Because You Have Asked....musings on a Sunday morning going down

     We are asked at times about the condition of my father-in-law, so I have decided to include a bit of an email which was sent to my wife's family and my children, who are all of the Clan of Garza, and authorized its dispersion to further members of the extended family.   This done, I shall share major portions of that communication with you, since you were kind enough to be concerned.This mailing is to closest family members, who will receive the information first, as is appropriate. Later it will be published in slightly amended form for those who have inquired via our blog and email connections.      Now, you know.    We are getting ready to start thinking about going down for a prolonged stay at the Quinta.    This involves buying cat & dog food, groceries, and odds & ends.   This time, I need to buy a couple of those silly night-lights for the bathrooms.   My old ones finally gave up the ghost....we think because of a recent nearby lightning strike.

                                                                                                                                                                                       

Family,

      (Our Patriarch) has substantially restored himself to a point that none of us could have imagined just two weeks ago. I have followed his advance from a near distance and my objectivity serves, I hope, to assess on his way down as well as on his way up. He can ambulate here and there, he has much better control of metabolic processes, he feeds himself in large part, and he is "plugged in" intellectually. He greets, responds, and engages socially. We can celebrate these improvements, and I wanted to share my impressions with each of you so that you could think...,"David has been super-realistic about this whole thing, so if he is saying this now, then (Our Patriarch) really is better". If you believe this, then I have succeeded in this message to you all.

     This said, he is still extremely delicate and frail. He eats well, but little, and his stamina is much reduced from times....say...six months ago. (Our Matriarch) has to be either nearly adjacent or extremely close by at all times. When she must leave (IE. dentist, church), then Diana or, to a much lesser extent, your humble servant need to be in the house with (Our Patriarch). Finally, he sleeps a great deal, perhaps 20 hours per day....sometimes more. So while we must continue to be realistic, let us give thanks that because of the efforts of each Garza you have all brought our Patriarch to a level of comfort and to our Matriarch a bit of respite during these times. This is a credit to your parents (grandparents) and to each of you.

DCN 

                                                                                                                                                                 

 Back to the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre:
     As an oddity, during the recent inclemency, there were huge variations in the voltages as well as significant power failures (I hasten to add that the same or less storm level in Texas caused the same effects, a year or two ag0).   These conditions resulted in many  of the older model televisions (like mine) being "burned out".   I learned that this is not a disaster for the "po' folks", because they could be seen, here and there, during the following days, with a television in a wheel-barrow, walking down to the place that fixes archaic electronic devices.    Alvaro had done this for me about four years ago, so I am an "Old Pro" and quite understanding of the whole process.   I hasten to add that Alvaro always unplugs everything at the merest sound of thunder.  This includes refrigerators, air-conditioners, lamps, radios, televisions, etc. 

     It makes considerable sense, because if your television is still otherwise serviceable, the "maestro" at the "taller electrico" will check out its reception, bypassing the off-on switch.....check the switch....and if all is well except the switch....he will either replace (70 pesos) or reset (30 pesos) the off-on control switch.    You need to bring your own handheld control zombo to check if the switch is fully functioning.   Once done, the televisions go back into their wheel-barrows for the return trip home.     So...everybody wins....the old, predictable, serviceable television receives a pardon from Fate and a bit of a city tour complete with fresh air and new views....the folks get to keep an old friend of the family in the house, they pay very little, while the "maestro" , after repairing 50 or so on-off switches, makes a good sum.

     And, yes Virginia, it does look a bit odd to see a line of people standing in front of a little home in Nowhere, Tamaulipas, Mexico with various types of wheel-barrows laden with various types of televisions....patiently waiting their turn to see the television doctor.     And in eight years, George Bush did nothing about this.  Not even for the children.  

More Later....

The Old Gringo    

Consequences....Intended and Unintended

     We have just returned from the Quinta.     It has been very hot.    There continues to be activity provoked by the need to recover from the heavy rains.   While I was up here last, the Quinta received another 10 inches of rain and the mountains had picked up more as usual.   The Rio Corona continues to run at above normal levels....but this is the time it should be running at above normal levels....a little early, perhaps, but still August, September, and October does constitute the second rainy season for our region there.

     There is not a lot of heavy physical damage....but medium to large tree limbs will be being sawn and stacked for the next three months or so.    Our losses were things like the blooming season for the flamboyans...so it's one year lost for that.   Also, our big avocado tree just gave up waiting for a dry spate so it could set its fruiting blossoms.   So that will be a season of avocado production down the drain.   As well, our bouganvillas do not seem to be coming back with any great aggressiveness.   Sometimes they are slower to recover, so I shall wait on them.

