1000 Tejas Nuevas

Domingo 23 - Sábado 29 Diciembre 2012.  (Dom 23^rd) Dan thought this would finally be a morning when we could stay in bed late and study spanish. After 15 minutes, Carmen insisted she needed to start the laundry, since it was going to be sunny today. We went to the Fogon & Paila restaurant for a late breakfast. This is but a five block walk from home. We have had many good breakfasts there, however, today the crew seemed all new. Carmen was served ham mixed with her scrambled eggs instead of the requested chorizo and for the first time, they were swimming in oil. Dan's Huevos Rancheros breakfast was excellent. We very much enjoy the beauty of the surroundings of this restaurant.

Carmen spent the rest of the day climbing ladders and scraping, cleaning & painting the outsides of the window woodwork. Dan also climbed ladders and took the waste chute down from the front porch roof and festermicide-treated and sealed the window trim pieces to replace those which were termite chewed. When the paint was dry on them he went up on the roof and nailed them into place. Wonder why people need to use exercising gyms-----------

(Lun 24^th) We left home at 7:30am to get Carmen to the IMSS hospital where she had an appointment with an internist. After waiting half an hour, a receptionist came and told us that the doctor would not be in today (it is the day before Christmas, after all) and we needed to go to another office to get rescheduled. A nurse rescheduled her for Jan 3^rd. Will the doctor decide to come in to work that day? Maybe he was ill, but it our bet that he wanted an extra holiday.

Knowing that we were going to walk on north the few blocks into the main downtown area of Cordoba after the doctor appointment, we had parked our car towards town. Dan ordered a printer at Ofix, and we were low on a certain type of oatmeal cookies that we buy at Waldos dollar store, so on to there. Ania had told us about El Borrego store that carried the best ham in the area. Since we walked but a half block from there, we made a slight detour thru that store. Oh my, what a fantastic smell! There was a really long line of people waiting to buy their Xmas ham, and several meat cutters prepping and sawing whole and half hams. I suppose we would have become part of that line, had we not already purchased a ham at the supermarket.

Next stop – we drove on to Home Depot. Here we purchased a few building supplies, plus a new level for our foreman and tape measures for the other three employees for Xmas gifts. Got home in time to present gifts to crew during their lunch, which they take on our front porch at our little table that used to sit under our apple tree in Anacortes.

We also made a stop at Office Depot, where Dan purchased a calendar. We had almost given up hope of finding one down here. We have discovered that this calendar is formated in Mexican style with monday the first day of the week. We will be confused with this for awhile.

Carmen finished her day with vacuuming the whole house. Though all floors are tile, the vacuum takes the dust up best. Dan spent his afternoon on the porch roof, sweeping dust and mortar chips down into the gutter, and then cleaning out the huge gutter. Lots of debris from the upper roof job ended up on this lower roof. He then put up some Xmas lights on our front door and over the entry.

(Mar 25^th) Took this Christmas day off – sort of. The day was a most perfect sunny, mid-80s by afternoon with a light breeze that had a delightful smell. Being a most holy day, Carmen debated doing laundry, and finally decided that if God did not want her doing so, the day would not have been so perfect. Carmen started a puzzle. Dan measured f/shelves and floor levels for the addition.

We walked into town. Few people about. Sat in the park for awhile to enjoy the Xmas ambiance, close enough to the front door of the church that we were able to enjoy the singing inside. There were four brand new garbage trucks sitting in front of city hall, on display. Wonder if our route will be serviced by them?

Walked home by way of the Maria Guadalupe restaurant which is nine blocks straight north of our house on 11 Sur. Really good food, more exotic than the usual around here. Thought we had seen a sign advertising its reopening. It has been closed for remodeling. It was still closed, so we tottered on home and had a bowl of black bean with ham hock soup. Must say, this is the first time on Xmas without a special meal. The soup was delicious though. Sat on porch for awhile, enjoying the passers by. Dan read a book by Earl Emerson, a Seattle firefighter, that he had put on our reader from the Anacortes library, which we can get online books from, as long as we have an address there.

(Mie 26^th) Drove to Pretensur to pay the balance on the tiles which are supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Needed more cash from the bank. We are allowed only 3000 pesos a day from the Banamex cash machine. Next to the Urbina hardware for plumbing parts, and on to make a pick up at Fester for another bucket of Acriton impermeabilizante. Upon returning home, Dan was told he needed to go to FortiFerre to get some alambre recocido (form-tie wire). Every time we need to go anyplace, we are glad we chose this location where everything is relatively close. We did briefly consider houses that would have been far from all we have here. Rightly, we decided we are too old for such remoteness and appreciate the convenience of being close to town.

Years ago we had some tacos with huitlacoche (corn smut) in Xalapa that were delicious. We found some canned, so tried it. Not the same deliciousness, so we'll be on the lookout for when it's fresh in season.

Carmen spent time with her flowers – replanting, watering, pampering. Dan then pressure cleaned the whole front area. While outside on the porch, Alex and his wife, which we did not before know he had, stopped by and chatted awhile. Amazing how friendly the neighborhood children are since they received money from us this past week, with their nightly singing at our gate.

We discovered one of the tiny dogs from next door, loose across the street. We rang the door bell to notify Valentin our neighbor, but no answer. Carmen searched their front fencing 'til she found where the tiny one had squirmed thru. Then fearing she might get bitten, she had Dan bring her some cat food to lure puppy. Puppy did not want the cat food. Since when does a dog not like cat food? Okay. Dan was called over to hold the fence open while Carmen pushed puppy thru. Whew! Puppy really needs a bath! He went home with no problem, except we fear he will be visiting us next time he breaks loose. He was very happy with the attention he received.

(Jue 27^th) As we put our garbage out for collection, we cleaned up the street around our house. Actually the law says that we are responsible to the middle of the road in front of our house, but since no one cleans up along the banana fields, we do all the way across. Good exercise and looks so much nicer. Never much debris there. We are seeing some banana blossoms developing into - yep - bananas.

Our new concrete roof tiles were delivered by 11:30am. Our guys unloaded the 1000 tiles by hand, stacking them in the backyard on three sheets of plywood laid on the ground, two rows high. As they are needed, they will then have to climb a ladder with them to the roof top, three tiles at a time. Each tile weighs about 11¼ pounds. This morning before the delivery they worked on building the base for the mirador we are having put up there, using blocks, bricks and some foam-steel wire panels. When vacationing down here two years ago, we stayed at a hotel in San Marcos that had a roof top sitting area overlooking town. We enjoyed it so much that we decided to build one on top of our house while all the roofing is happening. Quite a view from up there. A welded metal stairway we'll have to have made will go up from the terraza on top of the new bathroom up to the lookout. One must reach the terraza from the master bedroom. Very private. Plan to have plants hanging between the two levels.

It is hard for us to have the crew work, when we have in the past done all our own work. Dan spent some time estimating what pipe, fittings, conduit and wire we'll need for the new addition, calculating the plumbing and wiring runs, and where we'll tie into the existing building systems.

(Vie 28^th) Another trip to the central IMSS facility. This time Dan has an appointment with a urologist there. Eight o'clock am. We only waited two hours for the doctor to arrive, but arrive he did – perhaps he had surgery this morning?. The doc looked over Dan's papers and told him that he must come back for a PSA blood test and another consult afterwards. We tried to make the necessary appointments, but were told to return in the second week of January. No appointments could be made before that time.

Next we drove ten blocks further east to the Delter lumberyard to get quotes on timbers we need. The store was closed for the holidays. Our foreman tells us that the town he lives in has good prices on wood and the delivery is free so we'll probably just have him order it for us. Made our usual other stops on the journey back home. Carmen finished her afternoon off “working” on the jigsaw puzzle. Dan read and caught up on blogs & forums on the internet.

(Sab 29^th) David came to the door once to see if we had any window screen. They needed to sift the sand finer for the finish coat on the mirador base's walls. We were not told to go buy it, so we forgot about it 'til later we looked out the window and saw sand being sifted thru a window screen. Dan went out and asked where they found it and David said that he ran up to the hardware for it. The fellows are allowed to charge there for our project. Bet David literally did run to the store. David is the one in the crew not closely related to the other three. He's the youngest and gets all the hardest drudgery jobs. More progress on laying tiles. Looks like it will take at least another week or two to finish this task, as laying the tiles accurately, adhering each one with mortar, is not as quick as nailing down shingles.

A laundry was done before the crew left since they were not eating lunch today, but leaving at two pm. Laundry was hung on front porch. After Dan dropped the crew off for the bus, he placed another order for cement and sand, to be delivered next Wednesday, the first workday of the new year. Sand – unlike in the US, the sand delivered here is something like pit run. It comes as a mixture of all sizes from small rocks to fine grains, so must be sifted for whatever size one wants. We are getting quite a pile of gravel from it!

Se Vende Teja Vieja

Domingo 16 - Sábado 22 Diciembre 2012.  (Dom 16^th) What a lovely surprise this morning – a three inch long beautiful green grasshopper on our front porch. It was seeming like it had a broken leg. Later in the week it was not moving. The new ant hill outside our front gate did not delight us. The third insect today? Yep, a cockroach was found under the rim of our toilet seat. Thank heaven it did not crawl on our butt while we sat on the toilet!! We flushed it down and it swam and swam and swam and came back up out of the water. Next it got squashed and flushed again. After watching for some time, we saw no return of the creature. We really do not see evidence of many cockroaches around here, considering the climate we live in.

