Where do I begin? It feels like this is my first blog, it’s been so long. Thank you to the people who have messaged me wondering why there were no blogs! It’s David Boyd’s fault, AKA Squeeze. Nice to be able to blame this on you.

I just returned from a whirlwind trip to the US. Luckily I got bumped to first class out of Roa and sat next to my friend Linda’s husband, Jay. The longer leg of the trip wasn’t first class but it was in the roomier seats so it wasn’t bad. There were so many thunderstorms in the mid west that the pilot circumvented causing us to get to Seattle 1 hour and 15 minutes late! My instructions were to call the cab company as soon as I arrived so they could dispatch a cab. Of course, my phone isn’t working because I needed to get a sim card for a Us carrier so I had to use a PAY PHONE. G A S P! I haven’t used one of those in 20 years. I called and got a recording. GREAT, I figured I was spending the night at Seatac. I turned around to walk to the luggage carousel and some guy said, “Are you Debbie?” UMM, who’s asking? He was from the cab company, HALLELUJAH, he waited the whole time for me. DUH…I tipped him well.

As most of you know I have hand issues, it’s a repetitive use issue stemming from counting other peoples money all my life. I have had surgery on both of my hands and in 2011 I had the CMC (Carpal Metacarpal, ie thumb joint) replaced. In 2012 I had the CMC surgery on my right hand. This whole thing ended up being an L&I claim, work related injury. Despite the fact that they were not paying me any money, my claim was never closed. They decided they wanted to examine me again so they could close the claim and they paid for me to fly to Seattle and take a taxi to Everett and they comped my room for 5 nights and my meals. It happened very fast so I kind of threw things together and was out of here.

The last time I was in the states was April, so it’s been awhile. I was excited as hell to go shopping. I am a shopper girl, I love(d) to shop. My friend Janene drove down Monday from Bellingham and picked me up. We got a sim card for my phone and then set off shopping. With a vast array of items in front of my eyes, I became withdrawn, I didn’t want to shop for all the things I WANTED. I realized I didn’t NEED most of it. Janene took me to Costco. I needed a new bed pillow and Bill needed socks. I got both and a big 4# bag of the Kirkland trail mix. That’s it. I really didn’t want to look around in there. And let me say this, Costco shopping is fun and relaxing if you are not at the Bellingham store. The store in Everett wasn’t crowded, you could actually move and the check out lines were short. We also went to the Alderwood Mall. I don’t think I’ve ever been there and I was overwhelmed. I did buy 4 bottles of OPI polish in Macy’s but that was it. Jury is still out on whether I like the pillow, until my neck stops hurting and popping every time I turn my head, no pillow will be comfy!

Tuesday I had an appointment with a doctor (found out at the last minute she was a shrink, hahaha, jokes on them! Put me in a room with a shrink, they should have known better.) It lasted all of 30 minutes. From there I went to Wal Mart, WOO freaking HOO. I was a WALMARTIAN! I bought a lot of stuff there, like a new hand mixer, 4 tubes of Sensodyne toothpaste, new heads for our sonic toothbrushes (cheaper than they were at Costco), dog treats and some of Bill’s favorite underwear and Tshirts, Fruit of the Loom. I also bought a lot of stupid shit. Heavy shit. Like 2 humongo jars of peanut butter, 1 Skippy, 1 Peter Pan. This will be an interesting test. All of my life I used Peter Pan peanut butter, nothing else, had to be creamy, no crunchy ever. When we moved to WA in 1995 I was near suicidal because there was NO PETER PAN. What were they thinking??? I swore off PNB, but that didn’t last, especially since it is my number 1 food staple. Then I met Janann and Sara Blonde @ BoAmerica, both of their men were in the military and had access to the base stores. AND GUESS WHAT?? They had Peter Pan PNB!! I had a connection! But I’ve been a Skippy girl for years now, only because it was ridiculous to be so obsessed over PNB.

See, I was talking about buying heavy items and digressed severely over freaking PNB. And they put me in a room with a shrink. HAHAHAHAHAHA!! So damn funny.

Back to the shopping. I also bought 2 big bags of Uncle Ben’s brown rice. Yes, you can get it here but I noticed it on the shelf and saw the price, $2.00 less a bag and me myself and I go through a bag in less than 2 weeks. Bag of rice weighs 2#, I bought 2. Jar of PNB weighs 2#8oz, I bought 2. See how fast the weight adds up? Trail mix = 4#’s!!

So anyway, did the Wal Mart gig. Trace came down on Tuesday night and we went out to eat, so nice to see him, it’s been almost a year! He headed back up towards home (foothills of Mt. Baker) around 7:30 that night. Before he took me back to the hotel he found a drugstore so I could get some Bandit Pinot Grigio.

I had another appointment on Wednesday with an orthopedic doctor. He talked too much and thought he was really funny. I thought he was stupid. I liked the shrink better. Anyhow, this guy went over my file verbally with me, then he did it again into a microphone. This took about 13 minutes. Then he asked me to sit on the table while he called in a nurse. It was actually the receptionist girl, whatever. He then had my put my arms over my head, then down to a 45 at my side, then straight out in front, then turn your hand over, then make a fist, hands on your hips, behind your back, palms up. I almost broke into YMCA by the Village People. The whole exercise took about 2 minutes. Assholes.

After that it was back to the hotel (dive) to wait for Teri B. She drove down, picked me up and we ran around to a few stores. We went to World Market and all I bought was jerk seasoning and some fajita stuff. We ate dinner at a little restaurant behind the dive I was staying in, called Terracotta Red. It was good but the drinks were expensive and weak. Teri got a room at the hotel, she worked in Everett that day and had a meeting in Seattle the next morning. So nice hanging out with her, laughed our butts off!

I also sent some Amazon stuff to Teri B which she brought down. This was heavy to lug back to the island but it’s a really nice float. I tried it yesterday, it’s very comfy and it does have a drink holder but it’s ROUND. Bandit boxes are square. Oh well, I only have 2 left, drank 1 at the hotel, brought 3 back, drank 1 already. I’ll be sad when my Bandit is gone.

Thursday I wandered around a bit, I was actually ready to go home at this point. I brought a pair of Diesel flats with me in case it was cold weather. I wore 1 of the shoes for about 2 minutes in my room and decided against regular shoes. My toes were bitching up a storm in those 2 minutes!! I wore flip flops the entire trip. I was in Macy’s looking around for something to do and noticed the women in leather jackets with scarfs, jeans tucked in to their knee high boots and an expensive heavy leather bag over their shoulder. Me, a pair of leggings, a long top and flip flops. I did consciously not look as I walked through the BOOT and SHOE department. It was difficult, I admit that.

Thursday my friend Bahana drove down to Everett when she got off of work. Nathan and Bryan were coming up from Magnolia to meet me for dinner that evening. Luckily they got up to Everett early enough so B could go eat too. We went to Lombardi’s on Marine View Drive for dinner. I FINALLY got to meet Nathan’s other half, Bryan! I also met Brinkley, their Golden who was content to wait in the car instead of at home. She’s a little spoiled.  It was so nice spending time with Bahana and Nathan and Bryan!

All in all, the trip was not as alluring as it sounded. Other than seeing my son and my friends, it was a waste of time. I did not enjoy my stay in the US and it made me realize, I do not want to live there and I am so glad I don’t. Give me the island life, loose comfy clothes, no make up, flip flops and never having to worry about what your hair looks like, not that it ever was a concern of mine. I was looking forward to getting back on the plane on Friday night to come home, although that wasn’t until 11:59 PM. I had a whole day to kill and nothing to do. I had to be out of the hotel by 2 and wasn’t getting picked up until 8 by the taxi company for my ride back to Seatac. I watched Nashville and a few other shows on my tablet and wasted time until Trace came down at 4:30 for dinner. We went back over to Terracotta Red b/c it was close by and they had Stella Artois beer. MMMMMM. I like Stella. After dinner Trace and I sat in his car and talked until around 7 PM. Then he was going to Seattle to stay at a friends and meet his climbing buddy in the morning to go over the mountains to Vantage to hike and I was waiting (again) for my ride.

I got to the airport quite early, breezed through security with the Global access and was at my gate to WAIT. I did get bumped to first class again but their white wine was awful. Bummer. I had a long layover in Houston, that seemed longer than the 4 hours it actually was. I had tried and tried to get a window seat from Houston into Roa but couldn’t. The flight was packed, not an empty seat. I got stuck in an aisle seat and while it beats middle, it still sucks. Security and immigration at Roa was fast, no fingerprinting, no photo taken. It did however take eons for my luggage to come out. Obviously priority means NADA on the island. I think the fact that United put the Priority tags on my bags made them get taken off first in Roa and loaded onto the first luggage cart which means it was the last cart brought to the carousel. My theory anyhow.

I got home and started tearing in to my suitcases. I found dog toys and treats and the catnip banana I got for Emmy. I also got one for Craig and Cleo’s cat, Tailor so I decided we needed to take it down to her. We walked down there, stayed fifteen minutes, came home and I went to bed. I slept for 4 hours, got up, ate salad and went back to bed.

