Tag: Retired in the Caribbean

Back to blogging

Dec 2, 2018 Long time, no type. I’ve been so bored with my lack of a life that I had no words to put on a blog. To say I’ve been home all the time is not an exaggeration. I have been out to eat a few times but that’s it. I’ve been to the grocery store once in 2 months. That itself speaks volumes.

As I sit here on a Saturday afternoon, staring out at the water, some words slipped in to my head so here I am.

Quick update: my foot is still swollen, I was in a cast for 3 weeks, supposed to take it easy for a week and then be good to go. Nope, was no better. I went to an orthopedic Doc from the US (he lives here), he said Celebrex for 2 weeks, no improvement. I plan to go see a specialist on the mainland as soon as I can get in. Enough of this crap, it pisses me off big time. It will be 3 months Dec. 6th.

I have been spending a lot of time by the pool or in bed, resting the foot, so I’ve been reading. I read a book based on a true story called The Radium Girls. It’s unbelievable because it’s true. I just finished Flowers for Algernon and am starting one called Magnolia about Chip and Joanna Gaines. I’ve also been binge watching House Hunters International, Fixer Upper and Caribbean Life, along with my favorite TV show, Modern Family. Although my TV watching is always in the evening, unless it’s raining. Of course, when it rains our internet has not been working so I couldn’t watch anything. The internet company has been here 4 times in one month because we have been without internet for 24 hours each time. So ridiculous. I know, first world problems but dammit, WIFI is not too much to ask for is it? The internet provider blames it on the electric company but I can’t complain about the electric company, they’re not that bad. We’re on an island, I’m amazed we even have electricity.

We finally got the house painted. The old paint is the dull green on the left. It’s now fresh and bright green and I love it. The guys who painted it did a really nice job.
You can see the rain falling out of the sky.

A few weeks ago the power went out at 8:30 PM or so, I went to the window and looked out to see if the colonia below us was out. It was dark down there but there was a huge ball of red further east. It was a BIG fire. I posted on Roatan 911 that there were big flames coming from Politilly, several others had posted also. Bill walked into the bedroom when the power went out and we just stood there and watched the flames grow until there was a red trail floating skyward. It was awful watching it. We were told the fire may have been intentionally set by a woman mad at her daughter. Regardless of the reason, 3 houses were destroyed 2 more severely damaged. Many people are homeless. They will rebuild the homes ASAP.

The dogs are a lot of company as they follow me everywhere I go and beg for any speck of food I put in my mouth. Highway has been spending most of the time downstairs if Bill is out of the house. I get too exhausted telling him to be quiet all day long. He’s a whiner and a yapper and he is an instigator. With him downstairs it’s really quiet up here. When he gets all wound up he sounds like the 3 Stooges making their weird noises all at the same time. He does this over emergencies (a watusa or an armadillo in the yard) that do not warrant that reaction. In a nano second I have 5 hysterical dogs. Downstairs for the win.

This duo of Armadillos was moved to an area far away from us.
They allow me a small space to sleep. I’ll never own nice bedding again. They so own me.
Barrio is my Zen dog. He gets out of the pool and STOPS. He just stands still for 10-15 seconds, sometimes his eyes go closed. He totally experiences the feeling of the water running off of his body, he digs it. Lola, in the background, HATES the pool with a PASSION. To her it’s a large water bowl.
Cone head again. He seems to have grown what looks like a second butt hole. No clue what it is, not exactly like Gringo’s tail hole. Island dogs…He’s been on meds, it looks much better. Let me say, I don’t look, that’s Bill’s job. We took his cone off today, keeping an eye on Barrio. He seems to have a Highway butt fetish. Dogs are really gross.
They were looking for turkeys. I especially like their reflections in the pool.
Bill was slamming doors the morning I took this. There were dogs running and jumping on the bed. I was all, WTH is going on, it’s not time for me to get up, but I did, mainly to find out what was going on. Bill wanted to take a shower and the RATS/ mice? had once again chewed the hot water heater wires. Bastards. They have invaded my car again too and there is no food in my car at all. They are eating the rug floor mats in my car.

