In the Belly of the Beast

     This comes to all from near the Estacion de Santa Engracia a few miles north of Cd. Victoria, Tamaulipas.    I arrived here last Monday travelling in a small caravan with my neighbours who had been doing some (considerable) Christmas  shopping in McAllen on the week-end before the Feast of the Nativity.

      Suffice to say that the warnings from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the United States Department of State,  were a bit......shall we say.....over-inflated.     The traffick was heavy....there were no incidents.....and the biggest news on the television and radio down here has returned to drunks running into bridge-supports and Pedro beating up Maria after one or the other or both returned from a night of celebration at the local cantina.   One Pedro did manage to kill his Maria in Monterrey....but it did not count because she had a protective order out on him....therefore nothing happened to her.....Right?   Chalk up another great success story for passing a law...relying upon government...and then walking away to tell everyone that all poor children will be fed and we can read the law once we pass it.     Ah....democracy.

       You all will have another up-date next Monday or so.    It is amazing how lazy one becomes here.....I shall try to be more detailed in the next transmission. 

Heading Back for Christmas

     The next few days means shopping for goodies for the Quinta....dog and cat food.....paint, varnish, and other repair and maintenance supplies.   Sprays for bugs and other undesirable critters are high on the list that the Quinta is asking the Old Gringo for.     Our neighbour informed us that the last few nights have been chilly.   Morning low temperatures have been between 30F and 36F.      By the time I show up, the oranges will be bright yellow/gold due to these temperatures.   Some think that this bracing cool, crisp overnight is what makes the Santa Engracia area's Valencia orange crop the best in the market.

      There has been some anxiety about the quality of this year's harvest because of the over-abundance of rain during the Summer.   Usually this will make the fruit "aquada" or watery tasting....but early samples have been given high marks for thickness, as well as that peculiar mixture of sourness and special sweetness that one searches out when rating quality of citrus juice.

      We have stored up a good supply of firewood, and I shall have to be very good about not over-availing myself of the convenience.    Suffice it to say that the Old Gringo is dreadfully opposed to being cold.

      While I prepare to return to our little place it is necessary that I leave with an admonition.   Please be wary of any news you hear out of Mexico.   For the while that I have been in Texas, the news I have heard has been, depending upon the article and source, between 35% and 90% inaccurate.    The are categories of sources and types of news that need to be sorted out like the genealogy of ally-cats......but they do need to be sorted out.

Misleading and/or incorrect stories come in all sizes and styles:

        (1)     Purposeful, usually from leftist sources...LATimes, NYTimes, Washingiton Post,   almost all MSM outlets, Associated Press, McClatchy News Service,  who hate  Felipe Calderon Hinojosa because he is a centre-right Partido de Accion Nacional member (PAN) which makes him like a Republican, and therefore hated and despised as an enemy of  "progressives" .   Articles from these sources always include the sentence (or facsimile), "Over 30,000 people have lost their lives in the violence since Felipe Calderon initiated hostilities four years ago upon assuming the presidency".
       (2)           And sad to say....FOX News makes incredibly simplistic analysis of the situation in Mexico.   O'Reilly, Beck, Geraldo, Hannity, Greta, Fox and Friends....I watch them all...but when they do anything about Mexico, it is a combination of totally out of date, inaccurate, misleading, and negative.
      (3)        Overnight radio....including Charly Jones's Texas Overnight KRLD 1080 AM who goes out of his way to either not research his topics or invent from whole cloth his reports.   He presumes that since he has been to or heard of Xel Ha that he is an expert about all things Mexico...he is not.
                         Lamentably, the fellows at Midnight Trucking Report...WFAA 820 AM...who also make outlandish statements which reveal the fact that they know nothing about Mexico and understand less....must be included in my petty critique.
                        The above two...and the FOX crowd....are particularly painful for me because I am in accord, concurrence, or agreement with them about 96% of the time otherwise.

