Hot Times in the Old Town.....

      During the afternoon, my neighbour from the Hacienda de La Vega wrote and informed me that it has been interesting over at our place during the last 48 hours.      There is a zone of fires between our places and the community of Miquihuana, Tamaulipas over the cordilleras of the Sierra Madre, about 35 miles (by straight line) to the west of the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre. 

      So that you all will know a bit of how we speak to one another his message, in Spanish is included in the body of this magnificent contribution to the world of literary endavour.

      Hola David amigo..!

Te has perdido de todo un espectaculo con la seca por aca, como dices los incendios a la orden del dia en TX y Tamaulipas, llevo 2 dias con un par de helicopteros ahi en la presa de santa engracia como base cargando agua y combustible para atacar un incendio arriba del chorrito, la verdad la gente no quiso ir a hidalgo y de ahi estamos armando la estrategia..     traigo un bell 412 y un courier canadiense tirando retardante y agua se han quemado ya 70 has pero calculo controlarlo para el viernes. ya sobrevole varias veces nuestras tierras y urge como dices que lloren los angels...Alvaro esta al pie del cañon y yo andare por alla todos estos dias, si necesitas algo con gusto avisame...estare al pendiente, aca todo bien.

Espero todo este en orden por tu casa y saludos a tu fam...si no llueve pa fin de mes, ora si a bailarle!!

Rafael says...  Hello! David Friend!

     You have lost a total spectacle with the drought here.  As you say the forest fires have become the order of the day in Texas and Tamaulipas.    I carry two days now with a pair of helicopters over there at the irrigation Lake of Santa Engracia ( a 4 square mile impoundment about 3/4's of a mile from our places)    We are using that as a base  for fueling and loading the water.     We are here because in reality the firefighters do not want to go into Hidalgo and because of that we are using our area here for strategic purposes.      I have a Bell 412 and a Canadian Courier throwing water and retardant.

     So far it has burned 150 acres, and I calculate that I can control it by Friday.    I have flown over our properties and , as you say it is urgent that the Angels should cry  (a phrase for rain). 

      Alvaro is standing at the foot of the cannon and I am going by daily.   If you need anything, have the pleasure to advise me.   I shall be aware and in charge  of everything here being well.

     We wish all be in order at your home and greetings to  your family. 

 

     If it doesn't rain by Friday we are going to have to dance! 

The point about flying from Santa Engracia all the way back to the place called El Chorrito is of interest.   There reason for the extra distance,  fuel, and time flying from Santa Engracia as opposed to basing activities in Hidalgo, the County Seat....is because the Mexican civil defence teams from the area do not trust the police or authorities in Hidalgo, but the authorities in and around Santa Engracia are trustworthy.    It is true that in the recent disorders our area has been substantially spared of 99.9% of the fallout.   Hidalgo has been fairly hard hit, like Padilla and Barretal.    Although things are being restored....very steadily....in those areas that have suffered through the insanity of the cartels and gang-thugs....these special crews of rustic people from the farms and pastures of the mountains prefer to hang around with us.   They are a remarkable team....rustic peasants, with their ropes, shovels, picks, grub-hoes, machetes, and rucksacks  and the American Viet Nam veterans....now youthful geezers....whirling out to the smoke.    Although the fire at El Chorrito, a very important touristic and religious site about 14 miles by staight line from our place, is very small now, it could explode very quickly with the strong winds we are experiencing thoughtout this part of the world.

      I am trying to find out if the  two C-130 are going to be thrown into the fight.     The next stage would be that and the Mexican Army paratrooper being dropped in with the old, dependable C-47s.     Many resources are being mobilized, but the problem is that there are, at this moment eleven major conflagrations all along the upper reaches of the Sierra Madre throughout Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.    Lots of desolate remote expanse and lots of small and large cities and dense rural population....Look this way and see one and look the other way and see the other.   The worst situation possible for a forest fire situation.

More Later,

The Old Gringo

Things We Cannot Talk About

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8459813/Britons-shot-in-Florida-killed-as-part-of-gang-initiation.html

       It is a bit unfair, but it is the truth.    When one hears about an American being hurt or damaged in Mexico.....I lament pointing this out.....it is normally a person who was doing something he ought not to have been doing.During recent months there have been various stories about Americans who have been killed, injured, or somehow molested by events occuring in Mexico.    Some of these stories have been told, more or less forthrightly...others have not.     The total number....with what remains a relatively strong tourism industry (mainly along the coasts and in retirement hideaways)....has been 10 or 12 individuals to this point for 2011.

