Sandy Bay – Mermaid on a Raft

Now I want gills

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09/25/2016 I didn’t forget about you guys out there in blog land, honest, I didn’t. At first I had nothing to blog about because I spent a full week and then some on a raft in the pool reading. It was HOT, unbearably hot and being in the pool was my only salvation. I’m thankful my neighbor has several books, however you can only read so many James Patterson’s in a row. After a few books you begin to figure out whodunit pretty damn quickly.

My friend Marilyn had been gone for 2 months, I caught up with her briefly one day at the Reef House but I was slightly under the weather that day with my airplane cold. This damn thing still lingers in my chest, coughing and hacking like a TB patient. Although it is getting better, the fact that I have spent a lot of time under the water recently may have something to do with that.

Marilyn and I decided to spend a day poolside at our house. We floated and caught up on all the island info that happened while she was stateside. Her husband stopped by later on and took a dip, we had some snacks and I ended up drunk on my ass later that day. After Marilyn and Alex left I passed out on the couch, slept there for a few hours then went to bed. I had slammed one whole bottle of wine in the hot scorching sun in just a little time. I’ll blame it on my Seven Fifty wine thermos. I have to blame it on something and it certainly wasn’t MY fault.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Thanks Tarra for buying this awesome wine thermos for me!

I went to Alexi’s school and paid for the balance of this year, school is out the end of Nov for a few months. The teacher asked if she should put it in Alexi’s Mother’s name and I said, NO. I’m paying for it, my name. Bill bought Alexi new soccer cleats while I was in the states and the other day he took Alexi to the dentist for the first visit in 17 years. He had his teeth cleaned and he has 6 cavities that need taken care of ASAP. We are also taking him to get his eyes checked. Bill had him doing something pretty simple and he messed it up because he couldn’t see it.

After that I drove down to Juticalpa and dropped off the rest of the soccer stuff for the kids. The director saw me coming and met me at the car. He was very grateful. I also gave my cleaning girl 3 bags of clothes I didn’t want / need. I don’t care if she gives them to friends or sells them, just as long as it benefits her.

On the way home from there I saw a poor sad dog along the road. I stopped to feed him and he started to walk away. I called to him as I was putting food down and he turned around and came back. He took a few mouthfuls and looked up at me and burped. Poor guy.

14333637_10154114163018533_1521094796430429317_n — He was skin and bones

14370325_10154114162993533_5472379328437303027_n — I’m going to run over this week and see if I can find him again.

I posted his photo on FB and got so many comments that I was such a good person and stuff like that, and while that’s all nice and warm and fuzzy, the reason I posted the photos is so that others will realize that all it takes is to carry a bag of dog food and some water in your car and if you see a starving dog along the road, stop and feed it. Simple to do and it does make you feel good. By the looks of this guy, he hasn’t had a meal for awhile.

My friend Karen saw the photo of the skinny dog that I fed and asked me if I knew where there were any females available. I said I did, thinking immediately of Lola, the dog I was offered when we were passing out the food with the Carnival Cruise line people. She and her husband picked me up and we went to Pandytown looking for Lola. We found a guy named Jimmy who was trying to help us. I noticed Lola laying under a truck, we coaxed her out with some dog food and I picked her up. She is a sweetie. Jimmy couldn’t get in touch with the owner to make sure we could take her so we put Lola in the car and drove around looking for him. We never found the owner but found a relative who said it was her dog and she paid for it. I am assuming that was her way of asking for $$ for the dog. Jimmy said he knew of a few puppies that were ready to give away so we looked at them. Karen fell for this little girl and ended up taking her home. Their last name is Bogart and they have a 120# male named Bogey so they named this little one, Bacall.

I mentioned in my last blog I was going to do my advanced open water certification at Blue Island Divers, with Eric White. The business is located in Sandy Bay.