Bill got a lot done while I was gone.

Before I left I watched the movie, Fault in our Stars and read Gone Girl and Dark Places both by Gillian Flynn. Excellent books, can’t wait to get the Gone Girl movie!

I was bored one day a while ago, it was rainy and windy and I stayed indoors and goofed around online. I did a few of the quizzes, like:

How smart are you? Brilliant

What color is your aura?  Green

Should you have a dog or a cat? Cat

How well do you know America history? I don’t

How much medical knowledge do you have? I could be a doctor I know so much.

What mythical creature should you be? I got MERMAID!! Of course I did.

You are a mermaid! You’re a very fun loving and outgoing person. You have the most fun with your friends and you feel whole when you are near the ocean. You also value the environment and you are a big time animal lover.

So there you have it. Mermaid it is..

 

It’s been a jam packed two weeks of fun in and around Roatan. Paul and Sharon arrived on the 13th during the Great Airport Debacle at the Roatan airport. What a freaking mess. The Delta flight from Atlanta arrived late and then United and 2 American flights came in back to back on the day they decided to start fingerprinting and photographing EACH person. With an untrained skeleton crew and new equipment, it didn’t go very well. Nothing like having 600+ people standing out in the 95 degree sun W A I T I N G. It normally takes 45 minutes tops to go through customs, get your bag and be on your way. Not this day. It took hours. Luckily they got the issues sorted out and things are once again running smoothly, well, as smoothly as possible in this third world country.

Sharon brought a big bag of stuff I ordered from Amazon, it was like freaking Christmas!! Stuff stuff and more stuff.

After we got home from the airport we fed Sharon and Paul and then headed down to John’s pool. Seems that was our standby every day, so lucky it’s available to us anytime! On Sunday we went to Oak Ridge and walked across the bridge and out to the spit of land across from BJ’s.

Here is a short video of the school’s performance, we absolutely loved it!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuUb1ER-GLw

On Monday we went to Havana Beach Club, a short 5 minute drive from here. It was a nice breezy day so the bugs weren’t too bad. It really is a beautiful spot, too bad they can’t get a decent restaurant in there that would draw a local ex-pat crowd. The restaurant business is one of the most unpredictable and difficult businesses to own or to venture into. So many start and fail here due to such a distinct difference between the busy and slow season. It sure is a gorgeous beach.

An aerial view of Havana Beach Club posted on the Roatan Cooking Facebook page. We won’t talk about the fall I took at the tip of the island in the bottom of the picture and how huge of a bruise I still have 2 weeks later.

We laid around a bit the next day, at least that’s all I can remember doing. It’s so nice having a pool close by to swim in when we want to and it’s been super crystal clear, which is a bonus! On Wednesday we decided to go to Little French Key for the day. It was a great day to be there, no cruise ships = no crowds.

Thursday was another day of fun and adventure on the water.  Did you already recognize the theme I have going on? Everything I do or want to do involves the water, so if you’re coming, you better be a fan of the ocean.  We were to meet Jordan @ 9:30 at Oak Ridge. He was going to take us out snorkeling and fishing on his dad Woudsin’s boat. He was a little late, and while we were waiting I realized I didn’t have my phone with his number so I could call him. Bill ran home to get it. By the time he got back Jordan had come and gone to get gas and returned.  We loaded our stuff into the boat and were off. Through Oak Ridge and Pandytown, through the cut in the mangroves to Calabash Bight. We got to see our friends future home from the water for the first time, what a great location they have, it’s so beautiful out there. We went past Lime Caye and Fort Caye. Fort Caye is talked about in the book Roatan Odyssey, (it actually used to be a Military base.) Past New Port Royal to Old Port Royal and before I knew it we were at Helene. Jordan dropped anchor in about 10′ of water offshore from Rocky Point. Probably not a good place for people to learn to snorkel. We had to jump off the boat into the water and guess what? After snorkeling for 30 minutes I had to drag my ass over the SIDE of the boat to get back on it. We ALL had to. No ladder, just a couple of strong young guys. We made it and next time we’ll go to a better place to start snorkeling.

Before I forget, I took none of the pictures this day, Paul took all of them. This is because I forgot to put THE MEMORY CARD BACK IN MY CAMERA. I was pissed. To think Bill went home to get my phone, me not knowing my card was missing until we got on the boat. It was a great day on the water, well, as far as I’m concerned, any day on the water is a great day.

On Friday we had plans to go with Craig and Cleo to their new home in Calabash. It was a nice ride out there and fun looking around the place again. After that we were all going to go to BJ’s but we decided to go to Jimmy’s, AKA, La Sirena, instead. Those rum punches were calling my name. Bill asked one of the guys if they knew Miguel (our friend and worker) and he said he did, he was his cousin. We knew Miguel was Selena’s cousin, obviously a big family. While we were sitting there a truck pulled up and Selena went out and carried in a young sleeping girl. She laid her down on a straw mat and she kept right on sleeping. A guy came in and sat down by us and I asked if he was Jimmy, the owner. He was, so we introduced ourselves and chatted for awhile with him. I was thrilled we got to meet him because Camp Bay/ La Sirena is my favorite place to chill.

After Camp Bay we headed back home, washed up and went to Cal’s for dinner. A delicious end to a fabulous week!

Saturday I took Sharon and Paul down to West Bay beach to snorkel. There were only a few people there, the water was calm, a perfect place to find your sea legs. There were so many fish right at shore I couldn’t believe it. They were little nibblers too.

All in all, a great day snorkeling at West Bay beach, I love that place! The next day we went over to Parrot Tree Plantation and hung out by the pool. UGH! The water was so hot it didn’t even feel good. How can water in a pool 320′ long be so warm? Maybe because the pool is long but not deep it heats up quickly, not sure but I hate water that warm.

We went to Lady Lee on Monday to talk to some one about our gas oven. First we couldn’t get the oven to maintain the temperature. It would get up to 325 and then shut off, also, we couldn’t get the pilot light to stay lit. They were going to send a repairman the next morning to fix it. We hung out the next morning and nobody came. At 4 PM I get a phone call from Lady Lee stating, “The boy who is coming this morning can’t, he’ll be there mañana.” Sure he will. Wednesday morning I was taking Paul and Sharon to West End to do some shopping. Once we parked the car and got down to the stores it started sprinkling. Then it started raining. We hung out in Waves of Art for awhile until the rain slightly subsided then we made a break for a few more stores. On our way back to the car it poured and by the time we got back to the parking lot we were soaked. I still had one more stop, Umbul Umbul of course. I picked up a few more pieces of batik to make a bedspread and pillowcases and Sharon got a cute dress and top and lots of other stuff. By the time we got home the repairman was here and he fixed the pilot light and explained why the oven didn’t stay lit. D U H. You have to set the timer for the required bake time BEFORE you turn it on because once it reaches the temperature if the timer isn’t set for how long to maintain the temp, it shuts off. Obviously the manual is in Spanish, which I read as well as I read Russian and Arabic.

We ran down to Mahogany Bay so Sharon and Paul could finish their shopping. I’ve been there many times before with company but this time they wanted ID, they gave us passes and KEPT my residency card until  I left and returned the passes. I doubt I will go there again because I did not like handing over my card to someone and hoping like hell he still had it when I returned. Weird JuJu.

I have wanted to go back to Lobster City since Ron and Yvonne took Teri B and I snorkeling there. I contacted Sherman Arch and arranged a time for us to go. Cleo went along with the 4 of us. We got to the Iguana Farm and while waiting they gave us branches to feed the iguanas. Luckily I had my dive boots on because they were stepping all over our feet. They are such amazingly gorgeous creatures. They have over 2000 there, they aren’t fenced in, they are free to leave but they don’t. They have it made.

Friday morning we met with a former US Tax attorney, tax guru about our taxes. After that we went to West Bay beach to do some last day snorkeling. Bill decided not to go so he sat on the beach while we snorkeled for over an hour. It was crystal clear and for some reason, even though I couldn’t see out the viewfinder on my camera because it was fogged up, I got some good photos.  As soon as I went under I saw a snorkel laying in the sand about 10′ deep. I swam past it, looked at it and then came back and dove down and got it. I ended up carrying it with me for an hour. A new snorkel, perfect timing, as Bill’s is leaking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday a local [and very amazing] photographer was going to do the shark dive and take some photos. What he came across in the process was nothing short of unbelievable. They found a boat with 20 Cuban refugees drifting in the sea. They had been sailing for 11 days in a home made boat. The story is here: http://www.bayislandsvoice.com/para-cuba-no-mas-nunca-refugees-vow-they-will-return-to-cuba-only-feet-first-2014092610104

This is the boat they left Cuba in. The whole thing is handmade.

This incredible photo Shawn Jackson took while the boat and the refugees were being rescued.