       The story accessed by the link above is much more common....both for foreign visitors and for Americans.   It is the result of AFDC, Section 8, Housing and Urban Development Community Block grants and local housing authorities building instant free ghettos, food stamps, WIC, Head Start, SSI, and a hundred other public assistance programs that have united to foist the progeny of Hell upon our once-favoured Nation.

       I did a bit of checking around on the two Brits who were murdered by the sub-human scum.....and they were the quintessential "square blokes"...having a good time....accomplished....generous....civilized, etc.    A night of hobnobbing and flirting with pub girls.....a fairly normal activity for hormone driven young male tourists....was rewarded with a very peculiar welcome by the gang in the projects.    And the project where the gang was centered is somewhat famous for being a cut above....a bit better than the other Hell-Holes.

       A hearty thank you to the Democrats, socialists, anti-American, unrestrained immigration advocates, welfare promoting, inventors of the concept of "Baby Mother", egalitarian psychopaths.   And also to the Republican pantywaists who talk a good conservative, social responsibility game, but who wind up voting for the compromise bill that will allow some 16 year old Baby Mothers a place to put her Baby into Head Start, her WIC, her Stamps, her Section 8, her electricity "share" card, free lunch for her 3 children, and of course for her mother....who at the ripe old age of 31 has 11 grandchildren..and one of those is already pregnant.     Ah!  Baby Mothers.

       They prey on foreigners as a game.....they and the intellectual elite America haters are quickly destroying America ....quickly.    Last year alone...28,000 murders by people such as this....and not infrequently committed against people such as my people.

Pardon my bile....but my business was cross-border tourism for many, many years and these anti-Samaritan events hit me over the liver.

The Old Gringo....

Questions and Answers

     During the past few hours there have been a few questions come in and it is my duty to answer as best possible, constrained, of course, by my limited intellectual proweress.

During these times....or at any normal time....where do "gringos" tend to want to stay when they are living part-time or full time in a place like Mexico?

         The Old Gringo is going to give a subjective answer.   Later we can look up more precise data in the new Instituto Nacional de Estadistica y Geografia report.    Preliminary publication of the just-past census is being published even as this is being written.   It is considered to be the final legal word, and frankly, can be considered to be a good and complete work by most researchers.

          My impressions are pretty  good, however, and come from considerable experience.   There is a bit of deception in the 1,000,000 Gringos living in Mexico number.    Is that number static, or fluctuating?   Does it include people who have some form of dual citizenship?   Does it include criminals on the run?    Does it include full-time only, or part-time as well?

       Approximately one-fourth of all Americans (including Canadians, whether they like it or not....they just smell a little funny, eh) living in Mexico live in the Baja California Peninsula....below Ensenada and all the way down to the various Cabos at the tip of Baja California Sur.     Most of these are younger geezers aged 50 to 70.   Most live in leased accommodations, en lieu of opting for hotel, motel, on monthly rental options.    A significant number have opted for the "permanent lease"   (99 years, permanent renewal option, transferable by probated testament, total lease payment paid in full at time of lease.....essentially a purchase). 

      These lease arrangements require that a qualified bank hold the title, and pay your ad valorem taxes (a pittance), and charge the lessee a fee for such payments and services, usually paid annually.    It is less than a Neighbourhood Association dues, or other rigamarole.      ALTHOUGH.....there are such developments on the Baja that have colonias that do certainly have community owners' conventions and uniform standards requirements.

       Another large body of Americans and other funny smelling people live in and around the area that is generally identified as Guadalajara.....which includes that city (The Pearl of the West) along with the surrounding of Lake Chapala with its communities of Ajijic, Jojotepec, etc. just to the south of Guadalajara.    During these days one will hear, "Everybody's moving out because of the violence, it's just terrible,  everything's ruined!" and I am sure there have been people who have suffered some kind of contratemp there.

      However....upon arriving, everything seems to be as it was 5 years ago...there are gringos everywhere....things are laid back, dull, boring, terribly scenic, 82 degrees in the afternoon 55 degrees at the break of dawn.....cold beer, excellent food, etc. etc.   It seems as good as any place to wait around to die.

