January 31, 2006

January 31, 2006

La Feria, Texas & Nuevo Progreso, Mexico

YEAR 2 DAY 228

 

Today was sunny and very warm.

This morning I removed the breaker bar from behind the front seat, and put it back into the tool chest where it belongs. The breaker bar has been behind the front seat for the last couple of months, to make it easily accessible when we need it to whack the starter to make it work. Now that the truck has another new starter, we shouldn't need to whack it with a breaker bar to make it start. Hopefully not for awhile, anyway. After regular morning chores, we headed off to Nuevo Progreso, primarily to pick up my new eyeglass lenses.

We drove to the Mexican border at Progreso, Texas, parked, and walked across the bridge over the Rio Grande into Nuevo Progreso, Mexico. We walked directly to Flores Optical, and dropped off my eyeglasses for them to cut the new lenses to fit the frames. They ordered the lens blanks from a lab, then they just cut them down to size to fit the frames. I left my glasses, put on an old pair of glasses that I keep as an emergency spare, and off we went to shop for about half an hour while my new lenses were being cut and installed. We walked back to Farmacia Linda where I bought medications last week. I bought more of two medications that I had purchased last week. I used them for the last week, and was pleased with the results. I also bought a new medication to try. I am absolutely determined to conquer some persistent problems that have kept me in a state of perpetual suffering for the last six months. I've had enough ! I can't enjoy life if I'm in constant discomfort. Since it's possible to buy prescription medications in Mexico on an over the counter basis, I've stocked up on some substitutes for some of my old medications, and I'm trying some new medications.

We walked back to the optical shop, and picked up my glasses with the new lenses. It will take a bit of time for me to adjust to them, I guess. I've never had lined bi-focals like this before. I've always had invisible progressive bi-focals. After buying medications and eyeglass lenses, Joanne thought it was time for some serious shopping. We shopped for, and bought, some Mexican skirts and blouses for her nieces. Last year we bought Amelia a Mexican dress, and it was a big hit, so we wanted to get some pretty Mexican outfits for both Amelia and Madeleine. We were going to get them some western wear while we were in Arizona, but we couldn't find anything we really liked. Girls' clothing in Mexico is quite nice, and it was easy to find something that we both liked. Hopefully the little nieces will like them as well. Mexican girls' clothing is very colourful, and I think the nieces will like that. We went for a late lunch, to a better restaurant than the one we ate at last week. The lunch was quite good, except that I tried something new, and didn't really like it. I had chicken enchiladas with mole ( pronounced "molay" ) sauce on them. I did not like the mole sauce. Joanne said she thought mole sauce was made with chocolate. I thought that was absurd. Back at the trailer, this evening, she looked it up in a cook book. She was almost correct. Mole sauce is made with cocoa powder, amongst other things.

After lunch, we walked back to the International Bridge, and crossed back into the United States. The U.S. Customs people sure make border crossings at these border towns a painless process. "U.S. citizen ? Go ahead. U.S. citizen ? Go ahead. U.S. citizen ? No ? Canadian ? Go ahead." We drove back to La Feria. When we got back to the trailer, we discovered that Teddy had been trapped in the bedroom closet all day. Most animals would be somewhat panicked, stuck in a closet all day, nobody home to hear them asking to be let out. Not Teddy. He's very laid back. When we opened the closet door, he just stretched, yawned, and stepped out. I did today's accounting. We both did a couple of little chores, then took Bo for an obedience walk. I started working on today's journal entry. Joanne put a meat loaf into the oven for supper, then we went to the clubhouse to listen to a local farmer talk about local farming. It was actually quite interesting. He farms milo ( corn ? ), cotton, and sugar cane. We stayed at his talk for about an hour and a quarter, then returned to the trailer before the meat loaf burned to a crisp.

We had a late supper while listening to the State Of The Union Address 2006. George W. Bush sure does have good spin doctors ! I walked back to the clubhouse to get online and retrieve updated investment data as of the end of the month. I also sent and retrieved e-mail, and updated my blog.

DSK