom is about 9" across.

Examen ocular

Domingo 23 - Sábado 29 Mar 2014   Carmen wanted to go to the Lebanese restaurant in Orizaba to celebrate her cumpleaños (birthday), but for one reason or another we never did it until today, 4½ months later.  Sunday is the day when they have their full buffet, and since we had talked about our positive experience there, Ania and Frank decided to dine with us. Oh so scrumptious! Authentic ethnic restaurants here are few and far between. After overstuffing ourselves from the buffet, the owner gave us some Lebanese special desserts that were not part of the dessert table. On the way out, Ania spied some items to buy. The one was a kilo-sized bag of semolina, which is rarely found in stores here. She shared with us. Carmen had been longing for the taste of cream of wheat for a long time...

We received an email from a friend who has been involved in rescue/recovery efforts, about the devastating mud slide very close to where we lived for many years in the US. Since then, we have been following the local news on the NWCN website.  The landslide, a mile wide and pushing mud & debris about a mile from the hillside that gave way, covered 59 lots and about two dozen houses, and has blocked the state highway and clogged the Stillaguamish river betwen Oso & Darrington, in the state of Washington. The rain-soaked hillside north of the river, perhaps undercut by the flowing water, came down as a rush of mud, rocks, trees and undergrowth, crossing the river and covering the little group of houses that had been built in a flat ox-bow loop on the south side of the river.  Rescure efforts were hampered as the mud was like quicksand, and due to constant rain it was feared that the hillside had not yet stabilzed. As of saturday 18 bodies have been recovered and 30 are still missing and may never be found..

Another jigsaw puzzle was started and finished. Only 1000 pieces, but harder than the last. It is a golfing "Where's Waldo"-type scene, with hundreds of tiny people golfing in the most unlikely situations. In trees, cars, trains, planes, canoes, and over cliff edges.

Tuesday Dan finally had his examen ocular (eye exam). His experience was the opposite of Carmen's.  Dan had Dr Ferrón, a male doctor instead of the woman Carmen had. This fellow enjoyed talking with us and opinioned that Obama should take over Mexico and make it part of the US.  He could not imagine any one leaving the US and moving here. He said he would gladly trade our US house today for his. Dan's eyes are in good shape, no changes since his last exam two years ago, and he was given some eyedrops in case he ever had need of them.

Mangoes, guayabas, apples (at US$0.60 cents a pound), pepitas (pumpkin seeds), spinach (two large bunches for US$0.14) and good looking pork chops were our buy today. Strawberries fresh on a corner in downtown Fortín for US$0.35 a pound. These are easily as good as the berries grown in northwest Washington, and are not the huge, watery, weak-flavored berries that are shipped around the US from California. Yes, another shortcake! Apple pie soon too, with MaryLou's recipe. Often our evening cena (dinner) is a half apple and piece of cheese each.

Tuesday thru wednesday we received a light steady rain. Posies perked up! Our gorgeous hibiscus suddenly showed us that it is suffering with root wilt. We followed survival info from the internet. Took it out of the pot. Threw the dirt away. Rinsed the roots in chlorinated water. Put it in new soil which we then watered with an anti-fungal solution. Wondering if we have saved it. Probably not, but Ania says they are pretty resiliant. We also have a couple other plants with a fungal problem. We have sprayed and watered them with a sulfer-based fungicide. Apparently this fungal wilt was the cruel killer of our goats foot pink orchid tree.  We saved some pods from this tree, planted them after losing the tree, and so far eight have germinated. Also the piece of our vanilla orchid which was accidentally broken off a year ago, has started to grow again. Yea!

Gardi spotted a butterfly (black with orange triangle and white spots around the edge) on it's last legs. At least it was unable to fly. He did not touch it, until it crawled upon his tail, at which time he gently removed it and sat watching it, the last we saw. Smij is becoming less fearful of her world. She even occasionally lets someone passing outside the fence actually see her, the least scary people it seems are mostly men with soft voices. She will study them before dashing inside.

We presently have copper-colored chrysanthemums on our dining table and red carnations of cream & deep red petals in the living room. Our  miniature roses are blooming: red, white, peach and yellow. Think they will be small bushes. More orchids blooming. Speaking of copper – the back portion of Carmen's hair is rather copper-like – the front being light gray. Weird for some one who formally lived with ash blonde.

Friday was not as expected. We went to IMSS hospital to do a quick pick-up of papers at the clinic head's office to get Carmen's next eye appointment. The tonometer (machine for testing internal eye pressure) had been broken when Dr Vera had examined Carmen, so the doctora had written up an order to send her to another hospital for the test.  This is the same machine that tested Dan earlier in this week!  Now, it seems that the clinic chief, understanding that the machine was fixed, wanted to avoid sending folks elsewhere for the testing. Apparently they had to wait for Dr Vera to personally check and OK the machine. Two other ladies were there waiting for the same issue. Turns out that the doctora never showed up  for her shift and we are to return monday. This next time we will not forget a book. We were there for four hours!   While waiting, Dan's sore throat got to the point where he was barely able to squeak sounds. Since we are to take in a fecal occult test monday, we can take no vitamin C – which is our favorite “get rid of colds and sore throat” treatment.

Mid-day temperatures went above 90ºF. Used our car airconditioner driving home from IMSS, for the first time since arriving in Mexico. This evening a gray-haired lady rang our doorbell. She carried an old five gallon bucket, and asked for some food. She gave us so many blessings of thanks after we handed her a container of milk, that we felt we should have given more. We are not the only house she will stop at however. Some folks specifically ask for tortillas, which we have only frozen. The younger folks get a juice box, and one really starving elderly man also gets cookies or part of our recent meal.

