THANKFUL

BEING THANKFUL

We have heard from several of you inquiring as to Rebecca's status.  She has been most appreciative of your concerns. She currently is not capable of putting together a newsletter so the Editor has taken on this issue.  By the time you read it American Thanksgiving will probably have come and gone. We will most likely have gone to a local eatery that will have prepared its version of a holiday meal and we will have unfortunately missed the sumptuous feast at Sandrina's, especially the pie.

Mrs.T is doing well actually.  After spending two weeks at inpatient rehabilitation in Columbus she has been in outpatient rehabilitation in Zanesville for about two weeks.  She has two or three sessions each week about one and a half hours each, a half hour for each type of rehab. She has made a lot of progress but still has quite a ways to go.  Recovery from a stroke is a long-term project. The big thing is that her ability to swallow and eat is just about normal although there are certain foods she has not yet attempted.  But she can eat popcorn if she takes it slowly.

The rehabilitation has three parts:  physical, occupational, and speech. She is somewhat weaker and less coordinated on her right side - the stroke was on the left side of her brain.  Her balance is questionable. At the rehab center they put her through several machines as well as different exercises to strengthen her. We do some followup physical exercises twice a day at home.  She is sufficiently okay physically to manage everyday activities.

On the 'occupational' side she is improving with normal chores.  She can use the microwave okay but we are still staying away from the stove.  I count out her pills and remind her about her medication schedule. I also help keep her calendar straight.  I perform most of the home chores as I have for quite some time. She cannot drive; coordination and reaction times are not adequate.  Horse riding and scuba diving are likewise off the table for now, although she has clearance from the neurologist.

She still has some speech problems however.  Generally it is easy to understand her. Mostly she has aphasia; this is an inability to bring out words even though they may be inside your head, a common consequence of a stroke.  That connects to problems with processing thoughts and visual items. We have several puzzle books and some simple jigsaw puzzles. With work she has been able to do the jigsaw puzzles that previously would not have been at all challenging; she finished some 100 piece puzzles with big pieces.  She is about to try some 300 piece puzzles and maybe a 500. Very easy sudoku puzzles are now very difficult. Word search games are quite challenging. Her number skills are very low; she is not ready to handle cash. Dates are elusive as is telling time with an analog clock. We have some exercises for those items as well.   And she has been tackling some books from the library with mixed results. Not surprisingly her memory is vague. And she tires easily.

  

Another treatment for her esophageal cancer is scheduled for 11 December.  This will be a repeat of the same radio frequency ablation that she had in October.  The prediction is that the remaining areas of cancer will be eradicated with this treatment.  However, she will need to return for followup in the spring. Examinations will continue every few months for at least a year.  The overall prognosis is very good. Recovery from these treatments is generally fairly quick. 

The Editor is a rather stern nurse and is trying to keep everything on track.  Sometimes the patient finds him to be too demanding. But generally we have reached compromises that continues rehabilitation at a steady pace.  Our current plan is to be in Bucerias in time for the posada. We will then talk to Dr.V about obtaining some rehabilitation services which should not be a problem.  We both feel that rehab will be just as successful in the more pleasant weather of the condo. And the Editor is tired of scraping ice from windshields.

So what are we thankful for this year?  We could talk in glowing generalities about the freedoms we enjoy - although there is a lot of turbulence in the US at the moment.  No, we will mention our more personal blessings. We are thankful that Mrs.T is with us. Although her health is a bit impaired there is every hope that she will, with time, enjoy a full recovery from her stroke and return to her jolly self.  We are happy that her cancer was discovered at a very early stage and expect that treatment will yield fully positive results.

May all of you have enjoyed a peaceful Thanksgiving, even our many non-US friends.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Sent from Outlook

Why we are not in Mexico

Golly Those Travels

About a month ago I got some rather distressing news that I had intramucosal esophageal carcinomas or something like that - in a word cancer.  Well I was darn near hysterical. But I could not mope too much because I had a week travel with Dan in Charleston, Oregon with a one day stopover in Seattle on the way home.  And then one day to wash clothes for two weeks travel with Rita in Italy. Sigh!! This probably was a good distraction,

In Oregon Dan was taking a nature printing workshop.  This is where you take things like leaves and put ink on them and press another thing on top of them to make prints.  There were more advanced things like fish or octopus, dead of course. Still it takes a lot of skills to get ink on them and rub it off to look like the original.  Dan made me a very nice octopus tee shirt. Dan also made some prints from tree rings that were pretty interesting.  

