Surprising what you can get done in this heat

Looking at each day I don't think I get much done but looking back at the last two weeks ... actually quite a bit. Just like today, my battery died for the second time and this time it was fatal. After working in the sun with the help of neighbors we decided it was dead. What are you going to do on a Sunday in our area ... so after a jump I drove to Cihuatlan and Bodega Aurrera. They had the battery I needed so I changed it in the parking lot SUN. While I was there I noticed they had the matrimonial (double) sized mattresses they were not supposed to have for two more weeks ... I got one.

Then my Canadian neighbors arrived for their six month stay and welcoming them back took the rest of the afternoon.

Yesterday I finished painting the kitchen. Only white primer but that's the way it will stay for quite awhile. That is the last of the house painting for awhile. I also delivered my unwanted agave plants to a fellow in Barra de Navidad. I just don't have room for very many spiny plants.

Friday morning I flagged down a gas tank truck to fill my new stationary tank on the roof. Spent the rest of the afternoon getting my stove and hot water heater working. It was a combination of figuring out if valves were open or closed, all the stove parts had to be installed for the burners to work .... and gas was surprisingly slow coming thru the pipes.

The week before I had a plumber make the connections to the water heater, the stove and install the first bathroom. I also bought all the identical fixtures for the second bathroom.

The heat makes me feel like not working ... but somehow things get done. It may be because I have no real deadline and time means less when you are retired ... and in Mexico

Kitchen is painted

First bedroon that looks like a bedroom

Bath in a Bucket

So much for the new gas hot water heater that was supposed to come Saturday (re: previous post). A birdbath in the sink was not going to get it today. Landlord promises tomorrow but we'll see.

Mari used to use a large tub like the foto for pre-soaking clothes and bathing the little kids. I bought one because I didn't have a bathtub on the beach and I like to sit. Now I have a real tub but no hot water.

Maria (she cleans my house on Saturdays) told me their hot-water heater no longer works and they heat water in large pots (olla) for bathing - so that's what I did. I told her they only cost $2000 pesos but who knows how long they have been doing that. Another reason Mexicans may be on Mexican Time.

This shouldn't be happening

Around noon I heard water running off the rear of the house and saw this. I would have checked but it's nearly impossible to get up on the roof. I might get a picture of that when the repair guy comes. Anyway, a quick call to the landlord and he comes over, shows me where the shut-off is and says a repair person will be over this afternoon. Probably a broken copper pipe he says. I have a cupola with good sized windows but none of them open. The cupola route would be a safer way to access the roof.

With a ladder almost long enough the maintenance guy finds that one of the tubes of the solar water heater is broken. He's not sure if tubes can be replaced or if a whole new one is needed. Gonna be expensive so might get a gas heater instead.

Landlord just came over and I get a gas heater Saturday. A few birdbaths for me !!!

Lawnmower Man

I took my computer in about a week and a half ago, the computer that suffered badly from beach humidity and dust. They told me to come in last Wednesday and Wednesday told me to come in Friday ... so went in today and they said they need to take it to Guadalajara to check the mother board (tarjeta madre).

So I walked down to the auto repair to see if parts came in and they said they needed to try another place in Guad next week. So off to do some shopping - it went well.

Got home and decided it was time to mow the lawn and shortly ran out of gas. It must be time for an hour in the hammock.

Rested I looked all over for the gas cans that I must have left in Melaque - just give stuff away. Headed out to the local hardware stores and they were all closed around 3pm Saturday - and may not reopen. I ended up at the Pemex/OXXO, bought a gallon of water, dumped it out ... and finished the lawn. A productive day in Mexico

Solar water heaters are cool

Never taken solar water heaters seriously but my new house has one and I'm impressed. Even with 2 days of overcast I can stand under the shower as long as I want with hot water that has to be cooled with the cold. My only gas bill is from the stove use.

There is also enough street water pressure to fill the tinaco so I don't have a pump going on and off all day. Don't need 2-3 showers a day like I did on the beach in summer ... but still.

Took my 3 meter ladder upstairs to look through the Cupola dirty windows and this is what I saw. A large unit. Not that I'll have another building project in the near future ... but I would seriously consider a solar heater if I did.

Why they didn't make one of the Cupola windows as a roof access with hinges I'll never know. Almost impossible to get to the roof on this house.

Jocotepec, Jalisco, Mexico

Calderon cuts energy costs to calm crisis

MEXICO CITY, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Mexican President Felipe Calderon unveiled sweeping cuts to energy prices on Wednesday, his latest measure to soothe the impact of the global economic crisis on consumers and businesses.

The steps announced by Calderon should help the central bank get a handle on inflation, currently at a more than seven-year high.

Calderon said he would freeze gasoline prices and would lower household gas prices by 10 percent and electricity rates for businesses by up to 20 percent.

"Gasoline prices are being frozen across the country for the whole year," Calderon said.

Mexicans have increasingly called for the government to lower gasoline prices, which the government administers, since oil prices tumbled from record highs late last year.

Mexico is a major oil producer and gasoline is subsidized at the pump. The government accelerated price rises last year as soaring world prices made subsidies a bigger burden.

Lofty inflation has kept Mexico's central bank from cutting interest rates to shore up economic growth, expected to take a hit this year because of slumping U.S. demand.

"We're going to live through a period of big difficulties, in terms of economic growth, investment and employment," Calderon said. (Reporting by Jason Lange and Luis Rojas; Editing by James Dalgleish)


Reuters Article