A favorite tv show at the moment is “The Renovators” from 4:30 til 6pm, five days a week. Takes place in Australia and was filmed in 2011. We had missed the first few shows, but luckily after the last show, the series started again. It starts with 26 people and ends up with one, renovating six rundown houses around Sydney. Friday evening a strong wind storm, with giant rain drops, blew in from the northwest. Carmen had to fight with the strong rachas (gusts), to get the windows closed. The floors and chairs on the north and west were soaked with driven rain. We have never before had forceful winds from the west, and we had not had rain blow inside since we put the plexiglas panels part way up outside our windows. The storm was relatively short – but soaking. 

Our breakfast bananas have gone squishy – banana muffin time. The neighborhood gray sleek female cat can get thru our narrow barred gates. Yesterday she was found sitting with Gardi under our car. No fighting – merely enjoying the companionship! Probably Gardi will invite her into our house some day. Then what?

No specific pictures illustrating the week's activities, so we have selected some images of our cactus & succulent collection to place here.

Baño completo

Domingo 24- Sábado 30 Noviembre

The Lord gave us a great fog sunday for all day, along with a mere 64ºF outside and 69ºF inside. Most of the flowering plants outside don't seem to mind the weather - this hibiscus is about 6" in diameter, and seems to love the clouds and rain.  (We ARE living at the edge of the cloud forest, after all!) The weather report called for clouds and precip all week. Sunday was to be the only day this week with no rain, so laundry was to be done. But, isn't fog just a massive amount of water in the air, in much finer droplets? We might be reduced to using our clothes dryer instead of clothes line. However, it was a good day for cooking an item that takes a long time. That warms the house sufficiently. Today it is to be chayote for soup. A colder day will be dried beans or beets.

Nervy little termites have started indulging in a wood beam above our hanging fruit and veggie basket at the edge of the kitchen, as evidenced by sawdust-like fine particles on the countertop below. Their tiny holes are surely difficult to find. Dan climbed a short ladder to give them a drink of festermicide via syringe, which stops the activity immediately. Dan also took the opportunity of inclement weather to catch up on some inside projects, first installing the hidden light fixtures under the wall cabinet at the end of the new downstairs bathroom (a tricky proposition as, due to prior measurement errors, there was just enough room for them to fit). Then finally, working at putting in the toilet we purchased many months ago, which has been sitting there in a big carton waiting for him to get pysched about drilling mounting holes in the tile and concrete floor. With a wee bit of help from Carmen, he installed the toilet. We now have a baño completo (complete bathroom)! The only problem was that the toilet rocked a bit on the floor after tightening up the bolts, so it took some time finding and installing wedges to make it stable, and finally caulking around the bottom edge of the bowl.

We discovered that inspite of all the work done last winter & spring, we still have evidence in the upstairs bathroom of moisture leaking in from the party wall to the south, where the house there has unfinished walls open to the skies above. This will require getting permission from our neighbors to seal and caulk some wall-floor joints on their side of the wall.  We'll have to get in contact with our crew of masons, who all live up in Coscomatepec.  This will be before Xmas, as we owe them their aguinaldo (about 4% of their annual wages) that is always, by law, to be given at the end of the year to all long-term workers. At that time we will arrange for a bit more work we want done, including the sealing of such leaks, running lines for our kitchen hot water heater thru the walls, and some paving blocks laid in the front yard..

Tuesday Dan needed more disks & cases to finish copying the music from his computer. We drove out to buy same and since we were out and about, we went on to Shattuck's. We had heard on the radio that morning that the coffee growers were having a manifestación (protesting the low prices for harvested coffee beans) which closed the federal highway between Fortín and Cosco, where the lady who does housekeeping and gardening lives. We thought she might not have been able to get to Frank & Ania's. Since the weather was colder than usual and rainy, we had best check on miss kitty. She was there, and all was fine.

Tuesday night went down into the 40's and wednesday only got up to 54ºF outside. We don't recall it ever being this cold last year. Even the three cold days we did have then were much later in the winter. Inside our house with no heat, the temp was 67ºF – time for some extra layers of clothing, and an extra blanket on the bed. We also learned last winter that our vanilla orchid does not like temps below 10ºC (50ºF), so we wrapped it with layers of plastic for several days until the temperature warms up sunday. Seems that our kitties do not like the cold any better than we do. Gardi really wanted outside, so we let him out and within a couple minutes he was meowing to come back in. But, we're not really complaining about the weather, which is nothing like the US is experiencing, or the interminable periods of cold-wet in the Pacific Northwest. We're used to and appreciate the clouds and occasional gray days. And, a little bit of seasonal variation helps us mark the months that pass. The succulents we have been collecting seem to be weathering the cold and rain just fine.

Carmen cooked two light hot meals today instead of only one to help warm our bodies. Plus it did warm our house a couple degrees. Navy bean with italian sausage soup for supper and hot spanish rice for lunch. Pans of leftovers were left on counter to cool and give us their heat. This we never do otherwise. We are firm believers in cooling foods as quickly as possible to keep them from spoiling. Our years in restaurant business taught us this. Food cooling and storage procedures were things the health inspectors always checked. Carmen finished the cover for the large foam pad on bench in the master bedroom, with much help from Gardi cat. Looks great!

Saturday it finally warmed enough with the sun out, so that we could hang laundry outside. As we were finishing a late breakfast, an elderly man came to our gate asking for food. Normally he would have gotten a juice or milk box. Today he got lucky. Carmen had not finished her ham and cheese omelet and had a tortilla left, so we put the two together plus some hot sauce and he got that also. He has been here before, moves very slowly, and always looks starved. He did indeed stand by our gate while he ate the food, and he put the beverage in his bag.