      A somewhat smaller body of gringos are found in and around the area of San Miquel de Allende and Guanajuato in the State of Guanajuato.   These folks are normally extreme upper-middle class to eccentric wealthy people who are real die-hard Mexo-freaks.   Most speak Spanish to some degree of fluency or another and seem to really prefer the colonial Spanish Mexican environment.    Emphasis on colonial.      Ideal weather,  year-round.

       Mixed in with this is a highly developed Mexican and foreign art community, the cities of Dolores Hidalgo and Marfil (adjacent to Guanajuato City), and a very stable social and political environment.   It is a place for intellectuals, psuedo-intellectuals, and anti-intellectuals.   Conservative to very conservative locals and foreigners....although foreign pinkoes have their episodes.  
     Cold Beer, excellent margaritas and variations thereupon, and a cornocopia of excellent grub....much of it identifiable....ranging in price from very cheap to the lower range of almost expensive.

       My estimate is that probably five percent of the American community in Mexico lives in and along the San Miguel de Allende -  Guanajuato axis.    It is where my mother would have chosen to spend half her time had she decided to stay in this world a bit longer.   There is a nice Episcopal Church in San Miquel....named....Saint Michael's...imagine that!

      Next....and none of the above or what follows  is in any particular order....is Oaxaca City and surrounding areas and Oaxaca -  Chiapas States  in general.     Oaxaca City and the surrounding areas are idyllic.  Oaxaca City is, like a lot of larger colonial cities...very clean.    It, like Guanajuato and  Guadalajara, is a State capital.    It has a really and truly commie undercurrent.....fueled mainly by communist professors at the university in downtown.....and by a native prolotariat revolutionary rural and Indian assembly of people with too much time on their hands and too much beer and mescal to drink.

      Oddly, however, it doesn't really seem to take away much from this charming and overwhelmingly interesting land of the Zapotec  and Mixtec Indian Nations...still extant...and still speaking their native languages.   Stunning colonial architecture, great and noble archaeological sites of importance (as well as some barely excavated, if at all) are all-enveloping.    The food is amazing and, of course, the climate is perfect.    Earthquakes are an added source of excitement.....although everything that can come down pretty much has been shaken down by 7's ,  8's , and 9's that have hit all around the southern fourth of Mexico since the arrival of the Spanish (early 1520's).

       You all know, with my rightwing bent, that if I speak highly of a place that has a hot-pink bent....then it has to be something special.     The foreign community is composed of quite a churn of tourists....most are not at all offensive.    Probably three percent of the  full and part-time foreign residents in Mexico live in and around Oaxaca City .... within a egg-shaped perimeter with the Capital at the top of the egg and the city and archaeological site of Mitla at the lower end of the egg about 35 miles to the south.

       Because of the pinko-ness of Oaxaca, there is a goodly number of Euro-commies, youth hostel types, back-packers, We'll-bathe-after-we-get-back-to-France folks, a real live Reds who come to "express solidarity" with the oppressed native peoples of the New World.

      One time, the crystal of my grandfather's watch cracked and I took it to the jeweler in downtown Oaxaca.   It was an unlikely looking place....clean, ancient, with neat boxes of parts, tools, and various shop-like things in a small shop.   I asked the owner if he could solve the problem with the crystal, and he asked me to come back in three hours.   We joked about how I would not be able to know three hours had transpired...I told him it really was my grandfather's watch and was very important because I had never known him...he died long before I was born.    Oddly, he said, "Yes, I know"....

      Three hours later I came back.   He showed me my newly crystalled and polished watch...running perfectly....and he charged me the equivalent of  three dollars.    It still runs perfectly.

      The food in Oaxaca is unbelievable.    It has the best hole-in-the-wall places in the world. The weekly Indian markets....different days of the week for different communities...are never dull in spite of the repetition of products....each community has different specialties and seasonality also breaks the monotony.    Careful with the mescal...some of it is 130 proof..or even higher....but you can eat the crickets...really...I always do.

