Pure Happiness

I've discovered the secret to pure happiness. Puppies.

It's so amazing to me that I can be sleep-deprived, ill, just bored or even frazzled with commitments, and all I need are puppies. 100% turn-around, instant joy. I suspect I'd be the same with kittens, it just happens to be puppies.

Our neighborhood handyman Richard has two puppies that I've been given the gift of baby-sitting while he does chores in the area. Only for an hour or two at a time, but it makes my whole day. My dog Sofia, too, she LOVES them!

He carries them inside his hoodie, arrives on his ATV. Sofia comes to attention when she hears that bike. Oh boy, puppies!

When he comes inside, I just melt. Who would have thought I'd ever be so thrilled to see this guy?

The black one is Brutus, the rott-like one is Rocky. They run, roll, tumble, bite, fight, chew, and cuddle/lick. Sofia drags her toys out and they all three engage in tug-o-war. Can't turn your back on them for a second, though, or they'll chew cords or try to play with Luther. After 30 minutes or so, they crash like they were drugged.

Most of the dogs here were feral and as puppies are sickly and timid. These were privately owned/bred, and are boisterous and rollicking. Fat. Richard was told one parent is a purebred Rottweiler. I'm not so sure, looks just like Sofia when she was a baby.

Rocky

Baby Sofia

In any event, my serenity level soars when I have these guys. Quite amazing to me, really, as I've not had a really great year and was used to feeling so down and depressed. After babysitting these two, I'm buoyed up the whole rest of the day, lighter.

All you need are puppies.

If Looks Could Kill

This topic has been simmering inside for a long time now, and today it boiled over. The "straw" was an article on my Facebook feed re: how women shouldn't wear bras because recent studies show they cause loss of tone. My first thought was "I only wear one in public to minimize body-shaming." I believe an awful lot of us whip those bras off the moment we're home. My second thought was "How pitiful is that, and how dare anyone judge me for where my breasts point?"

Crap like this makes regular appearances on the web:
Celebrities who've aged badly

Fat-shaming, skinny-shaming, wrinkles-shaming, beer-belly-shaming. We're bombarded with it.

Human obsession with appearance is out of control. I have close friends and family members who have been told their whole lives how beautiful they are, like sisters where one is The Pretty One and the others something else. The inherent danger here, of course, is if you're told something enough times, you come to believe it about yourself, and it becomes a large part of your identity. You start to believe that's where your value lies, that's all you are. My own (admittedly beautiful) granddaughter may be in danger of this, at only 7 years old. No sign of it yet, but I regularly am told how gorgeous she is, as is she.

I was 9 when a relative began abusing me sexually, 16 when it stopped. Not until my early 30s was I able to begin to erase the hard-wired message in my brain that my looks were my primary asset. To this day, I get a white-hot stab of anger when a man compliments me on some physical aspect of my appearance. Naturally,  at 62 that's happening quite rarely, LOL! Years of abusing my health have begun to pay off in that respect! I finally learned to just say "Thanks" and let it go, unless I know the person well enough to explain how I feel about physical compliments.

Appearance is NOTHING in the grand scheme. Skin-deep and transitory. It absolutely WILL go away in time, and you better hope there's self-worth underneath it.

Starting with children, how much better for them to hear "What a fantastic reader you are! You must have worked really hard to be that good!" than "Oh, you're going to be breaking hearts all over with those eyes!"

Compliment their effort, generosity, kindness, sportsmanship, devotion. Qualities that matter. 

I know some of you don't get it. What's wrong with telling a pretty child she's pretty? Nothing, unless she hears only that, and her self-worth depends on hearing it. Then there are 7 year-olds obsessed with dieting and thinness, 15 year-olds wanting botox and plastic surgery. Sexual acting out, seeking validation. Absolute belief that they must be sexy or alluring at all times. Trust me. I have at least 4 close adult friends or family members that post at least one provocative selfie of themselves WEEKLY.

And a segue here: false praise can backfire as well. If all a child hears is how smart they are, what happens in college when it turns out everyone else is just as smart, or smarter? Or the child who's told he's the best hitter in baseball ever. Self-esteem earned through achievement is the goal, not a trophy for showing up. A more specific compliment might be "Great job on your math quiz, your hard work really shows!" rather than "You are SO smart!". To set a high goal, to work hard to achieve it and to succeed: that's where self-worth comes from.

Return to Paradise

I'm back home in Mexico, alone. Ron and Sofia are staying in Minnesota another month or maybe two for hunting with the grandsons. I drove my little Nissan 2150 miles BY MYSELF with the cat. Stayed in Motel 6's. Except for a backache (Nissan: not quite a luxury ride), had no issues. But a few issues here...

