Ok, a bit more on recent activities and we'll start with another of my painting projects. I have been adding some character to the house one wall at a time, it was all yellow all the time and much like living in a cube of butter - so, I'm fixing that. Of course the initial "statement" was the big wall I painted deep lavender, no flinching there (it just took several coats to get it done). Encouraged by the transformation and not discouraged by the owners the stairway was next and I began to develop a technique of mixing down a color, adding some Selador (sealer) and sponging it on over the yellow. It usually takes 3 coats, but the results are very good, so after the green I did the main upstairs room in an orange/red and then some of the lavender on a couple walls here in the bar/office area, all with good results.

Now, the truth be told, my neighbor, the artist, helped me with the colors, I'm not color blind, just color stupid. I suppose it's no big surprise being the basic sort of guy I am, I understand red, white and blue, I understand red, white and green (MX flag), I've done black, white and gray etc., but the nuance of taupe, puce and mauve elude me totally. So, with my neighbor as a crutch I looked at the wall and ceiling beam in the bar and it really "needed" some help and so in our recent paint acquisition safari to get the casita colors I took a piece of fabric from a picture I made and tried to match it - well, it wasn't that close, but I figured "what the heck, it's color and this IS Mexico - go with it".

The color was somewhat of a deep reddish maroon (the key word here is "reddish") and while not very close to the fabric scrap I decided to use it in the bar. Mixing up my witch's brew I masked and attacked the wall. I've learned to not worry about the first coat, it always looks pretty anemic - this one was on que. In fact, it looked fairly pink, not "pretty" pink, just fairly - I wasn't concerned. A second coat brought out more character, but at this point another factor came into play, surface texture. This house is a composite of many years and many workman and each room, sometimes each wall, and even parts of each wall, vary in texture from lumpy/bumpy to spikey/pointy and a surface the devil could love.

The wall in question was of the latter, spikey and as I sponged, it was shredding the sponge leaving a trail of foam fragments below my work - I wasn't worried. A third coat had now gone from pink to red, not the maroon I expected/wanted, but just the base red and it wasn't flowing over the bumpy parts leaving yellow exposed, it was filling all the little hills and valleys with a deepening red? - now I was getting concerned, but maybe it would dry a different color - it did, DEFINITELY REDDER. I tried adding one more coat to no avail?

It's not a bad color, but not what I was looking for, but it is what it is red wall in barand Chris's quilt looks good on it, so not all was lost.

Next I eyed a similar half wall and overhead beam in the bedroom for the next project. After not being able to match the maroon fabric I took it with me on the recent trip to TX and gave it to Home Depot to "read" with their computer - they couldn't read it? But, we picked a color that looked close and I bought a Qt. to smuggle back into MX.

Thinking I knew what went wrong on the last "reddish" wall I first ran sandpaper over the wall lightly to knock off the spikes and then sealed it with a coat of Selador (one of my first mistakes). I began the mixing process and applied the first coat - very pink, but I wasn't worried, you can't fool me. I applied a second coat which began the shift to red? - but, I still wasn't worried. I applied a third coat and it deepened the red, now I was beginning to worry as the yellow base had now mostly disappeared, no bumps, not much variation, just a deepening red.

To shorten the story I applied coats four and five with little change. I think because of the base coat of Selador it couldn't soak into the yellow base and each subsequent coat of sponged Selador/color simply added a somewhat glossy deepening translucent color, something like multiple layers of candy apple (but not as pretty in this case).

At coat six (yes) I got out the brush and laid it on heavy - little change. So, finally in desperation I got the can of deep maroon and put on a coat of pure color, but only to the underside of the beam and end of the wall (just in case) - it was strange, when you made a brush stroke it looked blue, but when it dried it took on an ox blood color? I pulled the tape, cleaned up and went to the other room to organize my sock drawer.

After thinking about it for a couple of days I decided to paint a coat of white on the underside of the beam and start over. To make a four coat story short - it's not really much different. So, it is the color it is and my conclusion is that red based paints react differently when thinned.
It's a bit different and more what I wanted, so I may repaint the wall white and do it again, but not this week.

Part dos (2) of the story is gatitos - yes, kittens. In the Spring two kittens arrived, the little female was totally black, silky long hair, except the toes of her right back foot are white. I called her Midnight as the darkest part of night beginning to lighten to a new day. I suppose I should have called her "5 minutes past Midnight" - but? So, even though wild she was more friendly and purred on the spot when I fed her (yes, amazing how that works, that was Chris's talent, she could teach any animal to eat).

Next is a lesson in animal husbandry - cats can (and do) get pregnant at a VERY early age. My neighbor kept saying "she's getting a bulge" and I kept saying "but she's only a baby" - and of course she was correct (what would a bachelor know?). So, the poor little thing was just a baby herself and now she's starting to waddle and while somewhat tame, she wasn't a lap cat by any stretch of the imagination, however she seemed to take a liking to me.

While I was gone to TX/CO my neighbor, who was taking care of everyone, put out some boxes around the pool area flower beds hoping she would take to one of them as a nest rather than have the kittens outside the compound. On the Friday after my return I noticed some "movement" in her mid body and figured it was probably contractions (well, I've heard about them). I summoned my neighbor and we decided to contain her in the bodega where she was screened in. We put out the usual VCR box and towels etc. and about 4pm we began the birth watch, well, actually my neighbor did, Max and I went to watch TV - well, isn't that proper protocol? - let me know when it's over, 'ya hear.

Maybe around 6pm the first one was born and, Midnight is such a small cat and this being her first (and ONLY, I guarentee) litter, we were worried, but all was progressing as things have for tens of thousands of years without our help for the most part. She had four and seemed to do all the right things and about 9pm we decided it was over. The next morning one didn't make it, so three rather sizable kittens with very similar gray and white marking (immediately identifying the father Shorty, before his trip to the vet) were doing fine.

We kept her in the bodega for several days and then moved her to the casita where my neighbor could fawn over them like any Grandmother would, all was well.

Then on the 30th of Oct my neighbor had to return to Canada leaving Max and me with nursery duties? All I remember about that is 42 years in the past, you feed them, you change them and tell the mother how pretty her kids are - right? Well, don't have to feed or change this bunch, so that narrows it down some, but Max is even more a bachelor than me. This morning when we went over to feed Midnight and clean up the litter box etc and Midnight (who has now totally transformed into a lover and is approaching lap cat status) rubbed against Max, I guess just wanting love and admiration for the little ones, he remembers her as a kitten whom he used to play and wrestled with and started batting at her like he used to? - I hollered at him "MAX" - he looked at me like "what did I do????".

So, here we are with 3 poco gatitos who are cute for sure, probably long hair, who knows what happens next? Larry, Moe & Curly

So it goes in Tortillaville.