Dan finished up the waste chute structure on top of the porch roof. Carmen sanded, then varnished the few pieces of trim on the inside of the windows that had been damaged by water condensing and running down the glass. Then prepped and started painting the exposed outsides of the windows with brown paint (the exposed area that we had to paint from inside the house, because of the screens on the windows). Finished the two windows in the room we are now sleeping in. Dan did some caulking around windows.

We have mentioned that several times a week someone stops here to ask directions. Today a bus driver asked for a place we have not heard of. We have never seen a bus on this street before. The driver managed to turn the bus around in the intersection, with the help of his ayudante. Beautiful new air-conditioned bus. They must have been picking up a tour group.

The window in one of the dining room french doors had a big gap at the top, due to the pane of glass sliding down too far. Dan removed two of the trim stop pieces, loosening the pane. Now the pane could be moved, but it was hard to find just the right width piece of something to wedge under the window glass to block it up in place. The magic fit turned out to be half of a wooden clothes pin, carved down thin with a knife. Stops back in place and a little caulk finished the job.

An exciting evening of TV. There were three movies in english playing at the same time, one to be watched and the others to be recorded for later viewing We have had no shortage of english shows on the television, subtitled in spanish. Several weekly series that we enjoy, plus the variety of movies.

(Lun 17^th) Out of bed early today, at least early for us. We expected a crew of four fellows to arrive at 7am. Come 7:30 and they were still not here, so Dan drove to Frank's obra and found them. What they were doing there instead of here we do not know. Dan returned here with the crew plus a few borrowed hand tools from Frank. As Dan explained to the foreman that we needed to finish the waste chute's receiving bin on the road, the foreman informed Dan that he has to go to an office in town and get permission to start the job, and perhaps to put anything on the street. This is hard to believe since we see all sorts of building materials from jobs in process piled at the edge of the streets around here. The guys decide to work on the roof over the dining room first, as broken concrete from this area doesn't have to be pitched into the street. This lower roof is the access route to get to the higher part of the roof. So they go to work denuding this little roof of tiles first.

Dan immediately went to the office and found no one there. Seems that the office does not open 'til perhaps 9am. Dan got back and showed the guys his idea for a box-like receptacle on the street below the waste chute, and they put it together from the pallet-like bottoms of the old liftvans. Then Dan drove back to find the SETSE office to find it still closed (this about 10:15am.) So, Dan next visited the owner at the FortiFerre building supply store, as a likely person to know if we need a permit of some kind, and where to get it. He advised that since we weren't adding to or altering the house structure, just removing and replacing tiles, that no permit would be needed.

Carmen tried to put cats in our bedroom this morning, but that slippery white Smij got away and is in the smallest bedroom, under the single bed in the drawer again. We are worried that with the workers coming inside to use the bathroom, the cats could get out and be frightened with the noise and disappear. A fresh potty box, food and water are waiting for them in the bedroom we've been sleeping in. The room Smij has chosen has a door that we can not close 'til we trim off the bottom. Gardi cat of course likes to be part of the action. He is trying to figure out why all the noise on the roof top.

The task of trimming some off the bottom of the bedroom door now can't be put off, so we removed the door from its hinges, figured out the trim line to clear the spot on the floor where it sticks, set up a saw guide/jig to run the circular saw along, and sawed off the bottom. It was a minor difficulty to rehang the door since one of the hinges was a bit out of line. Carmen worked thru the afternoon, painting all the exterior surfaces of the upstairs windows which can be reached with the windows opened up. The paint we waited so long for works like a charm, looks great and goes on easily.

(Mar 18^th) Our work crew arrived at 7:30am today and they worked hard on removing tiles from our house roof. Thank goodness for the chute Dan built for dumping the debris (escombro) off roof. We never got a permit for dumping debris on the road edge. A policeman rang our door bell, rather leaned on it 'til we answered the door. Dan was wondering what was going down, figuring that we were being fined or worse for not having that permit. Nope – the policeman only wanted a donation for their Xmas party. Turned out that the man had lived near Detroit for a few years, and yes, speaks some english.

First thing this morn, Carmen baked a peach pie. Shared it with the four workers at lunch time. Wonder what they really thought of it, since we have never seen a dessert of this sort here.

We have been having children rattling our front gate and ringing our doorbell late in the evenings. No adults with them. Children in US would never be out by themselves like this near nine o'clock. We can not figure out why they are doing this. Sometimes singing what might be snatches of Xmas carols, and sometimes rattling something. Sometimes carrying poles with glittery decorations. We did not go to the door, because we have been taking our showers after the workday at 6pm ready for a little TV and then an early bedtime. Certainly not dressed for answering a door for these children. Incidentally, there are public service announcements airing for free flu shots for everyone.

The puzzle continues. All this late activity started monday evening. Dan looked the situation up on the internet and discovered it is a yearly happening when children enact Mary and Joseph looking for a place to stay (a posada) for the night. According to the web, we are supposed to let in the children and give them something to eat and drink. Well, we aren't about to do that with our house in it's present state. So – we guess we are the mean north americans

(Mié 19^th) First thing this morning Carmen baked some chocolate chip cookies. Dan wanted us to take some next door to the political office building, when he and Luis went over to ask if we could do some work on the wall between our buildings. Of course there is no problem with that, but we're being good neighbors by asking. Second thing today we went into town with our car, to the hardware for a diamond blade, got cash from bank and two fresh bakery rolls for lunch sandwich. Haven't found the occasional street corner sale of oranges by the large bag, as has happened in the recent past, and we want some fresh OJ! Walked from hardware up a couple blocks to the grocery store that has wednesday produce sales. No luck, so we drove the few blocks to the big Mercado Publico. This large market is at the opposite corner of town from our house. Here we found a large bag of oranges, so we are back into squeezing juice again! Nothing like a good fresh squeeze every day!

Next to the Fester store for five gallons of Acriton 10-year grade red roof sealer. While at that north end of Calle 11 Sur, we found a parking spot a block off the boulevard and parked the car – now nine blocks from home. Never saw the streets around this area parked so full! From here we walked a few blocks east on the main Fortín-Córdoba boulevard to the tianguis (weekly itinerant market) area. This area draws people from all over this corner of Veracruz. This is a many blocks long group of buildings plus tented areas that sells goods on wednesdays only – other days of the week the halls are empty.. The traffic along this road was solid and all but stopped today, so was no trouble crossing this usually difficult fast traffic road. Guess the wednesday before Xmas must be the busiest day of the year. The people shopping were hip to hip, so we only visited the first store sales hall. Also walked the sidewalk a ways, which we found more interesting, because the store had only clothing, at very good prices, and outside had much more variety. Crossed under the road where many goods were also displayed along the viaduct walls. Back to our car. Interesting adventure, but glad to be out of the crowds. Maybe on a less busy Wednesday, we will visit more of the sales areas.

While we were in town today, our foreman fell off the lower roof. He took the same fall that almost got Dan the week before. When climbing the ladder onto the roof at the laundry building, they held on to a tile at the top wall and the tile broke loose. Dan was luckily leaning inwards so he caught himself. Luis was not so lucky. He hurt his foot. He kept working though more slowly, with plans to visit the doctor in the evening We gave him an ace bandage to wrap the foot with. They did all leave an hour early because of this situation. If the foreman is not here, no one works, so it seems.

There was supposed to be a delivery of building supplies from FortiFerre – sand and cement. Never arrived. Seems their truck broke down and it is promised for tomorrow morn.

(Jue 20^st) Workers arrived 7am today. Foreman José Luís is feeling better. The doctor said the problem was a dislocated bone in his foot. We left home at 8:30 this morning, with a busy day ahead. First we went to Pretensur, to place the order for our new concrete roof tiles. We had been there last week to make a final heated decision on which tiles to purchase. After this decision, we discovered that the sales person with us speaks some english! We had to park a ways from the store, since the road directly in front was torn up and being resurfaced. The Fortin-Cordoba, boulevard is getting a facelift with highly reinforced concrete paving. We deposited half the cost and the tiles are to be delivered on 27 December. The 26th we must go back to pay the other half. Then when the 1000 tiles are delivered, our crew must unload them. Hard to imagine there will be no lift gate at the rear of the delivery truck.

Next stop was Home Depot for trim wood for the window that has termite damage and a piece of galvanized angle to try out for roof flashing, plus our foreman asked us to buy a tape measure for him. Dan applied for a contractors pricing, which it looks like he got. HD posts all it's aisle-sticker prices without IVA tax, quite different from all the other stores, which list all prices including this 16% tax. Seems like the contractor pricing pretty much offsets the amount of the tax.

Next Carmen had to be at the dentist at 10:30. While she was there, Dan carried a tile taken from our roof, and walked a block to a tile store, to ask what replacement tiles like these would cost. Seems they would be a special order, as the only ones now made in that old style are a bit smaller. The new tiles would cost MX$8 a piece, so the cost of covering the roof we have with these clay tiles (2000 tiles or so) would be more or less the same as we are paying for the much larger, stronger and longer lasting concrete tiles. If we sell the approximately 1000 tiles that did not break in the removal from the roof, we can substantial recoup a good fraction of our roofing costs.  Guess we should post a Se Vende Tejas (Roof Tiles For Sale) sign on our front gate.

