The Spirit Level

The solar water heater is working well, lots of hot water. We are certainly pleased. In addition, the company that sells the heater, also sells a gismo, called ScaleWatcher. The water in this area is fairly hard; the water in La Floresta is not as bad as other areas, but still it can be a problem. Most water softeners use salt and require a lot of maintenance. This product involves putting a wire coil around the water pipe directly after the pump; the gadget then passes a current through the coil to create a magnetic field. It rapidly changes direction and fluctuates the frequency. This then changes the ionization of the calcium and magnesium molecules in the water so that they don’t stick and pass through the system. The effect lasts, so they claim, for about 48 hours, long enough for the water to go out and down the drains. It also claims that it will remove existing scale from pipes gradually over a 3 month period. I don’t know for sure, but the water does seem ‘softer’ and soap lathers very well. We don’t want the heating coil in the water heater to clog up with scale.

Well, the rain has started as about the 7th of June. That means that from Sept. 29th we had only 1 modest rain in April. However, we have had 4 rains now in June for a total so far of 3.5 inches. Most have been mild rains, but last Friday we had a really strong storm with high winds and 2.4 inches in less than 4 hours. The high winds drove the rain against our north facing windows and a lot of water came in under the windows as they are not designed to keep water out. I did some mopping and by morning the rest has dried out. Other people were not as lucky; some developers divert the drainoff channels and this causes some houses to get inundated in heavy rains. The temperatures are cooler now--most days in the high 70s or low 80s.

We have gone regularly to the Sunday morning forum called Open Circle. I had offered to do a presentation on the book, The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. It finally got scheduled and I did my presentation on Sunday, June 12th. The authors are British epidemiologists; they bring together the results of over 200 studies, the majority of which show that greater inequality in a society leads to worse outcomes on a number of health aspects (life expectancy, mental illnesses and addictions, obesity, children’s educational performance, homicide rates, imprisonment rates, etc 9 measures in all). What is astonishing is that in comparison with 22 other rich countries, the United States, the richest country on earth, comes out at or near the bottom on every measure. Average incomes do not seem to matter; it is the degree of inequality within each society that largely determines how well or poorly each country does. This in fact is a stark contradiction of the claims of laisser-faire liberals/neoconservatives that inequality is ‘good’. If you would like to read my presentation, use the link for MY WEBPAGE and then click on the link there.

We shall soon be making our trip back to Canada--leave July 7th & return July 24th. We are going to Toronto first to spend 3 nights with Faye and Keith; then to Nova Scotia. We shall be spending part of the time in the next 2 weeks at White Point Beach with Jeff, Tara & the boys the first week; then with Angie, Matt and Sam in the 2nd week. The rest of the time we’ll be in Halifax doing errands.

Going solar

More news. First the bad news. Last week we were robbed for the 2nd time. This time it happened some time shortly after 2 in the afternoon. I had been home all morning, but had to leave at 2. Barb was out in front of the wall working in her flower gardens. As far as we can figure out, they came over the wall from the house behind. Our neighbour there has an electric security fence, but had been having some work done. Apparently, the fence was not on. The person who is living in the house left about 2 also. In any case, they came in, took money from Barb’s purse and found the money I kept in a drawer. I think that we lost about $400 - 500 dollars. We are going to get a bit more upgrading to the security. Again it seems evident that someone in the neighbourhood is watching and takes advantage of any opportunities.

We are in the midst of having a Mexican incident. On Saturday when we came home, the water pump was not working. I finally got it going briefly and decided to do a load in the dishwasher. However, while the timer worked, the pump inside didn’t. We began to notice other things; lights would dim, then brighten; the fan would slow down and then speed up. In fact, the power was fluctuating. I got the water pump and the dish washer going just before bed. However, Sunday we were back to no water pump and fluctuating power. I called Jose Luis and said we should get a new pump as this one had caused us a great deal of trouble. He came and thought that it wasn’t the pump malfunctioning again.He took it to check and he was correct. He had a voltage tester and sure enough the voltage was fluctuating massively; the juice was never enough to run the pump. He checked all our circuits; we then went next door to Steve’s house and the situation was the same there. Finally, he called the power company, CFE. They said that they were aware of the problem. Our street plus the next cross street were affected. Finally, at 5:40, I tried the pump and it worked; hallelujah. Altogether, it was over 50 hours.