On the day off we traveled along the coast.  We saw a whole lot of seals sitting on the rocks and barking loudly.  I saw a large field of cranberries just ready to scoop up. The next week was the cranberry festival.  The hills along the coast were covered with very tall evergreens. We read in their local museum in Bandon it seems that every 30 or 40 years they have a bad drought and then the evergreens catch fire and burn everything to the ground.  It seemed to me that building everything out of cedar might have been a poor choice. I'm sure it is very cheap but brick or stone might have been better in the long run. At the place where they had the workshop, Oregon Institute of Marine Biology, there was a marine museum, Charleston Marine Life Center. I liked going there to look in the big aquariums.  They had lots of big anemones and nudibranchs, two octopuses, some jellyfish, and so on.

 

After all this printing we stopped to say hello to Dan's brother John and his wife Suzy. In Seattle.  We really enjoy seeing them and as they are far away, we do not see them as often as we would like. We brought them some cranberry cookies.,  We had a low key drive around the city looking at the new gentrification. The area of West Seattle has picturesque small houses on small lots which are landscaped beautifully like Suzy has done with their place.  The flippers and floppers are trying to make the houses as large as possible or condos but the results are often less than ideal. Sometimes less is more.

 After we returned home I had frantic day washing and repacking with Dan's help and advice.The next day I was off to meet my sister Rita in New York for a t!ip to Italy.  The things is, several relatives were worried about Rita, who is seventy and apt to wander off on impulse and physically challenged with breathing issues, being let loose in Italy.  So I who am - 69 and physically challenged in terms of knees, eyes, and ears and general condition - was sent along as a chaperone. Neither of us knew more than a few words of Italian but I knew a little Spanish and Rita knew a little French.  And when in doubt Rita looked charming and I looked piteous. However I was in Italy last year with Dan so I know the ropes. I was to fly from Columbus to JFK airport in New York. Now these airports keep getting bigger. I swear one of these days you will get on one of these little airport trains in one place and get off on another airport train somewhere else and you won't need planes anymore. 

 Be that as it may, I had ordered a wheelchair because I did not think I could deal with JFK.  When I got in the chair I could tell the pusher had an attitude.  "Where do you want to go?" she growled.  " To the shuttles, " I replied; I was supposed to meet Rita there.  "You can't get to the shuttles in a wheelchair," she replied triumphantly.. This confused me, "Why not?" I asked.  "You are not allowed,'' she told me. "Do the best you can," I told her. Usually I am a pretty good tipper but this woman was getting less and less in  my mind; little did I know! She wheeled me around for quite a while stopped at a little train pushed me in and shoved my bags in after and dashed out with the chair.  "No chairs on the train!" she shouted, "get off at Bri…" In my return trip through JFK I discovered that there are in fact buses that take wheelchairs around; whether the grumpy pusher knew this or not I have no idea but she did not get a tip! HE HE HE!

The train rushed off and I began to fall.  Luckily I was caught by two kind ladies who attached my hand to a pole and told me to hold on.  They rescued my luggage which was careening about the car and put it in my other hand. "Where are you supposed to get off?' the ladies asked.  "The shuttles," I answered. Then commenced a carwide discussion as to which stop I should take. Meanwhile the train is rushing around stopping here and there.  I hoped a decision was reached before I passed my stop. "Brighton," was the decision. It is two stops more." The kind ladies arranged me near the door with my bags. "You have to get off as soon as it stops", they advised, "Then just follow the signs." The train stopped and someone pushed me off.  As I stumbled to my feet my bags plopped down beside me. The train took off and I looked up and saw a green arrow "shuttles." I felt like Blanche Dubois, always depending on the kindness of strangers.

I began slowly toddling off down one side walk after another dragging my luggage behind me following the green arrows.  I had three cases, one rollie stuffed quite full of clothes, one case holding the CPAP machine for night breathing, and a small backpack full of small but necessary items, according to the prepared travelers list.  These would have to last me two weeks. According to Dan I had far too many clothes. It turned out he was partially right; no duchess asked me to tea but you never know. After about a half hour of toddeling I found Rita.  We were both very excited and a little relieved. We never really admitted any accuracy of the others reservations about our adventures but we did understand their reasoning, even if it was flawed.

FROM THE EDITOR:

Here is where Mrs.T stopped writing this current newsletter with the intention of finishing it at the condo; the editor has had on the briefest look at it.  However, on Sunday, 20 October, while at the hotel in Columbus getting ready to leave for the condo Rebecca suffered a stroke. She had laid down to try to get some sleep.  When I attempted to rouse her to take some nighttime medicine she was unresponsive even after a couple of slaps and some cold water on her face. I went to the hotel desk and asked them to call a squad.  The airport EMTs came and took her to Mt. Carmel East hospital where the diagnosis was made. An MRI showed that only her speech center had been impacted.

