Tatie update

27 May 2010

Tatie, the cat with the kidney failure issues is actually doing OK!..The pain meds really seem to be helping him.

His 2nd kidney function blood tests came back and indicate that his creatinine levels have increased, which is a bad thing.

We are trying more diligently to have him eat the special Renal food but he just doesn't like it.  Plus the ulcers in his mouth, which we can't treat because antibiotics are so bad for the kidneys, make him reluctant to chow down on hard crunchy food.  He's lost quite a bit of weight. And he's losing lots of fur.

We need to get a special Hills/Science Diet  kd canned food for cats but apparently it's quite difficult to get here because it seems it doesn't sell well enough to be regularly stocked.  Our vet is trying to find some.  A friend emailed last night and he has 2 cans, we just need to arrange pickup.

Tatie does seem happier - he comes and talks to us and asks for some attention, he was even running this morning with Tech, and hunting an iguananito in the aloe.

It's funny though, looking back, it is quite obvious now that he wasn't feeling well.  He'd go outside and just lay out there all day, he stopped being social, and he wasn't eating his normal ration.  We just thought is was the heat.  We just weren't paying attention.

The Third Annual Latin American Bloggers’ Conference Cometh…

20 May 2010

Mark your calendars! The Third Annual Latin American Bloggers’ Conference will be held in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico from Friday Nov. 12 – Sunday Nov. 14, 2010. The event is open to all Bloggers but in order for us to get ready, it will be necessary for you to pre-register.


Stay tuned… in the next few weeks, we’ll create a form and post it.

This year our venue will be a downtown college campus (www.tttac.com) that comes with wireless Internet, garden space, and lecture hall.

The activities will start on Friday evening, November 12th with a Cocktail-Social to Meet & Greet your fellow Bloggers.

On Saturday, November 13th we will have a full day of conferences/talks/workshops… lunch, more topics, and more opportunities to eat. Some of the ideas we have are:

· Identifying and keeping your blog’s Focus

· Adding Photos – Uploading, effectiveness and continuity

· Using you Blog to market your product / service / whatever

· A Beginner’s blogging class

· Advanced HTML techniques

Do these topics interest you? Do you have other suggestions? Would you like to do a presentation for your fellow bloggers? Do let us know because we want this conference to be as good as it can be.

Saturday will also provide an evening opportunity to see some of Merida’s clubs and bistros… There are a number to choose from.

We'll say goodbye with a Sunday morning breakfast, unless you decide to stay and enjoy Merida for a few extra days.

Please email and let us know if you want to come and join us. Please invite other bloggers you know and by all means, post this information on your blog. We hope to have as many Latin American Bloggers attend the conference as possible. The more the merrier!

In a few weeks, we will be compiling a short list of hotels, restaurants and other places of interest located close to the conference site.

For further info contact…

Theresa at: www.theresainmerida.blogspot.com

Joanna at: http://joannavandergrachtderosado.wordpress.com/

or

Debi at: www.debiinmerida.blogspot.com

Cultural Respect

As guests in a foreign country, we need to pay particular attention to the cultural differnces that exist.  Whether we are involved in local culture or events, or choose to isolate ourselves with others just like ourselves, we will all find ourselves in 'mixed' company sooner or later.


Friend Joanna, of "Writing from Merida", recently wrote an EXCELLENT article that was presented on Yucatan Living.com

Embrace the dfferences, revel in the challenge

I hope you will first read Joanna's article on Yucatan Living, oh and poke around Yucatan Living while you are there!   Then go and see what other fabulous insights Joanna has shared on her blog.

Matt the Cat

15 May 2010

As you know from reading my blog we brought with us from Colorado two fat sassy cats.

Today we had to have the oldest cat, Matt, at age 25 put down.  You can read Tom's lovely tribute to Matt here

or cut n paste this link in to your url     http://tomkuhn.blogspot.com/2010/05/our-cat-named-matt.html

Adios Amigo

Dame mi multa

So the other day Tom and I both had some errands to run, he had farther to go so took the car.  I walked to the Super aka grocery store and was going to get the trici taxi back home.

You can read a past post about my local Super, and Enrique here!

After my shopping I went to the exit where the tricis wait and saw my guy, Enrique, pulling away.  He also spotted me and called over a fellow, pointed to me and said some words then left.  The 'fellow', tuned out to be his dad, who said for me to wait inside the store where it was a/c'd and Enrique would be right back.  How cool is this!

Well I decided to check if Tom was still out and about to remind him to pick up a bag of ice, we are really going through ice right now.

Tom indicated he was already at home and had not picked up ice.  He said for me to buy a bag and he'd be right over to pick me and the groceries, AND the ice right up. 

I did some splainin to dad, and went in and bought ice; then proceeded to the parking lot exit to wait for Tom. 

It was taking an inordinant amount of time, we only live about 8 blocks from the Super.   Next thing I know, as I am standing in a puddle of melted icewater, here comes Tom walking across the parking lot.  Oh Shit!