Click HERE for a video about the Founder of TOMS shoes, he was on Jimmy Fallon. It’s quite a powerful video considering gun violence is on the rise. Please watch the video.

I signed on to FB the other morning and there was a post from my friend Julie in Alabama. Julie and her husband and kids have been to the island, stayed here a few times and I know the kids too. Julie’s Mom had her two daughters at the mall shopping holiday sales. They were walking in the mall when a fight broke out between 2 boys. One had a gun and started shooting, a bullet struck my friends daughter Molly in the back. Thankfully, she is physically OK, no major damage, just that she will have a bullet in her back forever. I hope that she and her sister (and grandmother) can recover from this horrific accident emotionally. The fact that you can’t be in the mall, doing yoga, at a dance or a concert and be safe says a lot about the state of the US. Something needs to be done about these crazy shootings. Sign the TOMS petition, easy and free and doing something is better than doing nothing.

My friend the Duchess has owned a home on the island for a long time, she spends 3 months here, then back to the states, then here again, several times a year. She’s seen a lot of stuff happen, to her and to others that are illegal in most normal places. In the past year there have been several home robberies. They have the kid on video, everyone knows who it is but nobody does anything about it. The main criminal has kids under 18 do the dirty work because there is no prosecution whatsoever if you are under 18. These kids are getting brazen and out of control. The communities got together to discuss what could be done to stop the thieves. The Duchess was sitting at the meeting with another friend, a male, who has also been here a long time. Said male is very happily married and has been for years. As they sat awaiting things to get going a young girl who is related to one of the thieves was being very boisterous. She told our male friend that she was available. He tried his best to respond with a serious face. She then noticed his wedding ring and she said, “Oh, you married?” He shook his head and said “Yes I am.” Always a gentleman. She responded by saying, “I don’t care, I’m still available.” I would have been on the floor in hysterics. As the meeting began and people were discussing the issues at hand this girl continued to yell and talk loudly, totally disrupting the whole meeting. People had enough of her and threw her out and locked the doors of the school they were in. She continued to bang on the windows, cursing and screaming so loudly that the meeting became worthless. She then managed to find a way in and came at the group leader with a pen in her hand, held like a dagger. The woman speaking saw her coming and grabbed a desk and smashed it into her. At that point people got up and started to leave, not much was sorted out at all. You can’t make this shit up. As the island turns.

We had a nice Thanksgiving with friends at the Pineapple Grill. Yvonne, who I met Christmas eve, 2013, got a group of 20 people together. Big mistake for me was they had a huge salad bar and I adore salad bars, so when the heaping plateful of food came I could eat about 1/3 of it. It was delicious and fun getting out and seeing people. Not fun having to walk to get in there though, in all reality, Bill should have carried me.

Someone in the colonia below us is setting off firecrackers. I have no clue why as Nov. 24th signifies nothing as a holiday for the islanders. Maybe they are practicing for Christmas. Nothing goes better with baby Jesus than firecrackers?? {I see no correlation whatsoever.} Barrio has decided he does not like the sound of firecrackers so he follows me around like he’s attached to my ankles. He’s laying on my feet under my desk as I type. Bigger firecrackers going off now. And I guess I missed the fireworks at the beach below us. I also missed the wedding (which I was invited to) that was held there and that was the reason for the fireworks, totally forgot about it.

My shadow

My eye was bothering me the other morning and it looked a little red so I went to the doggie meds drawer and found an unopened bottle of Tobramycin eye drops. Nothing like diagnosing yourself. Hope the drops make whatever it is go away. THEN, I was out by the pool reading and got stung by a horsefly type creature. They are triangle shaped and they really hurt if they get you. The dogs chase them and try to eat them so I chase the dogs and don’t let them eat them. I killed several that landed on me and didn’t get stung but this one got me good. He’s dead now. I called Bill and asked him to stop and get me wine because my eye was infected and a bee stung me. Seemed like a logical reason to need wine. Two bottles. One for my eye and one for my knee.

