12/30/2014 My name is Deb. I’m an addict. I crave PUPPY BREATH, I can’t get enough of it. On Tuesday we met a guy who has a car I am was interested in buying at our mechanic’s. We were to meet Monday but he (the guy with the car) was busy. We met him @ 9 and he and Bill took the Honda CRV out for a test drive, I waited at the mechanic’s. There was a puppy that kept running out from under a car in his shop. I tried to get the pup to come to me but it wouldn’t. Her mother was chained to the wheel of a car, that’s where they lived. Nelson (the mechanic) grabbed the puppy for me. He told me the momma dog bites everyone, that’s why she was chained. He handed the pup to me and she nuzzled into my neck and started licking me; she was perfectly content in my arms. I was totally mesmerized by her puppy breath, I couldn’t tear myself away. It’s an irrestible charm that pups have, once they breathe on you, you’re smitten. I made the comment, “OMG, she is so cute, I could just take her home.” Nelson said, “Lady (his name for me) if you want her you can have her. She doesn’t like most people and she likes you. I know you’ll take good care of her.” Now remember, Bill was out driving the car. He came back and I was holding the puppy, still. He wanted me to drive the car so I passed the puppy off to him, taking a quick inhale of her puppy breath to hold me over as I crawled into the car. I drove the car, it was nice but they want too much for it. But the puppy, she was free and she was adorable. I told Bill that Nelson said we could have her and he asked Nelson if he was serious. Nelson said the same thing about he knows we would take care of her and voilà, we had a puppy. Nelson had already named her Lolita, I can’t take credit for the name, however we have shortened it to Lola. Lola rolls off the tongue easier when you are screaming, DAMMIT LOLA you peed for the 93rd time today on the FLOOR!! DAMMIT LOLA DO NOT SHIT THERE! Lolita doesn’t flow as well.
Due to an instant craving of puppy breath, our lives have changed. Tuesday night was sheer hell. We tried her in a small dog crate on the porch with the boys. She howled for 2 hours and 33 minutes. We brought her in to our bathroom in the crate, she howled. We let her out of the crate and blocked her in the bathroom. She howled. We BROUGHT Highway into the blocked off bathroom area and he was pissed. She howled. That didn’t last long, he went back to the porch. We were up ALL night with the howling yet mesmerizing puppy breathed dog from hell. I kept thinking what have we done. If only my addiction wasn’t so strong. I need detox.
Wednesday we hung out around here and tried to get ticks and fleas off of PB (puppy breath), there were more than normal for a young pup. Her Momma must be infested. We had plans Christmas eve, all planned before Lola arrived. At 5 on Christmas eve we left for a party on John and Susie’s boat with Craig and Cleo .
Their boat is docked in French Cay. It was a great party, excellent food, they cooked a huge ham that was delicious, lots of drinks and fabulous dessert made by Maddie, the daughter of my island knee doc (from the US.) It was a nice night on the water, we sat on the top deck of the boat and talked and ate and drank. We didn’t stay too long which was fine, we had a puppy in a crate on the porch at home. When we came up the road we could hear her HOWLING!
The second night we put Lola on the back porch with the boys, not in a cage, just chilling with the guys. She was fine until morning. Highway totally digs her 85% of the time but Lucky, not so much. He is not thrilled, he does the damn Elvis lip thing all the time when she comes near. We have been giving Luck, AKA El Gordo, lots of love. He’s feeling a little third wheelish.
Highway, he is smitten. She is a sinister spirit with him. They raise hell together. He flips her body with his snout and she lands on her back and jumps up and attacks him. She hangs from his jowls and she SPINS and totally pinches him. WHO THE HELL TAUGHT HER THAT? SHE IS 8 WEEKS OLD. She is a wild one, OMG. I have a teenager already and it’s a freaking girl. Please no girls, I’m afraid they’ll be like me. (shudder) But she is ours, she pees everywhere and yet her breath is perfect, can’t get enough.
It’s very funny to see Highway like this. He has always been such a wild child. When we took him to the states from Roatan he was 3 months old. He hung on poor Dooce’s face, he bit her ankles, he laid on her head and he bit her tail. All these things are reversed now. He is having them done to him instead of him being the aggressor, he is the attackee. She is the aggressor. Role reversal, she may end up Alpha dog.
Christmas Day we went to Bob and Rosalie’s house with Dave, Trish, Michael and Tasha for Christmas dinner. Bob and Rosalie are from the Vancouver BC area and live on the rock 6 months out of the year. They live in a fab location in Sandy Bay.
We had a big turkey dinner at their house and Tasha made dessert, marble cake and Key Lime pie, holy cow, can that girl bake!! Great food, awesome company. We would have liked to stay longer, but with a 30 minute drive ahead of us, we had to leave because of Lola. Puppy hood is not for people who are never home. It’s a commitment. A damn freaking big one. I’m puppy whipped already, I admit it Jeanie!
