We rarely see clouds in Tucson - but the monsoons are upon us and so there are some unusual sights in the sky. I took this photo from the backyard. We should have rain shortly.
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02Jul
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01Jul
Yunuen and I returned from Michoacan last night. We left late Thursday night to head to Nogales to pick up her parents. Unfortunately, on the way down, we discovered an electrical short in my truck which eventually stranded us on the side of the highway. Her parents made their way to us and we ended up getting the vehicle to their house in Mexico with little problem (its still there though).
We had intended to take my truck to Hermosillo (capital of Sonora) where we were to catch our flight to Guadalajara, but that was no longer an option. We therefore caught a bus instead that departed at 12.30am. We arrived in Hermosillo around 4am and took a cab to the airport for our 6.55am departure.We arrived safely in Guadalajara where we met a friend of Yun’s family who was willing to lend us a car to drive to Michoacan. Guadalajara is the second largest city in Mexico with a population that exceeds 4 million (Mexico city is over 9 million). It is huge and the traffic is crazy. We went out to eat at a place that specialized in ram meat. This was my first (and last) time eating ram - what an odd thing to put on a menu.
We made it to Yun’s aunt’s house in Morelia later on Friday evening. We woke early on Saturday morning to visit the market. There were incredible deals to be found at the market. We bought a kilo of blackberries for a small amount of change, along with a number of other exotic fruits I had never seen or heard about.
We also bought some flowers and a few kilos of really tasty (and different) cheese. If we end up moving to this area some day, we would be able to eat quite well and quite healthy for a small amount of money.Later on Saturday we headed off to the village of Las Canoas to view some land we are interested in buying. Las Canoas is on a beautiful mountain among groves of eucalyptus trees overlooking an enormous lake below in the valley. The road was a little rough and the journey a bit longer than I had anticipated (it took about an hour from Morelia). But it was certainly worth it.
We have intentions to buy a few hectares of land (~6-10 acres) in this village in the next few months if all goes according to plan. If we cannot get this particular land, then we hope to be able to go back in a couple months and find other land.
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20Jun
I went to an indoor range this morning with Ben and Jeff. It was great to be able to shoot my new glock given that I have had it for quite a few months now. The cost of ammo for a .40 is still ridiculously expensive (over 40 cents a round), so the possibility of reloading exists for future shooting. I am not thrilled with the indoor range. It is a lot louder than the outdoor range. I do like the electronic retrieval on the targets though. This particular range was $10 for the day. For $9, you can use their guns (as many different varieties as you wish). I might do this prior to purchasing any more hand guns.
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07Jun
Ben and Lis came over on Friday night for some homemade pizza that was cooked on the grill. It was surprisingly good! Yun tells me they cook much faster than in the oven and in my opinion they taste a lot better than when they are cooked in the oven.
On Saturday night, we went to Jesus and Krystal’s house for Jesus’ graduation party. There was mariachi and carne asada (same taco guys that did Yun’s b-day party). It was awesome. Jesus made some ridiculously good margaritas.
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05Jun
Yun and I were invited over to Ross and Susie’s for some awesome Thai food last night. Matt and Dana, who have been staying with us for the last few weeks, were there along with Ben and Lis. It was Ben’s birthday yesterday as well and the dinner was certainly a great way to celebrate. Susie doesn’t mess around with the spices.
After dinner we had a chance to smoke outside. Matt had brought me a sweet Cuban Romeo y Julieta that I had enjoyed immensely. I have smoken a lot of cigars in the last couple weeks - probably more than I have smoked in the last couple years. My humidor holds over 200 and I have hoped to clear it out for some time - it’s nice to actually make progress on that front.
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24May
We woke early this morning to head out for some diving and snorkeling. Krystal was my diving partner and is master diver certified. The water temperature was ideal (with a shorty) and the visibility was not too bad (about 15 feet).
There was a rich diversity of sea life. The first interesting thing we saw was a large porcupine puffer fish. We saw one washed up on the shore yesterday, but seeing one swimming around was neat. We saw another one later in the dive as well.
Another first for me that we saw was a green moray eel. It looked a lot like an underwater snake and as we chased after it, it seemed to turn and hiss (silently) at me. It was probably the most interesting thing I saw today.
We saw a lot of beautiful fish - like the opal eye fish, bright yellow snapper, cortez angelfish, and a few sting rays. Krystal pointed out a really cool looking nudibranch which are small and easy to miss.
I came to realize what an air hog I am - I consumed 1000 psi more air than Krystal on the same dive.
Yun and I seem to see a lot of dogs on beaches lately - here’s one we saw today:
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23May
We arrived here in San Carlos last night. The picture above is of our condo (the one in the center). It has two floors, with two balconies that have a great view of the ocean. This is probably the nicest (and largest) place we have ever stayed at here. All the better in light of it being one of the least expensive places we’ve stayed as well.
We had some nice tarps to wrap everything up on the roof - which was a good thing given we did hit some rain on the way down. Having everything on the roof made for a much more comfortable ride.
