Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

We ventured out again today, to Sam’s Club. This time, only people with a Sam’s card were allowed in. If children were with their parents, only one of the adults were allowed in. We had the store to ourselves, for the most part. Lines were short, parking lot only a quarter filled.

The only thing they did not have in stock were eggs. Normally, we buy the eggs in a box of one hundred eighty eggs. Today, there were about a dozen containers of eighteen eggs, so we got one, which had a limit of two.

We bought a rotisserie chicken, and a slab of ribs, for dinner tonight. I made a pan of rice, to finish things off, but ended up not eating but one rib, and a pinch of chicken. Juan’s toilet needed fixing so “the guys” all helped with that and finally finished about eight o’clock. They all ate the above, then had coffee and a piece of pound cake that we also bought at Sam’s Club. It was just too late for me so I had two glasses of milk and called it a day.

To finish the day, I did the dishes, then went upstairs, to play in the Wordscapes tournament, (which starts every Friday, and ends Sunday night), then we watched GOT until after midnight. Short night.

Stay happy, and healthy. Wash your hands. Stay home, unless you absolutely have to go out.

Pretty much the same today as any other of the last eleven days. Except today, I did laundry, in the beautiful new washer and dryer, here at the house, after I made a very tasty meatloaf, with whipped potatoes, broccoli and corn that we ate for dinner.

Since we have been here, I have made a large breakfast for everyone, usually chorizo con huevo y papas, frijoles, tortillas or bread, all with a cup of deep, dark coffee. This seems to hold all of us until “dinner”, which has been between four thirty, and five thirty. Usually, at eight thirty or nine o’clock PM, everyone sits down for decaf coffee and sweet bread. As we have not been buying sweet bread, this has become just coffee, and maybe a piece of bread with peanut butter.

Tonight, as I was watching another episode of GOT, it began to rain. And then it became a storm, complete with lightening and thunder. Not to forget the deluge of water coming down in torrents. And you all know that spring thunderstorms are ambrosia to me. The temperature has dropped about ten degrees in the same amount of time, so I am in Heaven on Earth. It has been storming for at least twenty minutes and has not let up, well, not until I started typing this last sentence. Now it seems to be moving off into the distance. Damn.

Stay safe, stay happy, but, most importantly, stay home to stay healthy.

We are going home Monday, or Tuesday of next week. P&P should be on their way back here by then, and we will no longer be needed. So, we will be taking Juan, our belongings, and going back to our condo- next week.

Very little sound outside- very eerie. However, yesterday, when we were out shopping, the stores were quite busy, surprisingly enough. Lots of people wearing flimsy masks- made me appreciate the N95 masks we were given every year during our TB screening. Unfortunately, I left my last three masks in my locker, when I retired. And, airborne viruses were exactly what we were being prepared for.

Originally, the scare was always Tuberculosis, but now, with this CoVid19 virus, well, who would have thought it would ever happen? It seemed a huge waste of time, every November, having to breathe into that plastic funneled helmet to check out what size N95 mask one would need in case of a viral contamination. Now, as I look back, a pandemic is exactly why we were being fitted for the masks. Who would have thought?

Remember, the single most important thing you can do during this crisis, besides staying home, is washing your hands- especially if you have to go out for any reason.

Stay safe, be as happy as you can be- you wanted a vacation, now you have one. Try not to go anywhere you do not need to go.

One bit of new information we are hearing down here is that the virus is mutating at a fairly rapid rate, and adjusting itself to the different areas of the state/country/ world it is in. The dogs that they were training to sense the virus in people are no longer able to do this, because of the rapid mutation. This is a virus most of us “younger” people have never witnessed.

I have just about reached my limit. We went to Sam’s Club, Costco, and Soriana today to restock the necessaries, fresh produce, meat, water, Kleenex.