      An addenda is Chiapas State.    While Oaxaca City's weather is perfect, most of Chiapas is not.   It is hot, wet, and almost unsurvivable.    Where the gringoes hang around is in San Cristobal de las Casas.....another Indian wonderland....but Mayan at this point.   It is adjacent to Guatemala.    It is also adjacent to another universe and lives in a different time dimension.  There is a bridge over an unremarkable watercourse that runs through the middle of San Cristobal.    On a corner-post of the unremarkable bridge that crosses the unremarkable watercourse is the inscription, "A la Mexicanidad de Chiapas".    The bridge had been built in the early 1960's, and was carefully dedicated "To the Mexicanality of Chiapas".    My immediate thought was "If you have to say it, then it cannot be totally true".    But it is certain that Chiapas thinks of itself as a separate country.....more like one of the Central American duchies.  

       While the bulk of Chiapas is hot, wet, and foreboding....the area around San Cristobal is very cold, wet, and foreboding.    COLD.     It  is also a State where six different Indian nations set about hacking up their neighbours at various times and stages of the moon.   There is also the now nearly elderly "youthful and energetic marxist redeemer of the oppressed Native Americans, Sub-comandante Marcos...."   .    It makes me want to run out and buy another "Che" pull-over shirt and shout anti-American slogans.    Of course, Sub-comandante Marcos is a white Mexican from the lower ranges of the upper-class from Tampico.....but he likes to wear ski-masks .... and he likes 13 year old Indian girls.   After all, saving Indians from American imperialism is hard work....and Mrs. Mitterand only sends him a couple of hundred thousand Euros a month to keep up his War Against Capitalist Imperialism.     With luck he will be able to establish a Castro Cuba style nirvana with complete proletariat perfection sometime within the next 90 days.    After twenty years,  thirty percent of the people under his control have migrated out of their compounds and living conditions have become even worse for the remainder, even after massive infusions by various pro-communist groups, Universities, and marxist intellectuals world-wide.

        In spite of all of this....there are quite a few Gringoes who live in the San Cristobal area....as well as in and around the archaeological sites associated with Palenque which is nearer to the Gulf of Mexico and touching the tropical lowlands.    I know of three or four couples who have homes outside of San Cristobal or in the very middle of said city, and they would never leave.

       The Yucatan Peninsula is another area where there are large numbers of permanent and semi-permanent Americans.     All along the beaches....the ugly ones on the east and north coasts with the flamingos....and lots and lots of folks on the Caribbean side.    There are many living in Merida, the "White City" , the capital of the State of Yucatan....and it is a delightful place.    VERY HOT in the summer....but with hundreds and hundreds of bars, restaurants, outdoor eateries, and shady places in the center of the city....it is summarily pleasant.     Many, many gringoes live in the outback of the Peninsula.    It is covered with dense low tropical forest with numerous Mayan villages and towns interspersed throughout.     Finding adequate lodging is an issue.....but in no wise impossible.

       Once again, food is really good....and relatively cheap.   Like a lot of places in Mexico, there are respectable saloons that serve incredible botanas for next to nothing for their regular elbow-benders.....sometimes I wonder how they stay in business.    These places actually are found pretty much throughout Mexico and are almost always very civilized and sedate hidey-holes.

       I would estimate that the Playa del Carmen crowd, the interior Peninsula bunch, the Merida-Campeche-Progresso group would total another ten percent of the resident American population....perhaps more.

      One cannot forget significant permanent and semi-permanent people living on the coast of Oaxaca in and around the two small port cities of Puerto Angel and Puerto Escondido.....lots of surfer-types, right-wing libertarian hippy types....VERY laid back, I'm okay, you're okay.....All along the Pacific Coast one will run into slightly eccentric Gringos who have found their favourite bar, their best little cheap restaurant, and their elegant deluxe Restaurant Le Self-Indulgence for once a week or so.   Don't discount, for instance, Mazatlan.

     It is my best estimate that about forty percent of the American permanent and semi-permanent presence in Mexico is like The Old Gringo.      Eccentric curmudgeons who are grumpy and semi-hermit-like who are just trying to get along and stay out of the way.  Almost all are retired or semi-retired, self-employed and active, sometimes "computer commuting" in writing, editing, and other pursuits frequently based out of the United States.    These types tend to live inside the general Mexican population and removed from "appropriate" or "safe" areas.    Most are fluent in Spanish.    They can be found along the Vera Cruz coast, in the highlands like in Zacatecas and environs, or in the Bajio....Irapuato, Celaya, Salamanca, and Leon. 