      For those who inquire, my father-in-law actually seems a bit restored since I left and returned.   He is still very much in need of constant supervision, but he has returned to walking a little....20 or 30 feet...and eating a little better.   He still prefers, for some odd reason, for me to prepare things and bring them over to his table.   He still eats very, very little....but he seems to enjoy what little I contribute to his diet and his day's activities.   I told my daughter that it is something like "Meals on Wheels"  meets Marie Osman's diet plan.   Maybe we can set up a reality show for overnight television and have it sponsored by some kind of shouting sales-nut "But wait....we'll give you two more Bass and Carp Pulverizers ...ABSOLUTELY FREE!".....That way we can help the Red Chinese make even more useless junk that doesn't work to send over to us.     On second thought...maybe I'll just let my father-in-law take his long siestas.

     Our flooding situation has calmed  considerably.    The main danger now lies in weakened dams all throughout the drainage basin, and in the fact that all reservoirs are between 100% and 150% of capacity.   So, the dams that are built to protect us from floods, provide prosperity through irrigation and adequate water for home and industry, and even allow for wonderful recreation sites.....also become sources for catastrophe.

More later.

The Old Gringo         

Getting Ready to Think About Preparing to Go Back Down

     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 

The More Things Change.....(and some newer pictures in the slideshow)

     Our flooding situation here in the McAllen - Mission area remains pretty much the same.   Those of us who understand the hydrology keep a wary eye posted on our weather radar on the old home computer.   Any significant rains....say from 5 to 10 inches over a three to five day period and over a extension of 30 to 50 per cent of the area from the face of the Sierra Madre Oriental to a point near Acun~a, Coahuila/ Del Rio, Texas down to as far as Montemorelos, Nuevo Leon can conceivably wreak disaster on the Lower Rio Grande Valley.    All Mexican reservoirs are filled to beyond 100 per cent of capacity....and the international reservoirs are at or near capacity and the floodways throughout the Lower Rio Grande Valley are running at or near capacity.   So....while people on both sides of the Rio Grande / Ri0 Bravo have become a bit complacent and/or accepting of the danger....the proximity of catastrophe remains.    We have another ten days, perhaps a bit longer because of recent moderate but significant rainfall in the watershed, to remain especially vigilant.

      Our place, the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre, still remains dry, although I am informed that the Rio Corona, adjacent to our property, has remained at high levels.   At least it is contained within its maximum flow stage, and remains about 160 yards away from the house.    The Rio Corona does not drain into the Rio Grande.   It does join the Rio Soto la Marina at the juncture of Lake Vicente Guerrero, east of Ciudad Victoria.....all of this is 200 miles south of the Frontier.   The Rio soto la Marina runs due east upon leaving the lake and empties into the Gulf of Mexico near La Pesca, Tamaulipas. (great surf and estuary fishing)

     For those who have inquired, my father-in-law is better....but better is certainly a relative term.   He is extremely limited in his scope of activity, but at least he is not suffering or in any severe pain.    It takes three family members, two health workers, and one doctor to address his issues.  My mother-in-law and my wife are the ones who are paying most of the price of caring for this fine old gentleman.   My brother-in-law, his wife, and my sister-in-law have spared nothing in the way of effort....(which is considerable, in that they live a great distance from the Valley)...or resources.    We are fortunate that things are only as bad as they are.

     Other things that do not seem to change is Chilpancingo, Guerrero, the capital of the State of Guerrero.   This is an important State to us Gringos because Acapulco is situated there.    It is also a place that has long been associated with violence....violence between the various Indian ethnicities, violence in politics, violence caused by bandits (sometimes against other bandits).   This has been a characteristic of the area since before the Spanish Conquest.    The white man came in and changed things...(?)

      One particularly telling statistic is that since the Mexican Revolution of 1910 - 1917  no Governor of the State of Guerrero ever completed his term.   I think this rule has been violated recently....but only once or twice.   The Governors were either run out of office by angry Indians, lynched by angry everybodies, or skipped town ahead of the crowd, or sneaked out to the United States, Cuba, Spain, or France with a generous portion of the State Treasury.

     Various States of the Mexican United States have had frequent and/or extended terms of "gobierno militar provisional temporal".    Guerrero is certainly one.    Another State, San Luis Potosi, had a "proviosional military temporary government"  run by a nice gentleman named Gen. Santos on three separate occasions.   The joke in San Luis Potosi was that they had a permanent temporary military government.

     To be sure, the violence and absurdity we are witnessing in Mexico at this time pales before the violence  that was being witnessed just before the Revolution of 1910 to a point shortly before the outbreak of World War II.   This is especially true if one considers the issue on a per capita basis.   In those years ten or fifteen thousand people of all classes, races, ethnicities, and pursuations were slaughtered, PER YEAR....when the population was less than 20,000,000.     Americans living and working in Mexico at that time numbered between 20,000 and 40,000 in any given year....but well over 2,000 were murdered ...many especially by leftist Carranza supporters and general banditry during and just after the Revolucion.