Dan came back to the dentist office and stayed in the room where Carmen is being worked on – because guess what – Dr Soley who speaks english is not here today. Only the endodontist Luis, from Orizaba, is here with the assistant. After another Xray and some poking about, it seems we must wait longer to see if the inflammation will go away, or if more surgery needs done. Have to return for another check in a week. Luis was very chatty today. He told us that he was from Brazil. He married a mexican lady, moved here and spoke no spanish. His wife had to do all the talking for him, so he can understand our situation. While at the dentists office, Dan asked what they could tell us about the night time posada activity at our front gate. They explained it all and told us that no, we did not need to have the children come inside. Just give the group a couple pesos (and more if the singing was really good) and they would be happy.

Next on our way towards home now, we stopped at the IMSS. We have to have paper work stamped for our next week specialist appointments that are at another location, the main hospital. Work here is no cost other than the original yearly fee, so far, but it surely does take a lot of trips into IMSS for paper work.

Now we traveled onwards to Metalurve hardware, for a bigger and better diamond saw blade. Next a stop at Walmart. Amongst other items, we bought a mexican fruit cake, and a ham which the stores always have some at this time of year, and not necessarily other times. When we got home and opened our bakery bag, we discovered that we had been given an extra Xmas bun. Long line here of course. Someone tried to cut in front of Carmen at the checkout line. Did not go over well and Dan straightened it out.

Upon arriving home, we discovered a large dump truck parked by our back gate. Yesterday this driver had stopped here, wanting the job of hauling our debris away. We told him that we had already arranged with someone else to do it. Well, a job is a job. This fellow came back and offered a deal that was much cheaper than the other party, plus his crew would do all the shoveling into the truck. Luis knew we would like this deal, so he hired him with our OK. Also saved us the money that we would have had to pay our crew for the shoveling time. And, saved our guys a lot of back ache. All was hauled away today. Two persons, the truck owner and his helper pitched the debris from the piles on the ground up into the high dumptruck shovel-full by shovel-full – all 6.5 cubic meters of it

Tonight, knowing about the posada traditions now, we put our showers off 'til later, left outside lights on and waited for our doorbell to ring. The first that Carmen heard some voices outside, she got so excited that in dashing from the couch to the dining room, she fell up the one step between the two rooms. Only a bumped knee thankfully. Finally she heard another group passing. They were walking past our house! Word must be out about us not playing at this game fairly. She hollered Hola! out the door and they came back. Believe one of the young fellows is the one who used to ring our doorbell and run fast, until Carmen was there at the right time and busted him by “hola-ing” out the window at him. These were the only ones to stop this evening.

About nine pm, as we were hanging laundry out on the front porch, since the line in the backyard (a construction site now) is down at present, there were many children passing by, some stopping and sitting on our road curb for awhile. They seemed to have been at a party. Probably at the school that is five blocks south of here.

(Vie 21^st) First thing this morning, Dan took a garbage bag out and cleaned the party items from the roadway. Paper hats, candy wrappers, sparklies, and so on. Workers arrived a bit after 7am. They worked on a final pressure washing to clean off the roof. Next started the thin coating of cement that is not water permeable. Mixing the cement on the road and carrying it up the ladder by five gallon buckets.

The air is filled with the smell of beans and a ham bone simmering away. Started out misty today. The sun is peeking thru at present. A woman stopped hoping to sell us freshly cut up chicken. A man wanted to sell us peanuts and garlic. Men across the street checking out the banana field. One has a pencil behind his ear.

Dan spent this day drawing up plans for our new ground floor bathroom today. Our foreman, Luís, assured us that he can do all the work just as we want it, and seems very much in tune with how Dan had planned things out in his head. He also talked Dan into giving them all a raise as of the new year. A lot to them in pesos is not much to us in dollars. And they are working really hard. On the way back from dropping the guys at the bus stop where they get their ride back to Cosco, Dan placed an order for block (bloques), brick (tabiques) and other stuff for delivery monday.

Only one group of four boys singing at our gate tonight. They looked much like last night's group, except last night's group did not sing, but only beat their decorated stick on the ground and rattled their money cans.

(Sáb 22^nd) Temperature outside at 7am was 55ºF for the second day. Still holding 68º inside. Yesterday we had a pot of beans with ham bone simmering to help keep what Carmen considers a chill out of the house. With a pork roast and some snickerdoodle cookies in the works, today the oven will temper the indoor environment again.

Dan had to go to the FortiFerre this morning to buy another bag of cement. Either he misunderstood the foreman when the original order was placed, or it is an add-on. Fellows will work only 7½ hours today, then they'll get their weekly pay. Their normal workweek is 10 hours, monday thru friday, and a partial day on Saturday. Today the thin coat of impermeable cement is still being applied. It was discovered that the placement of the rebar (varilla) in original roof slab was done incorrectly, as rusty rebar is visible in a few places, and this is where water was getting thru and dripping into our bedrooms. The new bonded impermeable layer will take care of this problem for us.

At 9am the gray skies brightened and the sun peeked thru a bit. Dan set up his router to trim the window boards we purchased this week, to more or less match what's there. Earlier this morning he went to use our hose out back that has been supplying water to the pressure washer, and found it has lost its male end connection. Gremlins? No, the crimp on connector had come off, and David had put it aside for Dan to fix again. Carmen found that the oven temp would not go above 325ºF with the roast in the oven, so had to remove it 'til cookies were baked. An hour later temp had made it to 400º with the roast well on its way.

A productive week on the house remodeling. The upper roof's tiles were removed, lots of debris removed, and now about 60% of that roof is capped with the Impercem layer, The marquesinas and roof overhangs that were in the way of the future project of building the full bath addition were removed. Dan added up the hours that the four guys worked this week, 54 each. Our labor costs for the work week came to just a little over US$400. Our crew is happy with us and we are happy with them. With their pay in their pockets, Dan gave a lift to the crew to the area of the big tianguis for some gift buying, before they head back to Coscomatepec for the rest of the weekend. The market space is open this special week for Christmas shoppers, thru the 24^th. The guys will go to the futbol game Sunday in their hometown and be back to work on Christmas Eve (Noche Buena) day.

Pescaditos Secos

Domingo 09 - Sábado 15 Diciembre 2012.  (Dom 09^th) Carmen baked the chocolate chip cookies from the dough that was made yesterday, using the semi-amargo chips we bought at Josefina's. We had forgotten how good they are. As they came out of the oven, the velador showed up to collect for a week's night-watchman service. Dan gave him a freshly baked cookie – will this insure a watchful eye on our property at night? Dan washed our car, as it hadn't been touched (except by a neighbor's cat's paws) since we arrived here in early September. We figured a dusty car would detract from the noticeability of the Washington plates, and get us more safely past the transito police – so far this seems to have worked!

Next he went on top of the laundry building and used our pressure washer to clean the flat roof and parapet walls there, and some of the tiles topping the marquesina (awning-like roof). He had wondered whether the washer would work here, as the city water pressure is very low, just enough to bring the water into the top of the tinaco on a three-story building, so it would be about 14psi or so. Very difficult to get a hard spray from a nozzle screwed on to a garden hose. What a mess the pressure-washing left down below! Next he had to rewash the car two more times, and the side of the house, because everything was now covered with dirt from the roof. He finished up cleaning off the steep apron and sidewalk outside the backyard vehicle gate, removing the green algae/mold that made that sloping area slick when it was wet from rain.

(Lun 10^th) We heard the knife sharpener man going by. He has a special whistle he blows as he walks. If you need a knife sharpened – dash outside with it. One day last week a fellow stopped at out gate with freshly dug red red potatoes. Carmen bought 2 kg. The day before a man was here with nutty brittle-like cakes. Also ladies have been here this past week with Xmas baskets and pasto which last year we thought might be a dried pasta since it was in the fresh produce bins. It is actually a dried spanish moss, used for Xmas decorations, creche scenes and the like. Glad we did not try to cook it up and eat it.

(Mar 11^th) Home Depot grand opening today. We were there by nine and the parking was already overflowing, and we had to park out on the edge of the highway. Guess we are not the only ones hoping to find different items. We were unable to find some longed for items, like duplex (two headed) nails. Clerks think we are so funny, as they immediately imagine a nail with a head on each end. How can one hammer such a thing into wood? These nails simply seem to be unavailable here.  We're putting together a list commonly found items NoB, which are just unknown down here SoB.

Next Carmen had another dental appointment to continue the root canal process. Then a stop at Chedraui—the freezers here just are not cold enough for icecream, and most of the cartons were soft to the touch, perhaps having lost volume thru melting and refreezing. Back home, Dan spent some time helping Don Clark with his skype connection.

(Mié 12^th) Walked into town for copies, to tap the ATM at the bank, and to finally set up with Cablecom for auto-payment from our local checking account. On the walk home, a traffic policeman smiled and said, “Hello”. Our brown paint for our windows was supposed to be here today, after being at least a month on order.  So we stopped by, and... it was not there.  The store manager was more than apologetic, and said he would go into Cordoba to the warehouse and get it later today, and deliver the four liters to our house.  On the walk home from there we met several teen boys and one spoke to us in english. Dan helped folks at Skagit River Resort installing programs, via skype.  In the late afternoon the paint was delivered, less a special 30% discount for our trouble, plus a promise of a 20% discount on all the paint products we needed later in the renovation.

