Hello everyone, from Mexico

[garryr]

Hello everyone,
well now that I am logged in and here, I felt I should at least say "Hi", I saw a notice about a PM, in my e-mail, and wanted to see what that was about.
I haven't been here for sometime, been real busy, but also have installed a new OS on my computer, and to loggin I needed to look for my password,etc,.. so any way, now I have it back to where it is "automatic" when I want to visit, I am logged in automaticly.
I don't have as "big" of a tobaco crop. as I did last year, well maybe it is a little to early to say for sure on that. Mostly it is just Rustica that I have planted,If I do get the chance I will send some photos to my grwo blog later.
I am no longer working at the "stone factory" basicly I am now "retired" and here at home all the time, but the wife is not letting me "retire" she has a endless list of chores for me, I guess to catch up on all the years ,when I was working, and not home much,..if that makes sense.
On my tobacco, well, it has been keeping me real busy too, especially when we had over a month with no "running" water, the only way to keep the plants alive, was to drive , with the pick up, to the river, all though only about 10 miles, the road is terrible, so it is about a 2 hour trip, then 20 minuets or so to fill the water tanks, and 2 hours return, ...I almost gave up, to much trouble, but anyway we now have water most of the time,so everything is looking better, and life is a little easier.
Hope everyone else is doing just fine, and I will try to get back later.
from Garry

 

[MarcL]

sounds good. It is good to here from you. Keep in touch.

 

[Knucklehead]

Welcome back.

 

[rustycase]

Water certainly helps when trying to grow.
Glad you got that resolved.
You must be in an arid region of Mexico.
We would have nothing without the wells.
Groundwater is diminishing.
There is no river.
Best
rc

 

[garryr]

We would have nothing without the wells.

That certainly is true. Yes it is pretty "arid" here, and we depend on a well, even the well is not very close to the pueblo, it is compounded by the economic conditions, often, the "pueblo" is un-able to pay the electric bill, and the government, is slow to help on that, or the pump goes out, same, not enough money on hand to repair or replace, promptly,..much of this is/was due to mismanagement, on the part of the persons involved in collecting the money from everyone, when they pay the water "bill", and there is a whole bunch of "community members", that never do pay their bill. My brother in law, now, recently got the position of being in charge of the maintenance, and some changes are in the planning, it is a rather complicated situation, but really does not need to be complicated. One thing, is , they are going to start disconnecting the water, on the ones that refuse to pay their "bill" or share. That is only the ones that are simply,being "bums", in cases where it is a old couple, or person that is truly unable to work, we will "help" them, no one will cut off the water supply. There are many though, that are just "bums", they have plenty of money for beer, but don't want to work, nor pay their share, those are the ones that will get "cut off". Like I said it is a rather complicated situation. Any way one thing, good, like I mentioned, there is a reliable, river, not all that far from here, so there is water available, just not always easy to get. Fortunately I do have the pickup, I am working on getting a trailer,and putting a tank on it, ... some people, the only means they have when there is no running water, is using the burro (donkey), and maybe a cart, for them it is a all day trip to and from the river. I would try to put in my own well, but not only would that be extremely expensive, one needs a "permit" or permission from the government, and it is very unlikely we would be able to get that..

Groundwater is diminishing.

Not just "ground water", there is also a diminishing supply of "underground" water in many areas, and more wells or a additional well close by a existing one, can cause problems, this is why the Mexican government is very strict on giving anyone permission to put in a "deep well". Not counting the fact that the person that owned the well, would have a lot of "power" in a community, if they controlled the water. But that is a whole other topic,...Yes, It is arid and dry here, water is more valuable then gold,, you can not "drink" gold, you can not eat gold, gold will not grow corn,beans, nor tobacco, yes you can sell the gold, and have lots of money, but the same, one can not eat the money, nor drink it, and it won't do the plants any good. And in the fields,and desert here, you could be a millionaire, pockets full of money, when it gets down to it, there are not really any stores, well there are some, but out in the "wilds" no, no stores, where there is water , there are fields, and there is corn,beans, tomatoes, onions, etc,...and the river has fish. Most every one has a few cows,cattle, some sheep or goats,..pigs,..none of those can use gold or eat money, well the sheep and goats, will eat paper, but,..any way, I am sure you all get what I am saying,.. Ok well, for now that is about it,.. This is my "back yard" last year, it still is about the same, We had a lot of rain, for a little while last year,

 

[Knucklehead]

It looks like trees are in short supply also.