It has been about a week and she is substantially improved.  Physically she is about normal with perhaps a bit more wobble than usual when walking.  The other major initial problem was that she could not swallow. That was heading towards some sort of feeding tube.  However, that has resolved itself and she has a good appetite - no tubes necessary. But she can only eat mushed up food.

In the next few days she probably will be discharged from the hospital and transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation facility where she will be given several hours a day of speech and physical therapy.  That should last a couple of weeks. At her current rate of improvement she should be nearly normal fairly quickly.

That brings us back to the very first sentence.  We found out about the esophageal cancer through her routine screening in the spring.  She has had Barrett's for a number of years and needs to have routine endoscopies. The one in the spring looked abnormal to our local GI doctor who referred her to a specialist at OSU.  The examination by The OSU GI doctor in August just before the trips found the cancer when he removed a couple of nodes for biopsy.  

The early detection means that the chances of recovery are quite high.  Mrs.T had virtually no symptoms so the initial scope was quite valuable. She is scheduled for additional treatments about every three months starting after the second treatment in October which showed that the cancer is still there.  However, it has not metastasized, which is also a good sign. They are using a newer treatment, radio frequency ablation, that does not involve radiation, chemo, or surgery. After her recovery from the stroke we will be speaking with her OSU GI doctor to see if he wants to treat her earlier as we are still in Ohio.

Many thanks to Rita for coming to visit for a week.  Daily visits by daughter Marla have of course been appreciated.  And the visits by Tori, Waverly, Cheryl, and John T-L (#johnsbeercapart) were most welcome.  The many flowers have brightened Mrs.T's stay. 

That brings you up-to-date in the world of Casa de Terrible.  Fortunately we will not need our urns yet; check out the picture of those.

Some results from Oregon:  https://flic.kr/s/aHsmHdH5fV

Just two nice pictures:  https://flic.kr/s/aHsmJ2EKw

Love to everyone.  See you soon.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible@blogspot.com

News Flash:  Rebecca is being transferred to the Ohio Health Rehabilitation Hospital in Columbus for at least two weeks of intensive work starting 28 October.  For those familiar with Columbus that is the old Doctor's Hospital in the Short North / Victoria Village area.

Sent from Outlook

Summer Wind

THE SHINGLE SINGULARITY

Those of you who have followed our irregular newsletter for a while know that in the summer we go into a nice quiet routine at our northern home in Ohio.  Actually our life in Mexico has become more routine as the years pass. But generally the emphasis is on quiet - summer is a time to be studiously lazy about things.  It would be incorrect to say 'not much happens', but as it is a house rather than a condo we attend to more maintenance and repairs ourselves. And Mrs.T prefers to stay close at home to work her little forest garden - she is currently planning a labyrinth there.  This summer we have concentrated on a lot of large-scale landscaping. Occasionally we have an interruption in the routine as related below.

One day the wind was blowing quite smartly and it was spitting rain.  From inside our patio I was watching the trees swaying. We were under a severe thunderstorm warning. I was laughing at the National Weather Service computer mispronouncing the names of local towns.  (Foul ups on Native American and foreign names are common. -dt) Dan was in his office doing something or other. When suddenly the wind picked up and blew wildly, I was a little nervous because we live in the middle of a forest, sometimes trees blow down around our house. (Remember the crunched car from last year?  -dt) I could see the trees waving and then CRACK, THUD, BOOM. A huge black shape whirled out of the sky, thudded onto and bounced off the roof where it materialized into a pile of shingles in the grass behind the house. 

"What was that??!!" Dan shouted.

"It was the roof blowing off," I shouted back.

"Are you sure?"  Dan sometimes thinks that I exaggerate.  (Indeed! -dt)

"Well at least it was shingles," I replied. 

At this point the wind increased until it was howling and the rain started pouring buckets.  Dan came back and looked out the window and examined the pile of shingles.

"Why don't you go out …" Dan stopped in the middle of his silly suggestion realizing from the look on my face that there was no way he could persuade me to go outside.  "I guess there is nothing we can do now," Dan concluded.

When the storm was over we went outside and walked completely around our house and could find no bare spots on the roof, although there was another pile of shingles.  I went down to the storage shed and it was okay too. We emailed our neighbor about ¼ of a mile away. He had all his shingles too. (Short of a tornado virtually impossible for his shingles to reach us - dt)  It was a conundrum.

Our friend Jamey who was putting gravel on our driveway came to look. "It is nothing to worry about; the shingles came from your ...  an unfamiliar word that means a roof part,,,," he said.

