There hasn't been a lot going on here since we got back from our Puerto Vallarta trip. The first week back was a sad week as puppy number 6 and number 7 died from Distemper. We'd pretty much adopted the puppies after they were born so, it was heartbreaking to see them die like that.

It seems that the Mexican culture is such that they think of dogs and cats about the way we think of squirrels and raccoons. They are animals but, it doesn't matter if they live or die and they certainly aren't going to spend hard earned cash on getting them shots or anything.

I've decided that if they dog has pups again, I'll take them myself to the vet for their shots.

The following week was great. no more sadness of dying puppies but, time to start teaching the last remaining puppy some tricks. I had named the pups a long time ago. The last one's name had been Bandit, but the folks renamed her Lucky when we were away. We decided to keep that name seeing as she'd won the Ajijic Survivor Series!

So far we've taught her to sit and to come when she's called. She HATES the collar and leash. She just shrinks into the ground when I put the collar on her. I guess I should leave it on her but, i feel bad looking at her scratch at it. I put it on for short periods of time and extend the time each time.

I decided for sure that I'm going to Lake Placid this summer to watch Ironman. Michelle, Gavin, Kathryn and Derek and a bunch of my mates from back home are racing. I emailed the "Swim" captain and got my old 'peeler' job back. Now all I have to do is find a place to stay when I get there. I expect I'll be able to pick up a last minute cancellation. I wonder if the hotels have waiting lists? Maybe I should email a bunch of them.

We've got LOTS of company coming over the next few weeks. Kevin and Jennifer arrive this Friday for a week. Nadia and her kids arrive the day after K & J leave. They'll be here for about 11 days. We have a week to ourselves after that and then Ron and Bev come for a week.

e're both really looking forward to seeing everyone. We've been looking at each other since . . . . . August. Gee, no wonder we're starting to get on each others nerves a bit!

Puerto Vallarta Trip

You can't imagine our shock to wake up Monday morning one half hour later than planned. It was 6:15, which was the time we had planned to leave the ranch to walk to the corner where we were supposed to meet the bus. The alarm clock was definitely calling out to us but we slept right through the buzzing. We didn't get much sleep due to a pesky buzzing mosquito in our bedroom which we couldn't manage to find. So, no showers, no coffee, definitely no breakfast. Thank God we had packed the night before. We were out the door by 6:30 (which was the time we were supposed to be at the bus) and ran to the bus where everyone was waiting for us. We were justly rewarded for being the last to arrive by getting the two back seats.

I slept for a while then woke up to most of the folks opening bag lunches that they had sensibly packed for themselves. I always make a travel lunch but for some reason didn't this time. Now I felt even more miserable......no coffee, no breakfast and now no lunch.

We arrived in Puerto Vallarta at around 1 oclock. It took a while to get 30 couples checked in and wouldn't you just know it....our room was the last to be ready. Fortunately though, lunch was still being served and we were able to eat something, at last. We went for a walk and returned to a "bonus" room, one with an ocean view. That was to thank us for our patience. Room with a view and a lovely little terrace to sit and watch the rolling waves.

Our hotel, The Buenaventura, was on the main road running through downtown P.V. The front doors were on the equivalent of Yonge Street the backyard was on the ocean front. We loved it. Two large HEATED pools, and a short walk to sea and surf. I'm so happy that our hotel was in the heart of town and not in Nueva Vallarta where most of the big all inclusive hotels are located.

Although it rained for a day and a half of our 4 day stay we managed to enjoy ourselves very much. P.V. has a heartbeat. The Malecon (boardwalk) is wonderful. The time share guys are a hoot once you learn how to manage them. We walked or ran on the malecon every morning, rain or shine. We shopped, drank and ate to our hearts delight. We chatted with new people , we drank margueritas and daquiris. I had a bath which was a real treat as our casita in Ajijic boasts a shower only bathroom.

We ate dinner in two of the specialty restaurants. One an Argentinian "meat house." There were about 10 courses, each a different kind of barbequed meat brought to the table stacked on a huge skewer. I don't eat meat but managed to enjoy the shrimp and salmon courses very much. Greg was in heaven.

The last night we ate at the Sunset restaurant and watched the sun do exactly that. Our table was right beside the waves, the food was wonderful and the service impeccable.