(Jue 13^th) Took a bus into Cordoba today for a checkup on how the root-canaled tooth was healing, since the office is on the Avenida 11 bus route. The dentist was amazed we had taken the bus, so we presume he has rarely if ever traveled that way himself. And when told that we walked 11 blocks to catch that bus – well, he just could not imagine doing that. Actually we rather enjoy the adventures of bus riding. For the first time in a year, we actually had a newish comfortable bus both directions. Still waiting to see if the infection is totally gone in Carmen's tooth area.

When we left the dentist, we walked the four blocks to a large hardware. On the way, we met one of our neighbors. He was walking from his bus stop to work. Bet he was as surprised as we were to see a neighbor on the city sidewalk, so far from home.

(Vie 14^th) We stopped by IMSS to pick up Carmen's envio, a scheduled appointment at the big hospital with an internist. Even though we now have both envio's in hand, we have to return to get the forms validated a day or two before the actual appointment. Checked with the director's office to find no positive action on the solicitud which would allow us both to go to the same doctor. We will keep trying. Strolled thru Home Depot at leisure. Made some good discoveries of stuff we haven't been able to find locally before, and came home with another plant.

Stopped by Walmart for icecream. Dan discovered an end-aisle seasonal display of dried shrimp and dried tiny whole fish. He had previously looked up what the heck these things were used for. Ground up the dried shrimp (camarones secos) are used in pozole rojo, and the tiny shrimp and fish (dried anchovies, boquerones secos) for soups. Or they can be eaten out of hand as a snack. So Dan, who likes seafood of all kinds bought a ¼ kilo tub, and has been snacking on them every night. The taste like sardines (they are not salty) and rehydrate a bit quickly in the mouth after you crunch into them. Carmen wouldn't touch them with a 3-meter palo, although she bought a block of saltcod (bacalao) to cook up (eg, stink up the house) to make codfish gravy, one of her winter treats. So – how can Dan's tiny fish smell so horrid to Carmen and the salt cod smell like ambrosia? That is the question. Quite amazing to see tables heaped with these items in the stores.

(Sáb 15^th) We worked very hard today, working on tasks that need to be done before the work crew shows up on monday. Using sheets of scrap plywood and 2x4s from the disassembled liftvans, Dan started on a chute of sorts to be used getting broken tiles and chipped-off mortar down off the upper roof. The tall vertical box-like structure sits on the lower porch roof, and has a sloping bottom so the waste will end up along the sidewalk and street edge on the north side of the building. This required hauling materials, some precut on the ground, up ladders to the roof, and two of us working to get them nailed or screwed into place.

While Dan cut and figured out the chute materials, Carmen worked on painting all the exterior woodwork on the five second story windows over the porch roof, working off little platforms Dan progressively moved down the roof and tied securely to the window bars. Unfortunately we found a couple window trim boards riddled by termites. They will be replaced soon. Also found that two boards had been replaced earlier, presumably for the same reason. At least they were different color and wood. We were unbelievably exhausted by evening time. Was a truly beautiful day weather wise.

Pruebas del Laboratorio

Domingo 02 - Sábado 08 Diciembre 2012.  (Dom 02^nd) We finally took time to walk into the Unidad Deportiva (sports center) in town. Inside the gate we found a soccer field with bleacher-type seating along one side, outside basketball/tennis and racket ball courts, and child's play equipment. Inside was a huge multipurpose/basketball court with seating on both sides, restrooms, etc. The food service facility served over counters to the outside and inside venues. Quite elaborate for such a small town, and lots of community events are staged here.

Carmen finally dug up and transplanted four plants from our property. The hoja santa came from outside our back gate and went out front between the low front wall and huge vainilla orchid. We will have to keep it carefully trimmed short, which will be no easy feat the way everything grows so fast here. Other plants she planted at the base of the bugambilia near the NW corner of our back area. Dracena reflexa we believe is the name of one plant. Another plant is possibly a tree daisy or tree marigold. At least the leaves look to be this. So far the plant is but a few inches tall. The other plant is a large purple leafed wandering jew. These transplantings are in preparation for our roof work and new bathroom projects, getting the plants that existed here out of the way of construction. Oh, don't believe we mentioned this before – the grass here is mostly mondo grass, which sends up small star shaped yellow flowers, within a week after being cut. Also lots of shamrock.

(Lun 03^rd) Dan is working on the screening panel, to lean in front of the fireplace, where we have placed the cat litter box. The updraft there works pretty well at taking odors away. He is matching this screen to the look of the cat walkway near ceiling, with a large white panel with stained & varnished surrounding trim. Five days of laundry hanging in the backyard, and the beets cooking are filling the air with a good earthy odor.

The time has come to plant some calendula seeds we brought from our property in Anacortes. They are yellow and hopefully some white.

(Mar 04^th) A day of new adventures. We were outside the laboratorio at the IMSS hospital by 6:45am, having found a lucky parking space but a block away from the hospital. We were to show up between 7am and 8am for our appointed pruebas (tests), blood draws for both of us and a urine sample for Dan. To our surprise, there were at least 30 others there already. Thanks to one lady who told us to put our papers for the tests on the counter on top of the stack already there, we quickly got with the program. The chairs were full, so we leaned against the wall. Within the next fifteen minutes there were over one hundred more people waiting for blood tests. We saw one older lady stick her lab slip farther down in the pile; sneaky. At 7:05am the lights came on in the office and two attendants appeared. Also lights came on in the room where we assumed the blood draws were taken. Next two rolling tables were wheeled into the waiting area. On top of one was a small P/A system. Now one of the attendants, in nurses uniform, came out into the center of the waiting room and told everyone to move back along the walls and out into the antechamber, and leave an open space down the middle of the room. Does this sound like going for an appointed blood draw in the US?

Now, about 7:15am, names are starting to be called, in order that the papers were stacked, and the person called walks to the window and is given a sticker label for the urine sample – to be then placed on the tables. A few people were there to only drop off urine samples. If there was a blood test ordered, the patient is given a needle in its sterile package, along with the needed number of labeled vials for blood. Next one steps into a short line and waits for the next person to be called into the draw room, where three nurses are taking blood. Simply hand your items to the nurse. He or she cleans your arm with prepared alcohol cotton swabs, draws the blood into the tubes you have given them, gives you another cotton alcohol swab to hold on your arm and off you go. Results are sent in to your doctor for your visit two days later. Never have we seen so much efficiency! We were finished by 7:45.am A few folks were still coming in and adding the lab order slips to another pile on the counter. Used the restrooms, which rarely have toilet paper, but we know to take our own.

Now we have two hours before Carmen's dental appointment. We walked a couple blocks before we found a restaurant for breakfast. The blood test was a fasting one and we are now starving, or at least we think we are. Headed toward the central park in Cordoba and saw the Christmas tree and decorations already in place here. Walked further to the Waldos dollar store and bought some more oatmeal cookies and more glass wide mouth storage jars with wire bales. These do a good job of keeping ants out.

Drove the ten blocks to the dentist, where Carmen experienced the two dentists working on her for two hours. After Xrays and much poking and prodding, the decision was made to leave the tooth in. Turned out that the abcess was not in the tooth's nerve, which the root canal procedure today revealed had been long dead. The necrotic tissue was removed. An antibiotic injection was put into the base of the tooth. We were sent home with a return date of next tuesday. Hopefully the infection would not flare up again, but were given a prescription, just in case.

Shopped at Walmart, since we drove right past it on the way home. Tuesday is the day for fresh fruit and veggie sales. For instance, the best buy was the mandarins at US$0.10 a pound.

(Mié 05^th) Took Gardi out on the front porch with us, on his leash. Dan measured for all the mitered frame boards for the fireplace screen, and with a home-made jig and Carmen's help, cut them. He misses his radial arm saw for jobs like this, but it was just too bulky to ship down here for the occasional use, since almost all construction here is with concrete, brick and block. He then filled and sanded the frame pieces in preparation for varnishing. Carmen filtered lumps out of dirt and filled flower pots in preparation for planting flower and salad greens seeds. Since we were working out on the front porch and in the front yard all day, there were lots of opportunities to greet our passersby. At least they're seeing that the gringos on the corner get their hands dirty working just like the normal people.

(Jue 06^th) Doctor's appointments for each of us, to get the blood and urine tests results. Carmen was immediately sent to a nutritionist consultant. Her cholesterol was a bit high, and the consult nurse made a few suggestions. But, in general, it seems that we are eating properly. The nurse commented on the reported high level of obesity in the US, and that people moving down here generally experience an improvement in their diet due to the larger variety of inexepnsive fresh produce. (We each have lost 20 pounds or so since moving here.) Carmen has to return in a month for a follow-up. Meanwhile she has to go to the IMSS archivo office, to pick up an envio (approved referral) next week to get an appointment with a specialist to treat her scleroderma. Dan has to pick up an envio also, to get an appointment with an urologist. Also we made it a point to talk to the jefe today to ask to have Dan's doctor changed to the same one that Carmen has, to make appointments easier, since Dan translates for Carmen. We were given the name & address of head of the IMSS facility here so that Dan can write a solicitud (request) to him. This is not something that anyone else at IMSS can do prior to our anniversary date next August.

Shopped at Josefina's for more of those delicious shelled peanuts with salt and lime on them. Went to the China Azteca store for more paper lantern covers for the three remaining indoor hanging light bulbs inside the house. Also shopped at the Chedraui store for fish, cheese, and etc. We still have not found a calendar, but this store said they would be coming in later in the month.

