Aged but not deceased

I had a complaint from a reader (Neil) that I was delinquent in delivering enough blogs. Sometimes I have little or nothing to say so how do you write about that? However, we had an entertaining afternoon so here it is. 

My birthday was on Sunday and thank you to all my friends for reminding me how old I’m getting. 

Peter and Suzie spent most of the day with us and we went to Courtenay to find our favourite sushi restaurant, Seh Mi. We found it alright but it was closed! So we prowled for another place and found one called Sushi Jo, just up the road. The food was great and the service was awesome. I would go there again.

Anyway, that’s not what my sushi story is about. 

Neil, Diane and Sue came over for happy hour and the girls wanted to have a sushi party. As well as the sushi there was a bottle of saki and Neil and I noticed that it was rapidly getting emptied. I don’t know where it went as we had very little of it. 

While Neil and I sat quietly talking and having a drink the girls were having a whale of a time making sushi rolls. I don’t know what they were up to but the food was flying rice and other ingredients were everywhere, the instant pot was working and the girls were having a great old time. 

Finally, when the food was made and the saki bottle was almost empty they served it up.

Sue, Neil, Rosalie and me but someone forgot to get a photo of Dianne.

I don’t like raw fish but one of the rolls was raw salmon so I said “What the heck” and tried it. I obviously didn’t have enough to drink as…nope, still don’t like raw fish. Perhaps if I could have gotten my hands on some of that saki it might have helped but I was too afraid to ask the girls for some.

Throughout the afternoon, we stuffed ourselves with sushi and had a few more drinks and a lot of laughs. It’s great to have friends that you are really comfortable with. We were fortunate to spend two afternoons with friends like that. Thank you guys.

The weather has been uncooperative so I have had to start my hydroponic plants even though they don’t like the idea. I think they’re tougher than I thought as most are doing well. I do have the odd plant that’s a bit of a weakling and decided that the effort was too much and gave up the ghost. Oh well, they make good compost.

What’s with this weather anyway? We expected some rain but it’s been downright cold. I know, next week we’ll be complaining that it’s too hot. (I hope)

I had two loads of logs delivered by the resort and when I stacked them I thought the load was a bit short so I whined and complained. They were very good about it and made the difference up with all the nasty, gnarled, dirty, wet and huge logs that they could find. What a fool I am, now I have to stack and split even more wood. Jeese!

Rosalie has been enjoying one more of several new hobbies. This time it’s painting rocks. I’m not saying she has a lot of rocks but the trailer now has a distinct lean to the left. I’m not complaining as it gives my stomach a rest from all the innovative cooking ideas that she has. I had better watch what I say as she does have all those rocks easily at hand.

Because Rosalie likes to spend hundreds of dollars on painting her fingernails I volunteered to do it for her. I just hoped I could do a better job than she does cutting my hair.

We were both a bit nervous but plowed on regardless. I ordered a kit from Ali Express but it wasn’t quite up to expectations. It was fine if you only wanted to dry one finger at a time but Rosalie isn’t that patient. I whined and complained (I’m getting good at that) and they refunded half of our money.

We ordered another kit from Amazon and after several tequilas to steady our nerves we set to it.

First, we had to put on the gel remover which is probably very toxic but what the heck, my stomach is probably immune to all that toxicity. (see above)

Then layer after layer of primer and paint until we ended up with not too bad a job. It would have been better if Rosalie hadn’t kept swatting me saying I was doing it wrong. Next time I need the car painted I’ll do it myself as it can’t be any more difficult than doing nails.

I wanted this design, but Rosalie wasn’t impressed!

Most of the nonsense we hear and read is from people who are either jealous or have decided long before doing any research that EVs are bad and spout only the facts that fit their theory. I find myself doing this sometimes and slap myself. We need to keep an open mind on both sides of this issue. A lot of the negative reports are either from trumpers, conspiracy theorists or nut jobs.

I can see these guys arriving home on the weekend and going out to mow the lawn. The gas-powered lawn mower won’t start so they go to Home Depot and buy a cordless one powered by…you got it, a battery. An EV lawn mower, who’d a thunk it? And remember, all those batteries have to be recycled too.

And of course, they always bring up the sad story of little kids working in factories. This is true, but it’s been going on for generations, but not just for EVs. For some of these kids, it’s the only way to make a living for themselves or their families. If you want to blame someone, blame the greedy entitled billionaires who spend half a billion dollars for a few minutes riding in space. With that kind of money, they could feed a small nation. (Oops, I almost started a new rant.)