We didn't leave on Friday until noon so Greg and I did our usual walk along the malecon, photographing all the sculptures, including the amazing sand sculptures that artists had built on the beach. We crossed the river and walked right up into the old town. Very European. Lovely little hotels, restaurants and shops. The last morning was sunny and hot. We did one last beach walk and then got showered and ready to board the bus. We were certainly mindful of being on time.

Unfortunately, the lady behind us had had three margueritas before boarding the bus and snored for 6 hours of arduous, twisting, mountain road driving. We both wanted to slap her but managed to restrain ourselves.

We arrived back at the Rancho on time for Happy Hour. Everyone stood and gave us a warm welcome. Greg whistled for his pups who came running to him. The two sick ones had survived our absence under the fine care of Ray and Marlene. They did seem to be worse though now then before we left. A vet had been called but did not show up. Lucia and Concho came to get them the next morning and took them to the vet in Riberas. He gave them shots, special food and medicine for the next four days. If they are not better in the four days they will have to be put down. The one pup who is showing no signs at all of the distemper which is what all the others have had, is healthy, strong and lively. She has been renamed "Lucky."

Click here for to view the Puerto Vallarta pictures.

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Lynne and I went to 'Carnival" in Chappla the day before we left for Puerto Vallarta. Here are the pics from there.

This week is going down as the crappiest week that I've had since we arrived here 3 short months ago.

I eat something on Saturday night that didn't agree me. I'd figured it was time to get brave and eat some actual authentic Mexican food. That turned out to be a VERY BAD decision. I don't have a strong stomach at the best of times.

I don't want to get too descriptive here so, let's just say, I stayed very very close to the bathroom all Saturday night. We were going out on Sunday with friends to the zoo in Guadalajara. Lynne wrote all about that in the last update. She gave me a couple of Immodium pills and did they ever dry me up. I could almost not even talk my mouth was so dry, but it did the trick. We had a safe day, but the effect of those pills had worn off by bedtime Sunday night.

I spent Sunday night in the bathroom and Lynne suggested that I just stay in bed all day Monday. Monday night was about the same. Tuesday wasn't much different except I got a fever at night. At this point I started thinking about the flue - swine flue and how we'd not had shots for it. A friend from home told us her experience and how it was worse than the chimo she'd gone though.

Wednesday morning the fever was gone. I laughed when I looked in the washroom waste basket and saw that it was completely full of empty toilet paper rolls! Thanks God I bought the more expensive but, 'oh so soft' good stuff!

Thursday morning we decided that enough was enough and we should head over to the local hospital. Thought of home and never ending waits in the waiting room came to mind. I expect that the fact that we don't speak the language yet would add more time and aggravation to the situation.

So, here's the hospital story.

9:00 - Arrive at hospital and go to reception. (Well, Lynne went to reception, I had to find another bathroom.)

9:02 - Doctor comes out to get us.

9:10 - exam done, prescription written

9:12 - pay the bill. $12.00 Cdn

9:15 - back in the car

That's what I call "Health Care Reform"!

So, some crappy (hummm, maybe a poor choice of word there) medicine to drink for a few days, Some pills for a week and . . . . I went to the bathroom and peed this afternoon, and nothing else. What a nice treat that was for a change.

It's raining here tonight (Thursday) but the weather is supposed to clear up and it looks like it's supposed to be a nice sunny week in Puerto Vallarta next week.

We're both leaving our computers here at the house while we're away. We're looking forward to a totally offline week.

Here's the pictures from last weekends adventure.

Weekly Update Feb 1 -7, by Lynne

Three days of rain proved a bit challenging especially with almost non existent internet access and poor t.v. reception. We didn't even make it to the tienges (outdoor market) this past week because the thought of doing our shopping in a downpour just wasn't very appealing. We did attend all of our Spanish Lessons and various other groups. It was the perfect time to Skype and email people back home and get caught up on all of our correspondence, banking, Greg's web work etc., but without the internet that proved impossible. Grrrrr! Mucho frustration. Gonzalo, the Remax rental manager brought us (and some of the others on the ranch) individual modems but alas everyone else's kicked in through the phone company in 24 hours except ours. (When Bad Things Happen to Good People.) Ours is finally up and running today. Yippee!