That’s it folks, this has taken me two days to get my thoughts and shit in order. Our company is gone, we’re laying around the house, may head down to the pool for a float or maybe head to bed under the fan for a nap. Hopefully we’ll get our TWIN CLOCKS hung today. Sort of like TWIN PEAKS, but not.

P.S. My two words would be don’t settle.

Adiõs

 

 

 

We are getting ready for the imminent arrival of our first real “guests.” Teri B you don’t count, you’re not a Roatan virgin, you’ve already been sucked into the vortex. It’s just what happens here. So many people I’ve met say the same thing. They came here on vacation, fell in love with the island and bought a house or land. That’s sort of our story, sort of. We were accumulating lots of frequent flyer miles with Bill’s work and we took advantage of them and traveled. We made several trips to Curacao, talked about buying something there and retiring but that’s all we did was talk. We went to many places in Baja and Mexico, St. Kitts,  Nevis, Hawaii, the South Pacific, lots of places but never discussed moving there. When we got certified as SCUBA divers at Sunken Treasure Scuba in Penna. our trainer couldn’t do our final check dive because he was going to Roatan diving. He told us about it and at that time, 1989, it wasn’t as easy to get here as it is now. In 2007 I was looking for somewhere different for us to go and said lets go to Roatan and buy some land. I contacted several realtors and chose the one who answered my emails the fastest and most consistently. His name was Jim Hanseder with Margot & Matt Real Estate office. He said he would pick us up the morning after our arrival @ 10 AM. Bill said, sure he will. The morning after we got to Roa, he was there on time and he said, “I’m yours for the next two weeks, let’s do this.” And here we are, 7 years later.

Where was I? A.D.D. much?? Guests, yes, we’re going to have some, so excited I can’t sleep. I am on such an adrenalin high! Sharon and Paul from WA will make their maiden trip to Roa and I know they are going to love it here. They are staying in our “guest condo” on the lower level. This is the area that hasn’t been cleaned since we moved upstairs in April. This is also the area Bill has been using for a tool storage area. I kid you not. It was enough to make me hyperventilate. When I complained he said only I noticed the mess, other people didn’t. YES THEY DO, THEY HAVE EYES TOO!! I do feel his frustration. He had a 40X60 shop and now he has a 6X8 bodega. It sucks, we need, he needs a shop. But look on the bright side, he might not have a shop but he still has me.

Damn, there I go again, back on track.

The banister is complete. It looks really nice. Super job by Mr. Wonderful. He made the top part with curved ends so it didn’t get caught on clothes and make someone fall. Someone like me. Klutz that I am.

September 10th is Day of the Children in Honduras. Last Wednesday I went with my friend Janice to visit a few schools. Janice wanted to find out what they needed for the celebration and what time they would be having it. I was amazed and devastated at the condition of the schools. These poor kids barely have a fighting chance to learn, let alone survive in this crazy dog eat dog world. These children are so adorable I just want to bring them all home with me. It breaks my heart to think that many do not have electricity in their homes, they don’t have tubs for a warm bath before bed and they don’t have cupboards full of food to chose from. They eat what they are fed but yet they smile. This is all they know. It’s not like they had “things” and now don’t. They never did.

On Wednesday afternoon Wendy and Andrew stopped by to see our stained concrete floors. As soon as the boys saw Wendy they decided they didn’t like the screen door separating them. It’s now Dogs 3,197,418 : Screen door 0. Highway also did a number on her beaded bracelet. This dog is such an idiot he embarrasses me.

Thursday I started cleaning downstairs, there was lots to do before our friends arrived. I hired Melissa, the sister of Miguel, our lead worker, to help me clean. She’s cleaned for me before and I love her. She came on Friday morning and cleaned non-stop downstairs until 3:30. The bedroom, bath and kitchen look great. She came back on Sunday at 9 and worked until 3 again. We finished downstairs and started upstairs. I scrubbed all of the screens, 17 up and 7 down and all of the windows that I could get to inside and out. One living room window we can’t get 1/2 of it out so we can’t clean the other half. Bill will have to use a ladder in the back of his truck. Now if he did it Honduras style he would put the ladder ON TOP of the truck cab to wash the window. We hung ALL of the pictures, YAY!! That’s a big deal. I would have done it myself a long time ago but you have to drill in the concrete wall and I’m not into that stuff. Bill almost finished the drywall in the pantry. For the record I hate drywall and everything about it. He sanded yesterday and I had to wash everything, all my dishes and pans. There is now a sheet over the island.

The new shelf in the pantry is complete and everything in the pantry is covered in sawdust too. Bill just now, (Thursday morning) finished the sanding of the drywall and is putting the primer on the wall. Progress..(Thursday update: drywall is done and wall is painted.) Happiness abounds.

Last Thursday evening Jurgen and Stefi came over to hang out with us. We sat out on the porch and talked for a few hours then moved inside when it started to rain. Always a fun evening with those two! Jurgen won’t be happy until I get the pantry sorted, and alphabetized, {maybe that was the Damiana talking} Soon Jurgen, soon!

Saturday I ran errands, had to go to Serrano’s Hardware and to Eldon’s to get groceries. I also stopped at Umbul Umbul, of course I did, once I’m near Coxen Hole, Scarlett the car just heads there on her own. She’s assertive like that, one of her redeeming qualities, that and cold A/C. I so love Umbul Umbul, the more you look, the more you see! I bought a basket, a couch throw to protect the couch from being faded by the sun, a dress, pants and a cute fish to cover up a concrete screw up in the stairway.

Our neighbor paid someone to come clean his pool. He was having issues with it. He has a habit of letting the chlorine level get low and then trying to shock the hell out of it to make it clear again. That doesn’t work. You have to keep the chlorine at a constant level. Bill was telling him about it and his response was, “well, it’s just a little low.” Bill’s answer was, “That’s like being a little pregnant.” So now the pool guy told him he HAS to keep the floater in and the pool is spotless, crystal clear and I’m in love. It’s like a magnet, it draws me. I’ll be up here cleaning, sweat running like the Nile between my boobs and dripping off my forehead and all I can think of is the pool. Needless to say, I’ve been there a lot. John loves the company too so it’s all cool. The other day I talked Bill in to going down for a dip. As we were walking down I saw a black bird with a squirming lizard in its mouth. It flew down to John’s Mango tree. Bill was sitting on the bench talking to John and noticed the bird in the tree eating the poor lizard. All of a sudden the lizard tail fell from the tree and landed on the back of the bench right where he was sitting. The tail kept moving for a few minutes. Of course, I didn’t have my camera or phone. I also found a lizard tail on the floor downstairs, I don’t know if the dogs ate the rest of it or not. Can you even imagine what it must be like to be a lizard and shed your tail?? I wish I could shed my ass and grow a new smaller one.

I was cleaning out stuff on the porch and this frog was in a bucket. It jumped and hung on to the side of the counter on the porch.

The boys are a constant source of entertainment..

Monday and Tuesday were spent cleaning and scrubbing stuff, washing bedding and towels and floating in John’s pool. Pretty much ended Monday and Tuesday in the pool.

Wednesday was Children’s Day in Honduras. We met Janice and Junior and a few other people and went to 3 of the schools dropping off toys, pinatas and a brand new soccer ball for Jonesville Point. This is a photo of the OLD and the NEW soccer balls. What sweet kids.

The students were playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey, island style. They were not using the conventional donkey. They don’t have the conventional donkey.

I’ve also included a few videos of the kids playing games on Children’s Day. They students were allowed to wear regular clothes for the celebration, no uniforms on this day of celebration..

I could go on and on about what these students DON’T have but I think if you look at the photos you will be able to figure that out. It’s so different from what my kids experienced in school 20 years ago and I can’t imagine the changes made since then. Kids in school in the US and other developed countries have computers and fancy desks and chairs, huge well lit bathrooms and cafeterias. These kids have none of that.  They are so grateful for anything that is given to them. If any of you are interested in donating, please look at Roatan’s Children’s Fund:  http://www.roatanchildrensfund.com/help.htm

This is a legitimate group and all of the money raised goes to help the children on this island.

It’s amazing what $20.00 can do. 

We met another couple from Washington state, well, we met 1/2 of the couple. Keri and Doug are from Snohomish and recently purchased a home here on the island. Keri came over to our house with Liz. Once they sell their home and business in WA. they will be here full time. She posted this on Facebook the other night and I’m really excited about it. You MUST click on the link ( this ) and read the story, it is the best!! I think we should start a “sect” on the island. I have a red and a green colander, I think I’ll use the green one, although red is typically associated with spaghetti. Olivia is looking for a teal one because it’s her new favorite fall color. She was concerned about bringing it with her and whether she could put it in her carry-on. I suggested she wear it, I would.

Later Pastafarians!! Keri, you made my day with this one! See you soon.