They've had some weather here. Six big storms, I'm told. The property was waist-high in weeds. The fridge wouldn't work, turned out the fan had gotten stuck due to humidity. The propane was empty. The driveway has a big arroyo (ditch) from runoff. All except the driveway remedied by tossing pesos willy-nilly to various skilled workmen and women. The driveway will get fixed next week, and I've conscripted substitute husbands from the neighbor pool to handle various husband-type chores.

Before

After

Before

After

Water pipe broken in the road (also from runoff exposing pipes then a construction truck driving over it.) No water since yesterday, should be repaired and cistern filled later today. GOTTA remember to keep a bucket of water handy for toilet flushing.

The road to town has some major cleanup to be done, huge washouts through the "tunnel" area and 1/2 of the northbound lane fell off in one spot. The roads in our neighborhood are still sodden, so aren't the problem they'll be when they dry: deep fluffy sand.

The neighbor across from me has an issue from runoff:

Tunke's

Oops

The car looks extricable, but the little trailer may need jacks and shoring. But they now have a banked driveway!

Everyone's property has the waist-high weeds, and I recommend Marisela and her boys if you want it cleared before your arrival.

The NoSeeUms arrived yesterday, bring DEET.

I'm composing a long list for Ron, stuff he needs to bring home from the trailer. Couldn't fit much in my car. (I have TWO towels here!) The trailer's going to live at Brian's in Minnesota, so I'll have no guest quarters this winter. Will find you accommodations if you want to visit us! Will either have a new trailer or a new casita built atop the garage by next winter.

Here's my favorite Welcome to Paradise photo: Look what my Agave did!

Flower spike

It's going to be one of those 30 foot tall blooming things! Looks like a giant asparagus spear now.

Low tide tomorrow early, haven't even been to the beach yet. Big road issues past LeRoy's, driveable but not with the Nissan's 3 inch ground clearance. ATV works fine.

K, going to town for groceries. Actually, smokes, gin, and tonic. As usual.

A Minnesota Summer

Wait. What? Haven't blogged in 4 months? Older, lazier. Not that there hasn't been anything of note to report. Quite the contrary, so here goes:

We're in Minnesota for the summer. Dragged our piece-o-crap little travel trailer all the way up here. This trailer was bought to use as my studio and an extra bedroom for guests. We never intended to travel with it. It was a lemon from the get-go, and continues to be. Three blowouts. Water pump failed. Roof like a colander. And now an occasional leak from the gray tank...

The plan was to buy a place up here for summers, as our Kino paradise is too awful in that heat/humidity/bugginess. I'd been scouring the listings for several months, and had 100 or so properties saved to go look at. Sounded fun, just travel around with our trailer and look at properties. Oy.

Started out at the campground on the Mississippi River in Monticello MN, where we always used to stay summers when we were RV full-timers. Still gorgeous. Pricey: $450/month.

Mississippi River campsite

We stayed 2 weeks, then moved to our friends' hobby farm near Dalbo MN. Much cheaper! Like free. Stayed 3 weeks. Lots of laughs, fun, friends, family. Trailer repairs. Almost hectic. Turns out this trailer cannot even accommodate 2 small grandchildren overnight on the pullout sofa because of our animals. Sofia whined all night because her sofa was taken and the cat was on the bed with us. She's afraid of the cat, and has never slept on the floor and wasn't about to start. We tried putting the grandkids in the bed, figured there'd be enough room for Sofia, but the cat wouldn't vacate and Ron and I and Sofia (didn't) sleep on the pullout all night. Need a bigger trailer.

BFFs Joy and Brian

Brian and Lou

We did this a lot.

Sofia's sofa.

So we packed up and went Up North to commence property hunting. Spent a week at 2 different sites in our favorite Corps of Engineers park on Leech Lake. Two different sites because we never could get a satellite signal for TV. Too many effing trees. Plus our Verizon coverage sucked for internet. After 6 days we were in withdrawal. How pitiful is that?

Leech Lake site.

So yesterday we went hunting for a campsite with a "clear view of the southern sky", and found it here at Austin's Swamp in downtown Longville MN.

Austin's Swamp, Girl Lake site on the channel.

Mobile home park.

Setting up the satellite before the storm hit.

Crammed in between a mobile home and the channel.

Austin's Swamp is an old mobile home park right on a bay of Girl Lake. They squeezed us in between an empty mobile home and the channel, and it's sort of perfect. But a huge windstorm came up last night before we could get the TV satellite lock, so will try today. Great Verizon signal. My own little fishing dock. Walking distance to food and shops. I love Longville!