This was not the only bad news. On the second day of rain, Little Wolfie, one of the pups who had seemed quite sick for several days, lay on our door step in a wet mass, barely breathing. Greg brought her in and towelled her dry and held her and we tried to give her warm milk but when she seemed completely non responsive we went to get Lucia who promised to take her to the Vet. Today when Lucia came by with a new piece of furniture for our casita, we asked after the pup and found out "es muerto." Greg especially, is very saddened to lose another of the original 8. And then there were 3. They lie on their mat in our house throughout the day and we feed them but feel we have to put them out at night because they haven't been cared for very well and are probably flea infested and we can't give them the run of the place while we sleep. A new critter has joined us. Roxy, (Greg Note: real name Satan!) the tea cup chihuaha who belongs to one of our Canadian neighbours, was purchased a couple of weeks ago at the tienges. She's a wild little thing, but adorable and she climbs on top of the Shepards and tries hard to be one of the girls. The funniest thing though is to see Smokey curled up in the little chihuaha's bed. She barely fits but doesn't seem to mind her head and rear end hanging over the edge.

One of these things don't belong with the others.
Can you spot it? :-)

On Saturday I had invited three of the women from my Miracles group over for wine and snacks after the class. Dorothy, is turning 80 this month and has taken quite a shine to Greg. She flirted with him outrageously and he is a big flirt too but doesn't quite know how to respond to this chick who is old enough to be his mother. After they left, we were heading out to the movies to see "What About the Morgans?" I think that's what it's called, and the Mexican's up at the top our property were having a Baptismal party and it was Anna's (the girl who cleans our house once a week) baby who had been baptized so they insisted we come and "gusto" with them.....that means eat and party. We sat around a bit like bumps on a log because our Spanish is not good enough yet to really communicate. Then Gonzalo our Mexican property manager from Remax arrived with his wife and daughter. He speaks English. We loved their company. He's so adorable and his wife Maria Elena is lovely and speaks a fair bit of English, as does Helena, the 7 year old daughter.

They invited us to join their family the next day to go to Guadalajara to the zoo. We said sure and met them in Jocotopec (a town about 30 minutes down the road) at 8 in the morning. The family included the wife's sister and brother in law who is a gynecologist and their two children and the Abuela and Abuelo (grandparents)......we arrived in Guad in two cars at about 10 and quickly headed to the big Cathedral there for mass. It was interesting. We participated as best we could except for taking holy communion, although Greg was starving and really wanted one of those wafers.

After mass we had breakfast at an outdoor restaurant in the square .....and then off to the zoo....and quite an impressive one I might add. Greg and I, though, were quite exhausted after about 2 hours but we spent about 5 hours at the zoo. We saw every animal in the place and fed carrots to the giraffes who were head to head with us, leaning into our Safari truck to get the little morsels.

The zoo is definitely world class. Lovely grounds and well thought out environments for the different species. However, we were more impressed with the human family interaction. Three kids under the age of 7 and not a single whine, tantrum or complaint all day long. Now I know everyone in Canada is getting ready for family day on Feb. 15. The Mexican's would laugh at that notion. Every Sunday is family day here. And that doesn't mean just your immediate family. It includes the grandparents and the sisters and sometimes the brothers and their children. I say sometimes the brothers because it is customary here for the men to go with the wives to their families. You have to feel sorry then for clans without daughters. Church together is always the opening activity. Greg and I were honoured to be "part of the family" even if only for the day. They told us we are welcome to join them any Sunday we feel inspired to do so.

The activities ended with dinner at Kentucky Fried Chicken and the ride back to Lakeside in the dark. Greg and I fell into bed. He hasn't been feeling great since eating Mexican specialty beef at the baptismal party on Saturday night.

Nadia and the boys have confirmed their flights and will be arriving on March 22nd. My BFF for 52 years, Susie Neudoerffer celebrated her 60th on Feb. 2nd and my cousin Brian Gold celebrated his 65th yesterday. Michelle and Gavin got a new dog, a sister for Sneakers called Shasta. Jordan needs money, but that's not really news.

And so a new week begins.

Weekly Update Feb 2, 2010

I had a pretty event full week this week.

I went out one day this week and climbed back up to the shrine, then carried on to the cornfield and then hit new territory finding new trails to descend back to town from.