It is so hot today that I begged the family to go with cold sandwiches, potato chips, and cottage cheese for dinner. I told them that I just did not feel like standing in the hot kitchen tonight. They were, thankfully, quite willing to acquiesce. When they think it is hot, well, you know that I am beyond hot.

I sent these two photos (above) of thousands of rolls of toilet paper at Sam’s Club, and Costco, respectively, on Messenger, and got a few responses. I, then, responded that there are no empty shelves here, but there are many stores that are closed, whether permanently, or temporarily because of the crisis, it is hard to know.

The small stores are all owner operated, and have no resources on which to fall back, so many will, more than likely, go out of business. I was telling Ivan how fortunate we were in the timing of my retirement. We bought the condo, and two cars with cash, and have a nice nest egg in the bank, down here. Blessed.

Stay happy and healthy. I believe we will be going back home, to the condo, this weekend. Waiting to see when P&P are going to return.

Post script: cold dinner was well received, thankfully. It has cooled down a bit, and it will be cooler in the condo, as the sun does not shine directly into it. There are three floors above us to blot out most of the direct sunshine, and, therefore, the heat.

I hope this post finds you all healthy, and happy. even. We are all doing well here, in our seclusion. Though, seclusion does not sit well with me, I am doing my part.

For the most part, I sleep, watch Youtube, cook, and clean (some). We are still at Juan’s house, but Paty texted me today that they will try to come home this weekend. In Saltillo, visiting their oldest son, they are prohibited from leaving the house. Here, at least, we are able to leave, but are restricted from gathering in groups more than ten people. The stores have a guard at the entrance that has a large bottle of gel sanitizer which he squirts into everyone’s hand as they enter.

We go to the store, come back, wash our hands, and go on about our business, which, usually, includes cooking a meal or two, or doing some laundry, for the family here. I must say, with so much repetition, I am getting pretty darned good at frijoles, arroz, y sopas. (Ok, that was beans, rice, and soup). The laundry part is a no-brainer. Plus, the pork, cooked in the Instant Pot, is amazing. There is plenty of that in the freezer, as well.

I am also really good at preserving all of the above. You know me folks- I am the Vacuum Sealer expert. Everything I make, that is of significant quantity, I freeze overnight, then vacuum seal it the next day, and put it in the freezer. That way, when P&P come home, there will be enough food in the freezer so they will not have to chance going to the supermarket.

The one highlight of all of this is that we are watching GOT again. I have never watched a series with such good acting as Game of Thrones. If you have not seen it, I highly recommend it. If you like period pieces, dragons, beautiful costumes, excellent acting, this is the series for you. Even Ivan enjoys it. Now we are getting the others here to watch it as well. It has thirteen, or fourteen, different languages in the subtitles!!!

Enough for today. The high today was eighty eight degrees, and I did not suffer unduly. We stayed downstairs, for the most part, where it is about five degrees cooler.

Stay healthy, and try to keep happy. This will be over soon, and we will pick up the pieces and move on.

It is incredibly hot down here, in the upper eighties by two o’clock in the afternoon. Our “cold” weather did not last very long- not by my standards, anyway.

However, everything is blooming, and the colors, of the trees, bushes, plants, are all breathtakingly beautiful. But, you already know this, if you have been following this blog.

The smells that accompany the blooms are just as magnificent as the colors. When driving, or walking, there is usually a nice breeze, (the only redeeming thing, in this heat), and on that breeze you can smell the forsythias, jasmine, and, the oleanders.

In our park, alone, we have all of those, plus the ever gorgeous jacaranda trees. Their flowers are a beautiful, bright bluish purple, like the lilac bushes up North. There is a large jacaranda tree right outside the terrace, here at Juan’s house, and, when we walk out of the bedroom, onto the terrace, it is a sight to behold. In fact, it is just about the only thing you see, out most of the windows on that side.

