About our Visit Up - State

     As all good OROGs know, we went up to the center part of the Republic of Texas a couple of weeks ago.   The trip is always a long one.   It has been done many, many, many times by the Old Gringo during the better part of what seems to have been several centuries.    The need for the trip, this time, was caused by a couple of Old Coots talking about running trips again for the Winter Visitors.

     We both drifted out of the business as the market changed over the years, and as fossilization began to set in.  But, like a couple of old caisson-horses, once they smell a little gunpowder and hear the rumble of the guns, they begin to want to join the fray.
     With all that considered, we began thinking about something to sell to a difficult market, something that would be easy to run, and something that would not result in a lot of effort on the part of the client.   Our planning went on for a couple or three weeks, and we have decided upon a set of offerings.   All OROGs will receive a posting of these offerings in short order.    The strangest one, the one which flowed from my vast-wasteland-between-the-ears, was the San Antonio Missions.
     There is a Texas Baseball League franchise with the official name of "The San Antonio Missions", based upon the existence of the San Antonio Missions.  Everyone in Texas knows about the San Antonio Missions, both the baseball related one and the ecclesiastical, historical ones.    Everyone has been to the Alamo.... La Mision del Alamo de San Antonio de Valero...and bunches of folks have been to the Mision de San Jose.....which has its own fame and elegance.  But there are others.   Most Texans say..."Some day I'm going to....", but they never quite get around to taking the time out to actually, finally, once and for all, go see the other Misiones and understand their why's and wherefore's.
      We covered them  briefly, along a well-planned and executed paved route through San Antonio's center and south-central sections.    Some of the routing is newly done, very "National Park-ish" , and there is an abundance of parking.   Rest-rooms are found at all the stops and  routing instructions that are frequently accurate are available en route as well as in the form of pamphlets and hand-guides found at Park offices.
      So, as the Old Gringo had originally thought, this would be a good trip for people to come up from the Valley, arrive to the center of San Antonio, and essentially do their own inclinations for the remainder of the day.   Then, on the second day, the tour could go as a group to the remaining Missions.   It takes a long morning, including Mision La Concepcion,  Mision San Jose, Mision San Juan, and the Mision de La Espada.    It could then return to the center of town...a short distance....20 minutes.....for a mid-day meal and free afternoon and evening.  The last day could begin with a visit to the Institute of Texian Cultures.     There are several details and possible inclusions to make or leave out.
       We are giving serious consideration to the Painted Churches of East Central Texas and to a pair or so of one-day tours in the Lower Rio Grande Valley area.  We'll see.

A Message from the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre

     The benefits of the rain have been profound all over the area, including the Quinta.   Some place have their Royal Poncianas putting on a second  bloom, which is somewhat of a rarity.    Our Royal Poncianas have only busied themselves with putting on as much greenery as possible, which is better than nothing, I suppose.    Green seems to be the main operative colour for the Quinta, although the powder puffs, the duranta, and the shrimp plants have all been busy with their blooming chores.    There are lots of bees, lots of birds, and other natural activity.

     The mountains are also greened out and it is good to look out to the west and not see any of the smokey haze associated with the Spring forest fires.    During the past nights of the full moon we were treated to the setting of Earth's largest satellite on the mountains.   In spite of the absolute dullness of the process.....what else can the Moon do?.....what else can the mountains do?  really doesn't matter so much as just enjoying the magnificence of it all.    I usually am up around four o'clock, so it is possible to see three or four of these moon-sets during each lunar cycle.

      Alvaro was quick to advise me upon my arrival that the Army had been down our road.....several times during my absence.    The first time they had come in the "back way" , approaching the Quinta from the Rio Corona.    This meant that they had had to been doing considerable scouting and using considerable "community input" along with the overhead surviellance photographic reasources.   On this first visit by this particular patrol they stopped to talk at some length with Alvaro.   They were given a tour of the Quinta, but only a couple of officers and a couple of non-commissioned officers  went in.    This left what seems to have  been two platoons of heavy infantry out in the shaded areas.    They visited our neighbours, made friends with the dogs, and generally went about their "community outreach".     Various military elements have been back and forth during the past weeks.