The other news is that after talking about it for about 2 years, we have finally moved to have a solar hot water heater installed (the small photo is from the company site, but you get the idea). There are several different systems. Ours uses evacuated tubes (i.e., a vacuum) to collect the heat. The water circulates by convection up the tubes into the tank. Because we have a pressure system, this water is not connected to the domestic water system. Instead, there is a copper coil in the tank and the domestic water is pumped through the coil where it is heated.The unit was delivered last Friday and the plumber has done a bit of work already. It should be installed by the end of this week. In the end we decided to get the 280 litre tank. It cost $300 more than the 210 litre tank which is said to serve 4 people. However, this tank will give a bigger margin, not just when we have guests, but also on those rare occasions when we have several days in succession of rain and cloud. It has happened only once in 3 years. When we decided on the size, we weren’t sure that we would be able to keep the existing gas heater as backup. However, the plumber figured out a way to do that. The company says that during the hot weather especially, the heater can heat the water to 75º C (almost 170º F).

We have been spending 600 pesos a month (about $55) for propane. We recently discovered a small leak (now fixed) so that might not have been just our consumption, but the price of propane has been going up. Just last year it was about 4.75 pesos per litre. This year it is 5.6 pesos (about Can $0.49)--still pretty cheap as it is subsidized by the government. They say that heating water accounts for 75 - 80 % of power costs in a home. I figure that the payback on the water heater should be about 3 years, more or less. If so, that’s over 30% per annum as an investment--not too shabby. It will also make a small reduction in our carbon footprint. The heater is being installed on the flat roof over the bathrooms. Thus, an additional advantage will be that we won’t have to wait for 2 minutes running the hot water for a shower the way we do with the gas heater, being on the opposite side of the house. We will have to run the water longer for the kitchen, but the only time we use hot water there is to run the dishwasher, less than once a day. It has taken us a long time to take the plunge, but we are pretty excited.

Lake Chapala Society

I am now a Director at Large on the board of the Lake Chapala Society. I was not looking for such an ‘honour’. In January I met Fred Harland, vice president, at LCS. Barb and I had gotten acquainted with Fred and his wife on the trip to Morelia over a year ago. They are Canadians and very nice; we always chat a bit when we meet. At the encounter in January he asked me if I would let my name stand for the board. The new constitution, which was approved last December, called for 3 or 4 additional members on the board so they were looking for new bodies. I thought for a couple of minutes and finally agreed. I was certainly not eager, but I thought of all the people who volunteer to work at LCS. Almost everything is done by volunteers, many of whom give quite a few hours a week. I had already decided to stop doing my online courses so no longer had that as an excuse. The Nominating Committee, by whom I was interviewed, provided only sufficient nominees to fill the vacancies. There were no nominations from the floor at the annual meeting in March, so I and the other nominees were elected by acclaimation for a 2 year term. Actually, this was all indicative of a salutory situation. Two years ago, everything was in a turmoil as some previous members of the board were very unhappy with a new constitution proposed by the new board. They were attempting to put the organization on a more business-like approach and some of the people were unhappy that the old, ‘club’ approach would bechanged. However, the board brought some of the former members in and revamped the proposed constitution sufficiently. When the revamped constitution was put to a vote in December, there was opposition voiced and only 2 or 3 people voted against the new constitution. Everything has calmed down; things are running better. I have attended 2 board meetings and have been appointed to 2 standing committees.

