Arch’s Iguana Farm – Mermaid on a Raft

Words from the homebody.

July 7, 2019 Blogging has been the last thing on my mind, it’s just been too damn hot. We had temps in the 90’s with a real feel of 131. I did nothing but float in the pool or lay in front of several fans. My house is a disaster and I really don’t care, I can’t so anything about the dog hair. Well now, that may change soon. I bought a used Roomba from someone leaving the island. It is designed for DOG HAIR. The battery on the one I bought is not holding a charge (I knew that when I bought it) so my friends are bringing me a new battery down, they arrive today. Then I’ll let the Roomba loose on my floors. My fear is it will grow legs and run away at the sight of the atrocious amount of dog hair we have. I can’t wait to try it.

UPDATE: Roomba works pretty well except one of the brushes that grabs the hair and pulls it into the vac broke. My friend Ryan is bring some new brushes when he comes down.

My friend Tammy and her husband Ryan came down for a visit. I still can’t believe she came down, it was so great to see her and to get to know Ryan. Tammy and I worked together at Peoples Bank in Lynden, WA for 5 years and we had so much fun that sometimes it didn’t seem like work at all.

The day after I went back to the chiropractor who fixed my foot (8 months of foot pain, surgery, a cortisone shot and no relief, one visit with the chiro on the island, I felt better), was the day before Tammy came. I was trying to clean my car out that morning and became extremely light headed. Earlier that day I had some dog obedience training with my friend Amy for Highway and Lola and I could hardly stand up. I laid on the chaise out front in the shade and felt like I was going to pass out. Now, I do have moderately high blood pressure and take medicine for it daily and that keeps it normal. Bill got my BP cuff and I took my BP, it was 73/55. Never in my whole life has it been that low. I laid around for quite awhile while the girls were cleaning my house. Later in the day I started to feel better and was able to meet our friends for dinner that night. The day after my friends arrived I had another appointment with my favorite chiropracter, Dr. Mary Mason at Tranquility Spa. She is seriously the best chiro I have ever been to. I dropped Tammy and Ryan off in West End to do some shopping and I went to see Dr Mary. I told her about my BP and she said, Oh yeah. When she did the pressure points behind my ears she actually fixed my foot and lowered my blood pressure. A chiro lowered my blood pressure. Doctors must not know this and I’m sure big pharma companies don’t want you to know this. I now take 1/2 of my normal dose and my BP is fine, I check it on a regular basis. Who the hell knew?

That night we went to Cal’s with Tammy and Ryan. It was a fabulous meal, as usual. We are so lucky to have a restaurant as good as Cal’s so close to our house.

I tried to keep my friends busy with my regular outings that all my guests get to enjoy, Arch’s Iguana Farm and Daniel Johnson’s Monkey and Sloth Hangout. These are two of my favorite places to take guests, they are each unique and offer something that you don’t normally get to experience. Plus, the Arch and Johnson families are my favorite people on the island.

The baby iguanas are kept in cages for 2 years, otherwise they would be food for a snake or a bird and would not have the chance to grow up.

This guy was chilling. Some of the iguanas are over 30 years old.

Ryan and Tammy (holding a sloth.) They really are the sweetest creatures. At the sloth and monkey hangout they are very particular about how you hold them, you can’t pet them, you just support them.

On Sunday there was a Roatan Marine Park Fundraiser at Beach Club Roatán, just a mile or 2 away from us that we were going to go to later in the day. We hung out by the pool for awhile, then Trish and Dave, Trish and Fred and Liza and Mike came over. We had some snacks and drinks before heading to the beach. There were a few bands playing but we went mainly to see Brion James and the Scallywags. Unfortunately, as things often happen here, Brion didn’t start playing until after 5:30, which is about the time most of the people left, including us. Oh well, it was a nice day sitting around people watching, there was even a girl fight, first for me.

My bestie Nidia was at the beach with her daughter Cookie. I haven’t seen Nidia in a few months, we both laughed when we saw each other in orange dresses.

I took Tammy and Ryan on the mangrove tour and then out to see Captain Ed @ Hole in the Wall.

We debated on whether we would walk into this house or not, the foundation didn’t look very stable. This is right by the dock where Ronny picks us up for the mangrove tour.

I really love the mangroves, especially love kayaking through them.

Exactly where we were going when the tour was finished.

A large crystal clear pool of water in the area of the mangrove tunnels.

We spent most nights down by the pool, having a few cocktails and watching the dogs and their antics.

This just proves that Lola is possessed.

Highway is lazy and only partially gets on the stool.

My cleaning girls put the top on my toothbrush. I usually don’t turn the light on when brushing my teeth, just go in, grab the brush, put toothpaste on it and walk around while I brush my teeth. Imagine my surprise when I stuck this thing in my mouth with the plastic cover on it. It’s even on backwards. My thought is, they don’t see many Sonic Care toothbrushes. Lesson learned.

He has a whole porch, yet he lays like this.

I felt a trip east was a good idea with Tammy and Ryan. We stopped by Barbon Beach and then went out to La Sirena for rum punches and some lunch.

So beautiful but it will change soon. They are saying there will be cruise ships on the east end by October. There goes the peaceful end of the island. Greed will destroy the last beautiful beach on Roatán.

No need to change your watch, the whole island is on Island Time. You’ll know this for certain and sure once you try to get help doing anything. Mañana doesn’t mean tomorrow, it means, not today.

Tammy and Ryan, they were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary this trip. @ La Sirena

Ryan took this photo of Tammy and I on the beach on the moon.

I had friends donate money to be used for a school so I bought new library books for the Froylan Turcios school that is close to our home. We are friends with the principal, Marlon. He does everything he can to get the students reading. All of the kids in the photo had already reserved the new books that were purchased. Tammy, Ryan and I went while they were being passed out. I love seeing kids read, it opens their minds and their eyes to the world around them.

One evening Tammy, Ryan and I went down to Kristi’s for drinks and to listen to Brion James play. It was just Brion and another guy doing percussion. It was excellent, really enjoyed listening to him and hearing much different music than he usually plays.

Their last full day here we went to West Bay Beach for sun, swimming and snorkeling. It was a non cruise ship day and the beach was pretty empty, perfect, just the way I like it.

I see a school of tangs every time I snorkel in West Bay.

If you look closely, there is a peacock flounder very well camouflaged. I can’t believe I even spotted it. This might be Tammy’s photo, at this point, I’m not sure.

This is supposedly the largest turtle in the world, it sits on top of a building in West End.

The last day they were here was Mother’s Day. I was sitting by the pool with the dogs when Tammy came down. She had a canvas bag that said, “Actually, I’m a Mermaid” in her hand and when she gave it to me she said, “Happy Mothers Day.” In the bag were all kinds of mermaid gifts for me.

Mermaid shirt that she bought while shopping the day we left the beach. Sneaky.

And all of these gifts were in the cute canvas bag. Thank you Tammy!

My sister sent me a few photos of Dad. He wanted to go out to eat so Miss and Mark took him to the Ale house. Dad really wanted a burger, fries and a coke, so that’s what he got. While waiting for the meal he and Missy did some coloring. When the meal came, he would not touch the hamburger, they tried everything and he just was not interested in it. He did eat his fries though.

Missy and Mark were in Rochester NY for a friends son’s wedding and stopped at the Savoia Pastry Shoppe. Uncle Don, (Dad’s brother) used to always bring these cookies when he came to visit. They picked some up for Dad.

Dad and Mark sitting out on the porch at the center where Dad lives, enjoying a cookie. I can tell by the look on Dad’s face that he’s enjoying the cookie but wondering why Missy is taking another photo. Doesn’t he look amazing for 98 years old? Mark and Missy are so good to him, I can never thank them enough.

This is my favorite waiter on the whole island, Reynaldo @ Cal’s Cantina. When Bob and Deb were here they met Reynaldo and decided to send a Little League Baseball hat for him and for Mr Sherman from the Iguana farm. In case you didn’t know, Bill and I are from Williamsport, home of Little League Baseball. Reynaldo wore his hat to work and a baseball shirt.

My boy Barrio. He is such a Momma’s boy, he never leaves my side. For some reason he has two toys in his mouth instead of the usual one that he carries around. The scar is from a fight he and Max had a long time ago.

Bill put up this sun shade so the dogs have more shaded area to lay in when they are at the pool. We have not cut the poles off yet because he is going to switch it around. Tonight we had an insane wind come from out of nowhere, the sky was black all around us, I could barely get the south facing door open the wind was so strong. Bill grabbed wire cutters and a ladder and we took the shade down for fear it would rip. It’s now laying on the dining room table. All that work, put plants down, moved chairs and rafts and not one damn drop of rain. It’s a freaking desert here.

I just received a private message from my friend Marlon. He’s come across a grandmother who needs food. I asked him to please find out if she needs anything other than food, he said he would go see her tomorrow. Hopefully I get my car back tomorrow (bad radiator fan) and can go get groceries for her. I’m also going to Mega Paca tomorrow and buying a mattress for my friend Soila’s hubby. I met her years ago when we cleaned the police station and made all the beds and arranged the kitchen before their grand opening. She was there scrubbing out a donated refrigerator. Then I ran into her again at a vet clinic I was working. The following vet clinic she came back and I ended up taking her home with her dog and several kids with their dogs. I was with our friend Miguel a few months ago in Oak Ridge and I saw Soila, she works for the municipal cleaning the roadside of trash. She and 3 other ladies work their tails off in the heat. I often take them Cokes. I stopped along the road to hug her and just then Miguel said she was his aunt. She was so surprised to see Miguel and I together. Anyhow, her husband hurt his back and they have no mattress. The mattresses at MP are not brand name but they are new and clean and 6″ thick, I’m sure they will enjoy having it.

UPDATE: Soila has the new mattress for her husband and I bought a bag of groceries for the elderly lady.

$25.00 worth of groceries goes a long way for someone who has no money. I never buy anything perishable because many of them have no electricity so no refrigerator.

I’m currently collecting donations for food baskets for the Senior Luncheon the 24th of this month. We expect 350-400 seniors for a day of music, food and gifts. We are helped in this endeavor by Live Again Ministries.

This group of wonderful people does so much for the island of Roatan, it’s really amazing. They distribute buckets with water filters so people have potable water, they bring boxes of dictionaries, bibles. sandals, dresses, handkerchiefs, hats, reading glasses, so many things. They also pay for the bulk of the luncheon, without them, we could not do what we do. Pastor Ronny and his group are people I am proud to call my friends. This is the 5th year in a row that Because We Care has put together this luncheon.

We finally had a rain day and it was glorious, we so need rain. I woke this morning to another dark day. I never turn lights on inside until around 7 at night. This morning it was so dark I had to turn them on so I could make breakfast. It’s sunny again so lights out and going to the pool with the crazies.

I’m currently re-watching seasons 1 and 2 of Stranger Things so I can remember what happened before I watch season 3. I have been reading a lot. Currently reading Fly Girls, just finished Little Fires Everywhere. I’m also in a Property Brothers rut. I hate the show but I love it.

Chance went back east to see my Dad and family. He took his girls with him. They had a great time. My sister took them to D.C. then Chance and the girls drove to Williamsport and saw friends, then to Hershey Park, back to Maryland, then back to South Dakota.

My nephew’s wife, Sofie, Alexah, Chloee and Eric, my nephew at The Cheesecake factory in Columbia, MD

They recently had a prom at the center where Dad lives and Missy was his prom date. She said it was her first prom in 40 years. She is so amazing with Dad, blessed to have her so close.

We were lucky and had a very quiet 4th, didn’t hear or see any fireworks/firecrackers. The dogs were happy.

I’m going to wrap this up and get it posted before another month slips by. This is for you squeeze.

Happy July!