I did the SSI course which is the same requirements as PADI Advanced Open Water but it’s called Advanced Adventurer. It consisted of 160 pages of reading material and tests on each chapter. I could chose from:

Photography, Fish ID, Wreck, Buoyancy, Enriched Air Nitrox, Boat Diving, Dry Suit diving, Night and Limited Visibility, Search and Recovery, Waves, Tides and Currents and the 2 required were deep and navigation. I chose buoyancy, Photo and Fish ID and then also did deep and nav. Let me first say, I did not have my camera during the first 4 dives because I was concentrating on what I was supposed to be doing.

The first day I worked on my buoyancy using my own Buoyancy Control Device or BCD. I bought it online, new, years ago and I hated it then because I didn’t think it fit. After my first dive Eric said we were trying a different vest because I was constantly trying to get the BCD centered on my body. When I moved, the weight of the tank shifted my BCD. It was awful. I used his wife’s old Aeris BCD and what a difference. My second dive was fish ID which was pretty easy for me because I am familiar with a lot of the fish and coral in the sea. Not saying I don’t have a lot to learn, I do. But I see a new fish every time I dive and always make a point to identify it.

After completing those two dives on Thursday I was back there the next morning to do my deep and navigation dives. The deep dive was AMAZING. Eric asked if I had any fears about going down to 100′ and I said nope, fear factor missed me at birth. He said we were doing the Odyssey wreck and it sits at that depth. What he didn’t tell me is that you can go deeper onto the sand patch where there are all these garden eels. I’ve never seen them and was blown away. We went down to 112′ but at that depth on Oxygen you can’t stay very long. Well, not unless you want to get narced, Nitrogen Narcossis. At that depth the water was a balmy 84 degrees! We swam alongside the stern of the boat down to the sand patch, then up over the bow that was separated from the rest of the boat. Eric had me do a navigation test while we were there since I had on the compass and a computer. After that we just swam around and ended up close to the spot where we did my buoyancy tests. I plan to dive Odyssey again and take photos. My second dive was navigation, swimming in a square, starting off and ending at the same place. After that was done we just went for a dive and while diving I saw my friend Caroline diving at the same spot we were. How weird is that??

I was exhausted when I got home and went for a dip with the dogs then took a nice 2 hour nap.

Today was my final dive and yay, it was photography and my job was to take pictures.

I can feel my tail growing. I can’t even explain the feeling I get when I’m underwater. I watch the fish swim by and I’m instantly mesmerized by their ability to just glide along the reef, following the water movements, up and down, in and out. It’s enchanting. After my first buoyancy class when I did the fish ID dive in a different BCD I could feel how my breath affected my movement in the water and how I could control my body to go over the coral heads and then back down. I hung vertically in the water and just took deep breaths, feeling my body rise then descend when I exhaled. It’s such a cool sensation. I am still having some issues, when my tank gets down to 1000 PSI I start to float to the surface. Eric grabs my fin, pulls me down and adds weight. I’m convinced that my big boobs and the buoyancy of the tanks are contributors to this. He feels that once I get more practice I will be able to control this ascent, it surely isn’t because I want to surface. If I had gills you would never see me. I’d be down there swimming with Nemo and Ariel.

Gills are on my Christmas list.

A tree glows in Calabash Bight

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12/11/2015 I went up on the roof and had a Dos Equis the other night, it was a beautiful evening and the view was as amazing as ever. We really have the best of both worlds, being able to see the N and S shores of the island. Sometimes the weather can be completely different if I turn around.

The dogs are having some issues running around up there, it’s much more slippery than when it was regular old concrete. But it looks so much better, they will just have to chill the hell out..

A friend sent me this video, it’s pretty amazing, especially if you are a skier. Check it out here. I think I have watched it 11 times already, it mesmerizes me… not much does.

Sunday morning it freaking poured buckets. It was raining so loud it woke me up. Usually when I get up I can get 1 minute before D O G S happen, this morning they were inside and there was no escape. It’s ok though, they’re not a bad thing to wake up to, unless they are barking incessantly. Which they sometimes do. I ran to Mega Paca and grabbed some baby toys for the upcoming Christmas party then went and got groceries too. It was a crappy day earlier but it cleared up enough that I was able to walk 4 of the 6 dogs, Bill walked the other 2. Nothing like making 4 trips down and back UP our driveway.