I think that EVs are not the final answer but for now, the best answer. There are even better technologies in the works if they can be made to work right. My favourite is hydrogen-powered vehicles which will cost nothing to run if they do it right. Ooh! how about nuclear power, boy would that sucker go?

It’s so frustrating that sometimes I want to jump out the window. It wouldn’t do any good as we’re only five feet up and I would either twist an ankle or break my hip. I won’t do it anyway because it would only make Rosalie mad.

This is one of the best comments found on Facebook. It doesn’t even mention fracking.

“Tony Lort

So how much tar sand must be dug from the ground and how much energy do the many pieces of equipment do to get it out and processed use and how much energy does it take to refine that crude into useable fuel and then what are the emissions and energy used for all the various forms of transport to get it to the gas station and what did it take to dig the pits to put the tanks in the ground at that gas station? What are the environmental effects of the waste from the tar sands and how much ecological damage was done to the habitats of the animals and what about the health effects of the fumes all around that entire process not to mention the damage to our atmosphere and our health from all the exhaust? How much ecological damage is done by all the abandoned oil wells and all the infrastructure around them and we haven’t even started to discuss the oil spills and other mishaps. Compare all the damage by both sides of the equation if you want to have a proper discussion of ecological damage. I keep seeing this stupid piece and wonder how anyone could even look at it without asking all the questions.”

He mentions putting tanks in the ground. If that tank leaks it costs even more to have it removed.

This whole subject is mostly about personal choice. I don’t put your gas vehicle down so let me have the freedom to drive my EV without all the nasty comments. I don’t aim this comment at any of our friends who make fun of our car; yes we do carry a very long extension cord just in case. It’s the nasty unresearched comments I can’t stand.

Okay, rant done!…for now.

Here we go again. I’m about to have a rant so hold on.

Sales of EVs are declining for some reason. I think it’s all about uninformed negative information. There is a lot of it around and as EV owners we hear and see it a lot. Some of the information is accurate but twisted. For instance, there was an article in a German newspaper saying that EVs are environmentally negative because of the high cost of energy to produce one. This is true they do use more energy to build, but over the life of the vehicle they are not spewing out ten to fifteen years of pollution so are a lot more environmentally friendly. That was not mentioned! Also, how long does it take a gas vehicle to reach zero emissions?

We read one comment saying that it took 35 gallons of diesel at the charging station, to go 200 miles. If it did cost that much diesel, the cost to charge would go through the roof. Obviously not fact-checked. In Canada, we use hydro and nuclear power which is so much cleaner. In the USA it takes more to produce the energy because most of their power is fossil fuel generated; even so, that number is still out to lunch. Think about it, if diesel costs $1.50 or whatever, that means that it costs $52.50 to charge my car for 200 Miles when I only pay, at the most $15 at the charge station. No wonder oil companies are losing money, yeah right.

We hear that EV batteries are going to end up in landfills, that’s not so true anymore. Companies are starting to recycle as the metals used are too expensive to dump. The life of about ten years is short but it’s early in the EV era, technology is getting better, and batteries are lasting longer producing more range and costing less. The year we bought our car, 2023, the next year’s model of the same car came with more range.

They say that the infrastructure isn’t in place to support EVs. There are thousands of these charging stations out there and of course, there are teething problems but so far we have had no problems charging. We even found a free charger in a rest area on the highway. Our car is mostly charged at home but there are reports of people with EVs being unable to charge because they live in a condo and have no personal means of charging. Why didn’t they do a little research before they bought the vehicle? That was one of our first concerns, how and where do we charge and can we charge from home? It’s not rocket science to find out.

But my favourite negative story was on CBC News. It seems that a guy with a new Ford EV truck took a drive into the USA and ran out of power because he couldn’t find a charging station. The EV is like a computer and lets you know where the closest charge station is. He obviously didn’t do any research beforehand. The CBC reported this! If I went into the USA with a gas-powered vehicle and ran out of gas, would they report that? Not likely!

This is only the beginning I will rant more.

I can’t believe we have been back two weeks. That means I haven’t written a blog since Melaque. I better get started! My public is waiting; all six of them; up one from last year. Part of the problem was that I got locked out of my site because I screwed up the password three times.

Our trip back was the best we have had in several years. We flew from Manzanillo to Calgary and then to Comox. The trip took nine and a half hours. After a night in Comox, Mike and Faye took us home to Spidey.