I am the admin on a few FB pages for Roatan and it’s become a joke with my band of friends on the island (guys) to say, Just Ask Debbie. Not only did they make a Google page for me, nice isn’t it??

They also did this. Never a dull moment here, sometimes I feel like a referee.

Remember Alexi, the young boy we have helped? He was in the Bomberos (fire department) for 2 years but they were not paying him so he is working for Bulldog Security. Happy he has a good job, not many young men do. I’m sure Bill’s influence on him has a lot to do with his success. Alexi has a sister Juliana and she has a son, Osman, a sister Jessica and a brother Ephrain. Ephrain has become Bill’s sidekick. Ephrain is not allowed to go to the school 2 minutes from his home because the teachers hate his mother and claim he is white. He’s not. Therefore, he has to take a taxi to school that is 15 min away. Most of the time his family is to meet him to ride home but they never do, they depend on Bill to pick him up. Actually, Ephrain is flunking because he misses so much school, they are too lazy to get him up to go. The other day Jessica sent Bill a photo of Osman and said he was sick. The one side of his face is all swollen. Bill told her he needed to go to a Doctor and she said Juliana won’t take him, she doesn’t care. Bill went and got him and picked up half the damn family for the joy ride to the clinic. They saw him then we took him back again to see the pediatrician. They said it is not a dental issue, it’s in his cheek. We went to their home yesterday to check on him and it’s not any better. I contacted my friend Miss Peggy who runs Clinic Esperanza. They have a very good pediatrician there so Bill took him this morning. Peggy had notified the clinic that we were coming and Osman got immediate attention when they got there. We are still waiting to find out what is going on with him. I just don’t get it. I take better care of my dogs than some people do of their children. Juliana is afraid she may have to spend $$ on Osman and she will not do that, probably because she knows that we will take care of him.

UPDATE on Osman. Bill went to get him this morning and his Mother wanted to go because she wanted to do something fun, she didn’t care about Osman. Bill told her NO. She said he was mean. It’s a good thing I wasn’t there, I would have defined mean for her, a mother who cares nothing for her children is mean. Anyhow, Osman had blood work done and something is going on. The doctor said it is a mass in his cheek so tomorrow back to Vessels of Mercy to get an ultrasound. Poor kid.

This is Osman, notice his left cheek.
Ephrain, Alexi’s younger brother
Bill and his buddy.
Jefferson, he and his family just moved in with Ephrain’s family.
A new construction on the way down to Miguel’s.
Doggie working on a sun tan.
This is the property that Bill is overseeing the development of, our friend Miguel is the watchie and head of the construction crew.
Two big docks
This is so gorgeous.
These guys are making charcoal. They build a metal shed and set the wood on fire, any kind works. Then they cover it with wet leaves and let it smolder until it’s charcoal. Back breaking work for sure.

I have a cleaning girl here. She started in the bathroom at 8:15, she was still in there at 10:30 and she brought me a handful of expired medicines. OMG. I want her to move in and never leave. I’ll be afraid to even walk in there it’s so clean. She’s going to be a regular here, I might even see if she’ll move in. She came back the second day and worked another 8 hours in the living room and downstairs. This girl has a permanent job!

It’s Sunday, I have a trip to Tegus early tomorrow to see a doc about my foot. Second time to the land of plenty murders and to land on one of the 10 most dangerous runways in the world. I do have more things to share but I will save them because it’s taken me about 2 weeks to get this together. I promise, it won’t be another month until I blog again. Stay tuned.

