It is about time to go back down to the Quinta. It is still necessary that I remain up here, but there is really no way that we can just keep Alvaro stuck in the ground down there....30 hours a day....9 days per week. So I shall head back and see what work needs to be done and wait for people to drive by and ask to take pictures of the Quinta. We have some folks who have indicated that they might be coming down before school starts....but no one has sent payment. It is best that all know that we must, morally, permit the client who pays first the first right of access to the dates requested by that client. We know of no other way to address this problem, considering the difficulty in communication at times, and the stocking of supply requirements that we have. Please forgive this advisory....I'm not really being grumpy....it's just a matter of Natural Law, like gravity....and I know no way around it.
We are probably going to invest in a chain saw finally, becasue according to Alvaro, there is massive amounts of mesquite and orange wood that simply must be reduced to firewood. When I was down last, about 2 weeks ago, it was evident that there was enough firewood available to stock our barbie and fireplace for three years....easily. The damage from Hurricane Alex and, more especially , the "little tropical depression"....is not severe, but it is extensive. Branches and old major limbs from many, many old trees abound in all directions. There is so much that Alvaro thinks that he could even cut up a bit to sell to the "city people" from Victoria. And yes, Vrginia, whatever Alvaro cuts up and sells...he gets to keep the money....and it could be 200 or 300 dollars worth....quite a bit for the area where we are.
It should be stated again that we have been very fortunate at our Quinta. There was little or no damage to the house itself, and the trees and shrubs are already acting brave, as if nothing happened. We had a little damage to our new fence....about four of the concrete posts tilted due to the water pushing against them and pushing chaff and limbs up against them....but the posts have since been restored to their original vertical precision. Our neighbour, adjacent to the downstream side, lost his entire 14 foot high concrete wall fence to the force of the flood. We advised him that we thought he might want to use a more rustic, lower wall....but he wanted to make certain that the locals could not look inside of his compound. Now his wall is one with the Cosmos...somewhere between here and the Gulf of Mexico. All of our loose-stacked, non-mortared stone fences are still standing.
In any regard, preparations begin and I should be gone sometime between Thursday and Monday next.
More later,The Old Gringo