Once again we have evidence about how quickly we can get medical stuff done. I had a recurrence of a pinched nerve in the lower back. Last time was just shortly before we were to leave to drive to Mexico in 2008. I was given a couple of exercises plus a very good book, Treating Your Own Back. The exercises cleared up the pain very quickly and I had no problem driving to Mexico. However, with no pain, I long ago stopped doing the exercises. This time, there was referred pain down my right thigh above the knee. I should have read the book and started the exercises again before going to the doctor, but I didn’t. On Wednesday, Dr. Garcia arranged for me to see a specialist in Guadalajara the next day. The latter did electromiography; that uses small electrical charges to the nerves to locate exactly where the problem was. By that time I had already decided that it was probably a pinched nerve in my back and he confirmed it. When we expressed our amazement that we got in so quickly, he laughed and said it was probably because it was the week after Easter and a lot of people had not returned from holidays as a lot of businesses and schools shut down for 1 or even 2 weeks. Anyway, he gave me the report and I took it to Garcia the same afternoon as he had requested. Garcia then called a physiotherapist to make an appointment for the next morning, Friday. It turns out that the latter lives only a block or so away. As a result, she came to my house for the 2nd and 3rd treatments. Some of the exercises she gave me weresimilar to those in the book. The exercises are the real answer and I have been having little pain most of the time.

More people are coming down here. A friend of Kate’s, Carol, who has been visiting here regularly for 7 years, finally got her husband Joe to come here in March. Joe really liked it and they decided to buy a house as Joe is finally thinking about retiring. The house they bought (they were down to close last Friday) is just a block and a half west of us on Camino Real so they will be close neighbours. They are very nice; Kate and Jack were unable to go out on Friday night to celebrate with them, but Barb and I did.

For 2 Saturdays we were invited to Jack and Kate’s with the girls to swim in the pool in their new house (they moved in about April 10th). It is a lovely pool and especially good because, as you can see, there are steps at one end. The twins are well on the way to being able to swim, Fatima not so much.

Back online

It has been rather up and down since my last blog; I’ll try to fill in before resuming (I hope) on a more regular basis.

In January, Angie & Matthew had a baby, Sam, and making a third grandson; this is a recent photo. Barb wanted to see this new addition and went to Halifax from late January until Feb. 7. Then, while she was away, we had a burglary (about Feb. 2nd). I am certain it was someone who had been watching us and the house. Barb walks the dogs every day about the same time about 9:30 or 10 a. m. for about an hour. However, with Barb away, I was walking the dogs about the same time. On Tuesday, when neither the gardener nor maid come to the house, I took the car to Guadalajara. Sometime, not too long I think, after I left (i.e., just before or at noon), the burglars (there had to be at least 2) climbed up the wall beside the water aquaduct ditch and in. There was only about 30 inches space (see photo) there beside the little bodega (storage shed); all the rest of the wall has virtually impenetrable bougainvillea. My 27 inch iMac plus my old laptop, which were both on my desk, were stolen. The external hard drive for our backups was also taken.I should have taken care of that gap in the bougainvillea and not had both computers and the hard drive on my desk. I was feeling too secure.Fortunately, I had saved most of my personal files on the iPod about a year ago. Thus, I was able eventually to recover the older stuff.

With that lesson, we did some work to add more security. At the side where they entered, we had them install about 20 feet of concertina; that is circular barbed wire and razor wire. Then, along the front wall, we added about 3 feet of wrought iron fence with barbs at the top to the wall (see photos). It was very upsetting and I was certainly kicking myself for being so blaise. I have replaced the iMac and tried to get back to normal.

With the illnesses and the trip to Nova Scotia, Barb has had a hard time getting her energy back. She seemed to be alternating good and bad days. However, this past week has been quite good.

We have had other work done. Pam, a friend of Kate’s of many years standing, last summer bought a house here. However, she decided to renovate virtually the entire house. First, she wanted to replace her gas stove. It is a very nice Bosch but she in putting in a separate stove top and oven. She sold us the stove at a very good price. As our stove was old and not very good, Barb was delighted. Thus, we had Jose Luis’ men install it. Then, subsequently, in fact just last week, she offered us her dish washer at an even better price. The men were back to install the dish washer. It was a very tight fit, but they chipped out the floor and wall a bit to squeeze it in (see below). While they were at it, we had them run a gas line from the stove in the kitchen and out to the BBQ in the patio. Now, we don’t have to worry about filling the little tank periodically as the BBQ is now connected to the big propane tank. It was good timing because it was only 5 or 6 days since the little tank had gone empty just as we were cooking leg of lamb. Fortunately, with the new stove, the oven works well and we were able to finish the lamb in the kitchen. The oven door in the old stove did not close properly so we never were able to use it. Thus, as the song says (taking a bit of liberty), “Everything’s up to date in La Floresta.”