The return of the trade winds

05/30/2018 Let’s see if I can pick up where I left off. Hmmm. Nope, no can do. It was way too long ago and I apologize. I’ve been distracted and busy. And hot and sweaty, OMG. If I could market and sell under boob sweat I would be a millionairess. If there only was a need for it. Sad times.

It’s been a super hot month. It was very miserably hot while Trace was visiting, too hot almost. The heat made afternoon siestas a part of the day. He took a lot of photos of the homes we’re looking after and built a website for us. It’s not up and running yet, it’s very involved and detail intensive using a website like this for a novice like me. Being Miss OCD does nothing to lessen the frustration. I will say I get pissed and want to give up and maybe do give up for that particular moment, but I’m back figuring it out some more in no time at all. It’s taking me a long time to get things the way I want them, which is all the same, but different. Some of you get that.

We did manage to have some fun on a few short boating trips. One day Trace and I “boated” to Calabash Bight to check out some guests. While there Trace took some photos but not the ones for the website, he took those later. He and I went snorkeling with Daniel and Stephanie at the Sloth farm, awesome snorkeling in the protected waters of the marine preserve. Another day Trace and I went to West Bay by way of a water taxi from West End because the actual road is so bad.

We ate at Cal’s a number of times just because it’s excellent and it’s 3 minutes away. Who can say no to that? Not me.

Our friends Liza and Mike came from Oregon to spend some time here. They own land in Sandy Bay, about 40 min west of us. The day after they arrived they came down to hang out around the pool and eat some pizza. They brought me some things I ordered and also a bulk foods bag of HOT TAMALES. I have not had them for 5 years. I caught Trace eating them and yelled at him. I told him he could buy them in Seattle, I can’t get them here and dammit! I was being stingy and not sharing. I hid them and allotted myself a certain number (12) each night before I brushed my teeth. They lasted from April 13 to me savoring the lonely last one on May 16th. It was a very sad night.

The the next day Trace and I met Liza and Mike at Pineapple Villas, mainly so they could meet Nidia. She is kind of famous around these parts. After that I took them to the Monkey and Sloth Farm where we held sloths, let monkeys look for bugs in our hair and held macaws and yellow naped parrots.

These monkeys are named after the cast of Jersey Shore. You know, J Wow, Snookie, Vinnie and Pauly D. Here one is sitting on Trace’s neck.

Might be picture of the week. Trace trying to get his camera lens cover from the monkey.

I so love this photo. Mike is just like, OK, there are 2 crazy monkeys on my head.

She’s found her calling, Liza the sloth snuggler.

My favorite bird. The colors are intense.

Trace took this video while we were snorkeling in West Bay. The fish didn’t even seem to notice the camera on the broom handle (improvised selfie stick). They swam all around it and then pretty much had Trace in the middle of their school. He got some awesome footage. These are mostly Blue Tangs, in different stages of development. Some other fish join the school, there’s even a nice sized Barracuda towards the end on the left.

Having a visitor in the house seemed to confuse the dogs. They got a little panicked (Lola) a few times when Trace would come upstairs. She would have barking fits, carrying on like a velociraptor was coming up the stairs. One time they were so freaked out that Barrio was shooting pheromes out his butt. I’m serious, it was gross and it squirted on the walls. It was like he emptied his anal sacks by himself. Sorry, is that TMI? He was so afraid of Trace that he didn’t go near him during the whole time he was here. Gringo and Max and Lola and the idiot (Highway) were fine with him, not Barrio.

Our electric company is called RECO. I went in to the office and signed a form to get access to their online bill payment system. They said I would get a password in a few weeks sent to the email address I gave them. A month had passed when I emailed them and said “what’s up, where is my password?” A few days later I was in the pool and my phone rang. Caller ID said RECO emergency number. I answered it and they said, “this is RECO calling to say that we got an email (from me) stating that you (me) never got a password for the online payments.” I said correct. She said, “could I get your email address so we can send the password to you?” I was like, but but, you are calling because you got an email from me, you HAVE my email address. Remembering where I lived, I gave up and told her the address and one month later I have still never gotten a password. I later found out everyone got the same password to sign in with and you then had to change it immediately and sign in with the new password that you created. I signed on with my friends temporary password. It worked. You can’t make this shit up.

I recently had a bug night. My husband was sound asleep and a gorgeous moth with a 2″ wide wingspan landed on my nightstand. I couldn’t hurt it so I captured it and threw it out the window using a cup and a piece of paper. But it didn’t work, I threw air out the window. The moth was on the wall when I went back to bed. Damn! I used the same maneuver but used something hard below the paper. It worked, I carried it outside and set it free. Came back to bed and there’s a beetle on my reading light. I tried to capture it until it flew at me three times. I swatted it down and slammed it with a bottle of allergy pills and mortally wounded it and gave it a proper water burial in the toilet. Then I had to pee and was afraid it was still alive and was going to fly at my ass. I thought of my friend Megan who lives on the other end of the island. She went to the bathroom one night and there was a good sized crab in her toilet. She removed it with tongs. Now I look every time. One of the teachers at Froylan School (where we help out) woke to find a huge boa constrictor in her bed. Honestly, I would have died right there on the spot. Dead as a nail. Just roll me off a boat. I live in the jungle.

There was another beach concert right down the road from us. Trace and I went and ate dinner and stayed for the music. I’m sure he wished he had been an ostrich so he could have buried his head in the sand, totally ashamed that his old lady mother danced almost every song. It’s good exercise. And dancing and wine go well together. I’m sure he doesn’t agree that wine makes me an excellent dancer. .

Trace was photographing kids at the beach before the concert started.

They love cameras and cameras love them. Beautiful kids.

This is Ephrain, Alexi’s little brother.

My high school friends donated money early this year to help do some work at the Froylan Turcios School. Bill re-did the bathrooms and they got the building painted and a door installed. They have working toilets and sinks. My friends also bought the school a volleyball net. Bill gave them a long metal pole they can cut in half and cement into tires to make holders for the net. A few weeks ago I got a friend request from someone named Chris. I looked at his profile, he does stuff like we do so I accepted. Then he contacted me to say he had some groups coming down to do missionary work, could I suggest a school. Well, yes, Froylan Turcios. I told him a bit about the school and introduced him to the Principal, my friend Marlon. After Chris spoke to Marlon for awhile he realized he was the real deal. Being the Principal was not about him, it was about the kids. Now Chris and his organization have stepped in to finish the roof, using the stuff we bought to repair the leaks, they are building Marlon an office, he does not have one and they are building benches and tables and a playground for the kids. I still have about $210 left from the money my class donated, plus another 25 was donated and I’ll put in to make it 250 which is enough to buy the 3 toilets and one of the 3 sinks for the first new school EVER in Pandy Town. The kids have never had a school, let alone a new one. They are in a 3 room building behind the church. It’s crowded and hot and dark. They deserve this. I’m thinking $250 would buy the sinks and all of the materials needed to plumb the bathrooms. I have a new goal.

This is the new school. A very exciting event for everyone in the community.

Update: The Rotary club has said if the school puts in a formal request they will present it to the board and possibly buy the toilets. I have been in touch with Miss Iris and told her if that falls through, I will buy them. If that works maybe we can supply the lights or the ceiling fans for the school. We are on hold but will be doing something for the school one way or another.

A little comic relief. The boys going for a swim.

Barrio and Lola sharing a kennel. They love being in their kennels.

Rainy late afternoon, rainbow producer. See the size of the deck to the back left of the stairs? Well, it’s bigger now.

This is how much bigger. Two days and it was done.

I’ve ordered a 10X16 sun shade for this area, more shade for the dogs and a place to nap out of the sun.

Enlarged seating area, soon to be shaded.

Trace and I did a few snorkel trips and saw great stuff each time. Actually, anytime I can get my head underwater is a good day.

Saw this beautiful French Angelfish snorkeling. I swear it was following me.

These tangs encircled us, it’s like we weren’t there.

Stunning evening sky over the south shore.

Trace and I went snorkeling with Daniel and Steph from Daniel Johnson’s Monkey and Sloth Hangout. Always excellent snorkeling because it’s in a protected marine reserve.

Spaghetti worms, amazing to watch them move. I’m very curious what they feel like.

They are so fascinating, here is a video on them.

This was a large porcupine pufferfish, it started to come out towards us but changed it’s mind.

Googly eyes on the porcupine puffer fish

This was an awesome find, some type of burr fish. This thing had big spikes sticking out of it.

A live beautiful conch. See the eye sticking out on the left of the shell? It’s a tube. They have 2 eyes, just like us. Sort of.

Beautiful protected harbor of French Caye.

Daniel and Steph, two of my favorites..really, I love these 2.

The dogs were going absolutely crazy one afternoon. Highway was jumping straight up, a few feet off the ground every time he barked. The 3 brothers were non stop barking. {I seriously pity a thief coming here, they have no chance.} Bill spotted this guy in the Gumbalimba tree by the deck. He was kind of hidden but I did get a few shots. So gorgeous.

They are such beautiful creatures. I think they were eating the berries on the tree.

Their skin looks like the hand beaded animals they sell in Mexico.

I interviewed Lauren who owns The Roatan Wine Room for an article I wrote for Incomes Abroad, an International Living publication spin off. Lauren recently opened her business in West End. I look forward to making a trip there soon, who doesn’t love wine?

Nidia and I are planning to go to the Mosquito Coast of Honduras for 3 days. The poverty is extreme. We have free shipping for all of the donations to the mainland so we will be able to buy a lot of stuff, like 200 bars of soap, 200 toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes. We take so much for granted. I got an amazing generous donation from some new friends, Nidia and I started planning how to spend it as soon as I called her. Our trip to the coast will not be a vacation. We are going where there is no electricity or running water. I’m a snoopy eater so I’ll have to take enough peanut butter sandwiches, potato chips and hard boiled eggs to last several days. It will not be GLAMPING. It will be an experience that I should get to have. I’m very excited.

The rag tag gang. I’m a sweatball, Bill’s shirt has a hole in it so he tucks it in under his belt to hide it. Poor Trace.

The wind has picked up, it’s crazy windy after no wind for a week. I was making a sandwich and it blew the cheese off the sandwich. Score for the dogs. Great sleeping weather and no bugs.

Today I had a much needed girls day with Jonna. We ran errands, went to the labor board, went to the municipal, found Roatan Provisions where we bought (split) a $52.00 jar of kalamata olives went to lunch, had mojitos. Little more shopping and then home. I saw dishes I wanted but didn’t buy because they were pottery and I will break/drop them. I thought they were the lightweight melamine. Oh well. I got olives.

Trace helped us get the counters downstairs finished with epoxy resin before Chance, Alecia and the girls come on the 12th. So excited to see all of them!

Turned out really nice but now I don’t like the tile at all.

The bar, Trace added some orange to it. Again, that awful tile.

I would say I’ll try to be better about blogging but we all know that’s a lie. I started this Monday night and it’s Friday. I’m done. We’ve had a guy here installing the back splash tile in my upstairs kitchen ALL DAY and the whole place is a mess. There is stuff all over the floors, hoping the counter tops are still OK. Not very thrilled with the tile job, I will be going to see them tomorrow.

I’m publishing this sucker before another week passes. Happy FriYay everyone.

2500 PSI versus toes

11/26/2017 First of all, I apologize for being MIA. My laptop died soon after my last post and we have been waiting ever since for the new fan. It finally arrived on Wed and Bill installed it a few days later and it works. He also put in a new laptop keyboard but the space bar isn’t working. Damn. Bill just discovered the space bar only works if you hit it right in the middle, either end doesn’t work. Nice..And a lot of the letters don’t work. I sent Amazon a bitchmail telling them it was defective and it would cost me $50.00 to return it and they credited me the money. Bill bought me a keyboard at Technos for 170 L, about $7.00. It’s kind of psychedelic.

