Cats who dare to set paw upon our property and partake of our hospitality
pay the price with a trip to Dr. Gaby. It's immoral to feed ferals without
sterilizing them because where there is food, there will be kittens. A
well-fed feral could, theoretically, produce three litters a year.
Therefore, when this striking and friendly little teenager showed up on the
doorstep, she received the bonus-tour of Dr. Gaby's clinic. And she was so
sweet and lovable, she became an indoor cat at SolMate Santiago. Briefly.
CooperCat in the (temporary) lap of luxury
Then her owner showed up and claimed her ... and in the same breath admitted
that the previous cat she had reclaimed in like manner was already dead.
The life span of cats fending for themselves in our neighborhood is short,
but it's paddling upstream against established culture to convince owners that
cats would live longer, better lives if kept indoors.
They call her Lolita, we call her Cooper. Whatever her name, she keeps
bouncing back to us. In deference to the owner's claim on her, she's still
living outside, but every time they take her home, in a few hours she's pussy-footed her way right back to our yard.
Acclimating
26 October
Kaiser in Linda's Bothell cupboard, preventing the packing
Although the road was undercut by flood and piled with mud, a herculean
effort opened ZLO airport access earlier than expected. Stan heard the rumor Wednesday afternoon and by that night I'd rebooked my original ticket for Saturday.
Since arriving home in Santiago I've been in a snit ... part of acclimating?
The house, of course, is chaos from construction upheaval, and filthy to boot; plus there are all the little irritants ...
The tinaco isn't functioning properly so there's no water at night, and sometimes all
day as well. Mosquitos have found every unscreened door. The ceiling
in the one clean spot I've carved out for myself is raining salitre on the bed
and the desk. Privacy is nil. The construction crew is working in
and out of the house dawn to dusk.
Although they're mostly young and cute and a pleasure to watch, they're
constantly here.
WAH
With the heat index in the 100s and the squalor in the house, my transition
has been neither classy nor gracious.
Knowing it's not going to be easy -- what with post-Jova stress -- the 4-day clinic will be held, as planned. We're going to need lots and lots of help, so please lend us a hand.
Email PATA to let us know
you can.
Rumors Abound
17 October
Manzanillo airport
So now the rumors are running rampant. One of the best is that, since the
access road is under water, there will be a water taxi service from the airport
to town. The locals are spoofing the rumors and fueling the fires, so the poor
uninitiated have no clue what's real and what's fabricated. The locals are
getting a big chuckle, making sport and adding to the confusion. The thread is in this forum.
As soon as the notice went out that the airport re-opened, I was on the phone with Alaska to re-book my original flight;
yea! I'm on my way home to summer -- what a great life.
Missed Flight
15 October
LAX to ZLO cancelled. The Manzanillo airport is flooded and not likely to
open for a week or two. Threw quite a monkey wrench into my travel plans.
I called less than six hours after Alaska Airlines found out about the closure,
but the next flight was booked and I can't get out until the 5th of November.
Hurricane Jova
14 October
Jova's destruction of the Santiago bridge,
which cut off traffic between us the rest of the city. The arroyo
dividing the town overflowed, washed away homes and is still running too high to
drive across. Bridges all over the city have been washed out.
The benign report about Jova in
Lectronic Latitude (last article) struck a sour note with
Stan and he couldn't resist writing the editor. With all the flooding and
destruction around our town, Stan took exception to the report that Jova was a non-event.
Much has been reported, via video and still photos, on the mass destruction
from wind and flood in our town. Here's another
series of photos
from around town that show Jova was definitely not a benign event.
Stan's going to be busy helping rescue and feed lost pets. Some pets
were left inside homes during the evacuation and subsequently drowned, but there
are many, many lost and injured animals who not only lost their homes, but their
peeps, too. PATA has mobilized to help.
The JIT Hurricane
6 September
Work on the palapa
Just in Time (JIT) Hilary is cruising past Manzanillo as work on the palapa roof resumed.
The palapa guys ran out of palm fronds last week, but were able to continue with
the roof when a new passel arrived ... just as Hilary peeked over the horizon to
test their work.
At this time, Friday evening, Hilary is still south of Manzanillo and a Cat
4, but fortunately she seems to be heading out to sea. She's a compact
little storm packing a big wallop. Stan's reporting thunder storms but no
strong winds.
This time of year the temperature of the Sea and the ocean off the Baja makes
prediction difficult because a hurricane will tend towards the warmth.
This is the time of year that storms re-curve into the Baja or up the Sea of
Cortez or even back at the mainland, following the warm ocean waters.
It's also the time of year that cruisers who've been summering in the Sea of
Cortez are itching to head south. Best to stay put, however, near the
hurricane holes and safety.