 

09/02/2014  I want to start this post by thanking my parents. There are many things I can/should/will/have thank(ed) them for but this one really hit home recently.  When I was a child my parents FORCED me to take care of my teeth by making me floss, brush my teeth and go to the dentist ALL THE FREAKING TIME. I hated everything about the dentist (and hated the dentist, who was a good family friend.) After I left my parents home and was out on my own, I was terrible about making dentist appointments. Once I had kids things changed. I had to set a good example by taking care of my teeth. I never really gave my teeth much thought. Yeah, they served a purpose but I just figured they would always be there. Like your feet. I now think back to my grandparents, Mom’s side. They kept most of their teeth in a cup by the bed. My parents always took care of their teeth, especially my Mom. They still have their teeth, at 89 and 93. Sure, as a child I had lots of fillings. Actually, more than normal, because I was a sloppy brusher & a candy eater. I can vividly remember getting fillings. LOTS AND LOTS OF THEM. The dentist always used to say, “Raise your hand if it hurts.” Hell, I dislocated my shoulder waving so hard and all of a sudden he was blind. I bit him. A few times.  I was in agony, or was I? Perhaps I just immensly hated his hands in my mouth. I hated hearing him continually reprimand his nurse, “MISS OAKS!” She was flipping terrified of him. She quivered in fear. It was awful. Me? I just bit him and hated him. It would have been better if my dentist hadn’t been good friends with Mom and Dad. He was one of the guys Dad skied with yearly in Aspen. He was OK as a person, but he was my DENTIST. He had Highlights magazine in the office, but there were never any lights on when you walked in. He was too cheap. As I got older my parents would drop me off in front of his office on E. Third St and I would go upstairs to the dentist myself. After a few of these drop offs I realized I could skip and just not go. Well, that worked. ONCE. Anyhow, off or on the subject, who knows? My kids went to the dentist, got braces, retainers, had perfect teeth AND then went in the military and they stopped wearing their retainers. WTH? Retainers aren’t all matchy matchy with BCD’S??  (Military glasses are called birth control devices. They make you so ugly nobody would want you.) Or so they thought. The boys both take care of their teeth now though, that lesson they learned. The reason all this tooth crap is in my head is, we know someone who is 85 and is missing about half of his teeth. He went to the dentist and they are going to pull ALL HIS REMAINING TEETH and make him some new choppers. Going through this at any age sucks but doing this when you’re 85  is highly unusual. We will be keeping an eye on him.

*UPDATE: Teeth are gone and in SIX weeks he will have new ones. I made him some jello, should have made it with rum instead of water, he would have LOVED that!!

We made a short list of “have to do before company comes” and are gnawing away at that. One thing is completed, FINALLY! Two to go and then clean up. The bathroom has been “almost” done for months. Well, it’s now done!!

 

Bill is working on completing the handrail in the stairs. It’s a necessary component, especially since the stairs are narrow in the center and concrete. It’s almost completed.

The handrail was quite an engineering feat. There are so many twists and turns and different levels in our stairway that it made it a time consuming task. They look really nice though and definitely add a huge amount of safety to the stairway. Especially if you’ve had a few drinks!

Once the last piece is done then it’s on to the pantry. Bill is going to build another shelf unit to put in there then finish the drywall around the front and paint it. We really need more storage in it and I think the extra shelf unit for cans will be great.

 

Last Wednesday we ran our friends’ Watchie and their dog Milagro to the vet again. And again, the vet wasn’t there. The assistant called Dr. Calderon and the Watchie spoke with him. After the conversation he said he wanted to wait until the vet came back before he had the dog put down. We will go again this week, although the vet will not be there. The assistants will be at the clinic and can euthanize the dog if that is the decision that is made. Neither Bill nor I look forward to this, we are both crazy about dogs but this dog isn’t living a quality life and it’s sad. We know how difficult it is to let go. We are more than willing to help our friends in any way possible and if this is a part of it, then so be it.

{I just found out the vet, Dr. Calderon, who normally comes to the island on Wed. (from the mainland) will not be on the island for a minimum of 4 weeks, maybe longer. He is tending to some health issues of his own. I hope that he is well soon and can continue to do what he loves, taking care of animals. He is really quite an awesome man.}

After we took Sebastian and Milagro home we decided to go to Parrot Tree Pool to cool off. I made a drink in my 1 L cup and took another water bottle with another drink in it. We decided to stop by Walters and see what he was up to. He decided to join us at the pool. I was the first one in, it was dreadfully hot outside and I so wanted my internal temperature to cool down. WELL, I WAS IN FOR A SURPRISE!! The damn pool water was as H O T as the air. It was not even an iota refreshing. BUMMED. Nevertheless, Walter ordered food, Bill had a few beers and I drank both of my drinks, on an empty stomach all while standing/floating in a HOT pool. After awhile we decided to head home with a stop at Eldon’s grocery store before. We dropped Walter off and went to the store. I remember getting lettuce and paper towels and Fresca but that’s it. We did see Stef and Jurgen there and I think I said to them, “I’m drunk.” At least I realized it.

 

I didn’t get wild or crazy in the store and we made it home with no complications. I peeled off my suit and laid down on the bed and promptly passed out. I’m not sure how long I slept but when I woke up I was still drunk. I had a salad with too much olive oil on it for dinner and went back to bed. I had a headache and fell asleep dreaming of a pool with cold water in it. Or was it Vodka in the pool? Cold cold Vodka..

After my snooze I posted on FB : Drunk grocery shopping should be an Olympic sport. Or, at least a reality TV show.

Below is the Facebook message between Jurgen and I after my post.

Jurgen Derer    you just got home?????

Debbie-Leigh Crofutt    No Jurgen, we’ve been home but I passed out for a bit

Jurgen Derer    hope not at eldon’s

Debbie-Leigh Crofutt    no, I waited until I was home.

Saturday evening Bill and I went to Walter’s house for dinner. His friend Myrt was there, he’s lived on the island for a long time and Qui Qay, who is an islander and a good friend of Walters. Walter made spaghetti and I took a huge (way too much) salad. The meal was very good, he also had bread with artichoke and pesto on it. Nice evening spent talking and laughing in his kitchen. We’re both glad Walter’s back, he’s fun to hang out with!

Sunday it was super windy and looked like rain all day long, but it never happened. Bill finished the bathroom and I cleaned out the closet. It still seems like there is so much to do before Sharon and Paul come. Sharon is bringing an extra suitcase filled with all the crap we’ve ordered. Stupid stuff you can’t get here, like shoelaces, nice pepper grinder and good peppercorns, cat and dog toys, black salve, clock hands, mod podge and a variety of other things we wanted (notice I didn’t say needed.)

I am still walking the dogs every morning. I really want to quit but I can’t because they LOVE it so much. All 3 of them wait for me, it’s our routine, go for a walk, pee and poop, Lucky does his hysterical thing which is: pee, then kick all the dirt with his back legs while sneezing the whole time. He has me cracking up every morning, except when I’m not paying attention and all of a sudden I’m covered in dirt. Then I’m not laughing. He is a silly boy and he loves me so much! He puts his front legs on my lap and stands on his tippy toes so he can get closer and nuzzle under my chin. This drives Highway craaazy. He bites Luck’s back legs and makes all these weird guttural noises. Luck and I for the most part ignore him. We are worried about Dooce. She seems fine, has her normal amount of energy (very little) but she pukes up her undigested food soon after she eats. We changed her diet to rice but she is puking that up too. Kind of sucks because now there is no vet here…We are not going to feed her today and tomorrow give her small amounts several times a day and see what happens. I hate pet issues..We also started her on some Pepto Bismol, boy she didn’t like that.

Yesterday while walking the boys I had something get in my Flip Flop and stick in my toe. I finished the walk and had Bill look at it. There was a thorn of some sort in my foot. He got it out, all was fine. Until last night when it started hurting and I noticed my foot was swollen. He looked again but didn’t see anything. I took some Benadryl and it is OK this morning. Just what I need, another Alien.

We went to see one of our workers the other day down in Oak Ridge and ended up taking a little ride to an area we haven’t been before. These are some photos I snapped along the way.

The above photos were all taken in and around Oak Ridge, a small community to the east of us. The photo of the road is our view on the way home from Oak Ridge.

Bill and I both went to the orthopedic specialist from Georgia who has a practice here. Bill went for a follow up visit and I went because I am having a lot of pain in my knee. While he was checking my knee he asked if Bill and I had the same surgeon. I said no, that my surgery was done in Bellingham. He asked by who and I said Christopher Van Hofwegen. Dr. Terry very casually said, “I trained him.” SMALL WORLD. He said I have a small pad behind my knee cap that is inflamed and  is causing the pain. He suggested I wear shoes with support (OMG, NOT FlipFlops) when I walk the dogs, especially since I have such a high arch. He gave me some exercises to try to strengthen the area and hopefully alleviate the pain. He also said that in order to fix and completely rid my ankle of the resident alien he would need to cut it open, remove the metal plate and round off the bone. Well, doesn’t that sound like fun? I won’t be doing that since we have no insurance! I’ll live with my Alien, it is what it is.