I was sick when I returned from my class reunion but once I saw the ENT @ Clinica Esperanza and got the right meds, I was better in two days. I felt great for about a week and then the rains began here. It rained so much and for so long that I became a hermit and didn’t go anywhere unless I absolutely had to. One night I woke in the middle of the night, all stuffed up, figured it was an allergy. After a few nights of that and Benadryl not working I got some Zyrtec, thinking that would do the trick. Nope, didn’t work either. I started on Nyquil before bed and again when I woke at 2 AM unable to breathe. Nyquil works but only for a few hours. I was going through boxes of Kleenex like an alcoholic goes through cheap gin. I dealt with this for 5 weeks, I kept thinking I was getting better, only to feel worse the next day. I ended up going back to the same ENT as the last time. He said it was definitely allergies, probably to mold and mildew. Gee, I live in the jungle, it’s rained for 6 weeks and there is mold on my tshirts and my pocketbook straps. Nothing is sacred here. I bought 2 Damp Rids for the bedroom and in less than 10 days they are filled with water. Dampness is everywhere. Jungle life is not for everyone. The ENT Doc gave me the names of some nasal sprays, I bought 2 of them and some Claritin for about $40.00 and felt better immediately after using the nasal spray. It’s a flipping miracle. I am finally off the Nyquil and sleeping fabulously again.

We were without power for 12 hours one weekend. Our friend had a generator he wanted to sell so we decided to buy it. Bill and Miguel went to pick it up and brought it home to hook it up in the outside bodega. Bill got it all hooked up (by now we were with no power 15 hours, I was going stir crazy, enough that I played Yahtzee alone for a few hours and read a book in a day) and threw the switch. I was sitting on the front porch and the lights came on. Then they went off. I went into the foyer and smelled something electrical burning. I assumed it was just the generator getting started but the smell got stronger. Bill was back in the bodega and Miguel was out front with me. I told him I smelled something and he said lets go look. We came upstairs and the smell was awful, instant headache awful and there was smoke. I knew right away what it was. The surge protector under the island had caught fire.

Burned wood. I realized the following week when I was cleaning the shelves that it burned the lower shelf too.

It also fried our good Belkin surge protector. We don’t know why it did this, it may have been the plug on the generator or something else. It had previously been worked on by an islander and not saying it’s their fault but many times they really don’t know what they are doing but they won’t ever tell you that. We’ve decided against that generator and are going to get one but something smaller. We don’t need one that big, just enough for the fridge, the computers and a few lights.

We did get blessed with an awesome rainbow right after the near fire. The next day Bill bought a fire extinguisher.

All of the dogs are healthy, Gringos tail healed perfectly. They were thrilled when the sun came out and they could swim. I get so much enjoyment watching them have fun in the pool.

Gringo and Barrio in the pool, Highway and Max on the edge, looking for something to bark at.

I have not done very much these past 6 weeks, Carmen and I did some shopping one day. A trip to Mega Paca and then Ace and Eldon’s grocery store. I picked Chuck and Nancy up when they came back to the island and the other day I had lunch with Jeanie and Nancy at Cal’s, he’s finally open! Yummy garlic laden caesar salad, I could eat it every day. Except, my breath, OMG. I could start campfires with it.

I started watching Stranger Things on Netflix a few months ago but kind of forgot about it. I saw all of my friends posting about it so I decided to start over and watch both seasons. I was hooked and totally binge watched it. Shortly after it was over I wanted Eggos, really bad, like craving them. I forgot them when I went to get groceries with Carmen. I asked Bill to get them, he either forgot or thought I was kidding and didn’t get them for me. I finally remembered to get them the next time I went to the store. I stared at the selection and ended up getting the plain ones. When I grabbed the box it felt damp. I knew right then they were going to be crap and they were. Disappointing Eggos, frozen and thawed so many times on their journey to Roatan. There was no softness to it, nor was there a crispness on the outside. It was like eating a cardboard plate with butter and syrup on it. I even tried to thaw them before I toasted them. Cardboard still. How disappointing. I frisbeed them over the bank into the jungle figuring some animal would love them. Next time I’ll try the local brand. UPDATE: I tried the local ones (ShurFine) and they are edible.

This past Friday I wanted to pressure wash. It’s one of my favorite things to do. Bill brought the pressure washer up on the concrete pool deck and I got to work. I love the way it cleans everything. The mold and mildew from all of the rain had turned the deck brown and green. The pressure washer returned it to it’s normal color. It’s just the coolest thing, until you hit you two little toes with it. It took the skin right off, nail polish too. It sort of bled but not a lot. I decided to finish where I was washing, then go dry it and stop the bleeding. I wiped the dirt out of it and went back out and pressure washed some more. Bill was not thrilled that I was doing it in flip flops to begin with nor did he see any intelligence in the fact that after I hurt myself I continued to use it in flip flops. At that point there was no way I could put a shoe on anyhow, my foot was too sore. 2500 PSI can do a number on your skin. I had no idea. I didn’t really clean it out, just rinsed it off in the shower before we went out to eat. I did smear some triple antibiotic cream on it.

That was the night we finally got our $hit together and made it out to dinner with the mid island gang. Thank you Yvonne for not giving up on us. We all met at Cal’s, along with some friends I met awhile ago after a FB friendship. There were 12 of us, it was a gorgeous night and the food was superb, as always. Nice to have a mix of people from our part of the island and a few from a bit further away.

The next day my foot was throbbing so I googled pressure washer injuries and read that if the pressure washer was over 100 PSI (mine was 2500 PSI) to seek medical help. At that point I thought maybe some hydrogen peroxide would be a good idea. That stung like crazy. I then put some antibiotic creme and a bandage on it to keep it clean and started taking cephalexin in case it got infected. Then I talked to a friend who said to soak it in warm water, dry and bandage it, which I did. And another friend who is a nurse said to stop the ceph and only take it if it starts to look infected. I kept it covered for a week and it is fine, still very sore and bruised but not oozing any longer. My biggest issue was the dogs stepping on it, which happened two times before I learned to pick my foot up and stand on one leg while letting them in or out.

Healing, with a piece of dog hair stuck in it

Bill always likes to have Thanksgiving at home so this year I invited Sam and Chelsie Arch and Daniel Johnson and his woman, Steph. Chelsie and Steph went to college together in the states and Sam and Daniel are cousins. I love these 4 so much. Sam’s family has the iguana farm and Daniel has the sloth and monkey hangout. I cooked a big turkey with filling, mashed potatoes and gravy and a variety of other stuff along with desserts. Unfortunately Sam has the flu and couldn’t make it which was really a bummer, he was missed. We had a good meal and stuffed ourselves. I didn’t even have room for dessert.

Bill and Marcos were at our friend Susan’s house doing some work and caught two more baby iguanas. They took them down to Arch’s Iguana farm. We have rescued lot of them this year. There was a big one in the tree, the dogs spotted it. I came in to get my camera but idiot Highway and his barking scared it away.

On Saturday we had other friends over for pizza. Kevin and Claire live close to us and have one of our pups, Tank. We had dinner at their house last so it was our turn. I think we could sit and chat with these two for days on end, especially if there is wine! I had a headache this morning, I rarely drink more than a glass of wine at a time and I had 2 last night. Woke with a pounding headache this morning.

Remember the sign my friends husband made for me that said Warning Mermaids? Well, he made this awesome sign for me too. I’m going to hang them inside because I like them so much and don’t want them to get ruined by the weather. Thank you Gary!!

My messy kitchen. Bill is doing the concrete counters in an acrylic epoxy, hopefully he will get started this week.

Today is a pivotal day for the country of Honduras and for the island. It’s election day. The President of Honduras is a very evil corrupt man. It is against the constitution for him to be running again but he changed the rules so he could. I pray he does not win. The island of Roatan is divided into 2 parts, each with their own mayor. We live in Santos Guardiola and our Mayor is a good man. He really tries his best to help the island, he has done work on schools, roads, many things to help the communities that make up SG. The other end of the island is run by a megalomaniac. He has wasted so much money traveling with his bunch of sheep to various places in the world looking for alternate energy sources. Our power company is owned and run by an extremely wealthy Texan. The idiot mayor from the west end has done everything in his power to harass the power company, instead of being smart and working with them. The mayor lost the election in his party so he has moved to a different party and is running again. He has done nothing for the schools, the roads on his end of the island are deplorable, the garbage is not picked up, the crime is bad and he is doing everything in his measly amount of power to ruin the island for tourism. He can not be re-elected. If the current president wins and the ridiculous excuse for a mayor is re-elected, we will really need to evaluate some things.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, except for missing the boys and our families, ours was great.

Rainy days and rainy nights

10/23/2017 The rains are here. It’s been a dreary gray wet week with lots more rain coming. Maybe a little early for the season to begin but we can’t do anything about that so we’ll enjoy the cooler temps and no humidity, even if it means we have 5 dogs underfoot all day long. I believe the nor’easter that was predicted to arrive has arrived. It’s raining sideways, I can’t see the ocean from any window, it’s just total grey, and wet. Damn wet. However, we wouldn’t live in this gorgeous jungle without the rain, so let it pour. The rain is running in both of the bathroom windows, dripping off the counters onto the floor. Damn idiot window guy screwed up 98% of the windows he installed and screwed up 100% of the screens. Good thing he’s a minister and is honest and stands behind his work. Oh wait, no he doesn’t.

Before I left for Maryland to visit with my family I received an email from the husband of a friend that I used to work with. He said he had made something for me and wanted to send it to me in Roatan. Since mail is not easy to get here I suggested he mail it to my sister and I would get it while there.

Thank you Gary Murphy for the awesome Mermaid sign. I love it. Trying to decide where to put it.

I met another new friend on FB who wanted to bring flip flops down for Nidia and I to distribute. I sent her a letter to help her get through customs (they think she is going to sell them, well, that’s their claim, anyhow). Denna and Sean and Ben came out one afternoon so we could finally meet and she brought me a bag of flip flops. We sat and talked for quite awhile, all the time Ben was entertaining the dogs. They were fascinated with him, perhaps because he was crawling on all 4’s on the pool deck had something to do with their intrigue.

The day before Denna and the family left for the states, she messaged me that she found another bag of flip flops that they brought for us. I told her I would meet her at the airport and get them. Saturday morning I was getting ready to leave and she messaged and said she was at the airport and everyone wanted sandals. I said, run outside. By the time I got there, it was raining and Denna was hanging out with a few airport workers out of the rain. I pulled up, hugged her, threw the sandals and some leftover beach balls in my car and was outta there. Denna also brought me a gift: this fabulous set of wooden bowls. I am in love with them (and I also am very fond of the burlap bag the bowls came in, which means it doesn’t take much to excite me).

Thank you Denna for thinking of me.

And while I’m at it, thanks to my SIL Kathy for the mermaid pillow. I sleep with it, it is my reading in bed go to, never leaves it’s position. Thank you.

In the world of I still hate to cook, we (Bill) got an instant pot. I won’t even turn on the gas oven let alone read a manual for an instant pot. I thought it may satisfy his need to eat syndrome. Ta-da! We have one and I have been pinning recipes, which I print and hand to Bill. I just pinned a hard boiled egg recipe for the IP but it was too confusing. I put them in a pan with water in it, supposed to be until they boil, but I forgot about them and started doing something else, then remembered. Oh shit. Reason # 327 why I ALWAYS need to use a timer. The eggs survived.

One day a few weeks ago Bill calls me with another, guess what call. Who the hell has a guess, this IS Roatan after all. He tells me that “someone” threw 3 puppies out on the road and he picked them up and they were at Miguel’s. A few days later I went down to see the puppies. One white, 2 tan females. Adorable, and covered with fleas and ticks. They all got thorough Dawn blue soap baths, let them dry, rinsed them and combed all the dead and any live fleas out of all of them. I also pulled all the ticks off of them and squashed them until they squirted blood between my fingernails. They need to die. The pups ears were a mess so I cleaned them, need to go do it again. They are so sweet. They are now flea free, are eating dog food with baby cereal supplement. That way they will get some extra vitamins.