Three years of destruction and mayhem

04/14/2018 My boys are 3 today. Barrio, Gringo, Max, and their siblings, Tank, Duke, Bandit and sweet Sable (the only girl) have been blessing us humans for 3 years. Tax day puppies! Thank you Frito for the best gifts ever! Three years of three boys, teething, destroying beds, toys, chairs, shedding 497 kazillion pounds of dog hair (including Lola and Highway) eating 3 bags of Kirkland a month, pooping all over the yard multiple times a day. Killing everything that crosses their path, luckily no iguanas have been harmed, I can’t say the same about Anoles or geckos. In their (the dogs) defense, I don’t think they mean to kill them. They catch them and in the process hurt them then spit them out because they taste like crap. No matter what these boys do, even through the bad times like when they fight, they are loved. My favorite dogs ever and I have had dogs since I could walk. That’s a long freaking time ago. I don’t remember a time in my life without a pet.

Three years ago today, 2 were born at the vets, one was born in my car on the way home. Another as soon as I got the crate out of the car. Then she had 2 more and acted hungry. I fed her and she proceeded to have # 7. Healthy beautiful pups. At that point I had 11 dogs.

We have been busy, boring and busy some more. It’s all good. In the past few weeks we have met some wonderful people and look forward to growing our friendships with them. Meeting people is my thing anyhow, I love it. Always have. I used to be shy but I doubt anyone would use that word when talking about me now. The times they have changed.

Nidia and I are hoping the TOM’s shoes come in soon, we want to get them passed out. I just spoke with the principal at Froylan Turcios school, the one Bill’s been working on the toilets and sinks. They are all now functioning. We are trying to find a source of water to run a pressure washer to clean the roof of the bathroom, then Bill and the guys will paint the roof with something to stop the leaks, we already have it, just waiting to get it clean. One of my fabulous friends from high school is sending me $25.00 a month to help feed a needy family. Marlon, the principal and I are going to talk about this next week. I don’t want to do the same family every month, I would like to switch it up a bit. More to come with photos soon.

Before of the school bathrooms
After the new paint, looks so much nicer.

We were having Kevin and Claire over for dinner one night before they left the island. I made the “Natasha” special rum cake and had just injected the rum into it. I pushed it away from the edge of the counter, then realized it was dripping syrup all over. After I wiped the plate clean I failed to shove it to the back of the counter and Barrio took full advantage of that. Little sneak, he was gobbling like he hadn’t eaten in years when Bill caught him in the act.

The worst part is, we cut the dog eaten parts off the cake so guests would not have to eat it.  We ended up eating the chewed gnawed on cake ourselves, what’s a little dog slobber in your life?

With Kevin and Claire leaving the island they had to find homes for their 4 dogs. Since Tank was one of Frito’s pups I said I would find a home for him. I wanted him so badly but knew that 4 brothers in the house was not a good idea.

Bill and I took Tank down to the beach where Miguel lives to see if he may be a good fit with Bonnie and Bella. After seeing how many ticks Miguel’s dogs had on them, I decided against that as an option for Tank.
He’s such a handsome boy. He looks like Barrio but has no white on him at all. He remembers Bill and I and is so excited to see us. I find it amazing that I was able to imprint on these dogs when they were puppies and they all remember me. Island dogs rock, well, all dogs rock.

I finally found a home for him on the beach in an amazing location with my friends G and Robert. They had tied him out one day and they went golfing. He had never been tied so he chewed through the rope and ran away. When I found out he was gone I said, “we’re on our way.” I was frantic, wondering where Tank was, if he was hurt, caught in barbed wire, I was a nervous wreck. Bill and I drove around for 90 minutes looking for him, no sign of him at all. We came home depressed and just sick to our stomachs. Twenty minutes after we got home G messaged me that he was back. Relief filled my heart. Now he has figured out that he needs to stay home. They went golfing and left him home. He was on the porch sleeping when they returned. I think he will really bond with G because she runs 3 miles every morning and she takes him with her, he loves it. I’m so happy he has a good home.

My sister Missy had Easter at her house. Mom and Dad, my brother PJ and his daughter and my handsome nephew Eric and his wife Sofie were there. I wish we could have been there too! The main downfall of living on an island is missing family.

