Planning for options, massages, snakes, and yard work

Dec 22

I think I have mentioned that Ron and I have been planning on moving to Mexico and living there fulltime with trips to the US twice a year or as needed. We are now looking at other options in case that plan doesn’t come to fruition due to circumstances in Mexico.

Yesterday we talked about other options and started reading about Costa Rica which was our second choice in 2015 and Cuenca Ecuador which we visited in 2018. It is a World Heritage Site because of its Spanish colonial architecture which was one of many things we love about San Miguel in Mexico. In Cuenca, it is possible to live in the old town so we would not need to have a car which is one of our goals and it is affordable. It feels good to see other possibilities after being so focused on San Miguel de Allende (SMA) in Mexico.

Dec 24 - Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah.

Sunday, I got a Thai massage and Ron got an oil massage and yesterday we got foot massages. Ron said ‘what the heck, we are on vacation’ when he scheduled us for consecutive days of massage. Since the cost of the massage is $10 including a tip of over 20%, it makes sense to indulge. We are enjoying destressing here after all we were doing before arriving: moving to Vancouver, construction on the apartment we are creating and getting ready to come here. It feels really good to be doing next to nothing here.

Today I begged off walking as I had gotten to sleep late. After breakfast, I took our laundry up to Linn. As I was coming back to our house, I heard the three little dogs barking and looked up and thought they were fighting. Lo and behold, they were attacking a six-foot snake who was fighting back. I had never witnessed such. The snake slithered into the area where the recycling bins are along with all manner of things that can be stored outside; old doors, wood, etc.  The dogs persisted. Later I went back up there and was Linn with the biggest dog looking for the snake. Later I learned she and the dog got the snake and she killed it. She is almost five feet tall and fearless. She is an amazing woman and my hero.

I  decided to do some yard work. Unfortunately, it was way past time to be doing that kind of outdoor work as the sun was bearing down on me. I am a southern magnolia blossom and I wilt in the heat. LOL!

When the house was built in 2006, the front yard became a construction debris dump. It was filled with sand from making cement, broken bricks and tiles. We spent a lot of time clearing it when we first got here from SL. Then we asked a family member to order some dirt/compost so we could landscape the yard. We had a landscape designer from the US to create a design with our input and photos to show her the setting around the house. Tess had created the design for our landscape in Vancouver when we lived there the first time.

The terms dirt/compost got lost in transition and the ‘dirt’ that arrived was almost as bad as what we had removed from the construction zone. It was filled with roots and other organic matter that had to be removed by hand for the most part. We also had to carry it quite a distance because a roof had been constructed over part of the drive as a shelter and it prevented the delivery truck from getting to the site. Wheelbarrows were not available at the time so we carried dirt in small ‘buckets’ made from old tires. It was hard work.

As time went by, the yard got planted thanks to a friend of Mattawan. Duang Chai (Mother of Auem, who we have described earlier, and owner of an international school in Hua HIn) had her crew come in and plant banana palms and two other kinds of palms whose names I don’t know. There were orchids and all manner of plants but the design had been put aside so things were a bit willy nilly. Some of the plants survived and some did not. Noi was our caretaker and he passed last year. Now there are no men living fulltime on the property. 

As a result, the garden has fallen onto hard times shall I say. I have no plans to replant it but this morning I wanted to rake up some of the dead plants. I discovered the rake handle had rotted and the plastic rake itself had split making it impossible for the rake to stay attached to the handle. I fussed with it for a while then I just used the rake head with no handle. Ron being handy repaired it for me. Handy guy on so many ways. It didn’t take long for me to get very hot as it was around 10:30 when I started. Usually, our rule is to do outside work before 9:00. It is 2:30 right now and the inside of the house is 86 degrees F. Ron has escaped to the bedroom with the AC on. I will join him shortly.

After raking I helped Ron with his fountain project. Years ago, he installed a ceramic vessel in the front yard and made it into a small fountain with bubbling water. It was a nice touch in the evening to hear the water. When we arrived this time, the fountain was gone. One of the four dogs had knocked it over and it broke into pieces. Gone was the water pump and infrastructure too.

We have a larger, beautiful ceramic pot that Ron plans to drill so he can make it into a fountain for Tui and Pair who will live here. He has been working on finding all the parts needed; a water pump, and the fittings that are necessary. Today he will test his pump to make sure all the joints are tight. He and I worked on cleaning out the basin where the pot will reside. It has dead vegetable matter and really dirty water and dirt that needed to be removed. It took some effort as the basin is concrete. I scolded Ron for not having a hat on. He just had skin cancer surgery before we left home so I have been hard on him about staying covered and slathered with sunscreen. How he suffers. HA!

We got the basin cleaned up and made a big muddy mess. The dirt we hauled in here all those years ago has a high clay content so the dirt holds water. By then I was on fire from the heat and stopped working outside. When I showered, I started and end with cold water to cool myself down. I don’t remember if I mentioned it but most people here do not have running hot water. Noi used to take bucket showers. I think all the new high rises in Bangkok would have running hot water but not in rural areas. We have a small unit in our shower that heats water on demand. That is the only place in the house with hot water.

This is the first trip to SL and Thailand where we are starting to see signs in stores asking customers to not use plastic bags. Yesterday at Robinson’s the slogan was ‘Just say no to plastic’…hmmm sounds familiar, Nancy? I declined the cloth bag they offered me as I only had one item. 

Thais are amazing. They will buy a sweet drink and it is put into a thin film plastic bags with shaved ice and a straw and off they go. Hot soup is put in a similar bag and off they go. They are lots of noodle stands and other stands serving a variety of foods and it is all served in thin plastic bags for "take-away". Small stands have minimal seating and if you are eating at the stand you would have the dish served in a plastic bowl or plate.