I’m outta here, places to go, things to do. Well, not really. Tomorrow I’m meeting Janice @ 8:15. We’re going to the schools to visit with the children. I would love to go on a regular basis and have story time with the kids,  really looking forward to this. I’ll have lots of photos for my next post!

In the meantime, do what I do everyday…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One year ago I was struggling through the aftermath of knee surgery. My thoughts one year later:

Am I happy I had it done? NO

Do I have less pain while walking? NO

Is my knee prettier? HELL NO

Am I able to do things better since I had the surgery? NO

Can I once again crawl across a wooden gym floor on my knees while in the Lotus position? NO

Am I knee pain free? NO

Do I wish I never had it done? HELL YES!

I hate my new knee and I want my old one back.  And, I still have a flipping alien living in my ankle (that was broken.) A little tidbit they left for me after my surgery.  I’m sure I paid extra for the frigging thing too!  I go to the Orthopedic specialist at the Stem Cell Center on Sept. 2nd to see what he says about my knee and I am hoping he will cut my ankle open and get this damn stitch out once and for all. The alien/stitch thing has been going on since March 31st of 2013!!

**ALIEN update:  I dug it out of my ankle with my hot pink TWEEZERMAN’S. I have been picking at the thing that was poking out of my ankle for a solid week. Before that I picked the hard thing off of it but it (as in not belonging to my body) got another one. It was like a mass of calloused skin. But now I’ve lost it and I wanted to look at it with my camera zoom and a magnifying glass. I want to see what the little shit alien looks like. Now I don’t have to embarrass myself by asking this doc about the Alien. That is unless the little shit decides to move back in. Then it’s war. Right now I have a hole on my ankle where the Alien was living.

The dog days of summer are here. HOLY HANNAH IN HADES it’s HOT. Not our normal warm weather, this shit is hot. I have perpetual sweat running down every crevice of my body. There is a constant rash under my boobs which would probably go away if I could wear a bra for longer than 1 hour. I just can’t stand to put one on, they are so hot, even though they lift the boobs up and help to alleviate the rash, I still can’t handle them.  These are the days I desperately wish I were a 34 A. The glory of not having to wear a bra is something that I haven’t enjoyed for many many years. Granted, back in my hippie days I went without but that was a L O N G time ago when they were still kind of perky and it wasn’t so gross. I’ve been told it’s going to get hotter next month. I can’t freaking wait. This will be my first September here, bring it on. Can you believe in 2 months it will be a year since we moved? How times flies when you’re sweating uncontrollably.

Last Sunday we took the Dude swimming again. This time we decided not to take Luck or Dooce, they’re not interested in swimming, but this boy is.

We have been sort of slow this week, seems like it’s taking longer to do everything. It has to be this oppressive damn heat. Bill has been working on the handrails and I have been bringing the rest of the kitchen stuff up from downstairs and out of boxes. Just trying to find places for “stuff” is exhausting. The other day Bill decided he would hang the curtain rods that we bought 5 months ago, along with the curtains. I got the ironing board out, set it up over the door in the bathroom and ironed FOR ALMOST 3 HOURS. There were six pairs of polyester curtains that the wrinkles seemed to be a part of the fabric. Like they were melted into the cheap material. Disgustingly hard to iron! We got the rods up and I hung the curtains a pair at a time as I was finished ironing them. They look nice, except for the wrinkles (I know Cleo, I look) they break up all the blue, they billow in the breeze AND they keep it much cooler in here. I had a huge mess to clean up because there was concrete dust everywhere from Bill hanging the rods. Concrete house = huge mess. If you are doing ANYTHING with the walls, it’s messy. Love hate relationship.

YAY for finally having curtains. I love the subdued look they add to the room. Kind of nice to have the glaring sun hidden from view. One thing we never considered building this house is the fact that when it  rains we have to close the windows because there is no roof overhang to keep the rain out. None. Zip. Nor is there a roof overhang to cut down on the sun. Because of the lack of any overhangs, all of the sawdust Bill produces is blown around and ultimately ends up on the window screens, then it rains and the sawdust ends up in my window tracks. They are disgusting. I long for the day when Bill is not using the table saw and making dirt. I’m sure he also looks forward to that time!

I made more dog biscuits, this time with a recipe using wheat flour, honey, PNbutter milk and baking powder. I rolled them out and cut them with a glass, baked them and the dogs LOVE them. They are so spoiled, Bill makes dog food to mix in with the dry so they get some vitamins and nutrients from their food and I make them biscuits. Speaking of dogs, last Wednesday I got an email from my friend on Long Island asking if we could take their caretaker and one of their dogs to the vet.  Bill and I went up to get Sebastian and Milagro. Milagro has many cancerous tumors on his belly and my friend doesn’t know if the vet will put him down or not. They said it was up to us to make the decision and that they would respect whatever decision we made. Sebastian lifted Milagro into the bed of the truck and jumped in himself. Since we don’t like to have people in the back of the truck we insisted they (he and dog) got in the back seat. We drove down to the vet and wouldn’t you know it, the vet didn’t come this Wednesday, he had an emergency on the mainland. (This vet comes once a week from La Ceiba.) So, this Wed. it’s back to the vet with Milagro. Pets, it’s so hard.

On Monday we had some guys come up here wanting to do landscape work. Bill told them no twice before, then they called, he said no again so they came up, again. What didn’t they understand about NO? Soon after they left I noticed a lot of smoke coming up the driveway and thought they burned up their brakes going down the road. A little later when the smoke cleared I realized the truck was on it’s side on our driveway. Bill went down to see if everyone was ok, they were. Turns out they tried to go up our neighbor’s drive, something happened and they rolled their truck 6 times.

We had Walter over for dinner on Wednesday night. Bill made home made pizza dough and we cooked it on the grill. It was really good.  Other than working around here constantly we have not done anything fun. On Thursday I moved more boxes downstairs and organized stuff better, killing my back in the process. On Friday we were to go to our friends birthday celebration and we had every intention of going until Friday night came around. I was just taking a shower at 7:15. At that point in the day there was no way I was getting dressed and going anywhere. We ended up on the couch watching a movie and going to bed early. Early to bed, early to rise. The weekend sort of buzzed by. Sunday was a rainy day, it started right after I got back from the dog walk in the morning and it didn’t stop for most of the day. I baked some Amish cinnamon bread  and while it was still warm I took half a loaf down to John. It is yummy and super easy to make. I was having trouble with my oven and have concluded two things: #1. I use an oven thermometer because the oven is C, not F. Oven thermometers don’t work well if they are right against the glass of the door. #2. A ceiling fan directly above the gas oven makes it difficult to get an accurate temperature reading or even get the oven up to temp. I hope to remember these two things the next time. However, this time I lit the oven all alone. Normally I call Bill and make him light it after my gas oven explosion downstairs but I told myself I could do it and not blow up the house. YAY for me.

 

I took the dogs for their morning walk and it was a minefield of Hog Plum fruit. I hate these trees with a passion. They have flowers that cover everything including my screens and all over my porches, then they start to develop fruit and then the fruit falls all over the ground and rots and stinks and it’s squishy and slippery. UGH!!

 

I really planned to drive down to West Bay beach for the day but am even lacking the ambition to do that. I do have the strength to walk the one minute it takes to get to the neighbor’s pool though, and that is where I’m headed!!

That is if I don’t melt first!

 

 

 

Busy as bees here. Well, sort of, or Bill is. Although I did help put the poly on the island and the drawers and cupboards, I still need to poly the insides of the drawers, hopefully this weekend. Everyday something else gets checked off the list.

We have shelves and drawer fronts. I’m a happy girl. Like Gene @ Umbul Umbul said, “Happy wife, happy life.”  At this point I can’t find enough drawer pulls that I like for the kitchen so until I do, we will have none. My kitchen in Everson didn’t have any and it was fine.

 

I decided the boys needed new beds. I wanted them made out of waterproof material but not plastic stuff. We went to a shop called Waldinas AKA Valdinas. I think it’s Waldinas because the email is waldinawonderwoman@….I like this Waldina chick already. We opted for the less costly Guatemalan Sunbrella imposter. It was $30.00 a yard cheaper than the US Sunbrella, which costs Waldina’s $1000.00 / roll. These ARE dog beds and Highway DOES have a tendency to destroy all dog beds, except the heavy ones from Costco. He hasn’t destroyed one of those yet. We ordered them late Wednesday afternoon and she said they would be ready the next day and they would call me. Yeah right. You’ll call me. HAH!! No call on Thursday, which was no surprise. I planned to stop by on Friday when I went out. Friday morning at 9 AM they called, the cushions were ready. I ran to the bank and then grabbed the new beds and came home. I was anxious to give them to the boys. I went up on the back porch and took them out of the bag, threw the first one down on the ground and Highway jumped on it, attacked the bed and grabbed the corner in his teeth and started shaking his head. We were both very quick to stop that particular behavior. When we left yesterday I put the 2 new beds on the table so he wouldn’t eat them. I don’t know what I was thinking buying new dog beds but once I get fixated on something usually nothing can change my direction. You may say I border on the side of obsessive. Maybe. And Bill, I know exactly what is going through your mind at this very moment. Not funny. The point of this whole convo is that my boy dogs have new waterproof orange beds.