Bill carrying them down to the water. A bath down there didn’t work too well. Not with 3 of them. And Bonnie.

My friend Kathy decided she would take one of the puppies, her dogs are getting old so she took the white one. The pup slept with her the first night, I think they’ve bonded. The pups are ready for their second set of shots and I’m re-worming them next week. Hope to find homes, we and friends will pay for the spaying. They MUST be spayed. Puppies anyone?

These are the 2 girls that are still looking for homes.

Miguel finally was able to get our tile grouted on the pergola counter top, one more thing finished. Bill has decided to redo the steps down to the pool, they were done incorrectly the first time, then done incorrectly the second time. I’m hoping the third time’s a charm.

Last Thursday morning Bill came in the bedroom with Gringo and said, we have a problem. Bill is a harbinger of gloom and doom, honest, he is. I was still asleep. He got Gringo up on the bed and pulled his tail away from his butt and there was a sore big as a 50 cent piece. Inside the raw wound was a hole. Not just a little hole but a hole that looked like a groundhog lived in it or something. There isn’t a vet on the island until Wednesday. I was going to take him to the mainland to be seen but decided since he wasn’t sick from this injury that I could wait for Doc. I started him on antibiotics right away and used Vetricyn spray on the wound. We wrapped it during the day and at night took the bandage off and had him wear the cone. I wanted to keep the wound as clean as possible. It was actually looking better after a few days. We asked Miguel to go with us to the vet on Wednesday to translate since Bethany (who usually translates) doesn’t come in until 8, we were there at 6:25 AM. We got him up on the table and Doc examined it, gave him a shot to knock him out and we waited. Finally he was stoned enough for Doc to start working.

Gringo, he was feeling no pain but his eyes were open.

Doc cut some skin from the edges, cleaned out the hole thoroughly, debrided the whole wound and then put stitches inside and outside. Doing this is genius, it’s the way vets in the US do it because it doesn’t allow a pocket of blood to form between the wound and the stitches. Doc said he will be fine, keep him on antibiotics, take the bandage off in 3 days and come back in 2 weeks. We were there for 45 minutes, 30 of those minutes he was tending to Gringo. He gave him a shot to knock him out and one for pain and charged me 750L which is about $31.00. We are so lucky to have a surgeon of his calibre come to the island. When Doc removed Fritos leg, it was the cleanest incision I’ve ever seen. There was never a bump or a red spot on it. The guy knows what he’s doing and his compassion for animals is overwhelming.

When I posted this on FB, people at first thought it was a severed head. OMG, not my boy Gringo. This is the comfy cone that I hate. Don’t buy one. There are so many raw edges at the neck opening that Gringo’s neck was raw. I’m back to using the old cone.

Gringo was still stoned, Lola laid next to him for awhile.

Then Barrio snuggled next to his brother.

While one was with Gringo, the other 3 were in the stairway. They never got far away from him, laying there until the sedative wore off and he was up and around. Strong pack instincts.

Gringo got his bandage off on Saturday, finished his antibiotics yesterday and his tail incision looks fabulous. Unfortunately, he won’t stop chewing at it so he is in the cone most of the time.

On Wednesday afternoon I heard Highway barking like crazy (not unusual since he’s an idiot) so I went out to see why. These boys were outside our fence, they live down in the valley and cut wood nearby. Milton was calling for me, he needed water because David had cut his foot. Bill walked around the fence and carried David to the porch. Bill cleaned the wound and bandaged it. I gave them all sandals and small balls from Denna, underwear from Kelly and Hot Wheel cars from Mike and Liza. After that Bill took them all home. Seriously, kids this young cutting wood in the jungle in their bare feet, it’s life down here. People do what they need to to provide for their families. This is the norm for island life.

left to right, Milton, Lester and David, who cut his foot. Milton and David and Marcos (not pictured) went with me to the children’s day party that Nidia had last month.

We have eaten at Aroma twice in the last few weeks with Trish and Dave, always an enjoyable time with them and the food is delicious. We also had dinner and visited with our friends who have one of our pups, Tank or Tankerdoodles as I called him. Oh how I love all of these dogs that Frito had.

Chance and the family are coming in June, can’t wait for them to visit again! He found some good prices on tickets considering he is coming from Rapid City.

We believe this is a geode but as Trace says, “until you break it open, it’s just a rock.” It was found while building our home.

View from the porch with my ZZ plant on the table. I’m going to need a bigger pot soon, this thing is growing like crazy. Thanks Ann for telling me about them.

The following are some of Trace’s doodles. They can all be purchased here: https://traceplace.pixieset.com/art/

He also has larger pieces available at: https://traceplace.pixieset.com/largerart/

My friend ordered some via the site, said it was very easy and they were delivered in a week. He calls them doodles, I call them amazing art.

At our class reunion I heard the name Carol called but didn’t think much about it, until I realized it was me being called. Carol was the fake name for the article about the Summer of Love. Maybe I’ll dye my hair pink since I can’t seem to get it the color I want it.

This does not look comfortable. I guess if you don’t have a brain, it doesn’t really matter.

We got our furniture back from the upholsterer, it looks fabulous, although it is sitting in the middle of the room covered in sheets. I want to re-arrange the furniture but need to get Bill on board to even attempt it. Once we get it situated I’ll post photos. I took my old curtains down and gave them away. I don’t want curtains, Bill does, he doesn’t have to wash and iron the stupid things. Waldina’s (the upholstery shop) is recovering the throw pillows for the couch and making 2 covers for the ottomans that the dogs lay on. They will be made out of sunbrella (the whole couch is Sunbrella) so they will be cleanable.

Last week Marcos was cutting with the weed whacker and noticed these five babies in the trees. On Saturday he caught one and he and Bill took it to Arch’s Iguana farm.

And this dude with the molting skin on his head. I saw him before in the big papaya by the pool patio.

Love this photo and love my Nikon CoolPix B 500 camera

Kevin and Pam got me this hand towel in California. (They also got me my awesome Mermaid hat.) I doubt I’ll be able to use this towel, I think I’ll have Bill make a stretcher frame for it and I’ll hang it on the wall. Thank you Kevin and Pam. XOXO

It sounds like the rain has stopped for the moment, it may be a good time to take the five dogs out to potty. Bill made some chicken noodle soup in the instant pot tonight. Power is still on, rain has stopped. Could be a good night despite having 5 dogs inside because the porch is totally wet.

By the way, the 26th of October it will be 4 years since we moved here. Four damn years, where did my life go? No regrets. Dinner with a huge group of friends on Friday night, living la vida loca.

Happy freaking rainy season everyone.

Planes, boats and fins

04/30/2017 First of all, I apologize to those of you who received an email yesterday saying that a new blog was published, only to have me take it down. Somehow the post got published and wordpress wouldn’t allow me to get it back to a draft so I had to trash it and do a shabby copy and paste into a new blog. Our internet has been shit so that may account for it.

Saturday afternoon was the first I stopped and relaxed in a solid week. Remember, I’m O L D. Very old. Don’t misunderstand me, I had a blast entertaining Jillian and Justin this past week. Jillian is my great niece (well, Bill’s really, but I claim her as mine) and Justin is her boyfriend. It was Jillian’s second visit and Justin’s first. In fact he had to get a passport to come visit. We’re happy that he made it to Roatan. So are the dogs, especially Lola, she really liked Justin.

I picked them up at the airport on Saturday. I’m a weirdo who loves to go to the airport to pick up friends. I see so many people I know that it’s like a big party, this Saturday was no different.

Once Jill and Justin got through the insane immigration lines, we headed east, stopping at Eldon’s for them to get some food. After getting settled we all retreated to the pool, it has been so flipping hot that being in the water is all you can do.

Sunday we made the routine Mega Paca shopping trip then came home and got ready to go to the Reef House on Oak Ridge Key. We parked the car and went by boat for the short ride there. I was excited to see my dive friend Caroline there, haven’t seen her for months. We spent some time in the water then I got out and wandered around talking to friends. Tim Blanton, who lives on Roatan and is an exceptional photographer was there with his drone. He made a short video of the Oak Ridge area and hovered over the porch where we all were posing. Check it out HERE. Beautiful video of the area.

Monday we went to Daniel Johnson’s Monkey and Sloth Hangout. I didn’t know until Justin and Jill got here that Justin’s favorite animal was the sloth. It was a no brainer that we would go there first. When we got to the farm Preston was waiting to give us one of his exceptional tours.

One of my favorite animals is the Coati. They are a part of the raccoon family. Two of them live here.

The first cage we got to go in was the monkey cage. The white faced Capuchin’s are named after the cast of The Jersey Shore, AKA, Snookie, Vinny, JWow, Pauly D etc. These monkeys are very friendly and love to interact with people.

They were particularly fond of Justin’s curly hair.

They are like kamikaze monkeys. They vanish and then out of nowhere come flying onto your shoulders. They were so much fun.

Next we looked at the spider monkeys but they are not very friendly so guests don’t interact with them.

When we were ready to leave Justin walked over to look at the water again and the monkey grabbed his sunglasses. He finally managed to get them back, all in 1 piece.

Next stop was the parrots, the Red and Green Macaws. These birds are so stunning. There is only 1 green one, Fiona, from Shrek. Her colors are so intense that she doesn’t seem real.

I think the red macaw is named Rose from the Titanic and the other is Fiona.

We saved the best for last, the sloths. These are all 3 toed sloths and are all rescues.

Jillian and Olivia the sloth. The sloth is adorable but Jillian is gorgeous! Love this young lady!

The sloths mostly live in the trees and venture down to the ground once a week to poop and pee. Their only defense is camouflage, they do not use their claws except to climb and grab leaves.

Just an FYI: Daniel does not buy animals, every animal he has is a rescue and they are treated very well.

After we saw all the animals and were getting ready to leave, Daniel arrived. He invited us to go on his maiden snorkel trip on his new snorkel barge later in the week. We said sure, something else fun to look forward to.

We went straight to the Iguana Farm, critters to critters. It was a hot sunny day and there were iguanas all over the place. Jillian and Justin fed them, Jill wasn’t ready to get up close with them though.

This is a black spiny tailed iguana, indigenous to Roatan. This one is molting, shedding it’s skin. Black spiny-tailed iguanas.

This dude just chased another male out of his tree. Sam (Arch) said they are very territorial, especially during mating season.

Look how long the spines are on this guy’s back!

We had a great visit at the iguana farm, especially because we got to see Sam. Sam and Daniel (sloth farm) are 2 amazing young islander men (and cousins) who work very hard and are quite successful. I am blessed to have them as good friends.When we left the iguana farm I called my friend Marcia to see if we could come kayak and snorkel and she said sure. The 3 of us went home, changed, ate and left for Carib Bight and Marcia’s house.

An extra bonus of going to Marcia and Dennis’s home is I get to see one of my puppies, Duke and their other 2 dogs, Shay and the new rottie, Luna. Puppy breath is the best.

Justin, Jillian and I went down to the water and got the kayaks down and set off for the mangroves. It was a little later in the day so there wasn’t much boat traffic. We kayaked all the way through the tunnels and back.

We then tied the kayaks up to the broken down dock and snorkeled out to the reef. For some reason it was extremely murky and stirred up and the visibility was not very good. And, my camera battery died. bummer.

Once I got more puppy kisses we came home, all got showered and went to Cal’s for dinner. We had an excellent meal, as usual. It was a busy day and we were all tired so it was early to bed that night.

The view from Cal’s and my friend Linda’s house.

