Comments

OMG Out of curiosity I went to the Comments section (it's a new presentation for me after 3 years of absence) and realized that in the past years I had received more comments than had been published on my blog. It is noteworthy to add that appended to some comments was text that made no sense. ????

AND I should and would have liked to answer some that had never even appeared until today; I found them in a separate section that had not been there before. Where the dickens had they been transmitted? I checked with Google and was advised that not all comments appear below the blog, that I should have checked my Spam box. I am fuming!

I owe sincere apologies to all who should have received a reply from me. I attempted to retrieve some of the comments directly from the blog but if they had been put in Spam by Google, they would have disappeared after a number of days. I'll have to cool myself 'cause smoke is coming out of my nose and ears! 

If anyone has any suggestion about avoiding this kind of #$%@&!! I would appreciate any suggestion.

This is my promise that I will check not only the comments section that appears on the blog but the Spam box as well from this day forward.

Sorry,

Stargazer

Hitting the Road - Fearing or Daring

In his inaugural address in 1933 FDR uttered these words, "The only thing to fear is fear itself" He was referring to the lack of reasoning of the people who reacted in fear and were rushing to the banks and taking their money out. The banks closed until Congress ordered them to reopen. This could have prevented the recovery plans which, following WW1 and the Great Depression, left the people doubting the capacity of the country to right itself after incredible losses. 

I have always believed that when we fail to learn from history, we are bound to repeat the same mistakes as those of the past. Ever since I read this admonition by Roosevelt, I've taken it to heart and continued to do so for three quarters of a century now. I never let fear guide my decision because I would, and did, and continue to do so, analyse from A to Z what I might have to face and how I would solve all the problems I could think of. I also knew that luck and positive thinking had a part to play in the equation. 

So when I'd tell "people" that now that I had reached retirement age, I was going to use what was left from the sale of my house to pay up my RV and hit the road with my dogs, what I heard more often than not was, "Aren't you afraid?" To which my reply was always "Afraid of what?"  The answers were for the most part rather vague or trite. I had done my homework and analysed what I would need "in case of..." and felt prepared and confident that problems could be solved. First I would take precautions and listen to words of warning from those who had done it before me. And include the recounting of their experiences in my plans to avoid similar problems. 

You see, those who were afraid had no personal experience of the outcome of such a decision. It's normal for little children to be afraid of the dark; they don't know what might be lurking in there. All one needs to light up the dark is one candle, not a floodlight. When I checked with those who had lived it, most were very generous in sharing their experiences and advised me accordingly. So I left with a good provision of "candles". 

I recall when I spent some time at Slab City, meeting with a retired policeman from Santa Cruz. After being told by more than a few men that I needed a gun, I asked him what he thought would be safer for me. I was a woman alone, but had two dogs, a Rottweiler and a large German Shepherd for protection. He replied WITHOUT ANY HESITATION, "If you want to be killed by your own gun, go ahead and get one. It's more of a liability than a security for yourself unless you're trained in self-protection and a skilled marksman." Whoa! He knew from experience and I trusted him. I kept my money -- and my life. 

He told me that one night, close to the end of his shift, he witnessed a guy running in the alley from the back of a store that should have been locked. He was really tired and didn't feel he had enough energy to run after the robber. Not again...but he started running and yelled according to protocol, "Stop of I'll shoot!" The guy kept on running. He warned him again, and again, and got the same lack of response. Finally he had a stroke of genius, "Stop or I'll let the dog loose!"  In the blink of an eye the guy flattened himself on the ground without hesitation. When my friend went to cuff him, the bad guy asked him, a tad gruffly "Hey, where the f... is the damn dog?"

As if a dog could run faster than a bullet. 

Go figure!

RIP Camera

Well, I guess my camera is unusable. I was hoping to post some photos of my little house and my furry companions--it will have to wait. By a strange coincidence, I also have decided to get rid of my Telcel cellular because it makes me lose too much money. There is no rollover from a month to the other unless I pony up some more money to recharge a phone that I hardly use, except for making a call or sending a message away from home. What a waste!

I had wondered whether all these ridiculous happenstances aren't a sign from the Universe that I should give up blogging. It's been one hurdle after another. After three years waiting for the internet, I was quite anxious to get back to communicating. You plan... then life happens. But I'm not giving up. 

Basically I'll just have to follow the trend and it makes a lot of sense. I'll combine the camera and the cell phone with a new company, probably Movistar if they offer an attractive package. I'll have to check it out in person in the coming week. 

But now I'd like to post something different.

Words to Live by

Just read this today and thought I'd share it-

I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.

Am determined to put it where I can see it every day. 

Regardless whether one believes in reincarnation or not, it remains an undeniable truth. We pass but once at any given moment. Every day, every hour, every person I encounter at a moment of that day, is a once in a lifetime. It will not occur again. Ever.

Re-Learning

In recent years I have become painfully aware that close to 77 years old, my memory is no longer what it used to be. But it has never been so obvious as since I decided to blog again, now that I have the internet and have so much to report. To whom? Just for the sake of it! At the very least, it'll get rid of superfluous stuff in my brain to make room for re-learning...

Back to the memory bit. Not having used my camera for the past 3 years, I have forgotten a lot of the functions. Yesterday, as I attempted to take photos of the finished parts of the house, I suddenly blocked off. Thinking it was the batteries, I put in new ones. Same result. Then I checked whether I could have forgotten some pics left on the card. Bingo! OK, let's go on with removing old stuff. I must have pressed the wrong minuscule button because suddenly all was frozen, I don't know where or why. I'll have to read the instruction booklet to re-learn how to use my old, but good, digital camera.

