Hail No!

Not the most in-focused picture (it was really dark), but we had such intense hail it looked like snow. Suzaku went out to bite it, but found that it bites back!

All of my potted plants sitting in my courtyard were smashed to smithereens. Oh well.

All Fixed Up

He seems okay, despite having lost his testicles and being all itchy from the surgery and having to wear a cone for a week. Suzaku's such an easy-going dog -- so much the opposite of the White Dog.

Furniture

With only a few months left in Mexico, we have a number of things left that we need to either see or purchase before we leave. We're having more furniture custom made. So far, we've had the table, 6 chairs, the red games cabinet/sideboard, and the console table made to our specifications. In the pipeline we still have 10 dining room chairs and a dining room sideboard. We'll see what we order next or if Raul outs his foot down and declares the house Full.

Metepec

Metepec in Mexico State is famous for their Tree of Life. A group of us ladies from church made the trek there to stock up on some Arboles de Vida and enjoy the lovely surroundings and company.




We took a sort of awkward way home.

This is what I brought home.

Pewter Factory

I've spent a great deal of money at the pewter store (BMT Regalos), but this was my first time seeing how it is made. When my tour was over, I then took my greater appreciation and converted it to more shiny things to put in my home.

Chicken Truck

As seen in front of us coming back from the grocery store -- a truckbed filled with ice and dead chickens.

Follow the Mariposas Home

We took our final trip to see the Monarch Butterflies. While there, we found that different groups of butterflies alternate their hibernation location, and that the butterflies currently at the sanctuary were from the Appalachians in North Carolina and Virginia. This summer, these butterflies and my family will all migrate home to the same place.

The Only One We Found

One Sunday morning, while the girls were upstairs playing, we heard much horrific screaming, and Zorra shouted that Nevara had been stung by a scorpion. I ran upstairs to survey the situation, and had Nevara describe what had happened. She told that while playing in Zorra's room, a big (2 inches long) brown scorpion ran out and stung her on the foot before running under Zorra's bed. Since the brown ones are not really considered deadly venomous, I wasn't too worried, but needing to have it handy just in case and knowing that Zorra would never sleep in her room again if there were a scorpion running loose, I set out to find the thing. Eventually, I found this little guy. He's about 2 cm long and was located right where Nevara said she had been stung. But she maintained that that couldn't be it --hers was much larger.

Her foot looked like she had a little bee sting, and a few hours later, she was all fine. We kept the scorpion in a sandwich bag for a few days (where it remained alive with no help from us) until Nevara took it to school where her teacher tossed it out in disgust.

Check That Off the List

First Day of 2011

Often when we drive down Reforma, we see this lake in Chapultepec Park, and we say, "Before we leave Mexico, we should go visit that lake." Well, we've now visited Lago Menor, so we can go home now.

Ice blocks getting ready for vendors to sell drinks.

Chapultepec Castle off on the horizon.

Finally, we stopped by the grocery store for some lunch, and made use of their facilities. This sign in the women's bathroom reads, "Please wash your hands before and after going to the bathroom." Why before? Is there something dangerous that you might pick up while handling food that might contaminate your lady bits when you wipe? Should I know this before I eat anymore food from this place?