Missy and my 97 year old dad coloring eggs. Missy is so good to them, it makes me feel really bad that I’m not there to help more.
Eric, Sofie, Mom, Dad, Missy, PJ and Devon. Love them all!

Bill went out to the outside bodega to get something and saw a head peeking out from under the door. When he opened the door, he was greeted by Miss Boa. As soon as he saw her he called me and told me. I was inside the house and had not one speck of desire to go look at the snake. I said, “take pics.”

She was big and strong, he tried to grab her with the snake tongs but she was too strong for them so he shooed her out the door.
She made her way back to the jungle. She could come back and live here if she started eating the dog poop. It could be a win win for both of us, except snakes don’t eat dog poop.

My friend Ryan has been coming to Roatan for years with the Live Again Ministry. They do so much for the island, painting schools, feeding the hungry, they bring clothes and shoes and toys, school supplies, things for the teachers, supply water filters for the areas that have no safe drinking water and provide the funds for the always highly anticipated East End Senior Luncheon. They are really an amazing group of people, led by Pastor Ronny. I love them all and appreciate their love for the island. Talk about giving from the heart. Ryan had never been snorkeling so it was my mission to take him this trip. I called my friends at the Sloth farm and they said come on down. Dustin took us out on the barge in the marine park protected area to snorkel. It was a really windy day and the waves were high and the current was strong. We decided to go for it, despite the less than ideal conditions for a first time snorkeler

As soon as I stuck my head underwater I saw this sea biscuit.
Intermediate French Angelfish
Anemone
Southern sting ray
Another shot of it. We saw so many that day.
Another sea biscuit

I was trying to get a photo of Ryan snorkeling but there was so much sargassum floating in the water that every time I took a shot, it had floated in front of my camera. Then my battery died. It was still a great day in the water and I’m hoping to take Ryan and his sister Susan snorkeling on their next trip here.

We were driving past the grocery store the other day and saw this dude crashed on the sidewalk of the bank.

A little too much party?

A few hours later we drove by again and he was laying flat out.

He was gone the next day.

Cal’s Cantina was our dinner spot two nights this week, once with Denise and Michael and again with Julie and Brian. I really could eat there nightly.

We met some new friends from the UK. They live in Politilly. Like us, they are dog lovers and have 2 rescues at their home here and dogs at their permanent home in England. They came over to our house the other day to meet our pack. Highway fell in love with Mandy and kissed her to death. She said they had cut flowers for me but forgot them. We hung out by the pool and watched the dogs swim, had some snacks and chatted. After they left, they went home, got the flowers and brought them back to me. They are beautiful!

Bouganvillea, Lobster claw, red ginger and shell ginger.

This is the view from another friends home on the south shore, beautiful place right on the iron shore. Great pool to sit in with cocktails and watch the sun set and the stars twinkle.

This is Far Tortuga and it is for rent, if you’re interested, let me know.

My laptop died in the middle of this post. I was sure I lost my blog post but was actually amazed when I finally got my laptop up and running again, I hadn’t lost anything. Save draft needs to be imbedded into my brain, you would think by now I would have that figured out.

Tonight is the last Brion James beach concert before he goes on tour for 9 months. Planning to feed the dogs and head down there around 5. Hopefully I’ll get my life together soon and be able to get a few more blogs out. Thanks for following!

 

 

Moving along on Island time

03/14/2018 Just saying, we do NOT change our clocks here in Honduras. We are on perpetual Island Time and most of the time, that is a good thing. Except when you’re trying to get something accomplished. I thought the limit of bad things was 3? We’re on #4.

It seems Bill and I are playing tag with our cars being at the mechanics. I was without a car for a few days, then he was without a truck. He got his truck back and it still is not fixed, it’s going back to the mechanic today. It’s always something.

