Carne Asada party

I should have taken pictures a little earlier because this one just barely worked. The table full of Oscar and his family out in the garden didn't come out at all. A bunch of kids were using my computer for the Internet. Five gringos and nine Mexicans had a great time and dinner. Lorena did her famous butterflied and breaded shrimp and Hugo did the grill cooking. 

Nahima's Kitchen

It's got everything

A stove, fridge, sink and coffee maker

Nahima with Linda's doll present

There is nothing religious or sacred about Christmas for me. It's just vacation time and time to make some kids happy with a few presents, especially the younger ones. We went into town yesterday for a number of things including a trip to the Mirador and that is where Nahima is standing. Lorena had put the kitchen on "lay-away" and they snuck it into the back of my car so Nahima wouldn't see and then hid it in my bodega. I had a vague idea what it was so bought a large package of kitchen utensils. 

Linda brought the hippy doll down from Canada and a pair of long pants. Nahima wants to sleep in them. Yare got a colored pencil set and some clothes .... and Euriel got a Hotrod magazine.

Gonna have about 15 people over tomorrow for carne asada and shrimp and I think we have most everything, but I need to pick up friends tomorrow so will get what we forgot.

A coral Christmas Tree

This is very cool and just popped up on Facebook as something I posted last Christmas. I still don't remember where I found it to give credit.

Sad night last night. A sweet old lady neighbor died two days ago and they held the velorio (wake) last night at their house. Lorena and I drove into Melaque earlier to buy flowers. Huge and very warm family. The announcement truck went all over Melaque, Ranchito, Jaluco and Pinal Villa. They brought her coffin in a little after nine and when we left after 10 there were nearly 100 people. It took 6 months for cancer to take her.

Pet Adoption on Melaque Plaza

ADOPTIONS WEDNESDAY DEC. 23!

We've got puppies & kittens as well as adult dogs looking for new families. 5:30PM in the Melaque Jardin.

Valvula Check or Check Valve

Tricky little buggers these and I've got a few of them. This time they were not the original problem. It started with the hurricane taking the lid off the tinaco and then the wind then beat the float around until it broke. I bought a new bronze float valve but couldn't get it to seal. Bought a plastic one and my brain went dumb and I couldn't figure how to install it. Called a plumber that a friend knows and wa-la. He only wanted 60 pesos (about 4 dollars) but I gave him 100.

Before it got dark I had more water spilling but this time out of the breather pipes. Called the plumber again and he knew right away it was the check valve. The flapper valve inside closes to the tinaco when there street pressure and when there is no street pressure it opens and the tinaco becomes the water source. Sure enough the flapper was stuck open. Take that plug on the top off and a little grease and a screwdriver loosened it up. He also capped a breather pipe he said shouldn't be open.

While he was there I had him look at another valve for my pump house that has been leaking for over a year. We shut the water off  and he just put new teflon tape on the plug threads. It's dry now. He wanted 120 pesos for this trip. Two things at 60 each I guess. Nice guy but no English.

Last call for a pool party

The pool is usually packed away sometime in November but it's still in operation. Problem is nobody is using it except me when I get in to vacuum it out. I keep hearing the kids want to, but they haven't shown up for almost a month. Water is definitely getting chillier but mid-day in the sun it feels good.  Last chance for a pool party is this coming Saturday and then it comes down.

A new front-end

Voyager Suspension

Well, our friendly little country road finally beat my cars suspension into submission. It was making lots of noise and had a little wobble at slow speeds. First I took it to Servicio Automotriz (Michelin) near our entrance road. I like the woman that ran the place before but she's not there and there's a new manager. His solution was to replace just about everything and that was 5000 pesos only for parts. After that he would have to check the struts, align it and add his labor. I could see that going to 8-9000 pesos so I took it down the street to Pancho, my usual mechanic.

Pancho said no ..... crazy prices and he could do it for much less. Brought it in the next day to check and it ended up needing 2 parts on the left side and 5 parts on the right. Left him with a 2000 peso deposit for parts and the next day the total was 3500 pesos .... that's 205 dollars at the current exchange rate. He also adjusted my rear brakes and took it down the street to be aligned. Guess what that would cost in the US.

I've got Lirio

Water Hyacinth

In our little lagoon with the Crocodile on the road to Pinal, we also have some very pretty Lirio. While Lirio may be a plague in places like Lake Chapala or even our Laguna del Tules .... our Lirio is just pretty. Lorena wanted to pick some flowers and I noticed they were coming up with roots and a bit of soil so I suggested we take a few whole plants.

Mine had a big flower that disappeared the second day. This is day three and the flower is back or it's a new one. Not sure? The bucket just has water and the little soil that came with it.

Whale watching season begins

CONANP (La Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas) reports that the 2015-2016 season for watching the Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) started from December 1st this year until March 23, 2016 in Bahia de Banderas, located in Jalisco, Nayarit and covering Marietas Islands National Park and Isla Isabel. 

Of course that only means you may see more of them north of our area but if you've ever been out fishing here in the winter you know they come here as well. I've seen some nice fotos taken from the beach in La Manzanilla.