Before I left on my trip to Calif we had an ant problem. When the weather began to get warmer, even warmer than the nice mild winter we experienced, in late march early April the ants came. Remember the song ...The ants came marching 2 by 2 hurrah hurrah ...and the ants came marching down, to the ground.....Well they marched into our house. In one day we were drowning in ants. Yes I had seen one walking along a countertop or near the stove, and usually I squish them with a finger. But I also had forgotten about the "chemical trail" they leave so the others know where to go. I don't thin me wiping a soapy sponge afterwards would have helped. Everything in the cupboards had to come out, lots of stuff thrown away. I wanted to use natural remedies, soapy water, water and vinegar, chalk lines, etc. They kept coming. We put everything into airtight bins or in the fridge. They kept coming. We'd get up every morning and wipe everything down. And then they seemed to slow down. Yipee.
We still kept most stuff out of the cupboards and have given up on cereal...somehow they still broke into the plastic jugs. So I left on my trip. I forgot about ants.....
I talked to Everardo on the phone. He was laughing so hard trying to tell me. He noticed something fall onto the keyboard of his laptop- he looked closer, and it was ants! He looked up and there was a thick line of ants walking across the beam on the ceiling, heading for a plastic bag hanging on a knob, filled with individual packs of Ritz crackers- you know the rolls with about 20 cracker in the- they had been in a bigger box we bought a Costco, but that box had been filled with ants by the first day. Our ceiling is probly 8 feet at the most- I can a;most touch it, and he can for sure. The ants were falling over each other and down onto my husband, his chair and his computer! He bought some stuff we heard about that was odorless, and put it around outside, and I suspect, inside. I haven't seen any ants since I got home, but the last couple of nites I've gotten back up after going to bed because of the noise.....mice.
So Poppi told me oh yeah we have a mouse problem as well. But they are very small. Yeah well they leave what we politely call mouse droppings everywhere. Mouse poop. Why do they poop so much? Do they poop as soon as they eat something? Or do they just poop everywhere all the time? I needed the A&D ointment; I got a new tattoo in Calif...well a couple actually and needed it. Ok side story about the tattoo:
The first full day I was there I went to "my" tattoo guy, at Eye Spy Tattoos. It is the only place I have ever gone, and Tim is the only tattooist? Is it tattooist? Or simply tattoo guy? Anyway Tim has done all my tattoos. I got the first one when I was 50 years old; I called it my freedom tattoo. It was right after I became single after being married for 15 years. I don't know, I had been thinking about a tattoo for some time, and once I was single- well I answered to me. I actually went down to the place- and now I don't remember who told me about him, maybe my daughter...and I went just to look. I wanted a dragonfly. He was not busy and grabbed my arm and drew one on with a pen and said "like this?". Yeah exactly like that! I wanted it to be purple and green, and put it on my left arm, inside the forearm (between my elbow and wrist). I got it right then. I loved it! Ha ha a week later I was back and on the other arm got a peace sign...and then it was on. My left arm has a ring of dragonflies now, and a vine winding thru them, and the words "vive in el momento" and a couple of tiny dragonflies in the vines. All of it is probly less than 6 inches wide from right below my elbow. My other arm is a different story. At first it was just peace signs, then a world with a peace sign in it, and then the word "peace" in English, Arabic, Spanish, Russian and Japanese, in different colors and fonts, and the words Let peace begin with me. Oh and 2 birds in a heart with a peace sign, which I later added some sunburst stuff to....I also have the words esperanza and acceptance.
And now I have a penguin, a very small penguin down near my wrist with his arms out saying "oh well" in honor of my mom. It says Elly underneath. She always said "oh well" sometimes long and drawn out like oooooh weellllll in her later years. The penguin is about at the end, when she was, well I guess hallucinating, about people, about what was happening around her, and she pulled me close to say she didn't like how they were treating the penguins and we said we'd get right on it. Even though it was hard, we laughed alot with her at the end. At one point she wanted Captain Jack to be in charge, and we'd train all the baby animals, and then charge people to see them do tricks....Oh and we never did find out who Captain Jack was....some mysterious person from her past? And no not the Captain Jack from Pirates of the Caribbean, we asked that right off and she indignantly told us NO! She always wanted to look her best for him, and talked to me about that fluttery feeling when HE walks in...it was like we were two girls in high school that afternoon. Love you mommy. So the penguin thing stuck- with me anyhow. They have become special to me. And they always always make me think of her.
Ok so three days before I came home I got another tattoo. On my right shoulder, so although there is a lot of open space, I basically have tattoos on my whole arm. I got flowers- oranges and reds- I wanted something bright, and with- of course- a couple of dragonflies (ooops they've migrated to the other arm), but you have to look for them, they look like flowers, it is an amazing tattoo and I love it. However, it is the biggest one I ever got, and I have to keep it covered with ointment and out of the sun. It's now a week and a half, so it's healed pretty much, but shit- I live at the beach with alot of hot direct sun, so I'm trying to cover it up when I go outside. I told someone my tattoos are a 50's thing. But I realize I need to say it differently. They are not from the 50's. I am not stuck in the 50's (maybe the 60/70's since I wear tye dye all the time, one earring or maybe 2 different ones -which really comes from losing one of a pair and always my favorites). No, the tattoos are a thing of my 50's... when I turn 60 in a few years I will be done. I might be done now....but naaaa...I thinkin' more flowers....So anyway....at my daughter's house I used her A&D ointment....ah ha! See how I finally came full circle?