Bill decided to add another filter to our water filtration system, he bought all the parts, laid them out so he knew exactly what he was doing, got it all hooked up and the UV bulb wasn’t working.  He went to the place where he bought the new UV bulb and told them it was flickering again. They said he must have moisture in the glass tube that it is in and that will burn out the bulb. Bill called the manufacturer and they said no, that will not burn out the bulb, they even laughed and said more than likely a part was bad. Bill figured out which part was bad and went back to the store to get it, $350.00. It’s $137.00 online. So we ordered it.

Our hot water heater stopped turning on automatically. Now you have to go turn the hot water on in the shower, then go outside and flip the switch, go shower, then go turn it off. The guy came and fixed it, worked for 2 days, doesn’t work any more. He’s coming back tomorrow.

And the pool, oh the pool!

The poor dogs are so confused, there was water in it one day, the next day it’s empty.

The idiot who installed our pool did not properly back fill it, causing little bubbles and then the coating would chip off and you could see the fiberglass. This happened in several places. We decided to wait a year and see how many more we got. Ends up we waited 2 years until we contacted the company. They sent a young guy by the name of Dylan out here. Turns out he’s related to Sam Arch (iguana farm) and good friends with Daniel from the sloth and monkey hangout. Dylan has been a blessing, he knows what he is doing and is meticulous with his work.

Holes in the process of being fixed
Before the white gel coat is applied. After he was done you couldn’t even see where he had fixed it.

We also found out that the deep end was not properly back-filled however the factory said if we haven’t had any issues in 2 years, it would be fine. The steps were another issue. The factory repair guy was going to come over here and stay and fix the pool. He would need a place to sleep and he spoke no English. Bill said he could stay downstairs and I said OH NO HE CAN’T. First of all there are the dog issues, Bill is gone most of the day usually and who is going to feed this guy? There are no baleada stands in walking distance. Reminds me of when Bill said the workers from Asia were going to move into the 3 spare bedrooms in our house in Everson and again I said OH NO THEY’RE NOT. Not a fan of having non English speaking people sharing my living space. Life is difficult as it is. Now if it were 20 Honduran kids, that’s different, maybe, for a night or two. Or 50 dogs..

The guy from the pool company suggested we remove the blocks from behind the steps and try to pack dirt in underneath them. So we did. We had poor Devon come out and chip the covering off then use a hammer drill to bust the blocks out. It was an awful job to do.

This photo was taken after we broke the block out and now have to put blocks in and cement over it. Seriously?? The little room is access to our filter for the pool. I apologize, my cell camera sucks.

Once it was done, we found out we didn’t really have to do that. We could have (and did) drill holes in the steps and fill them with concrete. Then Dylan will fill them all in, re glaze all the fixed areas and we’ll be calling Brown’s (yes, that’s the name of the water company) to fill the pool. The dogs will be so happy.

HOLES. He drilled HOLES in the steps. Then he meticulously filled the holes with cement. Once it is set we will fill the remainder with fiberglass resin to fill in all the nooks and crannies. This is all providing the guy fixing the pool agrees with that theory.

The guy doing the work is also a tour gide on cruise ship days so he is a very busy person. We appreciate his help a lot!!

The east end (more mid island) got lucky again. Brion James and The West End Players returned to Beach Club Roatan, just down the street from our house. Needless to say, I HAD TO BE THERE. I had so much fun that evening, I think I danced to 96% of the songs he played. My feet were sore the next morning because I was dancing in my bare feet. We danced like nobody was watching. It really is the best way to dance. Most all of our friends were there too, making it a rocking good time. It was over at 8 pm, we’re all old.

Sunset at the concert
Brion James. He’s a freaking legend…

Brion is going on a world tour again with the Dan Reed Network in April and will be playing his last show back at the beach club by us. You know where I’ll be that night. When he plays Purple Rain, I turn to jelly.