Monday came and went and I did nothing except clean up the kitchen and cook eggs for the week for my breakfast. Bob and Rosalie stopped by so Bill could see if he was able to fix their generator. (He did) Rosalie and I visited while they were doing guy things. Tuesday was another do nothing day, the concrete bags were delivered and stored in the downstairs living room. Come on, isn’t that where YOU store your concrete too? Cement mixer and drill press in the kitchen, dog meds in the 1 bedroom, soccer jerseys in the other and a couch for a friend. I will fall down on my knees and praise the Lord when Bills’ shop is done. Just an FYI, it’s not started yet..Need to get our permit and to do that they want hair from your first born during it’s first 2 weeks of life and 3 sets of scorpion pinchers, other than that, no big deal..

Wednesday I met my friend Jan at the bottom of her road. She was going to Ceiba Thursday for her residency and was going to check to see if our cards are ready or not. If not, I have a friend going next week who will also check for us. Super pain in the ass. They sure don’t make it easy to live here or do business here.

We had a visit from Dave Symons, he brought me a gazillion candy canes for the Christmas parties Nidia is doing, along with a bag of toys that I picked up earlier. Thank you Dave and Trish!! I was going to take the canes the day I took the toys except I had errands to do and they would have turned into peppermint syrup in my car, and yes, it is December. Dave, Bill, 2 other guys who were here and the neighbors worker hoisted the couch over the deck railing and onto the porch, then inside. YAY, my couch is inside. AND THE DOGS THINK IT’S FOR THEM. They are not allowed on this or the other couch, especially not this one. It’s a game, they think. So happy to have the couch inside!

One of the people I met through my blog was Sean from Canada. Sean and I messaged/emailed often about Roatan and many things on the island. He and his wife were here over Easter last year (busiest week of the year) and decided to come again this Dec. They arrived, along with 2 of Sean’s wife, Caralee’s friends. Sean travels like Bill does and like Mike does, with sister wives. Kinda, but not. Anyhow, Sean and the group arrived on Monday. We were hoping to get together so we could at least meet. He messaged me today, “We are going to Parrot Tree, may stop at Cal’s for lunch.” I responded, “I’ll find you.” I ran and met Jan, then went to the ATM, which was down again. damn banks. I had to go inside and to me that is a hateful experience. I got done with that and then went to Parrot Tree to look for Sean. They weren’t there so I went home. I had a yogurt, loved the dogs and went back to look for them. On the way I noticed an X-Terra that could have been a rental (Sean’s car). I got to Parrot Tree, walked down to the water, no Sean. So I drove over to the other side of PT and checked out my friends house, looked at a house that has been being built for a long time and went back to the lagoon. I noticed the X-terra from Cal’s was there. I thought for sure that was their car. Seriously, I should have been a detective, I really like looking into things, getting to the bottom of it.. Anyhow, the super sleuth in me knew I was onto something. I saw a guy that looked like Sean with several women on the other side of the bridge that goes over the lagoon. They started to walk alongside the south side of the lagoon, thinking there may be beach on the other side of the wall, but there isn’t, it’s ironshore. By this time I knew it was them. They were walking W towards the N shore of the lagoon. I started walking W towards the S shore. When we were close enough to be heard I yelled, “You must be Sean, you’re the only guy on the beach with 3 women following you.” He gave me a big hug as did his wife Caralee. I liked them instantly. Caralee’s friends were very cool too. Funny thing is, all 4 work together in IT in a big bank in Canada. Bankers to Bankers..

We hung out along the lagoon for awhile talking. Then I thought I would let them relax and come home to see what the dogs were up to. They said they had some toys for the dogs and would come over when they left PT. Now when these people say they have a few toys, prepare to be floored. A FEW TOYS??? My dogs got a whole aisle of a dog toy store. All super tough, chew resistant (really a myth) toys. Actually, these look like the strongest toys the dogs have ever had. I’m keeping all the toys inside and only giving them a few for now, although I did give them an adrenalin rush and gave them all of the toys at once. They freaked out.

