stewart.tb

I love your list, Gayle. The pericos are my favorite! I love that a group of parrots are a pandemonium of parrots -- never really appreciated that until moving here. I love those raucous rabble-rousers.

"Water filtration plants"? Well, that sounds nice, but in CR, for the most part there are no water treatment plants. The reason for possible flushing issues has to do with the pipe diameter, possibly having 90-degree turns in the pipes, and not knowing the size/capacity/construction methods of any given septic system. Lots of places, you can flush with no problems, but you'll never know until you have a problem. I'm in a 3-unit apartment bldg, and I know that if there were ever to be an issue, the landlord and the other occupants of the building - including my esposo - would immediately think, "The gringa did it," so ... when in Rome, for me. (OK, certain situations occasionally call for flushing. Shhh.)

Seems like there are two types of what we know as rubbing alcohol: the blue type that is apparently medicinal, and the clear one that is "multipurpose" and also used for firing up the old barbecue grill. I did a side-by-side comparison a couple of years ago, and decided I didn't want to buy the firestarter stuff to use on my skin -- can't remember exactly, but there was a difference in the ingredients. The esposo thinks the firestarter stuff is just fine, and that it's perfectly normal to fire up the grill and then go disinfect a wound or attack some zits. The blue one is harder to find though, and is it just me, or does rubbing alcohol smell gross here? That smell doesn't sit well with me. Never thought I'd miss the smell of US/Euro style rubbing alcohol! Weird.

Bwaaajaja, Lucybelle! I need more pachuco practice ... being married to a librarian is great for grammar but not so great for el lenguage del pueblo, jjaja.

Oh, I totally meant it as a compliment.

Qué hijueputa wrote that piece of mierda?!

In my case, I applied because I married a tico. Granted, that probably makes the initial application easier, but in my mind, it was also more important to do it right away, and not waste time as a PT. Being married to a tico, it would be a bigger risk for me to be a PT. If I were to be deported, not only would I have to leave CR, I'd also have to leave my husband. Not so great for a marriage, and not a risk I was willing to take. Doing border runs without a car is also a pain in the rear, and as my spouse is not yet retired, I probably would have had to do at least some of those alone, due to his work schedule. I did my application on my own, with help from my esposo for the CR parts, and it went through very quickly, four months. (I've known other people applying via marriage whose applications took much longer, so I don't think it was solely the vínculo status that got it through so quickly, but who knows?) Anyway, those were my reasons.

So nice to have an update, and wonderful to hear that you guys are doing well and your lives are on a good path. And as always: Yay, Perlita!

Wouldn't some things in the grey water damage the bacteria in the septic system? I mean, people use floor cleaners, bleach, soaps, shampoos, hair dyes, scouring powders ... I'd think those things would upset the balance of the septic tank, right? I don't know much about it, I'm asking.

And remember, birthday cancels out any calories, scientific fact. So seconds on cake, extra frosting. Ice cream.

I did the happy happy wishes on another e-format, but just wanted to comment that her crazy workout and running schedule keep her looking way too young to be a mom to that herd of teenagers!

I agree that in some ways we're taking a trip south in the proverbial handbasket, and it makes me sad as well, but I don't know that prayer in the schools and the pledge is the answer, or the cause of the problems. People love to insist that this is "a Christian country" and that the founding fathers were Christians, but that's not reality. The founding fathers were not all Christians, and the country was founded on the idea of FREEDOM FROM state-imposed religion, and freedom to practice or NOT practice whichever religion a person chose. (Well, that and the whole genocide of Native Americans thing, and enslaving the labor we needed to work the stolen land, but I'll put that aside for now.) We are a secular country. We're made up of many different cultures and religions, and religion has no place in state schools, or in government at all. If you instill one, you must instill them all, or you're going against the idea of those founding fathers. Everyone has the right to practice their religion freely, which is great, but no one should have one particular religion forced on them by the state. The thing that's causing a lot of problems for us in my personal opinion is not one particular issue, but the extreme polarization, fear, and hate that is going on in the country right now. It's bad, and I think that it, more than the issues themselves, is ripping us apart. But, I'm with you in that it's nice to be down here while it unfolds, with the luxury of being able to let it go a bit, and continue life here in peace. (I say that fully aware that it's a privilege not everyone has.) David, I will check out that book, thanks. If anyone is interested, some other fabulous references are: A People's History of the United States (Howard Zinn) Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (James Loewen)

True, for most of us, we can't just stop caring about the US because we ourselves fled ... er ... left. My kids still live there. My friends. Family. Tom, I think your post was spot on, for what it's worth. And I do agree with Riverjop as far as what happens in the US ending up having (sometimes serious) ramifications in other parts of the world. It would be nice to just escape the drama and politics for real, but, we're still part of a world that's becoming more globalized every day, and we still have loved ones up north. However, it depends on your perspective, as far as "nothing being the same as it was in the 50s", and "degredation of core values" and "changing what made the US a great country in religion/schools/rights, etc.". If you're a person of color, a gay person, or even a white woman (depending on your preferences), going back to the 1950s and earlier times would be a big no-go. The core values of things like Jim Crow, "separate but equal", redlining, discriminatory banking/loan practices, Black soldiers not receiving the same GI bill rights, forced family separations to send Native children to those gov't schools, etc. didn't make that such an idyllic time for lots of folks. That whole "I want my country back" ... it brings a lot of ideas that are only good for a select group of folks who don't like the idea of being toppled from their post as king of the mountain.

That eye thing must be why I misspelled "anchovy". That or the fine wine.

I just want to point out that although David may, as he says, be an overweight, long in the tooth, anchovie-eating, liver hater, bygawd he's got fabulous gams.