I pushed a bit heading up to the shrine and made in 11 minutes. I rested a bit there and saw a women come down from higher up the mountain. She was dressed totally in white coveralls including white hat and scarf. Only her face showed and she carried a few plastic one gallon water jogs. She asked how far I was going. I told her I was heading up to the cornfield, but I didn’t know where I was heading from there. She asked if I’d help her group out. I’d seen small trees that were planted along the trails on previous hikes. I had no idea where they were from. I’d joked with Lynne once that they were part of the Mexican reforestation project. It ends up that was about right. She and her group were planning all along the trails. There was a fence that I had to cut through to get up to the cornfield. She asked if I’d help out by taking one of the jugs and filling it from a large container that was next to the fence and then carry it up to the cornfield. I guess she had carried the half dozen or so jugs she had up to that fence. I said sure. Why not, it was all I could do to get up to that cornfield the first time I’d done it. I might as well try it with a big jog of water in one hand at the same time. In the end, it wasn’t has hard as I thought it would be.

I hung out at the cornfield which is about 1300’ above the town, which is about 5200’ above sea level. I took some bars and a few water bottles with E-Load. I felt good. I took a bunch of pictures looking up the mountain and down to the town. The mountain continues up another 2000 feet or so. There are a couple of climbing groups around, but I’m going to continue exploring on my own. I’ll go a bit further and fine new trails each time until i get really familiar with these hills over the next month or two before going back to running.

On the weekend I headed out by car to the town or Morelia. Morelia is about 500k east of here, about half way towards Mexico City. Morelia is the town that the Monarch butterflies migrate to each year. Now, I must admit, I really couldn’t care less about butterflies, but I figured that, seeing as I’m this close and it is pretty amazing that these bugs fly from Canada to here each year, it was something worth going to see. Something I found interesting is that the butterflies fly down from Canada to the same mountain in Mexico each year. They get here; they breed, and then die. The butterflies that are born here fly back to Canada in the spring and breed, and die there. The butterflies make the several thousand kilometre trip by instinct, arriving at the same area year after year, generation after generation.

Lynne wanted some time alone. We’re together pretty much 24 hours a day. Some time alone would be good for both of us. I drove out on Friday morning. Within a hundred kilometres the landscape changed from the mountain ranges that we live in to old volcanoes jutting out of the otherwise flat green land. The skies were overcast. The overall appearance reminded me of pictures of "the land before man". I’m told there are some live volcanoes in the area. I’m going to research them and visit one soon.

The GPS put me on the toll roads pretty quickly. I turn off after a few hours and headed south towards the town of Patzucuaro. John and Joan told us it’s a beautiful town and that I should check it out on this trip. It was getting late in the afternoon. It was going to take me another hour to get to Morelia from there so, I just drove through and looked around from the car. The town did look inviting. There were tons of wood working shops, wood carving actually. Almost every corner was another shop. I don’t know why i didn’t get any picture. I’m sorry now that I didn’t, but I’m sure Lynne and I will head out there for a weekend soon to spend some time exploring the town.

I notice the first strip joint I’ve seen anywhere in Mexico too. The building was huge and the music was really loud. I could hear it from the car from the middle of the road. I looked at the place, thought about all the stories I’ve heard of gringos getting killed in joints like those and, kept on driving!

Lina, our Spanish teacher kindly forwarded a newspaper article that spoke to the 2600 people who were killed in the first 6 months of last year due to drug wars in the area. I think that prompted me to stay in the car too! I didn’t see any traces of drugs, drug lords or drug wars while I was away. Lina did email me when I got home to tell me that 8 people were found beheaded in that state over the weekend. I’m glad she waited until I was back home to tell me!

The drive from Patzucuaro to Morelia did take about an hour. The roads twisted and turned everywhere. It was a fun drive. It was interesting that, as many woodworking shops I’d seen in Patzucuaro, there were as many, if not more, stone carving shops on the roads to Morelia. There were stone carvings of everything from small animals and birdbaths to huge pillars that would sit in front of massive cathedrals. I’d love to go back again another day and explore some of the shops in both towns.

Morelia was an amazingly busy town traffic wise. It took an hour to get the 3.5k to the hotels when I got to town. The GPS showed me that there were a number of hotels all in the same area. What it didn’t tell me was that they were all the high-end hotels at the centre of town. I was too tired to head our again when I realized what I was in for, so I took the $120. Room and spent the night there at the edge of the incredibly beautiful town square. $120.00 isn’t a lot for a hotel at home but, it’s a fortune for Mexico.