I knew we had a big tube of A&D at home, hubby uses it on his poor feet that get dry and cracked, me for tattoos etc. BUT- when I opened the drawer.....at least 6 bites marks in each tube!! It wouldn't be so bad if we used for non broken skin....but -and I'll now have to google it- mice carry dieseases! They are dirty little critters- I mean come on...they poop everywhere.....
So Poppi had been dealing with ants and the mouses! He actually put some powder used mainly for agriculture..in the house, and of course I freaked out about it..I hate poison, in spray, in powder....I mean since I let them poison me with chemo (yes it's poison- the point is to kill fast growing cells which is why your hair falls out- so it must be poisoning me all over), so now I am totally paranoid about any kind of poison. I wiped most of it up with wet paper towels holding my breath...I went out to the shed and wrote down what the sack said, then looked it up in English. It's pretty common and also used in indoor stuff like Raid (which I hate), so I'm probably ok...maybe. So the ants are gone the mouses are not gone. They merely change paths. They sound like miniature construction workers out in the kitchen at nite. The ointments and lotions are in sealed bags and are now untouched. They seem mostly to be out on the kitchen counters, altho I think maybe in some drawers...yuck. So today we bought mouse traps- interesting we had to go to 4 places...although in place #2 they had the kind that is a glue strip. We both agreed we did not want that. Came home and he set out 4, and in about 6 hours now, we've already caught 2. Everardo said a boy and a girl- and I said how can you tell and he said the boy had balls like this!! and he cupped his hands! ha ha ha hah!!
I missed my beach living. The ocean immediately offers me serenity when I sit quietly and watch it. I finally got out this meditation set of cds I bought right before we left for Mexico 2 years ago. Yes!! We left the first Monday in June- the 4th, 2012 and arrived in our first home down south a week later. That was also on the Pacific, but now we are on a bay, and so the waves are not crashing, not huge, and because we are much further north, the water is not as warm. I came home with a cold, so I gave myself until Monday to restart my exercise and stricter eating. I did dance/walk 3 days this week, including today, but have not started back to the weights, although I'm excited to begin again. Mexico is my home. I love it here. It's crazy and interesting, the same as anywhere I think. I'm excited to resume my plan of health and learning...I only worked on my Spanish once this week, but that felt good as well. I hope to reflect and then hopefully write about who I am after 2 years in Mexico, sometime in the next few days. I have been reflecting, I kind of do it all the time, especially after visiting up in Calif and coming back. I have changed, but don't we all change, all the time? I think, if not for my daughters I would be happy to stay here forever....ha ha but that thought will probly also change at some point.
Hmmm how many traps will I hear snap tonite???
Viva
We still kept most stuff out of the cupboards and have given up on cereal...somehow they still broke into the plastic jugs. So I left on my trip. I forgot about ants.....
I talked to Everardo on the phone. He was laughing so hard trying to tell me. He noticed something fall onto the keyboard of his laptop- he looked closer, and it was ants! He looked up and there was a thick line of ants walking across the beam on the ceiling, heading for a plastic bag hanging on a knob, filled with individual packs of Ritz crackers- you know the rolls with about 20 cracker in the- they had been in a bigger box we bought a Costco, but that box had been filled with ants by the first day. Our ceiling is probly 8 feet at the most- I can a;most touch it, and he can for sure. The ants were falling over each other and down onto my husband, his chair and his computer! He bought some stuff we heard about that was odorless, and put it around outside, and I suspect, inside. I haven't seen any ants since I got home, but the last couple of nites I've gotten back up after going to bed because of the noise.....mice.
So Poppi told me oh yeah we have a mouse problem as well. But they are very small. Yeah well they leave what we politely call mouse droppings everywhere. Mouse poop. Why do they poop so much? Do they poop as soon as they eat something? Or do they just poop everywhere all the time? I needed the A&D ointment; I got a new tattoo in Calif...well a couple actually and needed it. Ok side story about the tattoo:
The first full day I was there I went to "my" tattoo guy, at Eye Spy Tattoos. It is the only place I have ever gone, and Tim is the only tattooist? Is it tattooist? Or simply tattoo guy? Anyway Tim has done all my tattoos. I got the first one when I was 50 years old; I called it my freedom tattoo. It was right after I became single after being married for 15 years. I don't know, I had been thinking about a tattoo for some time, and once I was single- well I answered to me. I actually went down to the place- and now I don't remember who told me about him, maybe my daughter...and I went just to look. I wanted a dragonfly. He was not busy and grabbed my arm and drew one on with a pen and said "like this?". Yeah exactly like that! I wanted it to be purple and green, and put it on my left arm, inside the forearm (between my elbow and wrist). I got it right then. I loved it! Ha ha a week later I was back and on the other arm got a peace sign...and then it was on. My left arm has a ring of dragonflies now, and a vine winding thru them, and the words "vive in el momento" and a couple of tiny dragonflies in the vines. All of it is probly less than 6 inches wide from right below my elbow. My other arm is a different story. At first it was just peace signs, then a world with a peace sign in it, and then the word "peace" in English, Arabic, Spanish, Russian and Japanese, in different colors and fonts, and the words Let peace begin with me. Oh and 2 birds in a heart with a peace sign, which I later added some sunburst stuff to....I also have the words esperanza and acceptance.
