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We have just returned from our little place in the middle of nowhere Mexico, after a couple of weeks stay. It was generally uneventful, except for a couple of occurrences. Most of El Gringo Viejo's time is taken up by letting three obstinate but appreciative female cats (all 15 years old) in and out, each at a different time (usually), feeding them (each in her own special place), by putting the crunchy cat food and kitty-candy on the tile floor between the pantry and the kitchen.
At times they all eat together, in an autistic sense, actively ignoring one another. Most of the time, each eats alone. The two sisters seem to communicate almost continuously. The calico is the odd girl out.
Our all-black mongrel hound is deferential to the cats, and seems to appreciate them going down to the Rio Corona on our almost daily walks. That dog is joined by one who is now the only Rhodesian Lion Hound of several who have "worked" at the neighbouring property, the Hacienda de la Vega.
We include this email as an example of the "briefing" we passed around to family and associates yesterday:
We include this email as an example of the "briefing" we passed around to family and associates yesterday:
Hello to one and all,
We returned through the rain yesterday after being down at our place in Nowhere, Mexico. The first couple of days was fairly tolerable, but the bottom fell out at the end of the first weekend, and continued to become more problematic as the days went by.
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| A portion of the several-score miles of traffic, stalled on the expressway between Mexico City and the Saltillo, Monterrey, and Texas destinations |
The main problem was, lamentably, the weather. Three or four normal days were replaced by the demands of a steadily falling thermometer that finally fell into the 30s, Fahrenheit. That continued for the better part of 6 days, without abating. Finally during the latter part
of the episode, freezing precipitation began, usually during the night.
of the episode, freezing precipitation began, usually during the night.
While being, admittedly, a sporadic thing, the spates of sleet pinging on the roof of our little covered parking space, and the swirl of snowflakes and actual clumps of snow would
bedevil the onlooker three or four times every hour. Usually the episodes would last
for a minute and up to five minutes. Please take note of the of ice which froze
overnight, below.It drew my attention when I literally saw a Confederate
Warbler "walk on water" as he crossed the bowl. I then found
a silver serving spoon and placed it so as to demonstrate to
our friends and family that the bird was not
our friends and family that the bird was not
an angel or saint.
The temperature flirted with 32 degrees frequently, until the end of the rainy-snowy part of Old Man Winter's visit. On the last night, of course, everything cleared off to leave a
celestial that even I have never seen excelled. The stars and the Milky Way were
truly almost within reach. It was fairly obvious that we were in a frosty
morn,or worse, a damaging freeze. My water heater had lost its pilot
light due to the strong winds, but it responded immediately to my
efforts to "reboot" at 03:00 a.m. on Monday morning,
if I recall correctly.
celestial that even I have never seen excelled. The stars and the Milky Way were
truly almost within reach. It was fairly obvious that we were in a frosty
morn,or worse, a damaging freeze. My water heater had lost its pilot
light due to the strong winds, but it responded immediately to my
efforts to "reboot" at 03:00 a.m. on Monday morning,
if I recall correctly.
| Frozen water in the aluminum drip bowl that "feeds" our bird pond below. The serving spoon is silver, being used to show that the water truly was frozen solid. |
Another great benefit during this event was that the electricity never wavered, cut out, or backed down at any time. With the cold (breaking records in some locales nearby) being so intense, and with the three days of winds ranging from 15 to 50 miles per hour for much of the period, we still never lost power.
Points just to the northwest of us, for instance, had very heavy snow and sleet events. The event finally closed the main central highway connecting Mexico City to Saltillo,
Monterrey, and Texas. The main choke point was the Pass of Buena Vista where
one of the major battles of the Mexican - American War was
fought back in 1847.
Suffice to say that the closure of Highway 57 (pictured above)caused essentially an 80 mile "traffic dead zone" where several thousand vehicles were trapped for as much
as 36 hours. Some snow totals exceeded 30 inches.
Sleet was also common.
The crowning event, perhaps, was in my catching up with my Consuegro John, by having a "physical injury incident". He has had about three relatively serious brushes with things
that could have had a lot more than just "serious brushes". I finally caught up a little
by returning from the Rio Corona and a brief overlook of the property of our
neighbour late Tuesday. As I approached the porton (swinging entrance
gate), my two canine friends were "assaulted" by three unknown dogs.
One of my canine "friends" is a Rhodesian who is a little "of age",
and who actually "belongs" to the Hacienda de la Vega.But,
he prefers our precincts when that owner is absent.
The three "visitors" looked like unkempt ruffians, and they put on a fairly threatening show. Prieto, my dog, and Terco, the Rhodesian, barked and growled and put up a good
return show. The problem began when I turned to open the latchet of the gate,
at the very second that Prieto (Blackie) stepped on my plastic "chancla" heel,
freezing my forward progress for a fraction of a second, and causing
me to fall head and shoulders first into the steel gate.
I suffered a fairly significant gash to the left side
of my forehead.
It bled profusely. I used a roll and a half of toilet paper while trying to stop the bleeding, and then set about cleaning up the disgusting bloody mess. Co-lateral damage included
badly, but superficially bruised elbows, knees, and left collar bone.
It was a set of disorders that should have made any hypochondriac
proud. I called our neighbour and had him call our
Mayordomo, Alvaro to come and attend to El Gringo
Viejo. It took me about three days to be certain
that I could drive back to the promised land.
On a more positive note, the Ejido Francisco I. Madero formed a Committee of Sanitation of Public Places. During my first pass down to the Rio Corona on this particular jaunt,
it surprised me to note that the entire area adjacent to the Rio where there is a
large area of access had been cleaned to a stunning degree. The people
had even gone into where the bramble starts some 20 to 40 feet back
from the Rio and clean meticulously under, over, and around the
wild shrubbery, extracting all nature of junk, garbage,
and disgusting things.
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Fifteen years ago, that stretch was essentially a public garbage and litter dump (unofficially). Alvaro and I went and gradually restored the most accessible parts to some
semblance of presentability and sanitation. We continued,
singly and in tandem, to go down
and "police the area".
But this work was done like someone trying to establish something really impressive and almost totally thorough. The "cleaning crew" was composed of teenagers
and family heads (about 30 people) who volunteered from the Baptist
Church and the Roman Catholic Church, both almost within
a stone's throw of the Quinta. Their work was
almost military grade.
More later. Some of the above will appear in the blog and on Facebook.
DCN I
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