      The final batch live and work in industrial centers like Monterrey and even Mexico City.   Both of those places have their extremely good points, but I could only tolerate living in Mexico City for a week or two.   

I would recommend the book, "Emissaries to a Revolution" which details life during the interesting days from 1910 through 1920.    It was published in the 1980's, written by Larry D. Hill who took two degrees from Texas A & M University and a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University.   The author was a friend of my brother's.

More later.    Thanks for your patience.    I shall fill in various and many holes of the above general outline in coming days.    As always everyone's attention, questions, and comments are truly appreciated.

El Gringo Viejo     

Really Strange

      "The next thing that happens after all the wheels fall off is that you find out that the tire in the trunk is flat"......Confucius

       We went to pick up the mail yesterday and there was only one letter.   It was from the Bailiff of the Federal Court in McAllen.   They want the Old Gringo back again for another jury call starting on the 26th of April.   When we were advised that the previous call was now null, I had thought that it would be another year or two before another such letter would find its way into our mailbox.    But, such is not the case.

       My determination to go ahead and serve remains the same, in any regard, and my reasons are better left unstated for jurisprudential purposes.    So we shall see.    The last cycle wound up being put to rest by all plaintiffs, litigants, defendants, etc. coming to accord by way of  out-of-court negotiations.

      So, here we go again.....and to the extent permitted by the rules established by the court and by the law, the Old Gringo will keep you all abreast of the issues.

Continuing Turmoil:




"I lmpw that the Mexican military will prevail, and put Mexico back on its path to being a grand nation based upon common law and democratic-republican processes."
The Old Gringo

 

      As was written a couple of days back, the area where the Old Gringo has to drive through several times every couple of months continues to stew in at a slow simmer.    Sometimes the pot boils over and the insane, sub-human organisms who lurk around in the darker shadows of the area reach out and perpetrate another set of unspeakable assaults against the dignity of man.

     There are a couple of points that have come up via questions written in.   The first is a question about the finding of an American citizen among the deceased in the clandestine burial grounds a few miles outside of San Fernando, Tamaulipas.    While the loss of life of all innocents is sincerely lamented, as Americans we are immediately drawn to the loss of a fellow citizen.
      Many folks think that the movement of all people at all times is from south to north.    Such is not the case.   Significant numbers of people who are born in the United States either as "anchor babies" or legitimate children of American-born mothers and/or fathers return to Mexico because of various reasons....usually familial.   A widowed mother,  a family returning to take care of an elderly relative who is somewhat well off, but who would essentially be orphaned without the return of the American family, people who just get tired of where they are in the United States and who return to a family property are some of the categories.    Many Mexican-American servicemen go to Mexico or return to Mexico during their later years.
      And of course there are about 800,000 regular, dumbo Americans like the Old Gringo who reside full or part time in various parts and places of Mexico....yes....even during these days.
       So, since probably 12% of the population of Tamaulipas fits into this category in some way or another, it is not improbable that an American(s) will be found among the dead.    More of the departed will almost certainly  be "Guates" , a loose term used for mestizo and/or Indian persons of Central American citizenship.    The majority will probably be Mexican nacionales.
       It is with a bit of trepidation that I point out that the one American identified so far was identified because of "numerous tatoos".   His mother also informed the media that he had been returning from the central part of Mexico after "delivering several cars to buyers there".      My impressions are best left un-stated concerning the probable profession of this particular individual.
     "But, but...! Old Gringo!....the Bible says 'Thou shalt not judge!".....and, of course the Bible does not say that.    The Bible reveals that the Nazarene spake to the assembled scribes and Pharisees,  saying, ".....He that is  without sin among you , let him cast the first stone".....and I am not judging, but rather I am coming to a reasonable conclusion and my hand holds neither sling nor rock.

     The Next Major Point is simply that more units of both heavy and light infantry are being moved from areas that have become "pacified" and to Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.   The new deployment is said to be as many as 12,000 effectives.    It is commonly understood that the more confidence the people have that there will be a long and powerful presence of the Army and/or the Naval Infantry the more "anonymous declarations"  will be produced.     The total military force now present in the two States critical to Mexican heavy industry and substantially important in heavy agriculture, import/export, and tourism.....will be almost 50,000 troops.    And these are troops worthy of the name.   They are proficient and unfalteringly un-afraid.