Since we arrived, we have had dressers and bedside tables in the bedrooms that were not well made. There were no sliders on the drawers and they all had a tendency to fall out when you went into them. We finally gave them away to LIA; Anabel, the director, was pleased to get them as the older girls need them for their clothes. They are young and can more easily cope with drawers. We brought so few clothes with us that we didn’t really use the dressers; instead she got a table which you can see above). She did get new bedside tables (below). All of these were very inexpensive. The style is called ‘rustico’ which is what we have in most of the house.

Maintaining my past habits in this blog, I have to talk briefly about the weather. After the cool weather in Nov. and Dec., the weather in 2011 has been warm. In fact since early March, it has been hot. It hit 90º F (32º C) on March 28th. That matched the high temp for the last 2 years (usually late April and May). We have been getting temps in the middle to high 80s (28 - 32º C). There had been no rain since last Sept. 29th (i.e., 200 days with no rain). However, Saturday late afternoon, we had a thunder storm and rain! It only amounted to .7 inches (18 mm.), but it is rain. Usually, there is about 2 inches Oct. - Dec. and another 2 inches or so from Jan. to the end of May. The average for April is .3 inches so we have more than doubled that for this year.

Out with the old and in with the new

I have not kept up with posts for this blog. Barb and I have been busy and have had illnesses since my last post in November. I’ll review very quickly. Barb got a very taxing flu just before I went to Windsor, Ontario on Nov. 25 for RoseMary’s birthday. I suggested that I call off the trip, but Barb wouldn’t hear of it. Thus, she was left alone trying to recover while I was away for a week until Dec. 2. On Dec. 4, Jeff, Tara and the 2 grandsons arrived for a visit. Barb was eager and determined to see and do as much as possible. She had not fully recovered and after they left, she had a relapse and complete exhaustion. Then, I got sick on Dec. 22nd. I ended up spending most of 4 days in bed, including Christmas Day. Then, just after the New Year, Barb got a cold from which she is just recovering.

We are hopeful that we have turned the corner. Most of November and the first 3 weeks or so of December were cool. We probably wouldn’t have minded it so much if we had not been fighting the bugs we had. However, since late December, the temperatures have been rising. Saturday, Jan. 8th, the high temperature was 77 F or 25 C; Sunday was even better at 78 F or 25.5 C. This is very pleasant and should help our recovery.

This past week we had some significant work done. It started when we discovered that one of the big ceramic pots that we had bought for the palms (see the post for June 28, 2008) had broken. There was an absolute jumble of roots. After considering various possibilities, we contacted Jose Luis. We decided to have holes cut in the patio where the pots have been sitting and plant the palms in the ground underneath. Only one pot had broken, but it would only be a matter of time for the other one. One of Jose’s jobs got put off. As a result, his men were free to start immediately. At first they tried to use an electrical jack hammer, but it couldn’t make a dent in the concrete. Thus, they had to do it with hammers and chisels! Also, under the top layer which had been done in the renovations just before we bought were 2 more layers, one of brick. The photos show the palms duly planted just where they had formerly been in the pots.

As is usual, once we got started, we ran into another problem. The roofs on 3 sides slope to the patio. Thus, during the rainyseason a lot of water comes into the patio. There is a catch basin in the middle that has drains to take the water eventually outside the wall to the drainage aqueduct beside our lot. We had forgotten about the tile drains. They were right in the middle of the first hole that was dug. They would keep the palm too high but also, the roots of the palm would probably eventually clog up the tiles. Thus, it was decided to dig a new ditch into the catch basin to install a new PVC drain. Mexicans are amazing when working with concrete. They chiseled out the flagstones and set them aside. Later, after installing the new drain pipe and filling in the trench, the flagstones were replaced and already, it is blending in with the old.

