Is the Hiatus Over?

I don't know. I have been wasting time on Facebook, which I detest. Just about every posting I've made over there, I've had the niggling feeling that that posting should have been expanded into a blog post. Well, what can I say? As usual, my inner voice is probably right, but it wasn't shouting loud enough to overcome my laziness.

That is, till events have sort of forced my hand. Several things have occurred, or will be occurring. Ranging from upgrading my desktop PC to Windows 10 - that went painlessly. Windows 10 isn't perfect by any means, but it's light years ahead of any other Windows system upgrade that I've ever done; to finally getting a new-to-us vehicle, a Pueblo gold color, Ford Explorer Sport Trac XLT pickup. It's a 2005 and the odometer has been around the world once (I hope).

Brand New Sport Trac

The color is an exotic-sounding Pueblo Gold Clearcoat Metallic - otherwise known as marl, eventually, the color of everything down here - which it matches perfectly, whether it's mud or dust. Much easier to keep that clean look than with the black Isuzu.

It has electric everything - windows; outside mirrors; the inside rearview mirror has a compass and a thermometer; electronic door locks - remote keyless entry, number code pad on the driver's door (I haven't figured that out yet as I haven't located the master code which is hidden somewhere). It even has a power sliding window in the center back of the cab. Well, it should have. It came with the window (which was good), but no mechanism (called a regulator) to raise or lower it, oh, and no motor to power the regulator. I'm shopping around for those items. Stay tuned.

Even the gas cap has a sensor to tell you if it's fastened correctly or not. I've also been chasing down lightbulbs that no longer work. So far, all fairly easy fixes. Hey, I know it's not perfect, but for Belize, it's a pretty cool ride.

Let's see, what's next? Oh, yes. I now have a dental bridge on the lower left side of my jaw. I had a broken tooth removed and within a couple of days, the tooth right in front of that one decided to explode. So a visit back to Dr. Cima to take care of that tooth as well. Then we had scheduling conflicts, so I ended up at Dr. Garcia's. I've now been to every dentist in town. And they're all very good. I can recommend each one wholeheartedly. Then, an infection developed. Turns out there was a bit of a root from one of the extracted teeth left that decided to go south. Dr. Garcia sent me over to an oral surgeon in Chetumal to have that removed. The stiches come out tomorrow and all should be A-OK.

And then there's the pool house. We finally bit the bullet and have decided to add on to it. We decided against going up, as in a second story, instead, we opted to go out as the drawing below shows:

Our Pool House - The Expanded Version

The left side of the drawing with all the detail is the existing pool house with a couple of minor changes, like an exterior door being moved from the existing bathroom to the outside door of the office, and a couple of windows will be repositioned.

We're going to convert one of the existing rooms to a small dining room, just off the living room. The other existing bedroom becomes our 'utility' room. That actually will be the pantry, laundry room, and utility room, housing the water softener, etc.

Our contractor, Carl Raney, took the first step the other day by laying out a rough footprint of the new structure using some leftover Belikin bottles.

Back of the Pool House Will Have Some Changes

Belikin Markers - A High-Tech Solution

The living room kind of becomes the central hub of the whole thing. You'll be able to go out to the veranda through a 10-foot sliding glass door, just like the one we already have, opening in the center.

From the living room, you'll be able to go into the bedroom and from there into the bathroom. Back in the living room again, you can go into the office and from there also out to the veranda.

There's going to be a pad outside the screened veranda where we're going to put a circular metal staircase that will use the existing flat roof as an observation deck

The walkway will be screened with shade cloth all around the outside. The roof will be gabled (I think is the right term) covering all the veranda and the interior spaces.

The pool house kitchen will still be our kitchen. The existing bathroom will still be accessible for pool use and if we want, we have left the door to the new dining room so we can secure the rest of the house from the pool part - if that makes sense.

Once we get construction finished, we're planning to move into the pool house. That becomes our home. The Mennonite house, we plan to rehab it a bit, new paint, kitchen counter, some minor repairs, that sort of thing, and then maybe rent it out for long-term tenents. We're still thinking about it. We'll physically isolate the downstairs laundry room so the tenant will have laundry capability and some storage space. We'll electrically isolate the two from the rest of the Mennonite house, so a potential tenant would only be paying for the current they actually use.

We will keep our workshops and storage downstairs as is. We're thinking about re-routing part of the driveway so that all three bays of the parking palapa can be used easily.

We'll see. A lot of this part is just possible ideas, no real action yet. We're hoping to be able to start construction sometime this week. Again, stay tuned.

 Let's see now. Oh yes. The September Celebrations here in Belize. Kind of a loose grouping of several holidays, kicking off with celebrating Belize's first strike for independence with the Battle of St. George's Cay on the Battle of St. George's Cay Day on September 10th, then Carneval (which is often spelled Carnival, or Carnaval, depending on where you live), with a big parade downtown on the 20th (yesterday), and on the 21st, today, Independence Day. There's a couple of smaller things thrown in there as well, but suffice to say, September is a pretty hard-partying month. Tough sometimes to get a lot else done then.