      But I diverge.....In Guerrero State, apparently there is the rize of a "White Hand".   Six bodies of known thugs and cartelistas were found outside of Chilpancingo with a notice that read " No more rape, no more murder, no more kidnapping, no more violence,  (signed) The Cartel of the Sierra".    Supposedly the each of the bodies had a tag...."corruption", "rape", murder", "extorsion", "kidnapping", "violence".    Perhaps a cryptic "six horsemen of the apocolypse".   The international press declared that it was the rize of a new drug cartel but such a thing is very, very improbable.... many Mexicans are of the opinion that it is a bunch of people who have been watching old Cisco Kid and Zorro shows.    Who knows?

    

     I shall be signing off again for a bit.   Any new news will be reported quickly.    As usual, thank you for your kind attention and time.

The Old Gringo

Locally heavy rainfall may exacerbate flood conditions near floodways and other poor drainage areas in the Lower RGV

Locally heavy rainfall may exacerbate flood conditions near floodways and other poor drainage areas in the Lower RGV: "Future Evolution: Northern Mexico
Current forecast data suggest a several day period of very heavy rainfall moving into the central and northern Sierra Madre Oriental, including across areas which received several feet of rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Alex and Tropical Depression #2. These areas include portions of the Mexican States of Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, perhaps extending northwest into Chihuahua. Another 10 to 20 inches of rain is possible into early next week in these areas; such rainfall would eventually flow into the system of reservoirs and dams in Mexico and along the Rio Grande, ultimately reaching the Lower Rio Grande. Such a situation, if it develops, would result in continued high water and some degree of flooding along and near the River and associated Floodways through the end of July and into the first weeks of August.
Much more information will be available from this website as conditions evolve over the next several weeks. Remember to stay safe if living or working along or near the Rio Grande and Floodway system."

     This is today's official analysis from the Brownsville Weather Service, referring to what is ahead and relating to what my last couple of entries have been about.   It is truly an amazing development and now South Texas and northeastern Mexico may have a chance to dodge more bullets in the dark.
The old Gringo

Deeper and Wider and More

     This has been a real time of it.   The area of northeastern Mexico comprised of the States of Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Coahuila which received the brunt of Hurricane Alex (reference previous blog entry) have since received another dose.   This came in the form of  "almost Hurricane Bonnie", a tropical depression that came ashore on the central Gulf coast of Tamaulipas.    This system actually crossed directly over our little Quinta on the banks of the Rio Corona.   We had 16.5 inches of rain in two days.   The mountains to the west had much, much more.    There were reasonable reports of up to 45 inches over a three day period.     This is to be added to what we had received before.

     Our little sedate mountain stream....the Rio Corona....rose up to within about 20 feet of our adobe house, our second threat inside of the month.   The neighbour's old mequite tree that shades our southeast corner was blown down....there was much damage to the Montezuma Cypress trees which line the Rio Corona...but not fatal.    This meant that the winds were much stronger that those which were supposed to have accompanied the 35 mph estimates.   Everyone scoffed at such official velocities.

      Much of the energy of this second system continued to the northwest and dumped prodigous amounts of rain over the same area previously affected by Hurricane Alex.   The Rio Grande's drainage basin collected copious amounts of runoff.   The Rio San Juan, the Alamo, the Salado, the Sabinal, along with upriver inflows being captured by Amistad Reservoir near Del Rio, Texas all joined in the game.   Falcon Reservoir, built in 1953, rose to its highest retention in history....the Mexican rivers overflowed their dams, their banks, and everything possible.    At this moment the floodway system in the Lower Rio Grande Valley is almost at capacity and the Rio Grande is just barely beginning a fall from cresting.    More rain is on the way, however.

      The highways between the Laredos (Texas and Tamauliipas) and the Monterrey metroplex were inundated....there was much damage.   Laredo is the busiest land port between two countries in the world.   The back up was all but incomprehensible.   Tractor-trailer rigs were backed up two-abreast for forty miles on the Mexican side and 35 miles on the American.   Train convoys were in a similar position.  Everyone was tied up from 4 to 6 days.

       I shall report a bit more on this.   We in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas are in precarity at this time, although the water is no longer rising.   The possible arrival of new systems can change this at any time.    In the previous blog I wrote that the governor of Nuevo Leon had estimated damages to be as high as a billion dollars....this is almost a macabre joke at this point.   All the damage, throughout the affected three State area....is surely more in the neighbourhood of 50 billion dollars, if not more....and much of this damage is upon construction and installation of a generally good to excellent quality.   It is a pity.....but perhaps greater things will be built with and upon the ruins.    For sure this area is going to see a severe labour shortage for the coming three years.