The following day we went to Barb and Dave’s for dinner. Normally we wouldn’t do this so soon as we are tired and need to get settled in, but they tempted us with a roast beef dinner and some great company so it was hard to say no. We stayed overnight and went home the next morning.

Now the work begins! As well as all my usual chores: Taking tarps off of stuff, unwrapping the car etc. I had a huge pile of firewood to move and store. I’m lucky as it has been raining and I couldn’t work in the rain too much. Sore hip, you know, wink, wink.

There was some concern about the car as it was the first time we stored it over the winter. There was no need for concern as it was still fully charged and as soon as I connected the small battery it was ready to go.

Three things must be done when arriving back in Canada. First, I have to BBQ a pork roast. I drool thinking about it in Melaque. Second, we have to go with Peter and Suzie to Hong Kong House for some good Chinese food. Third, and by far the most important: Thursday afternoon at the pub with the guys. Although I was a little disappointed when I found out that while I was away, and without my bad influence, they are all only having one beer each now instead of two.

My 3D printer arrived with Gerry and Denise and with my small new one, I’ve been printing up a storm. I’ve been trying to perfect a wine glass as I tend to break glass ones quite regularly. I may have it just about right, but we’ll see. I’m printing sets of two and so far they look pretty good.

That’s it for now or else this will never get posted.

It’s been an eventful couple of days.

We were at Terraza Cortes for a quiet afternoon drink and visited Lorena. She speaks some English and helps us with our Spanish. She and her three brothers: Arturo, Jorge, and Israel along with her sister Rosario own the restaurant and have all become friends, despite us having been thrown out seven years ago.

Lorena Y Rosalia

While we were there an arrest went down across the street. Apparently, a guy had broken into an apartment and the cops were there to arrest him. He was a solid-looking guy and strong. He put up quite a fight and punched the cops a few times. It took two of them to finally get him into handcuffs. They didn’t look like local town cops: these guys were wearing flack jackets and looked very professional. Good entertainment for us.

The following day we went to Cowpuchino’s for the last time this season. John was there and told us there had been an accident on the highway on his way over. It looked as though a guy had tried to cross the highway, was hit by a vehicle and was lying on the road. A Mexican at Cowpuccino’s told us the same story, but he thought the guy was a Canadian and still alive. The ambulance had arrived so hopefully good news.

Later after our second drink, another fight broke out, this time between a chihuahua and a chicken trying to protect one of her nuggets. There were several scuffles and the chicken won them all. It didn’t put the chihuahua off one bit, she kept coming back for more. The chihuahua must have wanted that nugget really badly. She was a feisty little thing and I was worried about my ankles as she hung around us quite a bit.

I think the chicken was brave because she had taken a drink from the pink cup on the seat. It was false bravery though as she didn’t know there was no Booze in it; a kid’s drink.

There was a little kid there trying to lasso anything that moved, he saw a goat go by and charged off forgetting that the one thing he had caught was a tree stump and that it didn’t move. Quite funny and all part of the free entertainment.

And so, back to the casa for more packing before heading to the beach for more Spanish lessons from Lorena.

We took our usual trip to the beach after half an hour of furious packing and ordered a couple of piña coladas; not my usual drink but good all the same.

As usual, our amigo Mark Antony showed up selling pistachios and today we decided to buy some. He was so overcome that he had to sit at our table and order a beer. We told the mesero to put it on our tab.

The next hour was awesome. I had assumed that Mark Antony could speak English but it turned out that he only knew enough to sell his products. So Rosalie stepped in and helped to bridge the gap. I added my little Spanish whenever I could. However, I still have a problem understanding it when it’s spoken to me, but I keep trying and it’s starting to pay off little by little.

He didn’t stop at one beer but had three, two of which were on our bill. He is very inquisitive and wanted to see photos of Canada, the Rockies, our site and anything else we mentioned. He is an awesome guy, always friendly, he has to fist-bump everybody he meets and I think that helps with his sales.

It was mentioned that the Bandidos were coming back to Canada this year and it would be fun for him to come to Canada too, to sell his pistachios at their gigs. It was said in jest but you could just see the wheels turning in his brain. That is until I mentioned all the bureaucracy he would need to go through.

We’ve been trying to visit our favourite spots one more time, before we leave. As most of the kitchen stuff is packed we are having to eat out for the next few days.

