Going Shopping

A couple of days ago, Dianna and I had started out right at 8:00 AM. We were going to go have breakfast at Miss June's Kitchen, then we were going to Lano's Supply to look at some of the new sinks, faucets, etc., that he'd gotten in and maybe, if we had enough time, head over to Creative Tile to look for some tile for our shower and floors in the guesthouse.

On the way to June's, I was going to stop at Dr. Sheila's (Corozal Veterinary Clinic) to pick up some more thyroid tablets for Miss Blue, one of our kitties. As we pulled up beside Dr. Sheila's, we saw Christina standing outside Sheila's gate with Louie, one of her's and Brad's dogs.

Some explanation is necessary here. Protocol says that when Dr. Sheila is with a patient and you show up, unless it's absolutely life or death, you wait quietly till she's done with the current patient and Sheila has escorted them out her front gate. Then, she'll let you in to take care of whatever the problem is. If it's life and death, it's ok to yell and holler at Sheila to let her know it's an emergency.

Something to remember if you move down here. Also, don't ever you open the gate. She opens and closes the gate - always. And that's good advice for anyone's yard that has a gate. Never open it. Stand there and call for the person you want to see. You never know what kind/size/temperament of a dog might be waiting just out of sight to take a chunk out of you - or at least, to scare the bejesus out of you.

Alright. On with the story. So, Christina is standing there with Louie. As we came up to them, we realized she's holding a compress to Louie's head and it was obvious that Christina was just a tad stressed. So, "what happened", we inquired? Christina told us that a little earlier, she had left her place and took two of her dogs over to a close-by lot where she lets them run and chase balls.

Normally, not a problem. Well, this time, it was a problem. It seems there was a gentleman there chopping the lot. She didn't see him as they approached. She let the dogs loose. They saw him and immediately charged. He reacted, swinging his machete and clipping Louie on the head, just barely missing his left eye and just barely missing the left ear. But, the machete strike took a droplet-shaped hunk of skin and flesh, about an inch across and about three inches long out of Louie's skull. In fact, we could clearly see white bone when Christina removed the compress and showed us. Of course, the man chopping knew Christina and was very upset that he had chopped Louie - even though Louie was intending to essentially do the same to him. Christina got him calmed down and assured him it was her fault for not checking before letting the dogs run.

Then, she tried calling Mae and Craig to see if she could get a ride from them to take Louie to Dr. Sheila. No answer. She tried one or two other folks with the same result. Then she called a taxi. When he arrived he refused to take her and Louie as he was afraid Louie would bite him. Christina was thinking clearly enough that she even had a tarp to spread over the seat so Louie wouldn't bleed all over everything, but he wasn't going to give her the chance to use it.

Finally, Christina saw one of her neighbors coming home. He offered to take her and Louie to the Vet. That's where we entered the picture.

As we're also standing there waiting our turn, Christina was very concerned that Sheila was going to be upset with her for putting her dog in a position to get chopped. Christina also realized that Louie's injury wasn't life-threatening so she was content to wait her turn outside Sheila's gate. Pretty impressive. While we were waiting, we told Christina we'd take her and Louie back home if they needed a ride after all this.

Eventually, Sheila got done with her current patient, showed them out the gate and let all of us in together (I think because she thought we were together as a group). Anyway, she took a quick look at Louie, and immediately loaded up a syringe and gave Louie a shot. We all stood around talking. Finally, Christina asked Sheila if the shot was something to knock Louie out so she could stitch him up. Dr. Sheila said it was and Christina asked if it was ok if she left after he went to sleep and came back in an hour. That was ok too.

While we were waiting, I purchased the tablets for Blue and took care of some other business with Sheila. Then I went out to wait in the car with Dianna, as she had gone outside to have a smoke. A few minutes later, Christina came out, so we all piled in the Isuzu and we took her home.

After all this, we headed back to Miss June's to finally have our breakfast. So it goes in Belize. Your plans change in an instant. Besides, a medical emergency (even if it wasn't life-threatening) may not have been as fulfilling as a hearty breakfast, but it was a lot more exciting than looking at tile. After a very good breakfast at June's, we did make it down the street to Lano's where we saw the following sink and vanity.
Dianna's Choice for the Bathroom SinkHe's really gotten some fancy stuff in. This was a very cool sink. Kind of a floral design on the outside. Below is the vanity we chose. It has woven wood doors and looks really cool.

The Vanity For the Guest House

That was as far as we got that day. By then, it was about 11:30 AM, or so. Time to head back to home. We'll shop for tile another day. I wonder what will happen then.

Party Across the Street

The day before yesterday, Mae and Craig threw a party at the house across the street from us. It was to celebrate several things: Mae's birthday, Jim's birthday, selling the house, Denis and Vivian buying the house... I guess that's about it.

Everyone brought a dish to share - the usual pot luck fare. Additionally, there was a birthday cake and two others and a couple of gallons of delicious Western Dairy ice cream - chocolate and vanilla.

It was great weather, not too hot and certainly not too cold. Here's a few shots of the crowd attending.

Margy and Sandra

Judy Wearing a Mask

Craig With Michelle and Carole

Elsie and Craig

Billy and Sandra

Craig With Carole and Michelle

Tony and Mae

Tim, Bill and Gail

Julie, Loreta and Richard

Nellie and Tony

Mae, Julie, Elsie, Lynn and Dianna

Mae and Vivian

Lynn and Dianna

Jim Holding Forth

Elsie, Lynn and Dianna

Carole and Craig

Dianna, Craig and Elsie

Everyone Under the Palapa

Dianna, Jim and Pam

Denis and Peter

Craig Making Obligatory Announcements

Dave, Lynn and Cindy

Craig

Christina

The Cakes

Bill, Denis, Vivian and Julie

Our Next get-together will be this Friday at Jim's to celebrate his birthday (again), eat some food and trade books.

