Priorities And An Electric Blanket Test

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

First off, I want to thank everyone for the kudos on my September 16th photos of me in a suit.  I'm glad you enjoyed it but the suit is usually reserved for weddings and funerals.  I hate buying clothes and the worst part is trying them on.  It was tough for me that day but I did it anyway.  

Priorities.  I've heard a lot of complaints from people in the last couple of weeks about how bad the streets are in Monterrey.  I'm no exception.   A friend just returned from a week in the northeastern U.S. singing the praises of the United States and how nice everything looks and the fact that there was not even one pothole to be found.  A bit of an exaggeration but I can accept that.

My reply was simple.  Most of it is based on money.  The property tax in the state of Nuevo Leon is .15%.  In Texas the property tax is 2.87%.  So on a million pesos home the difference is 1500 pesos to 28,000 pesos.  Most people never pay their property tax and when they do it is because they are selling their house and the government always gives us a 15% discount if we pay the first month of the year.

In addition, only about 50% of Mexicans pay any income tax.  The other 50% are those that sell things in street markets, clandestine shops, street corners and of course that poor farmer who only works a few hours a day.   We call it the "informal" market.   

Last night we attended a cookout with family and friends and to watch a soccer match.  Everyone bitched about the streets, trash pick up, and public transportation.  I had to remind them that we just built a $55 million dollar soccer stadium and that exact amount would have paved every street in the Monterrey Metro area which is made up of nine municipalities.  Everything is a choice.  OTOH, if you live in the U.S. someone could write about all the taxes, rules, and the fact that your house can be foreclosed on if you don't pay your property taxes.  Here that would never happen because Pancho Villa would rise out of the grave.  BTW, the fanaticism is so great now over soccer that a great niece started crying because her daddy's team was losing.  Sad, sad situation.

Electric blankets.  Today I saw some ridiculous posts on Rv.Net about not being able to keep warm in winter and that you need a full blown generator running all night long to keep you warm.  It's raining here and very cloudy and dark.  I went out to the trailer and plugged the electric blanket into the inverter.   We use it on the lowest setting L (L to 10) and put it under the fitted sheet and sleep on top.  Works great all winter here in the house as well.   The batteries are not up to 100% but when I started the test they were at 12.6.   After six hours on a setting of  "2", the batteries had dropped to 12.4.   

Mix that with our Heater Buddy and you stay warm and toasty all night.  We were at 6500 feet in the rain and cold at Lake Botanie in Lytton, BC and it was -6C.  We had more than enough heat to keep us warm and toasty.  Only issue was the condensation.