Friday we were planning to go to Camp Bay with Chuck and Nancy but Lola changed that. We didn’t want to leave her alone for so long and didn’t think she would make the trip well plus she was flea infested. We decided it was best to stay home. We did a tick and flea find and destroy mission, she had so many ticks on her it was crazy. We removed over 20 ticks from her ears alone and they were huge suckers, like a small raisin. She was a mess and she missed her momma.
Tasha was leaving to go back to Toronto the next day, so Trish and Dave and Tasha and Mike came out late afternoon. Tasha really wanted to meet Lola. Bill made a couple pizzas on the grill for dinner and the kids got their fill of our animal kingdom!
On Saturday Bill and I went to visit Chuck and Nancy. We got to enjoy a late lunch with them, Nancy made a fabulous chicken and eggplant parmigiana. We got to see the first part of the renovation of their social building, it’s going to be a great space!
We stayed for a few hours and then came home to the menagerie. They only live a short distance from us so it’s a quick trip home.
Sunday was our big day, a first for us, the Radical Catamaran day trip. This was planned over a month ago and I was really needing a water fix. Craig and Cleo were nice enough to come up several times while we were gone and check on Miss Lola. They love dogs and cats and if Lola didn’t have fleas Craig probably would have stolen her.
We met the other boaters and the Free Radical at 9 AM at the Save center dock in Oak Ridge. This is not your average boat, this is an amazing day on the water. This is a 5 ***** excursion. Click here for info on the Radical Catamaran. All the drinks, incredible food and desserts you want. Fantastic staff to wait on you, take your dirty dishes, bring you drinks. Just fabulous. They do an ex-pat special and if you live on the island you can get the reduced rate and bring family members or friends that may be visiting. There was a full boat of people, some we knew, some we didn’t. We set off for the eastern part of the island, stopping at the Cow and the Calf to snorkel. Bill wasn’t sure he wanted to go in so I got ready and jumped in alone to snorkel. I swam over to the rock and started around the one end. I saw fantastic coral, fish and the biggest star fish I have ever laid eyes on.
After heading east around the far side of the island I was swimming into the current and thought maybe it wasn’t a good idea to go all the way around alone. What if the boat thought I drowned so they left? I turned around to go back and that’s when I saw the starfish and the Angelfish. Bonus! As I was heading back a guy from the boat in a wetsuit came up to me and asked if I wanted to snorkel around the cow, I said sure, figuring they wouldn’t leave without him! He dove down and got a spiny starfish and told me to hold it so he could take a pic but the pic sucked, so I have a pic of him holding it. It was crawling on my hand and felt really weird.
It was a fabulous day on the water despite the fact my neck was killing me. I think it was from the way I held my head looking at stuff while snorkeling. This is nothing new, my neck has hurt for a long time, this only made it worse. We were whooped when we got home but still had a puppy to take care of.
We ran some errands Monday and took her with us. She seemed to enjoy looking out the window, Bill held her while I ran in for groceries and just as we left the parking lot she puked. Luckily I got her on the car mat, easy to hose off. We were worried about her, she had the butt squirts and then she puked. With no vet on the island for a week I called my niece who is a vet and she gave me some options. Then I got in touch with our friend Kathy who knows a lot about animals. She and her husband were coming to town Tuesday so they stopped and she wormed Lola and gave her some tick and flea stuff and some Immodium to control her squirts. She is still peeing a lot but we can’t deny her water if she has the squirts because she may get dehydrated. After a second dose of Immodium today her squirts are turning into more of a formed poop so she is getting better, We are pretty sure it’s a change of diet thing because she sure doesn’t seem sick at all.
She has been doing OK at night on the porch with the boys. Every now and then we’ll hear a sharp reprimanding bark or a snarl but for the most part it’s quiet. This is a clip of Highway and Lola playing on the back porch. They do this outside too and he runs her in circles, rolls her, picks her up off the ground while holding on to the other end of whatever she has in her mouth, he mouths her WHOLE neck and she nips his heels and his neck and ears and lips. True love if I ever saw it.
Tonight is New Year’s eve and like the many NY Eve’s before this one, we are staying home. There is a big party in Calabash and another at Parrot Tree but honestly, when you are awake at 4 AM, 9 PM seems very late. For all of you celebrating tonight stay safe and have a happy prosperous healthy New Year. 2015, bring it on!
P.S. The movie THE INTERVIEW, that was pulled from opening in the US is being shown down here. I saw the ad on Facebook. Only in Honduras!
WE GOT THE CRAZY MOVIE THAT WAS TAKEN OFF THE MARKET BY SONY AND NOW IS SHOWING THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
THE INTERVIEW (Rated R)
at MOVIE NIGHT! FRIDAY & SATURDAY at The Pineapple Grill at Clarion Suites Roatan at Pineapple Villas/
Mermaid on a Raft 