15 December 2010
     As an up-date to all of the above, there was a dedication of a new international bridge yesterday.   For some reason or another it connects the area arond Donna, Texas to the city of Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas.   The President of Mexico and the Governor of the State of Tamaulipas, along with various poobahs of importance were there.   The President was busy inaugurating several recently finished projects in Tamaulipas yesterday...from the frontier all the way down to the Tampico-Madero-Altamira area of southernmost Tamaulipas.
     A reporter from Channel 5 - KRGV - TV in Weslaco covered the story.   He spoke in low tones like an announcer covering a PGA event with Arnold Palmer putting on the 18th.    Terms such as "We ventured over, being watched by heavily armed people in military-like uniforms and over 15 "obviously security agents"....although they were dressed in business suits.  The President and the Governor of the State made speeches and then left after cutting the ribbons along with Congressman Ruben Hinojosa.   The President left for points unknown (? the President's itinerary was well-known and publicized two days before arrival)....but at least the people of Rio Bravo had almost an hour of peace.   The President had his safety guaranteed, but now the violence will return for the regular people of Rio Bravo and its surroundings."
     What is sad and humorous, simultaneously, is that the President spoke of the heaviness he felt in having to send men into harm's way in order to restore order for all Mexicans and their neighbours.    He celebrated the building of the bridge and its opening because it made for more commerce, less poverty, more industry, and more close relations with Texas and the United States.   The Governor, who leaves office tomorrow, repeatedly thanked the President  for his firmness in defending Tamaulipas and the northeast of Mexico against the "beasts and vermin"...comments which were heartily applauded by the "regular people"  and the poobahs all.   It should be noted that the President is a member of the conservative  National Action Party (PAN) and the Governor is a member of the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).   The actual "news" in a journalistic sense is that throughout the entire area....as has been reported in this blog....people are talking about...aware of....celebrating.....being optimistic within reason....that we have had almost one month of massive military victories and almost no response worthy of the term by the organized delinquency.   Even in Michoacan the incredibly deranged and violent Familia group has been heavily degraded and has proposed a "truce" with Calderon wherein they would join efforts to eleminate the Zeta gang.    Or as some Jewish kid wrote a long time ago...."Hello Muddah - Hello Faddah...."    
An Invitation:
      If there is any question about anything concerning the issues we are facing in Mexico with which the reader would like my private opinion, advice, or recommendation, please feel free to communicate via email at any time.   I shall be more than glad to assess and opine, and the reader will also understand where my point of view is based.    I will also give any inquiry serious...neither unreasonably optimistic nor pessimistic.....thought and response.

   Clique below for a little "Happy Solstice" treat.....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE&feature=player_embedded
http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=2458664271924&source=jl999
http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=2530463741924&source=jl999
http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=2530466901924&source=jl999


MERRY CHRISTMAS.....FELIZ NAVIDAD...!!!!!!! And a very prosperous, rewarding year to come!!!.

Dry, Cold, and Hopin' for the Bloomin'

Some of Summer 2009 harvest

     Right now, oddly enough, my thoughts are about taking avocado, mango, and guayaba fertilizer to the Quinta.   This is the time to have the plant food in hand, because it needs to be applied during the depths of Winter.   It will also be time to put down some zinc on our wild pecan trees that line the Rio Corona, and the couple that have prospered a bit since the clearing of our lot, 10 years ago.



     The pecan trees are "nativos"  and not grafted to an improved or designer type "Texas Indian" race of pecans.    Because of this the nuts are small and hard, but the meat is very oily and has an exceptional flavour.   So, it is worth the trouble to help them along.   The other fruit trees are ornamental mainly, but their production is actually magnificent.   The quality is better than perfect to the palate of an old farm-born rustic like your humble servant.

This is how Avocadoes "flower"

      Last year, because of a very cold Winter and an extremely wet summer we had no set of blossoms for the Royal Poncianas (flamboyanes), or for the avocados and guayabas.   So, this year, we are really hoping for a "Royal Flush".....of fruit set and blossoms.

     My children will be furious with me perhaps, but sometimes people might think that those of us who own property in a foreign country and abide, while in  that country, with that country's laws and customs.....are anti-American or "escaping" from our  Americanism.   In my case, this is certainly not the case in the least.     I considered myself to be one of those people the media elite sneer about and ridicule....one of those people who attend Tea Party rallys and makes sure there is no litter, trash, or garbage left behind.  

     My dealings in Mexico come from working there for many years as a business owner in tourism....and from following my parents, my grandmother, and my great-grandfather into the venturesome trap that Mexico always sets for the unsuspecting.   My investment in the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre is just that....an investment.   It is close to Texas (225 miles away), and it is in a very pleasant, secure, and dull area which is surrounded by intense agricultural pursuits and by profound geographics.    It  was done to provide a bit of a business and to provide a decent retirement situation, and as a place for my children, friends, and grandchildren.....after Obama throws my carcass onto the dung-heap.

Of, course, everybody knows
avocado trees are made for providing
shade for Smokey the Cat

      Also, I ceaselessly dig into the background of my children, through a tedious peeling back of generation after generation of Garza and Newton presence in the New World....and to some extent in the Old World.   SO!  Going back to the original point, this next inclusion speaks more to the origin of what kind of eccentric would feel comfortable in this  rural Mexican environment.....even in spite of ....or  because of, the nature of that environment.

     This is the note I  wrote my tezquintles ("pups" in Nahuatl) which speaks to their blood line and home regions on their father's paternal grandmother's side.

Hello, Children!