       This has resulted in a considerable outpouring of people heading down to the Rio Corona as they had done before, enjoying the high waters and conviviating with friends and family as they have done traditionally for generations.   It was, in a way, good to hear children squealing and other such family noises again. 

          All the animals are fine.   Alvaro's Labrador has doubled in size, and has become a bit better disciplined.   I have endeavoured to impart what little training I can give.   Everyone can send money to pay what will necessarily be a gargantuan food bill by the time Bibi is fully grown.

There will be more later.    Thanks for your time and attention.

The Old Gringo  

Making preparations

      The hour cometh for the Old Gringo to head back to the Quinta, laden with dog food, cat food, and other goodies.  We should find a much greener place based upon last week's heavy rains.   This well be the time for pruning and training a lot of our major bushes.   It will also be time not to fall for the idea that we can plant this or that, or in any way expand the tasks already at hand.   We need simply to restore the main parts of our gardens and growies that have been so badly damaged by the freezes of last Winter and the profound lack of rain of the Spring and early Summer.

      We shall try to take a few pictures of Bebe the new Labrador, and the rest of the animals just to be fair to them.   They seem to know when they are being photographed.    If things have begun to really "come out"  with the rain and heat...very tropical conditions....then perhaps we shall "freshen up" some of our archives and let you all see the pictures first.
      The biggest problem we see at this point in going down is that we shall be trying to take the one-eyed cat down, after her operation, and her recovering from o'possum attack and the operation.   It is a bit of a trip, and then she will have to fit in to a group of well established cats.    It is all madness.   But, short of putting a bullet in her head, there is no other remedy left.

       Things have also been a little touch and go with the Old Gringo parents-in-law.    This journey down will be of short duration due to the problems on that front.   It is a matter of leaving one end of the candle to burn while attending the other end.   Either way, it seems that the holder of the candle is going to wind up,  at one point or the other, holding the wrong end.   

     

And the Lord Spake, saying.....

"......Enough already with the praying for rain...I've heard you!" spake the Lord. And so it was. Verily didst fall the torrents. Awash, all living things crawling, creeping, or borne afoot. Fleeing the rushing and roaring of a River in a race to the Ocean as if driven mad by the rapidly falling elevations. Feathered beasts found their niches and crannies, nooks and corners to wait out the solid sheets of previously scarce rain.

Our little adobe hut on the Rio Corona, in front of the Sierra del Cautivo section of the Sierra Madre Oriental, picked up 18 inches of rain during the period of Allene, the Tropical Storm's landfall, up to and including Sunday night. Almost five days of intermittent heavy rains should wake up the vegetation and orchards of our beautiful area.

Rains in the nearby mountains were thought to have been perhaps double that amount. It seems a bit extreme, but remember OROGs, last year we had rainfall amounts in the mountains that exceeded 100 inches over a two month period. This year's rainy season is starting off in the same way. I shall keep you all abreast of everything, blow by blow, drop by drop.

Just a note. Thanks for your attention as usual.

El Gringo Viejo

Heading up North Tomorrow

     The Old Gringo and his bossess will be on the road for the next three or four days.   We are going up to the middle of the Republic of Texas to take care of  a bit of business.   There are a few loose ends to take care of here on the blog as well.

     (1)    There were no Gringos killed in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas over the 4th of July Weekend.

     (2)    The Borderland Beat recommendation given by the Old Gringo in a recent post needs to be qualified.   There are so many different organizations with similar titles and label that one should not assume that the Old Gringo is endorsing one and all.   The one I use has a number of different blogger contributors, some of whom have a points of view that are not concurrent with this blog.    So, my mistake, but the blanket endorsement should not have been made.    OROGs are more than capable of doing their own evaluations and casting about for decent cyber-moorings.