Late in the week our mailman stopped twice one day, ringing the doorbell. One of the envelopes contained some pictures of her children from Harmony. Children do grow fast! And, once the bell rang well after dark one evening. Who could it be so late?  It was our fresh flower man rang the bell. The only light we had was the dim outside bulb.  We thought we were buying large white mums and orange carnations. Inside, in the light, they turned out to be pink carnations and yellow mums! Finally,  a report on the progress of building project across the street, with most of the perimeter block walls up at two meters now. Based on the reinforcing steel already in place for the vertical castillos (columns between wall sections), they'll probably top out a three (ten feet), which seems to be the standard around here. The cool weather (and mostly dry days) we are having is great for outdoor building projects it seems.

Trueno y relampago

Domingo 22 - Sábado 28 Septiembre

A slow week of happenings. The big thing was the cutting down of the banana trees to our east. They have not all been cut down, but the ones directly across the street from our house are now gone, the depth of a lot. All the basal stalks were carted away to be planted in another field. It is sad to see the vegetation cut down, but we knew there were lots platted there when we bought here. We do enjoy watching as a house grows up from the ground, and we have always wandered thru buildings under construction whenever we've had the opportunity. Wonder what will be built there? Hopefully a magnificent one story house, for nice new neighbors.

Our two kitties, ages 9 and 11, visited their new vet for the first time. Dr. Vargas' clinic is only five blocks from here. He speaks some english, good since probably the kitties have not learned spanish yet. However, Smij seems to know some, so we think her first owners could have been spanish speakers. Turns out that the vaccines here cost about the same as in the US. However, here the vet did not charge an office or physical exam fee. Gardi has to go back, since the vet had only one vaccine for feline leukemia in his fridge. The doctor said that over 95% of his business is dogs. He works long hours, and is out nearly all day making house calls! The office aide opens up at 7am and there is someone there til 9pm. The doctor was there at 7pm with patients when we walked over with the fecal samples for cats the next day. We were very pleased with him.

Not so much rain there his week, but the country is still reeling from the tormentas that hit both coasts. The governor of the state of Guerrero reported on one of the newscasts we watched that 50 highways were badly damaged, 500 communities still not accessible, and 5,000 homes were lost. And that is in only one of the 26 states with substantial storm damage, and now over 100 deaths have been verified. Some coastal rivers in Veracruz are still over their banks.  The "back road" from Fortín into Orizaba is partially blocked with earth deslaves (slides)..

We had started the week with a Sunday afternoon visit from our friends Ania and Frank. A nice meal together followed by some table-game play is always a good time. During the meal Ania surprised us with some remarkably good almost-operatic song. As it was later in the day, we did not have this meal from our rooftop deck, but we have been spending more time up there on the mirador. We have joked in the past about being able to string a zipline between our two houses (over the Tec de Monterrey university grounds), and this week during one of our times up on the mirador we had along our binoculars for bird-watching. Turns out we CAN see just their house roof, and should they stand up on the bungalow's flat roof, we could signal (using a bright flag) back and forth easily.

We often do spanish flashcard practice up there, and one day we had a couple of the yellow-breasted chat flying about and chattering during the study session. One just can not call the sound they make a birdsong; perhaps that's why they're called “chats?” One morning we were lucky to see a huge Blue Morpho butterfly fluttering down the calle around the corner of the house and down the avenida a ways. What a sight this was—it almost matched the color of the house! Never thought we would live in an area where we would be seeing dozens of butterflies a day – and so many different ones. Later in the week we saw the Waiter Daggerwing over by the vet's office. A most unusual large butterfly with solid white near the body and solid brown-black for the outer half of wing.

We had some homemade chile rellenos for the first time, mode with some fresh poblano peppers . These must be in season now since there were huge bins of these very dark green long peppers in the supermarkets. Carmen stuffed them with manchego cheese and bits of pork—que sabroso!. We also bought some yellow pear-shaped guayabas (guavas) to try. Very delicate flavor in the front of the mouth, and a developing stronger flavor when it got to the back of the mouth. 100% edible, but we chose to not eat the seeds since they were a bit hard to chew. The fleshy center, inside the ring of seeds, where an apple core would be, was very soft and ultra-sweet. Yes, the white flesh tasted like guava juice pressed from the commercial pink guavas you may be used to.

Our trip into the city enabled Dan to get to a plumbing supply store. His earlier replacements of the faucet washers for the upstairs sink and shower did not work out. This was evidenced by NO water flowing from the hot side of the sink When he pulled the stem out of the valve, he discovered that the soft-rubber conical-shaped washer that he had purchased in town and used to stop a drip, had stuck in the valve below the stem. When he got it out with needle-nosed pliers, it proved to be already compressed, distorted and chewed up so much that it jammed in the orifice. The washers Dan found at the specialty store (flat, harder material) should work so much better. Later in the week he pulled out the toilet fill valve, which had plugged up with a tiny amount of silt carried in water lines.

Our fresh flower salesman was a day earlier this week. The carnations we purchased last week are still beautiful, so Carmen told Dan – who had gone to the door, that we did not need more until next week. Then she looked out the window as the man passed by and spied some bright yellow roses with orange edged petals. She had to have them! By the time Carmen located the front gate keys and got to the sidewalk the seller was a block away and hustling along. Apparently he only stops at the gates where his known buyers are. Down the street Carmen ran hollering “señor, señor”. What gorgeous flowers! And such good exercise!

One early evening while watching tv, we realized that we had not seen our timid Smij cat for a while. Went looking for her and could not find her. Called to her and there was this quiet meow sound coming from the upstairs deck. Poor frightened little cat had gotten closed outside. Bet she will come in next time she is called. She spent a short time being freaked out, and then we would swear that she started strutting around like she was very proud of her little adventure. This one would not understand, unless one is very familiar with their animals.

