Dec 2, 2018 Long time, no type. I’ve been so bored with my lack of a life that I had no words to put on a blog. To say I’ve been home all the time is not an exaggeration. I have been out to eat a few times but that’s it. I’ve been to the grocery store once in 2 months. That itself speaks volumes.
As I sit here on a Saturday afternoon, staring out at the water, some words slipped in to my head so here I am.
Quick update: my foot is still swollen, I was in a cast for 3 weeks, supposed to take it easy for a week and then be good to go. Nope, was no better. I went to an orthopedic Doc from the US (he lives here), he said Celebrex for 2 weeks, no improvement. I plan to go see a specialist on the mainland as soon as I can get in. Enough of this crap, it pisses me off big time. It will be 3 months Dec. 6th.
I have been spending a lot of time by the pool or in bed, resting the foot, so I’ve been reading. I read a book based on a true story called The Radium Girls. It’s unbelievable because it’s true. I just finished Flowers for Algernon and am starting one called Magnolia about Chip and Joanna Gaines. I’ve also been binge watching House Hunters International, Fixer Upper and Caribbean Life, along with my favorite TV show, Modern Family. Although my TV watching is always in the evening, unless it’s raining. Of course, when it rains our internet has not been working so I couldn’t watch anything. The internet company has been here 4 times in one month because we have been without internet for 24 hours each time. So ridiculous. I know, first world problems but dammit, WIFI is not too much to ask for is it? The internet provider blames it on the electric company but I can’t complain about the electric company, they’re not that bad. We’re on an island, I’m amazed we even have electricity.
A few weeks ago the power went out at 8:30 PM or so, I went to the window and looked out to see if the colonia below us was out. It was dark down there but there was a huge ball of red further east. It was a BIG fire. I posted on Roatan 911 that there were big flames coming from Politilly, several others had posted also. Bill walked into the bedroom when the power went out and we just stood there and watched the flames grow until there was a red trail floating skyward. It was awful watching it. We were told the fire may have been intentionally set by a woman mad at her daughter. Regardless of the reason, 3 houses were destroyed 2 more severely damaged. Many people are homeless. They will rebuild the homes ASAP.
The dogs are a lot of company as they follow me everywhere I go and beg for any speck of food I put in my mouth. Highway has been spending most of the time downstairs if Bill is out of the house. I get too exhausted telling him to be quiet all day long. He’s a whiner and a yapper and he is an instigator. With him downstairs it’s really quiet up here. When he gets all wound up he sounds like the 3 Stooges making their weird noises all at the same time. He does this over emergencies (a watusa or an armadillo in the yard) that do not warrant that reaction. In a nano second I have 5 hysterical dogs. Downstairs for the win.
Click HERE for a video about the Founder of TOMS shoes, he was on Jimmy Fallon. It’s quite a powerful video considering gun violence is on the rise. Please watch the video.
I signed on to FB the other morning and there was a post from my friend Julie in Alabama. Julie and her husband and kids have been to the island, stayed here a few times and I know the kids too. Julie’s Mom had her two daughters at the mall shopping holiday sales. They were walking in the mall when a fight broke out between 2 boys. One had a gun and started shooting, a bullet struck my friends daughter Molly in the back. Thankfully, she is physically OK, no major damage, just that she will have a bullet in her back forever. I hope that she and her sister (and grandmother) can recover from this horrific accident emotionally. The fact that you can’t be in the mall, doing yoga, at a dance or a concert and be safe says a lot about the state of the US. Something needs to be done about these crazy shootings. Sign the TOMS petition, easy and free and doing something is better than doing nothing.
My friend the Duchess has owned a home on the island for a long time, she spends 3 months here, then back to the states, then here again, several times a year. She’s seen a lot of stuff happen, to her and to others that are illegal in most normal places. In the past year there have been several home robberies. They have the kid on video, everyone knows who it is but nobody does anything about it. The main criminal has kids under 18 do the dirty work because there is no prosecution whatsoever if you are under 18. These kids are getting brazen and out of control. The communities got together to discuss what could be done to stop the thieves. The Duchess was sitting at the meeting with another friend, a male, who has also been here a long time. Said male is very happily married and has been for years. As they sat awaiting things to get going a young girl who is related to one of the thieves was being very boisterous. She told our male friend that she was available. He tried his best to respond with a serious face. She then noticed his wedding ring and she said, “Oh, you married?” He shook his head and said “Yes I am.” Always a gentleman. She responded by saying, “I don’t care, I’m still available.” I would have been on the floor in hysterics. As the meeting began and people were discussing the issues at hand this girl continued to yell and talk loudly, totally disrupting the whole meeting. People had enough of her and threw her out and locked the doors of the school they were in. She continued to bang on the windows, cursing and screaming so loudly that the meeting became worthless. She then managed to find a way in and came at the group leader with a pen in her hand, held like a dagger. The woman speaking saw her coming and grabbed a desk and smashed it into her. At that point people got up and started to leave, not much was sorted out at all. You can’t make this shit up. As the island turns.