Also for the last few days, it’s going to be careful planning and coordinating with Castulo who takes care of the car. We leave on Thursday so have to have the car garaged by Wednesday afternoon. We can walk into town after that. It’s starting to get hot here, it was 35 C yesterday so we don’t want to do too much walking in the heat.

We also have to pack our StarLink but I will leave that until Thursday morning so we have WiFi until the last minute.

We were sitting on the patio when an iguana wandered in. He/she didn’t seem in the least concerned that we were there. Rosalie likes him but at a distance so I grabbed the broom and gently persuaded him to leave. He left mmediately and ran into the laundry room. I had seen him/her there before and think it’s his/her home under the old washing machine. Anyway, we decided to call him Larry The Laundry Lizard. I think it suits him/her.

I momentarily forgot about the eclipse. (An age thing, you know.) So when the light dimmed I thought for a moment that Mexico had forgotten to pay the electricity bill.

It didn’t get very dark here just a bit dimmer. I was a bit disappointed and if I had paid I would have asked for my money back. But it was dim enough to shut the dogs, roosters and songbirds up for a while. We noticed that it didn’t stop the Mexican music though.

I would have liked to have watched it with Eclipse glasses but was too late to get some online. I sure wasn’t going to buy them from a local store, not that we saw any. They would probably be made from old X-rays and I didn’t fancy trying to look at the sun through someone’s belly button.

See, no glasses, they were afraid of the belly button too.

Rosalie noticed that the temperature also dropped-another reason to ask for a refund.

The next total eclipse here is on 11 May 2078 so I guess I’ll just have to wait around for that one.

Tourists in Mazatlan have been complaining about the bands on the beach being too noisy. They tried to get them banned or quietened down. They tried to get designated areas and times. Fortunately, the bands themselves held a protest and were supported by the Governor of Sinaloa. The whole thing was thrown out and the bands played on. So tourists said they would never come back because of the noise, Good!

The bands seem to play mostly to Mexicans. We have paid a street singer occasionally but wouldn’t hire a band.

It’s amazing how people complain here: the dogs bark too much, the fireworks are too noisy, the bands are annoying, the restaurant service is too slow and my two favourites: there are too many Mexicans on the beach and why don’t the waiters speak English.

The beach vendors can be annoying too but if you politely say “No Gracias” they go away. Some are a bit pushy but that’s part of their job. Some bring nice treats like cakes and donuts, peanuts, and pistachios, and if you’re up for it, roasted crickets.

These are all the things we enjoy about Mexico. If the tourists don’t like it, they should stay up north and not come to this beautiful place.

Some things do annoy us but it’s all part of the culture here and we sure wouldn’t complain about it. Like this guy, for instance, I made it short as he can be annoying. I noticed that he only has eleven strings on his twelve-string guitar.

https://youtu.be/_2XpIFJmIpg

The thing is, we are a captive audience and as soon as he finishes playing he comes around looking for a tip. We always pay up. Then there is the guy who plays a xylophone. He looks as though he’s about ninety years old and knows about two vaguely recognizable tunes. He also goes looking for tips. These people are only trying to make a living and we applaud them for at least trying.

The nice part about this is that most of the complaints are posted on Facebook and often get blasted by people who live here and Mexicans alike.

My advice to people who want a nice quiet holiday is don’t come to Mexico because Mexicans love lots of noise.

We weren’t going to go to the beach the other day, but after sitting and looking at each other for a few minutes we decided to go after all. I wanted to go to see the bikinis anyway.

At Terraza Cortez we settled in at our usual table (actually any table). Three norteño guys were sitting next to us and at first, they were annoying until we started to listen to what they were talking about.

We couldn’t hear much but the snatches of conversation we heard were entertaining. The youngest guy was the most verbal and spouting the most nonsense. And of course, the language was quite colourful. Apparently, they were already four tequilas and several beers in, so it was somewhat entertaining.

I got the impression that they were related and were just a few wrong words away from a punch-up. The young guy was complaining about his wife. It seems that she constantly made his life miserable. We were both wondering why she stayed with the fool.

Several times they looked as though they were going to pay the bill and leave, only to order more beer. By this time the older guy was almost falling out of his chair. He didn’t say much but when he did he got angry with the young guy. Altogether a very entertaining afternoon.

The breeze has been making it very chilly at the beach these days. Today we only stayed for one drink. Rosalie forgot her shawl and I didn’t have a warm shirt on so we went home for happy hour.