"Oh," I said trying to look intelligent.  Evidently I was not too successful because he immediately explained that it was a thing that covered vents so that rain would not leak in there.  Jamey said he would fix it in a day or two - not to worry.

Why, you might ask, did I call this the shingle singularity.  Well the other day I heard someone on TV talk about a singularity.  I really have no idea what it means but I thought it was a lovely word. (Astrophysics is not in R's wheelhouse. -dt)  Perhaps it means something that happens only once. At any rate you must admit it has a poetic sound.

Art, the pond guy, came to work on the pond which is once again leaking.  He found a hole in the liner that he fixed with tape. He also held down the top of the liner with stones so that water won't leak out behind it.  He planted water celery around the edge to fasten the pond to the surrounding land. If we want to we can eat the water celery but that has not happened.  (And probably won't. -dt) The pond looks good. We have two different flags - water irises - yellow and blue. And we also have two different water lilies, pink and white.  We have a lot of arrowhead plants but they are not blooming. We have a small floating island which the turtles are supposed to use for basking but so far they refuse to do it.  The water is quite clear.

Five turtles are currently living in the pond:  Myrtle, Yrtle, Shelly, Byron, and Keats. After I named Shelly I wanted to name the next turtle Sands but Dan said that was not funny - sigh.  You see Shelly and Sands is a well-known local construction company. So when that name was vetoed I decided to go with Romantic Poets. We have fish and salamanders and tadpoles too numerous to mention.  We also saw a couple of common eastern water snakes and and a lot of pond insects especially water striders or Jesus bugs - they walk on the water.

It has been incredibly hot here and the pond is drying out.  If we do not get rain soon we will have to get water hauled in a big plastic tank on the back of a truck.  I think I will need three truckloads. (The normal autumn heat/drought just came a bit early this year. -dt)  When it is this hot I cannot run the waterfall because of evaporation. The pond guy and I are planning to build a backup pond so that we won't run out of water as often.  I think Dan is dubious of this plan, but we are ignoring him. (Correct on both counts. -dt) If you don't believe in climate change or global warming the pond guy, the fish, turtles, and I are going to tell you you are just plain wrong.

Do you remember  when we used to do this line dance in phys ed (Gym class -dt) called The Bunny Hop?  Well we have had a lot of bunnies hopping around here. We have three bunnies that live around our yard and we have really enjoyed watching them play.  There is one thing that they do: One rabbit will hop toward another very fast. And just when you are sure he is going to run into the other guy bunny number two makes a great leap straight up in the air and the first  bunny hops under bunny two. Dan was the first to observe this behavior but whenever he called me to look of course the bunnies would stop doing it. Dan is sure it is a mating dance but then his mind tends to run in that direction.  I finally have seen them do it and I have no idea what it means, maybe they are training for the bunny olympics. (I do not have enough patience to try to video this behavior. -dt)

These little guys spend all day munching on our yard.  Since they are one type of critter which doesn't seem to munch on my flowers I am rather fond of them.  Dan has suggested that if I yoke them in a three bunny hitch I can drive them around munching away and then I will not need the lawnmower.  (More likely coral them like a small herd of cattle. -dt)

That was the end of Mrs. T's latest story.  But between the time of writing and editing the events in El Paso and Dayton unfolded.  She felt she should add an additional paragraph:

As most of you know, every fall we go to Mexico where we are welcomed by the kind, caring, open, loving people who live there.  They gladly make us part of their lives and we joyously live among them. (We have become part and parcel of community of Bucerias.  -dt) It is only right that we similarly open our country to Mexicans (And others. -dt) who want to live here. As we have not found a lot of lawlessness down in Mexico likewise we do not expect to find it among the Mexicans who have come north.  Where we live in Ohio there is almost full employment. (Although not throughout the state. -dt) You cannot walk down the street without passing help wanted signs in many business windows. I see no reason why Mexican immigrants should not fill some of these jobs if they are qualified.  Further, if they want to stay here and take the tests to become citizens more power to them. I do not believe it is or ever should be a crime to want to work to feed your family!  We lovingly embrace as friends people who want to be lawful American citizens.  (And especially those fleeing the hardships of their native lands. -dt)

Just a few pictures from this summer, including a visit to the Forest Automobile Rallye down in Vinton County and thereabouts:

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmFQP9yq

Hope you all are having a cool summer.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Sent from Outlook

Northern Return 2019

Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jog

We may have used that phrase before but it has become part of our routine rotation.  It is really quite similar when we move from north to south although our Philo home is a bit more 'home' than Bucerias.  If Mrs.T had control of the garden in Mexico she really would be in heaven. We have been back in Ohio for about one month and things are now quite routine again.  We have attended to several repairs and replacements - see below. Taxes and doctors have received their due. R is back to riding horses - also below. And we have gone to several of our favorite cultural events.  Mrs.T gives some highlights of our return this year:

Well we are home again and we have been Jiggity Jogging all over the place.  We have had lots of medical appointments and tests and have passed most of them with only minor adjustments in medications so far, touch wood, but there are a few visits left to go.

