Circus Dog

Well at least the equivalent of some of the small circus acts you might see around here. I was right behind them but my camera was on the floor. By the time I got the camera ready we hit the school zone with parents parked waiting for kids and I had to drop back for oncoming traffic. Sorry I couldn't get closer before they turned the corner. Would have been a great time for a dash cam.

Dog balancing on the back of a moto

Lean on the corners

Conjunctivitis or something in my eye

The illustration is to save you looking at what can be kind of gross photos found on the Internet.

So three days ago I was convinced I got a real fine ash in my eye while burning some yard waste.  I couldn't see anything and neither could Lorena. Conjunctivitis feels like you have a small particle in your eye.   The next day Hugo tried to convince me it was the same  infection he had and that his 2 year old had.    The baby had it first and gave it to Hugo.   I have no idea how they gave it to me or how it's transmitted.  I bought 2 little bottles of saline eye drops for Hugo and myself and it helps a lot.  Baby and Hugo eyes have cleared up.   My eye is still watering  but no longer feels like something in it.    I'll check with a doctor tomorrow if it's still bothering me.

Keeping the dust down

Watering the street is such a common pastime around here after months of no rain I thought it would have caught the attention of another blogger or photographer. I Googled every phrase I could thing of and not a photo or story to be found. I did find a few using mojando calle.

My neighbor and I take turns watering the street between us, morning and afternoon. We are lucky enough to have good water pressure so use a hose. Many places people throw buckets of water in the street. It's a great time to socialize with passerby's or tease the kids with a squirt of the hose. Last night my neighbor Lorena volunteered so I took my own photo. I hope Google appreciates that ;)

Lorena watering the street

New outside light fixtures

Not exactly new since I bought these over a year ago in an artisania shop in Cihuatlan. I've been waiting till the painting was finished so they could stay mounted for awhile. I only bought two of these and have three lights on that side of the house so one remains a bare bulb until I find something else. A sconce in Mexico is generically called a lámpara de pared but also a arbotante.

The first one took over an hour to mount as plans kept changing. I ended up drilling a hole just over outlet box and using screw and plastic insert, screwed in a loop of metal pipe 'tape' (brought down from US). The second light took 10 minutes. Should be easy to remove for future painting.

First LOW of the Tropical Season

Well this one is right on time and the Tropical Weather season starts tomorrow on the Pacific. Seems like we had an even earlier one last year. When a storm is this young it's hard to tell which way it will head but speculation is West/NW and out to sea. It's been named Invest 90E and may become a storm by Thursday.

What is also interesting is the humidity has risen dramatically in the last week, overcast all day and the refreshing breezes we were experiencing have faded.

From this morning

From 2 this afternoon

Mango season at the White House

We finally cut down my bananas because they were splitting on the tree so then had about 10 small bunches. They are sweet and great with yogurt in the morning but too many for me before they spoil.

Abundio and Teri live across the street in an unfinished house and are basically the caretakers. He is always asking to work for money, just plain cigarette money or food money. She has asked me before but is more shy. She still calls me Gringo. Today I had to do something with the bananas so took them two bunches. Teri immediately handed me 3 mangoes in trade and asked if I had 5 pesos. I asked her: for cigaros? ... and she said NO, for vino. Vino is any hard liquor here and she is not shy about her preferences.

One of the mangoes smells really good so maybe tomorrow morning. The season is a little slow this year but when in full swing .... I'm in heaven (no religious connotations there)

My bananas and traded mangoes

The house has a real paint job this year - The White House

A circus the right size for Pinal Villa

I've never seen a circus (circo) this small before but this one is the right size for Pinal Villa. We have the rides, trampolines and Foosball kind of fairs for the kids a few times a year but they usually set up on the edge of the plaza. For some reason this circus rented a lot on the corner of the plaza and set up there. Not sure how these guys make any money as Pinal is pretty poor but they have a big Kenworth that pulls the trailer and the announcer that drives around town has a nice little car. The RV even had air conditioning running. The life of a Carny in Mexico.

From the corner of the plaza

This must carry the tent and seats

Main entrance

Under the Big Top

Melaque sunrise fotos

Just a couple of older Melaque sunrise fotos from when I lived in town and got up early in the morning to check the world out. I still get up early but sunrises out here in the country are not nearly so impressive.

From downtown near Las Brisas I think

Closer to Villa Obregon

What's inside twice

We've been struggling with my sliding side door for months and it finally got to the point that something had to be done. Asked my mechanic about it months ago and with a hard tug, he announced it worked just fine. Anyway I went about taking the plastic panel off to find out what was up. All those long rods don't stay in the original position after years of heavy use. Turns out the rod headed towards the back was the most important and bending it with pliers did the trick. A short one on the left had also slipped and had to use wire to secure it. All along I thought it was that long cable had stretched but it was fine.   Panel is still off to see if my work will hold.

The second was a surgery yesterday by Dr. Rosa. Lorena, my good friend and neighbor, had been feeling pain in her upper back for awhile. About a month ago she felt a lump and just hoping it would pass, didn't get it checked. Finally Dr. Rosa had a look and said it was a cyst that should be removed and that happened yesterday in the doctors office. We'll wait for lab reports from Guadalajara with hopes that it's benign. Operation, lab tests and pain pills were about 2000 pesos.

Dia de la Cruz

Day of the Cross (May 3rd - Today) is a religious day in Mexico but is also a day to celebrate construction workers or like my neighbor says, Dia de los Albañiles or masons.

My neighbors wife has made crosses for my house twice before and since her husband is painting my house now she made another yesterday. I bought the paper and asked if she wanted the cross to work in her house. She suggested my place so I could see how she makes them.  A hot glue gun and little tie wraps hold it together. The fanciest one so far.

Wrapped the old cross to start over

Making the flowers

The fanciest yet