 

I also decided we (I) needed a sideboard for the house. Dian who owns Umbul Umbul (love that store and Annie’s) just received a shipment from Bali. In fact they were closed WHEN WE DROVE BY ON MONDAY. I think it’s the first I have ever driven by and not stopped. The container was parked across from the store and there was stuff that I wanted to buy sitting everywhere. As we drove by, I wiped the drool from my chin and told myself she had a sideboard I wanted. I just knew it.

Yesterday we had to go to Coxen Hole and Sandy Bay so we stopped at Umbul Umbul. I swear I am there more than anyone else. The first thing I saw was a sideboard. It had my name on it. Well, mentally it did. Bill is very much not interested in the stuff there It’s not that he doesn’t like it,  it all stems from him being a woodworker, these pieces are not made to his likings. But they are so damn cool I don’t care. We looked around and checked out the 2 levels below, Bill had enough and went out to sit in the truck with the air on. The piece I wanted didn’t have a price so Gene went to ask Dian. She had advertised they were overstocked and she was having a sale on the Teak furniture, which is what the piece I wanted was. Gene came in with the price and I went out to talk to Bill. He was like, whatever and came back in to look at it, looked at the broken rail and said easy fix, they loaded it, I paid and we left. We stopped to look at a new used Hyundai Santa Fe for me but they want too much for it, cars are very expensive down here. There is a Mitsubishi Outlander on the mainland, like I drove in the US but 1 year OLDER and they want $7500.00. Mine was in excellent shape and booked for 2 grand. WTH?? We got home, got the furniture off the truck and inside but it was too heavy to carry upstairs. Or so I thought. Amazingly, I allowed it to sit downstairs overnight. Yes, it bothered me, I really wanted to put it where it belonged in the house.

I spent my Friday night drinking wine out of the bottle (there wasn’t enough left to warrant the effort to pour) and watching a stooopid chick flick called The Other Woman. I only watched it because Leslie Mann is in it and I think she is hysterical. After that I watched Mission Blue on Netflix. It’s about the amazing Dr. Sylvia Earle. What a woman! If you are interested in all things related to the ocean check it out.

The rain woke me again last night as it was blowing across the room and onto the bed. It was thundering and lightning so I let Dooce in to go downstairs and hide in her hidey hole, the guest shower. It is a bunker for her. I went back to bed because the porch was still dry so the boys were OK. I couldn’t go back to sleep, after playing Angry Birds and getting, well, ANGRY, I played Yahtzee, Pinterested for awhile and ended up on the porch with the boys. I brought them both inside with me and they followed me into the bedroom. By now Dooce was hiding in a corner of the upstairs closet. Luck went over right away and licked Bill, who was sleeping. Luck ended up sleeping on my side of the floor with his head under the bed, Highway was in the middle of the room and Dooce was tucked away securely in a tiny corner. Bill got up with the boys and made bacon. I was planning to stay in bed and sleep since it was pouring but the bacon was like an elixir, drawing me from the bedroom with that pungent high fat smell that is so delightful. Bacon Bacon Bacon. I bought the bacon mainly so I would have bacon fat to make dog biscuits. Yes, I am Betty Crocker or Martha Stewart without the jail sentence. Cleo makes them and gives them to our dogs, it makes me look bad. I had to gain the respect of the dogs back, so bake I did. This is the recipe I used: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bacon-Flavored-Dog-Biscuits/Detail.aspx?prop24=etaf. I decided to add some chopped apple to half of them, we’ll see how that turns out. I am not cool like Cleo though, she has a cutter the shape of a dog bone. She is an over achiever. I made mine to look like meatballs, hopefully they will flatten like cookies..First batch out, not flattened so I flattened them and did the second tray before it went in the oven. The biscuits were a licking gobbling success. The dogs loved them!

 

Bill managed to carry the sideboard almost all the way onto the deck alone so I helped and we got it inside with ease. I planned to put my pendulum on it. We bought the pendelum in Lahaina, Maui and had it shipped home. When we got it we noticed it was made in North Carolina. Funny. Something happened to the sand/glass that the pendulum moves in. It’s W E T. I now have it sitting in the sun hoping the moisture will go away. Damn Caribbean air.

 

I recently read the book Roatan Odyssey, written by Anne Jennings Brown. It is supposed to be a “true” story that takes place on Roatan from 1966-1976. I found it quite an enjoyable read. If Anne really did many of the things she says she did, she was a very strong woman. My problem with her story is that she left her young boys in a boarding school in England while she traipsed across the world and settled on Roatan. How do you do that? How do you leave your young children? I never could, never ever..

 

It must be baby lizard season because I have seen and rescued several tiny ones. There was one in the house last night that I think was a baby iguana because it had a black and white tail. We saw another larger green iguana in the tree yesterday when we were leaving. Iguanas and Anole lizards are OK, I just don’t like geckos. I don’t like their color, or lack of color, they are too close to flesh/skin color for my liking and I find them ugly as hell and want them to go away. Have I mentioned I’m a little obsessive?

AND, my favorite new band, Walk off the Earth. I seriously love these guys (and girl.) Check them out here and here.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

08/10/2014   Happy Birthday Sharon Prouty-Hall, we’ll see you soon, I can’t wait!!

Not a lot happening this past week. It’s been scorchingly hot, holy hell. I had a headache for two days, one day I laid in bed all day with the fan on, didn’t feel like doing much else. Bill has been working non stop on finishing stuff around here. Only 3 more drawer fronts to put on and then we’ll seal the wood. He has more to do on the island also, but not much. I still have not thought about tile for the back of the counters, I’m in no hurry, when I see something I like, I’ll buy it.

Famous last words. IT’S GETTING THERE.

On Monday I was meeting Janice at the Police station in Oak Ridge to get the beds made and the kitchen set up. It was a scorcher of a day, OMG! On top of the heat the power was out and the fans hadn’t even been installed. I don’t think I’ve ever sweat so much.

We worked for a few hours on Monday, sweat was pouring off of me and dripping on the floor, so gross. Around 2 we were done, well, as done as we could be with what was there. Junior was putting up the fans, the one guy was doing the emblems on either side of the door, others were trying to figure out what to do since the shower opening was much bigger than any shower curtain rods. Lots of little things yet to do for the dedication ceremony on Wednesday at 10. The crews had worked through the night putting down many yards of gravel, unloading chairs, cleaning up the garbage from left over boxes, putting away tools, it was a community effort for sure. Bill and I got there a little before 10 on Wed., it was another scorcher of a day. A definite sweat producer. They were just starting to set up the big tent.

We were introduced to the man who has the infamous honor of being the head of all of the police in Honduras. My thoughts were, he seemed like such a nice man, I expected him to be a bad ass. He must be in some respect to get to where he is.  There was a panel of important people and they each spoke, some in Spanish so we only got bits and pieces of that conversation. Then Mayor Dilbert got up to speak. He started talking about the people who had made this possible, like Janice and Don. He called them both up front along with a guy from Rotary. Janice gets things done, she knows who to turn to, where to go, she and Don are fantastic advocates for the community. I feel grateful I was asked to help. Well, didn’t the Mayor call me up to the front, Bill too. He really shouldn’t have because I did so little compared to the others. I felt we were up there under false pretenses but, what do you say? “NO, that’s OK, I didn’t do that much!” Bill offered to make clothes pegs for the bathroom so they had somewhere to hang their clothes and towels. He has some of them done, needs to make a few more.

I have been passively looking for bar stools. I bought 2 that I love from John and Lin when they left the island. I need 6 total, 4 up, 2 down. Since we aren’t using the downstairs we brought the 2 stools up. THEN, the other day I was at Umbul Umbul and realized they had stools to match, but they were very expensive despite the fact they had been there a long time. I thought and thought about these stools, the $$ for 2 of them was enough money to buy 2 stools and 2 end tables with money to spare. Decisions. I called the store and found out they were 20% off, that was all the news I needed. I drove down there the other day all set to buy them, but when I got there, ONLY ONE MATCHED, the other had a solid back instead of the woven. Now some people could stand that, 3 with a woven, one solid but I couldn’t. 3/1 with something like that is not a good thing for my OCD brain. I was bummed but thought, I’m buying two stools today and being done with it. They had only 2 others stools that had 2 available. I chose fold up stools and got some cushions that are a woven rattan color, they look fine. I now have 2 woven and 2 with cushions and you know what? I’m fine with it. Which is not normal for me. In my other life I would have put the 2 super nice stools downstairs and bought 4 of the same for upstairs. This is the new me..able to live on the edge.

