Subtitled Blog........

GATE RAISING........



Today we had a gate raising. Our new gate went up between the new brick wall and now we will have more privacy...the only problem is I do not have a photo to show you because I did not know I was coming to the internet cafe today. And I didn't bring my camera adapter to be able to upload the gate raising photos.



We are in Navajoa and I have been practically shoved out of the truck and into the internet cafe because I was making things difficult in the hardware store.

Hardware stores here are not like home depot or even small Ace hardwares. The main room is very small and you have to know what you want because all of the tools and things are either hidden in the back room or hanging on the walls upstairs....where the customers don't get to go.



Now in Alamos, the hardware senors already know Bill very well, they just let him roam around all over the place. They know him in Navajoa also, but their rules are stricter.

So, after watching the guys work behind the counter and the little bugs on the concrete floor go one way and then another, and appearing terribly bored, I have been dropped off to blog...

I have so much more to tell you before he comes back to pick me up!



Our new gate was made by the local iron worker, Daniel. It is made of chino wood (sort of like mesquite) and beautiful iron. It has two open iron grill windows in it and a big latch to keep people and things out. Lots of senors came up the street to watch our gate being raised.



You will never know how much it means to have this gate up.

because.....all kinds of things have been coming into our yard. For instance, Dumb Dog. He lives across the road out in the agave ranchland. But he loves our cat food and since day one he has been coming to try and get it. He will do anything to try and get that food. And we throw everything but the kitchen sink at him to try and get him to go away. If we had a kitchen sink we would throw that too.

We aren't inhumane, we don't throw on him, just at him. And he LOVES it, he rolls over, he wags his tail and tongue. One of our workers said he is ours. Over my dead body is he ours.....so now, the gate will hopefully keep out dumb dog.



And it should keep out people as well. One afternoon I was in the back bedroom napping and I woke up to an elderly senor sitting at the foot of my bed. He started taking woven baskets out of his burlap sack. He was a basket vendor...that was very startling for me.....no problemo for him...no gate, just walk right on in.

Another time I was cutting vegies in the back and a whole family showed up to try and sell me their wooden carved birds.....And before the wall went up a man saw me in the window and wanted me to buy his used mexican cookbooks. He kept trying to shove them through the iron grill window. I just kept pushing them right back through again.

I am thrilled to have this gate.



This should also keep out little girls who are scared of Dumb Dog. One afternoon we came home and our neightbor told us she saw a little girl up on our roof. Dumb dog chased her up there. Do not ask us how she got on the roof or how she got down. Our neighbor went to call for help for her and when she came back, both dumb dog and the little girl were gone........



BEDROOM

This is the before photo of one of the two livable rooms of our casa. Here is the after photo. It took me two days to hand sew the curtains....(Bill just came back from the hardware store and I told him to go away). We bought the bed and base here in Navajoa and they delivered it one afternoon right before the rains came. Sheets are from the local grocery store.......A few added things that we brought across the border and voila!

very cozy.......not long after this Bill got alot of our electricity up and running and we now have ceiling fans going in both rooms.
Now in the photo below you can see where we spend alot our time. It's where we go to get out of the sun, where I have coffee in the mornings, where Senor Bill works on his architectural drawings of what he is doing to the house, where we eat our lunch or dinner, where we sit and throw things at Dumb Dog.....note there is a fan above, which Bill installed. It is great and really helps to keep out the gnats.......




GNATS...
are terrible here right now.

We have been told they are worse in August when the no seeums arrive to help them feast on all of us who are here in Alamos. We also understand that the gnats and no seeums, along with the scorching days and high humidity, are the main reasons foreignors return to their homelands for the summer. Well, see, we were told there was very little humidity here, up in the mountains of the sonoran desert, in the fact the guide books will tell you that. They could be talking about a different desert. We also thought the rains rolled in every afternoon, with thunder and lightning and cooled everything down and made it very pleasant.....
The exciting thing about that statement being wrong, is the rains come any time they very well please and thunder and lightning are sooo exciting here, it is beautiful. Often there is lightning all night and no rain.....When it rains, it absolutely pours. And it makes everything very humid.......
and makes lots of new baby gnats be born......
So what I have quickly learned is that you have to have rags...you can see my current assortment below.

