02/20/2019 to 3/21/2019 Some days you’re just destined to be flummoxed at every step along the way. Welcome to Roatan.
I have been a recluse, just staying home with the dogs. My foot hurts to drive, there was nothing I needed or anywhere I had to go, so home was my choice. The dogs and I got into a nice routine and it was working well for 5+ months. I did leave the house to take my car to get repainted, that was to be a 2 week job, 5 weeks was the reality of it all. I also left again to pick up my car when it was done. The check engine light came on over a year ago. They plugged it into the computer and it said oxygen sensors were bad. First clue that was wrong should have been the fact my car was running fine, but that’s what the (faulty) computer said. We ordered oxygen sensors from the US and had them installed. The light went out, for 2 days. Then was back on to stay. We took my car in for a rattle (5 days to find it) and they said my catalytic converter was bad and needed replaced and it probably ruined my new oxygen sensor. ARGGHH. So we ordered a new catalytic converter and oxygen sensor from the states. They were installed when they finished painting the car. They also removed the windshield tint film that they ripped when they took out my dashboard to fix the rat chewed electrical system. The check engine soon light was off, finally. I drove my car yesterday and the A/C was not working at all. While I was going down the road it came on. Soon after that the check engine light came on again. But, hey, my car looks damn nice with a new paint job and it runs great.
I decided to go see another orthopedic doctor in La Ceiba, I don’t even know why I did but…I took the ferry over, Donald, my friend and taxi driver picked me up, took me to D’Antoni hospital. I got in to see a dermatologist first, then waited about ten minutes and saw the orthopedic doc. He had me get Xrays done, 315L, about $12.00 for 2. I went back to his office, he took me immediately and said he felt I had reflex sympathetic disorder chronic pain. He said I would need physical therapy. He also said he didn’t see what the surgery on my big toe was for, it had nothing to do with what was wrong with my foot.
I made plans with myself, even made lists of things I needed to accomplish. I was going to do it Monday. Monday passed so I decided Tuesday. Well, that didn’t happen either, however I had to go see about therapy for my foot on Wed so I was forced to leave the house.
I showered and got dressed, then decided to put away some things on my desk. One of the items was my favorite bottle of OPI polish, orange with a glimmer to it. Well, I dropped the bottle on the concrete floor and it shattered. The mess was insane. It was all over the floor, cupboards and wall. I freaked out. I hadn’t heard Bill come home but he was in the kitchen. He grabbed a roll of paper towels and poured nail polish remover on the floors and tried to clean it up. He got the polish off and also the finish that was on the floors. Now I have an obvious large white area on the floor. And I don’t have my favorite bottle of polish. He took the garbage outside since it’s flammable, I just texted him that I need the color off of the bottle of polish so I can find it online. He’s more than likely ready to strangle me. Such is life.
After that mess, I left the house. I was to meet Rosemarie at her property very close to us at 9:30. I have met Rosemarie once at the swearing in of the mayor for his second term. She has been following my blog and always comments. She told me she got me something while she was in Sonoma and wanted to give it to me, so I met her on my way to town. She got me mermaid socks, a beautiful mermaid key chain and gave me a mermaid sticker from Palau. So sweet of her to do this, I love everything.
After I met Rosemarie I headed right to the bank. The traffic in French Harbor is awful, they are putting in a new road. The wait could have been much worse and we’ll have a nice road, so I’m not whining about it. I haven’t been in the bank for 5 months and my debit card stopped working about that long ago too. This means I have spent zero dollars in 5 months. I walked in to my friend Noe’s desk. I handed him my debit card and asked if he could make me a new one while I did some banking. He said he couldn’t make one. I asked why not and he said the card making machine was broken. Of course it was, nothing ever works in the bank. He said he could “fix” my card. Now, I was a banker all of my life and was very dubious when he said that as I was sure the mag stripe was bad, it wouldn’t work in an ATM or at a store. He did some magic finger stuff on his computer and said it should be good, to try it in the ATM when I left. I did my banking, got in my car and went to the ATM, which was out of order. As usual.