In addition, Barb had 2 little tables and 4 lamps made of metal. She wanted them all painted the same colour. Also, we had a patio table with 4 chairs that we had bought second hand. But the paint had chipped and peeled. Barb had found a chaise-lounge in the same metal and style, but it was painted white. We decided to have them all painted; Barb had thought of light brown for the patio furniture, but I urged for yellow and as you can see in the photos, Barb agreed. Also, the fireplace in our bedroom was a bright orange that Barb had never been happy with. It is now toned down with a kind of burnt orange. It was all done in less than a week. It has been quite a while since we had any major work done, and it’s not quite done yet, so stay tuned

Lily, the watch dog

Well, we did take the girls for 2 swimming lessons. The first one went well (see photos). The woman instructor (about 50) was terrific with the girls. Every 10 minutes or so, she would change the activity so that they didn’t get bored for the 90 minute lesson. However, they were tired on the way back to LIA. The next week we had a cold spell, which I’ll come back to in a minute. By 4:30, the pool was in shade and it was too cold. Fatima lasted about 15 minutes until she simply wouldn’t do anything. The twins were trying, but lasted only a little over half an hour. We’ll wait for the weather to get warmer before doing more lessons.

We did have a cold snap. It started with high winds that, as usual, brought down an enormous amount of debris from the eucalyptus trees all over the property, although we had only a brief power outage during the middle of the night. Usually, we have little or no breeze, but for the next 3 or 4 days, we had strong breezes which kept the temperatures low in spite of bright, sunny days. On 2 mornings when we got up at 7, the temperature was 9; it doesn’t usually get much colder than that. In the afternoons, the outside temps did not get much above 20. As a result, we have had to dress more warmly. I abandoned my normal shorts and sandals (see the 3rd photo) for long pants, socks, shoes and heavier, long sleeved shirts. However, the high pressure system that brought the cool temperatures has dissipated and the temps are 5 or 6 degrees higher and very much in the perfect range.

We had an interesting experience on Sunday night with Lily. She pounces on any spiders or cucaraches that run across the floor and kills them; we have been worried that she might do the same thing with scorpions, which are dangerous. She went over to the chest of drawers near the front door and began to bark and was very excited. This was different behavior so we immediately got up to investigate. We moved the chest, but whatever it was moved under and we couldn’t see what, if anything, was there. We sat down again, but Lily knew something was there and kept watching. Then, she began yipping again and we noticed that she was jumping back when it moved towards her. Sure enough, it was a scorpion. Lily followed it, but stayed several inches away at all times. Even after I killed it, she stayed away. We had heard that the most venomous are the small, light coloured ones; this was large (over 2 inches long) and black. It is very unusual to find one in the house; it’s been months since the last one. We are relieved because not only did Lily know not to touch a scorpion, but she also warned us and followed it like a good watch dog.

Virgins in Mexico

We have now had 28 days without rain. The lake level has started to go down, about 8 cm. (about 3 inches) so far. Nevertheless, it was a good year for the lake. Also, there was much less lirios (water lily) infestation this year. Another good sign as the lirios bloom is based on water pollution (often fertilizer runoff).

In Mexico, the cult of the Virgin is really important. Fairly early in the Spanish colonial era, an appearance of the Virgin was proclaimed at Guadelupe and the Virgin of Guadelupe has been an object of veneration ever since. It is believed that for many of the Indian population, she became a substitute for an Aztec goddess. In fact, Catholicism was conflated with a great deal of Indian religious ideas and motifs. Later, the Inquisition was brought with full fury to try to stamp out this intrusion of ‘paganism’. Despite the tortures and executions, it was only partly successful and Catholicism here still has lots of pre-Christian elements. Some statues depict Guadelupe with a very dark skin. She became a virtual patron saint of Mexico. Father Hildago’s army fighting for independence from Spain carried banners dedicated to Guadelupe in the war for independence 1810-21.

