"The town was growing until ....

about two months ago, when they (U.S Border Control) made such a mess on the other side of the border that there's no way to cross here," said Reymundo Gamez, 69, who owns a small hotel. "The gringos are running off our clientele."

Don't you hate when that happens?

Cut my 5 sq. meter lawn this morning. Again, with the hand trimmer. Hard on the knees, back and arms but, my hands have gotten a lot bigger. That's something isn't it?

Not much going on. House is full of people. Little kids scurrying in and out. Can't change into my tank top and boxer shorts to watch TV at night, afraid some uninformed visitor will bust in on me. Might scare one of the little ones into dumbfoundedness.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war." - Donald Rumsfeld

THE SERIAL:

We left off here: "I guess the old fool repeated himself to make
sure we boys understood how amazing the whole deal
was."
'And,' he says, 'that's exactly what we're going
to do for this young fella right here.


"Mike drove Darrell's car out to the desert so
we'd have some privacy from the law and the wino went
to work. He peeled Darrell's levis off of him, cleaned
up the hole in his leg with this bottle of stuff. Then
he soaked the leg of Darrell's trousers with it and
even did his sock too. It was real satisfying to us
watching the oxygenated water furiously fizzing away
all our problems. He even poured a little bit of it on
Darrell's shoe top which had changed color some. I'm
here to say that the old rummy knew what he was about.
"While we were waiting for Darrell's clothes to
dry, which didn't take long in the desert night air, we
all pitched in and got Darrell on his feet and walking
around. He was a little gimpy but there he was hobbling
around with nothing on but his underwear and one shoe.
"Finally, Darrell announces all's well, 'Let's go
boys, I believe I can make her okay.' So, we rode back
down to Van Buren Street and dropped off the old wino,
right where he belonged. When he got out of the car he
carried off Darrell's half-pint and that's the last we
ever saw of him.
"Mike and I got taken home. Darrell continued on
alone and drove to his place. We heard later on that
he limped right on into bed clean as a whistle and, so
far as I can recall, that big cow he was married to
never got wind of none of it. Maybe she suspected
something a day or two later, the way Darrell was
walking funny, but that don't count for much.
If a woman discovers you're guilty of a fault two
or three days after it happened it ain't near so bad
as when she busts you, straight-up, the very night
you've got evidence of the fault all over you."
Uncle Arlin quit talking and leaned back in his
chair. He was finished. I don't know anymore about it
except that's how I found out that oxygenated water
will take blood out of cloth. I guess it's an odd way
to learn such an ordinary household hint. I suppose
most people know about it from reading mmHeloiseÄÄ but I
never read her book. That's why I almost always stuck
around when Uncle Arlin started up with 'One time
when...' because I learned a lot of valuble stuff from
him.