Dressing up my front porch...

I've posted what the front of my house looks like before. The front porch is just a couple slabs of concrete which I tried to dress up with an outdoor rug, some plants and a couple of chairs. On Saturday morning, I was working in my office and heard a bunch of noise out front. So I went outside and found all this stonework sitting next to my porch.

My landlord decided he wanted to dress up the front porch, so who was I to say "no"? Here it is in progress. The two Mexican guys doing the work didn't want their picture taken, so they moved to the side when I came out with my camera. They did a great job...and were very fast.

Here's half of it finished...

And the rest of it when I got home tonight. Sweet. I love it...looks so much better than a cement slab.

So, maybe now I'll have to look for some better porch furniture...

Like this...

Or this...

Or this...

How about this?

Or maybe this??

I can see me lounging in this and having my sons feed me grapes and fanning me when it's hot here in Texas...

Or not. Haha! Anyway...I like my new front porch.

Poor Gringo...

You remember Gringo...the dog that lives in the yard behind mine. He's still around and his owner, otherwise known as Mr. Asshole, still does not pay a lick of attention to the poor little guy. Never...EVER...does he even remotely acknowledge the fact that he has a dog other than putting his food out on the back step without so much as a "Here you go, Gringo!" It seems like the only highlight in poor Gringo's life is when we come outside and go over to pet him and give him a dog treat...but only if Mr. Asshole isn't home. This is what he looks like every time one of us goes outside...

Well, it's been REALLY hot here in South Texas lately (like over 100 degrees), so we haven't spent much time outside. I've noticed that Gringo spends most of his time in a crawl space beneath Mr. Asshole's house to get out of the sun because he NEVER lets him inside the house.

One evening, Jeffrey, Erica and I were sitting on the back patio and Gringo was at the fence, as usual. Mr. Asshole wasn't home, so Jeffrey went over and plucked little Gringo from his prison to come and play with us for a little bit. Oh, my God, it was like he was in seventh heaven. I know that's not right and you shouldn't "borrow" a dog just because you feel sorry for him, but what can I say? My heart goes out to the little guy every time I see him. So, he got some loving attention for a short while and then we put him back, unbeknownst to Mr. Asshole.

So, tonight, Jared and I barbecued some ribs and were sitting outside when we noticed that Gringo hadn't come up to the fence. We whistled for him and about a minute later, we saw him standing by the side of his house, but he wasn't running up to the fence like he normally does. We called to him and he VERY slowly starting walking towards the fence. When he got about halfway, he started yelping very loudly as if he was in pain. Jared was standing at the fence and he noticed that there was a fishing lure lodged in one of Gringo's legs. Because Mr. Asshole wasn't at home, Jared jumped the fence to help him. He got one of the barbs out of his leg and I had to get a pliers so that he could get the other barb out of his collar that had gone all the way through. Here's the culprit, with rusty barbs, no less...

So, Jared surmised that Mr. Asshole purposely put the barb in his collar because he's been gone all weekend and this was a way to keep Gringo from possibly escaping the yard. Personally, I don't think it's possible that a barb could have gotten all the way through his collar just by him finding the lure under the house and playing around with it. Maybe we're jumping to conclusions, but any way you look at it, the whole scenario is just wrong. Jared and I talked about calling the Humane Society, but the biggest thing we'd have going against us is that he doesn't look like he's being abused. He's a very healthy looking dog. We also talked about how he would make such a wonderful pet for someone who cared about him after living with someone who could care less about him. Why do people have pets if they want nothing to do with them?

Nuevo Progreso...again...

Since it's been a whole five months since I've been to Mexico, I got the urge to drive down to Nuevo Progreso (NP) this weekend. I was there last September and even though it's not on the Caribbean with that beautiful blue water, I figured it would give me a little Mexican fix in the meantime. However, when I told people I was planning on doing this, they said, "WHAT?!?! ARE YOU CRAZY!?!? IT'S DANGEROUS DOWN THERE...ESPECIALLY ON A BORDER TOWN!!!" That didn't sway me.

Here's the usual Texas scenery on the way to just about anywhere in the state.

Somewhere around 50 miles north of the border on your way down, you hit a checkpoint where the border patrol checks cars in the northbound lane for various items they think you possibly shouldn't have. You don't get checked on the way down, but they do have about ten cameras set up on the right and left side of the highway taking pictures as you drive by.

Sidebar: I don't remember the cotton fields last year, but maybe I just wasn't paying attention. There were a lot of them.

Strange little plants.

So, it's about a 350 mile drive to the bridge. It takes just about as long to drive here as it does to fly to Cancun with a layover in Houston or Mexico City.