I was fortunate enough to be asked to join Nidia and some friends of Pastor Ronny (Live Again Ministries). Pastor Ronny is the real deal, his life is lived via his heart, he’s a very special man, to many many people. He was being joined by the Jensen and Riddle families. The Jensen’s had their 3 amazing children with them. It really makes you step back in amazement when you see these kids so confidently walk into a classroom and start saying hello to all the students.

The amazing young girl in pink is Lela Jensen. she came with her brother and sister, parents and grandparents to do missionary work on Roatan. I did NOT take this photo. It was taken by Lela’s mother Tamson. I think this photo speaks volumes about the type of young woman Lela will be. Pretty amazing kids, all 3 of them.
Luke carrying supplies for the school from the boat. The little dory was laden down with a box of dictionaries, boxes of school things, sandals and notebooks+ 10 people. It was NOT stable. We went from Clifford’s dock to Calabash Bight Key and then back to Pandytown.
Such a beautiful little boy
This little cutie, I have many photos of him, this was my favorite. He liked his new sandals.
This is inside one of the 2 classrooms at Pandytown. The rooms are very dark, warm and not conducive to learning.
These doors are a mystery to me. What is the weird shaped one for anyhow??
The teeny tiny Dory, however returning, the load was considerably lighter. Nidia and Lela with the boat captain.

It’s so enjoyable to give to the kids and the teachers. There is no government funding of the schools, sad but true. The majority of them are in a state of disrepair.

The other morning Bill went out on the back porch and said through the window that there was a vulture on the fence post. I thought it would be a cool shot so I grabbed my camera and stepped out on the porch. As soon as I did, this guy spread his wings in a display of finery I’ve not seen elsewhere. I took almost 20 shots of him.
This was taken the night before the beach concert, full moons are pretty amazing here due to the lack of ambient light.
On FB the other day I was tagged in a photo from a friend in my home town, Dolli. Another girl I know but am not FB friends with posted this photo. It is an old permanent wave machine for the hair. The girl who posted was selling them and she said there were two. Another friend asked where it was found and soon people were putting two and two together and realizing they were in the basement of the beauty salon my Father owned for many years. My sister asked Dad but he didn’t remember them at all. She asked Mom and Mom said no, never saw them. Yet, when I spoke to Mom on the phone she remembered them, she said there were 2, described them to me and said when they used them the hair stylists had to really watch because these suckers could burn your hair. Pretty wild stuff.

Mom now says Dad doesn’t have any memory issues (he’s 97), he is just choosing what he wants to talk about. Not sure where that came from but I’ll go with it for awhile.

My little coconut opener managed to sneak one up on the back porch. That is a no no because of the mess, it’s bad enough in the yard. Max is waiting for the bonus, fresh coconut.
My friend David sent this photo to me. I want to let my hair grow and do it. It’s the best!!
I bathed the boys on Friday and took them to the beach on Saturday. Then gave them baths again when they came home. Total glutton for punishment. Barrio, Max and Gringo (l-r)
Max is still having health problems. I just sent some test results to a friend who is a vet in AZ and we are going to get another x-ray on Thursday and I see the vet from Tegus on Friday. I noticed at the beach he was unable to keep up to his brothers, something is still wrong. This has been going on for a year. He’s had so many tests and nothing conclusive. The one doc in Ceiba said kidney stones but I think he was totally ripping me off.
Gringo and Barrio. Their fur is completely different from Max’s, his is like a wolf’s. He must have had a different baby daddy than the other 6.
These three listen so well, total opposite of Highway. They are really amazing dogs. Gringo, Barrio and Max, always bringing up the rear.
This is Miguel’s (in the background) oldest daughter, Naeli. She is a sweetheart. She is one of the children my high school friends helped get ready for school.
Sweet Michelle. I adore these two girls, not sure where Miguelito was when I took these photos. She too was helped by my friends.

We are finally going to do the roof, well, we are having someone do it because the reality of Bill having time is non-existent. We will have the same guy do the extension on our deck. Bill did these drawings.

 

Eclectic Twist

Design And Live Outside the Lines