(Vie 07^th) Carmen dug up the grass & weeds in front of house along inner wall and planted seeds. Will they grow or will snails and slugs devour them? Also water-soaked the pots that are full of dirt, waiting for seeds. These are various favorite food plants & flowers seeds from the US that we were not sure we could buy here, which managed to get across the border with us in September. Dan started the varnishing on the fireplace screen frame, and clear-varnished the garden bench which sits on the front porch. We used the water-based clear varnish which took us so long to obtain—it went on very easy and cleanup was a snap – what a change from the regular high-VOC varnish we had been using.

(Sáb 08^th) The fireplace screen is finished. Walked up to Ania & Franks new “in town” house. Got an invite to their home for a Sunday afternoon meal, along with maybe a board game. Dan talked with the fellow who will be our roof renovation foreman, José Luís. They arranged that a four-man crew will be starting here December 17^th. Yea! Frank said we might get a free calendar at the FortiFerre store, so we took the time to walk there on the way home. The calendar doesn't have any spaces for notes, but is in english & spanish, has all the Mexican, Canadian & US holidays noted, and labels all the days with the patron saint names & religious observances so important here.

Today we had fish filet topped with a crust of those luscious lime peanuts which were crushed. Just no end to delicious foods, no matter where you live, if you apply a little imagination when choosing ingredients. Carmen also made the first batch of chocolate chip cookie dough since arriving here in Mexico. Will be a bit different since the sugars we purchased are coarser granules and the butter and margarine are a bit different in flavor.

Muchas Llaves

Domingo 25 Noviembre - Sabado 01 Diciembre 2012.  (Dom 25^th) Ania & Frank picked us up at 9am, for the half hour trip north to Coscomatepec. As we said we'd do the lunch,we took some homemade cabbage, nut, apple slaw and fresh pineapple. Bought a broasted chicken in Cosco. Had a wonderful day on the hills above town. Carmen and Ania did some weeding and lots of chatter. Dan and Frank drove to their the hill top hexagon cabin to check things out. The streets thru Cosco are very narrow, hilly and cobbled. Came home with what they call California lemons (huge, like large grapefruit), oranges, prickly chayote, and some ground-planted stems of orchids, all from their property in the avocado grove north of Cosco.

(Lun 26^th) Dan spent some time getting ready to caulk around windows. Many need this done as panes are installed without putty and the stops holding some of the windows leave the glass loose, or even with an edge unsupported where the glass has been carelessly cut. Being that we could not get into our house without three keys, Dan has been spending time crafting spaces for hidden keys. With the house doors and windows all protected by cemented-in wrought bars, there is no option of just breaking a window to enter – a set of keys is a must. If we both misplace or forget to put our keys in a pocket, we would be shut out with not many options for getting in.

(Mar 27^th) Why must two cats have their play time of around and around and over the bed at 5:30am? Stopping now & then thru the next two hours to give us loving pats and purrs.

This morning, Carmen tried out her oven again. She learned she must keep it turned to it's highest setting to keep it at 400º F. She made a lemon meringue pie from half of the lemons we got yesterday. While the pie cooled, we walked into town. Another beautiful day! The paint store says our order will be here soon. Another bank stop and hardware stop. Also Dan had taken the cylinder out of the front door lockset and we took it along with a newly made key to the locksmith. The key does not work, despite the locksmith working on it twice, and having the cylinder in the shop will insure a good result this time. Stopped by the correos office to leave a little monetary gift for our postman. He's only delivered two pieces of mail to us, but his family depends on his annual tips from Dia del Cartero, and we've seen him rarely as he delivers when we have been out and about. The gift will perhaps remind him to give us good service this coming year. Stopped by the grocery store for some vanilla ice cream, and some local coffee liqueur for Dan to drizzle on it.

The pie turned out great, one of the best Carmen has made, and she has baked many in the past. Recipe from the Joy of Cooking cookbook. Guess the oven is a keeper. The taste of the pie was not like one made from the typical lemons found NoB, but winningly yummy. Dan called Ania and told her that if Frank would stop by on his way home, that we would give them a couple pieces. Ania suggested she would trade some fresh homemade banana bread for it. Quite a fair trade we would say! Frank stopped by for the bakery trade just as it was getting dark. Chocolate banana bread! Somehow, Dan messed up the front gate lock and now the key won't fit. So the front yard is just latched by hand tonight.

(Mie 28^th) Still enjoying the ground orchids that Ania gave us, now in a bud vase in living room. They are sort of a mauve with their usual freckles. Dan talked Carmen into going up on top of the laundry building roof to paint the propane tank today. He has somehow hurt his right wrist. Must be too much retirement. Carmen was in the scalding sun for an hour, and during this time Dan worked on getting our domain email functioning again, after the server change back in the US. While on the roof, Carmen could see over the privacy walls while the neighbor lovingly brushed his dog. Also she dodged some butterflies. She finished the job and called to Dan to come up and inspect for missed spots. No sooner did Dan arrive than Carmen's finger flipped out and knocked the paint can over. What a mess. Really did not need the roof painted with rustoleum. On the way down off the roof – over the edge of the laundry roof parapet, across a few feet of slippery tiles, and on to the ladder – Dan got two big spider bits on his left arm. Likely from the foliage of the one tall plant we had to maneuver thru while on the ladder. Took quite a while to clean paint off of us.

Dan spent time working at troubleshooting the front gate lock. There were no options to take the lock to a locksmith, since some unthinking person in the past welded the lock to the gate. He ended up using a large paper clip on the outside of the gate to access the pins, and the key which only would go partway into the cylinder on the inside, essentially picking the lock. He must have learned how do this from watching too many criminals portrayed on TV, since he really didn't know what he was doing. At any rate, it works again. Since the lock now functioned, the extra key went into a hidden spot he's made for it.

(Jue 29^th) Dan's spider bites look like goose eggs. Going to spend the day with lots of hot compresses trying various lotions and liquids to take away the itching and swelling. Carmen went out back and chopped down the about nine feet off the top of the plant. Saw that it did indeed have a large spider nest hidden in the leaves. She dragged the plant into the banana field across the street, and discarded it there.

Walked into town to get the lock cylinder for front door. It works again – the locksmith had to cut a totally new llave (key) for it, as he couldn't fix the one he'd made earlier. Speaking of llaves, how did we get so many to carry around with us? Wasn't like this NoB. Here every door and gate requires a different type of key to lock it. Counting thru our key rings: front yard gate, front door gate, front door, back door lockset, back door interior padlock, back yard car gate, back yard second gate, laundry room. Plus a key for four same-keyed padlocks & chains which are used to lock up the extension ladder to the wall and the back door gate when we're gone with the car, and the other two to double lock the outer gates when we're gone for long periods. The car keys are on separate key rings, only used when we're driving somewhere. This says nothing for keys we don't carry around with us, like for the front & back door deadbolts, filing cabinet & strongbox, and various other locks, like for the bedroom doors, etc.

Walked over to the town center, and tapped the ATM again. While in the park, there was a woman sweeping the open spaces & sidewalks, as there nearly always is, with a very long palm frond. Much more effective than a push broom. The paint store told us the paint would be in next thursday. Lot's of sidewalk vendors out today, so we guessed that thursday is the day for people in Fortin to have their tianguis, or street market. The big tianguis on the boulevard going into Córdoba is Wednesday, and Sunday there is a huge used car market in the same area. We bought another piña on the walk home. This one is on the verge of being too ripe – about to turn. Spent some time near a tall bush bearing daisy-like flower 10 to 15 feet in the air, taking pictures to put here. Hopefully one will turn out.

Looking back at this paragraph, we note that we have begun to follow spanish conventions, and have stopped capitalizing certain words, that for some anachronistic reasons, are still capitalized routinely in english: languages, days of the week, month names and the like. Feels good to do this, as we never could figure out why such importance was being given to these common words.

(Vie 30^th) This is finally the day for Carmen's tooth to be pulled. We left home early, so as to make some quick shopping stops on the way. First we pulled up in front of OxiVer, a welding supply shop, for a small propane tank which Dan will need for working on the copper plumbing pipes. No luck. Then a stop at the Office Depot for a calendar and another look at software – a big two aisle display of appointment books & schedulers, but not a single wall-hung calendar in the store. The only software in the store was utility and security programs, and some office suites.

We parked near the dentists office early, so Carmen went up there (three flights of stairs) to wait, and Dan went across the street where he saw a possible place to buy the propane tank – again no luck, and he was referred to a store downtown. Meanwhile, the dentist arrived a few minutes after Carmen and started explaining in english that he had consulted a friend, an endodontist, on Carmen's situation and together they decided that a different procedure, an endoposta, would be better than pulling the tooth. Dan arrived and Dr Soley happily explained the procedure to Dan in spanish. We are to return to his office tuesday, when both he and the endodontist will be working on Carmen. The top of the tooth will be removed, then the gum will be cut back. Next the nerve will be removed (the root canal procedure or endodoncia, but much easier to perform as the upper part of the tooth is not in the way). Then antibiotic will be put down in the affected area, and the tooth will be allowed to drain and heal. On the subsequent visit, the tooth's nerve space gets fitted with a post, which will support a replacement tooth, all to get capped with a bridge. The procedure leaves the good, well-anchored, natural root in place – a much less invasive procedure in all. Now aren't you happy to know all this? Perhaps some of you have had this procedure done before.

