We decided to host a “clean out the frig” potluck dinner. Justin and I made turkey and dressing. Good food; good company!
Monday, March 16, 2020
Friday, 13 March 2020: Merida
Friday the 13th. Teachers everywhere know that this special day also came with a full moon and no three-day weekends in sight.
Well, actually, not teachers everywhere since schools are shut down all over the place. In DoDDS schools in Italy, the schools are closed but teachers still have to report to work. That makes
no sense. And, since schools are closed, many teachers have to take their children with them to work. That really makes no sense. Is now a good time for me to be grateful that I am retired? Oh yes!!!
Max’s surgery seems to have gone without a hitch. Even though the anesthesiologist was running late and the surgery that was planned for 7:30pm didn’t get started until 9:11pm, we were able
to pick Max up and take him back to our hotel. We got back to Merida Garden Hotel at 11pm. I told Patricia that earlier we had had a big dog and now we had a big, drunk dog. He was pretty wobbly but doing fine. We need to keep him restrained for four days
or so and we need to give him meds for two weeks. Of course, some of that will fall to Abraham since we are leaving. Max will be a totally different dog when we get back in October.
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| Back at our hotel post surgery |
We were only able to do the neutering. We were not able to do the gastopexia since Max's liver enzymes were off the chart and his platelets were low. He's not anemic but the liver thing could be that he has ehrlichiosis, the disease almost all dogs in Mexico get from ticks, or it could be that he just ate some dead fish off the beach. Either way, we will need to wait.
Back to Merida today — I am tired of this drive. We had an appointment at 10am to get the oil changed get the car serviced. We are almost
at 50,000 miles. But first, we had to make a quick run to the ATM to get money for Evaristo. We’ve decided to screen in the guest kitchen. We needed to get 50% to him to buy materials even though he won’t start the work until October.
After we dropped the car off at Kia, Justin called for an Uber to take us to immigrations. We still don’t have Justin’s resident card. Since we are driving, I think we could get out of the
country but I also think we’d be facing too many questions when we want to return in the fall. We didn’t have an appointment and we hadn’t received any notification from them but there we were on their doorstep. Maybe about ten minutes later, Justin got
his card!!! Holy Moley Batman!!! We just got our day back!!!
To celebrate, and just take a moment to breathe we went across the street and sat in a park for an hour or so. OMG. Made a plan for closing down the house and driving home. Changed our plan
due to corona virus
Walk to a restaurant arugula. Stopped at Biergarten. Has jagerschnitzel and flammekuchen
Walked to Isaac. Maybe next Friday???
Got our Uber to take us back to pick up the car .
One quick stop at Walmart and then we headed home. Is this really the last trip to Merida?
Monday, 9 March 2020: Casa Colibri
Filli came today to help Abraham repair Keken's fence. We need to keep her IN her own yard and we need to keep Max OUT.
I was a cooking fool today, to coin Mary’s term. I made some enchilada sauce and then Huevos Montado for Justin and me. I used Robin’s frozen cod fillets to make lunch for Abraham, Filli
and his son. And, I made cornbread and chopped and cooked the onions and celery for the dressing we will have next weekend. Justin and I have planned a “clean out the Frig” dinner for next Sunday. These veggies and the cornbread will wait patiently in the
freezer until next Saturday.
Aholi came today. Looks like we will only get to see her two more times this season. Justin and I really need to find someone in Green Bay... or take Aholi home with us.
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| Max doesn't quite fit on Gemma's bed |
Today was national Napping Day. We thought fondly of Mimi. National Margarita Day was a few weeks ago and we thought of, well, almost everyone we know!
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| Katherine is painting a mural on her wall. She is inspiring me! |
Stock market continues to tumble.
South by Southwest has been cancelled
The Olympics are still in limbo.
The three “last white men standing” say they will continue on the campaign trail.
Wash your hands!!!
Saturday, 7 March 2020: Centro Veterinario Clinic
The first thing on the agenda for this morning for Justin was to go explore outside. He knew what he would find... and, sure enough, Rudenia was dead. (Yes, one of the pigs is dead.)
Max started out fascinated with the pigs. I learned that Great Danes were bread to flush out wild boars. Well, his fascination turned to terrorizing. What was actually comical at first probably
caused the poor ol’ girl to have a heart attack. Previously, Max had been chasing Keken when she was outside of her pen and around on the property. She’d sort of charge him and soon after she’d head back into her pen. Max would quickly lose interest and
move on. Yesterday he was barking and barking and we didn’t really worry about it. Later in the evening, he started again. Justin went out there to learn that Max was inside the pen and this time, he was terrorizing Rudenia. Her ear was rather tattered
and at one point he had a pretty good grip on her hind quarter. Justin called Max and he came right away. He brought Max inside not really knowing what had happened but knowing that we needed the light of day for more assessment. About the only was I can sleep at night is to think that Max knew Rudinia was old, weak and dying. He knew she was weak. Animals know.