The next morning we stopped at Jessica’s school to see why she was absent Monday. The teacher said her mother’s lame assed boyfriend kept her home from school because they all overslept. I’d like to lynch him.

From there we drove through Punta Gorda to hand out some of the toys that Liza and Mike brought down for the kids. Once again, it got crazy. The kids were grabbing out of my car, the ones I gave toys to hid them and said they didn’t get any. It became bedlam so I did what I had to do; I closed the trunk and left, no more for them. We passed out a few more along the way, choosing wisely where we stopped.

Jillian wanted to go to La Sirena in Camp Bay, it’s pretty much a must see spot. We all had onion rings and rum punches. My friends Don and Janice were there so we sat near them and chatted for awhile while watching the wind surfers. {side note, I bought a new camera, a Nikon CoolPix B 500 with a 40X zoom lens on it} I am still learning to use the camera and did not have it on the correct setting so these photos aren’t the best.

It must be so amazing to be wind surfing at Camp Bay, it’s one of the more pristine spots on the whole island.

Jillian and Justin at my favorite beach on the moon.

Alligator Nose, just seeing it makes me miss the Duchess of Camp Bay and her husband.

Almost every day when we came home from our activities we jumped in the pool to cool off, rinse off the salt water and visit with the dogs. On Wednesday I thought we could go to The Buccaneer in French Harbor for something different. If I had known they charged $5.00PP entrance fee I would have stayed home in my own pool.

It’s a nice place but it isn’t worth the entrance fee.

They have an area roped off from the sea and pretty much protected from the waves. There are huge decks, swings in and out of the water, hammocks, floats. It’s just not the beach to me.

Floating their hectic career/school lives away

Unicorns, flamingos, swans and penguin floats. I can’t imagine what it looks like with all of them floating around,

Very colorful and somewhat tropical. I liked the ceiling at first but then I didn’t. It’s trying too hard.

I did like the hand painting on the wood deck

I think the painting would have been enough without having fake flowers and dried up leaves on the ceiling.

Not sure where these are going but I liked them.

Jillian was interested in seeing Cattleya school so I made arrangements with Connie to go there after lunch. When we arrived the students were with Kamille learning ASL. Afterwards they split into groups and did various projects.

Cattleya is a school for physically emotionally and mentally handicapped children. It’s an amazing school.

We watched the 3 different teachers conduct their classes and learned what each one was doing. The little girls flip-flops on the floor in the photo are some of the ones I donated to Cattleya, thank you Kelly. I’m still passing them out. I also donated the 3 games that Kelly brought to Cattleya.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in our pool at home. We had big salads for dinner and drank some wine on the roof.

Thursday morning we hung around the house, in and out of the pool, waiting to hear from Stephanie and Daniel. We were going snorkeling with them this afternoon. As soon as they called we went over to the sloth farm. I sat and chatted with Daniel’s Mother until they arrived. Stephanie’s parents were here visiting and they had been touring the mangroves, zip-lining and then going snorkeling. We were fortunate to be invited and very excited to go. Daniel just built a new snorkel barge with The Steelers (as in Pittsburgh) and Big Ben stenciled on the sides. Nice boat with an easy access ladder.

We went out in front of CocoView and snorkeled there. It was beautiful.

Daniel had my camera for a few minutes and snapped a pic of me.

Four eyed butterfly fish, Daniel may have taken this photo.

These are amazing Spaghetti worms (click on the name for a fascinating video on the worms). They are alive and move along the sand getting food to take back to their hole.

This was the biggest Porcupine fish I had ever seen.

They can puff themselves up to 3 times their normal size by drawing water into their abdomens. Once inflated their spines stick out and they are quite long and very sharp. They do this to protect themselves from being eaten by other fish. Then we moved to a different spot to snorkel, looking for lobsters.

Juvenile French Angelfish, Daniel took this

A school of grunts and Daniel took this too

Love to hate, hate to love. The Lion Fish. Beautiful but poisonous if you get stung by them and they are decimating the reef by eating all the small fish. They are the only fish you are allowed to spearfish (with a permit). Kill them all.

A conch slowly trucking along. I swam past him on the way out and on the way back he had barely progressed.

Daniel and Dustin (red shirt) wrestling underwater trying to pull each other’s mask off.

Beautiful day with our heads underwater with friends, can’t beat that.

I dropped Jillian and Justin off at Cal’s at 6 so they could have a nice dinner together, then Bill went down to get them when they were finished. They were done in less than 45 minutes, I thought something was wrong but they said it was all good, he just wasn’t busy.

The next morning we left here at 8:45. We stopped and got Ann then took Jillian and Justin to zip-line at South Shore. Ann and I sat and watched them zipping along under the canopy of trees.

Justin seeing the trees from a different angle

As soon as they were done we went to West Bay Beach, grabbed some chairs at Bananarama and waited in the water for Sean (my friend from Canada) to meet us. Soon as he arrived we walked down to Infinity to snorkel.

I think this is a longspine squirrelfish

I love when I see an opening out into the deeper water. Really feel like a mermaid then.

I was swimming around in the shallows looking at little things and hoping to find this big Parrot fish. I swam around a coral chunk and there he was in all of his magnificent glory. I was lucky enough to be able to swim with him for several minutes, watching him do his thing.

Mr. giant Parrotfish, I was looking for you.

You really can’t tell the size from this photo but this guy was almost as big as my dogs.

He had several fish following him as he gnawed on the coral so he could then poop sand. I know the best facts!

Such a beautiful beach. After snorkeling we ate at Bananarama then floated our cares away.

Ann walked up to a restaurant called Nice and Spicy to get her husband some dinner so we ran Sean over the hill to the place he is staying, then went back and got Ann and took her home. We went inside so I could meet her new kittens and I wanted Jill and Justin to see her place and her view. After that we made the long drive home. As soon as we opened the gate to come in the driveway the power went off.

Wonderfreakingful. Bill was making pizza. He got the dough rolled out and partially cooked on the grill before it got dark. Then we put the stuff on the pizza with the LED’s for the lightsource. It was so windy that Bill had to cover the pizza with another cookie sheet just to carry it out to the grill.

Nothing says romantic better than glaring LED’s. I lit candles several times, only to have them blown out by the wind.

Miraculously, the power came back on just as it was time to eat. We ate and cleaned up the kitchen and all ran to take showers while we had water pressure. Not long after that, the power went out again. It wasn’t only us, it was island wide. Just a 36 mile strand of darkness in the Caribbean. It really wasn’t a big deal because there was a very strong wind blowing through the house, keeping temps cool.

We hung out here the next morning, watching Flightstats to see what was going on with Jillian and Justin’s delayed flight. Once we saw it was airborn we went to the airport and got them checked in. The line for departures was long so I took them for a tour of Coxen Hole, the “downtown” center of the island. We drove all along the waterfront and stopped to take a photo of the new sign by Petro Sun. I dropped them off at the airport with time to spare before their flight. We enjoyed having Jillian and Justin and look forward to them returning.

I started talking to them about diving. I suggested they do the course work at home, then get their certs with my friends @ Blue Island Divers when they get here. I need to get Jillian’s sister to do this also, she will be here the end of June.

It’s been unusually HOT. 90 degrees with 85% humidity. Despite the insane temps the wind has been blowing hard and steady, keeping the air moving and keeping it cool inside. If there were no breeze we would either have to remain in the pool 24/7 or melt. The wonderful wild and crazy wind is blowing so much dust and dirt around that my screens are filthy and everything is covered in an inch of dust. Lola is sneezing and Barrio has goobers in his eyes, I think it’s allergies for both of them. Tomorrow is Max’s last day of meds, keeping my fingers crossed.

I have a busy few weeks coming up. A friend is coming for a few days to sign the papers on the land she is buying, another friend is coming to stay with us for 2 weeks while she sorts things out with her house building project. I am helping at a fundraiser for Cattleya for Mother’s Day and am also helping Nidia with a Mother’s Day luncheon on the 13th. TOMS shoe delivery will start in June, super late start this year due to some customs snafu.

Off to find something to watch on the computer. I hope everyone had a great weekend, it’s kind of quiet around here. Jillian and Justin, maybe you should come back.

Come dive with me

03/28/2017 I am always making new friends on FB and then meeting the people when they finally come to Roatan. Case in point, Rick and Ruth Bailey from Missouri. I met them quite some time ago online and was waiting until they made their next trip down here to meet up. They came to the island before Teri B left. They were staying for a few days on the east end of the island so they came over and spent a day with us in the pool. After sunning and having a few drinks we all went to Cal’s for dinner.

I used to like the Bailey’s a lot but Rick recently bought Ruth a gorgeous blue Mini Cooper with a racing stripe and I’m a little green with envy. The damn pot holes are so big here that Mini would disappear in one of them, never to be seen again. (Nice wheels Ruth) I can somewhat justify me not having one here. Somewhat….

After Teri left I got an email from my goldsmith in Bellingham’s wife. I started going to Fairhaven Gold in 1995, when we moved to Bellingham. Bill, the owner became my most trusted jeweler. In July of last year I lost 2 gold bracelets he made for me while snorkeling down here. My eagle-eyed son Chance found them in the sand under the water. The next day I called Bill to tell him what happened and that the bracelets were being sent to him for repair. That’s when he told me they were coming down, but he didn’t say when. Their daughter was going back to Utila to live for 4 months. She wanted to see Roatan and her dad, Bill wanted to get certified for scuba. He got his certification at Blue Island Divers and his daughter did some diving with them as well. I picked them up one afternoon and took them for a tour of the eastern end of the island. We went through Oak Ridge and Punta Gorda. After stopping for refreshments, we drove east to the Secret Beach and hung out. It was a gorgeous day, we sat listening to the waves and chatting. After that we stopped back here to tell Bill that we were going to Cal’s for lunch. (see a pattern here?) After that I dropped them off in French Harbor and they got a taxi back to Sandy Bay where they were staying. So nice to see Bill and meet Gina and Mackenzie.

Still dealing with Max being sick put a damper on my life. I needed to get in gear and get ready for my upcoming guests.

I met my friend Abe a long time ago, in a galaxy far away, called Bellingham. Abe used to come to the bank (Bank of America, where I worked) with his Father and sometimes his brothers and or sister. I got to know him through there. I was always impressed by Abe’s Father and by the way all the kids behaved. I transferred to a different department temporarily but when I returned to the branch I saw that Abe had recently applied for a job. I called him for an interview but he was working at another bank, he started there a few weeks ago. I offered him more money and less hours. He said OK and came to work for me. His smarts, personality and his demeanor with people was/is outstanding.

I left BoA in 2005 for another bank. Abe left banking soon after to try a new job with Border Patrol. We always kept in touch. Abe decided the Border Patrol was not for him and moved back to Bellingham. At that time, I needed a Personal Banker where I was working as Customer Service manager so he applied. The personnel office contacted me and said he had worked for them before for a short period of time. I said that he didn’t. They then told me when it was and that he quit to work for BoA. I realized it was because I hired him out from under them and now was hiring him back. They agreed to rehire him and he was very successful there as well. I moved on and he stayed there for a while until he decided to move to So. Calif.

Anyhow, the rest is history, Abe and I have always been in contact with each other, he calls me his American mom. His Mom, Maria is a lovely lady and I know his brothers and sister as well as his father. Great people, love them all.

Flash forward to mid Feb when Abe messages me that he needs a vacation and was thinking about coming to see me. I was very excited to say the least. We chatted about it off and on, talked on the phone and at that point I decided to plant the seed about diving. Abe had never snorkeled, let alone gone scuba diving. He asked if his buddy could come visit too and I said sure. They both wanted to get certified for Open Water Scuba diving. I contacted Eric @ Blue Island Divers and he got them all set up.

I picked them up at the airport on Thursday March 16th, we stopped and got groceries and then came here. They put their groceries away and we ran to Cal’s for food, they were starving. Bill didn’t go, he was getting over a stomach bug and food was not his friend.