I tool lots of pictures of the hotel and the room, but headed out early in the morning for ‘Butterflyville! It ended up that I was still a couple of hours drive from the sanctuary.

The place was high in the mountains. The temperature was only about 8 or 9 degrees. The skies were overcast again. I found the place, parked the car and walked through the woods for about 30 minutes. Up and then down the mountain to the end of the path. I was a bit pissed at first when there were no butterflies in the air. All the stories I read about the place talked about the millions of butterflies. What I didn’t know at the time was that, when the weather is cold, they group together high in the trees in hugs clumps, huddled together to keep each other warm. Eventually I notice hundreds of dead butterflies on the ground. I did see one butterfly in the air. I laughed when I realized it had died and was only falling to the ground! I headed back when it started to rain.

Oh well, I’ve seen it!

I headed back home, but stayed on the main highways all the way. Again I loved looking at the landscape that kept reminding me of those "Land before Man" scenes.

Traffic laws here aren’t what they are at home. The speed limit is posted at 110, but most people drive at around 130 - 145 kph. I followed a pickup truck for a bit. Mom and Dad were in the front. 4 kids were playing in the open cab in the back. At one point I clocked us moving at 160 kph. The kids played in that open cab as if they were sitting in a playground. I kept waiting to see one of them or their toys go flying out onto the road!

I got a couple of good shots of the red sunset sky on the way back. I was home by about 8:30pm. It was a fun trip. The butterflies sucked, but the adventure of exploring the land was great. I think next weekend I’ll stick closer to town and head back up into the mountains or over and explore the town of Chapala.

Our neighbours John and Joan left for California on Monday morning. Like us, they sold there house and are traveling around deciding where to settle down. We’re going to miss them. They were the first friends that Lynne and I made since we left Aurora in July. Hopefully we’ll keep in touch by email.

Click here for the Cornfield Hike pictures.

Click here for the Butterfly Trip pictures.

Jan 24 Weekly Update

Well the weather warmed up this week and we have not had the space heater on for a couple of days. I even opened the bedroom window last night. The puppies haven't been seen in a few days now and we haven't asked anyone but we have a feeling that they are gone.

We met up with our new Gringo friends Donna and Douglas on Wednesday evening. We had a couple of drinks at La Tasca and asked all the requisite questions. I think we all hit it off because Douglas suggested we go for dinner. We went to Reubens, a newly opened restaurant in town. The food was delicious and the owner regaled us with great stories about his life. Born in Jocotopec (just down the road). He lived in L.A. for several years. Consequently his English is great. He is also a singer and he serenaded us with a few of his favourite songs. He gave us some good information about his home town. It's the raspberry growing capital of the world. I've been eating raspberries every morning for breakfast and they are plump and juicy. Anyhow, those Briscoes raspberries we eat at home in Canada in the plastic boxes are grown just ten minutes down the road from us. Now we know what's growing under all those plastic sheets on the acres of land just down the road on the Lake side.

Greg has decided to give up running for a while because his knees and his back have been aching lately. It must be the bumpy roads. As I mentioned in the last blog, we climbed the mountain to the chapel. Greg has been out the door early and up the mountain about 3 times this week. On Friday he climbed to a cornfield about an hour past the chapel. I went with him again this morning but didn't make it much past the chapel. Greg is in much stronger shape than I am. I will go with him again and try to add some distance from today's destination. Our walk today was just over 5K. (all uphill.) I used the broom handle as a walking stick. Some Mexican man was coming down the slope with a rake as we were going up. He had raked all the gravel off the trail which made the walk a lot easier. How nice was that!

On Thursday we went with our neighbours John and Joan to Tango a wonderful restaurant here in town. It's an Argentinean steak house. I ate vegetarian Lasagna. Greg gobbled up his steak with glee. I brought home half of my meal and ate it the next day for lunch. Joan and John had their birthdays on Tuesday and Greg had his on Saturday, hence the celebratory dinner out.

We saw Avatar twice this week. Once in town here where it was shown in English but not in 3D. Today we drove into Guadalajara and went to an Imax theatre and watched it in 3D. We are now done giving James Cameron our money.

We've booked a trip to Puerto Vallarta in mid February. It's a bus trip that leaves from town and takes us to a beautiful all inclusive hotel on the beach. Everyone raves about P.V. and some of the surrounding villages. Lots to see. It will be lovely to walk on the beach and swim in the sea and to have someone else do the meal preparation.