Speaking of Carneval, we had probably among the best seats in town to watch the parade. Chef Mike Wu, owner of Z-Restaurant (and his new logo below):

Mike's New Logo

It's cool when inspiration hits. I had fun designing it. I'm glad Mike liked it. So, back to the parade.

Here's out crew getting ready to do some bodacious spectating:

Most of the Group Ready to Watch

Chef Mike was nice enough to let us use the balcony above his restaurant to watch the parade - a great location. And the crowd, for Corozal, became quite huge. I've never seen that many people here.

San Antonio Village Dancers, Their Float, and Their Sound System

Virtually every float that came by had a sound system. I'm not talking a few hidden speakers to provide a little music, I'm talking major, blow out your windows, behemoth sound systems, complete with DJ and support crews - all drinking Belikin too!

I have about seventy-some more photos of the parade, etc., but I'm not going to put them up here. They'll all be loaded up to flickr.com for your viewing pleasure.

Our Host, Chef Mike Wu, Taking a Break From the Kitchen to Watch the Parade

It was a glorious day for a parade. Overcast, so the marchers didn't get burnt too bad. It was hot, as usual, but hey, it's the Caribbean Tropics - You're supposed to sweat!.

We met about noon at Z-Restaurant for lunch, then about one-thirty - two-ish, made our way up to the balcony for the best parade any of us have seen in Corozal. Unlike today's Independence Parade, which is probably going to be a rain-fest, unless it lightens up. There's still time - it's only eleven AM.

So, there you are, about as up-to-date as I can get it for now. Hope you enjoy it.

Friday's Walk

Actually, before Friday's walk, it was Thursday evening, I'm sitting on the couch, a nice cold Belikin in hand, hot pepper cheeze puffs being stuffed into my mouth, and... The SEATTLE MARINERS on TV - Live!

Kenji Johjima At Bat At Safeco Field

Here we are, three or four thousand miles away from the Northwest and I'm watching the Mariners, live on TV. I've managed to catch several of their games so far this season. What made it even more memorable is that I was able to stay awake through the whole thing. I mean, after all, the game didn't start till 8:30 PM Belize time. That's almost an hour past our usual bedtime!

Unfortunately, all my work on their behalf (finding the game, getting the beer and snacks, getting comfortable, etc.) didn't help the M's pull out a win against Oakland. Here it was bottom of the ninth, the A's are on top 2-0, Mariners at bat, bases are loaded, two out, and Raul Ibanez grounds out to the shortstop. End of game. Well it's not like M's fans aren't used to that scenario. Oh, well. It was a lot of fun. Safeco Field is still the best looking ball park in the Majors.

So, on to Friday morning - this morning. 6:00 AM, and the girls have coaxed me out onto the road again. As we get about 200 yards down the road, I get to see my first honest-to-goodness coral snake. Dead, but still a coral snake. You know, "Red on black, friend of Jack. Red on Yelow, kill a fellow", type coral snake. If you double click on this image, you'll see the blown-up visual and can easily see the distinctive markings.

Dead Coral Snake

I'm not sure exactly what happened to him. His head is missing, so maybe someone whacked him with a machete (not unusual), then he got run over. Either way, he's dead as a stone.

The walk from there on is pretty uneventful till we get into town where they're setting up the carnival. This morning, as the girls and I came by, the crew was busy already setting up the ferris wheel. So we stopped and i took a few pictures of the activity.

Getting The Next Section Ready

Ferris Wheel Is Going Up

I like this next shot. I think it's quite a nice composition. But, that's just me. I'm easy to please.

Way Up High

Have a nice weekend. If you go to Safeco, wave at the camera. Maybe I'll see you and wave back.

It's Not Only Coming, It's Here!

The other morning (was it only yesterday?) I posted a sunrise picture of some carny equipment. I wasn't sure if they were really coming to town or just passing through. Well, there's no doubt now. They are busy setting up for a fun time here in Corozal.

Of course, at the time the girls and I come by in the morning, there's nary a roustabout rousting, or whatever it is called that they do.

The Carnival Is Taking Shape

I heard that the carny had been up in San Joaquin a couple of days ago, and that they had a pretty big midway. It'll be smaller here in Corozal as they've split the carny into two parts - this bit and the other is at the Sports Center on the north end of town. That'll keep the crowds from impacting the highway into town too much.

Mickey and Friends

It seems expensive to me, but the price as posted on the merry-go-round above is $5 BZ a ride. That's at least a fourth of a day's wages for most folks down here. I guess they must know the fair is coming to town and save their money for a couple of weeks to give the kids a good time. Apparently, when the carny was in San Joaquin there was no shortage of customers for the rides.

Lots Of Rides For The Little Ones

Regardless, the fair should be a fun time for a lot of folks. There just isn't that much entertainment for families locally. Besides, it was always a highlight for me as a kid when the carny came to town. It always seemed that the most excitement was the anticipation, when they were setting things up, and everyone would talk about what rides they wanted to go on, what they wanted to eat, etc.