One exciting change in our lives is Dan has a new car.(Replacement for the one that was squished by the tree branch last October. -dt)   It is a KIA Soul. It has many, many new gadgets and improvements. (Those of you with newer vehicles probably are familiar with these. -dt) For one thing it has no key.  For another it shows you if a car is in your blind spot it goes BEEP!!BEEP!! If you take your hands off the steering wheel it flashes you a message, "Driver must have hands on the wheel at all times."  When I used to tell Dan that I was nagging, but when the car says it it is safety technology. When you drift out of your lane the car goes BEEP!!BEEP!! I think all these beeps could get on your nerves but I'm just guessing because although we have had the car about 1000 miles I have driven exactly 0. (She has backed it up to get the mower out of the garage. -dt) One thing I do think is interesting is that it has automatic windshield wipers.  If it starts rain they come on; if it rains harder they go faster. Isn't technology grand? Dan is very excited. (These are good features for older drivers. -dt)

Speaking of Souls, Dan has decided we will no longer go to church! (Only up north; could be temporary. -dt) For years we had gone to the 9:30 mass.  Well our church changed the schedule so there is an 8:15 mass, too early, and a 10:45 mass, too late. Dan feels very strongly that these are not the right times.  Evidently Dan is strictly a 9:30 Catholic. (Any time between 9 and 10 would be okay. -dt) I suggested we could be Lutherans but he didn't want to do that. Dan didn't want to be a Presbyterian or Methodist either, although he did admit Methodists had the best food based on their booths at the county fair.

I don't feel strongly about one church or another but there is something comforting about singing, and sitting quietly and thinking thoughts.  I am also very fond of the angels painted on the ceiling at St. Nicholas. To fulfill these needs I have decided to build a meditation labyrinth in my wildflower woods.  When I explained it to the stones man (Landscaper -dt) he was a little doubtful but when I showed him the pictures on the computer he began to get more enthused.

I was happy to get back to riding.  Jewel, the horse I ride, snuffled at me which is the horse way of saying 'hello'.  Of course all the horses like me because I bring them carrots. Tori said I was riding well.  Alas I was not mounting so well. Last week when I was trying to get on Jewel I fell off the barrel.  Jewel is quite tall (A Belgian. -dt) so I have to climb some steps and then get on a barrel to mount her, at least that is the theory.  I suppose if someone told me not to get on my high horse I could take it literally, He! He! He! At first I was pretty sore but now it only hurts when I breathe.  Hmm. Jewel stepped back politely and looked down at me as if to say "What are you doing down there?" After I recovered for about five minutes I was able to get on and ride slowly for about an hour.  I loved it nonetheless. (Yes, she was on her high horse -dt)

When we got to Ohio the spring wildflowers were in bloom.  We had white and purple violets. We had trilliums and bluebells.  Forget-me-nots floated like a blue cloud above the grass, After a couple of weeks the pond guy came and fixed the waterfall.  We had four turtles, loads of fish, and salamanders. The turtles are named Yurtle, Myrtle, Shelly, and Byron. We look out our windows and watch all kinds of birds and animals wandering by.  I dug forty holes to spruce up our wildflower woods even more with new and different flowers. (Rule: If she buys them, she must plant them. -dt) In fact my heart was singing.

Then there was the fire in Notre Dame.  I had gone there fifty years ago. The place was special. I remembered the great tall silences, the rose windows, the carved wooden stalls.  The sacredness of a thousand years was burning, burning, My joy was gone. Slowly I am recovering but there is a quiet place behind my heart that still grieves.  The green things are growing still. And life goes on.

Here are some pictures:  https://flic.kr/s/aHsmD89vNt  We thought we would include a small nod to motherhood - Rachel, with son Willie, just turned 97!  And nephew Phil and wife Shakiyah are expecting Journi and Marli in July. We hope all you mothers had a grand celebration on your day.

Best wishes for a great summer.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com  

Sent from Outlook

SPRINGING NORTH

FLIP FLOPPING TIME

No, not beach footwear.  About time for us to flip from our tropical winter home to our more temperate northern abode - although there were a few days last summer when Bucerias was cooler than Philo.  We have the routine down but it still requires a bit of work. Mrs.T has prepared a final look as some of our winter activities.