      (3)   Most of you should sit down for this one.   My ideas concerning the New York Times could never be repeated on this forum.   Michelle O'bama would have me deep-fat-fried and fed to The Children.   BUT....my son did bring my attention to an article he found of interest.    He pointed out to me that it was a strange departure for the Times and most of the international leftist press since Mexico has strung together a series of relatively conservative and anti-Castro/Chavez/Oretega/Morales administrations since the 1990s.
     The New York Times has been particularly adept at speaking mendaciously and authoritatively about Mexican issues.   The article included in this link, however, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/07/06/world/americas/immigration.html?hp
tells a bit of a different story.   It is also substantially more accurate than the usual drivel.     If the Old Gringo recommends anything from within the pages of the Old Grey Lady, then it might ought to be considered for at least a bit of perusal.
     It is time to check in on my in-laws and to make final preparations for our northward trek to-morrow.   As we head north, the brother-in-law, and the sister-in-law are both coming down south for very brief visits with the wife's parents.   They are each  bringing various family members  and doggies....arriving from as far away as the Dallas/Fort Worth area and as close by as the San Antonio area.    We render our little place as a refuge for most or all of the these favoured family visitors during these visits.   The extra space makes things more comfortable for everybody...even the pooches.

      (4)     We should be pleased with the arrest of "El Mamito", Jesus Rejon Aguilar.    He is one of the last remaining original ZETAS;    the individuals who founded the group should be particularly despised because they were highly trained non-commissioned officers in the Mexican Army at one time.  They deserted, sold out to the same people they were supposed to combat, and allowed their criminal organization to steadily adopt the "asymmetrical combat" engagement format so popular with many terrorist organisations.    The Zeta group has become more and more disorganised over the last three or four months due to steady degradation both by opposing criminal organizations and due to the efforts of the Mexican Army, the Naval Infantry, and a new corps of semi-militarized Federal Police.
       The Old Gringo has listened carefully to the "public response" by Rejon Aguilar to certain questions posed by authorities.   These are public relations shows staged by the authorities in order to demonstrate habeus corpus and control of the "corpus".   It is the opinion of the Old Gringo that Rejon's response to the question concerning  the origin of the weaponry was misleading.   He sounded, in responding to the question about the source of his armaments, as if he had rehearsed his answer.   It is the strongly held opinion of the Old Gringo that the answer that the weaponry came from sources in the United States was being prompted by his thinking that that was what the officials wanted to hear.   He is aware enough that the Mexican officialdom is more than somewhat miffed over the profoundly stupid "Fast and Furious" program of the ATF.    There is nothing that can be said or demonstrated that will change the fact that this is a stupidity borne of hubris that equals what lead up to the events that resulted in the ATF's murder of a large number of religious kooks in McClennan County, Texas several years back.
        But, the fact remains that the overwhelming majority of arms used by the principal cartel groups have been supplied by international black and grey marketeers from Red China, Viet Nam, Russia, Eastern Europe, Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Iran.    The shipments have come into Mexico most frequently by boat and ship, most frequently off-loaded  some distance off the various lengthy coasts of Mexico's east and west flank.      The Cartel people have lost thousands upon thousands of arms and millions of rounds of ammunition in combat with the Mexican military.    The Cartel people have lost thousand upon thousands of arms to improper usage and maintenance.   That is just the way it is.
       And folks, please do not waste time on this ATF thing defending the ATF bureaucrats.   Before this is over, it will be learned that personal corruption in terms of financial gain is involved, and that the overriding issue in "Fast and Furious" was to advance the movement to disarm the common American slob who thinks he has the right to own a firearm.

     If time permits, there might be a bit of addendum.   We shall see upon returning from the Parents-in-law.    Thanks for your time and interest up to this point, to-day!
El Gringo Viejo

It ain't Necessarily So....

?

       Texas Dept. of Public Safety issues Nuevo Laredo travel advisory

Saturday, July 2, 2011 | Borderland Beat ReporterGerardo

To begin, it would be nice to say Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas since that is where Nuevo Laredo is.  An official announcement by the State should at least recognize that Nuevo Laredo, the site of the World's largest land port in terms of weight volume and dollar value, is in a State.    The announcement that the warning is extended to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico is something akin to saying Oklahoma City, America.   It bespeaks of a lack of true familiarity and understanding concerning the very topic about which the announcement concerns itself.

     Secondly, it would be nice for the State of Texas to officially recognize the efforts on the part of the Mexican Armed Forces in this War, which is being won.    The State of Texas should carefully avoid discussing the mote in the eye of its neighbour when bearing a beam in its own eye.

