Flour Mites

Might that be a mite?  Sure turned out to be. I had them in a nearly new bag of flour six months ago so this time I put the flour in sealable plastic containers. Didn't do any good so I just threw out two bags. I wanted to know how they showed up and from a lot of reading I find they are in the flour when you buy it. I guess that means use it fast but I haven't tried baking for a few months. Another article suggests freezing it for a few days after you buy it. Just went through my rice, beans, seeds and nuts but they look to be ok.

How Did They Get Into My Kitchen?

Both flour mites and weevils will have come into your kitchen through your flour or wheat products. A few bugs can lay many eggs, and if your products are being stored for a long time, these eggs can hatch and cause an infestation. Other factors, such as heat, can increase the reproduction rate of the pests, making the problem much worse.

Prevention

To prevent the problem reoccurring, store your products in clean airtight containers. You can even try some simple home remedies such as freezing the produce for a few days to kill any bugs present and prevent the eggs from hatching or adding a few bay leaves into your wheat products, which will act as a deterrent for the pests.

Apoyo para Pinal Villa

Presidente Fernando Martínez Guerrero

About a month ago a group of women went to Cihuatlan for a meeting with some government officials and discovered there was quite a bit of money earmarked for Pinal Villa improvements. One woman mentioned that the money was sitting there because our community had not asked for help. Yesterday on the plaza we had a junta with the Presidente and a bunch of department heads. The purpose of this first meeting in a long time was to find out what was most important to us.

They made quite a show of intention with the poles, a road grader, two dump trucks and they painted the playground equipment. The most talked about issues were the road into Pinal and the Soccer field. Improving the water situation on the road was promised and this morning they brought in lots of good fill dirt to fill some wet spots. They also promised to install some large pipes in the few water crossings. 

Of course, none of the soccer players showed up to give input about which area, of two, they wanted for a field and what to do with it. There are two stores on corners of the field and the owners had some pretty petty complaints about balls hitting the store or a car in front. We'll see about that later. Over all I was really impressed with the President.

Light poles for the Campo de Futbol

Obras Publicas boom truck

Farmland behind Pinal Villa

I dropped Lorena off at her moms after Kinder and the new field is next to their house. This is part of the area that has been too wet to plant for the last 6+ months. It's a double planting of Sandia (Watermelon) and Mangoes. They often double plant Mangoes because the trees won't get large for a few years.

When I got home I could hear a sprayer working fields on the other side.The Tomatillos are gone but another large field of Chili is behind them. I missed the spraying but took a few fotos of the Chilis. Across the road was another field of was was left of a Sandia crop. I'd heard that huge truck loads of Sandias had been leaving but never saw them. I was surprised kids had not been selling their illegal haul around the neighborhood.

New Sandia and Mango field

Lots of Chili

Jalapeño

The Chili sprayer

Remains of the Sandia crop

Sauce llorón

We came back from Melaque via Jaluco because Lorena said there was a tree along the road she liked and hoped to find a young one to plant in her yard. Sadly even the smaller ones were too tough to pull up. She wrote down the name and said I should look it up on the Internet. She only knew it as a "Sauce" and of course that only produced lots of food links. When I added "tree or arbol" up came what I was looking for both in Spanish a English. She pronounced it "sow-say" and Sauce llorón translates to weeping willow. Very interesting little project and I wish I had room for another tree.

Translated from Spanish

The weeping willow is a tree of the family Salicaceae, whose scientific or Latin name is Salix babylonica because at first it was thought that came from Mesopotamia and specifically in the area of Babylon, but later he concluded that their home is in northern China. Today its geographic distribution covers virtually everyone.

The appearance of the willow tree , with branches and leaves hanging to the ground evoking sadness and melancholy , have made ​​this tree a constant source of inspiration for literature. Mentioned by authors such as Gustavo Adolfo Becker at his rhymes, or Shakespeare in Othello, the weeping willow has also inspired countless stories, legends and poetry in all ages.

Beez were buzzing

Thought they would be easier to see

A branch on my palm is in flower and as I walked by it sounded like a beehive. There were so many bees I'm surprised a few more didn't show up. These guys were not aggressive and let me stick the camera real close. Last bee encounter was a bunch of hives in a mango orchard that I ran across when  walking my dog. Maybe the difference was a hive is where they live and were being protective .... but they chased us both for a few hundred feet. I was convinced they must have been breeding with those African bees, The bees they used to pollinate orchards in Washington were totally docile. 

Shrooms in my compost

I had to give up on the mushroom search in both Spanish and English. Nothing even close. I found this yesterday next to my compost pile. I see lots of little ones mostly in the lawn but never a large one like this. All I know is you don't eat mushrooms if you don't know what they are. This one is at least 8 inches across. It was next to all my other volunteers in the compost; tomatoes, papayas and this.

Table top mushroom

8 to 10 inches across

All the other volunteers

Some road rules for visiting Gringos

When walking in  the middle of the street and a car pulls up and stops waiting for you to get out of the way .... don't have a terrible frown on your face and keep frowning when you finally move.  And then slap the side of the car as it drives by. Really the wrong attitude for a vacation in paradise.

For bicyclers, especially those that are not very good at it, when on a narrow dirt road like the one to Pinal Villa, ride single file please so a car does not have to squeeze between you.