So...with that the Old Gringo will take a siesta.   Back with more later for all faithful OROGs.
The Old Gringo

Everything's okay, and then the wheels fall off....

     Normally, it is the intent of the Old Gringo to write three or four....more if possible.....entries during my time up in Texas.    This time things were complicated by a problem that Charlie Chaplin could not have choreographed.   Perhaps the Three Stooges....but, you be the judge.

      While typing away with my normal braying and grumping, the television went dead, the computer stopped working, although the rest of the electrical stuff in the house continued to function.    I checked the land-line telephone and it was dead.     So, it was apparent that the TW bundle service had gone North for the Summer.   I waited for a bit.....but by early evening, it was apparent that the service was not coming back on line.   We called the somewhat cumbersome, somewhat effective automated service request line, were connected to a "customer service" person named Stephen, and after he determined that he could not solve the problem, he set a service time.    From Wednesday night, we would have to wait until Saturday, mid-day, to have a technician arrive.      Stephen did say that there was a chance that a solution could be found on Thursday, but if not, we would have to wait until Saturday.

       No solution was found on Thursday.    So, We waited.   Finally Saturday arrived.    Things went fairly close to programming....My technician called to indicate that he was arriving within the next 20 minutes.    He found his way to our little hidey hole in downtown, parked, and presented his credentials.

        I diverge a bit to point out here that whenever we hear a person say "All Mexicans are....." it would be advisable not to listen further, because the speaker is usually a jackass.   My technician's name is Carlos Luis Wong.

       As I passed his identification badge back, I asked if he were part of the Wong family of Reynosa and Tampico...people who are highly regarded in the medical field in Mexico.    He seemed surprized that some old Gringo would know about such things, but did say that many of his family people were and are doctors, both in Reynosa and especially Tampico.   Mr.  Wong does carry a bit of Chinese appearance still, but could have "passed" for any number of ethnicities and even like the Hong Kong folks, of course. 

       Tampico is an important port city, as we know.   Wherever in the world one finds significant ports, especially "between the Tropics", we will encounter a small but important Chinese community.   Sometimes it will be embedded genealogically, but always it will be present in the professions and in heavy commerce....usually industrial cleaning, laundry services, fish procurement, marketting, and processing, and medical professions.    The same can be said for almost all national capitals in Latin America...whether they be coastal or inland.
      In any regard, there is no doubt that my technician was a superior member of the human race.    He was affable, competent, and quick to understand the nature of the problem.   What he diagnosed was stunning. 
        He checked our equipment....all was well.   Then he went ....as we say in the South....around back....and checked out the fixtures and fittings of Time-
Warner's equipment.   Imagine his surprize when he located the problem.   All the connections for Time-Warner existing or potential clients in the area had been disconnected.    This was the result of a couple of contract morons, with a disconnect order for one of our nearby neighbours for the 6th of April...had arrived and, unable to determine which of the leads pertained to our neighbour....had disconnected eight (count 'em....8) Time-Warner cable connections.....I guess just to be on the safe side.      What amazes the Old Gringo even further is that six of these connections were active.....AND WE WERE THE ONLY ONES WHO WHINED AND MOANED TO THE SERVICE DEPARTMENT!!
      In any regard, we are up and running.    It was good to note that I had won another 1,000,000 Irish pounds in the Sweepstakes for the third time this month.....so I sent them my various bank account numbers and a couple of my social security numbers so that they couple deposit the money directly to my account.        The Prince of Swamboozi appreciates my helping him during these times of instability in his country.    He wants me to continue to deposit my money in his Swiss bank account #220 - 39A - 9494 (this is a secret account number).     Is it not a wondrous thing to be a member of the World Community?    And...the children....

      And by the way.....For all those who believe in FEMA, Hope, and Change, but not Saint Nicolas....you take care of your children...and grandchildren...and I shall take care of mine.


Once again, thank you for your attention, time, and interest.    We shall be making more observations and shipping other news your way during the coming days.
El Gringo Viejo 

Accepting That What is....Is...

