The Big Chill - La Locura

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.como

The thermometer is dropping but not as quickly as I had thought.  This morning it was a balmy 23C and now it is hovering around 17C.  I just checked the weather in San Antonio and it has already hit there.  It is expected to drop to 7C tonight and then tomorrow through Sunday lows in the -1C to -3C.   Those are temps. for Monterrey.  Here on the ranch it could be as low as -5C so I am taking the usual precautions.  I usually stay in Monterrey on Wednesdays, but I don't want to leave the house alone not to mention the cats.  

I went to Home Depot today to buy some more tile cement and grout  (Crest y boquilla).  When I pulled into the parking lot all I could see were bobbing tubes of insulation.  You would think we were going to spend months in an arctic freeze.   Funny to watch people though.  Same thing when I went to the supermarket, mass panic.

I have covered the few exposed pipes and will put all the faucets on drip mode tomorrow night.   I'll also fire up the minisplits and keep them on low to keep the house warm during sleeping hours and run the gas heaters during the day.  

While I was at the HEB, I used the excuse of cold weather to buy some pan dulce.   The last couple of weeks I have seen a new product in the bakery section.  It looks like long flat rectangular bars with icing on them.   The icing is what attracts me.   So I picked one up and put it on my tray.  Felt more like a brick and could be used as a facade material on a house.  While I was in line, the woman behind me asked me what it was.  I told  her I wasn't sure but I thought it was the same dough used for marranitos, those little gingerbread pigs.  When it was my turn at the counter, I asked the girl bagging bread what it was.   To my surprise she said it was "recycled" bread.   Yes, recycled.  Instead of selling off the stale bread to pig farmers, etc., they grind it all up, add spices, nuts and raisins and put it through a press and then add the icing.  The outcome is a very tasty gingery type bread that is really quite good.

I finally figure out how to download a video to YouTube and then to Blogger.  Don't know why I struggled in the past, it is very easy.  Here is a sample from a trip we took to the south and back up Hwy 85 from southern Hidalgo.   Turtle Toad mentioned Hwy 85 today on Rv.Net.  We took it from Queretaro to Ciudad Valles in SLP.  It is high altitude mountain driving with lots of curves and winding roads.   We loved it, it was a blast although at times we were a bit leary.  Here it is:

Hot Springs at Aquismon, San Luis Potosi (Pueblo Magico)

Now I need to learn how to dress up the video with titles, background, music, etc.  Always a learning curve.