We had a couple of surprises.  The biggest was a visit by Rita.  Rita has been coming every year for the last several.  But this year she said she was not going to make her scheduled trip due to medical issues.  Well she was jerked around by the system in a fashion such as Rebecca was with her knee. After some minor therapy Rita decided enough was enough and came down for a rescheduled visit.  Just as well that she did not come when originally planned as we were dealing with our bad lungs at that time.

The second surprise was a package from Nick.  R tells about it below.

On to the story:

About a month ago we had our street chalk artists.  Artists came from different countries to compete. Not only was there a prize but they collected tips as well.  I contributed substantially because I was quite amazed. The pictures were very good but the amazing thing was if you stood at a certain spot the pictures came off the street and were flying through the air.  How did they do that? No, don't tell me; I don't want to know. I prefer to believe it is some sort of picture magic. Also for our convenience, the artists had painted feet on the road so that we knew where to stand to see the pictures fly.  Isn't life wonderful!! (Now several weeks after the event some of the works can still be seen. -dt)

Rita came and visited us for a couple of weeks.  She wanted to take some watercolor lessons and convinced me to take them with her.  She paints with watercolor and is pretty good but I had never used watercolors before.  The instructor came to see how we were doing. She looked at Rita's and said, "Very nice!"  Then she looked at mine and said, "Don't worry." Sigh. Oil painting is much more forgiving.  I found that if you take very wet toilet paper and rub real hard you can pick up most of the watercolor paint.  You are not supposed to do this!

For each lesson we both tried to paint the same picture.  The first picture was a beach scene and my picture was dorky because my boat insisted on looking like a hot tub.  But my sky was okay. Rita's picture was nice and her boat looked like a boat. The second picture was palm trees at sunset.  Rita's picture looked a lot like the picture we copied. It was nice. My picture was okay. It did not look like the picture we were copying but it did look like palm trees.  (Actually this picture is quite good. -dt) My last picture was of a door surrounded by flowers. It looked okay for a sixth grader. All in all I did better than I thought I would but I do not like watercolors.  Rita did pretty well.

Rita and I went SCUBA diving.  Rita collected some shells for her grandchildren.  I found an octopus and Alex caught it. Rita held the octopus and the octopus held Rita.  We took a picture of them. Rita was the one who was smiling. (Unfortunately this was a real picture and she took it before I could take a picture of it.  -dt)

I like to entertain Rita when she comes so I decided we would go to a polo match in San Pancho.  Neither of us had ever been to polo before but we are nothing if not willing to try new things. This was rumored to be a high-class event so I wore my black dress and white hat that I had gotten on Daphne's advice.  I felt top drawer! The polo grounds were beautiful. The polo started with mimosa's, I had the orange juice variety; Rita started with mango and tried all different kinds. I tasted hers but stuck with orange juice. The others - mango and papaya  and some other kinds - were okay; I can't recommend the passionfruit. There was background music while we ate the first course of our brunch. A couple of ladies from Vallarta joined us at our table. We had a nice conversation and found out that they did not know polo either.  The food in the buffet was fabulous - different kinds of salads and fruits, etc. Nice men in white gloves took away our plates and brought more mimosas. I had at least two and I think Rita had several; they were rather small. I think to succeed in this social league you must like mimosas. (I am sure it made the ladies more amicable. -dt)

While we ate our main course a man came on the speaker and explained how polo worked.  It is sort of like hockey on horses. After the main course - different meats, fish, shrimp etc. - the horses and riders came over so we could meet them.  Most of the horses were half Arabian so are somewhat small. They were beautiful. The men had cleared away our food and brought more mimosas. The polo started. It was exciting.  The periods - chuckers? (Seven minute chukkas -dt) - did not last long. The announcer told us what was happening. We cheered. This was a practice match but the riders were from all over the world.  The youngest was eleven the oldest perhaps in her forties. We could have signed up for lessons if we wished. We didn't. After the match we munched on desserts and listened to live music. The music was okay but not spectacular.  So when the ladies from Vallarta offered us a ride home we accepted. It was a good day. (Seems like the main events were eating and drinking. -dt)

Nick had come down for a visit.  He had a picture he had taken of our garden and pool turned it into a puzzle.  All of the puzzlers thought this was really neat. It was a little challenging but not too hard.  Dan and I are napping in the background of the puzzle. We will have it framed next season. Thanks Nick!

Dan and I both had been ailing but now we are doing okay. (A bronchial condition probably brought by a visitor -dt)  One morning one of our neighbors said, " Did you hear that awful screaming last night?" I had not heard anything. "Probably cats fighting," I suggested.  No, everyone agreed that it was not cats. Several people had heard it. Well, some old buildings behind us had been emptied and partially demolished. Some people suggested that the noise came from there.  I suppose it was possible that there were unhappy spirits that had been disturbed. I did not suggest this for fear of being thought of as even crazier than usual.