Needless to say, these toys are a huge hit, they are loving them. Thank you again so much Sean and Caralee!! Hope to see you on Friday @ BJ’s.

On Wednesday I got a call from my hairdresser to see if I wanted to come in the next day. Did I need my hair done. Turns out she was leaving the island for a month and wanted to do the people she knew would need to have color. Poor Nadia, how selfless of her, her brother was murdered in Italy and she was trying to take care of her customers..Love that woman so much. She is off to Italy tomorrow, safe travels my friend..I went early Thursday to get my hair done and to hug on Nadia.

After I left Nadias’s I went to Plaza Mar to buy rice and beans for the Christmas bags and then went to Nidia’s to drop off the toys and candy canes from Dave and Trish, my super awesome friends from Canada. They are also the people who brought 2 suitcases full of new soccer uniforms. We hope to pass those out while they are here this visit..they also donated 3 bags of syringes for Clinic Esperanza, I dropped those off when I took Mike and Liza there. Mike and Liza brought a few dozen bottles of OTC pain relievers for the clinic. Liza said when she bought all the meds in Walmart the guy really looked at her strange, like, “are you really sick?” Mike and Liza are going to gather medical supplies while at home and start bringing them on their future trips here. Dave and Trish always bring something to benefit the people of the island. Thank you Mike and Liza and Dave and Trish. .

I got my errands done in Toxic Hole and headed home to pee, kiss the pups and get more ice water. Then I drove to BJ’s and was picked up by Carmen with the ever dashing boat guy Brett of the long eyelashes, (Carmen’s husband), escorting us to Miss Marilyn’s place on Calabash Bight. We helped Alex get the stuff out of their attic. Honestly, I had no clue people had attics on Roatan, interesting. Marilyn had a freaking shitload of Christmas lights. I mean, a SHITLOAD. Some worked, some half worked, some didn’t and were crap and we wanted to crush them. Well, I did, Carmen was more reserved and Marilyn kept pulling bags of lights out of I don’t know where, a secret light storage closet that she didn’t tell us about. Some were brand new, in the box AND THEY DIDN’T FLIPPING WORK. Let me state this: Christmas lights that don’t stay lit if one bulb is missing are shit. Lights that flicker are shit. Lights that don’t work are total shit. LED lights are the way to go.

After 2 bottles of wine the tree was up and decorated, it took a 3rd bottle to finish talking about it, have a yummy salad that Alex made and wonder why the hell Marilyn was still bringing out ornaments for the tree.

Friday was the gift wrapping party at BJ’s. We had Spanish class at 12 and then right right to the bar. Several of us took tables so we weren’t wrapping on bar stools like last year. The tables worked perfectly..We got all the gifts wrapped, re-bagged beans and rice into individual ziploc bags to be passed out, gifts sorted by boy/girl and age group. While I was wrapping I noticed my friend Woudsin from Helene sitting at the bar. I went over to talk to him, give him a big hug and condolences for his Dad passing away. We chatted for a bit then I went back to wrapping.. A little bit later he called to me and I went over. He introduced the guy he was with and it was someone I knew from 40 years ago in Williamsport, my home town. Small freaking world..When I was walking in the door he was going out and I thought, he looks familiar..Nice to see Rick Benedict, I knew his wife Marika better than I did him, but still, to run into someone from home is random. He was here finalizing the sale of the property he owned with my friend Perry Adelson on the island of Helene.

I love Fridays at BJ’s. I love my east end friends, everyone is so chill. It was muy caliente in Spanish class, {no electricity} and hot hot hot wrapping inside BJ’s, lots of bodies, lots of activity. I was sweaty in my Christmas Story t-shirt. It was appropriate for the holidays but it was hot. Really good to see some people, like Kathy and Marcia. Hopefully I’ll be snorkeling with Marcia soon..