In my blog (silent for 3 years) I had used Picasa to touch up the photos. At times it would the lighting, the colour, or a slanted image. The moment I keyed in Picasa, I was notified that I had to install an update. THAT I had not forgotten. I've been doing this for weeks ever since I got the internet. The problem is that once more, much had changed on Picasa. More re-learning...

With the very best intentions in my heart, I had planned on catching up with my blog. Not so. It's as if in the interval from when I left off and now, everything has changed. The internet is NEW. Many of the programs had to be updated and seem as if NEW. Even my old camera appears NEW.

Back to blogging; it might take a while to get ME updated. What's the old saying? USE IT OR LOSE IT! 

No problem. It is said that we use only 10% of our brain capacity. Plenty of room left to re-learn.

At least I haven't forgotten how to read...

What's next?

Before I start, I thought that my blog was now a misnomer since I do not boondock any longer so I added an EX before it. As a result the old blog became deleted, no longer available. I had to rename it to its original. But I made some changes so that I would not be confused with a boondocking writer

What I thought I'd do is pick up where I had left off. But I will have to summarize as too much happened. Getting electricity was a saga. I will put this long and arduous journey in a nutshell. All of us - some 16 families - formed a committee and looked for an official contractor asking for quotations. We got plenty but none that the group would accept. My definition of a committee is a body with many legs but no head...  This went on and on until a final decision got made. We all contributed for the complete works without any recourse from any official and were finally hooked up in September 2014. The cost for each family came up to $8,000 pesos.

Moving from the RV to the house was done in steps. First I needed doors and windows and flooring. $$$ and time involved, of course. The RV included all appliances - fixed - so I had to start from scratch save for a small living room set that I had bought second hand when I had moved to the casita on Juarez in Tequis. My first big purchase was a BED! Double-size, if you please! I had been quite content for years with my single mattress in the RV. I celebrated the Holidays of 2014 with a definite feeling of luxury...

Moving on to 2015! Since 2013 I had been plagued with stiffness and pain in my knees. As a resident I was eligible for Seguro Popular, the equivalent of Medicare. A number of X-Rays showed that there remained no cartilage in either knee. The recommendation was a surgical replacement of both knees. This would be free but there were quite a few hurdles. So I decided to try all that I could before resorting to this last measure. After ozone therapy, which incidentally provided me with considerable relief, and plasma therapy that became too expensive to keep up with I knew that surgery would be a must. I am planning for this within the next few months.

Also, I had been having a problem with my eyes. Thinking that I had cataracts, I went to an eye specialist who game me a diagnostic of macular degeneration. All that I could was retard blindness as much as possible with lutein and zeaxanthin supplements with a number of minerals. Unfortunately they are not encountered in Mexico. Not many blue, grey, or green eyes here. So I have to take the overnight bus to Laredo to purchase them. So far so good...

Oh, I forgot to mention the plumbing, toilet, water hookup, shower, drainage... And the flooring... and the fridge... oh yeah, the stove, table and chairs, etc. Eventually it all got done and completed last month. I have maintained since the inception of this project that my life lesson had to be learning P A T I E N C E. I did! In droves...

Now here we are in 2016 and we finally got the internet since October 2015. Since I had only makeshift storage in the kitchen, no counter, no pantry, I took the plunge and got a carpenter to build these in December 2015. Did I mention patience? Since it has by now become second nature, I no longer fret and fume. Lesson learned.

At this point, I will end this narrative and get busy with photos. That will be my next post. Plus an update on my four-legged family.

So much to write about. . .

Best Wishes for 2016!

As is said in Latin speaking countries, "Health, Love and Money, and Time to enjoy them all"

2016... what's in store for us all? In numerology (the very little that I know about) 2016 is a 9 year. If I look at it in my uninformed way, it represents the culmination of the 8 years that preceded it; does it mean that it leads to new beginnings? Guess we will find out in 12 months!

I had grandiose dreams of taking a lot of photos, only to find my old digital camera almost defunct from years of not using it. What's the old saying? Use it or lose it? I found it to be so true--from a certain familiarity with the internet to attempting to start a new blog fusing both of my old blogs into a single one... I was navigating in terra incognita without a boat or even a floating device! I could hardly swim just barely keep my head above water! Learning is a must...and I will.

Actually, my mind is full to the brim with all that happened since I had to stop my blogs. My little house was still in the throes of growing into an accomplished fact. It seems as if nothing had been finished. From waterproofing the roof to basic plumbing. to a laundry area with water and electricity, to the entrance way to the house, to paving the lot, to way too much to finally end up living with stop-gap temporary measures ...and I was already into maintenance! One of my sisters who had REALLY lived the experience had said that it takes roughly 10 years to do it all! Would I live that long?

So, I decided to tackle each area with planning the steps that I had to take to have at least THAT area completed. The same goes for my blogs. One at a time with photos and reviews to bring it up to date. So much has happened. A friend suggested that at this point perhaps I should contemplate writing a book. This brought me to reality; I don't have to go over the same old stuff, just keep on going and fill the gaps. 

So now that I have organized my mind on that concept, it will be relatively easy to sit down and write. I do it all the time in my mind, any way.

 Stargazer