Well, seems Tom got pulled over by two cops who told him he hadn't respected a cross walk and had to pay them 1500mxp in fine.  Tom in his best bad spanish explained he didn't really understand what they were talking about but that his wife was waiting fo him and she spoke some spanish and that he was gonna go get her.  As he starts walking away, they started getting excited, but he explained he would be back and his car was sitting right there!

So he gets me and as we are pushing our cart over to where the car and cops are, leaving a water trail as  we go he explains what has happened.

As we approach the car the two cops, who are monitoring a crosswalk approach and start explaining.  They are telling me how Tom drove through a crosswalk where there were little kids crossing. 

Well b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t,

We all know Tom wouldn't be so stupid as to pull through a crosswalk IF there were people in it.  I explained that Tom had said he approached the crosswalk slowly and seeing no one he pulled thhrough and turned into he parking lot.  It went back and forth, them saying he did, us saying he didn't.  They pulled out their copy of the driving regs, point out the violations and the number of salarios that are the fine (here a fine/multa is indicated by the number of salarios, salarios being whatever is the current minimum wage), they pointed again to the regs he violated, I said he didn't they said he did, yadda, yadam, yadda. 

Finally I say "Dame un Ticket".  They look at each other, look at me, and I repeat "Dame un ticket, una multa". 

Then they start saying they are giving a warning, not a multa.  OK FINE!! Whatever!  Tom tells me the one cop wrote 1500 on his palm and indicated to him that he had to pay the amount to them for the fine. 

I opted to not ask about that,  said Thank you, promised to be very careful in the future, and off we went, with our partial bag of ice!! 

Life is good! 

Cashew Apple, aka jocote de marañón aka cashew mombin

May 13, 2010

We have a young neighbor, Pepe;  he is 21 and from Campeche.  He is here in Merida studying 3 languages; English, French, and Portugese.  Pepe comes over most Wednesday afternoons to practice his English, and to help Tom practice his Spanish.

A few weeks ago Pepe brought his father over to meet us.  His father is a pilot and speaks English, although haltingly.  Dad and I visited and toured the garden while Pepe reviewed a test he had just received back from school.  Dad and I discussed many 'plant' things,  he was telling me about a fruit currently producing in his garden in Campeche.  I was unfamiliar with this fruit.

Pepe returns to Campeche nearly every weekend. When he returned the following weekend he brought us a bag of the unfamiliar fruit with the promise to show us how to prepare a beverage from it the upcoming Wednesday.  Well he didn't show up the  last 2 Wednesdays so it was just yesterday that we finally got our lesson.  Pepe indicates that the fruit will keep for months in the fridge.

The cashew tree, Anacardium occidentale L., is called marañón in most Spanish-speaking countries. The true fruit of the tree is the cashew nut.  The cashew nut itself is encased in a double shell containing a caustic phenolic resin (similar to Poison ivy or oak?). An interesting feature of the cashew is that the nut develops first and when it is full-grown but not yet ripe, the cashew 'apple', aka jocote de marañón aka cashew mombin develops as a plump, fleshy, pearish-shaped, waxy, yellow, red, or red-and-yellow skin fruit with a spongy, fibrous, very juicy, yellow pulp.
The production and processing of the cashew nuts themselves is complex and has many difficult problems due to the caustic/toxic shell casing. Because of this most Latin Americans and West Indians over the years have been more enthusiastic about the juicy cashew apple and have generally thrown the nut away;  except in Brazil, where there is a highly developed cashew nut processing industry.

Here are the beautiful fruits when we initially got them.

We received instruction for a drink.  Here are all the ingredients 

Freshly washed cashew fruit / jocote de marañón, lime juice, sugar, fresh cold water, blender, and a sieve.

You fill the blender with 2 fruit and fresh cold water, liquefy this.  Let it settle a bit and slowly pour the juice through the sieve into a clean pitcher or jar.  As the liquid skims of the top you will get to the pulpy part, allow the juice to seep through, discard the pulp.  Return the liquid to the blender, add the juice of one large lime, and 1/2 c of sugar, top off with a bit more water and process and taste.  Pepe's taste for the juice is a bit different from ours, he wanted quite a bit more water, AND sugar.

You can of course adjust for your personal taste.  Here is a glass of juice - it's quite lovely, light and refreshing; friends' comments on the flavor were a mix of cucumber and pear.  That seems quite accurate.

Here's a table with some nutritional info:

Food Value Per 100 g (3.5 oz) of Fresh Cashew Apple*

Moisture	84.4-88.7 g
Protein	0.101-0.162 g
Fat	0.05-0.50 g
Carbohydrates	9.08-9.75 g
Fiber	0.4-1.0 g
Ash	0.19-0.34 g
Calcium	0.9-5.4 mg
Phosphorus	6.1-21.4 mg
Iron	0.19-0.71 mg
Carotene	0.03-0.742 mg
Thiamine	0.023-0.03 mg
Riboflavin	0.13-0.4 mg
Niacin	0.13-0.539 mg
Ascorbic Acid	146.6-372.0 mg

*Analyses made in Central America and Cuba.


Medicinal Uses: Fresh cashew apple juice is prescribed as a remedy for sore throat and chronic dysentery in Cuba and Brazil. Fresh or distilled, it is a potent diuretic and is said to possess sudorific properties (causing or increasing sweat).