     This is a really great geo-cultural survey .....on one screed....of the Hudson Valley....Several of the places, especially in Lower Hudson and Middle Hudson Valley areas are where a lot of your dead people live. The first ones went into the area before it was New York...but rather New Amsterdam....1620 - 1640. You have people there who are doctors, nurses, Paint & Body Works, Auto dealers, farmers, Hardware Store owners, and so forth....I have found many of them, still in the area or within 75 miles radius. Since they would be something like 16th cousins to you, I determined that it would be best not to crash their next family reunion. It is interesting to note however, that they have been there, literally, for over 20 generations. They, like your Southern Cousins, became melded into an American "Race". These people of the Land of the Headless Horseman were produced with Germanic (Saxon, Prussian, and Hessian) 50%, English (Normanic, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic) 43.75%, and Indian (Quinnapiac, Iroquois, and Mohegan) 06.25%.  This is an estimate, because my DNA machine is down for maintenance right now....but it is a fair estimate.



       The web-site is about this year's Autumn-type events all along the Hudson, so it can be lengthy....but it is worth returning to a few times....You can see yourselves at times.

http://www.hudsonrivervalleyramble.com/Libraries/PDF_s/HVRamble_web.sflb.ashx





    I do not know for the life of me if this web site is going to open, but we'll give it a try ...and you will know me a bit better.   As usual, I remain



Grateful for your time and attention,



The Old Gringo

    







Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah or The Case of the Curious Calm

     There is certainly not any great celebration.   There is almost no mention of anything.   Those of us who were surprized by the  intensity of the disorders during the past few months, and even those who always assume the worst about Mexicans and Mexico....all are surprized....

   It reminds one of the Allan Sherman song back in the 1950's...."Hello muddah, hello faddah" which describes an upper-middle and/or upper class Jewish child's lament at being exiled to up-state New York for a portion of the Summer.   If you wish, you can click on to this link  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2Hx_X84LC0  if you  might have forgotten or perhaps never knew of this iconic American comedy song.
     If for some strange reason you went ahead and clicked onto this little ditty you know it reveals the lament of a kid from Brooklyn Heights trying to "rough it" at a luxury Summer camp somewhere up the Hudson.     You heard the part about "Wait a minute, it's stopped hailing....kids are playing, boys are sailing",  and then he asks his parents to disregard the negativism previously expressed in the "required first letter back home"....An Episcopal Bishop at Camp Capers (Diocese of West Texas) gave me a "gold star" when were discussing this song....When asked if anyone could come up with any different twist to the lessons presented by this boy's lamentations.....unwillingness to adapt, unappreciativeness towards his parents' concern and expense, the overstating of how a person suffers in a plush church camp in a beautiful setting, etc.......I raised my hand and offered a bit of a different answer, "He was also lazy, because he decided to change the meaning and intent of the entire letter with a quick sign-off, instead of simply writing a brief...'Having a wonderful time, wish you were here, miss you all!' on a fresh piece of stationary".    Bishop Dicus laughed (to my relief), and declared "All last Summer and during these first sessions this Summer, no one has given us that observation!   Excellent...very perceptive!"
     These are things people do not forget... so we must be careful what we say to the young people with minds full of mush.   I beamed for the rest of my very pleasant episode in the West Central Texas Hill Country.

     But that is where we are right now in a way...."Wait a second....It's stopped hailing.....".     It is probably best not to be-labour the point, things might change to-morrow, and it will still take at least another two years to put the "organized delinquincy" matter back at  least into the lesser shadows.    But for right now....it is rather much like the clearing of the skies around Bastogne at Christmas in 1944....when the skies were filling with hundreds of C-47's dropping parachutes with  ammunition, food, mail, replacement parts and the certain news that Patton was coming over the horizon.      Our Patton is in place in Tamaulipas, some 17,000 strong at this time.....and all good men rejoice.

     Your humble servant will be going up to Central Texas to do some baby-sitting while our granddaughters' parents go up to the Unholy Land ....oddly enough....on business.   They will be in Washington D.C. for a couple or three days....and the other Grandparents are going to be out of town as well....so we have been tapped to go back into the parenting market.   I have promised not to tell the granddaughters...."DO WHAT I SAY OR I'LL RIP YOUR ARM OFF AND BEAT YOU TO DEATH WITH IT"....as I did with my own two children.   My daughter thinks that such things are little too much for two and five year old girls.     My daughter gave me a 7,211 page compendium, single spaced, of the things that I cannot do that I normally do, that are generally found to be offensive or disgusting by polite and civilized members of  society.     I have to memorize all of it before my arrival at their home in a week or so.....and recite it verbatim before a Notary Public  before she turns her children over to us.
      Actually, it is true that her other grandfather and her greatgrandfathers are better men than I.   This following inclusion was sent to me by my daughter....after my granddaughter had sent a thank-you note to her great-grandfather for Veterans' Day.   It is an expression of gratitude of an old hero to his great-granddaughter and I think represents the best of what is America.