However, there are a multitude of other ‘Virgins’ highly venerated; most of these are little statuettes, dolls really. Many have corn stalks or husks for the body and many are very old. However, they are beautifully dressed. In fact the Virgin of Zapopan seems to have a lot of gold (her halo and her cloak, for example). Here in Ajijic, there is the Virgin of the Rosary. No one knows how old she is. There is a definite reference to her in 1733, but many believe she is much older. Franciscan missionaries arrived here on Lake Chapala about 1530, only a few years after the Spanish conquest. Shortly after, they built a shrine to the Virgin and later a church here in Ajijic to the Virgin. The little chapel on the north side of the plaza replaced that building in the early 18th C. This little chapel is the home of ‘Rosario’. However, for most of October, she is in the parish church and subject to daily masses. On the last day of the month late in the afternoon, there is a big parade to take her from the church back to her normal ‘home’ in the chapel; there is music and celebrating all evening.

The Virgin of Zapopan (Zapopan is one of the 5 cities in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area ) is the most celebrated in this area. Her normal home is in the Basilica of Zapopan. There are a number of miracles attributed to her, including stopping at least one plague in the Guadalajara area. Every year in September and October she is taken on a peregrination to a number of churches in the region, including to Chapala during its festival honoring Saint Frances, Chapala’s patron saint. Last week, her annual visitation was brought to an end. After spending several days in the cathedral in Guadalajara, there was a hugh procession along the approximately 5 mile route to the Basilica. People gather along the route the night before and an estimated 1.5 million observe the procession, with floats and thousands of dancers, etc. Many people offer prayers and requests as she passes believing (or hoping at least) that she answers such requests.

A few years ago when the level of Lake Chapala had fallen very low and many thought there was a danger that it would dry up completely, special prayers were offered to Zapopan requesting that she save the lake. Now that it has recovered, many credit her. (Of course, the agreement by all the states that are part of the watershed to limit the amount of water used in irrigation is much more relevant.) As a result, she was given a new title, Queen of the Lake. This week she is being brought from Zapopan to Chapala for a parade and special service of thanksgiving for such a bountiful year for rain. With all these Virgins, this seems to me to be polytheistic, rather than monotheist, but that is true of all the saints in Catholicism which arose from the amalgamation with pre-Christian polytheistic religions during the Dark Ages in Europe.

Although Guadalajara is very cosmopolitan and a declining percentage of thre population are Catholic, the influence of the Church is stronger here in Jalisco State than in many other parts of Mexico. However, the archbishop of Guad., who is the highest Catholic prelate in Mexico, currently has 2 lawsuits against him: one for alleging that the Mayor of Mexico City had bribed the judges who had ruled that refusing to allow gays to marry was unconstitutional. (Many areas are in the jurisdiction of the states, and Mexico City has many more liberal laws, allowing gay marriage and abortion, to name a couple.) The second lawsuit was launched because of some strong, inflamatory antigay remarks the archbishop made while denouncing the idea that gays should be allowed to adopt children. The Governor of Jalisco, a member of the PAN party which has close ties to the Catholic Church, also has a lawsuit against him for his antigay comments. Who knows where these lawsuits will go, but they do show that the conservative influence of the Church is being challenged strongly, unlike the US where religious conservatism seems to be growing in influence.

Last week we took the 3 girls to Tobolandia. As usual, they had a great time and we had a fairly easy time sitting in the shade and watching them. They give swimming lessons there late Saturday afternoons, 4:30 - 6 p.m. We are planning to take them there this Saturday. It will be less nerve-wracking to take them next door to Steve’s pool if they can swim as it is over their heads everywhere.

Kate and Jack arrived on Wednesday night. They were very relieved and pleased to be here to recuperate. Jack is trying to fight off a case of pneumonia and Kate fell and sprained here ankle the day before they left Halifax.The weather is perfect. They are planning to stay for close to a year.