After we left the dentist's office we checked the yellow pages which we carry in the car. No listing for the store that was recommended to Dan for the propane tank. He did notice that that another possible source was listed, just two more blocks down Avenidia 11, so he left Carmen in the car to wait while he checked it out. The store he found, specializing in hard-to-find plumbing and industrial fittings, did not sell these small tanks (that one can find in every hardware store in the US, but not here), but, he got directions to another place two blocks away. Yes, that store, the Casa del Plomero, had a few in stock, and he returned to the car, finally successful.

Upon arriving home, Carmen decided to make another lemon meringue pie. Too bad Frank did not just happen to stop by, since this, we learned, is his favorite pie. Moments after she started the pie, her brother Guy who lives in Pennsylvania., skyped us. He (ie, the netbook with webcam) got to sit on the kitchen counter and chat while Carmen baked. That was fun. Carmen took the pie out of the oven and set it on the counter next to Guy, just as Gardi noticed that she was talking to Guy on the netbook. Being that Gardi cat likes to say hello, he leaped up on the counter, just missing landing in the pie. Kitty got scolded. Carmen put the netbook on the floor next to Gardi where he could do a more appropriate greeting, complete with stretches, etc. Not sure how Guy felt about being sat on the floor for the kitty hello.

Next Peggy skyped. She said they were having a wet time in Santa Cruz, Calif, with possible flooding predicted. Carmen took Peggy (ie, the netbook) outside to see if she knew the name of the plant that Carmen cut down. Always great to hear from friends.

Dan's spider bite swelling has gone down in size, though the itching's still there, so the hot compresses continue. In the afternoon Carmen climbed to the roof top to put a white coat of paint on the propane tank. She enjoys painting as long as Dan cleans out the brushes and painting tools. Now finally time for the meal, so we consumed the vegetable soup Carmen made yesterday, expecting not to be able to chew today, warmed up and with addition of cut-up sausages. Yes, also lemon pie. Sunny day.

(Sab 01^st) Food note: You never know where you will find hot chilies or lemon. Carmen bought a small bag of Cheetos to find them very hot with chili peppers. This week she wanted some marshmallows for hot chocolate. Bought a small package of miniature ones at the checkout counter. They tasted like lemon . Not so good in hot chocolate.

Dan took off walking the nine blocks to Ania & Franks new place, as he wanted to talk to Frank about how to go about paying the crew when they are working here. Only halfway there, they drove past and took him the rest of the way. They were a bit early, as they were planning to go to Ania's daughter Kalina's home in Boca del Rio, next to Veracruz City, for the weekend. Dan revealed that Carmen had baked another pay merengue de limon, and if they stopped by Frank could get a piece. No problem convincing them, and after they dropped Dan off at home they left with two pieces of pie on a paper plate. They were headed out to babysit the grandchildren. They said they enjoy going down to the beach during the winter, as long as it was before March when it again becomes hot and humid. Perhaps we should try this some time, as long as we avoid those few“northers” that bring cold winds down from the wintery US, making even a walk on the beach unpleasant.

Thereafter, Dan finished the repair on a bedroom window screen and we put it back in place, which was difficult since it is a really tight fit. Spent some time reading. Our Smij cat honored us with her presence for awhile. We rarely see her during the day.

A La Florería

Domingo 18 - Sabado 24 Noviembre 2012.  (Dom 18^th) Sunday was rather slow around here. More small projects about the house. Dark cool day. Temperature here seems cool when not above 75ºF during the day time, although we are not complaining, considering that daytime temps in Anacortes now are 20º to 30ºF lower than this. Most days this week were cloudy with some rain and some sun. Has not kept us quietly indoors though.

(Lun 19^th) Looked out the kitchen window this morning and saw a family with a young boy all decked out in his straw hat, toy rifle and fake beard. Children get dressed up for today's Revolution Day celebration. Girls wear special dresses typical of 100 years ago. We put pictures of them in last year's blog. Actually we walked into town later, only to discover that we were there either too late or too early for the formal celebration in front of city hall. Town was pretty empty. Wonder when we will ever get the proper timing for special events. It was easier last winter when we lived but a couple blocks town center, the park, in our little apartment, where we could hear the happenings in town, usually accompanied by music or some loud announcements on the city's p/a system.

We walked home past the floral market stalls. At the first stall we bargained a bit for a large fuchsia, and the owner lowered the price to 50 instead of 60 pesos; we said we'd come back. We walked on to check out the other stalls. Found a large pot with three plants of verbena and one other plant, for 60 pesos. In the next stall was a large hanging petunia, but the shop was closed. At another shop we decided to buy one other fuchsia, which needs to expand yet, and the sales lady said 60 pesos for it. Carmen gave her unhappy look as Dan spoke to the clerk, so we took it for 50 pesos. Then, when we got back to first shop for the large fuchsia, another person, a young man, was tending shop, and he would not sell the plant for less than the 60 pesos, so we walked home without it. Total spent today, 110 pesos or $8.36 US. We had heard that plants were really expensive here, but instead found them to be maybe half the US price.

(Mar 20^th) This day we walked back into town again to go to hardware and pay our water and electricity bills. Did not take the camera, knowing that the holiday was celebrated the previous day, so there would be nothing happening this day. Wrong again. Blocks and blocks (at least ten) of children from all the local schools parading in their school uniforms. Some with marching bands. Some in outfits of years gone by. Some doing acts along the way. Thankful that we got to see this.

We did in fact pay our bills today. The electric company could not explain why our bill had not been delivered to us. Should come every two months. Cost about US$22 for two months for all the time we have owned the house now, since mid-July. Our water bill is another story. We had received a notice with our bill, telling us that we could get 10% off the bill by paying in advance for a the full year ahead. We planned to do this. However, when Dan talked to the clerk, he asked what we needed to do to qualify for the other special rate, for retired people. The clerk asked to see our proof (a copy of Dan's INM card was sufficient), and then gave us 50% off for paying now for the coming year. Our water and sewer therefore cost us a whole US$1.25 US per month for now until the end of 2013, paid in advance.

Again we walked past the florerías at Fortín's in-town floral market. This time we bought the large fuchsia for 50 pesos, plus three good sized petunias for 60 pesos from the little lady who sold us the verbena. Walked on home and took Gardi out front with us, and Carmen planted all flowers, while Dan worked on a panel to hide the cat potty box, to put in front of the fireplace where the box sits. Gardi managed to pull hard on his leash and his breakaway collar pulled apart. Time for a new one. We hung the plants from the beams along the front porch outer edge. They make us feel even more at home.

Carmen got brave again, and answered the door bell. Was a small boy, selling some homemade food. Carmen explained that she did not speak Spanish, and no gracias. He piped up and told her that was okay, he spoke English!

(Mie 21^st) Dan drove us into Córdoba today. We drove on some cobblestoned streets. Not too many of those here in this city, but we have seen many further west, especially in the towns that are preserved as colonial cities.

First we stopped by Walmart and did some quick shopping. Next went to the IMSS clinic for Dan to pick up the results of last week's ultrasound. It wasn't in the office where he could have gotten it the next day, after the test, and they sent him to various offices with no luck finding it. After waiting in the jefe's office a while, he excused himself, explaining that he had to get Carmen to an appointment and he would return later.

On we went to the dentist to do a root canal for Carmen. The endodontist's opinion was that a root canal would not be the best treatment in this case, but that an extraction was called for. Another dental surgeon for mouth rehabilitation was recommended, but two blocks away and after a phone call, we were able to get in with him in an hour. Though only two blocks, we thought it best to drive, in case Carmen was feeling bad when leaving. We were expecting this tooth to be pulled after a three weeks of antibiotics not totally working.

We walked into Dr. Augusto Soley's office and what a surprise we had. The dentist was a tall good looking happily smiling black man. We had guessed that he might be from Panama since he looks typical of peoples there, and also he had some handicraft from the San Blas Islands on the wall of his waiting room. Black people are relatively rare here. Dan explained that Carmen did not speak Spanish, and Dr. Soley smiled and said, in English, that was okay since he could manage in English. Carmen was very happy with this turn of events. He is from Panama, got his dentistry degree in Puebla and married a mexicana he met while he was in dental school.

After a thorough exam, he had time to take impressions for a bridge with two crowns that will replace the tooth. Also there is too little bone to safely put an implant in, which was also the reason that the root canal and crown process wouldn't have worked. One of the problems with scleroderma is bone loss in the jaw. Will take two more appointments to finalize this process, and no time without a visible tooth there. The doctor took time to explain it all very thoroughly, along with restoration process images on his computer of other procedures that he has done. Most enjoyably interesting man to talk to. The implant Carmen had a year ago in US took a full year and the cost was six times what it would have cost here.

We have checked several places for cat collars today, with no luck. Compared to dogs, cats get short shrift here. Stores typically have great selection of dog toys, dog treats, leashes and collars, and yet the cat section just is only stocked with basic food, and if one is lucky, some litter. For lunch we stopped at the chinese buffet near Chedraui, and also bought a few chinese paper lanterns to see if we can dress up our middle-of the-ceiling bare bulbs. Turns out they only fit on the lights suspended on wires, and not on the flat single bare bulb socket ceiling fixture found in most of the downstairs rooms. Returning to IMSS, we were happy to find they had located the test results, which Dan picked up. One more stop, at Metalurve, for some plumbing fittings, paint and masonry cutting wheels for the angle grinder. The trip home on the boulevard (the road between Córdoba and Fortín) was slow due to most lanes being closed due to repaving.