I found this instruction online for getting to the cashew nut - you need to burn or toast the protective cover first to get it to crack open and give you the already roasted nut.  Things to keep in mind before you go burning the cashew armored seed: 1. The shield carapace produces a very strong smell as the oils and fats in it begin to burn. 2. The oils and fats inside the armored shield also produce a lot of smoke as they burn. 3. It’s best to roast the armored seeds in the left overs of slowly burning charcoal or wood logs.
I have not tried this, nor do I promote it, it is here for information only.

and the eyes have it...

May 10, 2010

There are a gazillion variations on the phrase
“The eyes are the window to the soul…”

And there are lots mythological, historical, biblical, and spiritual eye references  …

The Eye of Horus is from the Egyptian mythological story about family devotion and sacrifice. It is a beautiful story of Isis and her husband Osiris. Osiris is killed by his brother Set, is cut into 14 pieces and thrown into the Nile Isis, the every devoted wife, collects all the pieces and because it is mythology - Osiris body awakened and they conceived a son, Horus. Horus avenged his fathers death and killed Set. But not before Set ripped out his eye. Horus went to the body of his father, put his eye into his body and Osiris was able to ascend to the heavens to the gods.

Additionally, the eye of Horus is also the mathematical symbol for fractions being made up of perfectly fractionated pieces (1/2-1/4-1/8-1/16-1/32-1/64)

The Eye of Providence, or the all-seeing eye of God, is a symbol showing an eye often surrounded by rays of light and usually enclosed by a triangle. It is sometimes interpreted as representing the eye of God watching over humankind.

There are seven major chakras,
or centers of psychoactive energy, in the human body.

The Ajna - is the Third-eye chakra and is located in the middle of the head at the level of the eyebrows. The name "third eye" is derived from the Guru Yogas and was the receiver of the telepathic communications which the chela received.

The activation of the chakra by rising Kundalini-Shakti is said to lead to psychic powers called siddhi, including clairvoyance and telepathic communication.In Hinduism and Buddhism, the third eye is a symbol of enlightenment. In the Indian tradition, it is referred to as the gyananakashu, the eye of knowledge, which is the seat of the 'teacher inside' or antar-guru. This symbol is called the "Third Eye" or "Eye of Wisdom", or, in Buddhism, the urna. In Hinduism, it is believed that the opening of Shiva's third eye causes the eventual destruction of the physical universe.

In human beings, eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication…

So just what is this eye telling you?

This morning, I woke with my right eye swollen shut, This picture is taken after being up two hours and having two hot chamomile tea bag soaks.

According to an internet source that discusses swollen eyelids, this is a problem for chinese medicine!!! It is a liver problem, heat in the liver with qi (pronounced chee) moving up and creating heat and swelling in the eyes. also, dampness in the spleen. Sorry but you're going to have to lay off those alcoholic drinks, as the liver is telling you to pleeeeeeease nurture it!!!

Here is the chinese herbs recipe used with total recovery the next day:

The prescription was Tao Ren 9g, Hong Hua 9g, Chi Shao 6g, Ze Lan 6g, Dang Gui 9g, Bai Zhu 12g, Cang Zhu 3g, Dang Shen 15g, Gan Cao 3g, Huang Qin 9g, Zhi Zi 6g, Qing Pi 3g, Yan Hu Suo 6g, Xiang Fu 6g

So anyone know a good Chinese herbalist here in Merida?

Guess I’ll stick with the hot chamomile tea bags….

Tatie update, and more kittens!

May 8, 2010

Tatie's tests came back as kidney failure.  He has been on antibiotics and painkillers all week.  He was also supposed to be eating a very expensive 'Special' Renal kibble.  He won't touch the kibble so we are feeding him kitten kibble.

He now needs to be tested again to  see if there has been any change in the kidney function results. Although from what we've read on the internet once the problem has escalated to the point of noticing it's usually to far along to affect any demonstrative change.  So, the pain meds are keeping him comfortable. 

Two more kittens found their way in to our yard.  These two were maybe 10 weeks old;  And quite docile.  I gave one a bath and it screamed bloody murder, which upset Tatie tremendously so I didn't wash the other.  But even after that -  the bathed one still let me hold it, turn it upside down, rub his belly, scratch his chin, etc.

The kittens went to AFAD, an Animal Rescue yesterday.  Fostering kittens is just too stressful for Tatie right now.  I feel like he needs a calm environment.

Lots of events, but the heat, actually its the humidity, is just too much.  We have been using the a/c every night.  We try just the fans, but even in the hammocks you end up in a puddle of sweat.  Life is too short, so we turn on the a/c.  Usually running about 5 hours will keep us comfy the whole night, well into morning actually.

I have recovered from my gastrointestinal thing.  At least I feel good, who knows what's really going on in there!

So all is well in the hood.  A few construction projects taking form in my mind.  Tom spread a new layer of Impermabilizante (sealer) over the roof.   Garden is growing like gangbusters.  What the heck does that mean anyway?   GangBusters!