Baxter in Mexico

Newz:

• My cousin Betsy had her baby on Oct. 7, also the birthday of my bro Isaac. Congratz to Nick, Betsy and baby Grace!
• Wednesday marked two years since my dad died. I miss him. It´s still a shock, every day it is, but I think it´s easier to accept as time goes on. It hasn´t seemed like that long, though. I think part of it had to do with me being back in Mexico -- where I was when it happened. Memories are more urgent if you´re surrounded by the same sights, sounds and smells of when they were made.
  
• I´ve been closely following the elections, and I´m embarassed to say this, but more so than Mexican news. It´s like getting a nasty addiction to the greasiest McDonald´s food.
  

I´ve been back to Mexico about three weeks now, and I brought my cat, Baxter. He´s a manx, which means he has no tail -- he was born without one, as most manxes are. Some manxes have little stubs, but Baxter, nada. I had never taken him aboard an airplane, and I was nervous he would be crying the whole time (since I kept him under my seat in a Pet Taxi) and bother everyone, but in fact he was fine -- even better than a car ride, which he loathes.

Baxter enjoys Mexico so far. I haven´t noticed any strong reaction to Mexico City´s pollution or altitude. But he was full of matts, his whole body. I took most of them out before I brought him to MX, but last week I had to shave his bottom half. He´s not bald, but he looks more like a baby lion. The pix below are before he was s

I live on the third floor of a giant, old house. The whole top floor is a patio but it has a large studio room and a normal size room, where I sleep. The top floor has an opening to the rest of the house to bring in light to the first floor (which also has an open-air patio). A concrete beam sits perpendicular over the opening, and a slanted ledge parallels the side. The opening is protected by a metal fence, but being a cat, Baxter´s curiosity took over and he walked through the opening of the fence and out onto the beam. Fine. But he also walked out onto the slanted ledge, and being a clumsy, clawless (all four paws) creature, he started to slip down the ledge. Luckily, he scurried back to the fence and crawled back onto the patio before he fell, but it was a close call, so we´ve put barriers so he can´t try to kill himself again; it´s about a 30-foot drop.

Because of his curiosity, Baxter has to stay in my room all day, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. But when he does get to wander around and explore the patio, he´s ecstatic:



Ahmed, Baxter, Mathilde and I.



















A wild manx, ready to go for the prey (butterfly).


















Just so they wouldn´t get jealous of so many cat pix, I´ve included a pic of our dogs back home: Caly, Sheba, Star, Clarice.


















Wanting to exploit the comforts of a wood stool, Baxter has second thoughts: a jacuzzi filled with raunchy water on the left and a razor-sharp plant on the right threaten his mobility.