(Jue 22^nd) Had to go into town again to the ATM to start building up our cash for payment for the dentist. Today we noticed a tall tree type bush, covered with daisy-like flowers. Some of these bush-trees are white daisies and some are yellow. We see new plants every time we walk. On our way home we saw Josefina, Alex's mother. She was chatting with some folks, where we were trying to get someones attention so that we could pay for a pineapple we were holding. She sent the clerk over. This really large pineapple, larger than we have seen sold in markets back in mainland US, cost US$0.75. We walked a few paces down the street with Josefina and then she crossed over, while we walked on straight to check on our paint. Of course it was not here. Crossed the street to see Josefina carrying her cooler plus dragging a well constructed grocery cart along. We waited for her and helped her out for a few blocks. She stopped at the supermarket and we came on home. Nice to be able to help others.

Upon arriving home, we found our second mail delivery waiting in our mail box. Took 28 days this time. Dan spent the rest of today trying to straighten out credit card companies, and a replacement on an HP computer monitor.

(Vie 23^rd) Cosme was here for some time. We thought he was just going to bring us some fertilizer for the orchids, which is hard to find here. Nope! He showed up with three more unusual orchids. Yes he did show us how to care for orchids and anthuriums. Also he dug around our other plants and highly fertilized them for us. Used all the fertilizer he brought. He will come back next April and fertilize again. Carmen told him in no uncertain terms that we would not buy any more orchids from him. To which he replied that she had told him that she wanted one of every type flower, so he was bringing us one of each type orchid he had. Hmmph.

(Sab 24^th) Got a call and an email from Frank at 7:30am saying they were going to their cabin on the mountain near Coscomatepec this day or Sunday, and would we like to go along? Could not be today because of dental appointment, but we'd love to go Sunday.

Carmen spent a couple hours in the most comfortable dental chair, having teeth prepped for the big pull next week. Two side teeth were ground to take the bridge. Dan spent a moment in the chair also – just to let the dentist take a look at something he might get done. On the drive home, we shopped at Walmart. Also stopped at Metalurve, one of the few hardware stores one can browse around pulling purchases from the shelves into your shopping cart. Home Depot, when it opens soon, will be some competition.

Anturios y Orquídeas

Domingo 11 - Sabado 17 Noviembre 2012.  (Dom 11^th) Before breakfast, we bucketed a few more cubetas (5 gallon buckets) of dirt from across the street into our flower pots. Dan carted the bugambila trimmings into the banana field along the avenida, as this seems to be how people get rid of yardwaste here. He kept a watch for spider webs, as this is start of the dry season when their webs start to be noticeable hanging from plant to plant in the fields. Of course he suffered a bit more from the bugambilia thorns in the process. Later in the day... what is this with it's web across the large opening of our remaining liftvan box? A huge banana spider, (araña) with a spread of about 5” on it's eight long legs. We selected our best spider spray and gave it a massive drink. Later it was upside down on the ground, holding so very still. We later learned there is also a non-venomous yellow one around this part of the world, and were glad we were so ruthless with this red, white & black one. We figure since we (mostly) stay out of the banana fields, they should reciprocate by staying out of our yard, it's only fair.

Next we picked up litter across the calle from us, along the edge of the banana field. Do not know why so much trash seems to land there, but perhaps it's because no one actually lives there. In general there is very little street clutter around here, and people keep the street in front of their home clean and swept. Afterwards, we went for a Sunday drive.

Dan has been virtually exploring with aerial views from Google Earth and had a drive circuit planned out, south to the town of Zapoapan. Went thru a couple of pueblitos on some paved and then some dirt roads on the west side of the Rio Metlac, with green, green hills all around. Saw many types of structures, even some with horizontal wood lap siding, which is pretty rare here, but most homes were of concrete block with corrugated metal roofs, and of course lovely tiles to dress things up here and there. Definitely we were off the main track.  Here are some trip pix.

When we were on the way back, north of little Villa Union, we stopped at a campestre (country) restaurant that serves rabbit, El Toxtli Jarocho. Toxtli is the Nahuatl word for rabbit, conejo in Spanish. Neither of us had eaten rabbit in years. We started with a bean soup appetizer and grill-crisped seasoned tortillas. We shared a half rabbit, prepared grilled over a wood fire, with pastor sauce, accompanied by soft blue corn tortillas. We splurged on dessert, flan for Carmen and peaches with rompope (rum eggnog) for Dan. The meal was delicious. When you walked out the off-street side of the restaurant, you could go down a sloped suspended ramp, over a steep defile with a bubbling creek at the bottom, the banks covered with huge leafy plants. On the other side were some penned deer and peacocks, a mini-zoo of sorts. Also they had two swimming pools and a selection of children's playground equipment.

A ten minute drive from the restaurant, and we were home. Another day that was good for the soul. Though we live with two banana fields across from us, we still have the need to get into real countryside, every once and awhile.

(Lun 12^th) Dan was told over the phone to be at the IMSS clinic at eight this morning for his prostate exam. We were there on time. He was then sent to the jefe for further info, and as it turned out he was here only to schedule his exam. Here he was told to come back tomorrow at 9:30am and bring a liter bottle of water. Next we walked upstairs to the dental consultorio, where the dentist would, sometime during the day, work Carmen in. Only had to wait til 10:30am. After looking and prodding the sorest area, and examining the full mouth panoramic Xray we brought in with us from a month ago, Carmen was sent downstairs for an Xray of the affected couple of teeth. Waited almost an hour for that to happen for her turn. We sat down, patiently waiting to be called to the desk to pick up the radiografía. Eventually Carmen noticed that the person Xrayed after her, went to the desk without being called and got her films. Thus we went to the desk and asked for Carmen's. Yep, they were sitting there waiting for us. Back upstairs for the dentist, where we waited for the door to open and the current patient to exit. We handed the dentist the tiny bit of film, which she immediately looked at, then called us into the office. She showed it to us, and informed us that Carmen needed to be back on a different antibiotic for another week, and then needed a root canal (endodoncia) done. This is better than having the tooth pulled, right?

It was now near two o'clock, when many places close for a couple hours. We had planned to stop at Walmart on way home, but road was torn up in front of it and we could not get in there. So we stopped at the Bodega Aurerra (also owned by Walmart), nine blocks from our house. No cat litter. Fruits, veggies, and bakery were poor looking today. However, the meat looked great, so we bought thin sliced beef and pork, a turkey chorizo to try and a mixture of meats described as “traditional” sausage, which we had when we got home and it was more flavored like sausage from the US. Meat prices are still between US$2.25 and $3.00 a pound, beef being at the higher end of this. Also bought some Gallo beer from Guatemala, which costs about US$3 per sixpack here.

Dan now felt he needs to accomplish something, so he crafted a new bigger, better positioned hook on our back gate. Here we hang our garbage so that the dozens of roaming dogs (and the one cat we've spotted) cannot tear into it. Rarely have we seen garbage dug into, but we do not want the experience at our gate. Actually we figure that the cat did tear into a bag of chicken bones when we had a garbage bag just out back on the ground, before our garbage can arrived. We do not put our can outside the gate for fear that it will leave our premises. We have learned that when we put out cardboard or aluminum cans, that some one comes along and almost immediately takes them for selling to a recycler. This is good.

(Mar 13^th) Back to the clinic in Córdoba by 9:30am for Dan, with his liter of water. We went to the wrong area and were sent upstairs where Dan was told he could now drink his water. Now, Dan is more of a sipper than a chugga-lugger of beverages. When the nurse came to get him, he had not quite finished the whole liter of water, but they checked him anyways, only to find that his bladder was not full yet. The test turned out to be an ultrasound. Dan walked around for about 20 minutes, willing the water to work its way down to his vejiga, then knocked on the door for another go at it, and this time the ultrasound now was good. Aah, how good it feels to use the bathroom -- then back once more for another scan with bladder empty to finish up the test.

Next we drove further downtown to the dentist who we've gone to for cleanings in the past. Since then Carmen has started up with the dentist at IMSS, but they do not do endodoncias and she must have it done at a private dentist. We stopped by to see Dra Gwen and learned that she does not do root canals, but she did refer us to Dra Rosalba who specializes in them – we'll make an appointment with her later today.

Next we drove right into the center of the city and found a parking spot only five blocks from the store where we bought our stove. Visited them and explained the problem with the oven not reaching temperature, and they promised to send a repair person out later this week to fix things, as the appliances we purchased have a year long warranty. Now since we are but a couple blocks from the dollar store, we headed for there. Oh goody, we pass a fantastic fabric store on the way. We needed white thread for the curtain hemming project and Carmen has been wanting to go in and ooo and aah over the fabrics. She is not a seamstress, but she loves to look at the fabrics. More than we have ever seen in the US – and such a variety of designs! We found the thread section – lots of colors but no white! How can this be, so Dan asked at the counter, and bought two spools from the huge stock of spindles on the wall behind the clerk.

Now on we happily walk to the Waldos store, where we could buy more of the wide mouth glass jars needed for kitchen storage. They have gaskets and wire snap bails so our little helper ants can not access the contents. We of course meandered thru the food section where of course we bought some cookies to put away for future use. Carefully carried our glass etc items back to our car. We've been extra cautious parking on the street in the city, using the “club” to provide a little dis-incentive to would-be ladrones. Next stop is the endodontist's office, located near the corner of Avenida 11 and Calle 14. Found a parking spot just around the corner – we have been really lucky finding parking spots today. Carmen got an appointment for next Tuesday afternoon, as Monday is a Día de la Revolución, a national holiday.