We had a nice Thanksgiving with friends at the Pineapple Grill. Yvonne, who I met Christmas eve, 2013, got a group of 20 people together. Big mistake for me was they had a huge salad bar and I adore salad bars, so when the heaping plateful of food came I could eat about 1/3 of it. It was delicious and fun getting out and seeing people. Not fun having to walk to get in there though, in all reality, Bill should have carried me.
Someone in the colonia below us is setting off firecrackers. I have no clue why as Nov. 24th signifies nothing as a holiday for the islanders. Maybe they are practicing for Christmas. Nothing goes better with baby Jesus than firecrackers?? {I see no correlation whatsoever.} Barrio has decided he does not like the sound of firecrackers so he follows me around like he’s attached to my ankles. He’s laying on my feet under my desk as I type. Bigger firecrackers going off now. And I guess I missed the fireworks at the beach below us. I also missed the wedding (which I was invited to) that was held there and that was the reason for the fireworks, totally forgot about it.
My eye was bothering me the other morning and it looked a little red so I went to the doggie meds drawer and found an unopened bottle of Tobramycin eye drops. Nothing like diagnosing yourself. Hope the drops make whatever it is go away. THEN, I was out by the pool reading and got stung by a horsefly type creature. They are triangle shaped and they really hurt if they get you. The dogs chase them and try to eat them so I chase the dogs and don’t let them eat them. I killed several that landed on me and didn’t get stung but this one got me good. He’s dead now. I called Bill and asked him to stop and get me wine because my eye was infected and a bee stung me. Seemed like a logical reason to need wine. Two bottles. One for my eye and one for my knee.
I am the admin on a few FB pages for Roatan and it’s become a joke with my band of friends on the island (guys) to say, Just Ask Debbie. Not only did they make a Google page for me, nice isn’t it??
They also did this. Never a dull moment here, sometimes I feel like a referee.
Remember Alexi, the young boy we have helped? He was in the Bomberos (fire department) for 2 years but they were not paying him so he is working for Bulldog Security. Happy he has a good job, not many young men do. I’m sure Bill’s influence on him has a lot to do with his success. Alexi has a sister Juliana and she has a son, Osman, a sister Jessica and a brother Ephrain. Ephrain has become Bill’s sidekick. Ephrain is not allowed to go to the school 2 minutes from his home because the teachers hate his mother and claim he is white. He’s not. Therefore, he has to take a taxi to school that is 15 min away. Most of the time his family is to meet him to ride home but they never do, they depend on Bill to pick him up. Actually, Ephrain is flunking because he misses so much school, they are too lazy to get him up to go. The other day Jessica sent Bill a photo of Osman and said he was sick. The one side of his face is all swollen. Bill told her he needed to go to a Doctor and she said Juliana won’t take him, she doesn’t care. Bill went and got him and picked up half the damn family for the joy ride to the clinic. They saw him then we took him back again to see the pediatrician. They said it is not a dental issue, it’s in his cheek. We went to their home yesterday to check on him and it’s not any better. I contacted my friend Miss Peggy who runs Clinic Esperanza. They have a very good pediatrician there so Bill took him this morning. Peggy had notified the clinic that we were coming and Osman got immediate attention when they got there. We are still waiting to find out what is going on with him. I just don’t get it. I take better care of my dogs than some people do of their children. Juliana is afraid she may have to spend $$ on Osman and she will not do that, probably because she knows that we will take care of him.
UPDATE on Osman. Bill went to get him this morning and his Mother wanted to go because she wanted to do something fun, she didn’t care about Osman. Bill told her NO. She said he was mean. It’s a good thing I wasn’t there, I would have defined mean for her, a mother who cares nothing for her children is mean. Anyhow, Osman had blood work done and something is going on. The doctor said it is a mass in his cheek so tomorrow back to Vessels of Mercy to get an ultrasound. Poor kid.
I have a cleaning girl here. She started in the bathroom at 8:15, she was still in there at 10:30 and she brought me a handful of expired medicines. OMG. I want her to move in and never leave. I’ll be afraid to even walk in there it’s so clean. She’s going to be a regular here, I might even see if she’ll move in. She came back the second day and worked another 8 hours in the living room and downstairs. This girl has a permanent job!
It’s Sunday, I have a trip to Tegus early tomorrow to see a doc about my foot. Second time to the land of plenty murders and to land on one of the 10 most dangerous runways in the world. I do have more things to share but I will save them because it’s taken me about 2 weeks to get this together. I promise, it won’t be another month until I blog again. Stay tuned.
Mermaid on a Raft 