         Dear Gabriella;

Once upon a time your Gramps was an American Aviator who flew a very large Airplane called a "Flying Fortress".

We flew over far away countries and because we did this the people of these countries were soon able to live much happier and safer lives.

Every American soldier who ever helped America help these people all over the world are called "Veterans". That is why we celebrate Veterans Day. . .To Remember and Thank those Veterans and to think a little bit how they helped those people all over the world.

This is why I am writing this letter to you, Gabriella. . .for calling your Gramps to thank him for being a Veteran. It's a very special feeling for me to know that My loved ones understand what we did so many many years ago.

Please thank your Father and Mother for helping you make one of the most cherished phone calls of my life.     All of our Love Gabriella,

Your Very Proud Gramps

'Nuff Said!
El Gringo Viejo

DELL Delivered Early

The bad news is that I am rather much the old tom-cat who does not particularly care to adapt to changes.   The good news is that my new DELL computer arrived a week early, so you all will have to put up with my pontifications sooner rather than later.

More Later!!

El Gringo Viejo

Positive Developments

     We have just learned that the entrance of approximately 4,000 heavy infantry and direct support personnel into what is referred to as the "Frontera Chica" (small border) was fully accomplished about four or five days ago.   Supposedly this detachment is going to stay in the area of Falcon Dam, Mier, Miquel Aleman, and Camargo indefinitely.     This deployment had been scheduled for an earlier time but was interrupted by the peculiar incident concerning a couple who had gone jet-skiing near a remote part of Falcon Lake on the Mexican side.   Once that situation was resolved as best could be, the Army and Naval Infantry proceeded with what is essentially a re-establishment of civil order in Mier.

     Mier is an important place for various reasons.   It is, along with Camargo, something of the Grandmother city of the Lower Rio Grande Valley.   It was the second city established on the Rio by Jose de Escandon and many of the "old families" who are Latin in the Lower Rio Grande Valley trace their ancestry to Reynosa, Camargo, and Mier and/or the various land-grants associated with those cities.    They derived   land grants and awards from the King of Spain which were titled at that time....during the mid-point of the 1700's.     It was and will be again a charming city with much colonial architecture of French and Spanish...as well as Anglo-Irish... influence.   I could drone on about literally hundreds of historical and personal matters which concern this "Magic City" but that will be for a later time.

     About 40% of the community had finally left over the last few weeks due to drug gang and illegal alien (essentially slave traders) transporters.  Factions with invented names and titles, normally from places far from Mier,  warred over the city, gradually turning the place into what would have been a Pyrrhic victory for anyone.     Yesterday, however, after a series of engagements between gang members and the Mexican military, about half of those who had felt it necessary to leave, came back with their pickups loaded with family effects.   Newly shot film showed little restaurants opening back up, repairs being made to houses, the Army towing (or dragging) shot-up gang vehicles to a temporary "auto morgue" on the east side of town.   There were also scenes of people painting and plastering homes and businesses.

     Interviews with the Mieren~os all ended with essentially the same refrain, that being " ......the Army needs to stay here until all the gangs are dead".    It is hoped that there are the resources to maintain this presence and to prosecute this terrible but necessary matter to its ultimate victory.

     

     For many, many years the American Embassy and the American and world press has gone out of its way to report negatively about Mexico.   To be sure, at times, it had been and is an easy task.   I return, however, to the old admonition in courts which practice the rule of English Common Law.   The bailiff comes before the witness and asks..."In the affair of  His Majesty's Court in the case of the charge of fraude against Mr. Harold J. Pickering, do you, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, swear that the evidence you are about to give in this matter is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth;  So help you God?"

     It is in this that the press fails.   They take elements of the truth and reject other elements, thereby magnifying the moat in another's eye, while ignoring the beam in their own.    Begging the pardon of sensitive readers, it is the same mentality of people who receive a "tingle running up and down the leg"  when they hear the words "hope" and "change" without begging the definition of said words.....especially as such words are defined by the speaker.

    I am in a bit of a good mood....Mier was, is, and shall be an important little place.    We are still in the library....the Mission library has about 100 DELL computers for access by citizens and visitors....it is clean....fairly quiet...and generally pleasant.   We are only about two blocks away, so my suffering without having my own DELL at home could be worse.     Highly placed authorities have assured us that our new DELL computer will be arriving during the latter days of this month.

Thank you all for putting up with my whining, moaning, and pontificating.

More Later,

El Gringo Viejo