You know how the ebb and flow of life can turn into more flow than ebb? - well, so it is in "retirement" - to be sure, some days are diamonds, some are stones (why did I imagine this would be different than the first 65 years?).

I know these mini-adventures are coming in two's, but hey, I just report them like they happen to me, they say "life is 80% what happens to you and 20% what you do about it" - or, maybe it's the other way round, actually I think it is? - but I digress.

In the normal course of human events things have conspired to make this a really great day. I've been having problems with Sweet, one of my rascal outside cats who wants to come inside every chance he gets including coming across the vine covered black hole between me and the Casa Nostra. He'd jump up on the deck and Max's cat door is open onto the upper deck at night (and to be honest, Max and he are buddies so I think Max encourages it) and then I'd have an outside cat inside. After several temporary experiments I opted to have some screen panels made and then I made brackets and (over) engineered the whole thing and put it in place Monday - I was more than pleased with myself, it looked great, I was sure of it's success and slept well that night knowing Sweet was on the far side of the gato screen.

Tuesday morning arrived and this was in expectation of Chuy, the fixit guy, coming to replace some old pool valves as reported in the previous thread. But, before he arrived I started to get false alarms from the security sensor up on the deck. Now, normally it means some ants have decided to take up residence, but this time I saw no ants, took the sensor unit inside and disassembled, no ants? After much thought I decided the new gato screens, which are framed in dark aluminum, were being heating up with the, finally visible, sun (it's been really rainy lately) and setting off the alarm.

By that time Chuy had arrived and "we" began the surgery down in the bottom of a 4' deep pit, wet, dank, rather dark, spider infested (even though sprayed) and generally a very tight uncomfortable place to work - for Chuy that is, of course I was the "el Jefe" (boss). So, after it was obvious the old leaking valves would have to be replaced he started cutting and extracting the "diseased" parts. He does great work and got everything but one connection completed yesterday and came this morning to do the 5 minute final connect.

Today so far, I have no rain, I have no leaks in the pool house and so I turned my full attention to getting all my computers to network together, something that has eluded me for a month now - and shaazam, I did that also, all 4 computers working as they should. Well, my gosh, it wasn't even 11am and I had more success than I could hope to imagine.

Besides feeling good about signing the casa lease for another year, there were all these blessings, so I headed to WalMart for a bit of shopping. Now, you have to understand that in a Mexican WalMart, when you come in the front doors, you will be faced with an island of something electronic and usually LOUD! - it's their thing? Today as I entered the unmistakable island was there and today it had laptop computers - hohum. As stated, I already have more than my legal limit. But, I did notice the especial was a small "netbook" for $3,400p which is a pretty good deal because in MX, what you see advertised ALWAYS includes tax, unlike the States where you think you have a good deal until you get to the register and add in everyone's cut from Uncle Sam to State, Local and etc hangers on et al.

I shopped, got a few things including coffee and I needed coffee filters. Now, you would imagine logically that "filters" would be next to the coffee, I mean really, what the heck could you use a coffee filter for anyway, a parachute for a hedgehog? - but, silly me, I forgot, this IS MX and the filters are clear back on the far side of the store from the coffee, they are next to the coffee makers in the equally illogical appliance section. (Sorry) So, I drag my little tow basket back across the store to get filters and pass by the computer island again - hmmm? - that is a good price, but then I need another computer like I need another (you fill in the blank).

I head for the register, checkout and head home - but, that $3,400p is stuck in the back of my head, all of which is leading to two things, stupidity in retirement and living in MX with a varying dollar to peso.

I unloaded the car, but left the sunroof open and the windows down, the kiss of death because it means subconsciously I'm still going somewhere later today. I came up and looked at the exchange rate, this is something you become keenly aware of when living "off shore" because it can vary significantly, fortunately for the last year or two it has been in our favor, so normally we assume it's 10 pesos for every dollar, makes the math easy so when you go into to get toothpaste and it says $23 pesos you mentally read it as $2.30 - ok, not bad. But, a year ago when it went to 15:1 for a short time, that same $23 pesos actually only cost you $1.54 USD. Now, that's a deal s,o today we're at 13:1 and I had put some dollars in the bank at a slightly lower exchange rate just last month, so, in any case the $3,400p laptop actually was only about $265 USD (including tax).

Well, you can see where my mind was going, I dredged up all the justifications and reasons "why," looked online to see American prices etc. and finally simply said  (ladies, I know you will relate to this) "IT'S TOO GOOD A DEAL TO PASS UP EVEN IF I DON'T NEED IT" - right?

Now, I figure it's in keeping with my super day, my "diamond" that I'm already having and it must be divine providence - well, there wasn't a note on the table saying "DON'T BUY THE PC"? - so I hopped in the jeep and just for grins I took the back way to Wallys.

Now, the usual way would be to head to the Carretera (highway) and go a mile and half west to Wally, but I elected, feeling so good, to go through San Antonio Tlayacapan to the west of me and enjoy the local ambiance which BTW is getting nice and green, the mountains are lush and it's looking great. So, I bump up 3 blocks on dirt covered cobblestones, hang a left on the curving alley, for the most part, which takes me bumping and bouncing along into San Antonio.

I must set the scene, this is a "main" E/W street in the village that takes you right into the square. It's lined on both sides, for blocks, with wall to wall houses, the street is essentially 2 cars wide and of course one lane is already taken up with parked cars, so as you drive you looks blocks ahead to see if anyone is coming and as you near each other it becomes a "Mexican standoff" - well, it does! You play a rather placid game of chicken where you look to see who is going to get to a place between parked cars, or an intersection first and pull off so the two of you can pass - all very exciting.

Today I'm bumping along the cobbleboulders enjoying life and a ways ahead, on my side, are parked cars and on the left, a "parked" horse - ah yes, you often see horses here, most have riders, not all, and of course you often see cows, always riderless. So, a bus is coming toward us and there's no way he can get through, so he honks and a fellow comes out of a small business and mounts the horse and coaxes him to the other side between some parked cars so the bus can pass. I'm sitting back watching this whole thing with an increasingly big smile on my face, totally enjoying this whole scene. So, the bus passes and I start to move ahead, but the guy moves back over into the clear lane next to the curb and a kid comes out of the store and swings up behind the rider and they calmly ride on past me - now, be honest, when is the last time you enjoyed the pageantry and daily flowing waltz between cars, horses, buses etc.? - it's a trip, really.

As I passed them I had a big smile on my face, I waved, they waved back and life went on. I continued on past my turn and into La Floresta, totally enjoying the day, Mexico and even the cobblestones - really?

Of course I bought the little PC, it's sitting on the pool table, I haven't even opened it, I'm afraid the magic will escape - but there is no escaping the magic of this day in Mexico, it's a keeper for sure and too good not to enjoy to the max.