I stopped at a wood shop on my way home and talked to Antonio. Bill and I had stopped there last week and Bill noticed they had 2 Shop Fox machines and I noticed a Grizzly tool in the back. Bill told Antonio about his previous life as a Grizzly drone and then he noticed another really old Grizzly tool. Small world, so naturally we have to deal with Antonio. He was supposed to call me with prices for 2 night stands and 2 stools. Of course, he never called so we’ll go there again on Monday.

While sitting on the porch yesterday I saw big areas of Sargassum weed floating by. They are having a problem with it in Flowers Bay, in fact the Muni is cleaning it out and hauling it away. I have read different articles, some say it should be left alone and in the water, other stories say to take it out. Whatever they do I’m sure I won’t be swimming in it. Luckily it is mainly on the south shores so it’s not circling the whole island. It is a vital habitat for sea life though, mixed emotions on this one.

Have I mentioned how much I love having my washer and dryer in the closet? I LOVE IT! Sure, it makes the closet smaller but it’s so easy. I take the clothes out of the dryer, throw them on the bed, fold them and turn around back into the closet and put them away. So stinking convenient! I remember when we lived in Cogan Station in a 3 story house and I had 2 dirty boys. I had to carry the laundry up and down those stairs, that was hateful!! It just makes so much sense! Little things.

After stopping at Antonio’s wood shop I headed to Eldon’s to get some lettuce. Walking across the parking lot I saw a truck with several cops in the back. The cop driving recognized me and motioned me over. I see him all the time on the road at road blocks, he kissed my hand once. I’m super nice to them and they are nice to me. I chatted with him for a minute and then did my shopping. On the way out of the store I heard someone call my name. It was our friend Liz. She dropped a vehicle belonging to one of the rentals she manages off for repair and needed a ride back down island to get her Jeep. I brought her to our house and then Bill took her home because my car won’t go down the Milton Bight road very easily, sits too low. Just as Bill was leaving to take Liz home Cleo and Craig came to drop some stuff off at John’s. They left yesterday to go back to the states for FIVE WEEKS. I’m jonesing already, we will miss them being on island, they are super fun to hang out with, always ready for an adventure.  At least when they return they will be living next door to us which will be great! They were going to Cal’s for dinner and since we haven’t been out to dinner for a few months we said we would join them. We took our neighbor John with us. I hadn’t had anything to drink all week because I was headachey so I grabbed a glass of wine to go for the minute ride to Cal’s. We had a fantastic dinner as always but the place was dead. Not normal for a Friday night at all. We had two bottles of wine between 3, maybe 4 of us and by the time the meal was over, we were dancing! Yes, Cleo, myself, Tami and Marian all danced. Carl was all smiles and didn’t seem to care one way or the other. It was a great evening!! We miss you already Cleo and Craig!

 

It’s 1 PM and we haven’t done squat today, we need to get moving. I’ll leave you with this photo of the airport on Roatan. If you are lucky enough to have a window seat, you’ll get a great view!!

 

And while you’re at it, Just dance.

 

 

 

Whew. It’s been busy these last few days. On Wednesday I met my friend Janice at the Oak Ridge Police station to see how it was coming, Mayor Dilbert was there as well.

They built a separate building for the kitchen. It’s really nice, with screened in walls and a cooking area in the back. After looking the kitchen over we went to the Muni and met with the head of the municipal police about a town celebration on Sunday. They are having pinatas and games with prizes for the kids. I bought a lot of candy to help fill the pinatas. After the meeting we went to BJ’s Backyard and had a drink down on the waterfront. While at BJ’s we met my friend Yanni’s dad. Always some one you know there.

The celebration is in Punta Gorda, which is further east a few miles. We’re going to try to swing by and see what’s going on. This is why we decided not to head to West Bay on Sunday, we needed to stay closer to home and try to make it to Punta Gorda.

Thursday we did some stuff around here, ran some errands and spent the afternoon in John’s pool. When we got down there we were talking to John and I realized that I had black stuff all over my hands. Not a clue what it was so I blamed it on Bill’s truck. John got me a paper towel and I wiped it off as best I could. I noticed I had it on my phone case too. Later when I got out of the pool we noticed my shoulders had black on them, the one worse than the other. WTH?? I figured out it was my swimsuit straps. I had them down when we got to the pool, put them up before I went in. Then noticed the black on my hands.

Yesterday we went on an adventure with our friends to a property called the Ridge Ranch.

Oh my, what a slice of paradise right there. Ridge Ranch is aptly named. This huge 2 part home sits on a ridge running right down to the sea. It’s on Calabash Bight. Stunning. Oh the things you could do with a property like that!! Anyhow, we kind of looked around at it, checked out some of the nooks and crannies. It’s got some quirky stuff inside! The view is spectacular. You can walk right down the path to the dock, jump in your boat, zip through the channel and go to Oak Ridge. Too cool. There was a sweet little puppy there too. Bonus!

We explored a little more and then went back to Oak Ridge to BJ’s Backyard. We saw some people we knew, ran into Marcia and Dennis, who I always enjoy talking to and saw Mitch, the computer guy. We listened to the band for awhile, finished our drinks and headed back here.

On Saturday we had to run to Carniagro (like Agway and Cenex, but not really, well, maybe Roatan style) and then to the grocery store. It was another crazy hot day. The weather said it was 88 but that it felt like 99. So humid. Like my friend Liz said, “A stand still and melt kind of day.” I have been feeling sorry for the dogs, I think they’re bored and that makes me sad. I wanted to take them swimming but didn’t know where to go w/out people because Highway is an idiot. We thought we would try Parrot Tree. It’s close and there is a beach with no people. We got all 3 dogs in the backseat of the truck. That was fun. Dooce and Luck jumped right in, Highway, we have to lift up his back end.

 

We brought the dogs home, hosed them off, put on suits and went back down to the pool at John’s. I floated for quite awhile, it felt so good. It has been weirdly still. Down at the pool it was utter silence. No birds, no chickens, no dogs barking. Maybe it’s the heat and humidity but whatever it was the silence was awesome.

We have more guests arriving in March. My friends Cicily and Cheryl, from Williamsport are coming to visit. Cicily and I used to work together and hang out together a long time ago. I’m really looking forward to their visit, haven’t seen either of them since the 1990’s! Cheryl has a killer voice, I would love to take her to Karaoke or BJ’s and let her belt out some tunes!!

I also finally talked to my high school friend Richard. We were chatting on a regular basis but then he sold his house before the new one he is building was done so he has been hard to get in touch with. He’s planning to come down over the winter as it’s a less busy time and easier for him to travel. Winter here is not really “winter” just a slight bit cooler and wetter.

This morning, before 6:30 AfreakingM, a truck pulled in our driveway, right under the bedroom window. I WAS SLEEPING. HELLO??? The dogs were barking their heads off, Bill was outside talking to the men. It was loud, way too loud for the time of day that it was. I was pissed. To top it off, right before the truck came Emmy jumped from the bed onto my back. It was like, “OOPS, could you get up and feed me?” I shoved her away and rolled over and then the noise happened. It was some guys related to some other guy who owns some land somewhere and they were supposed to spray the weeds by the power lines. And they had a dog with them. Cue Highway and Lucky. Dooce doesn’t care. She has Minions to do her work. I was up. and grouchy.

Because there were guys here working w/ a dog Bill went with me for the morning walk with the dogs. It was over an hour later than I usually go and it was morbidly hot. WHY AM I NOT sweating off the inches? It’s not fair. I’m going to start to wear saran wrap dresses under my clothes so I get skinny.

Our friends Mr. A and Ms. B came over around 11 today and we were off to Havana Beach Club, AKA Palm Beach. It’s less than 10 minutes away. It’s a nice, wide, pretty beach but it’s not my favorite. There is a lot of grass in the water, I prefer a sandy bottom and the bugs there are ghastly! When I got out of the water I sprayed myself good because I was getting bitten while floating. It seemed like the insect repellent was an attractant, not a repellent. It wasn’t fun being lunch for kazillions of no-see-ums! They swarmed our heads while we were eating.

 

Tonight I was supposed to go to a big celebration in Punta Gorda but I had to take 2 Benadryl when I got home I was itching so badly. Now all I want to do is lay down and go to sleep.

Up and at ’em tomorrow morning. I have to meet a friend at Ace when they open because the bezel fell off of my watch in their pool and they are bringing it to me before they head back to Toronto; then I have to be at the Police Station @ noon to help get it set up before the head of Police and the General come to see it.

 

 

07/29/2014 I was beginning to feel like I was back in the Pacific Northwest with all the rain; however the crazy thunder boomers and constant lightning made sure I knew where I was. I was/am on a small speck of land in the Caribbean Sea, in a concrete and METAL home. We’re just one big lightning rod. Now that I know this, I won’t rest until we do something about it. We had storms in Pennsylvania all summer long but it was a rarity to have a good thunderstorm in WA. This past week I don’t think we had one night that we didn’t get up to the sounds of rumblings and booms and cracks coming from the sky. We had to bring the dogs inside it was so bad. Dooce was a shivering drooling puddle of fur. I put her Thundershirt on her during one bad storm and just left it on her but Bill takes it off because he thinks it upsets her. So I guess she just shivers and drools and pants without it. The other night we had some serious booms where the noise and the flash were mere seconds apart. A little too close for comfort! Today, Tuesday is a nice overcast day, pretty muggy outside.