We just don't have time to cram all these social obligations into the days...

This Weekend Close Enough?

First off, we visited Brad and Christina at their place on the north end of Corozal. If you're a regular reader of this blog, you met them already. They played at Jenni and Nigel's place for Jenni's birthday party.

Brad and Christina's house is something I'll have to explore more of. It's the result of a lifetime spent living simply. That is, they use solar for power, Belize Electric, Ltd. hasn't quite made it to their area as yet, and Brad and Christina say they probably won't sign up for service when it does come.

They have batteries stashed at various places around their house, to power items or lights as needed. Their water comes from a hand-dug well, and is pumped via a manually-operated pump in their house.

Now, their house is a work of art. Really. It has more balconies and openings than you can imagine. It is the most airy and open place around. Some window covers open with pulleys and line, others, hinge out of the way.

It's at least partially "stick-built", using traditional local building materials.

Their Breadfruit Tree

Traditional Stick-Built House

I'm not really sure about the above plant being a breadfruit... I think that's what they said it was, so that's what it is till I'm corrected.

They have a great yard with tons of flowering/fruiting plants. It's one of those close-packed, shady places with lots of twisty paths that are just so cool. They have a good sized veggie garden, that they have fenced off to keep their dogs from destroying.

Veggie Garden

Other Plants

With the veggie picture above, in the background you can see something else. What is that? Why it's a genuine sailboat. A locally-made one at that. I think they've sailed it around quite a bit. It's in the process of being rehabbed.

Incidentally, they were the other couple with Mae and Craig during the "Three Hour Tour" I wrote about. It was Brad and Christina's canoe that was featured. They've sailed that canoe quite a ways around the bay and down to the islands. In fact, they're getting ready to do a two-week trip in it down to a rarely-seen lagoon south of us quite a bit. Should be an exciting trip.

The pictures below show Christina and Dianna talking plants in Christina's lush garden, and show Dianna enjoying the openings and openness of their home.

Plant Talk

One of Many Balconie

Brad and Christina's bedroom is up stairs from the living area and is reached by a steep set of steps (no hand rail) for the adventurous. Their sleeping loft also doesn't have any railings, so it's a precarious feeling kind of place - especially close to the edge.

The quilt you see above the trombone is hand made by local crafts people (I forgot where) out of used fabrics, so it has a genuine time-worn look and feel to it. The other quilt below the trombone is also hand made (and again I spaced on where and who).

Brad and Christina's Bedroom

Hand-Made Quilts

The trombone is just one of countless instruments in their home. Brad is a music teacher at the high school in Corozal. He's one of very few non-native teachers in the entire country. Christina is one of those folks blessed with a beautiful voice. She frequently assists Brad in the classroom.

Stairway To The Bedroom

Brad In The Living Room

Christina offered us some coffee and snacks of some of the great-tasting local hard cheese and crackers with some yummy onion slices from her garden. You'll notice she used an electric coffee grinder... No small feat when you're operating off the grid.

Actually, it was pretty easy. She just plugged it into the inverter and fired it up. Voila! Ground coffee ready for the brew. Their kitchen is as cool as the rest of the house.

Grinding the Beans

Making the Brew

Visiting Brad and Christina was a few days ago. Here's what's been happening yesterday at our place.

I think we're about ready to move into the house. All we need is to get the remaining burglar-bar door installed and the gate, and we're good to go.

Below, you can see painting actually in progress. Dianna and our friend Elsie, who's back from a nice trip to Cuba (Canadians aren't hampered by the ridiculousness of our government's policies toward that island), worked all day (well, part of it anyway) to splash on some primer on the drywall before we got our stove and fridge. What really slowed them down was their union rules about breaks. It seems they get to take as many breaks as they want so progress is sometimes slow.

Dianna Hard At Work

Elsie Hard At Wor

Further signs of getting near to moving in. We took delivery yesterday of our stove, a nice four-burner with oven. It has electronic ignition, so we won't have to use matches every time we want to light the stove. I'll be hooking the gas up to it today. I've got extra gas hose and a tee fitting and clamps to make the connections.

I'd love to say this is our new fridge - but, it isn't. After taking off the wrapings, we discovered the fridge doesn't have an ice-maker. And, it's supposed to have that. So Shanti's will be delivering the correct fridge and taking this one out. Hopefully, that will all happen today.

Our New Stove

Almost Our New Fridge

Yesterday, Franz Osman, el Electricisto (the Electrician), took the bus (for $4.00BZ) from Orange Walk to Corozal to work with me setting up a door-bell for the front gate and four gate lights.

Sounds simple, but it took us all day to get it done. We even drove by last night to see the lights on in the dark. Way cool! They're controlled by an electric eye so it's strictly a dusk to dawn operation for them.

I did take a picture of them lit in the daytime, as we tested the lights. We cemented them in place as the fence posts weren't actually shaped correctly for the lights. Now everything looks like it was made to order.

Two of Four Gate Light

Once we get the gate itself and the burglar bar door in place, and get our dog in place (which we don't have yet), we can move in. All that might happen by this Friday or Saturday. Woohoo!