And now I have a penguin, a very small penguin down near my wrist with his arms out saying "oh well" in honor of my mom. It says Elly underneath. She always said "oh well" sometimes long and drawn out like oooooh weellllll in her later years. The penguin is about at the end, when she was, well I guess hallucinating, about people, about what was happening around her, and she pulled me close to say she didn't like how they were treating the penguins and we said we'd get right on it. Even though it was hard, we laughed alot with her at the end. At one point she wanted Captain Jack to be in charge, and we'd train all the baby animals, and then charge people to see them do tricks....Oh and we never did find out who Captain Jack was....some mysterious person from her past? And no not the Captain Jack from Pirates of the Caribbean, we asked that right off and she indignantly told us NO! She always wanted to look her best for him, and talked to me about that fluttery feeling when HE walks in...it was like we were two girls in high school that afternoon. Love you mommy. So the penguin thing stuck- with me anyhow. They have become special to me. And they always always make me think of her.
Ok so three days before I came home I got another tattoo. On my right shoulder, so although there is a lot of open space, I basically have tattoos on my whole arm. I got flowers- oranges and reds- I wanted something bright, and with- of course- a couple of dragonflies (ooops they've migrated to the other arm), but you have to look for them, they look like flowers, it is an amazing tattoo and I love it. However, it is the biggest one I ever got, and I have to keep it covered with ointment and out of the sun. It's now a week and a half, so it's healed pretty much, but shit- I live at the beach with alot of hot direct sun, so I'm trying to cover it up when I go outside. I told someone my tattoos are a 50's thing. But I realize I need to say it differently. They are not from the 50's. I am not stuck in the 50's (maybe the 60/70's since I wear tye dye all the time, one earring or maybe 2 different ones -which really comes from losing one of a pair and always my favorites). No, the tattoos are a thing of my 50's... when I turn 60 in a few years I will be done. I might be done now....but naaaa...I thinkin' more flowers....So anyway....at my daughter's house I used her A&D ointment....ah ha! See how I finally came full circle?
I knew we had a big tube of A&D at home, hubby uses it on his poor feet that get dry and cracked, me for tattoos etc. BUT- when I opened the drawer.....at least 6 bites marks in each tube!! It wouldn't be so bad if we used for non broken skin....but -and I'll now have to google it- mice carry dieseases! They are dirty little critters- I mean come on...they poop everywhere.....
So Poppi had been dealing with ants and the mouses! He actually put some powder used mainly for agriculture..in the house, and of course I freaked out about it..I hate poison, in spray, in powder....I mean since I let them poison me with chemo (yes it's poison- the point is to kill fast growing cells which is why your hair falls out- so it must be poisoning me all over), so now I am totally paranoid about any kind of poison. I wiped most of it up with wet paper towels holding my breath...I went out to the shed and wrote down what the sack said, then looked it up in English. It's pretty common and also used in indoor stuff like Raid (which I hate), so I'm probably ok...maybe. So the ants are gone the mouses are not gone. They merely change paths. They sound like miniature construction workers out in the kitchen at nite. The ointments and lotions are in sealed bags and are now untouched. They seem mostly to be out on the kitchen counters, altho I think maybe in some drawers...yuck. So today we bought mouse traps- interesting we had to go to 4 places...although in place #2 they had the kind that is a glue strip. We both agreed we did not want that. Came home and he set out 4, and in about 6 hours now, we've already caught 2. Everardo said a boy and a girl- and I said how can you tell and he said the boy had balls like this!! and he cupped his hands! ha ha ha hah!!
I missed my beach living. The ocean immediately offers me serenity when I sit quietly and watch it. I finally got out this meditation set of cds I bought right before we left for Mexico 2 years ago. Yes!! We left the first Monday in June- the 4th, 2012 and arrived in our first home down south a week later. That was also on the Pacific, but now we are on a bay, and so the waves are not crashing, not huge, and because we are much further north, the water is not as warm. I came home with a cold, so I gave myself until Monday to restart my exercise and stricter eating. I did dance/walk 3 days this week, including today, but have not started back to the weights, although I'm excited to begin again. Mexico is my home. I love it here. It's crazy and interesting, the same as anywhere I think. I'm excited to resume my plan of health and learning...I only worked on my Spanish once this week, but that felt good as well. I hope to reflect and then hopefully write about who I am after 2 years in Mexico, sometime in the next few days. I have been reflecting, I kind of do it all the time, especially after visiting up in Calif and coming back. I have changed, but don't we all change, all the time? I think, if not for my daughters I would be happy to stay here forever....ha ha but that thought will probly also change at some point.
Hmmm how many traps will I hear snap tonite???
Viva
