It's still raining...and the story of Bobo

With dry season looming I shouldn't be whining. Our water ponds are full (we depend on rainwater, wells are not an option in our type of soil) the ground is saturated, everything is green. Soon I will be whining because the ground is cracking, it's hot and dusty, and we haven't seen rain in months.

See, I'm starting on dry season already.

Anywho...today's' post is not about rain even though the title is. It's about my absolutely scrumptious lunch, that is coincidentally the Special of the Day.

Bistec ala Mexicana. (Mexican Beefsteak...sounds better the other way doesn't it?)

It looks like this:

THIS is authentic Mexican food. You will not find this in a fancy hotel in Cancun or Puerto Vallarta. Nor will you find it in a classy restaurant in Playa del Carmen.

IF you ask for this in a fancy restaurant in PDC, you may, as I did, get laughed at by your rather snooty waiter. Bistec is not, apparently allowed though the service door in respectable establishments.

So...where WILL you find this unassuming yet incredibly tasty dish, you ask?

You will find it in the truck stop restaurants attached to the ubiquitous Pemex Gas Stations scattered throughout Mexico. In roadside shacks too small for a menu.

 

In small local restaurants downtown in Veracruz.

If you're lucky enough to go to Veracruz...you should DEFINITELY not miss out on the incredible experience of going to "La Parochia" It is NOT small(seats 700 or so) it is NOT fancy, but it is OH SO GOOD.

 

 

 

Yes, I was last there in May 2006 I'm sad to say.

I was in Veracruz just this past September, but driving a 1 ton dually and hauling two horses I wasn't about to drive down to the docks even though the lure was strong. Getting lost in downtown Tampico was MORE than enough excitement for that trip.

Lets revisit the lowly Bistec once more shall we?

I love Mexico.

Today's Blog Part Two

I've been talking a lot about horses lately...and food. But that's not the sum total of my life.

There are dogs too. Very special dogs.

Today I'd like to introduce Bobo. More correctly, Mr. Bojangles.

He's not first in my heart, he's not the oldest, he does no super special tricks he's not the most recent addition.

He is the youngest though.

This is Bo, or Bobo, or silly boy. He has many names. Also answers to

MR BOJANGLESGETYOURASSOVERHERERIGHTNOWDAMMIT

     The main reason he's going first is because I've noticed recently how mature he's getting. How he's coming out of his shell and working through some of his issues.He really does have some strange ones. I guess they're just a part of his individual personality.

     He's very timid, and so different than the rest of our dogs.

     Mom picked him up at the roundabout in Hattieville on the Western highway. He was 5-6 weeks old, and she nearly ran him over as he was sitting RIGHT in the middle of the roundabout. Someone was watching over him though as Mom swerved left, the truck behind her swerved right, and Bob didn't move an inch.

  

     Mom, being the softy she is, couldn't just leave him there so she stopped and picked him up. She called me and told me she picked up this pup and that there were so many fleas on him they were standing in lines for a spot to bite.

She was on her way to town and figured she could drop him off at the vets while she did shopping and we figured out what to do with this pup. We already had FIVE SIX dogs so keeping him just wasn't an option...(yeah, that went well didn't it?)

The vets office gave him a flea bath and made sure he was moderately healthy and we called the Belmopan Humane Society and we worked out that we would foster him until the right home came along.

Here he is the day he came home.

and a few days later getting along with the rest of the pack

(it was dinner time, our dogs wear watches I swear)

 

Heartbreaker eyes

     About three days after he came home I noticed these large pink patches of bare skin on his flanks and  hind legs. Worried about ringworm or mange I called the vet and described them.

Oh no they said, that's just where the flea dirt was so thick and crusted the hair couldn't grow...*chokes* Glad I saw him after the bath.

There he goes with the eyes again...

 

back to his timidness, I don't know where it comes from. We've had him for almost his entire life, there really wasn't a lot of time for him to be roughly treated so I figure it's just part of who he is.

 The eyes again...

(really, do you think we had a snowball's chance in hell from the first day?)

He does however require some special treatment. Since he was small he's had a thing about having his feet held and just now, finally now, can I grab onto his feet and hold them without him throwing a fit and threatening to bite. He still tenses, and will occasionally pull away, but rarely shows signs of fear aggression now.

Nom nom nom

About four days after he arrived, mom says to me... I don't think we can give him up. He looks SO much like Cookie.

Cookie as a puppy.

I think we should give him a name.

Hahahahahahahahaha ROFL not two days before she found Bobo on the road she had been telling me (vehemently) NO...MORE...DOGS!!!!11111!!!!1!! Ha Ha Ha!

In retrospect, it's a good thing we decided to keep him as IDK how many people would be willing to work around his quirkiness to make him feel safe.

ZOMG Whazzat?!?

Roaching

Killing the cow.

The cow is dead...

He's gotten so big...43 pounds now.

Tired now...

 

I don't know how we ever lived without him...