The next morning I took the guys to Blue Island Divers in Sandy Bay to start their certification. The weather had been crappy and the north shore was pretty choppy. The guys began their first day long certification and I left, ran errands and came home. (30 min. each way) I went back and picked them up at 3:30, 4 PM and we headed home. They were asleep quite early after a long day of studying. The next morning we were up and back at Blue Island Divers for day two of training. I did the same thing, I went home, then went back to get them. One of the days I stopped by my twin’s house to say hello and get sneak peeks of Miss Juanita, Ann’s new cat.

Day 2, the guys did some open water work with Ernesto.

I met another lady on FB, well, actually she found my blog and PM’d me. She had been here once on a cruise ship and was returning on Sat. for another visit. I was unable to pick her up at the airport as I was running with the guys. Kelly brought down 70 yes, SEVENTY pair of Old Navy flip-flops for the island kids. Customs was not going to let her through with the suitcase. I called my friend Karen who was working that day and she went and talked to them. They needed a letter saying they were being donated. Luckily I was able to get the letter the same day and get it sent to the customs lady. All was well in Roatán.

70 pair of Old Navy flip-flops(zorie’s for Jeanie) , a long-sleeved white shirt from LL Bean for Jessica, undies for Osman and Efraim and bathing suits for them too. Kelly also brought the game Trouble, Jenga and a box of Lego’s to build a fire truck. I really wanted to give them to the boys (Osman and Ephraim) but their wretched horrible mother will sell them and the boys will not get to play with them. She’s a miserable woman. I’ve decided to donate the toys to a school, probably Cattleya.

Kelly knows the way to my heart, she brought me a mermaid bag. She also brought each of the dogs a BeneBone. They are Y shaped and the dogs LOVE them.

This little boy is one of many living in the 2 room house in the valley with his grandparents. We gave him school supplies from John and Lizeth awhile ago.

Two more of the boys. They were chopping with machetes in the woods.

Abe and Paul and I were beaching it at West Bay on Sunday so I invited Kelly to come with us. I stopped by Pristine Bay to pick her up and we were off to the beach. It was the only day in the whole week there were no cruise ships in. We sat at Bananarama for the day. The beach was not very crowded but still a good day for people watching. The guys and I walked down the beach to Infinity Bay. We entered the water there and tried to swim out the channel to snorkel but it was so stirred up the visibility was awful. This is what happens when we get winds from the north. Many of the dive boats were on the other side of the island also.

While floating in the water with Kelly we met a lady named Vera, who was holding her dog in her arms while she floated. She was telling us her story, all the time Fido was zen in the moment, not moving a muscle, loving the experience. Turns out Vera and her husband are friends of our friends Stefi and Jurgen who moved back to Germany. It was so nice chatting with her, she even says shit just like Stefi did

We had lunch on the beach, had a few beers and headed home. I took them to see the south-west shore of the island and then drove through Toxic Hole (Coxen Hole) so they could see the “downtown” area.

On Monday we were all going to Mondays Don’t Suck on the beach on the moon. I picked Kelly up, got the guys and we set off first for La Sirena for some lunch. Imagine my disappointment when they said they didn’t have bread crumbs to make the onion rings. I was looking forward to having them for lunch, especially because I didn’t bring anything to eat at the beach..

After we finished at La Sirena we drove down to MDS beach.

Tres amigos, Abe, Paul and Kelly. This was at the start of MDS, they were not as calm and normal at the end of the day.

MDS turned out to be a fabulous day at the beach. The weather was glorious, the waves had settled down and we had the beach to ourselves.

Jeanie AKA The Duchess of Camp Bay, me, Kelly, Paul and Abe

Lowanna wanted shirtless photos of the guys.

Food, drinks, chairs, rafts, towels and people. Really a fabulous day.

Carmen and I wearing our Sargassum Seaweed crowns. We were absolutely the best Sargassum Sirens.

I had not eaten and I drank almost a bottle of wine. By the time the day had ended and I had to drive home I was on another level. Very thankful that the majority of the road home was dirt and empty. It’s a slow going road anyhow, potholes, speed bumps, cows and horses. I did have to drive a few miles on paved road but there was no traffic. I drove to my house and told Bill he had to take Kelly to Pristine Bay. I knew I couldn’t negotiate the cars and traffic in French Harbor. I went inside, got the pounds of sand out of the unmentionable parts, showered and passed out on the couch. Once Paul and Abe each showered, they came upstairs too and we all watched Bill make us pizza for dinner. Well, I sort of watched from the couch but when the pizza was ready, I was starving and ready to inhale several pieces. After we ate and cleaned up, I went to bed and Paul and Abe went down to their bedrooms and crashed too. Tomorrow was the final day of their dive certification.

Amazingly, the three of us made it down to Blue Island Divers again on Tuesday morning. They were doing 3 dives that day and I planned on diving with them their last dive of the day. I dropped them off and came home and laid down for a while. I noticed on FB that it was Ernesto’s birthday (their divemaster) on Tuesday. I stopped and grabbed a birthday cake for him on my way back to the dive shop. I made it back by 1:30 for a 2 PM dive. I chose not to take my camera because I’m still working on getting perfect buoyancy. We had a great dive, only went to 53′ for 49 minutes.

Abe, Ernesto, their divemaster, Paul, Laura and Ismael, also divemasters

Ernesto with his 2 cakes, photo-bombed by Ismael, who is from Chile.

Let them eat cake and drink beer. It was after 5 PM, the rules of the dive shop for the employees consuming anything alcoholic.

Abe and Paul, modeling their newly purchased BID rash guards.

Paul signing his name, OWD certificate is complete.

One last shot of Blue Island Divers, they have such an idyllic spot.

On the way home we stopped at the grocery store and Abe and Paul bought some steaks for dinner. Paul was the chef and along with the meat (I don’t eat meat) he made some delicious fried potatoes too.

On Wednesday morning I picked Kelly up @ Pristine Bay. We came back here and she got to meet the dogs and then we all went to Oak Ridge to meet Carmen and Brett @ BJ’s. They were having us over for the day. The sun was shining, the sea was calm and glistening, a perfect day to be on the south shore.

Carmen had a whole spread of food for us and beer and wine and Bloody Mary’s too. The guys went out snorkeling while we sat and talked. When they returned from snorkeling and dried off, we all got in the boat and went for a tour. We cruised Calabash Bight, then out in the open sea to the mangroves. After we circled around the swimming hole we went to Hole in the Wall. It’s a small bar/restaurant that has been around forever.

Calabash Bight, my friend Kathy lives in the house on the right and the other place will soon be a Pizza Hut. (hah)

Carmen took this because she said I am never in the pics.

The mangroves open up onto this and continue on the other side

First stop, Hole in the Wall. Lobster nachos and cheesy fries

Need a new word? Douchenugget seems to be the word of the day.

This is what you do to your toe when you mysteriously trip getting out of the boat. NOTE: I did not spill OR drop my glass of wine.

Captain Ed, this guy has the bluest eyes I have ever seen. He runs the show there.

Another one, this one was really pretty.

Our day was done. We were dropped off at BJ’s and I drove back to our house. We washed up and went to Cal’s for dinner again.

Kelly, Abe, my friend Reynaldo, the waiter and Paul.

After a fabulous meal we took Kelly home and headed back to our house to feed the hungry dogs awaiting their food.

Thursday was their last day here on the island. We picked Kelly up and went to Arch’s Iguana Farm. The guys enjoyed seeing and feeding the iguanas. Afterwards we walked down to the water and looked around, it’s so beautiful down there. Before we left Abe picked up a few things for his daughter Natalya at the gift shop. We planned to go to the Sloth farm but we ran out of time.

It was a sunny day so there were a lot of them out and about.

Such amazing creatures. I absolutely love them.

After a stop at the gas station for baleadas for breakfast for the guys, I took them all to the airport. They got checked in and were ready to go through security. Kelly had the shortest trip home, Paul the longest, he was going to Seattle. I said good-bye to everyone and made my way home.

It was an eventful and exhausting week but I enjoyed the company of all 3 of them. The guys are already talking about returning and Miss Kelly better get back down here soon too. We really enjoyed Paul and Abe, super nice guys, lots of fun to hang out with.

Bill volunteered to make 2 bed frames for a family a friend was helping. We delivered them on Thursday before we took Max in to the people hospital to get X-Rays for the vet on Saturday.

The adorable little girls and their dog. The frames were for mattresses for these cuties.

There was plywood for the tops of the beds also, just not shown in this pic.

Max got his x-rays Thursday evening, I swear he is the best dog ever. He doesn’t fight us no matter what we do to him.

He went to the vet from Tegus on Saturday morning. He seemed to be feeling better but she did a check-up anyhow. He had a slight temp so we waited 10 minutes and took his temp again, this time it was higher. She did a blood test and after viewing the results said he has Ehrlichia. Before Doc C said he had Ehrlichia on Feb 15th. Then Dr Diana did a SNAP test for Ehrlichia and Heart worm on 2/24, it was negative. She also checked his blood with a microscope and said he did not have Ehrlichia. Then on 2/28 Dr Bueno drew blood from him and had it checked and said no Ehrlichia. Now on 3/25 Dr Diana says he has it. I’m so pissed off and confused, I don’t even know what to think. I hate to keep giving him medicine but I don’t want to stop in case he does have it. No wonder I’m nuts.

Final photos of the day, Abe left a pair of almost new Reef shoes here for Alexi. He was so excited with the shoes and they fit. Alexi would have chopped his toes off so they would fit, especially because they were from Abe.

This is one of Trace’s “doodles.” I think he should make some copies of these and sell them.

The detail is freaking amazing.

It’s a nice day, I’ve been typing all morning and I’m done. The pool is calling my name, sort of like the siren song.

Hasta Manaña Peeps.

The good, the bad and the ugly.

awesome

01/31/2017 When the weather has been crappy for so long and then it gets nice, $hit starts happening and it gets downright exciting here on the rock. We had Francie and Franklin over for Bill’s signature pizza, which he had made the day before while I was running around with Jason and Alex. We sat by the pool and sipped wine for awhile, then went up to the porch to have salads and pizza. As usual, the pizza was the bomb, there were only 2 small pieces left from 2 big pizza’s. Old Kentucky Bourbon chocolates from our Kentucky friends were dessert. Thank you John and Lizeth for the yummies. I am eating the last one right now. And Francie and Franklin, you are missed already. {They took off last week to spend some time on their new ~~boat~~ yacht. They’ll be cruising around wherever they want to for the next year or so.}

I met Jason (IL) at Barefoot Cay on Thursday morning for a tour with my wonderful friend Milesse. Milesse is one of the founding owners of this exquisite small boutique resort on it’s own private cay. We started with a tour of the resort. Having been there many times before, I thought I knew the resort rather well, I didn’t. Milesse pointed out so many things, took us into the rooms, behind the closed doors, laundry, food storage, into the villas and into the condos above the dive shop. I wrongly assumed the places above the dive shop were nice, clean little rooms for divers. So wrong. They are elegant condos overlooking the water that separates the dive shop from the cay. There is nothing plain about any of the rentals. They all emanate subdued elegance.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — From there we went over to the palapa where you can enter the water to snorkel or lay on the hammocks and swing in the breeze.

We walked all around the cay and saw where they will do a few more rentals. They won’t overpopulate or change the atmosphere of the resort, they have a lot of unused land. BFC has become Barefoot Luxury and will seek out new locations in the Caribbean to open dive shops or a new boutique resort or both.

When we were finished with our tour we went to the second level of the restaurant and had watermelon smoothies. They were extremely refreshing! It’s always pleasant spending time with Milesse, getting to do it at the resort is like icing on the cake.

