January 3, 2020 · 7:11 am

The Last of Elvis’s Love Children

The last of Elvis’s love children, a set of twin boys, have arrived. While we have other goats that are pregnant, they aren’t due for a month or so yet, so their conception was after Elvis had left the building.

All of Elvis’s kids have the longest floppy bunny ears. Several have the distinctive black stripe down their backs like dear old dad. None are the lovely dark brown of Elvis though. 

While we were still celebrating Elvis’s fecundity, one of our other goats gave birth to a premature and sadly, short-lived kid. The rest shouldn’t be ready to deliver for another month or so. Since they are younger and smaller goats, we don’t expect any more twins, which is fine by me.

On other animal news, Lady is now nearly fully recovered from her hoof staking incident. She and Red even went for a short ride up the hill and back with my husband this week. Red has figured out how to open the goat pen to Jolina’s delight.

George and Terry have yet to become friends, both are extremely jealous of my son’s affections even though he tries to give equal time and attention to all three boys. Their neediness has prompted my son to declare that when he marries and has children, three are too many.

My husband had a scare with Jolina the week after Christmas. The neighbor down below had planned to serve birria when his son came to town and needed a smallish goat. He and my husband decided on which of our goats was to go. However, when the neighbor came to pick it up, my husband was working. He insisted that my husband had sold him Jolina and my son let her go.

In the morning, when my husband was feeding the goats, he noticed Jolina was missing. When my son told him, he panicked. He jumped on his moto and without even a helmet, headed to the neighbor’s house on a rescue mission. Fortunately, Jolina hadn’t been slaughtered yet and was brought back to the fold safe and sound. Whew!

Other than that, things are as quiet as they can be in our still overcrowded animal situation. Who knows what delights or tragedies 2020 has in store for our own animal kingdom?

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December 30, 2019 · 7:07 am

2019 End of Year Recap

Where did 2019 go? I had some amazing experiences, including several firsts, this year that just made time fly by. Allow me to recap my adventures briefly, if you would.

In January, I chose the word ORGANIZE as my one-word description. I won’t say that I was uber-organized this year despite my 5-year calendar and my blogging planner, but I didn’t feel as overwhelmed as often and that’s saying something because look at all I accomplished this year! 

Early in the year, I took on another content writing job. Some weeks I find the topics tedious, but other weeks, they are not so bad. It certainly helped keep my income up since I cut back on my online teaching hours considerably. I also started reviewing books for Reedsy Discovery and have been enjoying that experience as well. 

I most certainly stretched myself beyond my comfort zone in 2019. I submitted my Exploring Traditional Herbal Remedies in Mexico book to the Ultimate Bundles people and was accepted. I participated in my first podcast with Expat Mama Kimberlee Thorne-Harper. I also became an online presenter for the Work Freedom Summit. 

I created two online courses on CourseCraft. Surviving Voluntary Exile: Overcoming Common Obstacles to Making a Successful Life Transition and Book It: Everything You Need to Know to Publish Your Book on Amazon.

I reworked both the One-Year Blogging Planner and the International Event and Special Occasion List. I compiled a book edition of Surviving Voluntary Exile: How to overcome common obstacles to making a successful life transition and created a journal A Woman’s Survival Journal: A Guide for Making the Most of Your Life in Mexico.

I was able to get a fourth and final solar panel for our home, new glasses for myself and my son, and a motorcycle with my hard earned coins this year. My son and I were also able to spend a month with my family and friends in Pennsylvania and meet a long-time online BFF which wouldn’t have been possible without the online work I’ve found. Red and Terry joined the Flores Ranchito. And my son passed algebra 2 in his online classwork. 

Of course, not everything was peachy keen. I didn’t finish all the projects I began this year. My son is finding geometry challenging and may need to retake the course. I wasn’t able to visit my friend in Tennessee even though I really wanted to. I still have chronic health isssues and so do my parents. Our Puppy was poisoned and our hearts are still aching because of that. We didn’t have a bumper crop of goats. The crops didn’t do well and feeding the animals through the dry season is difficult. 

Overall, though, the good outweighed the bad in 2019 and I am grateful. How was your year?

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December 27, 2019 · 6:35 am

Ponche Navideño

Ponche is THE best drink Mexico has to offer during the Christmas holiday season. This year I decided to try and concoct it myself. Much to my delight, it turned out perfectly! So if you are interested in preparing this hot beverage for your New Year’s Eve festivities, let me share the recipe that Doña Lupe, one of my sister-in-law’s tortilla makers gave me.

There isn’t an exact quantity for each item because it depends on how big the pot you are using to boil it all in and your personal preferences. I’ll give you approximate measurements for 5.5-Quart pan. I recommend you don’t fill the pot to the top with water until you have all the ingredients in. 

  • 12 tejocotes, which are are small orange crabapples from the Crataegus Mexicana Hawthorn tree. If you can’t find tejocotes in your local market, crabapples will work. If crabapples are unavailable, you can leave this ingredient out or add additional green apples.
  • 1 peeled naranja (orange)
  • 1 length of caña (sugar cane) about three feet or so peeled and cut into pieces about 4 to 5 inches long.
  • 8 tamarindos with the shell and veins removed. Soaking them for a while makes it easier to remove the shell and veins. 
  • 6 guayabas cut into halves or quarters. 
  • 2 handfuls of pasas (raisins) or higos (figs) whichever you prefer. 
  • 1 large handful of jamaica (Hibiscus).
  • 3 or 4 sticks of canela (cinnamon).
  • 1 to 3 cones of piloncillo (brown sugar cone) depending on your personal preference and the size of the cone.
  • 1 manzana verde (green apple) sliced.
  • 1 pera (pear) sliced.

Top up the pot almost to the brim with water. Simmer on low for several hours, occasionally stirring with a wooden spoon to make sure nothing sticks to the bottom. The drink is served hot with bits of fruit and sugar cane in it. You can spice things up by adding some rum to the mixture, but it’s not necessary as it’s simply divine as it is. 

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