Bandido, one of our resident cats, had taken responsibility for the area on his nightly prowls.  For three succeeding nights the screeches and screams were heard by more and more people. On the third night I heard a high pitched hair raising noise.  I did not know what it was but it was impressive. What could it be? Barn Owls!! (The precise type of owl was not identified. -dt) We found out the next night when two of them chased Bandido home.  Evidently they had taken up residence in the empty buildings and Bandido had been trying to evict them.

While you had to admire Bandido's valor he is definitely lacking in common sense.  Any one owl was bigger than he, and there were four sighted. Bandido is scrawny and arthritic - he is 17 years old - and all his teeth have fallen out.  Several of us told him to leave the big birds alone. He paid about as much attention as cats usually do. He listened politely and continued as he had before.  The owls on the other hand became more and more aggressive pursuing him home and diving at him in our courtyard. We seriously feared for his life. Brenda, his primary food slave, hung a blanket out over her porch so Bandido could lounge there out of sight from the air.

Some of the neighbors took to shining lights on the owls which was supposed to annoy them.  Finally Bandido retreated from their abode. Alas, too little too late, they knew where he lived and kept a constant patrol of the area.  But the screeching and diving was not the only bothersome thing about the owls. They spent all night every night talking to each other in a strident "skretch, skretch."  It was not quite as loud but definitely irritating.

There was more computer searching and listening to recorded barn owl calls.  Dan was of the opinion that some of the owls were babies and they were calling for food.  Some neighbors thought that they were too big to be babies. I never saw the actual birds but did see some pictures.  Whatever they were trying to say the calls were neither musical nor attractive. Since Dan and I wear CPAP machines we did not hear them so loudly when trying to sleep. But nonetheless after a few days we were really tired of hearing it.  Also every day or so the owls would dive at Bandido just to keep him in line.

After about a month either the the babies were grown or the owls had extirpated the local rodent population. But for whatever reason the owls disappeared just as we were at our wits end.

Now the March winds have returned and at the beach we have real kite surfers flying through the air.  Of course the downside is they go zipping through the water so fast you don't dare go in for a normal swim.  I love watching them. This is something I am not silly enough to try because it needs both skill and strength.  In fact, I find it rather entertaining to watch young, muscular men trying to do it for the first time. Sometimes I root for them clapping when they finally succeed.  But sometimes I don't like their attitudes and am glad if they don't make it. Ah well.

Here are some pictures including a few on the repainted Kissing Bridge.  Many puzzle pictures are not included. Thanks Barrie and Brenda for pictures from the chalk walk and owls:  https://flic.kr/s/aHsmBM59KT  And Jean Paul took the underwater picture.

And in the last issue I had an incorrect link to some pictures; I hope this one works:   https://www.flickr.com/gp/9151458@N07/HVAqT7

Housekeeping note:  For those new to our newsletter we hope you enjoy it.  You are invited to peruse past issues at the blogspot and feel free to share with your friends.  And for anyone who does not want to receive these missives just drop me an email.

Hope you all enjoyed the full supermoon - Lenten, worm, sap, crow - and start to spring.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

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Winter Routine

INTO THE WINTER ROUTINE

We have been here three months now and are quite back into our winter routine -  basically just living a regular life. Rebecca's knee is quite far on the mend, almost back to full strength; she just needs to up her stamina. As you will read below she is back to SCUBA and a few more activities.

Nick is here for what has become an annual visit.  His timing this year was most fortuitous because Madison has been in the eye of a couple of winter storms.  He is missing significant snow, cold, and wind chills. Although he participates in a few of our local activities, his main objective is to relax, which he does quite well.

By the time you receive this our annual fiesta of Our Lady of Peace will have concluded with the usual fanfare, fireworks, and festivities.  And especially lots of parades with horses which Mrs.T naturally likes. Having seen this for so many years we do not always partake of all the action.  In fact, many of the residents, particularly those downtown, think this is the ideal time to get out of town and avoid all the hoopla.

And the puzzle folks have been well into their fun.  Sometimes they reach a frenzy and finish one in near record time.  A couple of the latest projects are in the photos.

On to MrsT's story:

Buckeyes

I made Buckeye candies with the excellent help of Phil, Brenda's son, and they were very well received. (Buckeyes have become an annual tradition -dt) Phil likes making things.  We were quite gratified that the football Buckeyes won the Rose bowl on New Year's day. I enjoyed watching the Rose bowl parade on TV. I like the horses but none of them was as beautiful as Jewel (The horse Mrs.T rides up north -dt).  I was fascinated when a very long Chinese float could not get around a tight corner and they brought tow trucks to pull it. I am in no way superior to everyone else who is fascinated by things that go wrong, sigh.