The first and second cold fronts of the season, moving down from the US southeast states, are bringing us clear sunny days with highs above 80F and nights nearer 60. Our perfect weather, with snow-capped Citlaltépetl (about 18,500') out bright and clear in the mornings. Yea for cold fronts – at least until they get too chilly later on in the winter. Fortunately, the mass of house moderates things inside, and warm days and cool nights mean for pretty even temperatures over the course of 24 hours. The fronts chased away the nighttime rains and thunderstorms. Early in the week, one particularly close electrical storm had Dan downstairs unplugging electrical appliances and computers, and a huge, close, sudden, loud crack of thunder practically bounced Carmen out of bed in startled surprise. This storm was a rarity, in that most of the tormentas de trueno y relampago seem to center a dozen or more miles away, measured by the time between lightening strikes and the resultant thunder claps.

Dan started setting up a new blog intended to document the seven months of work on our “Casa Azuledos“ with more information than appeared here, for those of you who like building construction as much as he does. The plan is to progress thru the various phases of the renovation, with more attention to details and additional images for each part of the undertaking. There will eventually also be a glossary of (mexican) spanish building & construction terms, accessible from the main page of the blog, which could help those who contemplate their own building project.

Más y más lluvia

(Domingo 08 - Sábado 14 Septiembre)  

Just another surprise! Our safe place for pastries has been in the microwave oven, which sits up on a shelf above a kitchen counter. Not so any more! Carmen opened the door to the oven, and there to greet her were many of her little hormiga helper friends. No matter how much ant poison we use, they keep coming back. Usually the teeny, very light colored, hard to see ones. Even after using the microwave for a minute, an ant was still walking around inside the oven. Yes, Carmen put it out of it's presumed misery. Seemingly, at present, the only food safe place is in the refrigerator. Bet the ants could even learn to enjoy the cold. They really do clean up any spills, so they do help – but...

Even though the week started with a gray, cloudy sky, we went for our walk into town and only a few sprinkles fell upon us. Stopped by a new store a few blocks from home, El Borrego, which does it's own smoked cured ham. A free sample from the clerk proved that it was most delicious, so we bought a kilo. Will be good with the homemade mac and cheese planned for the meal today. We had actually hoped to buy some of their swiss cheese, (the best we have ever had) but they are not carrying that item yet. The parent store is in downtown Córdoba., where we have purchased this before.

Closer to home, we passed a fenced yard with some of its ginger plant (probably Hedychium coronarium, Ginger lily) having spread outside of the fence, encroaching into the sidewalk. Dan said he would like some ginger plants, so of course being that we are now turning into mexicans (anything outside the fence is free for the taking – one person's usable household discards often are appreciated by others, and what is considered usable is a much larger selection than we're used to in the US), Carmen pulled one stalk out by the roots, carried it home and planted it. Then we read that it can be invasive, so after going to Home Depot the next day and buying some more flower pots, this plant got re-potted. Also we later got a Blue ginger (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora) stalk from Ania, which got planted in the same pot. Very different shaped flowers, and one is white and one purple-ish. Hope they enjoy their closeness.

Despairing of being able to id some of the plants we have acquired, as local common spanish names seem to often be no help in determining the scientific name, Carmen joined Dave's Garden (www.davesgarden.com), a wonderfully helpful site hosting a forum where gardeners around the world chime in with identification, propagation and plant care info. Within three hours of our postings gardeners from Hawaii & England replied to id the plants for which we had queries.  One of those id'd is the pictured plant here, locally known as a Raya de lapiz.  It is a Calathea ornata, or Pin-stripe plant.

It finally happened. Gardi cat brought a (tail-less) gecko into the house. We put it back outside for him to play with, twice, and he finally ate it. The tail, which was still out on the porch, became a later cat snack.Don't mind the cats chasing after and “playing” with the geckos, but we like these besuconas alive for catching spiders and other insects.  Another day, he notified us of a strange bug crawling about out in the front garden & patio.  Turns out it was a walking-stick (Phasmatodea), an order of insects that include the world's longest.  We let it stroll off (quite rapidly), and later learned that people somestimes keep these for pets.  This particular specimen's body

was about 5½" long

We bought a fifty pound bag of oranges from a vender on a corner. First of the season. It's a marketing trick to pack oranges in orange colored net bags. They looked riper than they were. We can now attest to the fact that though green oranges can be sweet (the orange color often added artificially for US consumers), the dark green ones are still bitter. Hereafter, we shall wait a few weeks before buying more juice oranges. They are ripening fairly quickly and a bit of sugar takes the pucker power away.

Dan did some concrete patching, making up two small batches of stucco mix using our leftover cement & sand, which are stored in buckets in the shop. He fixed up the new stair steps at the west end of our sidewalk and the”cricket” area above the chimney where the tiles collect a bit of persistent water in their corrugations

Venders this week were hawking: coconuts, a naproxen gel (like bengay), homemade tamales, pastries, and celebration breads for independence day coming up this weekend, one man asking for money or food (he got a juice box from us), two different religious groups, Telmex, and Cosme, who sold us a couple bromeliads. Plus we always have some men asking for work of any sort. Dan hung the Vaso de plata bromeliads (Aechmea fasciata, aka Silver vase plant) out front on the concrete porch columns. They do look good there.

Ania and Frank emailed us wednesday, and told us that neither of our phones were working. Also our skype setup doesn't allow us to answer calls. Always something that needs repaired. Dan had been trying to install a phone in our bedroom and did not realize the wiring was messed up. (Phones had problems of old batteries, faulty cables, broken lines.) Finally found another phone junction box behind our downstairs audio-video setup and had to take much apart to do a wiring repair there, before straightening out all the phone lines. Also, for some reason our cell phone will not take a charge.

This has been a week of entwined events. Ania and Frank had planned to go to their avocado-farm cottage and do some work, however the road up to Coscomatepec was closed due to flooding, and their crew was attending a local funeral. That evening we saw footage of the funeral procession on the national news. The rains had brought down two houses earlier this week in the small community right down the hill from where our workers live. Eight children and five adults died in the landslide. The governor of the state attended the services there.

