24/7 Chat About Anything

[maki2]

I had planned to head north in the morning and texted a friend I wanted to drop by to say hello to see if he was still in Quartzsite. He said he was heading to Yuma the next day. So I will linger here a while longer.

I came across some episodes of an English Garden design program I used to watch. It was fun seeing them again. Made me nostalgic for my garden design days that were from 1996 thru 2008. The white building in the rear of the property was my woodworking shop/ studio space.

 

[Morgana]

Wow, the colors (after cataract surgery)!! I didn't think I'd get the color hit, because I didn't think my colors had faded, but it's an amazing difference. They did not give me a pirate eye patch, just a clever white plastic gizmo with holes in it that you can see through (arrgh?). When I finally got to take that off, the colors just popped. I might get my own pirate patch just for those situations (like reading) where the two eyes are too out of sync to work right now. When I think how sunk I'd be without this procedure, and how affordable it was, and that a competent doc was available, gotta give life a few

 

[Happy Camper]

Very happy for you that it went so well!

 

[CosmickGold]

Wow, the colors . . . ! . . . .They did not give me a pirate eye patch, just a clever white plastic gizmo with holes in it that you can see through (arrgh?).

Those holes work like "pin-hole cameras. By their nature, they focus the light for you so your eyes don't have to. Some claim wearing them can improve your eyesight as your eyes learn to do their own focussing better.

 

[Southbound]

@Morgana - great on your cataracts and seeing color so much better. If one eye is worse than the other by about 2 dipoters (I think that's what it's called) they may want to do the 2nd eye to match the first. I had to get 2nd eye done due to that reason.

 

[Morgana]

they're going to do the other one in two weeks.

 

[DrivenNomad]

Wow, the colors (after cataract surgery)!! I didn't think I'd get the color hit, because I didn't think my colors had faded, but it's an amazing difference. They did not give me a pirate eye patch, just a clever white plastic gizmo with holes in it that you can see through (arrgh?). When I finally got to take that off, the colors just popped. I might get my own pirate patch just for those situations (like reading) where the two eyes are too out of sync to work right now. When I think how sunk I'd be without this procedure, and how affordable it was, and that a competent doc was available, gotta give life a few

Morgana:
Congrats on the great outcome. You're the second person that told me about the great color hit. I didn't get that, after either eye. I didn't really expect it because I wasn't having any problem with colors? For me it was all about the clarity and the great improvement in distance vision. The only part of the whole process that was a pain to me was using the eye drops 4 times a day for 4 weeks. A big bonus for me was the ease of using binoculars without wearing glasses. Living in the great outdoors like we do I've always enjoyed using binoculars to see the world around me.
That sure is a quick turnaround on the second eye. Mine was 5 months, but that's partly because I didn't want to stick around Pahrump long enough to have the 2nd one done in a month or two. Winter was approaching and Arizona was calling my name...
Congrats again and good luck on the next one!

 

[Morgana]

how it was explained to me was, if the difference between the treated and un-treated eyes is substantial (maybe that is Southbound's 2 diopters?), then they encourage you to get the second eye done quickly.

eyedrops yeah ... I bought a bottle of Visine to practice in advance, but still every once in a while I miss by a mile.

 

[maki2]

Off for the final visit to Mexico, this time going in with a friend. Visit to the pharmacy for me. Obtaining luxury brand of tequila for him. Taco lunch for both of us.

I will finish packing up this afternoon for heading north tomorrow. Time to get further north as the hot weather is due to arrive within a week in Yuma and Quartzsite. Fortunately 2 good sized orders in my Etsy store yesterday and this morning are covering the fuel cost for my spring migration, excellent timing!

 

[Happy Camper]

Please be careful. Things seem to be getting a little wacky lately over there.

 

[maki2]

Please be careful. Things seem to be getting a little wacky lately over there.

There is nothing wacky at all going on in Los Algodones. This is not one of the areas experiencing drug cartel kidnappings. Plus I do not need anyone telling me to be careful. At 73 years old I am an intelligent person who has very good street smarts and no senility. My parents made sure all 5 of us kids knew to use Street Smart behaviors long before “stranger danger” programs became the norm to teach in schools.

It was a quiet, peaceful, very pleasant visit to Los Algodones. My 5th trip over there this winter season. The wintertime medical tourism crowds from the USA have mostly all headed north away from Yuma. Being a weekday right after a strong windstorm there was not a line at customs going back into the USA. Just one person in front of us. It was not at all hot, upper 60s and a little bit breezy so I had a wind breaker on and my friend had a flannel shirt on. Easy trip over this time as I did not have to sit in a dentist chair

This time over I finally decided to buy one of the little, colorful humming birds made with little beads on wire. They have tempted me every year and every time I go into Los Algodones. Pretty little thing.