The reality of the rides not being quite up to your imagination, the barker's being kind of jerky, all conspired to put a bit of a damper on the experience.

One thing that was always good, was the food along the midway. Elephant ears, hotdogs, burgers, cotton candy, licorice ropes, pop - all the fair food that was so good for you, always tasted good.

Bits and Pieces Being Set Up

Secret and Cindy didn't seem too impressed with the whold carnival thing when we went by this morning. I'd stop to take a photo and they'd just sit patiently, waiting for me to get done, obviously wanting to get back to the business of the walk.

As we passed "Cannon Corners" as it used to be called, we continued on the highway this morning to Lano's Hardware where we turned off to head downtown to the waterfront. Along the way, on the highway, is a statue that was put up by the Corozal Town council, celebrating Corozal working toward the future (I think that's a rough translation).

Corozal Statue of the Future

This is one of the stranger statues I have ever seen. For the longest time, when they were first building it, I could not figure out what they were building. It definitely is a unique outlook on life and living here.

The other strange thing that occurred was just as we turned off the highway to head to the waterfront, we were accosted by a brown Labrador-looking dog. He barked and growled like he was big and bad. The girls and I just ignored him and kept on our way. That seemed to confuse him so he didn't know quite what to do. I guess he decided walking somewhere was better than hanging around downtown, as he fell into line with the girls. I was leading the pack so I was in front and all three of them were slightly behind. The brown dog ranged once in a while out in front, like he was scouting, then quickly returned as if he was part of the pack. His head was slightly down and the tail straight out - both signs of submission, as though he was asking to be part of the pack.

I tried chasing him away a couple of times, but he managed to stay. He walked with us clear through town, back out along the highway and up to our turnoff to head home. Just about there, he got side-tracked at someone's house, checking things out. We just kept walking and never saw him again. Probably just as well. Out pack doesn't need to be any bigger right now.

All in all, it was a really good walk. So good in fact, that Secret got totally pooped out and was dragging on her leash the last quarter of a mile of the walk. She's in the living room right now, as you can see, recouperating.

Secret Pooped From Her Walk

Carnival's Comin' To Town

Guess what we saw this morning on the daily "pack-walk"? A carnival trailer. This is the first one I've seen since we've been living here.

Early Morning Carny Sighting

I really have no idea if it's planning to set up here in Corozal, or if they're just passing through. But still, pretty cool to see it on your walk early in the morning.

It'd be nice to see a carnival here. I haven't seen one here in the little more than a year that we've been living here.

I can't say that the girls (Cindy and Secret) got very excited about it. As I took the picture, they both - like the good doggies they are, sat then lay down as I fumbled around with the phone camera again. This picture is the result. My big problem with using it, is that I have been leaving my glasses at home, in favor of wearing my shades. Of course, the phone screen is too small for me to read anything on it without my glasses. I guess I'm going to have to start bringing them as well as my little pocket Nikon and use the phone camera just for those situations when I don't have a better camera with me. Which means I'm going to have to start wearing my fanny-pack (or bum-bag for those of you of the British persuasion).

Pretty soon, it'll be a full-fledged back pack, cause I'll have to drag along water for me and water for the girls, and Lord only knows what else.

Oh, yes. It was a good walk today. About three miles and a bit of a new route. I took a left as we came to the Mirador Hotel and we went up to 5th Avenue and back through downtown. Lot's of new dogs to bark at us. Big German Shepards too.

We ran into Doug at Cannon Corners (well, it used to be called that before remodeling occurred). He was on his way into town for something (breakfast?). We later ran into him and Twyla at their new place as we were heading back to our hacienda.

It was a nice walk. The girls were completely tuckered out when we finally crossed the gate into our place.

Totally unrelated, but Isaiel and his helper came by today. He's installing doors and burglar bars for Doug's place. His generator wasn't big enough to handle Isaiel's welding machine, so Doug asked if Isaiel could come down here to do his welding. Not a problem.

Then the next visitor showed up about an hour later. A Belize Electricity worker there to cut off our current for being a deadbeat. I had screwed up the date on the Scotiabank automatic payment from our account. I used the Belizean-style date (9/8/2008 instead of the US-style - 8/9/2008). Which meant the computer wasn't going to pay till next month. I knew about it because I had gotten another bill with arrears showing. Once I checked it out, I realized what had happened. I was going to pay it when I paid the upcoming month's payment, but no. I had to hotfoot it into Courts Furniture and pay my "arrears" this morning. Whew! No cutoff.

Then came John Harris, a Brit contractor, to talk to us about our pool plans. I had mentioned to him we wanted to see about him doing a pool for us sometime as we liked Gail and Earl's pool that he's building. So, we sat and talked with him and gave him a drawing of a pool that we liked. He's going to work up an estimate and get back to us in a few days. The earliest he could start construction is the end of September. Fine with us. I gave up on being my own GC for the pool - just a little too technical for me. Maybe next time, after I see John do this one.

That was all the excitement for the day. It's hot. We're jumping into the round pool this afternoon. Don't try to stop us either. We're going to ride our floaties and nurse a cold beer or three.

Cheers