Surviving Mexico

June 25, 2018 · 7:00 am

Plumbing Updates

One of the reasons that we went for the solar electric system was to get a water pump that would pump water from the ajibe (water storage) to the second-floor tinaco (water storage container) which provides water to the second-floor bathroom.

So the paycheck after we got the solar stuff, we bought the pump. It was $1600 pesos and was 1/2 horsepower. We ran into a problem. While the pump started up, there wasn’t enough power flowing through the inverter to get the water to pump to the second floor. Remember, we had a 1000 watt converter which had a brief start-up energy supply of 2000 watts. So what we needed was something that had at least 2000 watts steady power. Unfortunately, nobody sells anything like that here.

I found a 3000-watt power inverter on Amazon. It was quite expensive at $7000 pesos, so our plumbing projects had to wait a bit. My husband was thrilled as Christmas morning when it arrived. He immediately hooked it up to see if it would do the job. It did. Only we still had just one battery. He took the battery out of the truck for some added energy storage and everything ran smoothly. While this setup will work for a bit, we do plan on getting another battery, maybe two, as finances allow.

Then we needed some piping and elbows and t-joints and faucets. My husband hooked everything up. So now, not only do we have water in the upstairs bathroom, we have a faucet in the laundry area, a second faucet for when we hook the washing machine up (which will run with the 3000-watt power inverter) and a faucet for the hose for our new greenhouse area. Yippee!

Laundry area faucet

Greenhouse faucet

Future washer hookup.

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June 21, 2018 · 7:01 am

Getting Some Repairs Done

Several months ago, my son began gathering pieces to put together his own computer. We ordered one piece each paycheck and then had to wait until all the pieces to arrive to begin to assemble it. He and my husband spent about a week doing just that. Only it just wouldn’t turn on. So we called my brother who knows more about this sort of thing. He and my son tried to troubleshoot via Skype but were unsuccessful.

One morning, we stopped by this guy who knows more about electronics and he said he’d take a look at it. So we fired up the truck and brought the pieces to him. Only my son had left the manuals and the computer fan behind. Leaving him to start work on the computer, we headed back for those.

On the way there, the truck suddenly stopped. Since we had just put some gas in, we knew it wasn’t that. I spent the next 15 minutes pushing the truck up and down the road to see if it would start. It didn’t. Azul the vet happened by. After another 15 minute round of pushing, he took my husband home for the motorcycle. Then we took the pieces back to the repair shop to see how things were going.

There were still some problems with the computer. We decided to try and fix the truck while they continued working on it. My husband stopped at a mechanic and described the problem who diagnosed it as the pastilla and gave my husband an old one to go and buy the piece. So to the auto parts store we went. The piece was $230, but I only had $215 in my pocket. The register lady said that was fine.

Back to the truck we went. It was now high noon and hot as the blazes. My husband climbed under the hood and went to work. It took about 45 minutes to get the piece changed. Meanwhile, the guy who helped move my piano upstairs happened by. Once the piece was changed, he took over my role of pushing up and down the road until the truck started. Then he followed my husband home to to leave the motorcycle and brought him back to the truck.

Back to the computer repair shop we went. The repair guy said he did everything he knew how to do and took us to someone who knew more about computers. Immediately upon opening the case, the repair guy #2 found the problem. Of course, the most expensive piece was damaged. It could have been damaged via shipping. It could also have been damaged when my husband and son were trying to assemble it. It might even have been damaged when my son and the repair guy were working on it.

Repair guy # 2 said that he would work on it a bit and to come back in an hour. We came home and my husband fiddled with the truck some more. The timing was still off and it was bucking quite a bit. He got it more or less right and we headed back.

Repair guy # 2 had bad news for us. While he was able to repair the damaged part, there was additional damage that he hadn’t seen right away and it couldn’t be fixed. We would need to order a new piece.

My to my son’s disappointment, I didn’t have enough money to do so and told him he would have to wait for the next paycheck. We asked how much we owed repair guy number 2 for his time. He said we didn’t owe him anything.

Then we went back to repair guy #1 to pick up the computer monitor. We showed him the damaged piece and asked how much we owed him for his time. He and my son had spent about 4 hours working on it. He also didn’t charge us. Home again we went.

My brother saved the day. He sent me enough money to order the replacement part and it arrived in about a week. My husband and son decided that they would get repair guy #2 to assemble the computer components this time. So they did. He charged $200 pesos and it was ready in about 2 hours. My son was ecstatic!

I also had some repairs that needed to be done. My treadle sewing machine was giving me problems. The thread kept getting tangled in the bobbin. My husband spent several hours trying to fix it. We even bought a new bobbin in the hopes that was the problem. Nope. We went to a repair shop in town. They said that a repairman could come to the house the following day and take a look at it. He neither appeared nor called. I was a little short on cash with the unexpected repairs to the truck and computer, so I had to wait until the next paycheck.