I have have some pretty pink and purple ones that aren't shown in this photo..

The point of having a rag is to swat gnats. And swatting gnats takes talent. I have spent alot of time watching Mexican women swat gnats. Some swat very slowly and some very quickly. I have actually developed a gnat swatting rhythm to different songs. If it is a fast gnat day, I flip my rag to the tune of Clapton's Layla, a medium gnat swatting day might be Hotel California, a very slow day could be Nat Cole's Unforgettable. You just really have to get a song.

Once we began sleeping at our casa, I started getting up and walking to the soccer field track about 5am, 3 mornings a week. Alot of Mexicans are there, walking the track and swatting gnats with their rags. It is there, on the track, that I really leaned the art of gnat swatting and as I watched the people, especially the women, I realized how important it is to have an assortment of rags. Now when I am shopping I always am looking for new rags and styles.

well, you know who has pulled up in the parking lot and I think it's time to go. I have blogged myself out. BUT, still have alot to tell you about, so next time..hasta luego.....

Streets, Rain, Wall and Sunset

Today we are getting the leftovers of the Texas gulf hurricane. Heavy, heavy rains are pelting the outside. The thunder and lightning have subsided for awhile and I think I am safe on the second floor of the internet cafe down near the Alamos alameda.

I also think I am safe in here because for some reason the cafe is full of federales, with their big guns and all that other stuff they have..... They are standing around eating grilled chicken and a few are using the internet. They don't seem too concerned about anything but their chicken and whatever they are viewing on the computer screens....downstairs is a video store and Monsters, INC, is playing in Espanol. That is one of my favorite movies and I know alot of the lines by heart, so between the movie and the federales I am somewhat DISTRACTED!

Here is a photo of the rain rushing down our street toward the alameda. That water is about 6 inches deep. Our street, Calle Durango, was only paved last year and it actually has fairly nice even pavers. But that is rare here. The norm is cobblestone..everywhere. It is not real easy to walk on. I have to watch every footstep I make..which is hard to do sometimes, because there is soooo much to see here. Especially in the evening, when people open their windows and like any small town, they sit outside and watch people walk by and call hello, buenes tardes, com esta....walking here is great fun....
the pavers below are on our street and only a few others......
most of the streets are like the one above......
I took the above photo from the truck, but if you don't watch where you walk, you will walk right into one of these......

There has been alot of activity at our casa over the last three weeks. In the photo below, we have begun our grill area.
We are laying the concrete below....we will not have a kitchen for quite awhile, but we'll be grilling....now we are grilling on top of three bricks...the two photos above show the wall is almost done and the photos below are across the street and the sunset across the street from the house....

PHOTOS

Laying the foundation for our BBQ in the photo below....

Running of the bulls through our yard.....
Laying the foundation of cement and rocks for the brick wall....
more later....

Unable to post a few blogs

Hola...
I have not been able to post a few blogs lately. The error message reads:
Your HTML cannot be accepted, your tag is not closed....I have tried to fix the issue and can't...
So I am going to just give this post a try and see what happens.
There is so much to tell you.........so many projects going on, so many pictures to show you..we have lizards in our yard that are bigger than Ashes, our smallest cat.
We have had cows and bulls in our yard.

Lots of work is going on.
Eduardo and his boys are building the brick wall in front of the house. Bill and I are building the bbq grill where we are going to do most of our cooking. We have water, but no electricity.
we have rented a small casita on top of a hill, but hope to be in one of our bedrooms in the middle of next week.
The monsoon rains have begun. We walked across the cobblestone street to our neighbors last night through a foot of running water.
That's all for now, until I can see if this post will go through.