It’s Friday night, I got home around 4 from the afternoon festivities and laid down on the new couch. I knew I had to meet Jan at 5 to get our temporary residency papers back. Somehow my mind woke me up and I jumped off of the couch at 4:57, I grabbed my keys and ran to Cal’s to get our papers. Grateful to Jan finding out about them. I think I was still in a sleep stupor when I went down to Cal’s. Day drinking, even 2 glasses of wine, does me in.

Sometimes my age shows..

Frito Bean and the 7 dwarfs

04/15/2015 It’s been HOT HOT HOT in the tropics. Boob melting sweatiness. I mean, mine feel like they’re melting off but every time I look, they’re still there. Sunday morning I baked for several hours, making coconut macaroons for a dinner party on Sunday at Chuck and Nancy’s. I think I even sat in the sun for awhile that afternoon. I know I was being ultra lazy because when Bill told me it was 3:30 I freaked. I still hadn’t showered or anything. and we had to be there by 4. It was a fabulous evening, getting to meet Lynda and Dave and spend time with Chuck and Nancy and Annie and Charlie. Nancy made a wonderful meal for all of us, as usual. We didn’t stay very late, we had 4 hungry dogs at home.

I absolutely did nothing except some sweeping and cleaned up the kitchen on Monday. It was nice to not leave the house, makes up for all the days that I run all day long. On Tuesday morning Marilyn came to my house @ 8 Am and we were off to Sandy Bay to pick up more shoes. Sarah, who also lives here, Addy and Brian and Charlene and Nancy (all from Canada) were helping for the day too. We loaded up a truck and my car and went to a big school in downtown Coxen Hole called Juan Brooks. There were over 1000 kids there to be fitted. Then Natalie, a director, Marilyn, Sarah and I went to a kinder in Spanish Town to fit the kids. I was fitting that morning so I didn’t have time to take many photos but I did manage to snag a few hugs!

11161346_10205700414645712_4751832435179766525_n — This is my beautiful friend Sarah. She snapped this fabulous selfie with a gorgeous little girl at the kindergarten in Spanishtown.

Sarah lives here on Roatan and is from the Pacific Northwest, Oregon to be exact. She too writes for Women Who Live on Rocks and has her own blog at BellaGypsySol. Check out Sarah’s blog while you’re at it. Sarah is a diver and she recently posted a photo of her wearing a BangWrangler and I had to have one. It’s a wide elastic band that doesn’t slip and holds your hair back out of your face.

Sarah brought one for me on Tuesday and she happened to have an extra, which Marilyn snagged. I love my BangWrangler. I just want to keep saying Bang Wrangler over and over again. Thanks Sarah, you and my new Bang Wrangler rock!!

When we were done there we headed back to Coxen Hole and Juan Brooks school to help the other volunteers fit the 1000 kids who go there. It was a steaming HOT day, we were on the open stage, no air moving at all. At one point Addy had her cold bottle of water stuffed in the front of her shirt.

It was a long hard day but over 1000 children got new shoes. I got home around 4 PM and was ready to crash right then and there. Thankfully I thought ahead ( a very rare occurrence when it comes to meals) and dinner was a no-brainer.

Shortly after we got Frito home from her amputation we were feeding her several meals a day because she had been so malnourished. You all know our dogs eat like royalty, minus the 11 piece place settings, real china, crystal and fine linen napkins. Frito started gaining weight F A S T. We assumed it was because she was finally eating regular meals. When we took her to the vet to get her stitches out we said, she’s preggo. He said, no, she’s “gordo.” FAT. So we cut back a little on her food but she still continued to expand. We had Weight Watchers on speed dial. HMMM. Now, I have had dogs all of my life, always. I’ve never had a pregnant one though, mine were always spayed. This was uncharted territory for us. AND, the vet said, No preggo, GORDO. So we continued to feed her 1 small and 1 large nutritious meal a day. Soon it looked like she swallowed an eggplant WHOLE.