Here's the bridge where you can either drive over, or park in the lot off to the right for $2.00 and walk over.

I don't know what this sign is all about on this little grassy spot. Motorcycles maybe??

Last time when I was standing in about this same place, I got yelled at for trying to take a picture of a bunch of Homeland Security guys standing around. This year, I didn't even see anyone outside.

They have this nice little area on the U.S. side just before you cross...

Here's walking over the bridge looking back at the U.S. side...

And the Rio Grande River. It's a lot higher than it was last year. In fact, when I was thinking of coming down again, I e-mailed someone who works at the nearby Weslaco Chamber of Commerce to ask about the danger issue. She replied that the only problem was the recent flooding and they had to temporarily close the bridge for awhile because of that.

This is looking back at the U.S. side where the fence runs alongside.

As you drive down the highway, you can see it behind private homes...

Last year when I walked over the bridge, I could just see hats poking through the slits. These girls were getting a little bolder...but they looked like they were having fun.

So, here we are in Mexico...

Security was MUCH lighter this year. Last year, there was a tank sitting on the other side of this drive-through. No tanks this time.

Armed guards were still present, though, but they looked more bored (and hot) than anything.


Especially this guy, who was obviously on a little break. I don't know what this machine was...something about karaoke...but it seemed kind of ironic considering the fully loaded machine gun casually draped across his back.

Here's a view as soon as you go through the drive-through area...

And some other town shots...





Do you think they intentionally made the U.S.A. guy larger than the Mexican guy?

I did not try out the mechanical bull...

Shot to prove I actually was there...

I'm a big fan of suns and liked this ceiling painting...

Quite a few vendors. When I was stateside, I passed a bank with a sign noting that the temperature was 104 degrees. I think it had to be even hotter than that in NP with all the people, cement and vendors heating food.




Lots of colorful wares in the stores and on the streets. It was nice to be able to go into some of the shops to cool off.









Hammocks are very popular...

I'm not a cowboy boot expert, but these seemed very reasonably priced...

I'm guessing these were pinatas in the making...or maybe the poor man's pinatas. Haha!

There are four services that are advertised aggressively...



...and dermatology procedures which I didn't get a photo of.

Here's lunch. You had no idea how good that Dos Equis tasted after walking around for a couple hours in that heat. I drank it so fast, I didn't even bother to get a picture. The Enchiladas Tamaulipecas was very good.

But it's an easy spot for "little" vendors to come along and try to sell their wares. That didn't bother me, though. These little guys are very serious and it's hard to get them to smile. Even though they're brave enough to come up to you, they're very shy...but they always say "thank you" if you buy something from them. Who could resist these faces?



Or these? Haha! They came walking up and started singing. "No, no no!" I insist...but not before I got a picture.

Saw these guys a little later down the street. At least their outfits coordinate...ha!

People of all ages sell their wares...

This was a guy selling vegetable "curlers" and I stopped to see how it worked.

This little guy tried to sell me one of these candies for a dollar. I said, "A dollar!?!" like that was way out of my price range and the guy standing next to him laughed and said, "I think he means two for twenty-five cents." He smiled and I gave him a dollar for two. I'm a sucker for a cute face.


Some people, however, didn't want their picture taken. (Or I could have said he was just giving me a high five.)

They still have the elderly women sitting on the street for money like I saw last time.

So, after about four hours, I had had enough of the heat and headed back north. I took a different way back, but still had to go through a checkpoint. The guy in the car in front of me was an African-American driving a Volvo. The officers were looking at his driver's license and must have asked him to pop the trunk because one of them was standing behind the car with a drug sniffing dog. He raised the trunk and the dog looked very bored. Green light to the guy in the Volvo.

When I pulled up, they just asked if I was an American citizen. I held up my driver's license and said, "yes." They didn't even look at it and told me to go on. Geez...I must look totally boring. When I told my friend, Paul, he said, "Yeah, you don't look like a pot mule." Haha!

So, what did I score while I was there?

These are from the children...

I bought some of these last time I was in NP and love them. They are a perfect size for sauces and stuff you don't want to mix in with the rest of the food on your plate. My son broke the ones I had so I have looked all over for something similar, but haven't found anything I like. Well, I guess I had to come back to Mexico to find them. These probably would have sold for about $8.00 at the Mexican Market in San Antonio. Score for $2.95. Oh, yeah.

Some fire opal earrings to match my ring...

And...last but not least...the vegetable curler thingy. WAY cool. I love this thing. I don't know what I'll ever use it for, but when the time comes, I'll have one!

Adios, Nuevo Progreso. After 710 miles on my car, I don't think I'll be going back again soon...but it was fun.