From BFC Jason and I went to French Cay to Arch’s Iguana and Marine Preserve. My friends own the iguana park and I am blessed to have become family with the Arch’s. They are a very cool, well known and respected island family. The Arch family patrols the Marine Park Reserve which is right off of their docks, 24/7. It’s all protected waters with no fishing allowed and people still poach at night, stealing small conch and baby lobsters. It’s a never ending thankless job. People that do this stuff either don’t care or don’t understand that they are ruining the future of these sea critters. Kill the babies and you’ll have no adults. such bad behavior.

Jason and I got to visit with the iguanas, see the babies and let the big guys crawl across our feet.

Just as we were finished looking at the babies, Sam came. He took us out on his boat (that he and his father built) Miss French Cay. We were in the area that he protects, down to Fantasy Island, CocoView and back. It was simply gorgeous on the shimmering sea.

We left there and drove straight to our house. I wanted to show Jason the view from our roof, which is amazeballs. We, along with all 5 dogs, went up there, he took some photos and then we left for the quick drive to Cal’s for lunch.

When we got there I told Carl (owner of Cal’s) who I was with. He actually smiled. If you know Carl, a smile is a big deal. Jason and I had a great meal, I saw some friends there and we also saw Paul, a gringo who Jason interviewed on Tuesday. When we went to pay, Reynaldo said Carl got the bill. Super nice of him, not necessary, but appreciated.

Feeling satiated, we went straight to Daniel Johnson’s Sloth and Monkey Hang-out. Daniel wasn’t there when we got there, they said he was just at lunch. Stephanie (Daniel’s GF) had our name on the sheet and we were given a guide and taken in. It was later in the day so the sloth’s were sleeping in the trees but we could easily see them. Some of the monkeys were running helter skelter on the roof, sounding like rhinoceros. The monkeys all get 2 hours a day out of their cages (in pairs, not all at once). The guide took us in the cages with the huge Macaws. These birds are magnificent. Now, let me say, I’m not a bird person. I used to lock myself in the bathroom when my mother let her damn parakeets out to fly around the kitchen. Here I am in a cage with birds bigger than my head. Just then Daniel came and he stepped into the cage with us. They held a sunflower seed over my head and the freaking bird landed on my head, 2 TIMES. I ask Daniel if it was going to poop on me and he said, you never know. Great, thanks.

Daniel talked to us about his next project which is to make his cages much larger and taller than they currently are and to move a few things around. He has a nice operation and he takes impeccable care of the animals. He is Sam Arch’s cousin, small island.

Jason had another appointment in West End at 3ish and I had volunteered to drive him back to the other end of the island. Once I dropped him off I called my friend Ann and ran up and said hello, she’s my twin, in case you didn’t know that.

On Saturday Jeanie and Roger came here and we all rode together to Trish and Dave’s home in Sandy Bay. Trish and Dave were headed back to Canada the 23rd. We had a nice dinner, enjoying the amazing view. Once it started to get dark, we left for home. I never had the tint removed from my windshield, it’s pretty dark and makes a night drive similar to driving at night with almost dead flashlights. Plus, the Duchess and husband still had to drive to Hell with a View in Camp Bay.

This is part of the mess we came home to. Barrio and Highway were left inside. Aside from the bottle of Black Seed Oil that Barrio chewed up on top of the ottoman, he also destroyed a styrofoam egg carton. This really isn’t a big deal, but I never buy eggs in styrofoam, only in a cardboard flat of 30. I then transfer them to the styrofoam containers because they fit in my fridge so much easier.

Sunday was a day at home. I did go to Mega Paca in the morning but then stayed here all day, we had several workers so I stuck around and made sure things I wanted done were getting done.

The school bells are once again ringing for the island kids, they are on break Nov-Feb. This year Alexi will be going to a different school, one he needs to go to for the Bomberos (fire fighters) that is held every Sunday in Punta Gorda. He needs new school shoes, we are taking some of his pay every week and holding it for him so he has some money to buy things he needs. If he has money, his mother “borrows” it and never repays him, of course. We are going to open a bank account once he gets ID. He has never had any because it requires his mother to actually do something to get it. Jessica, his younger sister is going to go to the English school that Alexi went to the last 2 years. She needs everything for school except undershirts and socks which Julie and Robby brought for her already. Alexi’s brother and nephew both need school clothes also. I don’t know if it’s me and my attitude or what but it pisses me off that Alexi’s lazy assed “mother” will not spend one penny for her kids to go to school. If someone else doesn’t cough up the money, so sad, too bad, they don’t go. This will be Jessica’s first year back to school after not going for a couple years because her mother wouldn’t buy the uniforms and supplies that she needed. In her defense (and believe me, the last thing I would ever do is stick up for the lousiest mother of the year award winner) the uniforms are expensive. We spent $100 USD on 2 pair of dark blue pants, 2 white short sleeved shirts, a pleated skirt for Jessica and a pair of slip on black shoes for her and socks for the boys. We also got them each writing notebooks that they needed. $100.00. A hundred dollars to get kids almost ready for back to school is nothing for people who have a little money but for the majority of people on the island, it is a LOT of money. Now remember, many families have MANY children (hello birth control?) and they can’t afford the uniforms so the kids don’t go to school. In a country with such an overpopulation of children and extreme poverty in the majority of the communities, why the hell do they have to wear uniforms? How does that change their learning capabilities?

We dropped Juliana and the boys off at a seamstress in Politilly. The boys both needed their pants shortened and tucks put into the waist. Hopefully they will get 2 years out of the pants. We didn’t buy them big on purpose, they were the 2 smallest pair they had.

When we were leaving Politilly we had to slow down to go around a motorcycle on the road. When we got right up to it Bill said, “well, look who it is.” It was Alexi’s poor excuse of a mother and her boyfriend who beat Alexi. She probably knew the kids were with us and that we were buying them school clothes but she never even said thank you. We should have knocked them over. Or run them over. I turned my head, I was afraid of what I would say. If she cared at all, just one tiny little speck of care, I wouldn’t feel so upset by her, but she doesn’t. She just does not give one $hit about the kids she brought into this world.

It’s all about the good, the bad and the ugly. I’m trying to make peace with it, I struggle.

Coming into the Holidaze

weird

12/07/2016 It was a dark and pissy 2 months ago yesterday that I fell and hurt my foot and today is also my granddaughter’s 14th birthday, Happy Birthday Alexah!

I am walking but it’s painful, standing, well, forget it. I think my issue is tendinitis but I’m not a Doc so I’m guessing, and being optimistic that there isn’t a fracture. I have not done any diving or snorkeling yet because I enjoy being able to walk and the pain is enough to still be a deterrent to any new aggravation.

Our company arrived on a semi sunny Saturday, Nov 19th. Early that morning we took Gringo to the vets from Tegus who come to Roatan monthly to find out what was going on with his skin. Dr. Diana did a skin scraping and took some blood from him. The skin scraping showed a bacterial infection and I was positive it was fungal. So much for my veterinary degree. After 2 weeks of new meds he is 95% better and we are thrilled with that. We still bathe him often and have decided to keep him on meds for another 2 weeks. Keeping our fingers crossed.

We took Gringo home and I drove back into the airport to pick up Julie and Robby. Unfortunately 3 planes landed at the same time and it took them FOREVER to get through immigration. They were happy to be here and hungry, it was probably a bad choice to take them to the grocery store after they landed.

On Sunday morning Julie came with me to Mega Paca. We stayed as long as I was still able to stand. Afterwards we met Bill and Robby @ GiLei’s for coffee and food. Not that I drink coffee, nor does Julie and Robby isn’t a huge fan, but Bill is a coffee guy and the food we had was excellent, we’ll be back for sure.

The weather kind of sucked the first week Robby and Julie were here. It’s been an incredibly rainy winter so far. There’s been so much rain it killed some of my flowers that are in pots. Obviously I’m not keeping a very good eye on them either.

Monday Robby wanted to help Bill who’s helping out a friend and I have no clue what Julie and I did. It may have been a decent day and we may have laid in the sun.

The sun made an appearance on Tuesday so I took R&J down to BJ’s where they got a boat over to the Reef House to do some diving. They only did 1 dive and were waiting for me when I got there to pick them up. They said the viz was mediocre at best. Tuesday eve we went to Cal’s for dinner, excellent as always.

On Wednesday we all started prepping for Thanksgiving dinner. Julie and I baked, peeled and chopped most of Wednesday, even Robby was cooking. Carmen and Brett and Jeanie and Roger, and my friend and Divemaster Guru Eric all joined Robby and Julie and Bill and I for dinner. We had way too much food. I had enough damn mashed potatoes for everyone in this valley. Really I did. I suck at estimating how much food. I was worried a 22# turkey wouldn’t be enough. HA freaking HA! Eric stuck around and we chatted about diving for awhile. I sent him home with a box of food (his wife and kids are in the states and due to his dive business here, he had to miss out on family time). If you plan to learn to dive on Roatan, I can highly recommend Blue Island Divers. Do your SSI course work in the comfort of your own home and then go see Eric and do your water certification. Diving done right.

I tried to do the dishes that night and partially succeeded. Friday was another day.

It rained like hell off and on Friday, just gloomy as crap. Sam and Chelsie and Daniel and Stephanie were coming for dinner. When they got here it wasn’t raining but it was absolutely pouring when they left. It’s the first Stephanie and Daniel have been around the dogs. She and I were out on the porch and they were all excited and barking. Daniel asked if the dogs all had their teeth. Umm, yes they do. Sam’s family owns the Iguana farm and Daniel owns the sloth sanctuary, and they are cousins, and Sam’s wife and Daniel’s girlfriend have been friends for 10 years, Chelsie got Stephanie to move down to Roatan, they are both teachers at the Nuna Academy. We had a really nice evening with all of them, Robby and Julie enjoyed seeing Sam and Chelsie again and well, we always enjoy them and just love Daniel and Stephanie.

Saturday it was semi sunny so we hung out around the pool. Our other friends from Oregon arrived yesterday so they came down today to say hello. I was hoping to be able to dive with Robby and Julie and Liza and Mike but not this trip. Next one for sure.

Sam Arch was in a Wahoo fishing tournament over the weekend at Barefoot Cay. On Sunday they were having a BBQ and the prizes were being awarded. I wanted Robby and Julie to see Barefoot so we went down there around 2. As luck would have it, Sam won the Grand Prize for the largest Wahoo and the first place prize for the most amount of fish caught, weight wise. Everyone except me ate lunch/dinner there and had a few beers. Beautiful day by the water and really happy that Sam won.

Monday was a gorgeous day and that only means one thing, MONDAYS DON’T SUCK at the best private beach on the moon. (It’s a secret and I get shit if I mention where it is) FED Duchess. We packed up some chairs, some food and some booze, a few rafts and headed to the moon. What an incredible place filled with friends all looking for the same thing, an uncomplicated day, minus all stress and hassles of life spent with good friends on our little island paradise on the moon.

Since the weather was co-operating on Tuesday, I offered to take Robby and Julie to Blue Island Divers for some diving. Eric wasn’t their DM that day because he was flying home the next day so they dove with Cole. Cole is awesome, I dove with him a few times, he’s a fun Dive Master. While they were diving I went to Nadia and got my hair colored then went and hung out with Ann until it was time to pick them up. The plan that day was to have Alexi and his sisters, brother and nephew come over and swim and have lunch. Bill picked them up and we ran in the store on the way home and got what we needed. When we got home the kids were in the front yard playing with Bill and Alexi. They came inside and went out to the pool and before you knew it, the young boys were in their undies and in the pool.

img_20161129_163559 — Juliana and Jessica hanging out the window

Bill made his famous infamous pizza on Wednesday night for dinner, it was yummy as usual. Maybe he should open a pizza joint here.