Football

I enjoy watching sports for a team I know like the Buckeyes but Dan likes watching all kinds of teams.  (Only ones with some connection. -dt) While I cannot understand this, I often watch these games with him to make him happy. (Much appreciated. Mrs.T is actually fairly savvy about many sports  However, she is not to keen on watching curling; sorry Canadians. And her TtS - Time to Sleep - can be short -dt) He tells me who we want to win and I cheer accordingly. In these cases my heart, not to mention my mind, is not really in  it. One day I was thinking my own thoughts while listening halfheartedly when I heard the commentator say - I swear these are his exact words - "It is the first time in a long while I have seen anyone play while wearing nothing at all!!"  Well needless to say I perked right up and started paying attention. Perhaps I could catch a glimpse of a tight end. He! He! He! Alas no. Dan explained that the commentator was talking about a receiver not wearing gloves to help him catch the football.  Talk about false advertising. Sigh.

Resolutions

It being New Year I made some resolutions.  My first resolution is to get my legs tan enough that my ugly blue veins do not show.(MrsT tends to burn  -dt) I am working on it. My second is to exercise twice a week. I am doing this as much as I can; SCUBA diving is one way.  The third resolution is to try and keep off as much of the weight as I lost after my knee operation as possible. I have no scale so I don't really know.  The last resolution is to learn how to use the purple shampoo so that I don't turn one side of my head blue. Still working on that one. I am also trying to do some of my yoga exercises.  (Some very challenging resolutions! -dt) Dan has also lost quite a bit of weight and is walking more. His telephone tells him how many steps he takes. (An app that came on the phone -dt) (This must be her inspiration  -dt)

Diving

I am very happy to be back diving.  My right leg is still weaker than the left  because of the surgery but under water I can compensate.  I have seen, as I always see, a lot of fascinating things.  I have seen several jaw fish. These are little round fish who live in little round holes with only their heads sticking up.  I have seen shimmery shiny little nudibranchs only about one inch long. I was so pleased; it was like finding a treasure. The different kinds of shells are amazing.  I only take shells that are unoccupied. (She has on occasion brought home ones with residents -dt) One day I saw a tremendous Argos eel. It was 6 or 7 feet long and covered with big black polka dots.  I think it must have been named after a Greek character Argos (Or Argus in Latin -dt) who had eyes all over.

Alex and I dove a couple of times at Mismaloya.  This is a place where people fish a lot. The bottom of the ocean is littered with fishing line that got caught on the rocks.  This is very bad because the fish, turtles, and seabirds try to eat the finishing line and it kills them. (Or they can become entangled  -dt) When we dive at Mismaloya we repay the ocean for all the good times and sea shells it gives us by cleaning up the trash. I have a new dive knife which helps a lot.  Alex is a fisherman so he keeps any good lures he finds and we ball up huge amounts of line to throw away. Alex recycles fishing weights by melting them together to make diving weights.  I like doing this cleaning up.

When we are working at this we attract a lot of attention.  Because we stir up the ocean floor a bit a few fish follow behind us to see if we stir up anything good to eat.  The other day I saw two zebra eels watching us from about 10 feet away just to see what we were doing. As I dive with a flashlight most of the creatures try to avoid the beam, however there are a few prima donnas who swim around trying to get in the light.  I find it interesting that a lot of invertebrates, like sponges, corals, and anemones, react to the light too. I love to dive!!

The only problem I have had with my knee is getting back in the boat.  To get in you have to climb a ladder. This involves a group effort. There is me trying to climb the darn thing.  Alex is behind me ready to give me a shove in the butt to boost me up and two people on the boat clinging to me desperately so that I won't fall off.  Somehow I make it. I think it might make world's funniest dive videos. (Indeed! -dt)

I hope I can start horseback riding soon.  And also Nick and I may paint. There is a lot of good in this life and when I get tired I float around in the pool. (Quite a challenge to decadence by the Pool Princesses.  -dt)

Here are some photos:

https://www.flickr.com/gp/9151458@N07/9P5C3c

And we must note the lunar eclipse and 'blood moon'.  Thanks Brenda for the photo.

https://www.flickr.com/gp/9151458@N07/Umzx0c

Next issue maybe we will talk about our remodelling.

For the folks up north, keep warm.

And please send good thoughts to Shirley who is quite ill.

Happy Lunar New Year.  Coming soon is The Year of the Pig.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Sent from Outlook