My list was made up of simple things: AAA batteries, bank, gas, blinds, tennis balls, ceiling light and 2 more fans for the school. They needed 6 and Miss Claire only had 4, so I bought those. Ace had only batteries. Puerto Cortez had no fans, blinds or lights.
I then stopped to fill up my gas tank. I gave the guy my card and said I doubted it would work. OMG, it worked, I couldn’t believe it. From there I went to meet Nidia at Bojangles in Coxen Hole. She was with some people from the Live Again Ministry.
I have known Pastor Ronny for several years and have worked with him and various members of his team. What an amazing group of people. This time Pastor Ronny was joined by sweet Maria and the rest of the people belonged to the Riddle/Jensen family. I met most of them last year and fell in love with them. Keith and Tamson have 3 children, Luke, Lela (twins) and Carlie. Tamson’s Mom and Dad made their second visit here also. This time her brother, sister in law and their 2 kids came too. I made it a point to go see them while I was in the Coxen Hole area. It must have been my lucky day. Tamson brought me bags of gifts too.
After we had lunch I met a new friend at Petro Sun gas station, Lily, and she took me downtown to RBC, a Rehabilitation center on the island that helps people get more mobile. I saw a young girl who did some electronic stimulus on my foot, then some heat/ice and stretching, all of which I can do at home, except the electric stimulus and I had that done on my hands 2 times a week for over a year and it did nothing. No reason for me to drive to Coxen Hole for this. My foot is still bothering me (since SEPTEMBER) so I made an appointment to see a doc in Maryland when I go back home. In the meantime I scored an appointment with an orthopedic doctor from Health City Cayman Islands this Saturday, they will be here on the island. I so want to get this fixed.
After my appointment we walked back to Lily’s car and she had a flat tire. Of course she did, this was my comedy of errors day. We walked out of the parking lot and were approached by this boy and his father.
The boy was selling bracelets for 10L each. I said to Lily, maybe the father would change her tire so she asked him and he said sure. While he changed the tire I bought some bracelets from his son.
After I got back to my car I was ready to be home but was still 45 minutes away. Nothing is ever easy here.
Speaking of donating, this year Nidia and Because We Care received enough donations that they were able to outfit 1153 students so they could attend school. Without a uniform, you can’t go to school.
We got company on the 11th. Bob (who has been Bill’s friend forever) and his wife Deb came from PA for a week. The weather could not have been more perfect, blue sky every day and a good strong breeze to keep the heat down and make for good sleeping weather.
Deb went diving with Subway one day and had 2 great dives. I took them to Arch’s Iguana farm, we had a nice talk with Mr Sherman and after that we went to Daniel’s monkey and sloth hangout. Once they were done with the animals we went out snorkeling with Daniel and Dustin. It was the first I had been in the ocean for 9 months, at least. Ridiculous I know, I live on an island. The water was warm but there was a good current and it was choppy even inside the reef. It was hard to take photos because I couldn’t stay still.
It felt so good to get back in the water again. After that I decided we were making a trip to West Bay on Sunday to snorkel some more. Saturday found us in Jonesville. We took a tour through the mangroves then went to Hole in the Wall and hung out with Captain Ed. We had an absolute blast sitting there talking to him.
Sunday morning we left here at 8, destination West Bay Beach. It was St Paddy’s day, Deb had never had a Monkey LaLa drink and we were going to snorkel some more.
We got back from the beach, showered and ran down to the iguana farm for sweet Isla Marie Arch’s first birthday party. What a sweetheart she is.
We couldn’t stay at the party very long because of…dogs. I won’t go into our issues with the dogs but this last month has been sheer hell. We are just coming out of it and hoping and praying that we can keep order in this pack. They have been our lives, especially since the pups were born 4-15-2015. We have centered our lives around them, the recent incident shook us to the core.
Hoping for better days ahead.
Mermaid on a Raft 