Still nothing of interest to write about. Our friend, Enrique, has a cough, and sore throat, went to Clinic, but tested negative for CoVid19. He was instructed NOT to go to the CoVid clinics, because he would probably pick it up there, in his decreased condition. He was also told, what? DO NOT TAKE IBUPROFEN!!! He is currently in another two week isolation, so we will not be seeing him until mid April. We miss him already.

Ivan’s cousin, or, more easily understood, Juan’s older brother, Pancho, and his wife, Alma Laura, delivered some lovely groceries this evening- things we will need over the next few weeks, if we are going to continue to stay here. (Good idea, we think).

They brought eggs, tortillas, a couple of different kinds of meat, cheeses, jellos, Chocolate milk mix, salsa, a BIG bag of sweet bread, (pan dulce), some of the things one needs to cook for “the boys”. (They did not know we were here, already stockpiling food for the next few weeks).

Ivan grilled out some beautiful sirloin steaks the other night, and, since we are only six here, and, really, no one eats very much, I froze, then vacuum sealed them, so, we will have steak meat for awhile yet.

Also, I made about four kilos of pork, in the Instant Pot, (you know, with the onions, and beer), and have frozen most of it, and, again, shrink wrapped it for later use. Not to mention the two pounds of pinto beans, also in the IP, that we are consuming small amounts of daily. (I am not even going to mention the gas)!!! My rice has improved tremendously in the past few weeks, as well my sopa de fideo. Fresh veg, is a bit more difficult to obtain, except at the kiosk about two blocks away.

Also, Ivan, and Juan’s youngest brother, Marco, put up the wall mounted TV in Juan’s room today. It took about an hour and a half, and it looks amazing. A great job by both of them. Yes, I started to help, but I had dinner to prepare. That is my specialty, not winding my way through a list of visual instructions. They did an excellent job without my help. Rest assured.

Ok, so a few things did happen today, however, it sure did not seem like it while it was happening. We hope all of you and yours are safe, and virus free. Let me know how you are doing. Please.

Not much to report today folks. We went to Costco this afternoon and bought some beautiful steaks. Ivan is in the grilling mood so who am I to object. Have not eaten very many steaks I did not like.

We have purchased about nine steaks, and plan to freeze, then vacuum seal the leftovers, to have a ready protein throughout the time we are going to be here. If we do not get them eaten while we are here, they will have them after we leave.

Everyone here seems in good spirits, and, more importantly, good health.

It is about ten thirty, and Ivan’s dad has just come up to go to bed. It is so heartwarming to watch Ivan help his dad finish his ablutions. At this particular time of year, it is quite warm here, so none of us sleep with much on. Ivan is explaining to his dad about the virus that is keeping us here, as well as the heat we are experiencing, that it is ok to sleep in his underwear.

We never expected to have Juan with us, at this time in our lives, but he is, and we enjoy every minute his is with us. We have to show him how to do simple things, things that he used to know how to do by rote, and it makes us think that, someday, this will be us. Someone will need to show us how to use a fork, or a knife, even a spoon. The circle of life.

We have been working, putting things away, for the past seven weeks, and, I have to say, we have done a really good job of it.

It has been twenty years since we have had to “put moved things” away. I must, also, say that if we do not have to do this again, ok, in this lifetime, it will be too soon.

However, the compactness of this living space is so much more conducive to making us happy, it is worth the work. The brightness of the condo, now that all of the dark tile is gone, is one of the things I enjoy most. That and the nearness of the laundry!!!

From the first photo, to the second photo, was seven months. From the second to the third, took seven weeks. Obviously, we are not done, but we have come a long, long way in seven weeks.

We are no longer in self isolation- only because of necessity, however. I had stockpiled enough food at the condo for us to easily last the two to three weeks. With the Barajas’ family gone up north, we felt our place was with, (we loving call them los dos Juanes), the two Juan’s. So, we packed up, and moved back into Juan’s house for the week.

This has always been our first home down here, a sanctuary, if you will. We cannot repay them for allowing us to live there, not just yearly, while on vacation, but for the seven months it took to remodel our condo.