To date we've glimpsed ONE property from my list. Our thoughts differ widely on what we want versus what we want to pay, and are currently thinking this: If we only buy a new trailer this summer, we'll be in a much better financial position next summer to get what we want, which is as much land as possible and maybe not a cabin. Maybe just the trailer, as long as it has enough beds. We just recently have finished paying off some large debts, and can save a lot more if we wait til next year. I like this one on Craigslist:

Aljo Trailer

But I REALLY like this one. It has TWO bathrooms and a big fridge. Imagine, ice, gin, and Klondike Bars, all at the same time in the freezer!

Puma Trailer



Sofia and Luther are loving it, first time seeing grass and trees for Sofia. Doesn't even mind being tied up too much: turns out she's a cat chaser. Brian and Joy have 6 cats. She never chased Luther, but their cats aren't mean like he is.

We gave up and let Luther go outside without being leashed. He was destroying the screen door wanting out. If Luther ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. He's next door right now, under that mobile home catching stuff. Brought me a shrew or vole or something yesterday. Pointy snout?

Luther up a tree

So that's the current plan, try to buy a newer trailer that doesn't leak, bigger, good tires, and not too expensive. And I'll spend the winter online searching for property with a lot of land that maybe already has electric connected, so all we'd need are septic and a well.

Minnesota

Changes!

There have been multiple OMG! moments the last few weeks. Since I began receiving my own Social Security income, we've been able to do "catch-up". Photos at the end.

• New laptop. (The recliner inexplicably crushed the screen on the old one, which was an old one.)
• New internet service. Had Hughes for 12 years, now have Exede. Faster. And pricier...
• New toilet. Pat broke our old one.
• New truck tires. One imploded coming home from the dump last week.
• New mini-split air conditioners, bedroom and living room, after having 2 whole straw bale walls "melt" from the condensation of the window AC's. Actually quite proud of this: Ron and I went to Home Depot in Hermosillo and bought them, arranged for them to come install them, and managed to get through the installation despite the language barrier! Mostly thanks to Google Translate and the new laptop...
• Catching up on the bills.
• New kitchen counter in progress. The existing one was ceramic tile on particle board, insufficient grout seal, lifting tiles and crud. Karen and I get to go to Calle Doce tomorrow and pick out tile!
• Travel trailer refurbishment in progress. There was water damage from the hurricane and rains because the roof leaked. Needs electrical and probably plumbing repairs. That trailer's going to Minnesota with us in June!
• Yard cleaned up. Hired Richard to load my truck with all the junk and debris we've been collecting for 8 years, took it to the dump. Cost $30. I paid that once just to dump one sofa in Minnesota.
• Gardening. Hired Richard to make troughs around my 5 trees and bouganvillea plants to make it easier for Jack to water for us in our absence. The rest of the plants (all cacti) can sink or swim.

PLUS I've been able to replenish some necessaries, finally! New warm bathrobe. My beloved vintage chenille rose-print bathrobe was absolutely threadbare. Rain boots and raincoat: discovered my old raincoat was not waterproof during the hurricane. (D'oh!) And a couple of not-necessary-but-coveted items: black sequin high-top Converses. A sterling silver pendant cage for my purple pearl that I found in my steamed clams at Jorge's restaurant 8 years ago.

Kitchen counter replacement in progress.

Sequinned Converses!

New toilet

Mini-split AC above bathroom door

Mini-split above bedroom window.

AC condensers on roof.

Cage for my pearl

My clam pearl!

My new bathrobe.

So my mood is great, I have enthusiasm for the future, and pride in what we've accomplished. Plus the weather here is absolutely effing perfect right now.

Official Senior

Receiving my first Social Security check today! We're having a big bonfire tonight to celebrate, all the neighbors and friends will  BBCS (bring bottle, chair, snack).

Kind of cool to have the occasional perk of getting old. My leaky bladder requires incontinence pads, my hip is unreliable and needs a cane at times, deaf in one ear, blind in one eye, blood pressure in the stratosphere, but they pay me now.

Haven't blogged because nothing's new or different. Weather's perfect. Social opportunities to avoid abound. Making art from trash. Going to Tucson every couple of weeks. Ron doesn't drive any more, he's being worked up for dizzy/falling episodes, so I'm the chauffeur.

Some photos

I grew this Amaryllis from a kit I got for Christmas.

Our Valentine's Day Wedding Anniversary. I wore those shoes pictured at the top...

My Sofia with Jack's puppy Lily

Fridays we eat here, Pancho's.

This is Pancho.

Garden totems, glass and china glued together, then add little clay figures I make.

Dragonfly, from turtle bones. Has a real Pelican beak.

I believe I'm emerging from whatever that was, depression? Wanting to go to the beach more, ride the ATV, shop the Segundas. I'm drinking less, but still watch more TV than my grandkids. Oh well, it's better anyway.