Lot's of flooding along both coasts of the country this week. We learned that 35% of the rain that falls in Mexico drains thru Veracruz state, and swollen rivers and streams often overflow their banks. The historic district of the city of Veracruz, where we drove thru a few weeks ago, had several feet of water in it. Also north of the city is a lake which filled, with no overflow outlet, so all the area around the homes have water half way up the lower levels, being rather flat land out by the coast. On and on the stories go. Much has been shown on CNN. The west coast of the country is getting different tropical storms, with flooding and deaths there too. From storm systems on both sides of the country, the whole country seems to be under water. Streets are also flooded in Mexico City. There was a flooded area near here, but we did not see it. Luckily, Fortín has missed most of the downpours. When looking at weather maps, one could see the storms swirling all around Fortín. Thankful we are to have little risk here of our home being flooded, as our home is situated at the top of a ridge, so all the excess rainfall flows past us down paved streets.

Now, back to the phone call from Ania and Frank – they invited us for dinner, since they were staying home. Ania had made Frank some gumbo. Being from Louisiana, this is one of his favorite meals. The gumbo, seasoned with filé, but no okra, was outstanding. For dessert, Ania made some pumpkin seed (pepita) brittle. Most delicious meal. As usual, Ania won the game of rummikube. Before leaving, we walked, in the light rain, around their property to see all the landscaping changes they have done. On the tour, we of course ended up with several more plants and starts to bring home, which Carmen immediately planted.

On friday the 13^th Carmen woke up saying that this is always a lucky day for her. Well, it seems that luck is not always as it seems. Before getting out of bed, she rolled over and was struck with a sudden, overwhelming dizziness, transitioning soon into a general swirling numbness, which took awhile to go away. Dan stood by to lend a steadying hand in the shower, and helped her downstairs to recline in a propped up position for the rest of the day, which she spent mostly sleeping. She gave Dan instructions for preparing their breakfast oatmeal the way she likes it. It was a quiet day and all was well by saturday.

Slugs are back! Two in the house this week. As soon as it stops raining part of every day, we will put out some slug bait. In between storms one day (during the six clear hours), we spray fertilized plants and sprayed insecticide about the house and a different mix for plants. We don't like to use sprays, but we've come to the conclusion that gardening "naturally" is very difficult in a moist, tropical environment.  Hard to keep up with these items when the rain washes all the effort away.

Saturday we rearranged storage in the two smaller bedrooms, and seating in the living room. All the extra clothes are now out of the small bedroom, which is where the cat litter boxes are located. The drawers under the single bed are now empty except for heavy towels for kitties to sleep on. The new arrangement of furniture in the sala makes it look more spacious and when we have extra quests overnight we can pull out both double futons at the same time. Probably unlikely – this would mean sleeping seven people besides ourselves. The new furniture setup also made room for another aralia plant to come inside. Perhaps a celery aralia? Not sure of the id yet; it's a plant that Ania started for us.

Dan updated our 100 or so blog posts here with searchable labels or tags, added some additional links, and rearranged the blog page layout. Carmen caught up on many little tasks:  sewing a tassel back on the pillow cover we bought in Turkey, filling a tiny mouthed glass container with pumpkin seeds for Dan to nibble on, finding (this took hours ) and changing cat box filters– (still not absolutely sure where we have stashed some items we brought down with us), cutting back the long-dead flowering branches of our heliconias, and cutting off & potting, to hopefully root, a stalk of our umbrella plant (which is losing leaves for some unknown reason). Amazing how long it can take to get to the little jobs!   

El mas lluvioso mes del año

(Domingo 01 - Sábado 07 Septiembre)  Now that our medium sized bedroom has a bed in it, it is time to move the stored wood out of this room. But where shall we store it? Next problem, the hose hanger that Dan installed in the front of the house has got to be moved to a more accessible location. He had put it where it looked best, right over the hose bibb, but too many plants got crushed when doing the watering with it. Much time was spent on cleaning up our backyard area.

It was our understanding that on the first and fifteenth of the month, the Similares (generics) drugstores in town had a twenty-five per cent discount, so we walked into Fortín center to stock up on the meds that Carmen cannot get dispensed from IMSS. She is allergic to the brand IMSS carries, and they stock only one of each formulation. Turns out that this month, since the 1^st falls on a sunday, that the deal is on the second, monday. Since our hands are empty, we wandered thru the flower market shops. Carmen unfortunately wants one of everything. Luckily our property will not hold that many plants. We came home with only six. We are still looking for a hen & chicks plant.

A man came to our back gate, selling plant stands made from black enameled rebar, and we bought one which holds five plants. Carmen spent time transplanting her herbs into the colorful little pots we bought to fit the stand. The pots are too small for all the herbs that she started from seed, so we now find these herbs here and there throughout other pots. The two long planters that had the herbs now sit empty, waiting for...?

Early in the day we did some skype “video messages” of the panoramic views from our mirador, to send to some friends. Thought we would be able to copy and resend to others, but have not figured out yet how to send a video to more than that one person. We are still waiting to do more videoing, when we're home in the morning, and not otherwise occupied, when Mt Orizaba is not hiding behind clouds, as it does by 10am, or earlier, at this time of year. The radio station we listen to in the mornings reminded us that September is the mas lluvioso mes del año (the rainiest month of the year) here.

Monday morning we were at IMSS by eight am for Carmen's monthly appointment to get her prescriptions reauthorized and filled. Our time was for 9am and we were taken at 10 am. Seems that one has a two hour wait, no matter what time one arrives, because people are taken in order of their arrival, not according to appointment time. Just take a book to read, enjoy people watching, or napping,

Next stop was grocery shopping. (Carmen got a surprise when sorting thru the carrot bin. A fellow, dressed as an employee, looked her in the eye and said buenos dias, with a great big smile! The surprise was that he is our next door neighbor, Valentin. So now we know he works here at Walmart.) We had invited Ania and Frank for dinner wednesday, so we needed to stock us on some foods for the planned menu. Today's new item that we found at the store is smoked tuna, at half the price of un-smoked tuna steaks right next to them in the case. Always interesting to see what new foods will be here each time we shop. Could be anything from canned goods, meats, fresh veggies or fruits we are unaccustomed to. Adds to our excitement of being here. Hmm, a fresh spinach bread too. Carmen used to bake bread frequently, but the stores we shop at have such a good variety, that she rarely has this task, though her bread is a different sort than what bakeries produce here. Yep – this was likely written before, but breads deserve lots of mentions!