This time we took the sewing machine to another repair shop. He said that he’d look at it and to stop back the next day. We did but he hadn’t had time to fiddle with it. So he said to come back the following day. So we did. And he still hadn’t had a chance to work on it. He said he’d do that right that moment and to come back in a few hours. This time he’d fixed it.

So we took the machine back to the base and tried it out. The first few stitches were perfect than wham–it jammed up. After about 15 minutes, my husband was able to get it working again, but it seems like this will be a reoccurring problem. Sigh.

Then the puzzle I had been working on got wet in the last sudden rain shower we had. The colorful top pieces came off about 50 pieces. I bought some glue and my husband started in on repairs. It took him several days to fix that.

The last repair was to my favorite picture frame. While we were installing the solar system, it fell off the cabinet. Fortunately, the Vidrieria (glass store) will cut glass to size. So when we went for the glass to cover my now repaired puzzle, we also got a replacement glass for the frame.

With the repairs done, it was time to work on getting the upstairs plumbing fully functional.

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Tagged as car repairs in mexico, computer repairs in mexico, treadle sewing machine repairs in mexico

June 19, 2018 · 12:00 pm

Lady’s Arrival

My husband got it in his head that he wasn’t complete without a horse. Our last horse, Buttercup, had been traded for some of the sheep we currently have. Instead of making this purchase on his own, like he did with Alto, he decided to talk to my son and me about this possibility. The next day, he drove me to Jacales to see the horse he was thinking of buying. She was lovely but too thin for her height, which was considerable. The owner couldn’t say exactly how old she was, but she still had her baby beard, so we are estimating that she is under a year old.We took Zombie girl and a new sheep my husband had traded one of the black boy twins for to the market in Purandaro to sell. We also took Mary but she didn’t weigh enough for her to be worth selling, so we brought her home again.My husband asked two different guys with trucks that have high rails how much they would charge to go and get this horse in Jacales. One said $300 and the other said $400. Both were overpriced for the distance. Our own truck, which would get there and back on $200 pesos of gas, doesn’t have high sides and there was a risk the horse might jump out on the way and get injured.

My husband decided to investigate a road that runs from La Ordena to El Moral as a possible way to bring the horse to our house without being on such a large road since he was considering bringing it home with my son leading her on the motorcycle.

I’m always up for an adventure, so we were off to La Ordena. We asked an elderly lady with her umbrella if we were on the right road. Her eyebrows went sky-high. Yes, this was the road, but she wouldn’t say if it were passable even by moto. On we went. Just as we came to a fork in the road, we encountered a small herd of bulls. We pulled to the left crossroad and got out of their way. We had red shirts on and all. Well, my husband had on a red shirt, mine was sorta purple but I’m not sure what sort of color spectrum bulls have and wasn’t taking any chances.After they passed, we headed down this road that although rough, was still drivable until suddenly it wasn’t. Going just a little further was a mistake and we headed back the way we came in the blistering heat and no floppy hat for me. Halfway back, we ran into another cattle herd, a bit larger this time. My husband turned the moto around and we backtracked until we found some bushes we could hide in. You may laugh, but my husband has a healthy fear of bulls, having grown up in rural areas. While he felt confident that if he were charged, he could climb a mesquite tree, he wasn’t so sure about my mesquite climbing abilities.We hid there for about 10 minutes until we were sure the coast was clear. My husband decided that he would not be bringing his new horse this way after all.

While we were waiting for my check to be deposited since the sheep sale was short of the $8000 asking price, I asked my husband what name he thought he’d give her. We’ve had Black Beauty, Spirit, Shadow, Joey, Alto and Buttercup to date. I suggested Lady. His response was “Black Lady, like Michone” (from the Walking Dead.) Umm, no. That’s not what I had in mind at ALL! I offered a few other suggestions, but Black Lady stuck.

Early Friday morning, he headed to get the guia (permit) to move the horse. Every year, my husband, who has a registered brand, adds an imaginary horse to his patente (registration). This new horse could, therefore, be registered as one of those horses without a problem since she came without papers or brand.

In the end, he decided to pay someone with a properly railed truck to bring Lady home. He cleared out Joey’s old stall and escorted his new pride and joy in. She seems to really like it with us but gets nervy when we out of sight while she is tied outside. Since the rainy season is fast approaching, we hope she’ll be able to fill out some on all the lush greenery found in La Yacata for those few months. I’m not sure exactly how my husband plans on feeding her in the dry season, so we’ll see how it goes. For now, he picks up an armful of freshly cut alfalfa every two days from a truck that cruises around town for $120 pesos per week. He also gets a full back of corn leaves in exchange for a costal (feed bag) and 5 pesos from the guy who sells elotes (corn on the cob) from the back of his truck in town. Then we still have some dried alfalfa bales and a few dried corn bales which should keep Lady and the sheep happy until the heavens open up.