 

[BelgianPup]

I do not need anyone telling me to be careful. At 73 years old I am an intelligent person who has very good street smarts and no senility.

Ah, another person who thinks they know everything about everything, all the time, and under all circumstances!

I'm 73, too, and I recognize the fact that things change, and that I don't know everything, and never have. I used to know a couple of people who knew everything, but one is dead and the other is in prison.

 

[Morgana]

The place those US folks got hit in Matamoros was considered relatively safe until those US folks got hit there. I wandered around comfortably in the same general area (maybe not quite as far in) when I lived down that way. (And took cabs across town a couple of times based on a Baptist preacher telling me "trust me, it's safe" -- though other people were horrified when I told them I'd done it.
The border is in a constant state of flux, including relative safety levels in different towns (I know Juarez, for example, has been up and down). And it's a very complicated place - the cheerful aura of tourist-facing businesses notwithstanding. I doubt that anyone who's spent much time there thinks it's easy to know or predictable. Reasonable people (of whom that preacher may or may not have been one) disagree on the details.
And if something really bad (like, cartel-related) were to happen, no amount of US-style street smarts would be enough to keep you safe.
It's safer for USians than it is for the locals -- because we're good for business and because nobody wants the attention that harming one of us would bring. The Matamoros incident brought that out very well -- notice how much less fuss was made over the Mexican lady who got killed during it, and how quickly the cartel turned over the guilty? parties. We're privileged that way, but we still need to pay attention and choose our desired level of risk.
What was street smart when we were children is not the same as what's street smart now. Like anything else that requires skill, "I've been doing this for 50 years" can mean either "I'm a top expert" or "I've been doing it wrong for the last 49."
Saying "be careful" is usually considered a courtesy, whether the hearer's risk perception exactly matches the speaker's or not. If someone said "be careful" to a seasoned DEA agent who'd spent 5 years embedded with the Zeta's, s/he'd probably say "thanks for your concern."

 

[Happy Camper]

Hey the guy in prison still knows everything. Just from a different perspective.

 

[wayne49]

Maki may not know everything, but Maki knows a lot.

Los Algodones is a safe place. The locals won't risk the medical tourism money flow.

I suppose if one wandered far enough away from the central shopping area one might find trouble.

I myself, rode my motorcycle in the rain, hung around Bedford-Stuyvesant (aka Bed-Stuy), walked in Harlem in the dark to change from the Metro North Hudson line to the A train, all without incident.

Been by myself walking around in Bogota and Cucuta in Colombia.

Know where you are going, and how to get there, and get back.

 

[Happy Camper]

Twas no slight towards Maki at all. It's just acknowledging that things seem to be shifting randomly and erratically in places otherwise known as safe.

Some people going certain places with confidence make no sense at all. By all accounts where Maki went is a safe place.

Not like going on vacation in the middle of gangland lol.

I grew up in Compton. I'm aware and know how to handle myself as well. It just seems that lately it's been much more random in normally safe areas over there.

I didn't suggest you don't go. It was more a reminder to have your antenna up. Sometimes we get comfortable.

And since you mentioned it, I want to see that hummingbird lol.

 

[maki2]

If you want to see those beaded humming birds look at the photo. They sell them on Amazon at twice the price.

 

[bullfrog !]

Sadly more dangerous in the USA than most places in the developed world when one of the top causes of children’s death is by being shot and mass shooting are a common occurrence. No wonder I like being a hermit!

 

[Happy Camper]

Those look really neat. Was watching a hummingbird the other day. They are so enjoyable to watch.

 

[maki2]

First of all I have never been a know-it-all but I do know-a-lot because
I have an IQ in the top 1% in the area of English and other sections of that test. That means reading, researching and acquiring knowledge has always come as easily and naturally to me as breathing. I am also very much mechanically inclined and not a timid person who is afraid to try new things. A lot of people on this forum talk about a dream of going to Alaska to see it and camp there. I moved there on my own in 1970 after my freshman year of college in Texas because I thought Alaska would be an interesting place to go. So Intook a summer job for two months, bought a plane ticket and left. I stayed for 7 years and did a lot of camping and fishing too, taking more college courses of course. I have done several very interesting jobs and gained a lot of skills.with tools and technology. I did my first Van build in 1983, (it was not an no build build) and traveled solo across country in it. I have solo camped in Europe as well. Not that a woman in her 50s camping solo in France is in any real risk of danger from the locals or fellow travelers.