About a week ago we determined she was pregnant, not fat. We could feel and SEE the puppies moving around in her belly. I was convinced there were only 2.

On Wednesday morning (the only day we have a vet on the island) I was taking Frito to find out about her impending delivery and when it would be. While there, she had 2 puppies so I brought her home and away from the craziness that is the vet office. She had one more puppy in the car and then 3 more after that.

And we have 7!!

Just when I thought she was done she popped out another one. All soft and shiny, fat and squeaky. Frito is a good 3 legged momma. She hadn’t eaten much in the morning so after fritito # 6, I fed her some yogurt, then she ate some dog food, then she had another pup. Just like it was a walk in the park, no biggie, I just had 7 puppies. We think her timeline went something like this:

B. C. W. (Before Crazed Woman) A night of unbridled passion with a handsome neighborhood lothario

B. C. W. May be still in a stupor from the passion, passed out in the aftermath, paw gets run over

3/10/2015 Scavenging for a morsel in the schoolyard of Barrio Los Fuertes school when a Crazed Woman offers me cheese and apples. Next food offered was Fritos to lure me to the car for the snatch and grab. Crazed Woman names me Frito.

3/11/2015 Go to the vet to see if he can save my paw (bone was sticking out of the foot) He could not and said I had to go to the mainland for amputation. WTH is that?

3/11/2015 I get stuffed in a dog crate with a bleeding paw and put on a ferry for a long ride to La Ceiba.

3/11/2015 I’m met by a vet employee and taken to the clinic.

3/12/2015 The day begins by being bathed 4 times to get rid of the fleas and ticks. Doc prepares the room to be sterile for me.

3/13/2015 Off with the leg. Crazed Woman drives vet assistant friend Bethany bonkers with repeated questions about me ALL DAY LONG. Crazed Woman is told I am fine and awake and maybe Bethany just told her that to shut her up. She is persistent.

3/14 & 3/15/2015 I spent the weekend recuperating in the vet clinic.

3/16/2015 I’m back on the damn boat for the trip home. Wondering if when I get to the other place they’ll chop off the other leg.

3/16/2015 Extremely excited to see Crazed Woman @ the ferry terminal. I cried, she did too.

3/25/2015 Back to vet to get stitches taken out. Ask vet if I am preggo, he smiles and says “No, just GORDO.”

04/15/2015 I give birth to 7 gorgeous little puppies, 2 girls, 5 boys. I am no longer “GORDO.”

So there you have it. A month plus in the life of Frito Bean.

I sensed Frito was upstairs at 4:45 this morning. I got up and she was at the top of the steps. I asked if she wanted to go potty and she ran down the steps. I let her out and she took off running to the grass for her morning potty. As soon as she was done she tore back in to those puppies. She is never away from them. She has certainly proven to me what a miraculously strong dog she is. To go through all that she did and then give birth and be totally chill, I am in awe of her. She is one special dog and we are pretty blessed she is ours.

This morning I was to meet Nidia at the bodega in Sandy Bay at 7:30. I don’t think I went back to sleep between Frito’s potty break and 6 AM. I left home at 6:45AM. We lugged 12 boxes down the steps and into my car and set off for the Kinder Nicolas Villeda in Coxen Hole. We had 4 mothers to fit the shoes this morning. The kids were adorable and totally fascinated with me taking pictures.

After that we went looking for a kinder teacher in Las Brisas. It is down the road to Steel Pan Alley, near the cruise ship terminal.

I was home by 10 and still had dishes to do from last evening when Sam and Chelsie came for dinner. I really love those two, such a sweet couple.

I was so exhausted after giving birth with Frito yesterday there was no way I could have washed the dishes last night. In fact, I only washed part of them today, Bill just now finished washing them, I took a 3 hour nap with Emmy cat. I’m pooped, birth is a bitch!

I’m off to check on Frito Bean and the 7 dwarfs again and then settling in with a glass of wine and catching up on The Voice.

Anyone want a puppy???