First thing this morning, Justin put on some real shoes and a long sleeved shirt. As much as I was rather looking forward to the pigs being gone, this isn’t how I imagined it rolling out.
We asked Abraham if he wanted to butcher her but he said no. He got Jonathan to help him dig a hole and bury her. And now there is one.
We’d made an appointment at the vet for 9:00am which meant we needed to be on the road by 7:30. Back to Merida, this time to take Max for bloodwork prior to surgery. Yes, we are keeping him. Yes, even after all this. Once his testosterone levels have leveled off, than we will see what kind of dog we have. Next Wednesday, neutering
and gastropexia are scheduled for 4:00pm. Seems Great Danes are prone to their stomach flipping. This is fatal and fast — there’s not much you can do about it except stitching the stomach to the side of the abdominal wall. Justin lost a Great Dane several
years ago to this malady and if we are going to keep Max, let’s not go down that road again.
Friday, 6 March 2020: Casa Colibri
I am continuing to clean out the frig and work down our pantry. I made a huge pasta with meat sauce for workers for Saturday and Sunday. That took care of ground beef, tomato sauce and tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and pasta.
For our dinner this evening I found a Food Network recipe for Indian lentils with shrimp. From our pantry and frig I used lentils, onions, ginger, tomatoes, coconut milk, shrimp, and bread
for garlic toast. Justin said the recipe was a keeper.
Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the race. It will be interesting to see who she will endorse and it will be even more interesting to see what we hear from her in the future. She is one smart
lady!
Wednesday, 4 March 2020: Casa Colibri
Super Tuesday!
Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the race. Amy Klobuchar dropped out. Even Bloomberg dropped out. Biden took the south; too early to
make the call in California. AOC refers to Bernie as Tio.
Back to Merida yesterday. Seems that if one gets a one-time exit/re-entry visa, you must turn it in within ten days of your return. We started the process of getting Justin's replacement Permanent Resident card on 4 November. Why didn't we just ask Jordan to bring the one from Winsconsin? Bet we won't forget that again!!! Now it is almost time
for us to leave again. Each time you need to get the one time exit re-entry visa you create the need for oh so much more paperwork. And you have to pay again. Just imagine the amount of work that wouldn't be necessary if they were more timely. And then they said they ran out of plastic!!! Goodness.
Dinner at Carole’s this evening. She made a Seafood Alfredo. Actually it was a joint effort between she and Robbie. Robbie screwed up her back when she fell while dancing at Peter’s party
in early February. She can’t stand very long so she provided all the ingredients and asked Carole to cook. Sam, Justin and I got to share in the benefits.
Sam has moved into Carole’s casita. The whole situation with Allison and Jeremy and Marylyn and Carolyn has just turned into a cluster. Sam had planned to house sit for Jeremy and Allison
for the next 6-12 months. Since the deal for them to buy the property fell through, Sam needed to find a new place to live. We thought he might stay here for a while but instead, he will be at Carole’s...at least until her house sells. Gary tells her that
should be final by the end of this month. Might Sam end up here anyway? Who knows. Meanwhile, Allison and Jeremy didn’t want to leave anything in their house. I remember those feelings when we thought we would get this house. We got the boat (from Marylyn)
and a portable air conditioner. Sam got the tv, bicycles. Katherine got the party lights. Janet got the outdoor sun wall hanging in, the flamingoes, the artwork, the Christmas decorations, the power washer, 4-foot ladder and goodness knows what else. Thankfully,
I was involved with workers at our house and I missed the frenzy.
Monday, 2 March 2020: Casa Colibri
Lolita is here painting, she came yesterday too. We are going with turquoise and white for the exterior! We needed to inventory the remaining paint we bought so we can make arrangements for Lolita
to paint after we are gone. Lolita is good, but like Ricardo she is a bit messy. Justin and I have spent all kinds of time cleaning and scraping up spills but now that she’s working outside, I really don’t want turquoise paint on the plants. I hope Justin
can convince her to be super careful.
Allison and Jeremy plans to buy the property from Marylyn and Carolyn has fallen through. With the reassessment of the high water mark, the property now is about 60 meters less than it was.
With no adjustment in the sale price, they are cutting their losses. The spent several thousand dollars last summer building a stair case up to the second floor so the two bedrooms could have separate access. That and a hundred other expenses ... very discouraging.
Toilet paper: the mystery
So, it seems that every time I walk into one of our bathrooms, there is no TP. With 8 toilets, it seems to happen a lot. The guest bath has a lot of traffic -- the ladies from Pilates and workers go in there all the time. But where does the other TP go? I do remember stories of Sally Loh. I worked with Sally a hundred years ago. Sally's parents were Chinese immigrants who ran a Chinese food restaurant in San Antonio. Sally was one of twelve children -- eleven girls and one boy. Sally told stories of the older girls stealing TP from their jobs as teenagers. Imagine keeping all those girls in TP. Anyway, if this is an added expense with some of our workers, I think I understand ... maybe the mystery is solved.
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