The kitchen island is done, well, the counter top is. Bill is working on the cupboards and the back of the island. We ran errands yesterday looking for a new mattress and some door handles for the kitchen. I need 15 and I saw 1, one handle, uno, ein. ONE that I liked. Ace hardware has a huge display but they have only a few of each. They are the most poorly stocked store I have ever been in. Amazon here I come. It’s the little things. We also can’t find the small yellow fluorescent bulbs that fit in our porch lights. Until we do we can’t put the covers on them. Yes, it’s frustrating but it’s not a deal breaker by any means!

 

On Saturday we were invited to our friends house to hang out in the pool for the afternoon. It was a gorgeous sunny day, not a rain cloud to be seen. Trish and Dave live down in Sandy Bay way up on a hill. Needless to say they have amazing views!

I haven’t been driving my car very much lately. It makes me nervous that the CHECK light is still on. The last time I drove it there was a noise coming from the front wheel but I knew what it was so I kept driving. Sure enough, the underside of the car was dragging on the ground. Bill has since fixed that but the CHECK light is still on. Scarlett is such a tramp.

The other morning I saw some bugs on the screen and went to check them out. I realized they were inside and one was H U G E and scary looking.

This is a stock photo from the web, these people obviously know how to pose the Beetles for photos..something I have no intention of mastering.

So now you know about Rhinoceros Beetles.

Last night I felt like making chicken with pot pie noodles. Of course, I didn’t have all the ingredients and of course it was 5:30 when I considered making it. Bill went to the store to get what we needed because he obviously was hungry.  I’ll eat a bag of popcorn for dinner and call it good. I’m totally happy with that, I don’t need much more. Him, he likes food. So I made the dough, rolled it out, cut the noodles and made dinner. I think it was 7 PM when we finally ate.

It was pretty good and just what we needed on a blustery, cool (83) Monday!

I’ve wanted a shelf unit for the living room so I would have somewhere to put my little amount of stuff. I saw one at a store that I really liked but Bill didn’t, he thought it was overpriced for the quality of it. I decided to give up on that piece, despite the fact I have looked at it at least 4 times. Sunday we went to the grocery store but before that we stopped at Lady Lee’s looking at mattresses. While there I saw a funky corner shelf. Bill looked at it and liked the way it was made, it was really heavy and unusual. Although it doesn’t have all the space I need, at least my things are out and not in a box..

Bill is working on the kitchen cupboards right now and I am trying to hammer out this blog before Jurgen starts bugging me..I’m not doing too well, it’s 1 PM, been at it since 8 ish.

Tomorrow we are taking our friends dog to the vet. They are in Long Island for the summer, the dogs are looked after by their watchie but he doesn’t have transportation. Later on in the day I am meeting my friend at the new police station in Oak Ridge. She is meeting with the police chief about a kids program so I am going to tag along and hopefully get involved.

This coming Sunday we are headed to West Bay Beach to meet our friends Trish and Dave and spend the day in the water. It’s a much needed beach day for me and the last we’ll see them until they return @ Christmas..

Speaking of Christmas, I saw these online and think they are fabulous

I am outta here, we just got company so it’s a good reason to post this and be done with it.

 

 

07/21/2014 I forget last week. It’s like I blinked and it was over. I don’t think anything memorable happened, nor did we do anything memorable. Meet Mr. and Mrs. Boring. Actually, Bill worked on the kitchen every day last week and it’s getting there. I now have drawers, no drawer fronts yet, but soon.

The boy dogs have been barking relentlessly at the vultures, again. They also do this very annoying loud yap whine bark gig when we come home or someone comes. I’m tired of the routine. I was yelling at them constantly, NO. NO. NO. STOP BARKING!! NO. NO. It didn’t work and I was sick of yelling. I got so mad at Highway when he was down in the yard barking because there was a vulture or two in the trees I picked up their bowl of water and threw it on him. He stopped immediately. Next time he barked at the birds I did it again. He stopped. I threw water on the 2 boy dogs about 4 or 5 times. Now they rarely bark at the birds. I don’t yell if they bark when there is someone coming; however I do not allow them to go berserk when someone comes or when Bill comes home. It is overboard and so not necessary. Highway starts and nips at Lucky who reluctantly chimes in and yaps. Luck has a real high pitched snappy bark, Highways is deep and gruff and Dooce, she just makes a grunt bark noise once or twice for effect.

On Wednesday evening a taxi came up our drive with the music blasting. I stood at the window, hands on my hips, waiting to see who and why this car was here. It turned around, backed up towards the house and turned the lights off. I was getting pissed; until I recognized Miguel and Rambo. They stopped by to say hello on their way to party in French Harbor. It was nice to see them, it’s been quiet here without workers on the premises.

Over the weekend I tore into some storage boxes and emptied and tried to find a place for stuff. Oh the things I found!! Aside from the lizards that are on the wall, another thing that reminds me of WA. is my Phinney pottery. These are my favorite pieces and the only pottery that made the trip to Roatan! The pieces were gifts when I left Williamsport in 1995 and moved to Washington.

I love this pottery, it makes me think of Cathy (O) Hurvitz and Kelly McGarvey. Love those girls.

I started cleaning out the kitchen downstairs, getting the pans and dishes out that will be for downstairs and moving more stuff upstairs, even though I don’t have room for it. What I need to do soon is move ALL of the remaining storage tubs into one room and do a final repack and list of everything. Despite the fact this is about the 8th time I’ve redone the tubs and made new spreadsheets, it still is a huge time saver. Considering there were 28 boxes and 26 tubs and I’m down to 10 tubs and 4 of those are full of scrap booking stuff, 3 are kitchen things and two are Christmas. Not bad. I’ve graduated from a junk drawer in WA. to a junk storage tub.

On Saturday afternoon we worked really hard in the house. The sweat was cascading down my chest like a river, I could feel grit on my moist back. I felt like a crustacean, so we made drinks and headed down to John’s pool with rafts. We thought maybe John was sleeping so we were quiet, he wasn’t sleeping though and came out and chatted with us for awhile. He wishes we would use the pool more and I’m going to try to. It instantly lowers my body temperature. So nice..and his view is great and the foliage is just lovely around his pool. He sure does have a nice spot. Come September this neighborhood will get a lot more interesting..

Bill gave Dooce a bath on Saturday, man, did she ever stink! Now she smells nice and clean and I’m sure it will last for all of 5 days. She doesn’t seem to mind the bath, at least she doesn’t try to get away.

I am still walking the dogs every morning. They are so funny they know my routine. They wait until I’ve eaten my breakfast then they sit at the door watching for me to pick up my sunglasses. Once they are in my hand, all 3 tear down to the back door. I hook the boys on leashes and Dooce is on the loose and we are off. First stop, my car tire. It has so much dog urine on it that it could win a contest. If there ever were a contest for most dog urine on a tire. Then it’s over to the electric meter. That’s right take a leak on the high energy costs we all endure on this island. (approx. $.50/KW including fuel adjustment) Then Dooce is down by John’s turn-around chasing all the lizards onto the other side of the fence. She trots down the driveway, sneering at the boys because she is loose and they are in my care. Or am I in theirs. The whole trip, coming and going, I am trying to remain untangled and upright.I keep  H and L separate, I have a leash in each hand, then they come up behind me on opposite sides of my body, quick, uncross leashes. Then H cuts in front and goes behind me, quick, spin around, keeping L untangled. Many times I trip on the sole of my Havaianas, it gets bent underneath from all the frolicking and cavorting I end up doing. I know I have to be careful with the boys because I don’t need to trip and fall on the drive, ours is so steep I’ll roll down to the main road. Hopefully that will not happen. I’ve thought about walking them bare footed but there are so many ants on the driveway and I do not want to step in fire ants, so flip flops it is..

Bill had part of a tooth break off the other day. He made an appointment for yesterday afternoon, figuring he would need a crown. The dentist went to school in the states and practiced there for 10 years before coming to Roatan. He has a very good reputation on the island. Bill went in yesterday and came home with only a temporary crown. The dentist said if it’s not hurting lets do a crown. Since it takes some time to get the final crown they would have that much time to determine what he really needs. After Bill told me all of this he said he had to go back today @ 8:30. I asked what for. He said to fix the air compressor at the dentist office. Obviously the dentist mentioned he was having trouble with it and Mr. Fixit said he could take care of it for him.

Bill just put the third coat of stain on the counter tops. If that makes it a color we like we’ll go ahead and seal it and be done with the counter tops!!

Currently I am baking a recipe I found on Pinterest and modifying it my way. The first attempt at the brownie cups did not turn out well. Attempt #2 is in the oven. If I can get it to work I’ll post pics. Guaranteed to NOT be fat free..