We have some company coming to visit. Kevin and Jennifer have booked tickets for mid-March. Ron and Bev are coming in April. We are waiting to see if Nadia has booked anything later in March. She hopes to come with her boys. I can't wait to watch the kid's reactions to some of the wacky sites in this town. Sharon and Allen are talking about coming as well. It will be exciting to see people from home and be able to show them the town and the surrounding area. There's so much to experience. It will be fun to share it all with some of our B.F.F.'s

On a final note. Jordan turned 20 on January 23rd and today is Christine's (Greg's younger daughter) birthday. She turned 33. We're all getting older.

PS.
Lynne got a GREAT haircut this week. I guess she didn't want to talk about it though!

Sunday Jan 17 - Update

No big adventures this week, just life on the ranch. We both continue our Spanish Lessons with Lina. She has found a way to address Greg's learning style which is much more kinaesthetically. They are now making puzzles to put together and using flash cards which seems to be better for him. I met a guy named Douglas who takes the lesson after mine and often gets there early, hence our meeting. I was immediately attracted to him because he was "young" which around this town means somewhere around 60 and not the more mature 70 and 80 years olds that we tend to be meeting. I guess people are working longer and don't have the funds to retire in their 50's or early 60's. We're lucky. Anyhow, Douglas and I joked about our "relative youthfulness" and he gave me his phone number and said we should call him and his wife Donna and get together. I can't believe how difficult that call was to make. I felt like I was calling for a blind date. I procrastinated all week but finally did phone and Greg and I will meet Douglas and Donna for drinks this coming Wednesday night.

Greg has taken to bringing the puppies into our casita. He gave them a little mat to lie down on and I think they like it here better than in their cage behind the Mexican motel as we've come to call it. Last night we had all four in here but only two spent the night. Those same two are back tonight.....asleep in the spooning position on their little mat in our living room.

We went to the local cinema to see House 39 which we thought was a story about a social worker. We didn't realize it was a horror flick and we are not fans of that genre. I spent most of the movie with my eyes squeezed shut and my hands over my ears. I DO NOT recommend this flick. Avitar has arrived this weekend in English finally, but alas not in 3-D. We'll probably see it anyhow. At 2 bucks a person it's hard to resist seeing everything that comes to town.

I experimented with some recipes this week that my sister-in-law sent me and made a wonderful tex-mex salad which I ate solo. Greg is not a big salad eater. He cooked himself shrimp. Oh, how we'd love to pay someone to take off the shells and remove the veins. It's a very tedious job and somewhat gross as well. Greg buys a beautiful floral bouquet every week at the Tienges. He just gives the vendor 8 bucks and asks him to make something up for him. Each week we have a gorgeous and different arrangement on the side board in our dining room. We save our small change during the week to take to the market and give to the people who are there begging. It's the same people every week and I guess it's just their job.

My article came out today in the Chapala review. It was quite thrilling to see the magazine at our local grocery store and flip through it until I found my piece. I like seeing my name in print. I've got another assignment and a deadline of February 14th. It would be great if I could start it and not be sweating on the 13th but I know myself and I am a procrastinator.

We got Greg's mom to sign up for facebook this week and that's been fun, watching her connect with the grandchildren. At 85, I think joining Facebook is a wonderful venture.

Greg's 60th birthday was today. I can't believe I married someone so much older than myself! He ran to Chapala and back and when he returned announced that he was giving up running for now. That really scares me but because there will be something else for sure and I brace myself as I await his next hobby. I bought him a dangling earring which he had mentioned wanting and some of his favourite food treats. I also bought a cake and two bottles of Champagne to take to Happy Hour with all of our other ranch Gringos. We sang Happy Birthday and took pictures and enjoyed the company. Greg really wanted a big flat screen t.v. but I'm the frugal one in this relationship. He calls it cheap but he's not one for being politically correct.

Tomorrow we are getting up early, at least by 8:30 and climbing the mountain to the Chapel. We will pray for all of you while we are there. After the mountain, we will drive to Guadalajara to the Galleria Mall.....yup you heard correctly, and Greg wants to buy himself a new pair of jeans as his old ones have got a hole in the tush.

It was warmer today and the winds died down. We've had a very cool and miserable week, weather-wise, but the forecast for the coming week looks promising.