     Made it back in yesterday.    McAllen had 103 F. for a record-setting high of 94 set back in 1955.     Brownsville made it up to 101 F. but did not break a record.    One-hundred degree days in March and early April are not common, but they are also not un-heard of.    I remember Frank Blair....who was the news and weather reader on the old Today show for NBC....when he had to report that McAllen had reached 101 F.  degrees on February 3rd...I think in 1959 or so....but Jack Lescouli and Dave Garroway would not believe it,

     The winds kicked in during the mid-afternoon as well.....dry, hot, and dusty.     We had various reporting stations with 50 mile-per-hour sustained winds (sustained velocity enduring one minute or longer).    The front went through....dry....and then the evening cooled off quickly and briskly.    Many places in South Texas were in the 50's this morning at the dawning.

       This high temperature phenomena is not caused so much by the hot sun beating down, or by Al Gore throwing pieces of broken dinosaur bones out in exactly the right direction and at the correct stage of the moon.   Here in South Texas, as well as at our little place in front of the mountains, this heating is caused by the descent of dry, continental air coming from the due west....falling off of the Mexican highlands.....and then coming down sharply in elevation until reaching at or near sea level.     Places near the coast lose their "sea-breeze advantage" because their winds are coming from the "wrong direction".    The air compresses as it falls....heats up that way as well as by travelling over already warmer terrain.....and the air-temperature shoots up...sharply.

      Sorry Al, but it has been going on for centuries....and although George Bush did not stop it from happening....you haven't done anything about it either.....so we might as well become accustomed to it all.

AND THEN:

      The 1st of April marked my father's 100th birthday.    He was born in Gwinner, Sargent County, North Dakota on that date in 1911.    Five years later he moved to South Texas with his mother (Esther Lee Christian) and his father (Norman Newton) where they would join up with the already in-place Peter Bonesteel Christian (Esther's father) who lived in the newly founded frontier town of Donna, Texas.       Those were hairy, scary, wild, and interesting days on the border with Mexico....with the Revolucion still pretty much underway and the opening of large tracts of previously undeveloped land being opened up to plow agriculture by the thousands of acres per month.

      During my father's life he went through being a late-in-life, pampered, only child born into very comfortable, monied circumstances....to being suddenly abandoned by his parents by death coupled with the calamity of the Great Depression.    During the earliest days of the collapse, his father essentially lost everything, primarily due to certain illegal acts and manipulations of banking interests both on the Border and back in North Dakota.   My father went into the Army, training in the mounted cavalry at Fort Sam Houston, and then serving back on the border as a cavalry soldier and officer....He married in 1933 and established himself in civilian life as a grove-care operator and farmer in area around Edinburg, Texas.    Grove care was an important, profitable, and gruelling business in the Lower Rio Grande Valley during those years....much of the profit coming during World War  II when citrus operators were pretty much under orders from the War Department to "Produce, Baby, Produce"....

      For almost a quarter-century, Milton Birchard Newton provided his grove care service and farmed cotton, vegetables, and corn, both on land he owned and land he would lease or use in return for payment on debts owed to him.  He became a school teacher during the early 1950's and finished his first degree.....gradually moving into a calling that had appealed to him....possibly because of the influence of his parents who were both studied and educated people.

      He became a full-time teacher at the secondary level, establishing a presence of positive effect at the Mission High School in Mission, Texas where he taught geography, history, economics, and civics for many years.   During this time he also finish a master's degree in psychology and began to consider administration in education....and perhaps even a move to Central Texas, around Austin.    It was a favourite area for both him and his wife, Nola Frances Neal.   By 1966 they had established themselves in Austin, and my father continued his studies at the University of Texas, completing an Ll.d. in psychology.....working as a guidance counselor at Del Valle, Texas...and then finally ending up as Superintendent of the Austin State School for the Mentally Retarded a position where he served for about seven years.

      There are hundreds...nay, thousands of antedotes....about my father's life that would interest folks...I shall continue to invest them in our widening audience as the days go by.    But, right now....

       We also celebrate my Compadre's birthday....my granddaughter's and her great-grandmother's birthday and mine all during these days.   It seems a shame that we no longer can really state our dates of birth on line...but I will allow that the three latter named individuals all have the same birthdate.   The first one is but a few short days earlier.    Quite a cluster.

FINALLY:

    And briefly, it will be next to impossible for my prized flamboyan trees to make a significant comeback this year.    After investing much useless optimism and hope, they are just not doing what is necessary to engendered further hope.   They have recovered to survive, but not to prosper....perhaps next year will be the charm.

More Later

The Old Gringo