We are doing better at maneuvering thru the streets here. Going into Córdoba from Fortín, the calles (streets) start with high even numbers dropping down to Calle 2, and then as one goes further east from the center the numbers go back up with odd digits At the central plaza downtown the avenidas start from Avenida 1 incrementing odd numbers going south, and even numbers going north. Generally, avenues have the right of way, and both streets and avenues tend to alternate one-way directions, with a liberal addition of two-way roads intermingled. And, avenues north of the center have “Norte” tagged onto them, and to the south “Sur, while calles to the east are tagged “Oriente” and to the west “Poniente.” Fortín follows the same numbering logic. As we travel along, Dan watches for ways to move around stopped traffic (parallel parkers, buses halting ahead, taxis stopping for passengers, etc), while Carmen calls out the approaching red lights, topes (speedbumps), and huecos (potholes) and arrows painted high on the building walls at corners telling which direction street traffic goes and which color they are. Red arrow streets have the right of way. All the signing and conventions make for safer transit, but some learning time definitely is needed to get comfortable as a driver here.

We progress on to Walmart, and find the parking area accessible today. Lots of road work happening here. Lots of roads needing work too. Our main reason for stopping at Walmart was to buy the very expensive Scoop Away cat litter. Want to try it once to see if it in fact dries up tighter than the other brands here. Dan first looked for software, but found none in the store. Something to check on at Office Depot someday. Carmen first scoped out the pressure cookers. Nothing new of interest. But next!!! There was a massive fresh fruit and vegetable sale happening, all of it in prime condition. Our cart proceeded to fill up. Apples, pears, mandarins, swiss chard, spinach, beets, carrots, tomatoes, celery, on and on. Yes, we remembered the cat litter, which was on the shelf today. Three boxes there in fact. We took the one that not been damaged, and headed home.

(Mie 14^th) Today Dan installed inner upper shelves for glass fronted upper cabinets in kitchen. Carmen is still remodeling curtains. Worked on posting this blog for last week's activities. Meal was made with the fresh spinach we purchased yesterday. Eggs florentine, made without the white sauce, and added a small dollop of sour cream over top. Such a beautiful showy dish. Would be good for company.

The fellow who sprayed for insects outside was to show up about 5pm today to show us an orchid and an anthurium from his nursery north of town. Well, we can tell you that all Mexicans are not late. He arrived at 4pm with three anturios (anthuriums) and five orquídeas (orchids), expecting us to buy them all! Now, Carmen did not want to buy any plants before the roof is finished. And there are so many varieties of plants here, she certainly did not want more than one of each thing, for her small garden area. The fellow was not happy that she would only consider three of his lovely anthuriums, which were grown by his wife and proceeds for them had to go to her. He put on a good sulk. Carmen was unhappy that he was trying to force her to buy these plants. She made an offer for the three plants and finally agreed to take all of them, so that he would not have to carry them back home on the bus. Carmen does not like plants like orchids that bloom for a very short period of time, and has bad luck with them in the past in the US. Grrrrrrrrrrr. Poor Dan just had to keep translating for the two of them, and kept telling the fellow that Carmen knows what she wants and will not change her mind. In the end we got all the unwanted plants for half what he had asked. We affixed the little orquídeas on one of the front windows, as each was attached to a little stick of dead wood and provided with a wire hook for hanging.

Now Carmen was feeling that she might have done him an injustice. He and his wife did grow the plants. So we walked the 12 blocks to the local florist market, just to price similar plants, since we had really no idea of their worth. Oh yes, we had all but stolen them. Well, the fellow should not have assumed that we would want them. All three anthuriums were the same basic dark red. Carmen told him she would pay him something additional if he would bring others of another color to exchange tomorrow. The flower market had many color varieties. He is bringing a vanilla plant tomorrow - an orchid that perhaps must grows20 feet tall before it blossoms, and maybe then will give us vanilla beans. So now we have all these plants to do something with – sitting about on our front porch. We are hoping, since this is not the cold US but is in the prime Mexican region for growing orchids, Carmen's luck with them will be different.

While watching TV this eve, we thought we saw something on the screen. It then got in front of the caption area. Yep, it was a tiny besucona (gecko). Probably a good place to catch tiny insects. We were concerned that it might get cooked on the screen. We just left it there while we watched TV, being distracted by the cutie. By next morning it had traveled elsewhere.

(Jue 15^th) Today Cosme Rojas was to be here about ten. A cab pulls up out front at 9am, early again! And guess what - the cab was FULL of plants. Rather makes one want to hide and not answer the door. Out of the further back door bounces a smiling Cosme. He and cab driver proceed to unload the cab. There was the vanilla plant sitting on the floor in front of the front passenger seat! It was attached to a seven foot tree leaning into the back of the car, which provided a living trunk for the vanilla orchid to grow on. Certainly not what we had expected. Life is just full of new surprises! Also not only did he bring one other colored anthurium, but three. He only got the money for the two items we ordered, but ended up leaving all four. He planted the huge vanilla plant, which also has another variety of orchid on it. He wanted to plant all the other plants, but we insisted that Carmen likes to do that. After reading about anthuriums, we discovered that we needed to plant them in little soil with mostly leaf and bark medium. Now where to get that?

We were invited to Frank & Ania's for supper and games. Being that they have a really large acreage with many plants, we asked them if they had some leaf mold anywhere that we could dig up for our new plants. Turned out that their compost pile was at the wrong point to get leaves out of it. We had a luscious meal. Carmen was the winner after four hands of rummikub. Always enjoy our time with them. On the way home at the lower end of their driveway, we saw a large tlacuache (opossum) cross the road in front of us, eyes glowing in the car's headlights.

(Vie 16^th) Yesterday, Dan talked Carmen into climbing up a couple ladders to see the roof and view from there. The view is fantastic and the roof tiles are indeed in bad, bad shape. This will be a great place for a mirador (lookout) platform, if we can get a stairway up there from the planned second floor patio. While there Carmen pointed out a couple trees a few blocks away that might have the right kind of leaf debris for the anthuriums to be planted in. Later in the day we walked to these trees, but found few leaves under them at this time of year. We did however discover that the road edge in front of the church up the street had a lovely batch of dried leaves. Out we went with rake and garbage can in hand to clean the street gutter! What must our neighbors think? We did indeed get all the plants in pots and found at least temporary homes for them. Now, if only we can get the right amount of water on them. Not too much. In amongst the fallen leaves Dan picked up a soccerball-sized mass of the common epiphytes that grow high in all the trees and on the electric wires around here. He stuck on the top of our front garden fence, just to see what it will do there, down close to where we can monitor its progress thru the year. Does it actually bloom at times?

Today the two fellows came to check out our oven. Yesterday we finally leveled the stove. Had to lift the front up ¼ inch. Also yesterday we had our propane tank filled, though it was still 1/3 full. So – how did the repair on the oven go? Does it now work? How embarrassing, the darnn oven heated up for them when they tested it, just perfectly. Whereas the oven flames would not go above Low for us, for the three prior times we had tried it, the flames went up just fine for the repair men! Hope it works when we decide to bake again. What caused the difference?

When the repair men arrived, Dan went out front to let them in and Gardi cat took it upon himself to trot right along. He was scolded and shooed back inside, which he did peacefully. He does like to greet company, but he has always done it from inside before. Next we were all standing in the kitchen, Carmen turned around and there was Gardi happily lying on kitchen counter just being part of what was happening. No he is not allowed on counters. Whatever got into him? Took him outside on leash this afternoon to make him happy. He seems to get embarrassed and sulky, when scolded in front of others. The outing made him his happy cat self again.

Now Dan is snacking on lemony salted peanuts. Yummy. And he just indulged in a passion fruit (granadilla), happily crunching up the tiny seeds surrounded be the pulpy juice, which Carmen cannot bring herself to enjoy. What shall Carmen nibble on – ohhh, these peanuts are really good she discovers. No other items for supper, since lunch was at three.

(Sab 17^th) Got a bit of a late start today, with some scrumptious oat bran pancakes. Walked into Fortín, hoping to pay CASF water bill and see how much a discount we can get for paying 2013 in advance. Then to the CFE office to find out why we have received no bill since starting our power account in July. Discovered that both offices are closed Saturdays. Next walked further to the hardware to buy a refill canister for our long reach butane lighter, which we use for lighting our water heater and oven. Much less frustrating than stick matches. Stopped at the correos (post office), which was open even though this is a holiday weekend, but they were holding no international mail for us, undelivered, although we know a letter was addressed and mailed to us three weeks ago from Anacortes. On to the ATM for more cash. Stop by paint store, and no, our order has not yet arrived, so we made some changes based on a revised plan for refinishing our windows. We'll use brown paint on the exterior only, instead of trying to renew the varnish which just will never stand up to the rain & sun exposure. Grocery store for bananas and olive oil that was on sale.

Gone from home two hours. On the walk home, Carmen walked on home by herself with purchases and Dan headed on over to Frank's new place to talk to the guys who will be heading up our renovation crew. They arranged to come by after 1pm, when their Saturday half-workday ended. Frank & Ania dropped them off then and Dan took Manuel and Luís up on the roof for a quick scoping of the job ahead, to start in December when Frank & Ania's obra wraps up. An afternoon meal of potato chip crusted fish, buttered carrots, sesame-rye bread and fresh mandarins, washed down with sidral (apple soda).