Here is the dog that adopted us when we first arrived - with an additional 10 lbs or more on her bones! Gregg walks her around Ajijic and throws tennis balls for fetching several times during the day, so she's in pretty good shape now. She may also be pregnant ... which really concerns us. Over a month ago she came into season and although the male shepherd here has apparently had a vasectomy, the staff weren't careful to keep her inside the gates of the compound. We took her in to see a vet a couple of weeks ago, who said it was "too soon" to know if she was pregnant (?) but that it was "likely". The property owner here owns this dog and the 3 shepherds on the premises

but shows no interest in any of them when he visits. They are possessions, in his mind. Apparently she (Leika) is purebred - possibly from a pedigreed line of Weimaraners that his father had. The owner has his own vet who makes personal visits several times a year for shots, etc. For the day-to-day, the gardener here throws food out on the ground for all of the dogs and they have to bully their way in to get it. They drink water from the pool and only the children pay any attention to them at all. The irony is that he doesn't want the dog spayed, so we are told, yet if she were to have "mutt" puppies, he would be VERY upset. Go figure. We thought briefly of kidnapping her and taking her home with us in April, but quickly abandoned the thought as we don't want to end up in a Mexican jail!

I like to keep these posts fairly short, but have fallen a bit behind, so I'm going to add another element to this one. A week ago was the 36th Annual Mexican National Chili Festival which incorporates Chili, Margarita (my favorite) and Salsa competitions as well as entertainment and sales of artisan crafts and other local vendors into 3 days. There is also a parade which runs through the town to officially open the event. The competitions had more participation in the past, and some years the entertainment is better than others. This year I was most excited to see one of the

participants that had been rained out a couple of years ago. They are the Voladores de Papantla or the Papantla Flyers. This is a very old, Mezoamerican, traditional performance which is a request of the god of fertility to bring back the rains, and thus the crops, to feed the people. It is astounding to watch. Just last December their "foreman" died after falling 22 meters from the center post. He had been performing for 30 yrs with the group. To best appreciate them, go to You Tube and watch the whole performance.

More about the day-to-day here. It has been a whole different adventure this visit. Big changes, which I will elaborate on later in this post! But also, our days are spent differently than in the past. Several of our neighbors have experience growing up on a farm, or as adults, before retirement. Gregg and I have none. We have been fascinated to watch the "free range" chickens here recently as they lay eggs. In several of the very large, old trees there are hanging baskets which we found out are not just for aesthetic purposes...

Further about the chickens - several of us stood off at a 20 ft distance to watch the process. They would alternate between squawking loudly and clucking, and then flapping their wings. Finally they would flap wings wildly and lift up just enough to awkwardly land in the nest, thereby being able to lay their eggs in relative peace without dogs having access. They did not count on the larger humans (my husband, for example) raiding the nest later... After researching how to make sure the eggs were OK to eat, he had a wonderful omelet the next day! At least one egg succumbed to a dog (don't know how he got it) , and one was successfully hatched, thus ensuring the linage continues here on the Ranch.

Regarding the folks who live here, either part-time or permanently, several were teachers by career. One was in the RCMP in Canada, and then was Warden at a prison there - he's the nicest guy you could ever meet, by the way. All of them have travelled the world. One woman has walked across Spain three times, and plans to do it again this year. And, in the end, all of them chose to spend their time here. Most have been here, or returned, for years. They have gone through numerous property management arrangements - some good and several not good. This property is Mexican family owned and is now in the hands of the eldest son who (in the past, at least) has been ill-equipped to oversee it. After a recent near death experience, and a 5 week stay in the hospital, he informed us that he was cleaning up his act  and was ready to take a more active involvement in the Ranch, which is MUCH smaller than the other property (resort) in the San Diego area owned by the family. To cut to the chase, we now have a new manager who speaks good English but has been working with us to negotiate a long term (12 mo.) contract for two weeks now! We are hoping that we will get something to sign next week. To be fair, everything does take much longer to process here but we are concerned (on many levels) about nothing proceeding without approval from the owner who seems to have some convoluted ideas about running a business that are complicated by the Mexican machismo, and other cultural differences that are a mystery to us!

I was going to follow up on our favorite dog here, whose owner is actually the son now in charge, but I will do that soon. It is a whole 'nuther story complicated by Mexican culture.