Got our 25% discount Monday at the Similares drugstores. Thankfully we did our bank stop the day before, as there was a block-long line waiting for the ATM, being the first monday of the month. Stopped by the grocery store in town to buy some beets for a salad. They usually have good fresh ones, and there were none at Walmart today. Found a fresh pineapple at a fruit stand. And lastly we went to the electric company to pay our two month bill of less than US$25. Electricity is expensive here, but we are in the lowest bracket that still gives a special discount to small consumers, as our only electric usage comes from lights and outlets (TV, computers, refrigerator, and a rarely used fan, which we used only twice this past year).

Since we installed the wide eaves trough along the edge of part of our back roof, we now have a deluge in one spot at then end of the gutter, instead of all along this ten foot area. We wanted to keep the water from falling onto the terraza just outside our bedroom door. That part is working great. Now we have a waterfall effect hitting the ground level patio. We bought some white largish decorative rocks from Home Depot, and put them in a large tray, so that the water falling from the roof now drops into there and more slowly leaves the area and flows out of the slightly slanted parking area to the street, instead of drowning the planting area which it is adjacent to. Unfortunately, the harder it rains the farther out the water falls, missing the landing spot we made for it. Back to the drawing board!

Tuesday the young lady at DIF called us, to come in to their office in Fortín to finalize the paper work and receive our senior INAPAM id cards. These will give discounts on public transportation, admissions, and some stores. We feel almost guilty for taking advantage of this program, but we are gray haired now. This gobbled up a couple hours of time. As we walked home, we saw the grader just finishing scraping up the escombro (dirt & debris) the city had left on the road, from doing our sewer connection.  Now, aside from some little patching of the steps which Dan will do, our construction job is at an end.

We unpacked our pictures and together we got those hung on the walls. The hardest part was of course, deciding where to put each one. Also we hung some of our fabric hangings, like Dan's Yale rug in the stairwell. This was a tricky job, on top of a ladder and stretching to reach high on the wall over the open stairwell, to set the anchors. Also put one of Dan's mom's quilts over the new bed, and a colorful batik we purchased when on a cruise in the Caribbean – from Caribelle Batik at Romney Manor on the island of St Kitts (http://www.caribellebatikstkitts.com/caribelle_batik.asp). Still have a lovely piece from Italy that Dan's daughter, Harmony, gave us from when she was in school there for a semester. We are looking for just the right pieces of local color for a couple spots of wall yet.

Dan spent a couple hours cleaning while Carmen did some cooking for the next days meal, both of which continued the next day. Finally there was a day when Ania & Frank could get together with us for a meal on our rooftop! We four have had many past weeks of sore backs or bad weather or house guests which have prevented this meal from happening high up on the mirador. Wanting a nice meal, but easy to carry up all those steps, was a dilemma.

Carmen went the route of appetizers, with nothing hot. Carrying items up the steep stairway is not too difficult, but bringing them back down is a feat! So – in a five gallon bucket, were stacked, all the plates, soup cups, silverware and water and wine glasses. Next came the smoked tuna, deviled eggs and stuffed mushrooms. Then the biscuits made with some cornmeal, chorizo sausage and cheese to the usual dough, topped and covered with and table cloth and napkins. Dan carried the bucket, just like a picnic basket! Carmen carried the room temperature carrot soup in a pitcher. Ania took the bottle of wine and water pitcher, and Frank carted the large bowl of a salad of cooked beets, apple, garbanzo beans, broccoli, and grapes with a fat free caesar dressing, on a bed of butter crunch lettuce. Most elegant looking and oh so delicious! Earlier Dan had carried a card table and chairs up.

The view is so very gorgeous from the top of our house. There was a wee breeze and no flies until a moment after Carmen foolishly remarked about no bugs! Frank suggested that we install a zip line between our houses. Wow! Wouldn't that be something, going over town and cane fields from our mirador to the hill they live on! While packing up to carry all back down the stairs, Dan managed to flip the wine cork and opener off the deck onto the roof top. He retrieved it, which gave us all a bit of excitement. After carrying our items back down, we played a game of rummy cube. Ania won, as usual. Then we had our dessert. Carmen made a cheesecake, and it was the worst she had ever made – extremely dense. Why? Who knows, maybe the cream cheese brand, over baking it, or not whipping long enough? It was sad, and a challenge for the next time she attempts it.

Ania brought a plant for Carmen that she had started, and Carmen sent her home with several starts she had been hoping for. Unlike us, they have a huge piece of property, so lots of room for more plants, which is good since they have almost one of everything. They also have room for trees, shrubs, and tall and sprawling plants. Lucky them – or maybe not – all that yard area requires a lot of upkeep, and we have purposely left that part of our lives behind us.

Needless to say, the next day for breakfast we had party left overs – in the form of an omelet stuffed to falling apart with fresh mushrooms, smoked tuna, broccoli and tomato, with a good local gouda cheese And there were two biscuits left to be freshened in the toaster oven. Oh yum. Yogurt on the side of course.

Dan has been going over tax returns for some northern folks. Carmen fluttered through the day with the plants. Amazing how time consuming they can be. Before these fun things, though, we had a lonnnng spanish lesson while sitting up on the mirador. Most difficult for Carmen to concentrate up there. Too many things to keep track of – birds, butterflies, Gardi cat who joined us, cars on the street below, people walking by, and even a plane flew over. In Anacortes we had frequent overflights, but here they are rare and this was probably only a business jet, unlike the frequent fighter jets in the US from the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. We're glad to be missing the sometimes annoying “sounds of freedom.”