Today we have spent the majority of the day at the beach. The water is unusually warm and very comfortable. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. There have been quite a bit of jelly fish - Tila ate one and then threw up the entire contents of her stomach about 30 seconds later. Yun was also stung by one on the foot which was painful. Despite the jelly fish, we had a lot of fun in the water, as did the dogs. Jeff and Beth brought their Irish Terrier Walcott. They spent hours swimming in the water retrieving toys.
Later we visited the estuary that is near us and found a lot of crabs - unfortunately not big enough for dinner. We are having carne asada tacos for dinner tonight which will undoubtedly be awesome. Krystal and I intend on going diving early tomorrow morning which I am really looking forward to.
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18May
My mom is currently in Uganda and sent me some neat photos. She’s pretty easy to find in the photo below.
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17May
It’s 2:07am and Yunuen and I are driving back from Mexico. We just left her family in Nogales at a graduation party for Gabriel who recently completed his engineering degree. We had a lot of fun, despite Tecate being the only available beverage.
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16May
Yun and I headed up to Catalina Foothills Church after work tonight to meet a number of pastors that are affiliated with BEAMM for a dinner. We met a lot of very interesting people working in various places along the border. We were sitting at a table with Sr. Aaron Zapata who is a professor and vice-president of San Pablo Seminary in Juarez. Yunuen asked Sr. Zapata if he was a theonomist (her attempt at humor) which immediately initiated a lengthy discussion on the topic. Sr. Zapata was educated at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi and was well studied. He even pursuaded Yun to translate a particular English work to Spanish.
Below is a picture of me with Sr. Zapata and his wife Leticia with Miguel and me.
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11May
We spent the weekend in Mexico - a decision that came late Saturday night. It is always nice to get out of town, particularly after a stressful week at work. We had chilaquiles for breakfast which are always good (though seem to take forever to make). Miguel, Obed, and Josue came over to Yun’s parent’s house for carne asada along with their families. Carne asada remains my favorite meal and this was no exception!
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10May
I have recently begun Frederic Bastiat’s 2 volume set published by the Von Mises Institute that comprise his major writings with my reading group. Bastiat was a French economist and a proponent of a free-market. Murray Rothbard once commented, “Bastiat was indeed a lucid and superb writer, whose brilliant and witty essays and fables to this day are remarkable and devastating demolitions of protectionism and of all forms of government subsidy and control. He was a truly scintillating advocate of an untrammeled free market.” I have enjoyed his writings immensely and find it immediately relevant to our economic situation today.Here is a quote from a segment I have recently read:
“It is in the nature of men to rise against the injustice of which they are the victims. When, therefore, plunder is organized by law, for the profit of those who perpetrate it, all the plundered classes tend, either by peaceful or revolutionary means, to enter in some way into the manufacturing of laws. These classes, according to the degree of enlightenment at which they have arrived, may propose to themselves two very different ends, when they thus attempt the attainment of their political rights; either they may wish to put an end to lawful plunder, or they may desire to take part in it.”
“It is so much in the nature of law to support justice, that in the minds of the masses they are one and the same. There is in all of us a strong disposition to regard what is lawful as legitimate, so much so that many falsely derive all justice from law. It is sufficient, then, for the law to order and sanction plunder, that it may appear to many consciences just and sacred. Slavery, protection, and monopoly find defenders, not only in those who profit by them, but in those who suffer by them. If you suggest a doubt as to the morality of these institutions, it is said directly — “You are a dangerous innovator, a utopian, a theorist, a despiser of the laws; you would shake the basis upon which society rests.”
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29Apr
Today was our friend Beto’s 23rd birthday - so we had plenty of Pacificos and Coronas! Mexicans have this unfortunate tradition of smashing the birthday person’s face in the cake - which as you can see from the photos below, wasn’t missed.
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26Apr
This is a common sight when we come home. We can’t seem to figure out a way to discourage them from habitating outside our front door. We found some in the garage earlier today too. Fortunately, they’re normally not interested in coming inside (but there have been a few exceptions!).
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25Apr
Our dogs appear to be pretty healthy. We brush their teeth and clean their ears regularly. We brush their coats every day. We exercise them regularly (we call them blood runs because their feet sometimes are not in the best shape after 5-10 miles at a sprint in the desert). And we feed them really well.
When we adopted Scout, we were told he was used to eating Nutro’s Lamb and Rice which I highly doubt given the price (nearly $50/bag) and we adopted him from a resuce shelter. Nonetheless, we bought the Nutro and have continued doing so for over a year now.
The Nutro goes a lot further and is enjoyed a lot more as we mix the following crock pot concotion with each bowl of the dry dog food.
1 lb of chicken gizzards
1 lb of chicken livers
5 potatoes (2 russets and 3 reds)
1 cup of rice
1/4 cup bacon grease
You can see this adds up to only a few dollars and the amount it makes is sufficient to last a week and a half when added to their dry food (we feed them each twice a day, so 4/bowls daily). This makes the expensive dry food last substantially longer. Not only that, but they love it.
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