Iceberg floating

11/23/2014 We have fire ants. In our house. I’ve publicly said it. OMG. I was refilling the hummingbird feeder today and unscrewed the bottom to clean it out at the kitchen sink and there were lots of bugs. Normal. BUT, they weren’t winged bugs, nope, they are red and big and mean as shit looking. They be FIRE ANTS. I naturally freaked and Bill came over to the sink to help me, but the little shits were running all over the counter. I grabbed my stainless steel measuring cup and was beating them with it. Bill yelled at me and said I was acting like there was a lion lose. He said I PUSHED him out of the way, I didn’t touch him, I was too busy beating the little bastards to death. A lion at least you can see, these, not so much. They all met their match with the garbage disposal, or so I thought. I found one crawling on the counter, knocked it to the floor and sprayed it with Deet and squished it in a paper towel. Ants will be the bane of my existence. Aaaah, life in paradise.

I am still car less, maybe because we are dumb gringos, maybe. We have been taking our vehicles to Nelson behind the chicken (Pollo Rey) store in Las Fuertes. My car has a crappy rear end and we want to get the bushings replaced. He quoted us a price and said a week and it would be done. PREVIOUSLY, we have given him a down payment but this time he didn’t ask. We, being dumb gringos assumed it was because he knew we would pay, no problem. Dropped my car off and left. After a week Bill called to see how it was going and he HAD NOT TORN MY CAR APART YET, HE NEEDED A DOWN PAYMENT. WTF? We would have gladly paid him, he never asked and my car has been sitting there 1 week now. We took him the $$ the next morning and he said he would get the parts on the ferry to the mainland the next day. Now, almost a week later, the people on the mainland have not replaced the bushings yet. I want my car, DAMMIT!

We had some crazy weather on Wednesday, the wind was howling, it was raining sideways, we had 3″ of rain between midnight and 7 AM Wednesday morning. It kept right on blowing until Thursday late morning when it cleared and the sun came out. Wednesday afternoon Nancy and Chuck were stopping by. Chuck has yet to see the house and was really anxious to see all the concrete work and the staining Bill did. Bill helped Chuck with a garage door issue and Chuck, artist that he is, painted this for Bill.

Really cool painting, we need to find a frame for it. Chuck and Nancy visited for a few hours and when they left it was starting to pour again and the wind was picking up a LOT! Another stormy night, another cistern filling to overflowing night. We’ll take it.

Bill is working on the storage unit and window seat he is building for the bedroom, I can’t wait until it’s done and I can clean out my closet.  There will actually be room in there soon.

Thursday we ran to the store and bought all of our Thanksgiving needs, we got the biggest turkey there and it’s small compared to what we usually have, but it will do. Our neighbors Craig and Cleo are coming and bringing a friend, along with John, the guy we rented from (and they are now renting from) and we invited Stefi also. Thinking about some Planes Trains and Automobiles for dessert, along with coconut carrot pineapple walnut cake.

Ah, Stefi. This is another story and a sad one. Stef and Jurgen live one driveway away from us, they are one of the original couples in the HOOD, they have been on the island a long time. I met them in 2012 when I was living down here and then Bill and I met them again soon after we moved permanently in 2013. They are the neatest couple, so easy going and lots of fun to be around. Their island stories would make a great book. We got to know them much better over the past 13 months and always looked forward to spending time with them. Now they are leaving due to some health issues, and going back to Germany. Seriously sad about this. On Friday night there was a going away party for Jurgen because he was leaving on Sunday. The party started at Cal’s and moved down to the Palapa. We were going to that but we also went over on Friday morning for coffee and to see him before he leaves. Jurgen and I are Facebook buddies, we chat all the time, for long periods of time. He is also the guy I rode with to the Cattleya School, they are the kind of people you feel lucky to have for friends. Stefi is still here and leaving mid December. Yes, there is still Facebook but it’s not near as good as spending time with someone, that beats everything hands down. Stef and Jurgen, you will be greatly missed!

The party at the Palapa was fun, they have Karaoke on Friday nights and there were lots of people there.

Just for Jurgen, I re-organized my pantry. He is always giving me crap about it, needs alphabetized, it’s messy, whatever. Jurgen, it’s not alphabitized but it’s organized.

Saturday was a TOWN HALL meeting for Santos Guardiolas, which is the half of the island that we live on. They were dedicating the land they purchased to build a station for the Bomberos, the Fire Department.

The Mayor has some good ideas but all during his talk I heard the non spoken words of, your taxes will be going up. No biggie, they are very low as it is. They have to get $$ somewhere. It just amazes me how this country is run, it’s no wonder corruption and political greed is the name of the game. You pay, you play.

Today, Sunday, was gorgeous, I washed all the towels and hung them over the wooden deck railings to dry. {I don’t have enough line space for them and sheets.} First I had to clean all the lizard poop off the railings, that’s usually the high point of my day. Around 1:30 I went down to John’s pool with my raft. The pool looked great, the water was cold but I’ve been in colder, Rock Run in PA and Lake Whatcom and the N. fork of the Nooksack River in WA. The sun hadn’t yet made it up over the trees because this time of year it’s low in the sky. Cleo came down and hung out with me and soon Craig came down too.  We sadly waved goodbye to our buddie Jurgen as the United plane flew past on the way to Houston. A little after 2 there was a small speck of sun on the pool so we stuck our feet in and soon after that there was S U N! We got on our rafts and floated.  I got out of the pool once to call Bill and ask him to bring me a bottle of ice water from the house.  We floated until around 4:30, what a nice lazy way to spend a November Sunday afternoon.

Before I forget, I am a guinea pig, well, I am offering myself as one for my KNEE. The GARM clinic here on the island has an Orthopedic specialist who likes to try new stuff. That’s why he is opening a regenerative medicine clinic here on Roa. He has me on some stuff called Neoplasnet. I put a drop under my tongue 4 times a day. Yep, that’s the truth. It comes in a clear vial with a dropper, if the dropper touches anything, you have to throw out the whole bottle. From a knee doc appointment I went to see Dr. Rafael at the Chamber (hyperbaric chamber for divers with the bends.) I figured he saw enough people with ear problems, being the doc for Anthonys Key Resort, that maybe he could figure out my ear thing. He says there is no glaring issue but it still pops every time I swallow. He did say I can snorkel, but no diving down under water while snorkeling. He put me back on Cephalexin and an inhaler. It’s been almost a week, no change. UGH.

If you haven’t noticed, I changed the name of my blog to Mermaid on a Raft. I thought it was more appropriate, more fitting. I will also be writing for Women Who Live on Rocks, yay, so excited about this new part of blogging. Stay tuned..

I’m off to the shower and then going to bed. It’s tough living in Paradise but someone has to do it.

I do it so well.