A tropical storm was predicted for the afternoon, so laundry was hung out early and dried. The rainy weather was later than predicted and never did get really bad here. Carmen made some ginger cookies to help us thru the evening. She makes and freezes dough in small batches, then bakes them off in the toaster oven, just enough to eat up right away.

We always take in about an hour or so of evening TV news on ForoTV (and sometimes a little CÑÑ), with Dan translating the highlights for Carmen. After only two weeks of school, the big news is the teachers are on strike, protesting the federal government's education reform program which will have teachers take competency tests, with possible firings for those that fail three evaluations. A big manifestación outside the international airport in Mexico City slowed things down there for the day. There seems to be a general willingness on the part of citizens here to let aggrieved groups have their say with actions like this, but it's getting to the point that parents are becoming angry that classes are on hold.

Friday was a chilly 70 degrees. Time to have the oven on and make a lime meringue pie. Our carpenter came by to tell us that he will be delivering the repaired kitchen cabinet door tomorrow. He had been working on a big job in Córdoba, but he hadn't forgotten us. The original door warped badly after he had installed it. He was trying to straighten it, and if that was not possible, he will have made us a new one. Carpenters must have a hard time here, with little kiln-dried wood available for purchase.

We barely had our eyes open saturday morning before a woodpecker ratta-tat-tatted on a wood en beam above the bedroom window. Up near the roof, we were unable to actually see it. Hope he comes back sometime we're outside, as we like to identify and tally the fauna and flora around us here. We then enjoyed listening to the radio (classic hits on XHSIC “La Poderosa” in Cordoba) music for awhile before the kitties could talk us into getting up.

A flower seller stopped at our gate. His fresh flowers are lonnnnng stemmed and so beautiful! Today we bought a bunch containing Alstroemeria and another of large gerber daisies . Hope they last two weeks as the last ones we purchased from him did. Carmen put one branch of the alstroemeria into a pot of soil – hoping to root it. We had one of these Peruvian lilies growing in Anacortes. Dan has spent the day pecking way at his computer on financial stuff. Carmen spent the day with our plants. Actually sewing the straw like coconut fiber on to the mesh form we made to hold our staghorn fern.

We have a banana every morning for breakfast and they have gotten a bit ahead of us. Since we had recently purchased a six hole muffin pan that nicely fits into our toaster oven, Carmen made banana muffins for our 10:30am snack. The kitties seem tired out today, so they must have worked hard protecting us last night. Dan had suggested that the wine left over from dinner with Ania & Frank wednesday, be used in cooking. The result was our mid-day meal: chicken thighs roasted in our toaster oven, with veggies (carrots, shallots, chayote and garlic cloves, thyme) and red wine. Many children about today. In fact, lots of folks walking into town today. An old red pickup truck with large cans or raw milk also drove by. It actually had a tin cup attached to one of the milk cans. Our carpenter never arrived, so for sure he had something pressing come up. We had wanted to go for a walk, but did not for fear of missing him. Tomorrow for sure a walk.

Mueble nuevo

(Domingo 25 - Sábado 31 Agosto) 

Dan started the week putting up the wood shelves all along the perimeter of the railing around the mirador. He drilled 72+ holes thru the steel tubing, and had very sore hands and one broken drill bit when he finished Carmen worked on mending, or more accurately, she finished hand sewing a backing onto one of Dan's mom's pillows, using the last piece of the purple fabric we had for chair seats. She then hemmed three pairs of Dan's jeans. They were too long since he's lost weight. Also she made and sewed a piece of material that he attaches to an inner safety pocket for his cash and ID, into many pairs of his slacks. Carmen carries her money in a wallet in a pants pocket secured with a safety pin.

A monday morning with sprinkles. So much so that Carmen had to use an umbrella (a first since living here) when she walked to the dentist for a teeth whitening. So nice to have a dentist who speaks enough english that Carmen does not need Dan along to communicate for her. There is a beautiful large mimosa tree in front of the dental office. In the tree was the yellow-breasted chat, a bird we've spotted before in the neighborhood. Carmen also saw a woodpecker, which we think was a pico mexicano (Picoides scalaris, or ladder backed woodpecker) with red on the back of the head, while she was walking up the street.

Our mueble nuevo (new furniture) was supposed to arrive from the carpentry shop in Peñuela today. And it did, at 7pm, on a pickup truck with six fellows! Couldn't figure out why so many helpers were needed until they started to carry in the queen size bed frame, and then the head board! It was quite a feat going up and around our staircase. The six natural finish dining room chairs look really great with our marble-topped table. The bed however was somewhat disappointing in that the color is much darker than we had ordered. The color we showed the company on a table they had in the shop for a sample, was stained “chocolate,” however what we got looks like black. Also, the boards that the mattress sits on were so rough that Dan had to sand them down so that the mattress would not get torn up. Plus, the lower shelf on the head board is really rough, such that Dan will have to sand it and refinish it. Oh well, the price was very good and structurally the items are sound and the wood strong. Bed and chairs were built for us from xochicuahuitl (Cordia megalantha, tropical black laurel) a local wood that is resistant to termites, and used here for the best furniture.

Since the city now has their part of the sewer connection finished (a mere eight months after we requested it to be done), Dan called our crew in for tuesday. They all four arrived at eight am the next morning. Before they arrived, Carmen was bustling about getting a laundry hung outside and watering plants, hoping not to be in their way. In her hurry, she forgot that she is no longer as agile as years gone by. She hopped up, or tried to hop up on top of a couple milk carts to water some plants near the ceiling. She fell backwards and landed on her head, right hip and rght elbow. She immediately put a bag of frozen cut nopal on the big bump on the back of the head. Nothing broken. Thankfully she has very strong bones. Pretty sore for over a week though.

