Monday, April 20, 2015

All girl band from Mexico

The Warning
Can't say I really appreciate their choice of music
but it's a cool story

Three heavy metal loving sisters have been tipped for musical super-stardom after signing their first ever record deal - and their bass player is just 10-years-old.

Consisting of Daniela Villarreal (Dany), 16, Paulina (Pau), 13, and Alejandra (Ale), 10, The Warning caught the eye of talent scouts with their online videos.

With Dany on lead guitar and vocals, Pau on drums and Ale on bass, the girls uploaded covers of Metallica, AC/DC and Guns 'N' Roses to YouTube.

After signing their first deal, the siblings, from Monterrey, a city in northeast Mexico, have just released their debut EP, Escape The Mind.

They sound young on this one


 Their Web Site ....... The Warning Band

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Certified last Gringo in town

Getting back to real life in Mexico

Adios Gringo

I took my neighbors Danny and Linda to the airport Wednesday and Jimmy and Sandy hopped a bus to Vallarta yesterday.  All headed back to Canada, BC. Glen is driving back to Victoria and he has a little less than two weeks before he leaves.

We learned a whole lot more about each other this year and relationships expanded and contracted as conditions presented themselves. It was an interesting and eye opening year.

Diana who I'd not heard from for a year or two came back in November all "lovey dovey" and liberated from a divorce wanting a ride from the airport. She rapidly fell into a "get lost" scenario of moving from one place to another and new "friends" from who knows where. She married a very unhappy guy and has not figured out how to escape.

No idea what happened to Red Neck Steve and Buzzard West.  Their nice houses in Barra look abandoned and overgrown. Life changes here and everywhere it seems.  Actually I think Buzzard West just got too fat and died.


Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Recycle Bottle Chair project

Yari's school project was to build something out of recycled material and she thought of a chair made of bottles. After considering silicon or a hot glue gun to hold it together she decided on clear packing tape. The upholstery of old catalogs was an afterthought because bottles alone are not very attractive.

It's a little hard to tell the size but it's perfect for her five year old sister. It's sturdy enough that an adult size could be done. Needless to say she got a good grade and got lots of good feedback from her friends.. 



Lorena wanted to get a good luck herradura (horseshoe) to put over their doorway and we found them at the large animal Vet on the highway. Trouble was he was selling new ones in sets of 4. Only 100 pesos for 4 but we didn't need that many and NEW lacked something. When we told him what we wanted them for he brought out some used ones for 20 pesos each. I put mine up in the palapa before reading about how to hang them but with opinions about both directions I'll leave it the way it is for now..

Yes luck will fall out - but onto those who pass under

Monday, April 13, 2015

Punta Perula for a day

It's been a long time and I almost forgot how pretty the beach and water is at Punta Perula. Super clear water in the lagoon and the mouth that crosses over to the restaurant on the point. Seemed to me crossing over to the restaurant was easier but now you have to get wet if the tide is not way out.

This end of the beach really looks like Tenacatita used to with about 6-8 palapa restaurants and I almost wonder if a few moved up from Tenacatita because I don't remember that many. All along the beach the water was clear unlike the Melaque west end but similar to Tenacatita.

Glen and I drove up really with the intention of taking the boat trip out to the Islands only for some quick pictures and coming back. They will take you and come back in 3-4-5 hours but we just wanted to see them. Sadly we had not checked pricing and found they wanted 800 pesos for the extended stay and only reduced to 700 pesos for the quick trip. Next time we will figure out a way to go with a few more people to split the cost.

The BahĆ­a de Chamela in the Municipio of La Huerta, Jalisco has about 7 islands of various sizes. The main islands are -- La Colorada, Cocinas, San AndrĆ©s, Pajarera. Pajarera is a bird reserve and about the best for snorkling. 

Restaurant on the point

Palapa restaurants

Our restaurant

Clear water at mouth of lagoon

Kids in the mouth of the lagoon

Not much coral but clear water and some fish

Thursday, April 09, 2015

Insecticidal Soap, not just any soap

I always thought soapy water was the recipe for controlling bugs on tomatoes and peppers but it turns out soap is not just soap. I'm researching because my usual dish soap and water mixture this year is not working and I may have lost my tomato plants early. 

An insecticidal soap is a potassium fatty acid soap (aka -- natural) as opposed to a synthetic detergent. It's much more like what would have been made in the home 150 years ago before chemical engineering designed something that will clean better. These old timey soaps work well for simple dirt but not well for stains. Here are a few that are considered insecticidal ---- Zote, Fels Naptha, Roma, Dawn(?)

Insecticidal soap works best on soft-bodied insects and arthropods such as aphids, adelgids, mealybugs, spider mites, thrips, jumping plant lice, scale insects, whiteflies, and sawfly larvae.

Soap Spray
Combining insecticidal soap with water makes a concentrated form of insecticidal soap spray. In order to make the concentrate, grate about 1 inch from a bar of Zote soap, put the grated soap in 1 quart of warm water and stir the water gently until the soap dissolves. The concentrated solution should be stored in a clearly labeled container. When you're ready to spray your plants with an insecticide, place 1 quart of water in a spray bottle or garden sprayer, and add to it 1 teaspoon of the Zote concentrate you made. Don't use a stronger solution. Although insecticidal soap spray is safe for most plants, a high concentration of it may damage plant foliage.

Whitefly damage - worse year so far

Shaving pieces off a bar of Zote

Soap dissolving in the sun

........ Simple video for the idea ......

Wednesday, April 08, 2015

Five days without Internet

....... and you can get a lot done around the house


Last Friday my Telcel Modem gave me notice that the SIM card was invalid or did not exist. This SIM was almost 4 years old and was on it's third modem. I have a monthly contract so can't just go buy another because I have to use the same number.  I thought maybe a local Telcel store could help somehow but no, it would require a trip to Manzanillo. 

With Semana Santa and the weekend no way did I want to head for Manzanillo.  Danny and Linda said they might go Tuesday but they ended up not needing to. Glen said he wanted to go so on Tuesday day we went. Turned out to be a quite simple procedure like it happens often. Pay 100 pesos and they program a new SIM to your number. They offered to check if it worked and they did but could not confirm the number was correct. For some reason the number shows as Desconocido or Unknown. Not wanting to drive back to Manzanillo from Melaque if it didn't work we stopped at a computer place to try to figure it out. I finally got the bright idea to send it a text message from my phone using my account phone number and it worked.

Over those 5 days I got lots of painting and yard work done. You can really get a lot done when your mornings are free. Since we are only a little over a month till hurricane season I think I'll keep at it to stay water tight.

The construction of the house finished in April 2011 and I'm pretty much settled in. As of March 2014 I'm in preparation for rain mode for this coming summer. That includes sealing and painting things and dealing with drainage issues from last year.

Sparks Mexico Web
Manzanillo Information
House building in Pinal Villa

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