strangling time

Procrastination, thy name is Mexico.

Or, more accurately, thy name is Steve in Mexico.

I meant to write those two sentences a week ago. But I have put them off just as certainly as I have put off two small projects that I meant to do before I headed off to Bogota on Monday.

You know about both of them. I think.

I mentioned the first in plugging pesos into telcel. Even though I had turned off the data usage on my telephone during my stay in Australia and New Zealand, several apps kept on operating, and incurred over 3000 pesos worth of telephone time.

One of my traveling companions, Nancy, had set up her telephone with a special plan that allowed her to use data and telephones services for a $10 (US) service fee for each day she activated the service. It was a neat deal.

Looking at Telcel's website did not help me to determine whether there was something similar to supplement my current plan. A reader on Facebook raised the possibility that a competing company offered world-wide telephone coverage with no limit on data usage for a monthly fee far less than what I am paying for a North America only plan.

The only way to resolve my information cul-de-sac was to drive to Manzanillo to talk with a sales representative. I put that off until the last minute -- on Friday afternoon.

The sales representative (as clerks now like to be called) quickly eliminated the worldwide coverage idea. Even looking at competitors' plans, she could not find anything that would cost as little as I was told.

And she was no more helpful with the possibility of a supplemental plan for Colombia during the rest of the month that would not cost more than my monthly grocery bill. Her solution was to buy a SIM card in Colombia. Exactly what I would usually do when I travel to Europe. And so I shall when I land in Bogota.

That was the easy project. The more difficult one has been staring me in the face for almost two years.

When the architect chose landscaping for my house, she installed a trellis in front of each of the four bedrooms for both privacy and shade. The shade and privacy were to be provided by a fast-growing vine with yellow flowers.

Within a few months of me taking ownership, the vines had reached the top of the trellises and had started growing along the railings of the upstairs terrace. Regular pruning cut off the imperial flora attack. But the top portion of the vines intertwined and started collecting all forms of debris.

About a year ago, I decided the vines needed to be cut back to eye level to give them an opportunity to grow as they should. But it would be massive surgery.

Christy and I talked over several alternatives, but the only option that made any sense to me was to simply start hacking.

So, I bought a 15 foot ladder and arranged with a young Mexican friend to help me work on each trellis separately. Because I am an impatient procrastinator (and that is a deadly combination), I started the project on my own today. But I had waited too late in the afternoon. I barely got started.

Tomorrow, as Scarlet did say, is another day. I hope to get at least one of the trellises cut back before I head off to Colombia. When I return, Ozzie and I can take care of the other three.

I have considered leaving one in place to provide flowers for the sole hummingbird that adds life to the courtyard. There is little sense in becoming too timely at this late stage of my life -- at the expense of life.