Dan gave Jose Luís the list of things to do. They worked right along, but needed more cement and sand. Dan ordered it first thing and it was promised to be here by noon. By 2pm they were out of cement, having finished the registro (sewer connection box), built forms for the steps at the end of our sidewalk (where the city had destroyed them) and a few other areas we wanted repaired, so they had to finish the day with some painting. The cement and sand arrived well after they left at 6pm, with no real explanation about the delay.

This is the first day, in a week plus, that it has not been raining by the middle of the afternoon and it did not rain until late at night, so the paint had a good drying day. They finished the painting and left at 4pm. The painting was to put another coat of blue where some of the walls were turning partly white for some unknown reason.. They had been painted earlier, but perhaps the last coat had been skipped in these few areas.

Dan sanded the new bed mattress support boards and then cleaned up the mess and we made the bed up. Gardi cat has decided that this is his bed. The quilt Dan's mom had made for him (she did a lot of quilting) was put on the new bed. Not wanting kitty foot prints and fur all over it, we put a large sheet over it and then a big towel in his favorite spot, which is up against the pillows. When he is not there, we find Smij cat happily stretched out there. Cats do love new things. The termómetro only climbed to 79ºF today. We find that we get chilly at about 72ºF now. Our blood seems to have thinned.

The next day our crew was here before 7am. Yesterday they had to walk thru knee deep water (near their village) to get here, but today the flooding had gone down. The concrete work this second day for the crew included a new area where Dan has constructed a curtain-wall to conceal some wood storage and a pad below the water faucet in the backyard, filling the stairstep forms and paving the street gutter area above where our sewer pipe was connected, plus a gallon paintpail of cement with a rebar piece sticking up to provide a base for the bambu pole that will support the growing vanilla orchid vine. They worked fast and finished by midday. It was good to have them here for a bit, we miss them. We left our car outside the fence for the night since there was new concrete at the entry to our parking area.

Thursday was a shopping day, at Home Depot and Walmart. We saw for the first time around here, a concrete pumper. Usually the concrete is either made by hand at the edge of the road, or in a cement mixer, and then carried by five gallon bucket, rarely by wheelbarrow, to the needed location. The nearest readi-mix plant is in Veracruz city, 90 minutes from here, so we assume the pumper unit also had to come from that distance. On the drive home, we saw a traffic accident, actually it occurred in a parking area just off the road. A pickup truck ran into the rear end of a taxi and then sped away – the driver at fault didn't want to get involved, and probably be hauled off to jail. Lots of glass flying about. Thankfully we did not see the whole happening, because we surely did not want to get involved. We believe the taxi was backing out as the truck swung into the area, and they collided.

Next day, while Dan was removing the forms around the cured concrete, Carmen saw Josefina, who is probably about our age, walking up the street after her young dog, leash in hand. This dog likes to slip out their gate when it opens, and he tends to run up the hill towards our location. Doggie ran into the new roadway next to the church contraesquina from us. Josefina was looking exhausted and every time the dog got almost close enough to be grabbed, he of course dashed away again. He thought it was a little game for him, it seems. After watching this for a few minutes, Carmen took a tiny piece of carne (meat) across the street, showed it to Josefina and held her hand out to the dog. Poor puppy fell for it. He was caught and the leash was attached. Dan came out and talked to Josefina, knowing that she and Carmen could not really communicate much. Josefina liked the herbs growing inside our fence and asked if she could have a start of the salvia (sage). She is the lady who gave us our piquin pepper plant, which is growing well. So now we finally gave her something back, which felt good. She also told us that the big tree next door to us in Valentin's yard is a guanabana (soursop), which grows huge spikey fruits the size of bowling balls, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soursop  Later in the day we put up the little curtain wall near the back gate, giving us a spot to store lumber for projects in an out-of-sight corner.

Wherever we have lived before, the nuts in many desserts are walnuts. Not so here. If ice cream or other item says nuez (nut), there will be pecans in it. (If they're peanuts, it will say cacahuates). We have thus far not found walnuts anywhere, although one can also find avellanas (hazelnuts/filberts)and almendras (almonds) in the stores. Another confusing thing:  look up walnut OR pecan in a Mexican dictionary, and they both translate to nuez.  Look up pecan tree and it translates nogal, which is also the word for walnut.  Just another item to add to out “Can't Find Here” list, and perhaps stock up on next trip NoB.

Saturday was a day of many door bell ringings. Or just voices raised in a Buenos Dias, trying for our attention. Today we had at the backyard gate – Dan was out there working away – Artemio asking about possibly more plywood, a person with a car asking directions, and the mailman, delivering two magazines. The cartero rides a motorcycle with side bags, and he nearly always hand-delivers rather than putting the mail in our box, and takes the opportunity to chat. Most days we have one or two people at the front gate, and this day we had: a man selling fresh-dug potatoes, a woman selling homemade foods, a man selling cut flowers, and a man asking for mexican money or food, (he must have been from south of the border). It's rarely this many. Well of course Gardi had his friend, Mayra, give him some pets thru the fence, usually once a day or so.

We read on the MexConnect forum today that Rolly Brook, at 82 years old, has retired from moderating the posts there. We, along with many others, will miss his inputs. His website, www.rollybrook.com, is one of the most valuable for information about how to move to Mexico, and was a real resource for us in our planning to live here. Dan would like to get more involved on the web, sharing information that others might find useful. At this time, Dan really does not do much more than monitoring his favorite forums, and occasionally posting. This blog is all we seem to be able to manage now. Maybe it would be good for him to take the time to become more involved – we really have nothing pressing here that can not be put off for a few days. But, it seems our tasks will never end. Not complaining - we enjoy the keeping busy.