      Third......it would be appreciated if the law enforcement and politician "community" just stop! Stop saying that "....we are making certain that there is no "spill over  violence".    SPILL OVER VIOLENCE IS EVERYWHERE IN TEXAS.

           Snickering professors who make light of drug usage in our universities.   The steading bearing and breeding of fatherless, soul-less thugs and slugs who daily and nightly have shoot outs on our streets and saloons and shopping centers and neighbourhoods.....paid for by politicians who want to outdo each other in the feeding, housing, and generally larding up of an underclass of soul-less thugs and slugs who value no life, not even their own.    In Hidalgo County alone, during the past week there have been 10 killings...two nights ago an 82 year old woman in her home stabbed to death....nothing unusual.

     We are over-run with slime, cockroaches, sub-human septic sludge that live parasitically....either stolen goods, drug trafficking, or on food stamps, section 8, WIC, stolen SSI and/or SS checks, AFDC, and the whole cascade of goodies given by the Socialist Democrats and their poofy "conservative" Republican lackey friends who think that "responding to Hispanic issues" means feeding throngs of slugs in schools where 50% cannot read or write at graduation and could care less.

       Strutting around talking about "making sure that spill-over violence doesn't come into Texas" is like saying "I sure am glad we have all the security issues at Fort Hood taken care of.   We wouldn't want any of them there Islamic radicals to go on any of them there shootin' sprees."

       It would be best to establish a working relationship with the regular Ejercito Mexicano and the  Infantria Naval de la Armada de Mexico.    They are the ones who strap on the uniforms, patrol out;   search, contact, and destroy.  They are the ones who face the bullets daily of the cockroaches, fighting to remove this cancer from Mexico and the United States.

      Call me in the morning with the body count of Gringos in Nuevo Laredo.   The number of Americans killed by soul-less welfare scum, drug addicts, and other malefactors in the United States exceeds 240,000 for the last four years.   Of those 240,000 individuals, about 100,000 were like you and me.   People innocent of the affairs involving drug trafficking and "turf wars".    The other 140,000 people think that their next fix is more important than some old woman's life....besides, you know, she had lived too long anyway, and the septic, welfare-spawn really needed his fix.

EPILOGUE

     In the early 1950s my mother took the Census.   It was a position in South Texas that was taken by "the correct people" and those enumerators were very thorough, very industrious people, almost all of them were of independent means.   My mother came across an elderly Latin couple out on one of the old Ranches.   They were colonial people and delighted in showing some of their old family documents, pre-1836, Republic of Texsas period, Confederate service records, Loyalty Oath to the Reconstruction Government, Discharge from Spanish American War, etc.    The little old lady was almost blind, and the husband was 99% blind.   My mother said, "You should go down and qualify for your Texas State Assistance to the Blind.   It's 9.00 dollars a month, and in comes in handy."

       The old man said, "Yo soy Mexicano...y a mi, nadien mas quien yo mismo me mantiene.  Nunca, jamas, me van a hacer un esclavo a estos programas de asistencia publica.  Prefiero la muerte que la limosna."    Which stated in English is,  "I am a Mexican...and, me...no one other than I the same, maintains me. Never, forever never, are they going to make me a slave to public assistance.  I prefer Death to Alms (charity)."

Please forgive the Old Gringo's song of lamentations.    I shall try to recover and send out some recipes tomorrow.    To-night I am going to play my favourite album from "Tiny Tim Sings "Tip-toe Through the Tulips" with Barney Frank and Jeramiah Wright.    Send your contributions for the "Fund to Restore the good ship 'Audacity of Hope"' for its next sailing to re-supply the people of Occupied Gaza....(strictly a peaceful relief effort to ameliorate the starvation and genocide caused by the Zionist Occupation).

El Gringo Viejo

ps.   We recommend the source "Borderland Beat".  Most of my information comes from personal contact and from Spanish language sources, but Borderland Beat is the best summary and collection and analysis in English that I have run across.   Do not read anything from Associated Press, McKlaskey, Rueters, or any local or national news broadcaster thinking that you are learning anything  reliably factual about much of anything, especially Mexico.

pps.    Can you all believe that those commies actually named their "relief ship" the 'Audacity of Hope'?