Thursday I took Julie and Robby back to Blue Island for some more diving. While they were diving I ran and got Gringo more meds then went back and sat at the dive shop and talked to Maria and Elton and the new Dive Master teacher from Greece. When they got done diving we went to the Salty Mango and had lunch, then ran down to see my puppies at Lisa’s house. I haven’t seen Bandit and Sable for several months but they remembered me for sure. Man, I love these puppies.

Robby and Julie and I headed back east after visiting with Lisa and the pups. Little did I know, Julie had chicken and dumplings cooking in the crock pot, nice surprise and another great meal.

On Friday we all went down to the Buccaneer, a place that recently reopened. There are a few small retail shops in there and they are hoping to get more. They said a restaurant and bar will be opening soon, you can have parties there, meetings or go hang out by the water. Bill and Robby had coffee there and they both thought it was excellent and cheap. Me, I don’t give a rip about coffee, now if it had been wine I would have been all over it.

Friday night we went to Cal’s to eat. He was so busy we hurried and got our orders in before the 2 big tables did. When we got home we sat out front and talked and let the dogs play and tire themselves out. Hah, like that ever happens.

Robby and Julie’s flight was scheduled to leave at 1:30 on Saturday but it got delayed, then delayed more and delayed again. I don’t think they actually got out of RTB until close to 3. Since we had so much time to kill we ran to Blue Island Divers so they could buy shirts. Then it was off for a sweets run to Fresh Bakery. I had the banana chocolate chip cake and ohmygosh it was excellent. I decided to take 2 pieces back to Maria and Elton at the dive shop. We then made our way to RTB. The day I was there to pick them up the line for security leaving was all the way through the airport, this day, not so much. I saw Roger and Jeanie, Liza and Mike and a hundred other people I knew while waiting with them. Once they were in the security line and almost through, I left for home. After a quick stoop at the grocery store I came home and jumped on a raft and floated for awhile.

Of course, Sunday morning was Mega Paca day. I meandered through there for what seemed like hours, then ran to Eldon’s to get peanut butter, which I forgot the day before. I was invited by Milesse to Barefoot Cay to meet the new general managers wife Trisha. Milesse served an excellent lunch along with bottomless mimosas. Very nice afternoon and I met some new friends to boot.

I’ve had a quiet week so far, spent most of it hanging with the dogs, floating in the pool and reading. Today we are going to Brett and Carmen’s so Bill can help Brett with some plumbing {ended up unable to reach the pipes to replace the faucets and showerhead without a demo job}. Tomorrow it’s back to Barefoot Cay for a get together for the airport greeters, should be a fun time, I’m going with Cindy and Cathey.

Pretty soon we will be having the Because We Care Christmas parties, there will be at least 4 of them, probably more, depends on how many toys we get donated. Stay tuned for us spreading holiday cheer on this gorgeous rock we call home.

The “after company” let down

13179325_1264685736893509_4469429168352604729_n 06/29/2016 Having company is wonderfully amazing, I really enjoy it, but it’s also a lot of work. I always go out of my way to show my guests a good time, making sure they see the highlights of the island, the must sees and must dos. Sometimes, more often than not, I am successful. I previously had company for almost 3 weeks, then they left, I had a 10 day break and then my youngest son and his friend Maureen came for 10 days. To say I was excited to see him is a bit of an understatement. I stood at the doors to the immigration building on high alert, waiting to catch a glimpse. I told Kevin, an airport employee who was at the door with me, that I was waiting for my son and he kept asking did I see him yet (at least I think that’s what he was saying, my Spanish sucks, as does his English)? I said, when you see tears (pointing to my cheeks) you’ll know it’s him. And yep, I cried when I saw him.

Trace and Maureen had traveled all night to get here, leaving Vancouver, BC, to Calgary, Alberta, spent a good part of the night in the Calgary airport, then Houston to Roatan. It was Trace’s second visit, Maureen’s first. Trace came in Jan 2015 and I think it rained almost every damn day he was here. This visit was the opposite. It was H O T. And H U M I D. Crazy humid.

Our plans were to go to West Bay Beach on Sunday to do some snorkeling and beach it for awhile. We got to the beach around 11 and started snorkeling right away. The first things of interest that I saw were some squid, I think there were 7. They are so cool, they change color if they feel threatened and they do a little “posturing.” Trace and Maureen were not very close to me, the squid were in the sandy shallows, Maureen was putting on her fins and it was just enough of a distraction to ruffle their tail feathers. Just a little bit, they didn’t move so they obviously were not threatened, which is good. I don’t make a habit out of threatening anything, in the sea or on land. Except Scorpions.

In all my years of snorkeling and the years that I dove, I never saw a Scorpion fish, they are so well camouflaged. And isn’t it odd that at my age I can find something like that WITHOUT corrective lens. The mysteries never end.

After we snorkeled we went to Bananarama Beach and Dive Resort and hung out, had lunch there too.

Nights were spent on the roof or the porch. We mostly hung out, ate and talked.

Monday eve there was a Full Moon, Summer Solstice party at Wendy and Andrew’s lovely home situated high on a hillside overlooking the azure North shore in Punta Blanca. There was a large crowd there, nice to visit and chat with everyone. They served Greek chicken and pork souvlaki’s. Excellent. There was a huge variety of other foods there and then Wendy made to TO DIE FOR FLAN CAKE. It was about 24″ in diameter and absolutely perfect. Perfect, not a crumb out of place. I could have laid down on the floor and had someone feed me ALL of that FLAN. You know it must have been good because I rarely speak of food. It doesn’t interest me. We had an excellent meal, hung out until we had to leave to come home and feed the dogs. Yes, I’m the one that leaves the party because my dogs are hungry. It’s their dinnertime. No, they can’t wait.

13497564_1712850708968053_3903169505837287254_o — Wendy and Andrew’s large porch, it’s beautiful. Trace and Maureen in the lower left.

13497894_1712850578968066_8872500600961236865_o — Marilyn and I, photo by Maureen, I believe.

The next day we went to the Iguana Farm and checked out the lizards. There were lizards everywhere. Sam said it’s still mating season so they haven’t stopped fighting over the women. Some looked rather battle weary.

After we left there we went to Little French Key. This is somewhere I stopped going for many reasons but I did want Trace and Maureen to enjoy it. I’ll be going again with Chance and the girls. I was obviously un-enthused since I only took 1 photo while there.

That evening we went to Isery, the closed nightclub that was owned and financed by a big shot with the Sinaloa drug cartel. We planned on just taking pics but the guard gave us the grand tour. And I mean tour, we saw every inch of that place. A freaking mazing.

We were given tickets to opening night, which never happened, shot glasses and maybe a turtle.

13557925_10153921260468533_3583939760860940888_n — a ticket

It was really interesting inside of there, I think this place will end up vandalized to the point that it collapses. Maybe that’s wishful thinking. It’s an eyesore.

One morning Trace, Maureen and I walked out on Oak Ridge Bight, the kids walked to the end and I stopped and chatted with Sandy Byrd. After that we went and found Everald for a Mangrove tour.

13510996_10208331533478186_8770793899883992247_n — Photo by Maureen

13494912_10208331534678216_2254312218354308251_n — Photo by Maureen

13516698_10208331537038275_5462514765063560816_n — Photo by Maureen of our guide Everald.

Wednesday eve we all went to Cal’s for dinner. Haven’t been for a few weeks, although, we stopped earlier that day and I cleaned his cats ears. The view was great, a beautiful night, I am such a slacker lately with photos, I apologize. I think I get burned out.

Friday was BJ’s and the day before my friend Marilyn left the island for 2 months. I had to go to see her before she went to the US. Trace, Maureen and I drove out to Pandytown to see if school was in session, it wasn’t, so we just headed to BJ’s. They had quite a good crowd and as usual, it’s always fun to be there.

13494915_10208363227670521_8174854863671516826_n — Selfie by Maureen, love this photo of the two of them.

That evening Trace and Maureen had Bill drop them at Cal’s for dinner. They ended up getting their food to go because the flies were so bad and they walked home and ate here. There must have been a hatch, they’re not usually very bad.

Sunday was funday at The Reef House resort. We got to BJ’s around 1 and were waiting for a boat to take us over when John and Debbie passed by. They stopped and picked us up and we were off for a day of fun in the water. I was extremely happy because my partner in crime has returned to the island, the Duchess of Camp Bay is back!

Monday was Mondays Don’t Suck but the kids had enough sun and wanted to just hang out here instead of going anywhere. Since it was their last day here, that’s just what we did.

The day guests leave is always a drag. You sit around and wait for the time to take them to the airport. Their flight was at 1 so we got to the airport around 11 and the United line was long, as was the immigration line to leave. Once they were checked in we ran into Coxen Hole to the meat market and got dog meat. Well, meat for the dogs, 3# of heart and liver. That should keep the boys and girl well fed for awhile.

We then took the kids back to the airport and through tears I said good bye. More than anything in the world I hate saying goodbye to my kids. I wish they were here or I was there, I never ever get tired of being with them and miss them so damn much.

We were in Madeyso waiting to buy screws and bolts and stuff when I heard their plane fly over on it’s way back to the USA.

In 2 weeks Chance and his family will be here, I am so excited for that. We can’t wait to see the girls. It will be their first island visit, hopefully the first of many!

I’ll leave with a few pics of the water dogs. Oh my gosh, they LOVE the pool.

I’ll leave you with this post I found on VRBO about a house that is for rent here on the island. Seriously? You post this on VRBO? Obviously this homeowner has a serious issue with prostitutes. My question is: How do they determine if someone is a prostitute? Medical exam before you can rent? Police record? I died laughing a few times over this. What if their grandmother WAS a prostitute but stopped hooking, is she allowed to stay there?

Only guests disclosed to us are eligible to stay on the property. If the property is already at the maximum, the guests will be asked to leave by security no exceptions. If the property is not at its maximum, and “additional” guests arrive, the per guest fee changes from $55 to $100/per night per guest. Prostitutes are not allowed to be at the property at any time. No exceptions.

I’ll be back soon, I’ve got more to say about something very ugly.

Bolivia invades Roatan

friends 06/10/2016 As I stated in my last post, Olivia (Bolivia to us) arrived on Roa on 5/29. It was not her first time here, it was visit #4. She and I came in 2010 and then she, Teri, Bill and I came in 2011 & 2012. However, it’s been awhile since she has been here. Teri has been here twice since the last time O was so she has seen much more of the island. This time I wanted to make sure Olivia got the grand tour, especially now that I am no longer an island virgin, so to speak.

The day Teri left Olivia and I ran some errands, then stopped at Mega Paca (of course we did) and got some groceries at Eldon’s. Once home we went down to John’s pool to cool off. Gee, I wish I had a POOL.

Wednesday morning we were headed to Barefoot Cay for the day. On the way we stopped at Arch’s Iguana Farm so Olivia could meet my pet dinosaurs. They aren’t actually pets but if you have a big leaf in your hand to feed them, they will follow you anywhere. Preston gave O and I each a leaf, she held it down to the iguanas but when they got close she dropped it and backed up. That was close enough for her. I finally overcame my fear and loathing of them crawling all over my bare feet and just let them have at it. At one point there were two laying on my feet, if felt weird because their bellies were so warm from laying on the concrete sidewalks. I did it though, Gail will be proud of me because she teases me that I have been there so many times, I should be used to the iguanas crawling on me. Is that something people normally get used to??

image1 (1) — Lizard lady in my new Mermaid on Duty top that Olivia brought me.

Taking my pet iguana for a walk (thanks Olivia for the pics)

After the iguana farm we went to Barefoot Cay, a perfectly gorgeous boutique resort that my sweet friend owns. This resort is the ultimate in luxury, every detail has been thought out and planned for. To get to the resort you have to take a barge across a small waterway to the exclusively private and stunningly decorated cay.