The rainy season started early this year. Every day, usually late afternoon, we get a sprinkle or a thunderstorm. And hail! We weren't prepared for that, emotionally or physically. We had to take a shade cloth down and empty out the other two, as they filled so quickly and buckled with the weight.

The next morning we saw hail around town as we made our 4th? 5th? trip to the migration office. Hail amidst the flower petals, on Mother's Day (in Mexico, a few days earlier than the US) looked like a mother's day bouquet for the many mothers separated from their children. Borders, violence, economic strife, emotional/physical/chemical illness....
Perhaps melodramatic. Could just be a mother's day bouquet for all the sleep-deprived mothers balancing family, work, health and more. Happy Mother's Day!

We continue to mother our sweet dog buds. Max charmed us once again by sitting down on my empty kefir/granola jar in the truck. We were just glad he sat down! Usually he has to stand during trips, and he's so unsteady (even on the ground) and the roads here are impressively bad. Usually I just hold onto him while Phillip drives.

Booker continues to wake up each morning, and we are ever-so-glad. He had a positive check-up with our wonderful vet and continues to take heart medicine.

Our second trip to the vet last week was for Max, who has a flare-up of gastritis and has been puking (mostly bile) a lot. Sometimes while we're trying to sleep.

Hannah surprised us all by finding a guard dog bone in her body. She barks and chases the neighbor dog, Torce, when he comes over. We wonder if she has a crush on him and she's pretending she doesn't? Cause this is Hannah - she's never asserted herself in her life!

I've been moving trees. Trees that are failing to thrive, and a few that look alright but they're living in ground that will soon be covered in concrete.
There are plenty of reasons trees might fail to thrive here: long dry season, masses of clay, thick limestone/caliche (we dug through two solid feet of it then couldn't get any deeper with our tools), unfriendly pH, etc.
Many of the trees I've dug up are root bound - their roots are growing in tight circles rather than out. Usually this happens when a tree is in a container too long, and its roots are bound by it. But it also happens when a tree is planted with a parcel of soil into an unfriendly location, and the roots just grow around and around within that bit of soil that it came with.
We'll be watching this dozen-ish trees (along with the rest on the land) and some may need to move again, or at least move into larger holes that have a larger amended environment. I've added aged cow manure, but haven't done anything to change pH, e.g.
What a natural response, to keep growing and growing in ways and places that are comfortable.

Phillip has almost finished this chicken tractor! Max loves it.