While living "off the grid" may have an ecologically virtuous ring to it, some definite inconveniences come with the lifestyle, in this case having no garbage pick-up for three weeks, which sent us looking for the San Miguel trash dump. The location of the dump is apparently a well guarded secret, and only Stew's …
Taking the Lithium Ferro Phosphate Cure
After a little over 12 years of service, a few weeks ago we replaced the two monster lead acid battery packs of our solar electric system with a deceivingly petite set of lithium ferro phosphate (LFP) batteries. The change felt somewhat comparable to trading in a lumbering, gas-guzzling—but familiar—2009 Crown Victoria for a snazzier set of …
Terrifying news from Ukraine
Just this afternoon, I received this Messenger text from my family in Kyiv. The grammar is not great but their message is clear. I feel frustrated. Wish I could do something for them.We are all in Kyev. It is really dangerously. The real war. I could not imagine such a scenario in the worst dream. …
Ukraine in my mind and heart
Ukraine should occupy no more space in my brain than Uzbekistan or Xinjiang but for the whims of fate, in particular my living in Chicago for 30 years, where I made some Ukrainian friends, and the Cuban diaspora after the communist takeover, including two close relatives who wound up in Ukraine. Those connections now fuel my …
"The Bleak Midwinter," San Miguel style
San Miguel newbies are shocked to discover that we do have a winter season here after all, with some overnight freezes, sere vegetation and spells of gloominess that might seem interminable next to the eternal sunshine they expected. Our winters are not nearly as bleak, mind you, as the one Gustav Holst depicted in his hypnotic …
A heart of stone, just in time for St. Valentine's Day
In deference to the demographics of our circle of friends, who trend old and often trip over things, yesterday we hired a backhoe and two young guys to clean up the stones that boobytrapped the garden in back of our house, and patch up the holes with black dirt. Alas, by noon the project had …
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Who's afraid of Mickey Mouse?
Stew and I believe gray mice are endearing. And apparently so did The Walt Disney Company, who's made billions off Mickey and Minnie, and also Remy, the protagonist of Disney•Pixar's 2007 animated feature "Ratatouille," about an irresistibly charming Parisian rat who aspires to become a chef. A lot of people are unpersuaded by the charm of …
How I'm going to make 2022 an exciting year
Some people, myself included, make New Year's resolutions that are bound to fail. Take, for instance, my vowing to take up marathoning despite my penguin-like flat feet that keep me from running more than a block at a time. Other people inventory all their defects and deficiencies, the weight of which end up crushing their …
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The strange and sad story of our gardener Lupe
A week ago last Sunday, on the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, or Lupita as she is affectionally called by some Mexicans who venerate her more fervently that even Jesus himself, Stew, a friend and I went to Querétaro to see Steven Spielberg's remake of "West Side Story." We all loved it, although …
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My own curious sidebar to the coronavirus story
During a recent 15-day sojourn in San Antonio, Texas, for Stew to undergo knee-replacement surgery—and for me to play his personal Florence Nightingale during his recovery—we both got the booster Pfizer shot and the annual flu vaccine at a Walgreens pharmacy. Taking both vaccines simultaneously was perfectly safe, or so we had read. That was true …
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El Rancho Santa Clara 