May 16 The Rain/Temoporary Rule Suspension

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VIDEO ABOVE - click to play
Met Joe and his family down at Dona Ana Beach today. That's the monkey beach that's about 30 minutes from my house. Surf was big. Didn't take my board. Body surfed, though. Came home today in pouring rain, and I'm not talking about any normal, city slicker, pouring rain. I'm talking about pouring even for a tropical rain forest. As I drove up our cement road, brown rivers flowed beside me and lightning flashes hit alongside like I was dodging grenades or something (too much Viet Nam reading). I had to get out of the car to open our new METAL gate, so I got soaked in 5 seconds which didn't matter much because I was still in my baggies. What mattered was that when I grabbed the metal gate to open it, lightning hit nearby and I shoved it open and fled in my car to MY new metal gate where I had to do it all over again, except I was used to being soaked by now and the lightning was farther away.

My laundry was still out for drying when I left but now some of it was on the grass. Maybe it can all be dry in three days now. I won't bet on it. Electricity was out when I got here. I called my amigos at the electric company, and they had it up and going in a couple of hours. I filmed a lot of video with some insightful reporting. We'll see how it turned out. Maybe it's posted at the top of this entry. It may sound crazy but I love this weather - the rain, anyway, and how rivers are created in minutes, and how all the vegetation goes crazy in it, like a sci fi book or movie. The Day of the Triffids.

During the rain, Ann called and asked if I had called ICE (pronounced ee-say). I could barely hear her with the rain pounding on my tin roof. I told her I had already called. She told me she was having a party over there with several people. I told her that was good. They get to experience what we experience often. I think it may have been her first big to-do over there. I told her to make sure everyone was wearing shoes, and, preferably, with rubber soles. (You see, we are actually struck by lightning here on occasion, and, at this time, the lightning was here.) She asked, "Shoes? But..I....have.... a....no shoes in the house rule here." Well, I said, laughing to myself, and maybe a little to her, "I guess it all depends on what is important to you. But maybe you should consider suspending that rule temporarily."

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Photos

Asleep at the Wheel
Good thing it's siesta time for the prisoners, too.